Derby College Group
UK’s First Low Carbon Heating Technician Apprenticeship
Finalist, Tomorrow's Employees
About
Achieving Net Zero by 2050 requires decarbonising over 30 million homes and businesses across the UK. To meet this demand, the government set a target to install 600,000 heat pumps each year, by 2028, however, there is currently a huge skills shortage. In response, DCG partnered with Vaillant to launch the UK’s first Low Carbon Heating Technician apprenticeship, one of six new Royal Apprenticeships created to celebrate His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation. Since its launch in 2023, 22 apprentices have enrolled. The pioneering programme combines industry partnership, curriculum innovation and strategic leadership to deliver a bespoke apprenticeship that teaches the next generation skills to aid careers that directly help the UK meet its Net Zero target. The apprenticeship includes two years working with the employer, with an additional foundation year to teach students skills that enable them to carry out end-to-end installation, including a Level 2 qualification in plumbing.
Top 3 learnings
- I have learnt that utilising our fulltime L2 plumbing students makes the recruitment campaign for Vaillant more effective and reduced risk of incompetence.
- We learned long-term partnerships outperform short-term funded projects.
- We learned sustainability is strongest when embedded into real opportunities.
What it would mean to win
Winning this award would recognise the hard work of our apprentices and the impact of our programme in supporting young people locally. We are proud to be helping them build careers that contribute directly to the UK’s net zero transition and a more sustainable future.
SDG
| 2026 | |
| Tomorrow's Employees | |
| Finalist, UK and Ireland |
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