The W. H. Wylie Trust 2024 Scholarship UK Industry Tour – Final Report for Master Plumbers Association

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In June 2024, we undertook a comprehensive tour of the United Kingdom, funded by a $15,000 bursary from the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association of Australia’s The W.H. Wylie Trust. Our primary objectives were to deepen our understanding of modern plumbing practices, vocational training, sustainable energy solutions, and gender equality initiatives within the plumbing industry. This report details our key findings, experiences, and actionable insights from the tour, aligning with the Victorian Plumbing Industry Priorities.

KEY FINDINGS

1. Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy (Plumbing Industry Priority 9)
   • BE-ST: We explored innovative building techniques, green construction initiatives, sustainable plumbing solutions and retrofit training.
   • Northern Gas Networks’ Hydrogen Village: Gained insights into hydrogen as a sustainable energy source, its integration into plumbing systems, and the importance of collaborative efforts for sustainable energy initiatives.
2. Training, Skills, and Workforce Development (Plumbing Industry Priority 10)
   • 2024 Plumbing Installer Show: We discovered the latest tools, technologies, and training methodologies, the increased prominence of heat pump technologies, and were introduced to CIPHE.
3. Equality and Opportunity for Women in Plumbing (Priority 11)
   • Women Installers Together Conference: Learned strategies for promoting diversity and inclusivity, fostering mentorship, and creating inclusive workplaces as well as understanding the challenges and barriers to success that female plumbers have. Investigated tailored training programs and business incubator initiatives aimed at empowering women in plumbing.

4. Protecting the Integrity of Trade (Priority 7)

1. • CIPHE: Discussed their membership uptake, challenges within the industry, non-mandated licensing and apprenticeship structures, and best practices for improving training standards.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Adopt and Integrate Net Zero Targets into Industry Practices: The Victorian Government must collaborate with the Master Plumbers Association to embed the concept of Net Zero 2045 into the fabric of the Victorian plumbing industry. This includes integrating net zero targets into training programs, regulatory frameworks, and public awareness campaigns to mirror the UK’s widespread adoption of this language and goal.
2. Expansion of Training Programs Focused on Sustainable Energy: Increase investment in training programs focused on sustainable energy solutions such as heat pumps, hydrogen technologies, and other low-carbon systems. The Victorian Government should follow Scotland’s example by significantly expanding the number of plumbers trained in these technologies, aiming to train at least 2,000 plumbers annually by 2025.
3. Enhanced Industry Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Create platforms for greater collaboration between the plumbing industry, government bodies, and educational institutions to share knowledge and best practices related to sustainability and safety innovations. This could include utilising PICAC as Victoria’s equivalent to BE-ST, focused on accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon built environment.
4. Increase Funding for Retrofitting and Low Carbon Emissions Projects: The Victorian Government should increase funding for retrofitting projects and low-carbon emissions initiatives, ensuring that the plumbing industry plays a central role in these efforts. This includes supporting training and upskilling in retrofitting technologies.
5. Assess Public Perception and Safety Concerns of Hydrogen: Advocate Victorian Government Ministers to propose strategies for public education and engagement, drawing on lessons from the UK experience. Suggest implementing similar awareness campaigns in Victoria to improve public perception and acceptance of hydrogen as a viable energy source.
6. Leverage Collaborative Research Models: Encourage the establishment of a similar research village in Victoria, potentially led by PICAC’s Hydrogen Centre of Excellence in Queensland. Highlight the benefits of such collaboration, including shared research, cost savings, and accelerated technology development.
7. Promote Integration of Hydrogen into Existing Plumbing Systems: Recommend to Victorian Government funding for the development of training programs for plumbers and gas fitters in Victoria to upskill them in hydrogen technologies. This could be modelled after the retrofit training offered during the Hy Grove hydrogen testing phase.
8. Monitor and Adapt to Policy Changes: Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association to continue to maintain a flexible approach to energy planning, ready to pivot as needed in response to new government policies or changes in public sentiment.
9. Incorporate Real-World Testing and Data Collection: Advocate for the creation of similar test environments in Victoria, where various net-zero technologies can be trialled in homes representative of different construction eras. This data will be invaluable in shaping future decarbonisation strategies and ensuring the practicality of proposed solutions. Most of the Government gas substitution and green energy policies mention PICAC without committing to any solid funding or goals re the future of hydrogen in Victoria.
10. Enhanced Focus on Heat Pump Technology Skills Training: Continue to advocate for government-backed initiatives that support ongoing professional development, including mandatory CPD hours for plumbers. Highlight the importance of government investment in training programs that align with emerging industry needs, particularly in energy-efficient technologies. Increase the places of the current funded heat pump training program offered by PICAC. Highlight the importance of government investment in training programs that align with emerging industry needs, particularly in energy-efficient technologies that assist in their gas substitution roadmap targets.
11. Improvement of Apprenticeship Programs in Training in Modern Technologies: Work with Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions, Apprenticeships Victoria, Australian Skills Quality Authority etc to update apprenticeship programs, ensuring they include comprehensive training on heat pump technologies. Advocate for mentorship programs where experienced installers can guide apprentices, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills.
12. Addressing the Quality and Efficiency of Heat Pumps in Australia: Lobby for the introduction of mandatory energy performance labels for heat pumps in Australia, similar to those required for gas heaters. Work with industry bodies to create awareness campaigns that educate consumers on the long-term benefits of investing in higher-quality heat pumps.
13. Conduct a Heat Pump Installation Survey of Licensed Plumbers: Master Plumbers Association to design and implement the survey. Ensure the survey reaches a diverse range of members, from small businesses to larger companies. Once completed, analyse the data and present the findings to policymakers, RTOs, and Department of Climate and Energy etc. Use the results to advocate for targeted reforms, such as streamlining rebate processes, enhancing training curricula, and addressing the certification challenges that were identified. Additionally, share the survey insights with installers to help them better understand industry trends and improve their business practices.
14. Address Economic Barriers for Women in Plumbing: Determine, via survey or through other communication methods, if Australian female plumbers are facing the same barriers to success. Develop a support program in the Women In Plumbing (if there isn’t already one) specifically aimed at helping women in plumbing overcome economic barriers. This could include financial planning workshops, financial guest speaker, podcast etc.
15. Hold a Women in Plumbing Conference for Female Victorian Plumbers & Apprentices: Expand access to training and confidence-building programs tailored for women in the plumbing industry. Drawing from Hattie Hasan’s focus on mental health and self-confidence, develop a day workshop/conference that address issues like imposter syndrome, working in a male dominated industry, gender appropriate PPE and client interactions etc. This conference/workshop should aim to empower women plumbers to charge competitively, assert their expertise, and overcome workplace challenges such as bullying or gender bias but also have plenty of networking opportunities and time to interact with other female tradeswomen.
16. Collaboration with International Organisations: CIPHE will no doubt have formalised partnerships with Master Plumbers Australia at senior levels, but it would be beneficial for other levels of team members to establish relationships with their international counterparts to facilitate regular knowledge exchange and the sharing of research on new technologies. Explore opportunities for more Victorian plumbers to gain international experience through short-term placements or exchanges, such as through the Wylie Trust Scholarship.

PROMOTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To ensure the success and visibility of our findings, we:

• Wore dual-branded tour uniforms. We chose ‘koorrookee’ shirts from Yarn Marketplace and printing by Murnane Print Group. Koorrookee meaning ‘grandmother’, designed by Kirrae and Peek Whurrong clan of the Marr Nation Indigenous artist Merindah Gunya).
• Distributed dual-branded promotional items to our UK peers.
• Shared our findings through the Master Plumbers and McCarthy Plumbing Group’s social media platforms.

Our UK tour has provided valuable insights that can assist in contributing to advancing the Victorian plumbing industry, particularly in sustainability, training, and gender equality. We are committed to advocating for these advancements to ensure the industry remains at the forefront of innovation and sustainability.

PURPOSE OF THE TOUR

We (Cat and Dave McCarthy) are plumbing business owners, having operated McCarthy Plumbing Group in Melbourne’s West for over a decade. We are both deeply passionate about personally contributing to the betterment of the plumbing industry. Cat’s interests lie with the continuous improvement of training and development of plumbers, including soft skills and personal welfare, and Dave is passionate about plumbing innovations, regulations and advocacy. We both are dedicated to sustainable practices and improvements the plumbing industry can make in assisting to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The purpose of our UK tour was multifaceted. Primarily, it aimed to:

1. Enhance Skills and Knowledge: To further our plumbing skills and knowledge by exposing ourselves to diverse and advanced plumbing practices in the UK.
2. Learn from Industry Leaders: To gain insights and learn from leading professionals and organisations in the UK plumbing industry.
3. Contribute to Industry Priorities: To gather practical insights and innovative ideas that could contribute to the Victorian Plumbing Industry Priorities, focusing on sustainability, training, and gender equality.

VICTORIAN PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITIES

The Victorian Plumbing Industry Priorities, established in 2022, provide a comprehensive policy framework addressing critical issues within the plumbing industry. Key areas of focus include:

1. Sustainability and Innovation: Emphasising the importance of adopting sustainable practices and fostering innovation within the industry.
2. Workforce Development: Addressing the skills shortage and ensuring that the plumbing workforce is adequately trained and future-proofed.
3. Public Health and Safety: Ensuring that plumbing practices uphold the highest standards of public health and safety.
4. Gender Equality and Opportunities: Promoting diversity and inclusivity within the industry, with a particular focus on increasing women’s participation in plumbing.

KEY FINDINGS FROM INDUSTRY VISITS

BUILT ENVIRONMENT – SMARTER TRANSFORMATION (BE-ST)

BACKGROUND TO OUR VISIT

Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), previously known as Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, is Scotland’s launchpad into a zero-carbon built environment¹. Their mission is to accelerate the built environment’s transition to zero carbon emissions. ‘Accelerate to Zero’ is their main goal, or road map as they state, and they are seeking ready-made solutions for problems posed by building or retrofitting to zero carbon standards.

BE-ST, based just out of Glasgow, not only service Scotland but are described as an International Centre of Excellence; sharing their best practices and knowledge is important to their team, as the net zero carbon emissions target is a global one. Their campus has two buildings; the Accelerator Lab and the Zero Carbon Innovation Lab.

BE-ST is a dynamic organisation that values collaboration, and is funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Funding Council and Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies and its work includes:

• Supporting industry partners to bring new products, business models and services to market
• Providing training and access to resources that grow key skills
• Giving industry access to state-of-the art equipment and technologies in their Innovation Factory
• Help the sector tap into Scottish academic expertise to solve the most pressing challenges
• Working with key stakeholders to support the transition to zero carbon
• Provide access to knowledge, resources & inspiration
• Drive better equity and inclusion in the built environment
• Help the construction the sector to unlock the potential from digital transformation and data.

We chose to visit BE-ST after reading two industry research papers. The first, titled ‘Pathways to engagement with low carbon heat: an industry perspective’ (BE-ST et al, 2022)² and the second being ‘Heat in Buildings Strategy: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in Scotland’s Buildings’ (Scottish Government, 2021)³. The reports piqued our interest in the BE-ST facility due to the hands-on nature of how they seemed to operate, and their genuine links to the construction industry when researching sustainability best practices and retrofitting; the pathways to engagement report specifically surveyed Installers (which in the United Kingdom relates to all types of plumbers, qualified or unqualified, and gas engineers, our gas fitter equivalent).

Whilst we have always been curious about learning as much as we can about sustainability in the plumbing industry, the term ‘net zero’ isn’t used on the daily in the plumbing industry in Victoria. When talking about heat pumps, sustainability is often discussed, but not for National goal achieving purposes, more so when discussing cost-effective technologies and if clients want a ‘greener’ option. What really surprised us on our tour was how often the term ‘net zero’ is used in the plumbing industry in the UK. From apprentices, plumbers, manufacturers, Government officials, training providers and the general public; the net zero target frequented many conversations.

Net zero refers to cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere (United Nations, 2024)⁴. In 2021, a document called ‘Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap: A Pathway to Net Zero for the UK Built Environment’ published by United Kingdom Green Building Council et al⁵ stated that the built environment (or what we refer to as the construction industry in Australia) is directly responsible for 25% of UK emissions. They identified 5 key priorities which the UK government and built industry needed to support and implement to deliver net zero emissions:

1. Nation-wide retrofitting of existing homes.
2. Energy performance disclosure for nondomestic buildings.
3. Adoption of a design for performance approach.
4. Whole life carbon measurements and agreed limits.
5. National infrastructure investment based on the net emissions impact.

The first priority is well known in the plumbing industry in the UK and relates directly to transforming UK housing so it is efficient, warm, and cheaper to heat, whilst phasing out fossil fuel heating.

In the roadmap, it states that no further sales of gas & oil boilers (gas hot water systems) will occur from 2030 and that last remaining fossil fuel boilers will be replaced ahead of 2050; this is a statement with vast implications for the plumbing and gas industry in the United Kingdom. There are an estimated 140,000 gas engineers⁶ (licensed gas fitters) in the UK, all of which would require retraining in hydrogen, heat pump, biomass, natural gas etc depending on the route/s the UK will take to replace the current gas energy distribution (currently 41% of all UK energy sources)⁷.

Our BE-ST visit was chosen to gather more understanding on the net zero built environment targets, and how they correlate to the Victorian plumbing industry, in particular to the Plumbing Industry Priority 9; Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM OUR VISIT

When we arrived at the BE-ST facilities in Glasgow, we were greeted by Rebecca Wilson, Events Assistant, who introduced us to our knowledgeable facility guide Matthew Paton, Impact Manager.

From the beginning, it was clear to us that BE-ST were big believers in sharing best practices in every area; in industry collaboration, in site safety, in retrofit and future sustainable construction practice training, in environmental sustainability and in general information sharing for the greater good.

To kick off the tour, Matthew showed us one of BE-ST’s sustainable materials, the K-Briq. The brick is 90% recycled using materials such as brick waste, stone and plasterboard. It’s stronger, more durable and lighter than standard bricks, and is also cheaper to make⁸. The bricks can be made to match any brick colour, using recycled printer ink cartridges.

Other innovative materials we were shown included natural building insulation made from hemp, recycled wool, recycled clothing and textile waste, and a mixed brick made from their stone maker machine which included materials such as wood offcuts, straw, mud and even horse hair! Including textile offcuts and clothing waste into bricks was first made by French architect Clarisse Merlet with her Fab BRICK enterprise⁹, designed to reduce some of the 4 million tonnes of waste from the European textile industry annually.

A circular economy, one in which aims to sustainably reuse materials through reuse, repurposing, recycling and remanufacturing¹⁰, is heavily promoted at BE-ST through their sustainable materials incubator program. To assist startups and large-scale businesses continue to innovate in this area, they have a robotics zone at the factory. In the zone is 1 large manufacturing robot, which is within a safety glass area as the bot has no safety sensors, and 2 smaller manufacturing robots.

BE-ST offers ‘try before you buy’ robotic tests to the construction industry, with pricing scaled according to a business’ size (startups pay a small fee compared to a large organisation who will need to provide a larger investment fee).  The robots are available for use if companies need to test a product or design but don’t need to/have the capacity to purchase a robot themselves. Scottish Government funding is usually available to match R&D investment and the costs are heavily reduced for businesses happy to share their results with the public/industry for best practice knowledge sharing.

We then learnt about the interesting headway BE-ST is making with site robots for the occupational safety of construction workers. They have completed the testing stages of robots working at heights, with one example being installing fire services where it wasn’t safe for an installer to be in the area. Researchers are currently working on more site robots being rolled out, not to replace construction workers but to use them when work is risky and potentially unsafe. They are currently working with trade unions by trialling robots completing bricklaying tasks, 3D printing at sites, and using them for complex repetitive work that may risk injuries to tradespersons. Matthew is passionate about the possible implementation of the site robots for hazard detection/identification which will further reduce the risk of injuries in the built environment.

Matthew discussed the use of exoskeletons being trialled with construction workers in Scotland until the site safety robots are rolled out. BE-ST trialled the exoskeletons, which looked akin to safety harnesses, with industry professionals rather than relying upon the subjective lab/Uni tested results for more realistic feedback. The purpose of the exoskeleton was to reduce the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries due to repetitive tasks and/or manual handling. It also allows those with injuries to return to work sooner and keep them in employment longer by wearing these after an injury.

Unsurprisingly, the research showed it really depends on the task and the user. If the tradie testing the exoskeleton was negative and closed minded about the trial from the outset, the feedback of the exoskeleton would be poor. During the first two weeks of the trial period, using the exoskeletons are tough to use as they force the user to stand ergonomically correct which is often not their natural way of working.

For those trialling the exoskeletons with a history of back or ligament injuries, the feedback was positive. The cost of the exoskeleton is between £800-1,000 ($1,500 – 2,000) and they can be used with certain safety harnesses also.

The next component of the tour focused on the work BE-ST does with digital fabrication. The BE-ST team encourage prefabricated housing, with installations from all trades completed in the factory to reduce the carbon footprint of materials being delivered to site and waste such as offcuts etc being binned. Matthew discussed two designs with us during the tour; the WikiHouse and the Passivhaus.

The WikiHouse is a modular building system made easy to design, manufacture and assemble high-performance buildings¹¹. The WikiHouse comes with an instruction manual and can be built with no training or trade qualifications. The purpose of the digital prefabricated WikiHouse is to ensure there is no wastage of materials, as each piece has been cut to size (to millimetre precision) and fits together in a jigsaw fashion. It is cheap to make and to purchase, easy to assemble and durable. Importantly, the home is carbon negative and circular; the buildings can be disassembled and reused again and again.

The homes have been used for the homeless, for temporary shop fitting and offices and are all open source; meaning the blueprints of the design are free to use, modify and improved as long as any modifications made are reshared for public use.

The Passivhaus design based on the premise of a building which doesn’t require any heating system other than post air heating. The homes are airtight, super insulated and involve the use of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR). What was interesting was when we were compiling this report we discovered there is a Passivhaus on our street in Point Cook! As Point Cook plumbers this was exciting as we didn’t realise this advancement was in our local area yet, we are interested to learn more about Passivhaus plumbing in Melbourne.

Matthew detailed one of the major goals with these digitally prefabricated homes was to encourage the usage of local timber. The reason is twofold; to reduce the carbon emissions from importing foreign timber, and to enhance the local economy by buying from local manufacturers. Scottish timber is not usually used in housing even though over 90% of all Scottish homes are made from timber. The reason the built environment import so much timber is due to the knots is the wood and the quality of it compared to European timber.

The prefabricated ‘plug and play’ model of homes utilises cross laminated timber (CLT) which is made at the BE-ST facility from the poor-quality Scottish timber. This ensures local timber is used, reducing carbon emissions produced by importing the European timber and supports local manufacturing and forestry operations.

To make the cross laminated timber, 8 tonnes of pressure is applied to glued layers of the local Scottish timber. It takes about 45 minutes to press each layer, and 3 hours per 10x5m section of wood. It can take as short as 3 minutes per layer depending on the type of wood/glue/thickness required for the prefabrication component. The process uses a vacuum press system, rather than a mechanical press, enabling odd shape wood to be pressed (i.e. spiral staircase). One problem with the CLT wood is that it can only be used and reused in its current form (i.e. can’t be burnt due to the glue used in the laminating process). This hinders its journey in the circular economy. No-one knows what to do long term with the wood when it is mass produced due to the glue, however they are currently experimenting with no glue and bolt pressing instead.

We toured inside two example Passivhaus’s and a WikiHouse. The walls of the Passivhaus have been constructed with super insulation and have an air ventilation layer in the cladding. This reduces asthma and can reduce heart rates due to the calm/ambient temperatures inside the cladding. The home had an operational infrared heater on the wall to provide extra heating if required in the cold Scottish climate. Infrared heating operates on the principle of radiant heat transfer, ensuring even and consistent warmth. They provide instant warmth and are energy efficient¹².

After touring the Zero Carbon Innovation Lab, we crossed the road to view the Accelerator Lab, which is home to Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre. The centre is ‘fostering deep collaboration between industry, academic stakeholders, public sector organisations and citizens to create a comprehensive national retrofit response’ (BE-ST, 2024)¹³.

The lab utilises digital twinning technologies, which consists of digital replicas of buildings created by amalgamating data from diverse sources such as sensors, 3D models and analytics tools. By utilising the digital twinning technologies, decisions about retrofitting can be made effectively, translating into substantial cost savings and improved comfort for the home occupant.

The low carbon learnings and data is shared via recommendations to industry, government and both social housing and commercial developers.

BE-ST conducts various training courses at the lab including:

• Passivhaus Practical Training
• Low Carbon Learning
• Building Information Modelling
• Understanding Domestic Retrofit

To date, BE-ST has trained 365 individuals in Passivhaus standards, and 1860 individuals have been trained in retrofit/Enerphit (Passivhaus retrofit) standards.

Their training is delivered both online and face-to-face, with the latter utilising augmented reality headsets and hands on training at the modern facilities. The training was initially due to be offered for 3 months only but due to its popularity is now perpetually offered and is supported by a collaboration of 5 large builders.

While the course is funded by Scottish Government for citizens of Scotland, the course is frequented by people from all over the UK and Europe; on our tour there were English, Spanish, Polish and Australian (us) construction workers.

BE-ST now offer the NVQ Level 2 Award Understanding Domestic Retrofit, through the Retrofit Academy RTO. The course entails six learning modules including:

1. Introduction to Domestic Retrofit – Busting all the jargon, introducing key concepts like Fabric First and Whole House Retrofit.
2. Domestic Retrofit Information – Getting to grips with the different types of information and documents used in retrofit projects.
3. Health and Safety – Understanding the current legislation relating to domestic retrofit, how to respond to and report emergencies and workplace accidents and how to identify and report risks and hazards.
4. Domestic Retrofit Materials – Becoming familiar with the types of materials used in domestic retrofit projects and how to ensure they are up to standard. Plus, everything you need to know to minimise risks in the workplace and dispose of waste properly.
5. Retrofit Processes – Understand the basic principles of domestic retrofit, including pre-installation requirements, installation details and installation problems.
6. Working Practices – An overview of installation methods, including internal and external solid walls, cavity walls, roofs, suspended and solid floors and windows and doors¹⁴.

PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITY LEARNING INTEGRATION

During our visit to BE-ST, we delved into their pioneering sustainable building practices.

• Innovative Building Techniques: We explored various case studies showcasing BE-ST’s innovative building techniques that prioritise sustainability. These techniques include the use of renewable materials, energy-efficient systems, and waste reduction strategies.
• Green Construction Initiatives: BE-ST’s initiatives focus on minimising the environmental impact of construction projects through low carbon alternatives. We learned about their approaches to reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, and integrating renewable energy sources into building designs.
• Sustainable Plumbing Solutions: Specific to plumbing, BE-ST emphasises the importance of alternative energy-efficient heat sources, such as infrared technology.  We gained valuable insights into how these systems are implemented in their pre-fabrication housing designs.

We had assumed our learning intention for this facility tour would be heavily related to Action 20 of Plumbing Industry Priority 9 – The Gas Transition and The Hydrogen Opportunity – Government must recognise the integral part plumbing will play in the clean economy using hydrogen as a fuel gas for industrial and domestic applications.

However, the Built Environment – Smarter Transformation facility tour was predominantly related to Action 22 of this priority – Government must establish policy frameworks to embed the collaborative role of industry partners in developing the training facilities and intellectual capital which will enable the industry to support our economy in adapting to climate change.

As aforementioned, the United Nation’s Net Zero 2050 targets are known and used widely within the entire plumbing industry and communities in the United Kingdom. Whilst Australia also has the same targets, the wording isn’t as common in our daily lives as it appears to be in the UK.

BE-ST has a holistic approach to the Net Zero carbon emissions targets and includes industry collaboration as a key component in their goal of accelerating to zero.

In 2023, the Government of Victoria published ‘Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap’¹⁵ and has since published an update to the original document. The document highlights the need for a more cost-effective way to heat and power Victorian homes. Also in 2023, the Victorian Government released the paper titled ‘Victoria’s 2035 Emissions Reduction Target’ ¹⁶. This document features the ambitious climate target of net carbon emissions by the year 2045; 5 years sooner than the global UN net zero carbon emission target.

The Gas Substitution Roadmap sits in this bold target and is no doubt one of the main factors the January 1^st 2024 gas ban announcement appeared to be hurried and lacked thorough industry consultation.

The Roadmap mentions the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC) as playing a part in preparing the future workforce. It stated that as part of Solar Victoria’s training and workforce development program, a new training program delivering specialised skills in designing and installing energy efficient heat pumps and solar hot water systems was launched in March 2023, and PICAC would work in partnership with Solar Victoria to deliver heat pump training to 200 plumbers to meet the expected demand for installations with an additional 1,000 to be trained in 2024. The courses commenced at PICAC Brunswick and Narre Warren in August 2024.

Solar Victoria has $1,000,000 to invest in training current registered, licensed or 4^th year plumbing apprentice to receive 1 day heat pump training. In comparison, the UK granted £5,000,000 ($10,000,000 AUD)¹⁸ to heat pump installation training and Scotland has committed to training all installers in heat pump technologies as part of their £1.8 billion low carbon emissions green energy conversion strategy (they estimate the required energy conversion spend will be £33 billion by 2045)¹⁹.

Whilst the UK is much larger in population than Victoria, its worth noting that the population of Scotland is 5.45 million compared to Victoria’s 6.68 million. In all of the abovementioned Victorian policies, no total program spend figure to achieve net zero by 2045 has been estimated, only cost benefits and savings for consumers are mentioned.

In the Roadmap, the Victorian Government state that 500,000 jobs in energy (including Victoria’s 33,600 licensed plumbers) will need to be transformed through new low carbon skills training by 2030. It states that Solar Victoria initiatives to be delivered in 2023-24 to support electrification include training to upskill up to 800 plumbers and fourth year apprentices in the design and installation of energy efficient heat pumps and solar hot water systems and placements for 6 female plumbing/HVAC apprentices to increase the diversity of the solar energy workforce.

Another paper integrated in Victoria’s bold low carbon emission goals is the ‘Clean Economy Workforce Development Strategy 2023–2033’¹⁷. The Strategy is a 10‑year framework to inform government planning and investment in the skills and training Victoria requires to reach net‑zero emissions. Out of the three papers, this strategy has simplified notes on the clean energy roles of the future and expectations from each key industry.

The strategy maintains that a variety of existing occupations are essential to the success of the clean economy and need support to ensure an adequate supply of skilled workers to meet increasing demand. Many of these roles may require additional assistance to help workers overcome challenges in acquiring the necessary skills, education, and training. These challenges may stem from the time and experience required for the new role, or the need for better access to appropriate education and training resources. It acknowledges that there are existing shortages of skilled plumbers which will continue to grow in the path to low carbon emissions. It states key drivers for increased plumbing demand include new installations and retrofitting associated with energy efficiency, electrification activities, and biogas and renewable hydrogen investment.

The five strategic priorities of the strategy, which will rely on alliances with Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association are akin to the collaborative approach BE-ST, Scottish Government and the construction industry have taken, and include:

STRATEGIC PRIORITY	DESCRIPTION	KEY ACTIONS
Reimagined Skills Model	Develop a new skilling approach that supports the development of transferable and technical skills required by the clean economy in parallel to the emergence of technologies and workforce demands.	–        Establish alliances between industry partners and supply chains to support clean and circular advances and co‑develop the required education and training. –        Create new pathways for occupational roles to transition to clean economy roles, including the required cross‑skilling of occupations and continuing professional development for professions critical for the transition.
Flexible Education and Training Product Design	Ensure training products can support multi‑disciplinary and cross‑cutting clean economy skills.	–        Skill and upskill workers where there are proven and emerging needs. –        Embed cross‑cutting skills within current training products to support innovative thinking required by the clean economy. –        Incorporate specialisations into apprenticeships to support the new skills required by trades.
Timely Provision of Education and Training	Increase the capacity and capability of clean economy education and training for both known and emerging skills.	–        Increase the attractiveness of educator and training roles in the tertiary education and training system to grow supply. –        Recruit international experts in clean economy fields to assist with workforce experience and capability development. –        Integrate cross‑disciplinary approaches into education and training to support increasing demand for transferable skills. –        Promote supply of education and training to provide economic and workforce benefits to local communities.
Enhanced Workforce Planning and Attraction	Actively plan for and support supply of critical roles across the clean economy.	–        Embed requirements for workforce planning and attraction in new policy and industry development proposals to support skilling needs and manage competing demands. –        Develop workforce plans for industries identified as undergoing transition to provide consistent employment for regional workforces. –        Encourage alternative sources of workforce where local supply is inadequate to support the delivery of clean economy initiatives. –        Build awareness of clean economy at the school level to support the long‑term supply pipeline of workers. –        Establish pathways for new and under‑represented cohorts to improve representation and attract workers into in the clean economy workforce.
Stewardship of the Skills Transition	Drive the technical and cultural transformation of the skills system through whole‑of‑government coordination and monitoring.	–          Ensure the transition to the clean economy is overseen by a governance structure with the breadth of representation and authority to influence actions by industry, government, agencies and the tertiary education and training system. –          Monitor workforce demand and supply information to meet both known and anticipated clean economy workforce needs. –          Promote clean economy workforce data to encourage market responses to the clean economy.

It should be noted that in the strategy, the Victorian Government state that ‘The success of the strategy will rest with the ability of all key stakeholders to work collaboratively to deliver a responsive training system and skilled workforce that meets Victoria’s clean economy ambitions’. This is something that the Scottish Government, Built Environment – Smarter Transformations, the education and Scottish training sector and the Scottish construction industry do very well, and given the way the Gas Substitution Roadmap was announced, is not something our Victorian Labor Government have been strong at on this topic.

The tour was also related to Plumbing Industry Priority 10 – Training, skills and future-proofing our industry, in particular Action 26 – Government must work with key stakeholders to develop a workforce plan to address the labour and skills shortage across our industry and Action 28 – Government must introduce mandatory CPD for registered and licensed plumbers in Victoria in line with the Master Plumbers CPD model. The scheme must be relevant, have the right mix of technical, industry and professional development units and be designed to gain and retain practitioner buy-in without becoming compliance driven.

We noticed that not only do the Scottish Government collaborate effectively with BE-ST, they utilise the strengths and knowledge of the construction industry and every Government paper on the net zero low carbon emissions energy future is co-signed and collaborated on by industry; the construction industry and associations are not an afterthought and invited to comment on the paper, they help CREATE the strategy so it isn’t just ideological and conceptual but practical and achievable.

We note that during the time of writing (August 2024), the Solar Victoria funded ‘Demystifying Heat Pumps’ heat pump training has commenced at PICAC Brunswick and Narre Warren which is a brilliant start to achieving both the Victorian Government’s bold Net Zero 2045 targets and the Plumbing Industry Priority 10 to future-proof the industry during the gas substitution phase over the next 20+ years. We have had 4 staff members attend this training and speak highly of it.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our visit to Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) underscored the significant role that innovative construction practices play in achieving sustainable plumbing solutions. By adopting similar approaches in Victoria, we can contribute to reducing the environmental footprint of the plumbing industry. Here are some recommendations consider can implement our learnings and contribute to the Plumbing Industry Priorities:

1. Adopt and Integrate Net Zero Targets into Industry Practices:

Action: The Victorian Government must collaborate with the Master Plumbers Association to embed the concept of Net Zero 2045 into the fabric of the Victorian plumbing industry. This includes integrating net zero targets into training programs, regulatory frameworks, and public awareness campaigns to mirror the UK’s widespread adoption of this language and goal.

Rationale: In the UK, the concept of Net Zero is a common and integral part of industry discourse, even at the apprentice level. Incorporating this into the Victorian plumbing industry would align the local industry with global sustainability goals and ensure that plumbers are not only aware of but are actively contributing to these targets.

1. Expansion of Training Programs Focused on Sustainable Energy:

Action: Increase investment in training programs focused on sustainable energy solutions such as heat pumps, hydrogen technologies, and other low-carbon systems. The Victorian Government should follow Scotland’s example by significantly expanding the number of plumbers trained in these technologies, aiming to train at least 2,000 plumbers annually by 2025.

Rationale: The UK’s substantial investment in training for heat pump installation highlights the importance of equipping the workforce with the necessary skills to transition to sustainable energy sources. A similar commitment in Victoria would prepare the workforce for the anticipated rise in demand for sustainable energy installations.

1. Enhanced Industry Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing:

Action: Create platforms for greater collaboration between the plumbing industry, government bodies, and educational institutions to share knowledge and best practices related to sustainability and safety innovations. This could include utilising PICAC as Victoria’s equivalent to BE-ST, focused on accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon built environment.

Rationale: BE-ST’s success is due to its collaborative approach, bringing together industry, government, and academia to solve pressing challenges. A similar collaborative approach in Victoria would drive innovation and ensure the industry is at the forefront of global sustainability trends; it would ensure our pathway to net zero is practical rather than ideological.

1. Increase Funding for Retrofitting and Low Carbon Emissions Projects:

Action: The Victorian Government should increase funding for retrofitting projects and low-carbon emissions initiatives, ensuring that the plumbing industry plays a central role in these efforts. This includes supporting training and upskilling in retrofitting technologies.

Rationale: Scotland’s focus on retrofitting existing buildings as part of its Net Zero strategy underscores the importance of this area. By increasing funding and support for retrofitting, Victoria can make significant strides toward its emissions reduction targets while providing new opportunities for the plumbing industry; 800 funded heat pump training places annually will not be sufficient to achieve the gas substitution targets by 2045.

These recommendations and actions are designed to align the Victorian plumbing industry with global best practices in sustainability, ensuring that it is well-prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

VISIT TO THE NORTHERN GAS NETWORKS NET ZERO RESEARCH VILLAGE (NeRV)

BACKGROUND TO OUR VISIT

After digesting a big day of learnings from our BE-ST facility tour, we visited the Northern Gas Networks Net Zero Research Village (NeRV). Again, this tour was dripping with Net Zero Emissions by 2050 jargon and target alignment.

Interestingly, when we first contacted Alex Brightman of Northern Gas Networks to request a tour, the village was then known as a ‘Hydrogen Village’, and Alex’s job title was ‘Hydrogen Homes Coordinator’, then briefly ‘Energy Futures Educator’ before becoming ‘Net Zero Educator’. Within the same time period the village underwent a rebrand from Hydrogen Village, ‘Net Zero Ecosystem Research Village’ then to its current name; Net Zero Research Village.

Why the rebrand? Government policy, a cut in funding and priorities changing during this time period. Northern Gas Networks underwent a slight pivot from solely researching hydrogen technologies to all energy efficient technologies to remain relevant. During the week of our industry tour the Conservative British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was voted out and Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer was voted in.

This wasn’t the only hydrogen village we were planning this visit; we were originally keen on visiting a Hydrogen Village pilot in Whitby, before the plans were abruptly scrapped due to local resident concerns. We then found the Redcar Hydrogen Village was due to be constructed, however within weeks the village was scrapped due to unease from local residents. The residents would have had their natural gas boilers (hot water systems) replaced with hydrogen boilers in the trial, but there was heavy backlash from both the residents and the local Labour MP Justin Madders who was concerned about the safety, efficacy and cost of the trial for the residents²⁰.

The Net Zero Research Village in Lower Thornley is over 1.2 kms away from the nearest home, and upon driving in we noticed the lack of signage in the surrounding neighbourhood, perhaps playing down the local hydrogen trial rather than celebrating it.

Our interest in visiting NeRV was piqued by a visit in October 2023 to the Australian Gas Networks HyHome in Wollert, Victoria. This visit included a presentation on the future of hydrogen and the role of renewable gas and a showcase on hydrogen appliances used in the display home. The home was retrospectively fitted with the hydrogen appliances
and they are all 100% hydrogen fuelled (like the Redcar or Whitby communities were to trial).

We have been even more curious about hydrogen and its future in Victoria ever since the gas substitution roadmap was first released, as we have found it hard to digest that electrification seems to be monopolising the green energy conversation, when in the medium-term this will only increase the use of brown coal (currently accounting for 58% of Victoria’s electricity generation) and increase the risk of power blackouts in winter and summer.

In the UK, hydrogen energy is also not as socially accepted and palatable to sell to the consumer as other low carbon energies such as heat pump technology. Having realised putting a positive PR-spin on hydrogen technologies is still an uphill battle, the Northen Gas Networks have shifted NeRV’s focus from solely hydrogen research to provide a holistic green energy approach; ‘NeRV is the UK’s first combined whole systems research, development and demonstration facility, covering gas, electricity and water. Through providing a space for collaborative innovative research and testing, NeRV will optimise low carbon, least cost decarbonisation solutions for UK households’ ²¹.

NeRV has two main ‘neighbourhoods’; Hy Grove and Futures Close. Hy Grove is 4 years old and consists of 2 demonstration homes. Testing has now been decommissioned in these homes, and they will soon form part of Futures Close.

Futures Close features nine homes built to represent five different construction eras.

It includes:

• Three 1910s terraces
• Two 1930s semi-detached houses
• A 1950s bungalow
• Two 1970s flats
• A 1990s detached home

This unique street is a highly instrumented innovation and test environment. Each home contains sensors capturing metrics such as temperature, humidity, gas, water and electricity consumption, generating data to help shape and inform future decarbonisation strategies for UK housing stock.

It provides a perfect testbed for retrofit net zero technology, to understand the challenges involved at scale and in real time, while delivering data-driven answers on the energy solutions best suited to different types of home.

The homes were built by Northern Gas Networks and partners, and supported by a £1.86 million grant from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership through the Getting Building Fund, with total costs estimated to be £3million.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM OUR VISIT

We were greeted at the security gate by the Groundskeeper Kieran, who took us to the meeting room to wait for our tour by Nathan Ekanem, Renewable Energy Project Manager at NeRV. The security at NeRV was high and monitored 24/7, the actual village was hidden by shrubs surrounding the fenced area for privacy.

The first part of the tour was to see the above ground pipe installations that create and store the hydrogen used in the testing and research at the centre. The complex system of pipelines include components to reduce the pressure of the hydrogen then heating it up before pumping it into the homes, or utilising the Joule-Thomson effect.  The Joule-Thomson effect explains how the temperature of a gas changes as it expands or is compressed without exchanging heat with its surroundings. For hydrogen stored under high pressure, releasing it causes the gas to expand, leading to a drop in pressure and typically cooling the gas. This cooling happens because the gas molecules use some of their internal energy to expand, lowering their temperature. This effect is crucial for understanding the behaviour of hydrogen during storage and release, as the cooling can impact safety and handling procedures.

The hydrogen facility was created in 2021 after receiving £3.1 million from the British Government as part of the Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator program. The concept was titled ‘SHyGaN’ or Smart Hydrogen-Gas Network²³ and was funded to find new, less carbon intensive ways of heating the country. The hydrogen was created then pumped to the Hy Grove homes to a Baxi boiler; the first ever pure hydrogen boiler for commercial applications. Nathan stated the key question in the research has always been ‘Can we use hydrogen for power?’.

We then walked past the solar panel ‘farm’ which helps power the renewable hydrogen project. The solar panels power the SHyGaN hydrogen plant, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the project. Ironically there is a diesel generator in operation as a backup for power in case of an emergency, however they are setting up a battery for the solar panels so they can do away with this carbon emitting technology. SHyGaN utilises artificial intelligence in its hydrogen production; AI is used to determine when the best time is to create and store hydrogen.

We both attended the HyHome in Wollert, Victoria in 2023 and noticed the difference between the SHyGaN project and HyHome is that in Melbourne, the hydrogen is made offsite and stored in gas bottles, rather than being produced onsite. The SHyGaN facility is under 24/7 surveillance with a team member on site at all times to monitor the hydrogen levels in case of a shutdown or emergency.

The facility has undergone many changes since its inception in 1968 when it was a gas storage facility. During the Hy Grove hydrogen testing phase some households in the local Newcastle municipality were invited to partake in a 80/20 hydrogen blend test (20% hydrogen, 80% natural gas). The trial used standard boilers and gas appliances and was a complete success with a 100% pass rate. During the trial, NeRV conducted retrofit training offering plumbers in the local area a two-week course on hydrogen blending, retrofitting boilers, appliances etc.

Nathan and Kieran said that while politicians are still very fickle in promoting hydrogen, what is mainly stopping a larger rollout is public perception of the perceived safety risk of hydrogen in homes due to their lack of education around the gas, and its links to the Hindenburg disaster. They do believe the rollout of hydrogen in transportation will be the key to winning the public over. The British Government released a policy paper in late 2023 titled ‘Hydrogen transport and storage networks pathway’²⁴. The paper stipulated that hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure will be critical in supporting the UK’s low carbon ambitions by 2030. However, the policy was created by the Sunak conservative government, no longer in power in the UK.

Collaboration between suppliers and manufacturers was prominent at NeRV, as it was at BE-ST. Prominent boiler manufacturers Worcester Bosch, Baxi, Gledhill, Vaillant and Ideal make the hydrogen boilers used at NeRV. In return for supplying their hydrogen boilers, they get access to the research and have their products tested independently. If the manufacturers want something extra or specific tested, they can assist with scaled match funding in the similar process that BE-ST uses. If it is open research, it is a small investment, if it is for commercial research only with IP that is not shared it is a much more expensive process for the manufacturers.

As in Australia, they add an odour to the naturally odourless hydrogen for safety reasons. All the trial homes also have carbon dioxide alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, nitrous oxide alarms and hydrogen alarms. All hot water systems in the village have both temperature and flow sensors on them also. Globe operative temperature measurement is used in the homes to test both convection and radiant heat.

As mentioned above, the ‘village’ consists of two sets of homes: Hy Grove, the two, 4-year-old decommissioned testing demo homes and Futures Close.

The construction of Futures Close was finished in early 2024 and we were one of the first to be able to take a tour of the homes as they are getting their finishing touches added to them (i.e. QR codes on the walls to make the tour more interactive etc). Whilst Hy Grove was a testing project, Futures Close will be a research village. The homes will be ready for full time research, testing and tours by late 2024.

Futures Close consists of 3 x 1910’s terraces, 2 x 1930’s semi-detached houses, 1 x 1950’s bungalow, 2 x 1970’s flats and 1 x 1990’s detached home. It was fascinating to visit as the nine homes were built using as similar construction materials and methods as possible to the eras, the purpose of which was to ensure that all types of British homes were being considered when testing and researching net zero energy methods.

As mentioned previously, NeRV has moved away from solely hydrogen energy research, and now encompasses testing on heat pump, gas, hydronic and infrared technologies using a material mix between the houses that include glazing/double glazed windows, wooden doors, wallpapers, thicker paint etc, and the research tests the tech using all different combinations.

The research thus far has been invaluable due to how well manufactured the village is, with manufacturers of boilers and heaters battling over which buildings they can test their product in. Nathan explained that the research aims to highlight how effective net zero technologies are in heating homes, particularly older council flats, and what combinations of material choices and technologies produce the optimum environment (for example those homes with extra window glazing saved on average 7% heat). Other interesting findings show that manufacturers are claiming energy efficiencies that are misleading; one example was of an insulating paint that claimed up to 30% improvement of room warm up times, when tested in all homes it didn’t make any difference to the energy efficiency of the rooms.

One of the homes featured a wastewater heat recovery system. The system captures the heat from the warm water in a shower going down the drain and uses it to pre-warm the cold water coming into your shower. This process reduces the amount of energy needed to heat the water, as the incoming water is already partially heated. By reusing this heat, you can lower your energy consumption and save on utility bills, making your home more energy-efficient without any extra effort. Its not a common product in Australia, with only one product available in our market²⁵.

Another interesting concept in the village is the use of avatars in each of the homes and units. Personas have been created for each home so the research and testing can estimate a realistic amount of energy usage in the homes, i.e. the detached homes will usually be tenanted by wealthier people who may not restrict their heating in winter whereas a single mother on the pension in one of the housing flats may not be able to afford to turn heating on in their homes. The NeRV research trials which products work best to assist the different types of personas depending on the different home materials.

The first case study from Futures Close has been published by the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) titled ‘Vulnerability Visualisation Tool Phase 2’²⁶. The study was about the tool used to aggregate datasets that create the avatars and will be implemented into NeRV for research into:

• A platform to streamline decision making and identify geographical areas where vulnerability and fuel poverty is high
• Identify specific needs for tailored support programs to support vulnerable populations who can’t afford their energy bills/to upgrade to energy efficient technologies
• To provide an accurate picture of vulnerability and target resource allocation to offer cost savings to those populations rather than blanket approaches (i.e. like the Australian 2024-25 Energy Bill Relief Fund or Victorian Power Saving Bonus Program).

PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITY LEARNING INTEGRATION

The Northern Gas Network’s Net Zero Research Village (NeRV) provided us with a comprehensive understanding of the UK’s journey in the decarbonisation energy sources, gas alternatives and specifically, hydrogen technologies. This pioneering initiative focuses on developing more sustainable energy sources, however, considers the human element in the journey to a net zero future: including the cost to the residential homeowner/tenant, and their vulnerability to the cost of changing their energy source. Key insights from our visit include:

• Hydrogen as a Fuel Source: We explored the potential of hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel source for the plumbing industry. NeRV research highlights hydrogen’s viability in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing a sustainable energy alternative.
• Integration into Plumbing Systems: Understanding how hydrogen can be integrated into existing plumbing systems was a critical part of our visit. We examined the modifications required for current infrastructure to accommodate hydrogen fuel and the benefits this transition could bring, and the challenges of manufacturing enough hydrogen due to factors such as cost and public perception.
• Collaborative Efforts: The success of NeRV underscores the importance of collaboration between government, industry, and educational institutions. This model can be replicated in Victoria to foster a supportive environment for sustainable energy initiatives, as is planned at PICAC’s Hydrogen Centre of Excellence in Queensland.

Like the BE-ST tour, our tour of NeRV also aligned with Action 20 of Plumbing Industry Priority 9 – The Gas Transition and The Hydrogen Opportunity – Government must recognise the integral part plumbing will play in the clean economy using hydrogen as a fuel gas for industrial and domestic applications.

Electrification and Solar energy and substituting fossil fuels is seemingly the focus of the Victorian government’s roadmap towards net zero emissions. Renewable hydrogen is mentioned sporadically in the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap, however the roadmap also states ‘There is extensive and rigorous research from dozens of independent studies around the world that concludes renewable hydrogen or biomethane should not be used for residential applications, such as space heating, hot water heating, and cooking’²⁷.

The roadmap states that Victoria is leading the way in building the foundations for a thriving hydrogen economy, however this statement could be disputed. They have however committed $10 million for the Hume Hydrogen Highway initiative to ‘deliver at least four refuelling stations and 25 hydrogen-powered trucks along Victoria’s busiest freight corridor – the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney’ as well as another $16mill for other hydrogen related projects.

The Gas Substitution Roadmap states that while hydrogen will be required long-term, it won’t be utilised in the short-medium term for gas replacement. Another reason other than safety concerns hydrogen isn’t a short-term priority is due to the cost; currently around four times the cost of fossil gas. The roadmap states ‘The cheapest, simplest, and most logical choice for residential users is to electrify, and this will ensure that valuable renewable gases are reserved for non-substitutable industrial uses’.

In February 2021, the Government launched the Victorian Renewable Hydrogen Industry Development Plan to ‘embrace the opportunities that come with transforming our energy system, and renewable hydrogen could play a pivotal role in this transition’²⁸. The Victorian Government’s focus areas for renewable hydrogen include:

• Create long-term jobs through new career pathways and skills clusters.
• Enable the export of renewable energy.
• Drive innovation.
• Build our skills and capacity in renewable hydrogen.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our industrial, energy and transport

The Development Plan declares PICAC to be ‘ready, willing and able’ to help position Victoria as world-leaders in hydrogen development, by assisting the pivot from gas-hydrogen workforce skills and capabilities, as well as through laboratory testing and demonstrations by IAPMO (International Association of Plumbing Mechanical Officials).

The Minister for Energy, The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP, mentioned in her foreward in the development plan about research through the Australian Hydrogen Centre. In 2023, a report titled ‘Australian Hydrogen Centre Summary Report’ was released²⁹. The report details the trials and feasibility studies that occurred in Port Adelaide (SA), Wodonga (VIC) and Ballarat (VIC) where a 10% hydrogen blend was added to the gas distribution networks after detailed analysis.

Interesting findings from the study include:

• It is economically and technically feasible to utilise the existing gas infrastructure for scaled hydrogen distribution by 2050
• Public acceptance is still a contentious issue and programs about hydrogen would need to be implemented
• Gas appliances standards and testing will need to be updated
• The existing gas distribution network will have sufficient capacity to supply customers with 10% blended hydrogen-gas without impacting their current appliances
• A transition from 10% – 100% could occur from mid 2030s after a 10% blend rollout
• Hydrogen production, storage and transmission facilities with 200MW – 1GW scale with storage of up to 15GW
• Implementation strategies for consumer readiness through communications
• Updating of safety and operating procedures and systems and upskilling key trades including gas fitters to support the transition to 100% renewable hydrogen.

Can we convert from natural gas to hydrogen? Yes. We have converted from a 50-60% hydrogen mix from the 1970’s; ‘town gas’ was supplied with a mix of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide (which burnt to carbon monoxide at the appliance)³⁰. Converting to gas from this mix was a success in the 70’s and with effective communication to consumers can occur to reverse the distribution back to (renewable) hydrogen. It may however take until 2050 to achieve due to the cost of production, appliance conversion, retrofit training etc.

Getting Hydrogen under $2 per kilogram, or ‘H₂ under $2’, is a nation-wide goal in ‘Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy’³¹. This price point marks when hydrogen will become competitive with other energy sources in large-scale deployment across our energy system. The aim of this goal is to allow the Commonwealth Government to monitor hydrogen’s progress along its cost curve. The National Hydrogen Strategy states that the hydrogen opportunity can benefit all Australians with jobs and prosperity, a diverse energy system, a cleaner environment and fuel security.

The government policies all point to renewable hydrogen having a future in Victoria, and Australia, however it is unlikely we will see its potential until further down the gas substitution roadmap (2030 and beyond).

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our exploration of NeRV provided us with actionable strategies for advocating hydrogen technologies within the Victorian plumbing industry. This aligns with the priority actions emphasising the use of alternative and sustainable energy sources.

1. Assess Public Perception and Safety Concerns:

• Recommendation: Address the significant public resistance to hydrogen projects, such as those in Whitby and Redcar, which led to their cancellation. Understanding and mitigating public concerns is crucial for the successful adoption of hydrogen technologies.
• Action: Advocate Victorian Government Ministers to propose strategies for public education and engagement, drawing on lessons from the UK experience. Suggest implementing similar awareness campaigns in Victoria to improve public perception and acceptance of hydrogen as a viable energy source.

2. Leverage Collaborative Research Models:

• Recommendation: Advocate for the replication of NeRV’s collaborative research model in Victoria, where partnerships between government, industry, and academia drive innovation in sustainable energy technologies.
• Action: Encourage the establishment of a similar research village in Victoria, potentially led by PICAC’s Hydrogen Centre of Excellence in Queensland. Highlight the benefits of such collaboration, including shared research, cost savings, and accelerated technology development.

3. Promote Integration of Hydrogen into Existing Plumbing Systems:

• Recommendation: Explore the integration of hydrogen into existing plumbing and heating systems, as studied at NeRV. This includes understanding the necessary modifications and the associated costs and challenges.
• Action: Recommend to Victorian Government funding for the development of training programs for plumbers and gas fitters in Victoria to upskill them in hydrogen technologies. This could be modelled after the retrofit training offered during the Hy Grove hydrogen testing phase.

4. Monitor and Adapt to Policy Changes:

• Recommendation: Stay informed about and adaptable to policy changes, as political shifts can significantly impact energy projects. The UK’s experience with changes in government and subsequent shifts in energy policy underscores the need for flexibility.
• Action: Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association to continue to maintain a flexible approach to energy planning, ready to pivot as needed in response to new government policies or changes in public sentiment.

5. Incorporate Real-World Testing and Data Collection:

• Recommendation: Emphasise the importance of real-world testing environments, like NeRV’s Futures Close, for gathering data on the performance of net-zero technologies in different types of homes.
• Action: Advocate for the creation of similar test environments in Victoria, where various net-zero technologies can be trialled in homes representative of different construction eras. This data will be invaluable in shaping future decarbonisation strategies and ensuring the practicality of proposed solutions. Most of the Government gas substitution and green energy policies mention PICAC without committing to any solid funding or goals re the future of hydrogen in Victoria.

VISIT TO THE 2024 INSTALLER SHOW

BACKGROUND TO OUR VISIT

The 2024 Plumbing Installer Show was a dynamic platform that showcased the latest tools, technologies, and training opportunities within the plumbing industry in the UK. The three-day event was held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham and had over 60 exhibiters and 20,000 visitors, making it the UK’s biggest plumbing expo.

We had been following the event on LinkedIn for several years, and wanted to include a visit to the expo during our tour after it was announced the 2026 World Plumbing Conference would be held alongside the expo³².

The expo had doubled in size in previous years, and 2024 was bigger again due to the inclusion of the Heat Pump Ready zone, bringing together the latest innovations being developed to help accelerate the deployment of domestic heat pumps in the UK. The organisers included this new zone to exhibit solutions related to the key challenges of:

• Improving the survey, design and installation process of heat pumps
• New financial models
• Improving the customer journey
• Optimising heat pump performance in situ
• High-density deployment
• New heat pump manufacturing process³³.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM OUR VISIT

We arrived for opening on the final day of the Installer Show after getting to Birmingham the evening beforehand and were excited for the event after seeing so many plumbing and HVAC professionals in the area. The event is held at the National Exhibition Centre, the UK’s largest event space and situated in central England, ensuring plumbers and professionals from all over the country can attend.

When we entered the expo, we viewed the bathroom and kitchen exhibition area first. Some interesting exhibiters we spoke to included Schlüter, who provide waterproofing solutions, the Plumbing, Heating and Air Movement, Bathroom Manufacturers Association, Vaboo, Bathroom Spare Parts, Kӧmmerling, Carysil, Biasi, Secure, Baxi, simPRO Mira Showers and Zypho.

After meeting with several suppliers about the latest plumbing technologies available in the UK, we wanted to visit the Heat Pump Ready zone, which took up the majority of the larger of the two expo halls.

We knew before coming to the event that it would have a heavy emphasis on heat pump technology, but when we entered the largest hall, we were blown away with how heat pumps dominated the number of suppliers, presentations and exhibitions.

We headed to the Climate Solutions Theatre to hear a presentation by National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) titled ‘Findings from the largest survey of heat pump installers’. The presentation was delivered by Shaan Jindal, Senior Analyst at NESTA, who are a registered charity funded by the British Government in order to assist in design, testing and scaling solutions to problems associated with achieving climate sustainability. Their mission is to accelerate the decarbonisation of household activities in the UK. Their goal to achieve is by 2030, the UK will have reduced household emissions by 30% from 2019 levels. They intend to do this by:

• making heat pumps more appealing and affordable to consumers
• increasing the supply capacity of the heat pump sector
• helping households use their existing heating systems more efficiently
• shifting electricity demand away from peak hours
• identifying ways in which the switch to net zero could raise productivity, from the lower costs of renewable energy and energy efficiency to creating more highly skilled jobs in green industries³⁴.

Shaan said that the purpose of the project was to uncover challenges and barriers that existing heat pump installers face to installing more heat pumps and make recommendations that would lead to meaningful solutions to those challenges³⁵. 345 heat pump installers across the UK took part in the survey.

Shaan spoke of one of the main issues installers faced when installing heat pumps was the admin tasks involved in the installation, including the post installation paperwork for rebates. Most installers required digital tools and staff support to complete this paperwork. The survey showed that mainly plumbing/gas engineer companies with 5 or more employees were Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certified. An MCS certificate is proof that your installation has been designed, installed & commissioned to the highest standard using only MCS certified products by an MCS certified installer. An MCS certificate is not a mandatory or legal requirement for system installation, and companies without this certification tend to use umbrella schemes. When asking the companies who weren’t certified why they weren’t, they said it was due to the paperwork and cost involved.

The survey suggested larger employers tended to hire experienced installers/gas engineers rather than apprentices, but those with teams under 5 utilised the apprentice workforce. Employers aren’t confident with the level of training received from colleges and this was stated as a reason for not utilising apprentices more. Heat pump training was virtually non-existent in apprenticeship NVQ 3.

The administrative burden of the heat pump installations was frequent throughout the findings. 87% of respondents wanted to increase the number of heat pump installations but reported the administration challenges made this difficult. They also reported a lack of consumer demand and inability to find additional suitable staff make it challenging to install more heat pumps than they already do.

45% of survey participants believe that customers don’t progress with a heat pump installation after receiving a quote as the costs across quotes are too high. A further 27% believe customers received a cheaper quote from another installer.

After meeting with more suppliers and visiting heat pump exhibitions we made our way to the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) stall. We introduced ourselves to Kevin Wellman, CEO of CIPHE and Mike Maskrey, Training Manager. They were excited to meet with us and couldn’t believe we’d come all the way from Australia representing Master Plumbers in Australia.

We discussed their membership tiers and the introduction of Continued Professional Development (CIPHE are introducing 30 hours per year CPD). Mike and Dave exchanged details for a future meetup while we were still in the UK (discussed further in this report).

PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITY LEARNING INTEGRATION

The 2024 Plumbing Installer Show provided us with a wealth of information on the latest tools, technologies, and training opportunities within the plumbing industry. Key insights from our visit include:

• New Plumbing Tools and Technologies: One of the technologies showcased multiple times at the Installer Show was advanced wastewater heat recovery systems, and we were also interested in seeing the different boilers available, particularly the internal models.
• The Heat Pump Era: Heat pump technologies and suppliers dominated the Installer Show, which featured a range of seminars and workshops focused on the technologies.

The visit to the Installer Show aligned with Plumbing Industry Priority 10 – Training, skills and future-proofing our industry – Making sure the industry and the community has access to a sufficiently large, suitably skilled and qualified plumbing workforce is vitally important to the operational sustainability of the industry. Plumbing skills are also key to enabling the economy to rebound post-COVID and to taking advantage of new energy opportunities, in particular Action 26 – Government must work with key stakeholders to develop a workforce plan to address the labour and skills shortage across our industry, Action 28 – Government must enact specific strategies to better enable the public, private and not-for-profit/industry RTOs to work together to ensure the economy-wide demand for plumbing training is met where it is most needed, and in a way which delivers the quality skills outcomes the modern industry demands and the community expects and Action 29 – The Victorian Government must introduce mandatory CPD for registered and licensed plumbers in Victoria in line with the Master Plumbers CPD model. The scheme must be relevant, have the right mix of technical, industry and professional development units and be designed to gain and retain practitioner buy-in without becoming compliance driven.

The UK Government believes heat pumps are a key technology for achieving net zero targets for domestic heating and has set an ambitious target of 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028, In 2022 only 72,000 were installed³⁶. It has increased, with 4,500 certified heat pump installations in the month of April 2024, however this is still falling short of the 600,000 per year target.

159,848 heat pumps were installed in Australia in 2023, doubling the 2022 figures, with many concerned that it may be a case of quantity over quality with many of the installs being of cheap, inadequate technology³⁷. Introducing inefficient heat pump technologies means the pumps will be required to be replaced sooner, and will become landfill, doing little for the green economy and reducing climate change.

Further public education surrounding subsidies, and efficient heat pump hot water systems vs cheap imported heat pumps needs to be implemented for a true greener pathway to net zero carbon emissions.

As mentioned previously, the Gas Substitution Roadmap mentions the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC) as playing a part in preparing the future workforce. It stated that as part of Solar Victoria’s training and workforce development program, a new training program delivering specialised skills in designing and installing energy efficient heat pumps and solar hot water systems was launched in March 2023, and PICAC would work in partnership with Solar Victoria to deliver heat pump training to 200 plumbers to meet the expected demand for installations with an additional 1,000 to be trained in 2024. The courses commenced at PICAC Brunswick and Narre Warren in August 2024.

The Government must continue to invest in licensed and registered plumbers and gas fitters to address the skills gap and ensure heat pumps are being installed to be most efficient to the consumer and ethically; to ensure the appropriate heat pump is installed so the consumer doesn’t go into fuel poverty, and a cheap and inefficient product isn’t installed denigrating the purpose of the net zero technology.

It’s worth nothing minimum energy performance standards are NOT required for heat pump hot water systems in Australia; the Australian Department of Climate, Change, Energy, the Environment and Water state that ‘Regulations do not require heat pump water heaters sold in Australia to display an Energy Rating Label. The energy label found on gas water heaters is industry run and not regulated by government³⁸. The lack of regulations and standards around heat pump technology, unlike gas hot water systems, mean there is a lot of grey area surrounding the quality and efficiency of some products that are being installed in Australia.

The NESTA presentation on the survey of Heat Pump Installer findings was interesting, and the results were distributed to the appropriate Government departments, to the RTO’s and to industry associations. It gave the Installers a voice, and their concerns around the rebate administration and lack of training at both RTO level for apprentices and retrofit training for qualified installers was heard and reported.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our visit to the 2024 Installer Show highlighted to us that gas substitution is an international priority and that heat pump technology is being prioritised as the key heating method to achieve net zero carbon emission levels. Here are some recommendations we believe would contribute to the Plumbing Industry Priorities from our learnings:

1. Enhanced Focus on Heat Pump Technology Skills Training:

• Recommendation: Given the heavy emphasis on heat pump technology at the 2024 Installer Show, it is essential to advocate for increased heat pump training within the Australian plumbing industry. The government, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, should ensure that plumbing professionals are adequately trained in the latest heat pump technologies.
• Action: Continue to advocate for government-backed initiatives that support ongoing professional development, including mandatory CPD hours for plumbers. Highlight the importance of government investment in training programs that align with emerging industry needs, particularly in energy-efficient technologies. Increase the places of the current funded heat pump training program offered by PICAC. Highlight the importance of government investment in training programs that align with emerging industry needs, particularly in energy-efficient technologies that assist in their gas substitution roadmap targets.

2. Improvement of Apprenticeship Programs in Training in Modern Technologies:

• Recommendation: The lack of confidence in current apprenticeship programs was a significant concern at the show. There is a need for specialised training that focuses on emerging technologies like heat pumps, which are currently underrepresented in the NVQ 3 curriculum.
• Action: Work with Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions, Apprenticeships Victoria, Australian Skills Quality Authority etc to update apprenticeship programs, ensuring they include comprehensive training on heat pump technologies. Advocate for mentorship programs where experienced installers can guide apprentices, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

3. Addressing the Quality and Efficiency of Heat Pumps in Australia:

• Recommendation: The disparity between high-quality and low-quality heat pumps in Australia is a concern. It’s important to push for minimum energy performance standards and better consumer education regarding heat pump installations.
• Action: Lobby for the introduction of mandatory energy performance labels for heat pumps in Australia, like those required for gas heaters. Work with industry bodies to create awareness campaigns that educate consumers on the long-term benefits of investing in higher-quality heat pumps.

4. Conduct a Heat Pump Installation Survey of Licensed Plumbers

• Recommendation: Conduct a comprehensive survey of plumbers who install heat pumps to identify the key challenges and barriers they face, like the UK’s approach as presented by NESTA at the 2024 Installer Show. This survey should focus on areas such as administrative burdens, training needs, certification processes, and customer engagement issues. The findings will provide valuable insights that can guide policy development, industry training programs, and support mechanisms for plumbers.

• Action: Master Plumbers Association to design and implement the survey. Ensure the survey reaches a diverse range of members, from small businesses to larger companies. Once completed, analyse the data and present the findings to policymakers, RTOs, and Department of Climate and Energy etc. Use the results to advocate for targeted reforms, such as streamlining rebate processes, enhancing training curricula, and addressing the certification challenges that were identified. Additionally, share the survey insights with installers to help them better understand industry trends and improve their business practices.

VISIT TO WOMEN INSTALLERS TOGETHER CONFERENCE

BACKGROUND TO OUR VISIT

Cat has followed the Women Installers Together Conference for several years after first finding out about the event when viewing the organisers website. Stopcocks Women Plumbers were established in 1990 and are the self-proclaimed ‘World’s only National Company of Women Plumbing and Heating Engineers’³⁹. Somewhat controversially named, Stopcocks was founded by Hattie Hasan MBE, who received a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2020 for her services to women in the plumbing and heating industries.

Hattie, a licensed plumber, first commenced Stopcocks as a sole trader plumbing business but her desire to increase the number of women in trades caused the business to take another path as a franchise model, offering franchises to women plumbers across Britain. Franchisees pay for a geographical location and become part of the Stopcocks Business Incubator, which includes mentoring, dedicated office staff completing administration duties and leads from clients. The Business Incubator model has three levels of investment that female plumbers can choose to invest in:

Get Me Started – £1,000	Best Value – £3,000	Van Package – £9,000
Technical Mentoring Practical Training Business Training & Support Pricing support Underfloor Heating training (EC accredited) Technical Support Hotline Phone Answering Payment Collection by Phone Professional Email Address Software License for GoPlumb Communication & Invoicing System Comprehensive Financial Recording Business Networking Training Support & Info for Legal Compliance Community (Annual Conference & Online Forum) Exclusive Territory Renewable 5 Year Term Branded Clothing 500 Business Cards Branded Stationery Social Media Marketing	Technical Mentoring Practical Training Business Training & Support Pricing support Underfloor Heating training (EC accredited) Technical Support Hotline Phone Answering Payment Collection by Phone Professional Email Address Software License for GoPlumb Communication & Invoicing System Comprehensive Financial Recording Business Networking Training Support & Info for Legal Compliance Community (Annual Conference & Online Forum) Exclusive Territory Renewable 5 Year Term Branded Clothing 500 Business Cards Branded Stationery Social Media Marketing Vehicle Signage Full Business Launch & Event Press Releases for Launch Training for Launch Appearing on Local Radio First 3 Months Local Advertising	Technical Mentoring Practical Training Business Training & Support Pricing support Underfloor Heating training (EC accredited) Technical Support Hotline Phone Answering Payment Collection by Phone Professional Email Address Software License for GoPlumb Communication & Invoicing System Comprehensive Financial Recording Business Networking Training Support & Info for Legal Compliance Community (Annual Conference & Online Forum) Exclusive Territory Renewable 5 Year Term Branded Clothing 500 Business Cards Branded Stationery Social Media Marketing Vehicle Signage Full Business Launch & Event Press Releases for Launch Training for Launch Appearing on Local Radio First 3 Months Local Advertising Deposit and Lease on Liveried VW (where possible) van Tools WiFi Enabled Tablet

Figure 6 – The Stopcocks Business Incubator Pricing Model

Stopcocks not only provides franchise model options for plumbers or gas engineers, but it also has an introductory level training program for women or non-binary persons to participate in to become a plumber. Akin to a pre-apprenticeship, the ‘Taps, Traps and Toilets Dr.’ course runs over three months and has 3 x 1-week blocks. The cost of the course is £1,500 and advertised for those wanting to specialise in repairs to taps, traps and toilets and states that ‘The scope is specific to these areas and has been developed to enable you to begin earning as quickly as possible, even while you undertake additional training at college should you wish to’. You must sign up to a Stopcocks franchise after the completion of the course.

We were interested in finding more about the program, and the business, as it conjured up many questions for us including do you need a plumbing licence, or even an apprenticeship, to complete plumbing and sanitary works in the UK? Attending the conference would hopefully answer some of the many questions we had regarding plumbing in the UK, in particular women in plumbing and engagement levels.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM OUR VISIT

Cat attended the conference at the London Metropolitan University Great Hall, on the day of the UK Government Election. The conference was the biggest yet with approximately 200 delegates. Most attendees were either plumbing installers or gas engineers, then other tradeswomen, with the remaining few being plumbing, building and electrical suppliers and administrators.

I was initially impressed by the volume of actual tradeswomen in the room; my experience of women in trade events is that most of the delegates are women in administrative roles, and there are nominal tradeswomen, usually young women/apprentices. This room was filled with women tradies of all ages, many who have been on the tools for many of years; I certainly felt like the ‘token’ administrator in the room, which was really refreshing and made the event feel authentically about tradeswomen.

Hattie Hasan MBE was the MC for the day and started off with an account of her background in plumbing, including not ever meeting a tradeswoman for many years when she first commenced her plumbing career. She spoke of her background in Psychology and prioritised women’s mental health and wellbeing and self-confidence, which was evident in the structuring of the day.

The first part of the day involved a Q&A session with our table and then reporting back to the group. The questions mainly related to wellbeing however there was plenty of time for discussion about trade focussed topics.

In the UK, plumbers are older on average than in Australia. In Australia the median age of a plumber is 32 and <1% are female⁴¹. In the UK, the average age of a plumber is in the mid-40’s with almost 1-3% being female⁴² (with many anecdotally stating its closer to mid-50’s) and the UK is currently suffering from a low plumbing apprenticeship take up and completion rate.

Curiously, many of the female business owners I spoke to didn’t value business growth; they didn’t have the financial backing for it and it seemed like such an unrealistic vision for them to have as many were single mothers with children to care for. In fact, all of the women tradies on my table were either single with children or remarried with children, were in rental properties and had a significant amount of debt to their name. That anecdote was reaffirmed by Hattie when reading some Q&A answers about the demographic and socio-economic makeup of the women in the room. The tradeswomen all spoke about ensuring their business didn’t turnover more than the £85,000 tax threshold or they’d lose child assistance and now get their clients to purchase materials themselves to limit their turnover. They all discussed how difficult the journey is for mothers in the plumbing industry and spoke of how it was geared for men, or people with the support of a partner at home to look after home duties.

One of the gas engineers I was sitting with on the day, Jo, said her company had offered menopause training for all staff and offered a special ‘menopause leave’. She worked for a large company.

A lengthy discussion, taking up most of the event, was an open forum covering how tradeswomen felt on the job working with their male counterparts. Many women spoke of bullying being prevalent in the industry, clients not trusting their skills and abilities and the lack of confidence the women had, some still lacking confidence after 10+ years in the trade. Most of the women who spoke to the room seemed to experience ‘imposter syndrome’ and were self-proclaimed perfectionists. They also appear to undercharge clients compared to their male counterparts and aren’t confident in increasing their pricing. This creates a cycle of appearing to be inexperienced as they are too cheap. The women installers feel they need to prove themselves every day at work over their male counterparts.

Hattie Hasan drew from her background in Psychology and spoke about the unconscious bias surrounding women in plumbing and limiting beliefs about women in trades.

There were some renewable energy trainees at the event funded by NESTA. I met one of them, Georgia Woodcock, who was extremely interested in pursuing a plumbing apprenticeship in Australia. I gave her the Master Plumbers Australia Women in Plumbing program information.

It was interesting to learn many of the women ‘plumbers’ were not actually qualified plumbers at all! Many hadn’t completed an apprenticeship and had learnt on the job, some just through tinkering on their own as they couldn’t find anyone to work for! Although concerning to me, I learnt that in the UK only Gas Engineers were licensed and regulated, and that anyone could call themselves plumbers as it wasn’t a regulated industry. Those who had completed the ‘Taps, Traps and Toilet Dr.’ training and similar called themselves ‘plumbers’. We’ll speak more on this during our CIPHE meeting discussion further in the report.

After meeting with CIPHE at the Installer Show (and knowing Dave was meeting with them while I was at the Women Installers Together conference) I wanted to ask the women if they were members of CIPHE, and how the Women Installers Together community is linked to CIPHE. Many of the women on my table had no idea who they were (which is akin to asking a plumber who Master Plumbers are and them not knowing). I thought this strange, given they were the association for plumbers in the UK.

In one of the breaks, I managed to chat to Hattie, and in that conversation I asked if and how Stopcocks was linked with CIPHE. Interestingly, there is no official link with CIPHE. Hattie stated that CIPHE closed their women plumbing program approximately 15 years ago, therefore stopcocks and WIT is the only (un)official women in plumbing program in the UK. When I tried mentioning CIPHE to a few others on the day I was met with some scoffs, and informal statements about them only having ‘token’ women on the board, so I feel there are some wounds that may need to be healed in the relationship between CIPHE and the women in plumbing community.

I was asked on the day to make a 5-minute presentation, which I was more than happy to do. I spoke of the differences between the plumbing industry in Australia and in the UK. I said while we seemed to be behind with actual women in the trade with <1% registered female plumbers vs 3% in the UK. However, upon reflection, I would like to see the breakdown of that 3% statistic and whether or not they have included non-licensed or trained ‘plumbers’ in that number to inflate it after chatting with many women on the day who work as plumbers however have not completed any formal qualifications. I mentioned a sign I had spotted on the way to the conference stating ‘Men Working Overhead’ rather than something more gender neutral like ‘Construction Workers Overhead’. The women in the room giggled and nodded their heads and weren’t shocked at my observation, and I mentioned to them that this sign would not be approved of in Australia. I also praised the work of the Master Plumbers Association and their Women in Plumbing program and events, and that Equality and Opportunity was a plumbing industry priority they have committed to.

After lunch we heard from our guest speaker Anna McNuff from Great Britain rowing team and popular adventurer. Whilst I had not heard of Anna before, the room of delegates seemed delighted that she was our speaker for the day. Anna presented on her adventures including her training for the Olympics, a cycle around the USA and a treacherous trek across New Zealand. The choice of speaker and presentation was a good fit given the topic of the day was heavily related to self-confidence and limiting beliefs as Anna spoke of self-limiting beliefs she felt during all of her adventurous conquests.

I networked a lot at the conference and learnt a lot about how women plumbers felt and if they felt were supported, if they were bullied etc. I was however left craving a more ‘substantial’ component of the day and was disappointed there wasn’t a solid guest speaking or plumbing industry component, other than the lovely welcome from Hattie and guest speaker Anna McNuff.

Upon reflection, I realised the reason for the omission of this was that this event wasn’t designed for someone like me. I wasn’t the target audience of the event, a female tradesperson is, not a trades administrator, and the genuine tradeswomen who attended seemed to get a lot out of being with other female tradies and just networking and supporting one another without the need for information and new learnings that I crave as a business owner.

PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITY LEARNING INTEGRATION

The Women Installers Together Conference provided Cat with a unique opportunity to connect with women in the UK plumbing industry. Her participation in the conference allowed us to gain valuable insights into promoting diversity and inclusivity. Key takeaways include:

• Fostering Diversity: The conference emphasised the importance of creating a supportive community for women in plumbing. We learned about various initiatives and programs Stopcocks have designed to encourage more women to enter and succeed in the industry, although these aren’t official or qualified streams.
• Networking Opportunities: Networking with other attendees provided us with insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by women in plumbing. These connections will be invaluable in our efforts to promote gender equality within the industry.

The purpose of attending the event was to make a positive contribution to the Plumbing Industry Priority 11 – Equality and Opportunity Action 30 – Government must continue its commitment and funding of programs which provide for greater diversity in the industry.

Before discussing diversity in the plumbing industry, I want to let you know of something else I learnt while at the conference. In the first breakout/networking session, I was introduced to the concept of the apprenticeship levy in the UK. According to the UK HM Revenue & Customs⁴⁰, big businesses across the UK pay an apprentice levy to try and tackle their skilled labour shortage. Every business, no matter what industry, must pay an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% of their payroll if it is over £3million ($5.8million AUD). All businesses, whether they pay the levy or not, can then ‘draw down’ these funds (up to £15,000 per year) and purchase training with a qualified training provider for their apprentices.

Employers who pay the levy receive a yearly 10% ‘top-up’ to their monthly contributions to spend on apprenticeship training. Interesting to note is the transfer of levy funds available; to promote greater flexibility within the scheme and facilitate greater use of funds, levy paying employers can transfer up to 25% of their training to fund another smaller company in their supply chain. This means that several smaller employers who do not pay the levy can receive a larger amount of training funds to support their apprentices (although they must still pay at least 5% of the cost of apprenticeship training).

Upon further research on this levy introduced in 2017 we found that there are fewer people starting apprenticeships each year now than before the levy, in fact in 2023 it was the lowest since 2010. The completion rate of apprenticeships in the UK is woeful – a quarter of apprentices do not complete their qualification. Chartered Institute of Personnel Development UK research shows that less than 20% of employers support the levy⁴³.

A really interesting, and quite alarming statistic is that £600m is returned to the UK Treasury each year through this levy; which is enough to fund 60,000 apprenticeships⁴⁴.

In 2023, UK City and Guilds reported that only 4% of employers are spending their full apprenticeship levy funding and only spend on average 55% of it⁴⁵. Over 96% of businesses want to see changes in the levy as employers feel the levy is too bureaucratic and admin heavy and they want the levy to be more flexible to be able to be used on all employee training, not just apprenticeships.

In the Australian 2024-2025 May budget⁴⁶ the Government pledged $91million AUD to improve the capacity of the clean energy training system and increase the number of trainees and apprentices in clean energy operations, amongst other apprenticeship pledges and no apprenticeship levy has been discussed at this stage. Plumbing is listed on the 1^st Jan 2024 Australian Apprenticeship Priority List however only Cert II and Cert IV Plumbing are fully funded by the government.

The Young Women’s Trust UK claimed that in 2014 there were 74 men starting an apprenticeship in plumbing for every woman⁴⁷. There were no statistics available for recent years as all UK apprenticeship statistics include all construction trades.

Upon further research it seemed that Stopcocks’ plumbing events and training (including the Women Installers Together Conference, Taps, Traps and Toilets Training and Women in Plumbing Franchises) seem to be the only gender and diversity specific ones in the UK which we found very surprising. The only female plumbing event seemingly supported by CIPHE is the HIP Female Skills Competition which includes three regional competitions culminating in a grand finale. Female learners at Levels 2 and 3 in plumbing and heating, representing colleges from across the country and spanning various age groups, competed in live practical installations⁴⁸.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The visit to the Women Installers Together Conference illuminated us to the challenges women tradies faced in working in a male dominated industry. Some recommendations we can consider in Victoria:

1. Address Economic Barriers for Women in Plumbing

• Rationale: Economic barriers, such as financial challenges in business growth and the impact of tax thresholds on child assistance, were a significant concern for many women plumbers at the conference. Addressing these barriers can help women in the industry achieve financial stability and business success.
• Action: Determine, via survey or through other communication methods, if Australian female plumbers are facing the same barriers to success. Develop a support program in the Women in Plumbing (if there isn’t already one) specifically aimed at helping women in plumbing overcome economic barriers. This could include financial planning workshops, financial guest speaker, podcast etc.

2. Hold a Women in Plumbing Conference for Female Victorian Plumbers & Apprentices

• Rationale: Many women at the conference expressed feelings of imposter syndrome and a lack of confidence in their pricing and client interactions. They also feel isolated and crave interactions with other tradeswomen. Expanding access to training and confidence-building workshops and networking opportunities can empower women to assert their expertise and succeed in the plumbing industry.
• Action: Expand access to training and confidence-building programs tailored for women in the plumbing industry. Drawing from Hattie Hasan’s focus on mental health and self-confidence, develop a day workshop/conference that address issues like imposter syndrome, working in a male dominated industry, gender appropriate PPE and client interactions etc. This conference/workshop should aim to empower women plumbers to charge competitively, assert their expertise, and overcome workplace challenges such as bullying or gender bias but also have plenty of networking opportunities and time to interact with other female tradeswomen.

MEETING WITH THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PLUMBING AND HEATING ENGINEERING (CIPHE)

BACKGROUND TO OUR MEETING

We met Mike Maskrey and Kevin Wellman at the Installer Show in Birmingham and Mike was so excited to see we had come all the way from Australia to attend. We realised after chatting for some time that it would be great to continue the conversation further and share knowledge and best practice, so while Cat attended the Women Installers Together Conference, Dave organised a zoom meeting with Mike Maskrey, Training Manager and his colleague Jerry Whiteley, Technical Manager of CIPHE.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM OUR VISIT

Both Mike and Jerry are plumbers turned managers at CIPHE, Mike having authored many plumbing NVQ 2 and NVQ 3 textbooks. Mike is one of the most passionate plumbing advocates we’ve ever met. Currently, the pair are currently writing new standards and mandatory technical standards.

After discussing everyone’s experience in plumbing and the differences in UK and Australian plumbing, Dave asked both how CIPHE fit in the industry landscape. CIPHE has officially been around since 1906, chartered in the late 1980’s. However, it was derived from the City of London Worshipful Company of Plumbers which was established in 1611. CIPHE is the only professional body in the UK for plumbing and heating and the go to body for technical plumbing knowledge.

We have since researched the complex landscape of plumbing industry associations within the United Kingdom:

Industry Association	Purpose
Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE)	The CIPHE is a Professional Engineering Institute (PEI), licensed to the Engineering Council. The CIPHE is also a registered charity with the purpose to protect the health and safety of the public through a strong qualified membership that is reinforced by their competency and technical expertise. To create technical excellence so the public will receive the benefit of a protected environment and enhanced sustainability with improved safety and health. It has 7,500 members.
Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC)	The Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) is a not-for-profit trade body for the plumbing and heating industry in England and Wales since 1925. Their main support methods come in the form of supplier discounts, certifications, and business advice.
Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing and Heating Association (SNIPEF)	The Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF) is the principal trade association for plumbing and heating businesses based in Scotland and Northern Ireland with 750 member organisations.
City of London Worshipful Company of Plumbers	The Worshipful Company of Plumbers aims to support and make a difference within the ancient industry of plumbing. They assist and support charities and trainees, partner our industry through affiliations, and work closely with the Lord Mayor and the City of London.
WaterSafe	WaterSafe is a free online search facility funded by the water industry to help customers find competent and qualified plumbers, water supply pipe installers and other water services specialists in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Water Industry Approved Plumber (WIAPS)	WIAPS is the largest of the six UK Approved Contractors’ Schemes. WIAPS is administered by Water Regs UK on behalf of 15 UK water companies. It provides water industry backed accreditation to qualified plumbers and other sector workers, including groundworkers.
Gas Safe Register	Gas Safe Register is the official gas registration body for the UK, appointed by the relevant Health and Safety Authority for each area. By law all gas engineers must be on the Gas Safe Register.

From our research and chats with CIPHE, it is suffice to say that CIPHE are the go to professional body for technical plumbing knowledge and government advocacy.

Jerry and Mike spoke of the current ongoing government advocacy since the Grenfell fire disaster. On the 14^th June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell tower blocks in North Kensington. A total of 72 people died in the blaze, and although the fire started as an electrical fault, it spread so rapidly due to dangerously combustible aluminium composite cladding and external insulation. CIPHE are advocating in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Government inquiry into the fire that fire sprinkler systems should be installed by law in all existing high rise buildings⁴⁹. Another component of the Government inquiry is to ensure mandatory technical competencies due to the disjointed building industry in the UK.

The Building Safety Regulator was established in 2022 to regulate higher-risk buildings, raise safety standards of all buildings and help professionals in design, construction and building control improve their competence. CIPHE work with the Building Safety Regulator in regard to technical requirements, the Department of Health & Social Care on campaigns around water, the Department of Energy and Net Zero around green energy, the Department of Education and Institute for Apprenticeships re Technical trade education.

Jerry said that CIPHE has 7,500 members currently. This includes apprentices, business owners, qualified plumbers, gas engineers and those who haven’t completed any nationally accredited plumbing qualifications. There has been a recent push to include younger apprentice membership categories to capture the next generation of members early, these apprentices are often recruited at Heating Installer, Plumber of the Year and Female Installer of the Year competitions.

Conversation turned to the Master Plumbers Association and our membership levels, and licensing and registration in Victoria.

Jerry and Mike spoke of the frustrations they have with the disjointed construction industry in the UK and said that the Construction Industry Training Board often speaks on behalf of the plumbing industry without being aligned to CIPHE or any other plumbing association.

They also spoke of their frustrations with the Government speaking without advocating with them, in particular with the heat pump revolution. When Boris Johnson was in power, he incorrectly stated that the rebates at the time (approx. £7,000) would cover EVERYTHING from heat pumps, new appliances and solar power to substitute gas to electrification in homes and would improve the heating of ALL types of homes. That statement made irreparable damage to the plumbing industry as it cost about £21,000 to retrofit homes at that time, and it wasn’t suitable for all homes to have heat pumps in the UK. The Express reported in 2022 that Boris Johnson was out of touch as it cost about £10,000 to convert British homes to heat pump technology at the time and the government rebate was only £5,000⁵⁰. CIPHE believe the Government have the same damaging attitude towards hydrogen power.

The gentlemen mentioned that 17% of the UK’s energy is imported from France and Ireland. In 2025, 8 of the 9 operational nuclear power stations will go offline; they currently supply 20% of the UK’s energy supply. It takes an estimated 15 years to build nuclear power plants so this anti-nuclear decision can’t be easily reversed.

Covid seemed to assist the industry in recruiting plumbers as the public saw how financially well they did during Covid as they had no restrictions, they seemed to be encouraged to join due to it seemingly being ‘pandemic-safe’. The education and training during this time was limited so many apprentices suffered as RPL and online learning was promoted heavily; many plumbers were getting signed off without having completed the usual required amount of practical experience and it is showing with the plumbing standards of young plumbers in the UK at the moment. They stated that RTO’s have reverted back to pre-covid training methods again, which Mike said was a shame because he saw the benefits of a hybrid model for certain blocks (RMIT for example in Melbourne utilises a hybrid model of teaching now). He believes this, and the theory, is stagnant and requires an overhaul to engage more apprentices.

The next part of the discussion was about the differences between licensed plumbers in the UK and Australia. While in the UK gas fitters (gas engineers) are licensed, there are no mandates for plumbers being licensed in the UK. This means that anyone can consider themselves a plumber in the UK. This is disastrous for the industry, and means that in the UK, genuine plumbers who have completed their apprenticeships and training are underquoted by ‘cowboys’ daily. Mike also said how the UK loses 4 million litres of water every day in water leaks and flooded homes mainly due to this unlicensed work.

Colleges in the UK are offering basic plumbing courses that aren’t NVQ (equivalent to Australia’s AQF) and many ‘plumbers’ complete these courses and don’t have an employer to work for so start their own business and learn on the job at the cost of the consumer.  Mike stated that £2 million worth of payouts occur daily in the UK due to leaks, mostly made from unlicensed plumber works, meaning premiums are being pushed up due to licensing not being mandated and no licenses means no insurance connected to the ‘plumber’.

We (Cat and Dave) discussed this at length after the meeting and Women Installers Together conference as we had heard about the ‘Taps, Traps and Toilet Dr.’ course that Stopcocks offer which is essentially one of the non-NVQ courses CIPHE was discussing. CIPHE wants training mandated and compulsory licensing to protect the integrity of the industry.

Mike and Jerry spoke of the UK Government’s 600,000 installations per year heat pump target and said the Government introduced this without the correct advocacy. They didn’t consider the skill set of the current installers in the UK. When they first delivered the target, they said that everyone who was gas safe registered must install the heat pumps, however they soon realised many of the 20,000 gas engineers on the register were due to retire so they needed to reassess who could install the technology. The Government developed a new apprenticeship which will commence in September 2024 targeting those wanting a career change. The ‘apprenticeships’ will involve a 6-12 week bootcamp for heat pump installers to become business owners. Mike said that even the trainers delivering heat pump training have struggled with the installations, and the Government has only advocated with the manufacturers of heat pumps not the plumbing or HVAC industry.

After Dave chatted about how only licensed plumbers can be insured in Australia and it is a heavily regulated industry, CIPHE wants to work with the insurance industry as its unsustainable for them to keep paying out; it would be a win: win scenario for legitimate plumbers and insurance companies. Gas is mandated whilst water and sanitary isn’t. CIPHE said they would welcome more mandates for quality and technical integrity.

The meeting ended with a discussion on the assistance of 3D modelling in the industry and some demonstrations on the technology, including how it has assisted in training the new generation of plumbers.

PLUMBING INDUSTRY PRIORITY LEARNING INTEGRATION

Our meeting with CIPHE provided us with a closer look at their association and the similarities and differences between them and the Master Plumbers Association. CIPHE is the professional plumbing industry association responsible for advocating to Government and for giving technical advice to plumbers and gas engineers in the UK. Key learnings from our meeting include:

• The Diversity of Training Options: In Australia, the training pathway to plumbing is mandated and simplified; Cert II Plumbing Pre-Apprenticeship, Cert III Plumbing Apprenticeship, Journeyman Plumbing Registration, Cert IV Plumbing Licensing.   The UK system is unmandated, fragmented and complex.
• Industry Associations: In Victoria, it is safe to say every registered or licensed plumber has heard of the Master Plumbers Association. In the UK, most plumbers we spoke to (in particular female plumbers) had not heard of CIPHE. There seems to be a confusion due to the various types of associations present.
• Best Practices: It was a good meeting in sharing of ideas and best practice knowledge for the betterment of the international plumbing industry.

The meeting related to Plumbing Industry Priority 7 – Protecting the integrity of the trade, Action 12 – Government must protect the trade by continuing to advocate for, champion and protect the integrity of the plumbing and related trades, with a view to ensuring the trade is not fragmented into a series of one-off skill sets and Action 13 – The Victorian government must restrict Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) to registered practitioners only.

There were a lot of similarities between annoyances CIPHE face and those that Master Plumbers Association face with the lack of consultation from the Government before they introduce changes that effect our industry.

Frustrations between CIPHE and the Government, and the PR for anything other than heat pump technology, are very similar to the Victorian Government and the Gas Substitution Roadmap, especially the ideological nature of achieving Net Zero, and lack of advocacy with industry.

The UK plumbing industry is the source of a challenging spectrum of professionals; from Gas Engineers and plumbers who have completed their apprenticeships down to handymen who start a business and learn on the job at the expense of the consumer; anyone can call themselves a plumber in the UK. This not only destroys the integrity of the plumbing trade in the UK but costs the wider nation millions of pounds each year in insurance payouts and rectification works.

Whilst in Victoria plumbing licensing is mandated, we mustn’t allow Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) to be diluted to include those who aren’t registered and licensed in other states/Countries to become plumbers in Victoria or we will have a broad range of plumbing abilities performing non-compliant or ineffective works, with our industries veracity being compromised.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The meeting with CIPHE was the commencement of a best practice sharing partnership we’d like to continue. A recommendation from the meeting:

1. Collaboration with International Organisations:

• Recommendation: The strong relationships formed with UK organisations, such as CIPHE, provide an opportunity for ongoing collaboration. These partnerships can help Australian professionals stay ahead of global trends and integrate best practices into the local industry.
• Action: CIPHE will no doubt have formalised partnerships with Master Plumbers Australia at senior levels, but it would be beneficial for other levels of team members to establish relationships with their international counterparts to facilitate regular knowledge exchange and the sharing of research on new technologies. Explore opportunities for more Victorian plumbers to gain international experience through short-term placements or exchanges, such as through the Wylie Trust Scholarship.

CONCLUSION

Our UK plumbing tour has significantly broadened our understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the international plumbing industry, particularly in the areas of sustainable energy, vocational training, and gender equality. The insights gained from our experiences underscore the importance of proactive collaboration between industry, government, and educational institutions to drive the Victorian plumbing sector forward.

By integrating the recommendations outlined in this report, the Victorian plumbing industry can better align with global standards and future-proof itself against emerging challenges. Emphasising sustainability, expanding training programs, and fostering inclusivity will not only enhance the industry’s resilience but also position Victoria as a leader in sustainable plumbing innovation.

As we move forward, the commitment to these goals will be vital in ensuring that the Victorian plumbing industry continues to evolve and thrive in a rapidly changing world (with rapidly changing Government policy). We look forward to continuing our advocacy for these important initiatives and working closely with our industry partners to implement the changes necessary to achieve our shared vision for the future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association and the Wylie Trust for the Scholarship for our industry tour, in particular Peter Daly, Chief Executive Officer, and Thanuja Gunatillake, Executive Manager Member and Corporate Services.

Thank you to the following people and organisations who welcomed and assisted us on our tour:

Rebecca Wilson – Built Environment – Smarter Transformation

Matthew Paton – Built Environment – Smarter Transformation

Alex Brightman – Northern Gas Networks

Nathan Ekanem – Northern Gas Networks

Kieran – Northern Gas Networks

Hattie Hasan MBE – Stopcocks Women Plumbers

Mica May – Stopcocks Women Plumbers

Mike Maskrey – Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering

Kevin Wellman – Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering

Jerry Whiteley – Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering

Ashlee Schafer – Yarn Corporate Wear

Emma Murnane – Murnane Print Group

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