Ideal Heating opens £20m R&D facility with advanced heat pump testing capabilities

Ideal Heating has marked a £20m investment in its UK Technology Centre (UKTC) in Hull, which features specialist facilities including climatic chambers for testing heating products in temperatures ranging from -30°C to 50°C, as well as assessing heat pump noise and electromagnetic compatibility. 

The UKTC represents a significant expansion of Ideal Heating’s research and testing capabilities and is home to more than 100 experts working across R&D and product development. Another specialist facility is Ideal’s EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) Chamber which enables products to be tested both for the electromagnetic signals they produce and their response to interference generated by other devices in the home. 

Ideal Heating says the £20m UKTC is one of the most significant investments it has made at its Hull headquarters and will help the company accelerate the development of heating solutions as the energy transition evolves. 

Partners involved in delivering the facility include Humber Freeport, Hull City Council and principal contractor HBC (Henry Boot Construction). Humber Freeport provided £2m of seed capital funding towards the development. 

Humber Freeport CEO Simon Green said: “Ideal Heating’s UK Technology Centre perfectly illustrates the developments we wanted to support through our seed capital fund. It is a beacon of innovation, both supporting and creating highly-skilled jobs in UK, research and development, product innovation and manufacturing.”