Grant UK Training Academy extend partnership with Coleg Sir Gâr

Coleg Sir Gâr officially opened their Green Skills Academy in late September which is a new facility at their Gelli Aur campus specialising in the delivery of renewable energy training. The facilities are being heated by an Aerona air source heat pump and other Grant renewable products are installed as part of the centre’s practical training room.

Located in Carmarthenshire, the Gelli Aur campus is one of Coleg Sir Gâr’s seven campuses. Gelli Aur is the College’s agricultural campus and in 2024, works got underway to redevelop the 19th century cart house situated within the campus. The aim of this redevelopment project was to not only create a real example of a retrofit project, converting a derelict historic property into a sustainably heated building, but to also create a brand new training facility at the campus which would become the College’s Green Skills Academy.

The cart house was a traditionally constructed 19th century farm building which was leaky and cold. Working closely with suppliers, including Grant UK, the College transformed the cart house into a thermally efficient building with the installation of a limecrete floor, the use of recycled foam glass, sheep’s wool and woold fibre with a vapour control layer forming the insulation solution, triple glazed composite framed windows, an air source heat pump heating system, and much more. In addition, solar PV, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and smart controls have also been installed.

Keeping the building warm is a Grant Aerona³ R32 6kW air-to-water heat pump which is working with the underfloor heating system laid throughout. Alongside the plantroom, there is a lecture room and renewable product practical training room where several Grant products have been installed. These include a Grant Aerona 290 4kW R290 heat pump, a Quick Recovery Twin Coil hot water cylinder, an Aerona Smart Controller, and a heat emitters representing a two-story heating system with a Uflex MINI low-profile underfloor heating system set-up and Afinia aluminium radiators. A Grant on-roof collector has also been installed, representing an example of a solar thermal hot water system.

This major redevelopment project completed in the Summer and the College officially opened their brand new Green Skills Academy on 26th September 2025. Itself a case study demonstrating how older buildings can be made more energy efficient, the Green

Skills Academy provides students with a sustainable learning space for the delivery of training in environment sustainability, energy and carbon management, renewables and retrofit.

In addition to the College using the lecture room and practical training workshop for educating its own students, the Green Skills Academy will also be home to wider training courses for heating engineers and installers. The Grant UK Training Academy is delivering its complete suite of air source heat pump training courses at the campus, including the 1-day Aerona 290 ASHP installer course, the 1-day Aerona³ ASHP installer course and the 1-day Grant ASHP System Design course.

“Coleg Sir Gâr has been one of our training partners for over a year now,” comments Phil Stanley, Training Manager at Grant UK. “Our Trainers have been using the classroom facilities at the Gelli Aur campus, where Grant Aerona³ and Aerona 290 units are in place, to deliver both our R32 and R290 heat pump training courses since October 2024 so we were very pleased to support the redevelopment project to create their new Green Skills Academy. The transformation of their 19th century farm building into the training environment it is today is an excellent example of showcasing how older properties can be brought back to life in an energy efficient way. The Grant UK Training Academy is looking forward to continuing its partnership with the College, using the Green Skills Academy facilities to bring our heat pump training courses to installers and engineers in Wales.”

“We’d like to thank everyone who has supported the project and the official opening of our new Green Skills Academy,” writes Jemma Parsons, Head of the Green Skills Academy at Coleg Sir Gâr. “The Green Skills Academy has one clear vision: to equip people with the skills for the jobs of a low carbon future. We want to ensure Carmarthenshire, and Wales, have the skilled professionals needed for decarbonisation, retrofit, energy management and ultimately energy security.”

For further information about Grant UK’s Training Academy and courses, please visit www.grantuk.com/professional/training.