The Scottish and UK governments are firmly behind the move to low and zero carbon heating. 

By 2030, the Scottish government wants 40% of the country’s 2.5 million houses and the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings to have low and zero carbon heating such as heat pumps.  The UK government has also committed to installing 600,000 heat pumps every year from 2028. 

In its Heat in Buildings Strategy the Scottish Government considers heat pumps as one of the key “no and low regret” technology deployment opportunities available today. It’s a technological solution where cost uncertainty is low.  

There is also an increasing interest from consumers to replace oil, LPG, gas and electric boilers with a heat pump to reduce running costs and to reduce carbon emissions. To meet this demand, a significant number of trained and competent heat pump installers will be required. 

Data from MCS shows that Scottish MCS heat pump installations increased by around 229% in five years, from 1494 installations in 2017 to 4928 in 2022. MCS’s data dashboard can give an insight into how uptake has changed over the years.

Heat pumps are already a proven technology. In countries such as France, Italy, and Germany sales have grown year-on-year by 35%, exceeding 2.2 million units.  There are now many heat pump manufacturers providing heating solutions for the domestic and commercial sectors and they also provide technical design and training support. Some of these companies manufacture equipment in the UK. 

The heat pump workforce requirements by 2030 are shown in the graph below, taking into consideration a low, medium, or high uptake of heat pumps.