We’re just back from a visit to Futurebuild 2024 in London, where our client Viessmann was exhibiting. Having worked with Viessmann for 13 years, Propel has been inextricably linked with the development of the UK renewable heating market and we’ve attended plenty of trade shows along the way. Despite Viessmann making its first heat pumps back in the 1970s, 13 years ago, exhibiting a heat pump, even at a ‘green’ trade show felt a bit “suck it and see.” Engineers from specialist industrial or agricultural business would stop by and have a chat, while all but the most forward-thinking eco-pioneering homeowners would give it a wide berth. Boiler manufacturer execs would have balked at the idea of being set sales targets for heat pumps back then.

It’s been a gradual change but in 2024 it finally feels like heat pumps have gone mainstream; much less “build it and they will come” and more “how do we make this happen?” If there was a boiler on the Viessmann stand, I missed it. With heat pumps now accepted as a ‘go to’ consideration for retrofit and newbuild properties, the focus of Futurebuild was how best to integrate the heat pump with solar PV, battery storage and Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) technology – in Viessmann’s case with its One Base controls platform. What’s also changing is our relationship with heat. Gone are the days of a boiler hidden in the cupboard until distress purchase time; today we are much more tuned into the different options for building up a low carbon domestic heat and power ecosystem in our homes. The idea of investing in a suite of tech to allow off-grid living is exceedingly attractive. I may have caught myself drooling at all that tech!