European Retrofit Network

PROGRESS is European Union’s Programme for employment and Solidarity beginning in 2007 and ending in 2013. More details can be followed here http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=327. The main aim of the programme is to support the member states commitment to create more and better jobs.

The European Retrofit Network (ERN) project will contribute to PROGRESS mandate by enhancing understanding of key drivers within the Green Economy that will help to create more and better jobs at local, national and EU level. Work to investigate and test employment and training mechanisms that will enable workless individuals to access new jobs within the Green Economy will help to tackle employment deprivation and thus contribute to efforts to build a more cohesive society.

ERN is a transnational partnership with partners from UK, Poland, Spain and Montenegro. The aim of the European Retrofit Network (ERN) is to create a transnational network for developing and sharing experiences on the impact of green agenda on employment within the built environment sector and in particular , investing in retrofitting of green technologies to residential stock.

The ERN Project has been designed to engage and influence relevant policy developments via a structure that will engage key stakeholders and policy actors in guiding research into the retrofit industry and identifying potential mechanisms for delivering socially beneficial employment and training outcomes. These are tested via a series of pilot programmes which will then be independently evaluated , with key learning outcomes being disseminated to key stakeholders and fed into policy structures within different levels of governance.

The transnational network around which the ERN project is bases has been designed to facilitate policy transfer among member states, with the initial participating countries chosen because their domestic retrofit industry are at different stages of development and thus present extensive learning and support opportunities that will be explored through the research packages.

For more information visit www.europeanretrofitnetwork.eu.

Projects