Anthony is no stranger to Eastleigh College, his company have been recruiting from the College for over 15 years. He has worked as an engineer and an installation service manager at Bespoke Gas Limited and has been in the gas industry ever since he left school. Now he is upskilling himself with our new Skills Bootcamp course, to enrich what has already been a decorated career in the industry.
The Eastleigh College Skills Bootcamp program is designed to equip plumbing and heating engineers with the skills to meet changing national demands as the UK embraces green heating alternatives. Focusing on the exciting new air source heat pump technology, this eight-day course is completed over a period of five weeks and covers energy efficiency, water regulations, low temperature heating and unvented water heaters. The course is free for employed learners thank to government funding. Launched at the end of 2022, this course has already successfully trained dozens of heat pump installers, with projections of 50-60 trained annually.
Current UK legislation states that gas boilers will not be allowed to be replaced by 2035. This is in conjunction with the government’s Net Zero strategy; the objective of which is to ensure greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are equally balanced by greenhouse gases being removed from the atmosphere.
Anthony commented: “As is the case in many industries, a lot of people tend to stick to what they know. A lot of people will be caught short by the transition to emerging technologies.”
"These skills bootcamps are valuable because they give people an understanding of alternative energies and solutions."
Jaime Rex, Lecturer in Gas and Plumbing at Eastleigh College, commented: “There are over 250,000 gas boiler installers in the UK but only 1500 heat pump installers. This stark difference illustrates the importance of this Skills Bootcamp program and it is fantastic to see Anthony and others in the industry take this key step and upskill.”
Anthony concluded: “It’s never too late to upskill, I’ve been in the industry for decades and the new doors that this course will open for me and the company cannot be understated. My advice to anyone on the fence about enrolling would be to just go for it, because these green heating sources are the future.”