LABM speaks to Simon Tarr, National Projects Director at Worcester Bosch, about how the organisation works with social housing providers, the solutions it offers, decarbonisation and the future of heating.
How do Worcester Bosch contribute to social housing development?
Worcester Bosch has a dedicated, national social housing specification team that only serve this sector. We deal extensively with housing associations, local authorities, national and regional contractors; working closely with preferred distributors to deliver an array of product and services, tailored to this segment.
We know that tenants’ comfort is of utmost importance, with our long-term partnership, support, care and Which? Best Buy endorsed boilers, we can provide long-term peace of mind for all kinds of housing stock — with both quality and reliability.
We support the entire process, from specifying the right product all the way through to after sales. We appreciate the need for pragmatic, short-term solutions and for long-term planning in an environment where decarbonisation goals are shaping how heating will be fuelled in the future.
What do Bosch offer to social housing associations?
We can support and even indemnify detailed design, including heat loss calculations to identify and diagnose where inefficiencies are in a dwelling, supply of goods and services, extensive training to maintain the highest of standards for the development of social housing, remote monitoring and of course ongoing maintenance of equipment installed.
We offer comprehensive services throughout the various stages of social housing development from ensuring the right skillsets are on the job to ensuring it remains to the highest standard. In terms of our full specification process, we have a highly experienced bids and tender team, tailoring solutions to respective requests.
What is Bosch’s position within the social housing market?
The Worcester Bosch brand is built on strong values and a history of quality over profitability, which has been at the core of what we do since the company began 60 years ago.
For us, this means at the core of our activities we need to not only be economically viable but also have a positive impact on society, and respect and preserve the environment. This is
demonstrated by the brand’s innovations into greener technology such as electrical heat pumps as well as the developments into hybrid and hydrogen fuelled boilers. The road to net zero is something that is very close to the brand and is one of our main motivating factors when it comes to future innovations.
Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We strive to protect our planet for future generations, in the products we manufacture, the way we package and distribute them, and through the processes we use at our manufacturing plants.
By acting in an economically, environmentally and socially responsible manner, we want to improve people’s quality of life and safeguard the livelihoods of present and future generations. This is backed up by our purpose ‘Warming Lives and Protecting our Future’ which runs through our entire business.
What is the aftersales care protocol for Bosch?
We directly employ around 365 x service engineers, offering genuine, nationwide coverage and immediate access to spare parts. Furthermore, via our dedicated contact centre and technical support teams we’re often able to effectively diagnose over the phone, for professionals and tenants alike.
Our aftersales care is one of the most important pillars at Worcester Bosch and is an integral part of our training programme. We strive to set the benchmark for all our aftersales activity and continually invest in this area of our business. Being able to efficiently and expertly identify and resolve any potential issues that may arise is one of the keys to providing the best customer service we can.
What does the future look like within social housing from Bosch’s perspective?
The future in this space is highly interesting but not without challenge. As such we deliver multiple ‘Future of Heat’ events where we invite decision makers to share our insights as to the UK’s anticipated technology transition and of course our investment in necessary innovation, specifically around decarbonisation.
It’s highly likely that, as with the new-build market, there will be significant pressure on local authorities to decarbonise their estates at a quicker rate than a private homeowner for example, and this needs careful consideration and in most cases a ‘fabric first approach’ — as a leading supplier of HVAC we are technology agnostic and only interested in delivering an optimised solution to a property or building.
There is much emphasis on air source heat pumps currently; like many in industry we await a decision by the UK Government on mandating hydrogen-ready boilers, and heat networks are also expected to increase, to name just a few. As recently as December 2022, there was a new BEIS (now the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) consultation report published that is open to public review until 21st March 2023. There are quite a few proposals in there so it is certainly of interest to both those within the industry and the wider public to review it.
Worcester Bosch led the way in developing a 100% Hydrogen firing appliance working very closely with UK Government; we have an extensive heat pump and Heat Interface Unit offering and also manufacture commercial and industrial equipment that can be installed in main energy centres for district heating schemes, many of which will provide heat and hot water to social housing tenants.
Our goal is to educate the marketplace by sharing the benefit of our experience; make detailed training available to organisations and installers alike, and continue to invest in new
products and services.
Header image ©Duncan Andison/AdobeStock
