Mark Wilkins comments on the Heat and Buildings Strategy:

21st October 2021

Following the government’s announcement on Tuesday, Technologies and Training Director, Mark Wilkins comments on the Heat and Buildings Strategy:

“As a leading manufacturer, dedicated to providing energy-efficient and low carbon solutions, we welcome today’s long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy, setting out further direction and vision for our low carbon future.

“Time is of the essence when it comes to decarbonisation, and heat pumps are the best way to decarbonise today. Hydrogen will be a low carbon solution but more tests need to be carried out before we can successfully roll out hydrogen for heating. In the future, there will be a mix of both hydrogen-fuelled boilers and heat pumps as there is no silver bullet to lowering carbon emissions of the UK’s diverse housing stock.

“Vaillant is committed to going above and beyond to help the UK reach its net zero target. We have made significant investment in this area, for example, next year we will be manufacturing heat pumps in our factory in Belper, Derbyshire to help facilitate the increasing demand for these products.

“The number of heat pump installers needs to increase substantially in order to support the ambitions laid out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy and the Government’s levelling up agenda. Vaillant has the capacity to upskill our excellent base of heating installers with the necessary skills to install heat pumps. This does however come at a cost to installers as they have to lose valuable income when undertaking training courses and we urge the Government to take the necessary steps to recognise and incentivise those wishing to embark on the necessary training to become low carbon installers.

“We look forward to working with Government to support their ambitions and contributing to the forthcoming consultations to ensure the UK meets its 2050 net-zero target.”

For more information on decarbonising the UK housing stock, download our White Paper (19253 kB)