Ideal Heating is opening a low carbon training hub in the South of England as it continues to expand its industry-leading UK operations.
The Training and Technology Centre will be used by Hull-based Ideal Heating’s Expert Academy to equip installers with the skills to fit, maintain and service domestic and commercial heat pumps.
It will also deliver product training for Ideal Heating’s wide range of domestic and commercial boilers.
The 16,000 sq ft centre represents an investment of £1m by Ideal Heating and is due to open in April.
The new Training and Technology Centre is located at Insignia Park in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, just a few minutes from Luton and the M1 motorway.
It will have four spacious training areas featuring the latest equipment and technology, a large conference facility and comfortable café area.
There will also be numerous display areas to showcase Ideal Heating’s industry-leading range of domestic and commercial heating products.
Equipment will include a live heat pump training suite and thermodynamic fault-finding simulators, to enable installers to develop the practical, hands-on skills they need to fit and service air-source heat pumps.
The new hub follows the opening in January 2023 of the award-winning Expert Academy’s pioneering National Training and Technology Centre in Hessle, East Yorkshire.
The purpose-built £2.2m National Training and Technology Centre was the first dedicated centre of its kind in the UK. The training it offers is also focused primarily on green technologies, as the industry transitions from traditional gas boilers to environment-friendly alternatives.
Ideal Heating is part of Groupe Atlantic, a global leader in thermal comfort. Andrew Johnson, Training Director for Groupe Atlantic UK, Republic of Ireland and North America, said: “Following the huge success of our National Training and Technology Centre, we know just how much our customers value the importance of industry-leading facilities.
“We believe in providing the highest quality training experiences possible with carefully designed programmes and first-class facilities across the UK.
“Our training technologies, together with our comfortable and relaxed learning spaces, provide the best learning environments for our expert team to deliver unrivalled training.
“We’re delighted to be opening this impressive new facility, which is ideally positioned, with excellent road and rail links, for us to serve large areas of the South East, London and the central corridor.”
The Expert Academy has over 20 UK training facilities, stretching from Fife in Scotland to Dorset in the south of England – an unrivalled network of provision serving the heating industry and the nation’s 120,000 installers.
It recently received the Training and Product Support Award at the prestigious HPM Awards 2024.
The Expert Academy has also been shortlisted for the Training Provider Award in the National ACR and Heat Pump Awards 2024, due to be held on March 21.
Ideal Heating’s investment in its UK training facilities is supporting the industry’s transition to green technologies. The company is also investing heavily in innovative, low carbon heating and hot water products.
Ideal Heating is part way through a £60m investment programme at its main UK manufacturing and logistics hub in Hull, where over 800 people are employed.
This investment includes a new £10m UK Technology Centre, which will play a key role in developing and testing low carbon heating solutions.
