Harry Paticas on empowering communities through the low-carbon retrofit of primary schools

7. AJ Climate Champions hosted by Hattie Hartman. Harry Paticas explains why he left architectural practice to focus on retrofitting schools, and how he educates schoolchildren on the climate emergency. After more than a decade at Arboreal Architecture, the practice he co-founded in 2007, Paticas left in January 2021 to work full-time on RAFT, Retrofit Action for Tomorrow, a Lewisham-based community enterprise he founded that promotes low-carbon retrofit in primary schools. RAFT combines professional retrofit expertise with a hands-on educational programme. Equipping children with thermal cameras and teaching them rudimentary building physics with hot baked potatoes, Paticas is expanding the reach of his retrofit know-how. And in a quick news roundup, co-hosts Hattie Hartman and George Morgan share views on ACAN’s student activism campaign, greenwashing and Passivhaus myth-busting. For show notes to this episode and to listen to all AJ podcasts, visit architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts