New partnership to drive forward low carbon homes and green skills
An ambitious collaboration between London South Bank University (LSBU) and the Wates Group will focus on improving housing quality, driving low carbon innovation and developing the next generation of green skills talent.
The multi-year agreement brings together LSBU Group’s expertise in green skills and technologies – a key area of the Government’s industrial Strategy – academic excellence, specialist research centres and applied research and development capabilities, with Wates’ leadership across construction, retrofit and sustainable technologies.
A central focus will be LSBU’s Healthy Homes Research Group, where six fully funded PhD researchers already look at damp and mould, overheating, fabric performance in heritage buildings and long-term energy system behaviour.
Wates’ industry expertise will complement this work, bringing real-world data from its work with housing providers. A dedicated steering group will ensure this research translates into practical outcomes for tenants, communities and industry.
The partnership also includes:
- Joint curriculum design for LSBU Group’s further education and higher education green skills programmes, including heat pump training and local energy network skills.
- A new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme to help Wates teams co-create innovation projects with LSBU academics.
- Opportunities for Wates to shape dissertation and PhD projects, ensuring student research addresses real industry needs.
- Collaboration on major funding opportunities, including future grants related to materials engineering, renewable energy systems and retrofit innovation.
The partnership will involve joint development of new testing and technology facilities, expanding LSBU’s existing “Infinite Shed” concept, a live environment for testing retrofit materials, ventilation systems, heating technologies and other innovations.
Professor Rodney Day, Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation, at LSBU, said: “This partnership strengthens our commitment to research that directly impacts people’s lives, businesses and communities. By combining our academic strengths with Wates’ practical expertise and supply chain networks, we can accelerate building better and healthier homes and support green skills development, using London as a testbed for real-world innovation.”
Dr Zainab Dangana, Head of Sustainable Technology Services at Wates, added: “LSBU offers research depth and the talent pipeline our sector needs, while our industrial expertise brings data, live environments and the ability to accelerate the introduction of innovative and sustainable technologies. This partnership gives us the structure to tackle some of the biggest challenges in the built environment together – from net zero retrofit to healthy, high-performance homes.”
The first joint activities begin in Spring 2026.