Retrofit: Live From The Central Belt
We’re reaching outside the borders of England for the latest DMR learner interview. The operator has hooked us up on a direct line to the Central Belt of Scotland and we’ve got Stuart McGill on the other end. Stuart is an insulation installer and retrofit professional from Armadale, West Lothian, and he’s ready to talk retrofit training, insulation qualifications, hemp and paddleboarding.
Hi Stuart, thanks for joining us from Bonnie Scotland. Let’s kick off the interview with a couple of background questions. How did you get into insulation work? And did you start in another construction trade or do you come from a different background?
My background is in joinery, kitchens and bathrooms. I got into insulation in 2013 when I started working for a friendās company based in Glasgow that was doing under floor, loft and cavity wall insulation. That was part of the ECO3 funding scheme. I was mostly doing under floor insulation and occasional room in roof insulation.
Moving forward at my current company, we want to get into loft insulation, so we can join the Warmworks project that is based in Scotland. For that, I needed to have a recognised loft-specific or cold roof-specific qualification.
We’ll ask you about the qualification a bit later, Stuart. But first, can you tell us what kind of insulation work you’re currently involved in?
We’re actually a loft boarding company. What we do is primarily floor and loft ladders. But we do offer insulation as well and weāre using what Iāve learned as an insulation installer to teach other people how to do it properly.
Where do you see yourself going with retrofit in the next five to ten years? Do you see yourself staying in the sector long-term?
Iām staying! We’re just at the beginning of our journey into retrofit. Our company is rebranding and weāre looking at having a sister company that’s going to be focusedĀ solely on retrofit. I’ll be at the forefront of that and managing it going forward. I’m operations manager now but I’ll probably switch over to the new company and manage that.
You can clearly see that the retrofit sector is growing quickly and there will be plenty of opportunities over the coming years and decades, driven by Net Zero and the need for greater energy efficiency.
Yes, itās a massive opportunity for everybody. And it’s a good thing to be part of, as well.
On a personal level, do you feel satisfied that you’re doing a job that contributes to the environment and sustainability?
Yes, I do. Just on Wednesday I was in Jedburgh with a hemp installation start-up down there and that’s something that weāre trying to get to the forefront of. Weāre about to become approved installers for hemp insulation, and weāre already installing it. We’re really pushing it, and that excites me. It’s something that other installers should consider.
Weāll be straight onto Google after this call looking at hemp insulation. What is the name of the company?
IndiNature. Indi as in āIndie Musicā. Theyāve got loads of different hemp products that they’re working on and they’re currently producing as well.
In Scotland do you find that insulation is very much a learn-on-the-job type trade or do you see training opportunities being promoted to new recruits to the sector?
A local college has recently built two houses on their site [for training]. They were just doing joinery and plastering but now they’re looking for more courses they can offer for insulation and retrofitting. Training opportunities are definitely available up here. Itās starting to open up and it’s attracting more people.
Before, we had one-man installers going out in vans. It was unregulated, and the training wasn’t available. But I think more and more up here, things are changing.
You’ve just achieved your NVQ Level 2 in Cold Roof Insulation with us. What was your main motivation for doing the NVQ?
We needed it for PAS2030 accreditation, and I needed a qualification specific to doing lofts.
What are the main benefits of you achieving your NVQ? Is it mainly for yourself, or for your company?
I think it’s mainly a company benefit. Having the NVQ means that we can branch out into different things. There are huge contracts up here in Scotland, and we can go for those now.
Do you feel the NVQ will help you in every aspect of your work, regardless of whether itās privately financed work or funded through the government or schemes like ECO4?
Itās relevant to everything we do. We do private installation work that isnāt looked at by inspectors; it’s not government funded. But we want to know that we’re doing it right. As a company, weāre always wanting to do everything the right way.
Did you research NVQ training providers yourself or was it done through your company?
It was a bit of both. I had went online myself to look for training companies that provided the NVQ in Cold Roof, and the boss did the same. We both came up with DMR.
What were your expectations of the assessment process before you started?
Iāve done an SVQ before so I knew it involved onsite visits, assessment and answering knowledge questions. I didn’t have any concerns about it.
What types of workbased evidence did you gather during the qualification and what did Ian [Stuart’s NVQ assessor], watch you doing during your observation?
Ian came up to Scotland for the day and visited me on site. He watched me doing loft and hatch insulation on a private job. The property itself didn’t have any ventilation so Ian watched me talking with the customers.
He also observed me preparing for the job, doing risk assessments and method statements, applying floor protection, moving stuff about the house, removing waste and storing tools and materials in the van. I demonstrated how we use our app [to log work] because everything we do is app-based. We’ve got our job sheets, risks assessments, method statements and checklists on the app.
I found the written part of the NVQ a wee bit complicated at first ā I felt the knowledge questions could have been simplified ā but Ian was really helpful in explaining them.
What was your main method for communicating with Ian during your NVQ, before and after he visited you in Scotland?
We kept in contact mainly by email and phone. Ian was good to let me know he was expecting from me. He asked me a lot of questions and explained everything well. Heās got a good understanding of the insulation trade, so he knew how to ask the right questions.
Any words of wisdom for people interested in moving into retrofit and insulation installation?
Find out what you need, qualification-wise. I had quite a lot of qualifications in insulation, but nothing that was specific beyond general materials.
We like to wrap up our interviews by asking what you do when youāre not working. Do you have any hobbies or interests? Especially unusual ones!
Nothing unusual. I like paddle boarding.
Paddle boarding – that is quite unusual and out of the ordinary. Do you live on the coast?
No, I’m bang in the centre of the Central Belt in Armadale – between Edinburgh and Glasgow. There are a few lochs near me so I’ll go out on those. But Iāve also paddleboarded and kayaked in the sea.
It’s probably a silly question with you being a Scotsman, but would you say youāre an outdoorsy person? Do you make the most of the Scottish mountains?
Yes, I like getting out. But I’ve got some young kids that are just not cut out for the long distance walking yet. But its something I used to do as much as possible.
Stuart, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you. Good luck with your retrofit plans and hopefully we can catch up again down the road.Ā
You too. Speak to you again soon.Ā
Stuart achieved his NVQ Level 2 in Cold Roof Insulation. This interview is based on a telephone conversation that took place on Friday 15th September, 2023.