A group of plumbing and heating students from New College Swindon recently visited Grant UK’s Training Academy in Wiltshire to learn about air source heat pumps, combining theory with hands-on training to develop their understanding of this low carbon technology.
In early June, Grant UK’s Training Team were delighted to welcome a group of students from New College Swindon who were interested in growing their knowledge and understanding of air source heat pumps. The New College Swindon campus, which is situated only four miles from Grant UK’s Headquarters, delivers teaching across a broad spectrum of academic qualifications, including GCSEs, A Levels, as well as vocational and technical qualifications, higher education and degree-level courses, apprenticeships, professional and business training, and leisure courses.
The College is striving to support its plumbing, heating and engineering students by providing them with the opportunities to learn more about the low carbon technologies which are going to play a major part in the future of home heating. Alongside teaching the principals of plumbing and heating, including a focus on traditional central heating systems such as gas boilers, the College is also investing in learning opportunities about renewable technologies as well. For heat pumps, the College is not only planning to add heat pump products to their own training facilities but they have also partnered with Grant UK who will deliver heat pump training sessions at their Training Academy.
The training session, attended by some of New College Swindon’s students at the beginning of June, was the first such visit that the College and Grant UK hope will be repeated with other students in the future. During their visit, the students completed a two-hour learning session with Steve Ellison, Grant UK’s Assistant Training Manager, who delivered both theory and practical training. The theory session included an introduction to air source heat pumps and how they work, as well as taking a look at the wider system considerations when it comes to installing heat pumps. The students were also able to get their hands on product as well, seeing working heat pump units in action as part of the practical element of the training.
Wayne Eggleton, Lecturer in Plumbing at New College Swindon said: “It’s been really beneficial to be involved with a company that are one of the market leaders in renewable technology. The training given helped the students gain a valuable insight into renewable technologies which is a fundamental part of their course alongside employer engagement. The learners were very complimentary about the training centre, the content and the instructors and as a College we hope to cement this relationship even more over the next few years, not only at their wonderful training facility but in house at New College Swindon too. We would like to thank Grant UK for giving up their time to give students a hands-on experience as well as a knowledge-based lesson.”
“We were pleased to welcome students from New College Swindon to our Training Academy here in Wiltshire,” comments Phil Stanley, Training Manager at Grant UK. “Training the next generation of plumbing and heating engineers is incredibly important as we all move towards achieving the net zero carbon targets set by the Government. Installing and maintaining air source heat pump systems will provide plenty of exciting opportunities in the heating sector over the coming years and, alongside delivering our in-depth product courses to qualified engineers, we also want to support and encourage upcoming plumbers and heating engineers to ensure that future demand for this low carbon heat source can be fulfilled. We hope this recent visit is the first of many that we provide to New College Swindon and their students.”
For further information, please visit www.grantuk.com/professional/training.
