Eco business: Unyte at Wolverhampton Science Park, hold an open day.

Express & Star

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.

Transcript

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.

Category

Transcript

Recommended