We catch up with a very forward thinking business: Unyte as they hold there open day in Wolverhampton. They help people and business move forward into that greener way of thinking.
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00:00We're here at Wolverhampton Science Park and Unite Knowledge Academy. You've had an open day today, guys.
00:05Yes, we have.
00:06Cool. So, Unite Knowledge Academy, it's a new business to me. What are you all about then? What do you do?
00:14So, Unite Academy are focused on training the workforce of tomorrow,
00:19and that is specifically in retrofit and sustainability industries.
00:25Yeah.
00:25So, looking at installers, looking at making your home more eco-friendly,
00:32and filling the skills gap to fulfil the government's initiative of being much more sustainable by 2050.
00:39And that's the gist of it, and it's all about being eco and sustainability
00:42in business, in your workplace, and in home, yeah?
00:46Absolutely.
00:47Cool. So, if people want to, and businesses want to, what would they be coming there,
00:53what would they be coming and asking you, and what would you be telling them?
00:57So, customers may come in to ask for energy efficiency advice for their home,
01:00how to cut down their energy bills. We can support with that.
01:03We can have our DEAs go out and do energy efficiency assessments of their properties.
01:07We can coordinate installations at their homes to make their homes more energy efficient.
01:13We can improve from gas boilers to air source heat pumps,
01:16in order to keep the cost of living down and lower those bills.
01:19So, it's all about giving people in industry and just general people the right advice,
01:25and what they qualify for in terms of grants or insulation.
01:29Getting them in touch with the right funding streams,
01:31that they can get those insulation measures for free if they qualify.
01:34Yeah, yeah. And the online platform, is that open to anyone?
01:38Can individuals kind of sign up to it and have a look at it?
01:42Yeah, absolutely. So, the learner platform is providing lots of courses,
01:48so everything from health and safety and compliance courses,
01:52straight the way through to sector-specific learning opportunities and qualifications.
01:56Yeah.
01:57So, it's a one-stop shop for all of your business or employees' needs,
02:01if you're looking at that from a business aspect,
02:04or if you're an individual who's looking for CPD opportunities at a really good rate,
02:10then this is the platform for you.
02:12And I keep hearing this word hemp. Go on, what's...
02:16So, there's a hemp element to the business, isn't there, to Unite Academy?
02:19There is. We've just launched a new ecosystem,
02:21which is divided up into Unite Knowledge, Unite Solutions and Unite Hemp.
02:26Unite Hemp is probably at the core of the decarbonisation of the built environment.
02:31Hemp is a very sustainable crop, which can actually be produced into multiple uses,
02:36and the focus today has been on the decarbonisation of the built environment.
02:40So, how can we produce hempcrete blocks from this raw material?
02:45How can we produce the insulation, which the products actually,
02:49from the hemp being grown in the field, locks in the carbon.
02:52It's one of the best carbon capture crops that we have on the planet to sequester carbon,
02:57up to 20 tonnes of carbon per hectare.
03:01And when you're growing that plant, you obviously want to put that plant into a use.
03:05And from what we're doing here in terms of retrofitting buildings,
03:10we can actually put hemp breeze blocks, or hempcrete blocks,
03:13and hempcrete insulation into these properties,
03:18and essentially make them carbon negative and much more sustainable from the get-go.
03:24I did not know. So, the main thing we're talking about here is hemp as an insulation tool.
03:29Hemp is an insulation tool. We've seen, over the last few years,
03:34people supergluing themselves to motorways to insulate Britain.
03:37We clearly have an issue here that the government, I believe,
03:40needs to make properties more efficient by 2030.
03:4626 million properties, I do believe.
03:49We have the tools here to not only train individuals to retrofit these properties,
03:54but also supply the materials on scale to make them more energy efficient and sustainable.
04:02Wow. So, it's kind of almost like you almost offer a one-stop-shop
04:06for anyone in that world of sustainability and becoming more ecological.
04:12Fantastic. If people want to find out a bit more then, where do they click?
04:15How do they get hold of you?
04:17They can go to unite.co.uk, and they can also go to Unite Academy and Unite Energy.
04:24All separate websites. Website for Unite Energy, uniteenergy.co.uk,
04:30and Unite Academy, uniteacademy.co.uk.
04:32Awesome. Thank you. We'll just zoom in on that because it's a U-N-Y-T-E.
04:37Right. Thank you, guys. All the best.
04:38Thank you very much. Thanks.