Joe Dart at Installer spoke to Rob Pearse, Residential Business Director at Baxi, about the energy transition and how the business is supporting installers through it.
The residential market is an important focus for heating solutions manufacturer Baxi, with the company recently promoting Rob Pearse to its Executive where he will oversee residential sales and growth across the UK and Ireland.
A key responsibility for Rob is to ensure Baxi is well placed to help installers and their customers adapt to the energy transition that’s currently taking place across the UK. He says: “With the energy transition, there can be an element of fear because it’s taking people away from their traditional day-to-day activities – whether that’s installers considering upskilling on low carbon technologies or homeowners changing how they heat their homes. As a heritage heating manufacturer – we were founded nearly 160 years ago – Baxi has gone through this cycle on a number of occasions.
“In the 60s, Baxi Bermuda back boilers were all the rage, then natural gas was discovered under the North Sea and nearly everyone converted to gas for heating and hot water, with combi boilers coming in at the end of the 20th century. So yes, it’s a change, but we see this as just the next evolution. What’s important for us is to make everyone feel that they have support and reassurance through the transition.”
As part of that energy transition, the UK is seeing increased interest and uptake of heat pump technology. The Heat Pump Association recently reported a 63% increase in heat pump sales in 2024. But as far as Rob and Baxi are concerned, while heat pumps undoubtedly have an important part to play in the move to cleaner heat, there’s more to it than just replacing everyone’s boiler with a heat pump.
He explains: “Air source heat pumps are an initiative that we are very much behind because we want to support and help drive the energy transition, bringing the installer community with us. But a heat pump is not the only answer. Hybrid solutions are an approach that has taken off in the Netherlands and have a huge relevance to the UK market.”
When you consider the ‘two up, two down’ nature of UK’s housing stock, trying to find somewhere suitable to fit a cylinder can be a challenge, he says. But a hybrid boiler and heat pump solution gets rid of that issue. It also means that homeowners don’t necessarily need to upgrade their pipework or radiators either, making it a more affordable and less disruptive option for homeowners, and more achievable for installers yet to experience a full heat pump installation.
He adds: “The UK’s electrical grid is not able to support a rapid deployment of heat pumps across the whole country. Heat pumps are a bigger drain of electricity and the grid will require development and “smart” ways of working to keep the lights on. While it’s the right way to go, a dual fuel option, using a smaller heat pump, would help reduce some of the pressure on the side of the industry, while still having a significant impact on carbon reduction in the years ahead.”
Government hasn’t shown much appetite towards supporting the growth of hybrids for home heating in recent years, with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme not providing finance towards hybrid installations and Scotland funding due to be withdrawn from March. This is short-sighted, according to Rob.
He explains: “The fact that there isn’t any funding for a hybrid solution at this moment in time, I think is one of the biggest Achilles’ heels we have in our country. If you give someone the opportunity to decarbonise their house with a much less invasive installation, it’s something that is going to see greater natural uptake.”
Baxi is targeting other areas in its aim to support the energy transition, with heat networks also in the mix. However, this year it also plans to introduce a more unique approach to addressing the challenges of heat decarbonisation in newbuild and retrofit social housing.
Rob explains: “Using our offsite manufacturing facility up in Preston, we can build a pod that houses the cylinder, the air source heat pump, all of the pipework; it’s all pre-plumbed and built offsite. This external pod can then be delivered to a site and connected to a house with relative ease, so you don’t have to find a place for a cylinder, you don’t have to look at all the modification and potential disruption.
“There has been great interest from providers and developers. And we’re looking at trialing it later this year.”
Other new product launches for 2025, include a high temperature heat pump, a pre-plumbed cylinder, and movement on HIUs and heat networks, the latter because Baxi thinks “it will be a very impactful part of the market moving forward”, according to Rob.
However, new products and solutions are just one part of the support Baxi offers installers. Training is another focal point.
Rob explains: “Last year we launched our Solutions Academy training centre in Warwick, which is a little bit of a jewel in the crown.
“It’s the ultimate facility where our installers can train on everything from repairing older models of Baxi boilers to the current range, through to attending any one of a series of training courses on our air source heat pumps. This is where they can train on all the things they need to know, from stripping the equipment down and rebuilding it to learning how to maintain and service it.”
Supporting installers through the energy transition is crucial according to Rob, and Baxi does what it can to help them at every step of the way. As part of that commitment, the company has an ambition to put 10,000 installers through air source heat pump training this year, says Rob, with the company also offering free assisted commissioning support on their first installations.
Recent research from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero has found that 73% of individuals who have completed Heat Training Grant-subsidised training have yet to install a heat pump, so Rob is keen to highlight that the support shouldn’t just end with the training days.
He adds: “We make sure we follow up with everyone who comes through one of our air source heat pump training sessions. If we see that they haven’t installed a Baxi air source heat pump yet, then it’ll be a touch point to say, okay, how are you getting on? Are you moving down the heat pump route? Do you need more support? Was the training more to gain understanding of what’s involved in heat pump installation or are you actively looking to push down that route?”
Virtual training is a key component of the offering from Baxi as well, and the company’s Warwick training facility includes a fully equipped digital TV studio to support post-training and remote learning opportunities.
Rob concludes: “Time is precious for installers and we need to make sure that we can offer the support they need, which includes offering learning on the go as well as face-to-face training.”
