It is well known within the industry that trained installers often face delays when entering the heat pump market, with many struggling to secure their first installation job and build up a solid pipeline of heat pump installations.

To address this first installs problem, this project is offering air-source heat pumps to selected newly-trained installers to install in their own home. The installers participating in the project are all experienced plumbing and heating professionals, who are SNIPEF members, and are sole traders or in senior roles within very small or micro businesses (fewer than 15 employees). By providing these professionals with heat pumps in their own home, we want to assess whether first-hand experience can speed up the frequency of retrofit heat pump installations, boost installer confidence and increase customer attraction.

We want the insights gained from this project to enhance both existing and new initiatives, to build an active and skilled workforce prepared to meet the growing demand for heat pump installations.

This project will provide us with greater knowledge of how to support plumbing and heating professionals as they enter the heat pump sector – an area where there is currently little insight. We will gather insights that could, for example, inform useful updates to the MCS certification scheme or improvements to heat pump training delivery. The project’s findings may also interest manufacturers looking to support installers entering the heat pump sector, or local and regional authorities aiming to meet their net-zero targets and encourage industry development in the area.

If the UK is to meet its current net zero goals, the low-carbon heating industry must expand. To achieve this growth, we need about 27,000 new heat pump installers by 2028. We believe that facilitating the first installation for plumbing and heating professionals can encourage more to enter the marketplace.

An extensive review of existing literature and discussions with stakeholders in the sector reveal that newly-trained installers face several challenges as they transition from training to securing their first few heat pump jobs. For instance, many installers struggle to attract their first customer and achieve MCS certification with their initial installations. Additionally, they often feel uncertain about their practical skills and may even still have doubts about the effectiveness of the technology.

In partnership with SNIPEF, we have recruited 40 heating professionals who have not yet installed heat pumps. All participants will attend heat pump installation training – including low-temperature heating systems – over the summer. After they complete the training, 20 participants will be selected for the in-home install and will begin designing their home installations, and will then be provided with a free heat pump. These participants will also be able, if they wish and meet the installation criteria, to take advantage of grant and loan support from Home Energy Scotland.

The remaining 20 participants will form a comparison group of newly-trained installers who will not receive a heat pump to install at home. This approach will help us understand the typical business development/career trajectories of heating professionals after training on heat pumps, which is currently not well researched and documented.

To understand the impact of the intervention, we will compare installers’ experiences across these two groups. We will explore different outcomes that relate to the installers’ journeys into offering heat pump installations through qualitative interviews and short surveys as we catch up with the installers during the year-long project. We will pair this with the use of diary methods with all installers to better understand the challenges they face on a weekly basis.

Participants will attend training on heat pump installations in summer 2024, and half of them will design their in-home installations. As installers obtain their qualifications, we will deliver an air-source heat pump of their choice to them, in collaboration with City Plumbing – a major wholesaler of equipment to the plumbing industry – by September 2024. We will then conduct a first round of interviews in autumn 2024 and a second round in spring 2025 to learn about the participants’ experiences, after which we will conclude the project and disseminate our research findings.

Alongside these activities, we have brought together a scaling group of key heating industry, government and skills stakeholders. This scaling group will hear updates about the project on a regular basis and advise on its trajectory – namely identifying which findings are most needed for the sector and how to effectively scale the model (if it works!).

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or in becoming a member of the scaling group, please contact our project inbox – [email protected].