This year alone, Daikin UK has opened the doors of four new Sustainable Home Centres, as part of its continued drive to help accelerate the UK’s adoption of renewable forms of home heating.
In 2023, Daikin UK expanded its Sustainable Home Network by opening nine centres growing its network by almost 40% year-on-year. Now, just two and a half months into 2024, it’s already added four and there are plans to open more later this year.
The Sustainable Home Centres that opened this year are Connect Plumbing & Heating Supplies in Benfleet, Stuart HVAC renewables in Narborough, Jones & Shuffs in Stoke-on-Trent and MKM Building Supplies in Malton.
Working in partnership with builders’ merchants, heating specialists and energy companies across the country, Daikin UK is creating walk-in locations for homeowners to get to grips with the benefits of renewable heating solutions. Once they’ve identified the best low carbon solution for their home, they are partnered with a trusted local installer.
Each of the four new centres invited local homeowners, installers, housing associations, government representatives and councilors to celebrate their openings and recognise the important role they can play in driving the adoption of renewable heating systems.
As well as providing a hub for homeowners to learn about renewable heating and for installers to bring their customers, the Daikin Sustainable Home Centres house a heat pump training centre. This will help local plumbing and heating installers diversify into renewable heating solutions and ensure the long-term competitiveness of their businesses, as fossil fuel boilers are phased out.
The growth of Daikin’s Sustainable Home Network comes during a growing demand for heat pumps, boosted by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers homeowners £7,500 of support towards heat pump installation costs.
Iain Bevan, commercial manager – heating & renewables at Daikin UK, commented: “Our new openings mark the start of another busy year of launches across our network. We are proud to be partnering with Connect Plumbing, Stuart HVAC Renewables, Jones & Shuffs and MKM Building Supplies as, together, we will tackle the green skills shortage and make a significant contribution towards our national net zero targets.
“Sustainable Home Centres are among the top tiers of Daikin Sustainable Home Network membership – creating an opportunity for specialist renewable heating businesses to step up and lead the country towards a low carbon future.
“Being able to discuss heat pump technology and its significant cost saving benefits in person is vital, as is knowing that it will be installed by a highly trained professional – which is exactly what our Sustainable Home Network is all about.
“The boost in funding through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme at the end of 2023 means heat pumps are now more affordable than ever and have huge potential to reduce energy usage and bills in the home. Over its 15-year lifespan*, switching from a fossil fuel boiler to a Daikin Altherma low temperature wall mounted heat pump will save homeowners more than £3,000 when compared to a gas boiler, more than £6,000 compared with oil and more than £9,000 compared to LPG.
“With lifetime savings of between 24 and 37 tonnes of carbon*, switching from gas, oil or LPG to a heat pump can have a massive impact on a building’s carbon footprint and represents our best chance to make a significant contribution towards our national net-zero targets.”
Matt Taylor, branch director at MKM Building Supplies, commented: “Opening this new Sustainable Home Centre is a brilliant milestone for our business and the local community. As a trusted, nation-wide builders’ merchants that puts our customers first, adding Daikin’s renewable technology to our portfolio of products and expertise will increase what we can offer our customers, while helping to grow out the renewable energy market in Malton. We enjoyed seeing lots of friendly faces at our launch day, who joined us in celebrating this next step in our journey to help our community become more sustainable. With our local expert advice in all areas of plumbing and heating, and Daikin’s market-leading product range, there’s something for everyone.”
