The International Retrofit Conference | 6 Nov

KEYNOTE

David is the Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett University, where he manages and oversees interdisciplinary projects and supervises doctoral students, across the institute's three research themes of Sustainable Behaviour, Sustainable Buildings and Sustainable Urban Environments. David has led major Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) research projects for the UK Government to investigate performance gaps and unintended consequences of new low carbon buildings and retrofits, including his most research project, the Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential or DEEP retrofit research project, which was the largest project of its kind looking at how to make retrofits in solid walled homes effective and safe. 

David's team are specialists in BPE field testing of products and processes, and undertake a range of methods including the coheating test, QUB tests, air leakage detection, air tightness assessments, in use monitoring of energy and smart meter data and indoor air quality, modelling to assess energy use in buildings (including Energy Performance Certificates), and to perform damp and mould risk assessments. His team also explore the potential of behaviour change techniques to encourage healthier or more sustainable choices and understand occupant experiences in homes. 

David is an established expert in retrofit evaluation and holds various positions at academic, industry and policy organisations, he is on the Board of the Good Homes Alliance, and a Pioneer member of the Building Performance Network, he sits on OFGEM's Technical Advisory Panel for innovation in ECO, and he is Associate Editor for the Journal Buildings and Cities. 

KEYNOTE

Rachael is an architect and has experience designing and delivering commercial and residential retrofit projects. Her previous role was at Buckley Gray Yeoman, a practice that champions retrofit and adaptive reuse, where she led the response to sustainable and regenerative design, supporting projects to develop and implement strategies to reduce embodied carbon, material use, operational energy and to enhance biodiversity and user wellbeing. 
 
Rachael sits on the New London Architecture Retrofit and Conservation expert panel and is a WELL accredited professional. She was named 2021 RIBA Journal Rising Star for her work in practice to communicate sustainable design and within the Architects Climate Action Network to campaign for the regulation of embodied carbon emissions.  
 
In 2023 she joined the RIBA Stirling Prize jury as the sustainability expert and in 2024, she won the AJ100 Sustainability Leader of the Year award. 

HOST

Caitriona is the Head of Retrofit Programmes is responsible for the implementation, oversight and delivery of retrofit programmes to accelerate the built environments transition to zero carbon.   

Caitriona has well established networks within the connected ecosystem and is a chartered Architect who worked in the Built Environment education sector for almost 10 years with City of Glasgow College. 

Since joining BE-ST in 2021 Caitriona has led Low Carbon Learning, Scotland’s first national Passivhaus, retrofit and fabric first training programme which has upskilled over 3,000 delegates to date.