Exploring the emerging workforce capabilities required for evidence-led Net Zero performance assurance.
As heat decarbonisation accelerates, organisations face increasing pressure to verify performance outcomes, demonstrate retrofit value, improve operational visibility, and provide credible evidence to stakeholders. Many of the workforce capabilities required to continuously measure, verify, evidence, and improve thermal performance are still emerging.
The Context
Decarbonisation is accelerating. Performance assurance is struggling to keep pace.
Across the UK, billions of pounds are being invested in heat decarbonisation, retrofit programmes, heat pump deployment, and estate transition initiatives. These investments are transforming how buildings are heated and operated.
Yet installation alone does not guarantee performance.
Many organisations can report what has been installed, but have limited visibility into how thermal systems perform in real operational conditions — room by room, season by season, and across entire estates. As a result, the gap between intended outcomes and actual outcomes often remains difficult to measure, evidence, and improve.
This growing challenge is creating demand for new methods, tools, operational practices, and workforce capabilities focused not simply on deployment, but on the continuous assurance of thermal performance in real buildings. TPAE exists to explore that emerging capability area through collaboration between colleges, universities, industry, estates teams, innovation partners, and Living Lab environments.
The Initiative
Exploring the emerging discipline of evidence-led thermal performance assurance for the built environment.
What is TPAE?
Thermal Performance Assurance Engineering (TPAE) is an emerging capability area focused on understanding, evidencing, and continuously improving the real-world thermal performance of buildings and estates.
As heat decarbonisation accelerates, increasing attention is being given not only to what is installed, but to how buildings actually perform in operation. TPAE explores the skills, methods, data, and operational practices required to measure, verify, and optimise thermal outcomes throughout the life of an asset.
The initiative brings together colleges, universities, estates teams, industry practitioners, innovation organisations, and Living Lab environments to explore the workforce capabilities that may be required for the next generation of low-carbon building performance.
Important Note
TPAE is a FutureTherma Labs-led collaborative capability-development initiative. It is intended to support exploration, knowledge exchange, and applied learning around Thermal Performance Assurance. The initiative does not currently award qualifications, accredit practitioners, or act as a regulatory body. Any future recognised pathway would be developed in collaboration with appropriate education, industry, professional, and awarding partners.
Collaboration
TPAE is exploring collaborative Living Lab and demonstrator opportunities with institutions interested in understanding the operational realities of thermal performance within low-carbon estates.
Living Lab environments offer a unique opportunity to generate real-world evidence, explore emerging workforce capability needs, and develop applied engineering understanding within actual institutional buildings.
Framework
Exploring the workforce capabilities required for evidence-led Thermal Performance Assurance in low-carbon institutional estates.
TPAE explores these emerging capability domains through collaboration between industry, academia, estates teams, innovation partners, and Living Lab environments.
The Fellowship
The TPAE Fellowship is an emerging informal capability-development initiative designed to support practical exposure to thermal performance assurance concepts, applied engineering thinking, and digital-estate innovation.
The Fellowship is intentionally exploratory — evolving collaboratively alongside institutional and ecosystem engagement, rather than being predefined from the outset.
Collaboration Partners
TPAE is designed as an open, collaborative initiative — welcoming engagement from across the institutional, academic, public sector, and innovation ecosystem.
Development Priorities
About the Initiative
Thermal Performance Assurance Engineering (TPAE) is a FutureTherma Labs-led capability-development initiative exploring the emerging workforce, operational, and evidencing capabilities required for evidence-led Thermal Performance Assurance in low-carbon estates.
As heat decarbonisation accelerates, organisations face increasing pressure to verify performance outcomes, demonstrate value from retrofit investments, strengthen operational visibility, and produce credible evidence for stakeholders. Yet many of the skills required to continuously measure, verify, evidence, and improve thermal performance are still emerging.
TPAE exists to support collaborative exploration of these capability needs through engagement between industry, colleges, universities, estates teams, innovation partners, and Living Lab environments.
The initiative seeks to help build shared understanding of the future workforce capabilities that may be required to support evidence-led Net Zero delivery at operational scale.
Visit FutureTherma Labs →Get Involved
We welcome conversations with organisations interested in Living Lab exploration, applied engineering collaboration, demonstrator opportunities, and thermal-performance capability development.
Tell us about your organisation and what you're interested in exploring. All enquiries are welcome — no commitment required.
Your enquiry has been received by the TPAE initiative team. We'll be in touch at tpae@futuretherma.co.uk within 3 working days to continue the conversation.