Lifting Up: Retrofit Coordinators Unite
Raising the Standard: How Bradley Ray’s Retrofit Site Visit Group Is Changing the Game
With questions about the effectiveness of retrofit coming from every corner of UK society, some professionals have decided to raise standards through a surprisingly simple concept: humility.
The idea that progress comes from acknowledging mistakes and learning from failure is at the heart of innovation.
We spoke with Bradley Ray, a Retrofit Coordinator with four years’ frontline experience, to understand why he believes that openness and peer support are the missing ingredients in retrofit quality.
The Problem
Bradley has worked across dozens of sites and now runs a small company supporting coordinators and surveyors. As he puts it:
“We had quite a few surveyors working for me on the front line. I brought them in and trained them up from outside the industry… and they turned out to be fantastic. But when I started subcontracting, the standard of some surveyors was just so poor. That was the catalyst; I realised I was doing much more than other people, and to me that was just normal.”
That realisation, that “normal” should be better, pushed him to act.
Retrofit Site Visit Technical Support
Bradley decided to start a small WhatsApp group for coordinators who were struggling with inconsistent standards.
I thought I’d get five or ten people involved… but the first day we had about fifty join, and by the weekend it was up to seventy. We’re now at around a hundred. It’s not massive, but I’d imagined being the group expert, suddenly I had all these eyes on me, and I realised I didn’t know everything either.”
The Retrofit Site Visit Technical Support group was born. Its goal: to share best practice, identify common on-site problems, and give coordinators a supportive space free from “Facebook-style” negativity.
“It’s all such an isolating role,” Bradley explains. “Even if you’ve got colleagues, you’re usually working solo. So why aren’t we sharing more best practice as an industry?”
Supplier Support
Manufacturers quickly took notice.
“We had an impromptu meeting with SWIP because people had loads of IWI questions. Dean [Owen] kindly offered to run a Q&A. That was on a Friday, by Tuesday we’d done it. We’ve now got SWIP and EWI Pro involved, and I’m looking for others like flat-roof or trickle-vent manufacturers to join in.”
The rule is simple:
“No promotions, no slagging off competitors, just encouragement and demonstrating the right way to do retrofit.”
Standards and Training
Training, Bradley argues, is one of retrofit’s biggest weaknesses.
“The problem lies within the training market,” he says. “Providers have to make courses short to stay competitive. You can go on a two-day course and scrape a qualification. But are we really setting people up to succeed? I think EA courses should be at least two weeks to properly understand buildings.”
He believes learning on the job remains irreplaceable.
“When I take people on, they don’t train for the first four weeks; they just shadow. They need to know what they’re walking into.”
That extra time, he admits, is “just a cost of doing business,” but it pays off in stronger coordinators and fewer on-site errors.
Raising the Minimum Standard
“PAS is supposed to be the gold standard,” he says, “but people always look for grey areas. If all coordinators raise our minimum standards, it forces everyone else to raise theirs too. We shouldn’t expect less or accept less.”
He gives one example:
“A lot of new RCs get tunnel-visioned on just the measure. But often the failures come from something else, like ventilation. You’ll see a trickle vent and assume it’s fine, but is anyone actually checking it? Failures aren’t always about the system. It’s about the details.”
Honesty About Failure Breeds Excellence
Bradley insists that progress depends on honesty.
“If we’re teaching best practice and how to stand your ground, you’ll already be prepared for when installers try to force you to pass something that’s not right,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s the coordinator who’s liable, so you’ve got to understand what you’re signing off.”
For now, he plans to keep the group informal:
“It’s just a WhatsApp group, not a formal outfit,” he laughs. “Maybe it’ll turn into something bigger over time, but right now it’s about helping the masses, promoting best practice, and working together more effectively.”
The Future
Bradley Ray’s initiative may have started as a small support chat, but it has quickly become a living example of leadership through humility.
By creating a space where coordinators can admit uncertainty, share best practice, and collaborate with suppliers, he’s doing more than improving retrofit, he’s proving that honesty breeds excellence.