Daikin, in partnership with Bolton College, has launched a recruitment campaign to engage five apprentices for its Level 3 Low Carbon Heating Technician Apprenticeship programme.
The course is being rolled out for the first time this year, so the apprentices will be amongst the first in the UK to achieve this qualification.
The five apprentices will be recruited directly from the Greater Manchester area and Daikin said it plans to recruit a significant number of additional apprentices from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) area in the coming years.
This initial three-year programme will start in February 2025. According to a company statement, the apprentices will gain skills and knowledge to become “leaders” in the low-carbon heating sector, plugging the green-skills gap and future-proofing their careers. They will split their time between learning on the job with qualified engineers and classroom training at Bolton College.
A further four apprentices from Robert Heath Heating (RHH), who are part of the Daikin Group, will join the apprentices recruited from the GMCA area, as part of a dedicated “Daikin Class” at Bolton College. The RHH apprentices will be based outside the GMCA area.
Iain Bevan, Daikin UK’s residential new business director, said: “The launch of the Low Carbon Heating Apprenticeship scheme underlines Daikin’s commitment to helping GMCA achieve its net zero ambitions. The apprenticeships will open the door to long term, secure careers at the heart of the low carbon heating revolution.”
The statement added that the initiative builds on Daikin’s and GMCA’s shared commitment to sustainability and the decarbonisation of Manchester.
Daikin is set to open a new training centre in Manchester in Spring 2025. The company said its new centre will more than triple the number of engineers that it can train each year, from around 1,800 to approximately 6,000.