Swedish cleantech company Aira has opened a new training academy and hub, its first in London.
Daniel Francis, the new Labour MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, cut the ribbon for the new centre, which is located in Crayford, South London.
The facility will provide training to all those involved in the installation of Aira heat pumps, as well as for Aira’s sales team, designers, and marketers. The hub will provide a training base for Aira staff across the South of England, and will create 140 jobs in the area and train thousands over the next decade.
This launch is part of Aira’s ambitious plan to become the UK market leader for heat pumps. The firm has already committed to investing £300 million into its UK operations and hiring 8,000 people over the next ten years.
Georgia Laws, Crayford Aira Academy Manager, said: “The official opening of our Crayford Hub and Aira Academy shows our commitment to helping households across the South of England make the switch to cleaner, greener and more affordable heating.
“At our best-in-class facilities, we will focus on training individuals to become the next generation of heat pump installers and increasing the green skills workforce. The long-term goal is to offer people with no prior experience, or those at the start of their career, high-quality training so they too can join the Aira family and much-needed clean energy revolution.”
Daniel Francis, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, added: “Aira will make a fantastic contribution to the local economy and community with sustainable and affordable heating solutions. It’s great to see them investing in the next generation of highly skilled clean energy professionals who will help to transition the region’s homes to low carbon heating.
“I look forward to following the hub’s growth and working closely with them to implement the government’s Warm Homes Plan to upgrade British homes so they are cheaper to run and less exposed to the price shocks we have seen in recent years.”
Rise of heat pumps highlights green skills gap
Heat pump uptake has seen a meteoric rise in recent years, with the UK’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) seeing an 81% rise in year-on-year applications. Market research by Aira found that over half (52%) of Londoners said that they are likely to install a heat pump in their home when they next renovate, while the Greater London Authority’s latest Energy Planning Monitoring Report showed that 88% of all proposed developments in the capital involved heat pumps.
However, the UK needs to speed up the pace of heat pump installations in order to hit its decarbonisation targets, with a report by the charity Nesta showing that 3 million more heat pumps must be installed over the next five years to remain within legally binding carbon budgets.
In the face of these statistics, the green skills gap becomes stark. A lack of heat pump installers is slowing down the pace of installation, and the MCS Foundation notes that the UK will need to have around 50,000 qualified heat pump engineers in the workforce by the mid 2030’s to hit installation targets.
Aira is not the only organization working to close the green skills gap in heating, however. Heating and cooling appliance manufacturer Daikin UK has partnered with the Green Skill Academy and Quantum Group to help train green heating tutors in nine colleges in Greater Manchester.
