Local MP welcomes Vaillant's support for low carbon heating

Vaillant welcomed Member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat to it’s local Centre of Excellence in West Malling, near Maidstone on Friday 11th March. With low carbon heating products and fuel costs being high on the agenda, Tom was invited to discuss the future of heating and how Vaillant is supporting the upskilling of the installer workforce.

During the visit, Tom toured the site with Technologies and Training Director Mark Wilkins, learning more about Vaillant’s innovations in low carbon heating technology, using the opportunity to speak with installers who were taking part in a training course to become heat pump installers. Tom also received updates on Vaillant’s work on the use of hydrogen in heating homes, their range of hybrid systems, and their aspirations for their heat pump manufacturing facility in Belper, Derbyshire, due to open later this year.

Tom Tugendhat MP said:

“It was great to tour Vaillant’s Centre of Excellence in West Malling. I enjoyed seeing the work Vaillant is undertaking to upskill the workforce and prepare for the future of decarbonising heat in our homes. It’s fantastic to see over one hundred of my local constituents having the opportunity to be trained in this area to support the Government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps in the coming years to reach net zero.”

Mark Wilkins, Director of Technologies and Training, said:

“We were delighted to welcome Tom Tugendhat to our Maidstone Centre of Excellence in West Malling to demonstrate how we train our installers, and particularly how we are preparing the workforce for the transition to low carbon heating systems. We were also pleased to update him about the work we carry out supporting communities both in his constituency and throughout the UK.

“As the only traditional heating manufacturer to have invested in manufacturing our own heat pumps since 2006, we are proud to be innovators in the market, pioneering technology in the heating industry and providing installers with the necessary skills and training to futureproof their businesses. Upskilling the workforce is a huge challenge that we need to overcome as an industry. Working with our local MP’s close to our Centres of Excellence, provides us with inroads into the Government, allowing us to educate and ensure our concerns are taken into account when new policies are created.”