Carrier Commercial HVAC, part of Carrier Global Corporation, has opened a new training facility in the U.K. that will include a training program focused on educating engineers on “new refrigerants” like propane (R290).
According to Carrier, the opening of the new state-of-the-art facility is an important part of the company’s efforts to support the transition to sustainable heating and cooling technologies.
The academy, which is based at Carrier’s service and rentals depot in Bracknell, near London, has been designed to inspire the next generation of HVAC technicians while helping to address the sector’s skills gap. According to the company, the facility will offer trainees hands-on experience with a range of its technologies, including heat pumps, chillers and air handling units. With a focus on total life cycle asset management, trainees can improve their skills in service repairs and upgrades, modernization and preventive and predictive maintenance.
“The grand opening of our new training academy marks a significant milestone for Carrier and stands as a testament to our commitment to building a skilled workforce capable of leading the way in intelligent climate and energy solutions,” said Andrew Paddock, Managing Director of Carrier Commercial HVAC UK and Nordics. “We recognize that a future without new talent and continual skill enhancement makes it difficult to fully embrace the electrification of heating systems and to meet net-zero targets.”
To help build a skilled workforce, Carrier is also committed to growing its apprenticeship program, with plans to recruit 20 new apprentices in the coming months.
“With the skills gap growing and the industry at risk of losing a wealth of knowledge when our experienced technicians retire, it is crucial that we invest in training new talent,” said Adele Watson, Carrier’s Apprenticeship Programme Lead UK. “Our apprenticeship program, supported by our new training academy, is designed to help young people master skills for the future so we can achieve sustainability and decarbonization goals.”
Carrier has said that the new training academy will also be used for its Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)-approved continuing professional development (CPD) training courses to support existing HVAC technicians’ ongoing training.
A global effort
Carrier’s investment in training expands beyond the U.K., with the company recently opening a 16,000ft2 (1,486m2) training center at its offices in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The new facility offers various courses, ranging from 1 to 13 weeks and covering topics like HVAC service, HVAC design and sustainable building solutions. According to the company, the facility will host more than 1,200 students for in-person courses each year.
The facility’s curriculum is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and meets the requirements for continuing education credits and professional development hours for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Professional Engineers (PE), Carrier said.
NaturalRefrigerants.com has contacted Carrier for more information on the training courses that will be offered at its new U.S. facility, including whether natural refrigerants will be part of the curriculum.
Carrier University, which is also based at the company’s offices in Charlotte, provides virtual training to an additional 7,400 students annually.
Earlier this year, Carrier also partnered with German government agency GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) to offer a week-long transcritical CO2 (R744) training program for eight refrigeration technicians and policymakers from Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam. The course was hosted at Carrier’s CO2OLacademy in Wiesbaden, Germany, where participants could work with a fully operational R744 refrigeration system simulating a supermarket environment.
In October 2023, Carrier and GIZ announced that they would be establishing the “first-ever” East African transcritical CO2 supermarket training center.
