Herschel's grand opening of its UK Production Facility

The Herschel team is thrilled to have officially opened its new UK Production Facility, in Bristol. We are honoured to have celebrated the grand opening day with some prestigious guest speakers and welcomed a number of customers, suppliers, associates and installers for a tour of the new UK manufacturing facilities.

The UK Production Facility was officially opened by Darren Jones, MP for Bristol North West and Chair of the Business and Trade Committee, who ceremoniously cut the ribbon to mark the occasion. Darren Jones spoke about developments in policy and Parliament that are aligned with Herschel’s vision to decarbonise heating and progress the transition to Net Zero.

The video highlights from our guest speaker presentations can be seen by clicking on the photo below.

We were delighted to also welcome our other guest speakers:

Jade Lewis, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Energy Association (SEA), Dr Richard Hall, Sector Specialist Advisor – Sustainability, Mobility & DSE – Department for Business and Trade and Simon Pugh-Jones RIBA, Chair of Bristol Diocesan Advisory Committee and Contributor to the Church of England’s Route Map to Net Zero.

It was fantastic to hear all the contributions from our guest speakers, they spoke on how our UK Production Facility will not only provide prosperity for the UK economy but also provides a significant opportunity to decarbonise heat in buildings as we strive to reach our Net Zero targets.

Jade Lewis (below) spoke on how energy is very much a hot topic for the UK right now, how an Energy Efficiency Taskforce has been set up to help cut energy consumption by 15% by 2030 and decarbonising heat will need to play a central role. The SEA recognises there is no silver bullet to decarbonising the UK’s buildings and that a range of technologies will be required. Jade commented on how the increase in capacity that our UK Production Facility offers will help “progress the delivery of low carbon heating and bring us slightly closer to delivering that ever so important Net Zero target”. Her full speech is documented here.

Richard Hall (below) discussed how the setup of facilities such as the Herschel UK Production Facility helps secure the welfare of the UK and prosperity within it. He also shared his thoughts on our Herschel Infrared heating technology, “how people really want it, and they are demanding it. And how, even if the government isn’t quite on their side, people are still buying it. And I think that really says, it’s the proof that people like this technology. They want it. It fits in with their lives. It fits in with the way they renovate their homes. And it avoids the whole “we need an army of people to go into people’s houses and retrofit them”.

As part of our opening day and premises tour, Paul Morey (below), CEO of Herschel Infrared, discussed the continuation and growth of our UK infrared panel production and also our revolutonary Halo heater, designed specially to heat churches and heritage buildings.

“A game-changer in our collective response to climate change”

Canon Simon Pugh-Jones has been instrumental in the development of Halo with Herschel and his speech on the potential that Halo has to offer churches in achieving Net Zero was fascinating. Simon captivated the audience as he shared feedback on the installation of Halo at St Matthews Church, in Bristol, describing “four Halo heaters installed just before the last heating season, which have been the sole heat source for worship throughout what turned out to be quite a difficult winter. I’ve demonstrated that trial to at least 180 people from other churches, other dioceses. It’s got to be well over a thousand, it might be over 2,000 people who have been to services and events where Halo has been the heat source. The feedback from them has been overwhelmingly positive”.

The Church of England has set a target to be Net Zero by 2030 and the opportunity to progress towards this target from using the Herschel Halo is significant. Halo offers an elegant, simple to install radiant heating solution that heats people, churches, and heritage buildings comfortably, affordably and sustainably. Simon continued:

“Come 2030, the Church of England may or may not have achieved Net Zero carbon. I hope it will be well on its way. One thing that is absolutely certain is that this initiative would have made a huge difference. We’ll look back at today and realise that this, here, all of this…. Halo, this facility, and this initiative was a game-changer in our collective response to climate change”.

“Providing opportunities for people to help save the planet and change the world”

Darren Jones MP (below) closed our presentations and spoke about how our new UK Production Facility “is a great case study for what we need to see happening in the British economy more broadly”.

Focusing on the decarbonisation of heating nationally. Darren outlined how “the Committee on Climate Change tells us that it’s the second-largest national priority for reducing our carbon emissions around the country. And we also know that it’s the area of decarbonisation that involves the public very intimately, regarding their homes, their bills, and their lifestyles”.

It was fantastic to hear Darren discuss policy changes that are currently in play at Westminster, changes that we have been hoping to see for some time, including EPC reform.

“From a Westminster perspective, I know there are some policy restrictions that you would like to see change to help speed up the growth opportunity for this sector. The Energy Bill has just come from the House of Lords back into the House of Commons, …… Probably the most important is the reform of energy performance certificates (EPCs). We know that the way in which EPCs are performed, how the data is calculated, and what the outcomes of those EPC ratings mean have a differential effect on different types of heating. If we’re honest, they currently favour the older fossil fuel-based forms of heating as opposed to the newer, lower carbon forms of heating. Ministers will have powers once this bill has finished in Parliament to reform EPCs in line with our Net Zero strategy, and I think that would be a really encouraging opportunity for growth in this sector.

Darren’s full speech where he shares the above feedback and also discusses the optimism created from our business model, “providing opportunities for people to help save the planet and change the world” can be watched here on our YouTube channel along with the full presentations from other guest speakers. Subcribe to our YouTube channel to see these and all our latest videos.

We’d like to thank all of our guest speakers for sharing their insights into the opportunities our infrared heating solutions are creating to decarbonise heating and lower UK emissions, in the fight against climate change, whilst heating people comfortably and efficiently.