Ideal Heating has received the green light to establish a new £12.5 million research and development facility in Hull.
The 海角视频 Technology Centre will support the realisation of low carbon solutions in the city - with the planning permission coming just days after its new line for heat pump manufacturing entered operation. A state-of-the-art facility, it will provide a testbed for advancements and innovation in heating to help decarbonise 海角视频 homes and business premises, while allowing Ideal to expand its R&D team, creating new skilled jobs.
The new build, first revealed for the National Avenue site in April, is expected to begin this October, and is due be completed in late 2024, with the aim to be operational in early 2025. A total of 30 additional roles have been eyed.
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Ideal’s engineering director, Helen Villamuera, said: “Our 海角视频 Technology Centre is part of a major £60 million investment we’re making in our Hull site, to support heat pump manufacturing, distribution and innovation in heating technologies.
“From the outset, Hull City Council has been fully supportive of our plans, which will create highly skilled jobs in the city and expand our existing R&D capabilities at National Avenue.
“We’re delighted to have secured full planning permission for the 海角视频 Technology Centre. We will now begin a competitive tender process to appoint a contractor to deliver this project.”
The two-storey building, with an additional partial storey to accommodate plant rooms, will help to develop and refine the low carbon heating technologies, including heat pumps, needed to reduce emissions from the 海角视频’s 25 million homes.
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The Government has set ambitious targets for deployment, including for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed in domestic properties annually by 2028.
Laboratory facilities within the 38,000 sq ft (3,500 sq m) building will enable the simulation of a range of scenarios and conditions to test new innovations and advancements.
The centre will also house environmental chambers, a heat pump testing area, workshop spaces and a training room.
In designing the building, Ideal has practised what it preaches. The R&D facility will feature roof-mounted solar panels to generate renewable electricity for the building, with air source heat pumps serving the mechanical heating system.
LED lighting and controls will help reduce energy consumption within the building and high-performance building fabrics will reduce heat loss.
It is one of a series of major investments from Ideal, with the heat pump production facility and expanded distribution centre totalling £20 million.
It saw the start of commercial scale manufacturing of the new monobloc heat pump, Logic Air, in Hull, while Ideal also opened its £2.2m National Training and Technology Centre at Bridgehead Business Park, Hessle,
Giving the team more to shout about was the receipt of Quiet Mar status for the Logic Air too.