The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is supporting this year’s InstallerLive (NEC, Birmingham, 16-19 October 2011), with a senior DECC official confirmed to deliver a daily headline presentation in the show’s Green Deal Station area.
The Green Deal Station is a dedicated zone which will provide all the information installers need to take advantage of the Government’s new ‘Green Deal’ initiative, scheduled for launch this Autumn. As part of the programme of talks in the Green Deal Station, a senior official from DECC will speak at the beginning of each day to outline the thinking behind the initiative and the opportunity it represents for installers to grow their business.
“We are delighted that DECC will participate actively in InstallerLive” says David Pierpoint, the show’s Event Director. “The Green Deal represents a once in a generation chance for the heating and plumbing sector, and it’s important that the Government gets its messages across clearly and directly to installers. The Green Deal Station at InstallerLive is the perfect setting for this dialogue to take place”.
Through the Green Deal, the Government is establishing a framework which will enable private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements to their homes, community spaces and businesses at no upfront cost, and recoup payments through a charge in installments on the energy bill. The Green Deal is a massive new business opportunity. For example, if the UK’s estimated 26 million households take up the Green Deal over the next 20 years, then employment in the heating and plumbing sector, currently at 27,000, could rise to something approaching 250,000, according to DECC.
In addition to the Green Deal Station, InstallerLive will offer additional skills-based features, including the new interactive ‘Eco Challenge’. Backed by the official event partner for the show, The National Skills Academy For Environmental Technologies, the Eco Challenge gives visitors the opportunity to test their skills against each other in an exciting, timed competition focused on installing green technologies. The aim of the Eco Challenge is to raise awareness of the skills that will be required to fit renewable technologies in the light of current and future Government initiatives, such as the Green Deal, Feed in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive.
Winners on each day will receive £100, £200 and £300 training vouchers to be used for environmental technology training through the National Skills Academy.
The InstallerLive Educational Programme will provide unrivalled, practical education sessions with content approved by an Advisory Panel, including the Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC), HETAS, EON and the Heating and Hot Water Industry Council (HHIC). The Panel is chaired by executive director of SummitSkills and interim director of the National Skills Academy, Dr Cathryn Hickey. As well as The Green Deal Station, there will be The Plumb & Electro Skills Station and The Heating and Cooling Skills Station.
