The Centre of Refurbishment Excellence (CoRE) has signed a partnership with the National Energy Foundation (NEF), in a move that will strongly support its practical knowledge transfer work and training to support excellence in green retrofit projects across the UK.
As a result of the partnership, NEF chief executive Dr Kerry Mashford will join CoRE's board.

The partnership will benefit both organisations, as well as to the communities who work with them.

The two groups will work together to develop initiatives to facilitate closer working between business, government and community organisations on all aspects of energy efficiency in buildings.

CoRE's training and education events, usually held in Stoke-on-Trent, will also now be held at NEF's Milton Keynes centre, and vice versa.

In addition, opportunities will be identified to attract joint funding which would not normally be available to NEF as a charity or to CoRE as a not for profit SME.

Chief executive of CoRE, David Pierpoint said: 'The National Energy Foundation is hugely influential in the debates and activity around improving the use of energy in buildings and is keen to share this expertise and knowledge with our members and stakeholders. We are extremely pleased that they will be involved with CoRE and are delighted to welcome Dr Kerry Mashford to our board.'

Dr Kerry Mashford, NEF chief executive, added: 'At the National Energy Foundation, we work on a daily basis to improve the use of energy in buildings. CoRE gives us a very high quality way of sharing more widely than before what we know from decades of practical experience and research, and turning this into long-lasting skills and understanding that will transform the effectiveness of the national refurbishment programme. Together we can achieve so much more, and genuinely complement each other's strengths.'

CoRE is the not for profit, national centre of excellence for green building retrofit. Its mission is to transfer practical retrofit knowledge to support excellence in retrofit products and projects across the domestic and non-domestic sectors. Based in Stoke-on-Trent, CoRE is itself an example of refurbishment excellence, an international standard conference and training venue. The CoRE refurbishment programme was funded with support from DCLG, the European Regional Development Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The National Energy Foundation is an independent charity that has been at the forefront of improving the use of energy in buildings since 1988. It aims to give people, organisations and government the knowledge, support and inspiration they need to understand and improve the use of energy in buildings, through a wide range of practical advice, technical research and programme management services.

For more information visit www.core-skills.com and www.nef.org.uk