Property developers take note – according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), retrofitting is due to take off due to the requirements of the government’s environmentally-friendly construction agenda.

The FMB said that many new jobs in construction will be created over the next few years based upon the need to ensure retrofitting of energy efficient and carbon reduction technologies.

It pointed out that the latest figures to be published by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply reveal that there has been an increase in construction recruitment over the past month. The statistics also indicate that the volume of construction work available is now at its highest level since September 2007.

FMB director of external affairs Brian Berry said that much of this was down to the government’s insistence that existing homes be made more energy efficient, requiring much retrofitting of carbon reduction materials.

The requirement for carbon reduction systems in new homes also means that the technologies required are being sought after by property developers.

The new government is committed to actually encouraging a green agenda and making our existing homes more energy efficient,” Mr Berry said.

“I think we have already seen an upturn there in more entrepreneurial construction companies taking advantage of that. In terms of the retrofitting market and energy efficiency, that is where the job creation will be in the next few years.”

In one example last month, British Gas opened a green skills training centre in south Wales which aims to help advise and train some 1,300 people in readiness for new construction and civil engineering work.

A leading supplier of construction materials has warned that certain materials aimed at increasing energy efficiency and carbon reduction are being severely underused by the property developer community.

SIG operations director Vince Lunn urged builders and property developers to start incorporating green technologies as standard practice in their projects.

Mr Lunn gave as an example a copolymer that has been developed by SIG with the intention of being used in buildings with a low thermal mass to prevent the rapid fluctuation of room temperatures.

He explained that “the copolymer sites in the walls and at 22 degrees it melts. When it melts it takes up some latent heat in order to do that, so that actually cools down that building or that room.”

“As the temperature drops and as it reaches 18 degrees, it solidifies and actually gives some of that heat back.”

Although the material is already in use, Mr Lunn stressed that it can potentially be used in many different parts of a building than just the walls. He said that it was down to the construction industry to think outside the box and innovate to ensure that more carbon reduction technology was utilised.

“One of the challenges we face all the time is we work with lots of manufacturers and we bring a lot of products and I challenge the idea that it is becoming more mainstream,” he said, insisting that property developers need to be more “imaginative.”

This looks likely to be an uphill struggle, however. At the start of the week, the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced that it is rejecting any new applicants to the Low Carbon Building Programme due to spending cuts.