Get to know us
Meet our brilliant team, each driven by an unwavering passion for our mission and experts in their respective fields. Guided by our board, whose wealth of knowledge and experience is deeply rooted in sustainable energy, the construction market, and retrofit. Together, our board and team are committed to pioneering innovative solutions and leading the way towards a greener, more sustainable future.
Our Team
Simon is the MD of Retrofit West, he has been involved in housing asset management for most of his career and is acutely aware of the importance of home. He has worked extensively across the industry working for landlords, contractors and consultants leading multifaceted teams and developing large investment programs as well as working with national governments on the development of retrofit strategies. Simon is passionate about the importance of retrofit and is excited by the opportunities presented by the challenges that exist in creating scale, capability and understanding across the industry.
With over 10 years of experience managing a variety of projects in housing and with communities, Abby brings a focus to understanding and engaging the customer’s needs to help deliver greener healthy homes.
A Chartered Architectural Technologist with 11 years of design experience and a commitment to sustainable design, George is excited to help deliver the UK’s retrofit ambitions.
Born in Bristol, thriving in South Gloucestershire and a decade in the marketing game, Laura is on a mission to save the planet, one eco-friendly campaign at a time, because convincing people to buy for profit is so last season.
With a background in property management and housing, Phoebe is passionate about bringing sustainability and higher living standards to the residential sector. Brought up in Bath, she graduated in Manchester and now calls Bristol home!
James is well-versed in financial management, mainly within the not-for-profit sector. He has lived in Bristol for many years and is looking forward to helping the homeowners of the West of England decarbonise their homes with the help of the amazing Retrofit West team.
Anita has experience across charity and not-for-profit communications, from campaigns and social media to events. Alongside her MSc in Public Policy focused on environmental policy, she brings a commitment to making sustainability accessible and relevant. She’s enthusiastic about helping people across the West of England feel confident about making changes to their homes.
With a background in urban sustainability and five years’ experience working on strategic research and innovation projects in the retrofit sector, Toby is excited to be supporting place-based delivery of retrofit as part of the Retrofit West team.
Driven to help in the fight against climate change. Louis has previous experience in admin and marketing roles whilst living in Cardiff and his recent move to Bristol has accelerated his passion for sustainability.
Having worked in the world of energy efficiency for over 20 years, Matt likes to help people get over the barriers and debunk the many myths out there. He very much practices what he preaches being several years into a deep retrofit of his family home.
After completing an MSc in Environmental Management, Nick worked at the Centre for Sustainable Energy. An interest in housing drew him into domestic retrofit at Retrofit West, where his role focuses on helping homeowners make confident, informed choices about energy efficiency upgrades.
Beth has an MSc in Environmental Management and four years’ experience in local and regional government, where she supported communities to cut their carbon footprint. She now works closely with community groups across the West of England, helping them support local households to make their homes more energy efficient and comfortable.
Nathan’s role focuses on helping people make sense of insulation, heating systems, and energy efficiency. He previously worked at the Centre for Sustainable Energy, focusing on fuel poverty before moving into domestic retrofit.
Our Board
Janine has worked in the energy efficiency and sustainable energy sector since the early 1990s. She is currently Deputy Chief Executive at the Centre for Sustainable Energy – a Bristol-based charity supporting people and organisations across the UK to tackle the climate emergency and end the suffering caused by cold homes. Prior to becoming Deputy Chief Executive she held the role of Director of Development & Communications, overseeing an eight-fold growth and the diversification of CSE’s funding base and staff team.
Prior to joining CSE, Janine worked for a range of energy and construction bodies including, the Building Research Establishment, the former Energy Efficiency Office of the Department of the Environment and the Construction Industry Board. She has advised on changes to energy standards in building regulations, authored best practice guidance on energy efficiency for housing, designed national energy efficiency schemes and worked on national public energy awareness campaigns.
Janine was involved from the outset of Retrofit West CIC, helping to set the organisation up as a Community Interest Company, establishing the board (which she currently chairs) and appointing Simon Andrews as its Managing Director.
Janine has an MSc in Energy Conservation and the Environment from Cranfield University, and a BSc in Maths from the University of Bristol. She is also a non-executive Director of a community-benefit society where she lives in the Forest of Dean which has developed and owns two 500KW wind turbines.
With over 30 years experience in finance roles across a range of sectors, both public (LA, NHS and Education) to commercial (publishing, marketing, engineering and Education) in the UK and US; Matt is able to bring a range of worked experiences to daily life. Regardless of sector, he applies the basics of commerciality to everything he does, in as plain language as possible.
Always with the intent of being more than purely an accountant in any organisation, as with his current role of Director of Finance & Operations at Centre for Sustainable Energy, his professional roles have frequently incorporated more than purely finance – often, as currently including HR, IT and facilities – and as such have allowed him to be at the centre of the action in any organisation he works with – something he relishes.
Going right back to his degree course, he has always had an interest in sustainable energy sources and the broader ‘green’ matters that affect us all; and his current roles at CSE and on the board of Retrofit West CIC feel like a satisfying circle being linked up.
Peter is co-founder and Managing Director of Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE), a non-profit community business operating since 2010. BWCE delivers community owned renewable energy and community led energy demand management and retrofit projects and recycles surplus back into community action on carbon reduction and fuel poverty via an independent community fund.
Peter has nearly 40 years’ experience of working on renewable energy, energy efficiency and fuel poverty programmes at national, regional and local levels, with a strong focus on local & community action. Peter is co-chair of the UK Government ministerial advisory group on community energy, deputy chair of Community Energy England and a trustee of the Centre for Sustainable Energy. He has an MSc in Energy Resource Management.
Philip is head of sustainability and construction at YTKO who are experts in supporting entrepreneurs, businesses and corporates to expand by increasing their productivity, revenues and market share.
Charlotte is a Director at The Green Register, an independent training organisation specialising in sustainable construction skills for all professions and trades across the industry. Past roles include business development in construction, marketing and project management. With a passion for building practical knowledge for low-carbon construction, she leads teams in sector engagement, building supply chains and developing and running innovative training programmes
