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Simpson, K. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-9105-8181, Murtagh, N. and Owen, A.,
2021.
Domestic retrofit: understanding capabilities of micro-enterprise building practitioners.
Buildings and Cities, 2 (1), pp. 449-466.
ISSN 2632-6655
Abstract
To deliver effective domestic retrofit at scale, it is essential to understand the current and required capabilities of building practitioners working in the repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) of existing buildings. Capability research in the construction sector has previously focused on large projects, but small, and particularly, micro-firms that undertake RMI and form 77% of workers in construction, are under-researched. This gap is addressed by the present study on the capabilities of the practitioners and the contextual opportunities to deploy capabilities. The study analysed data from interviews (n = 27) with micro-enterprise building practitioners working in the UK’s RMI sector. Template analysis was conducted by applying an established model of behaviour change: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation—Behaviour (COM-B). Under Capability, three main themes were identified: knowledge, business management and individual characteristics. Under Opportunities, the main themes were state action, market and customer demand, technology diffusion, networks and business management. Under Motivation the themes were pride in work, good working relationships, maintaining a viable business and customer satisfaction. Practitioners are continually learning and problem-solving, developing trust and creating positive professional relationships. Working with these existing capabilities, experiential learning on-site and peer-to-peer training are recommended to scale up capability. For capabilities to be deployed, policy must enable opportunities across the multiple contexts micro-enterprise practitioners operate within, including training and incentives across the supply chain network and in stimulating demand.
| Item Type: | Journal article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publication Title: | Buildings and Cities | ||||||
| Creators: | Simpson, K., Murtagh, N. and Owen, A. | ||||||
| Publisher: | Ubiquity Press | ||||||
| Date: | 11 May 2021 | ||||||
| Volume: | 2 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2632-6655 | ||||||
| Identifiers: |
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| Rights: | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/. | ||||||
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment | ||||||
| Record created by: | Jonathan Gallacher | ||||||
| Date Added: | 10 Jan 2024 14:08 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 10 Jan 2024 15:10 | ||||||
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50652 |
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