Stratford-upon-Avon College recently hosted an event to display its brand-new state-of-the-art heat pump facility to industry professionals as it leads the way in working towards the UK’s 2050 net-zero targets.
The event brought together industry experts, installers, manufacturers and teaching staff to discuss the best way to utilise the centre and help local businesses upskill and reskill their staff.
The Government has highlighted an urgent need for more heat pumps and low-carbon heating solutions, and the College was awarded £1.2 million to further enhance the offering across Warwickshire and the West Midlands.
The event brought together industry experts, installers, manufacturers and teaching staff to discuss the best way to utilise the centre and help local businesses upskill and reskill their staff.
The Government has highlighted an urgent need for more heat pumps and low-carbon heating solutions, and the College was awarded £1.2 million to further enhance the offering across Warwickshire and the West Midlands.
The money was awarded from the Local Skills Improvement Fund after the Local Skills Improvement Plan identified the need for more to be done in the sustainable construction area. #LSIF
CEO of Bosch Thermotechnology, Carl Arntzen, attended the event and says it’s a big step forward: “I had the pleasure of attending the Heating and Ventilating Academy Workshop at Stratford-upon-Avon College, which included a tour of the excellent facilities, as well participating in a lively debate regarding the challenges of decarbonising the way we heat our homes and buildings.
“The debate included discussions on how we practically retrofit 28 million homes in the UK to make them suitable for low temperature heating, to enable the transition away from heating our homes with gas and oil boilers, to a future of low temperature, high efficiency heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps, powered by zero carbon, green electricity.
“Stratford-upon-Avon College is leading the way in this challenge by creating excellent, hands-on facilities for their students to enable them to learn and understand Heat Pump and Hybrid Heat Pump technologies, different system configurations and performance impacts, so they enter the industry practically informed on all the different challenges and solutions to low carbon heating.”
As the UK works towards its ambitious 2050 net-zero targets, there is an urgent need for more heat pumps and low-carbon heating solutions. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has emphasised that installing heat pumps in 50% of homes by 2040 will be required to achieve this goal. The CCC’s latest report to government calls for a significant increase in the annual rate of heat pump installations, rising from 60,000 in 2023 to almost 450,000 by 2030- indicating that rapid action is needed to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
To facilitate this, there is the need to attract and train many thousands of heating engineers and to transition the existing workforce to ensure there is the capacity to install and maintain more complex heating and ventilation systems and the heat pump facility is up for the challenge.
Stratford Upon Avon college is a partner of Solihull College & University Centre, which was lead provider for the LSIF project.
If you are a plumber or electrician, looking to upskill yourself or your workforce in heat pump installation maintenance, please contact Siobhan.Ward@solihull.ac.uk
