A new BPEC certified approved mobile training and assessment facility, hosted by South Lanarkshire College, is now available to colleges across Scotland – including Borders College – to provide heat pump training to heating installers, with a particular focus on rural and remote areas, and in places where there isn’t currently college training provision. The mobile centre will also act as an extra training facility for colleges responding to surplus demand for heat pump training.
Installers will be able to visit the mobile centre to be trained and certified on heat pumps installations and also to gain their Water Byelaws/Regulations and Domestic Vented and Unvented Hot Water Storage qualifications.
The mobile training facility was launched by Mr Graeme Dey, Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, and Minister for Veterans on Wednesday 2 August.
The project has been fully funded by the Scottish Government and has come to fruition thanks to a collaboration between Energy Saving Trust, Energy Skills Partnership (ESP), South Lanarkshire College, and heat pump manufacturer NIBE Energy Systems.
Harry Mayers, Head of Home Energy Scotland and Business Energy Scotland at Energy Saving Trust said:
“We’re pleased to see this project coming to life. The Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme identified challenges the industry was facing from the lack of training provision in remote and rural areas of Scotland.
“This new facility is designed to play a key part in addressing the need for better training provision in these areas and supporting Scotland’s ambitions to decarbonise the way we heat our homes and buildings”.
Primarily the centre will be used by colleges to deliver heat pump training locally. When not in use for training, other organisations with a legitimate purpose can use the training centre. The Green Heat Installer Engagement programme, managed by Energy Saving Trust, will administer the training resource in partnership with ESP.
Davie Lowe, Borders College Assistant Principal for STEM and Sustainability, commented:
“It's truly wonderful to witness the realisation of this collaboration, which promises to bring significant advantages for employers in rural areas like the Scottish Borders, enabling them to reskill and upskill their workforce effectively. Moreover, this partnership will provide the college sector with enhanced flexibility to meet the growing demand for education and training opportunities.”
