Heat pump training could spur hire demand
6 December 2022
The UK government has awarded £9.2 million of funding to training organisations to deliver programmes in installing heat pumps and energy efficiency measures to take advantage of future green job opportunities.
The funding follows the announcement of the winners in the latest round of the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training competition. Almost 9,000 courses will be run across England either free or heavily subsidised to provide training for people already working in the heating and plumbing sector who are looking to retrain or grow their existing skills, as well as for those looking to enter and work in the energy efficiency, building retrofit and low carbon heating sectors.
The need for such training was mentioned recently here on Site-Eco and highlighted by organisations including the Construction Leadership Council. Indeed, the CITB estimates that improving the fabric energy efficiency of every building in the country in need of retrofit will require 12,000 workers to be trained every year to 2025, and analysis conducted by the Heat Pump Association suggests that more than 30,000 additional heat pump installers will be needed by 2028.
The significance of this training boost is that eventually the contractors and skilled individuals undertaking such installation work will need to hire much of the equipment required.
Successful organisations in the latest funding round will provide appropriate installer training that leads to a recognised NVQ qualification or equivalent and Continuing Professional Development-style short courses.
● Incidentally, there is some debate about the efficacy of heat pumps for some domestic buildings given their suitability for producing background warmth rather than rapid heating, and whether recently built houses can accommodate the bigger radiators and larger pipework typically needed. To address this, hybrid systems working in tandem with a combi boiler are also available.
Photo: Worcester-Bosch
