The acquisition will serve to strengthen Daikin’s residential heating service network in the UK. The move aligns with Daikin’s strategy to play a leading role in the UK’s transition towards low-carbon heating and consolidates its position in the renewable heating market, the company says.

Air source heat pumps are expected to play a crucial role in helping the UK government reach its decarbonisation goals. As the installation of heat pumps increases, Daikin has plans to expand its service and maintenance capabilities accordingly. By acquiring Robert Heath Heating, Daikin UK will be able to enhance its maintenance services for residential customers across the UK.

Robert Heath Heating is one of the UK’s leading gas servicing businesses and around 450 people currently work there. The acquisition is expected to significantly increase Daikin’s ability to service and maintain its award-winning range of heat pumps, providing an additional resource of qualified heating service engineers. This will ensure that it can meet the servicing and maintenance requirements of its domestic heating customers now and in the future.

Robert Heath Heating’s engineers will complement Daikin’s existing network of service partners, ensuring Daikin meets the increasing demand for qualified heating service engineers across the UK.

Commenting on the acquisition, Daikin UK’s Managing Director Hiroyasu Ishikawa said: “Daikin is already the UK’s leading provider of heating and cooling in the residential and commercial markets.

“Daikin UK’s acquisition of Robert Heath Heating strengthens our organisation and is intended to assure after sales support capacity in view of the increasing number of customers who install our residential heat pumps.

“The acquisition will fuel growth and opportunities for both organisations and ensure excellent levels of customer service and satisfaction.”

Robert Heath’s founder Robert Heath added: “This is great news for Robert Heath Heating. Thanks to Daikin, we will be able to speed up the move towards servicing residential heat pumps.

“We will continue to work closely with our existing partners in the heating and social housing sectors. We are looking forward to joining the Daikin group, who share the same customer-first values as we do.”