How the Government’s New Heat and Buildings Strategy will Benefit the Heat Pump Sector

There are around 30 million buildings in the UK and almost a quarter of UK emissions are produced from heating them. The Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, launched in October, plans to cut emissions from the UK’s homes, public buildings and workplaces by incentivising consumers to make the switch to low-carbon heating alternatives. This includes plans to drive down the cost of renewable technologies, to make them more affordable for consumers.

The transition will be gradual and consumers will be encouraged over the next decade to replace their old boilers with low carbon heating technologies such as heat pumps. The Government is working with industry to ensure that in the future, these appliances are no more expensive to buy than fossil fuel boilers and that they will cost no more to run.

One of the first incentivising policies, announced last month is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

So what is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?

It is part of the Government’s £3.9 billion funding strategy to decarbonise the heating of the UK’s buildings by 2035.

The Government has set aside £450 million for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, to help towards the cost of replacing fossil-fuel boilers in homes across the nation, with low-carbon heating systems. Individual households will be able to apply for grants of £5,000 as part of the scheme.

There is also a £60 million innovation fund set up to help industry develop better low-carbon heating systems that are smaller, easier to install and even cheaper to run.

Phil Hurley, Chair of the Heat Pump Association said of the scheme:

“The heat pump industry warmly welcomes these bold steps forward. The industry is in the best shape it has ever been, with sales this year already double those seen ever before.

“The announcement will give industry and installers a huge confidence boost that now is the time to scale-up and retrain in preparation for the mass roll out of heat pumps”

As well as taking a bold step forwards in helping us meet our net zero target, the scheme will help boost the economic recovery. The Government says that its plans to ‘build back better’ will support up to 240,000 skilled green jobs by 2035.

Heat pump training from Viva

If you’re a qualified heating or plumbing engineer keen to move into this high-growth area, then please get in touch with us about our new air source heat pump (ASHP) course that takes just three days.

The course, certified by LCL Awards, will give you a thorough understanding of ASHP technologies. You will learn all you need to know about the installation, commissioning and hand over of air source heat pumps as well as the maintenance requirements for inspecting and servicing them in the future. There will also be instruction on diagnostic fault finding and repair.

Our fully kitted workshop will give you access to various air source heat pump appliances, so that you can practice the theory you’ve learnt on real units. For more information, click here.