Leading names from the Travis Perkins Group, including merchants Travis Perkins, CCF, City Plumbing Supplies (CPS), and Plumbing Trade Supplies (PTS), backed by the expertise of Sustainable Building Supplies (SBS) and Solfex, have announced they are “RHI ready” thanks to a combination of services which have been developed to support installers and builders.

To help installers access the RHI opportunity, CCF, CPS, PTS, Solfex, and Travis Perkins have worked together to develop a range of assessment, training, accreditation, and mentoring services to make it easy for installers to comply with regulations. Backed by the purchasing strength of the Group, each company can provide product solutions that combine an extensive range of branded and own-brand renewable products, in addition to associated insulation products.

Paul Joyner, director of sustainability for the Travis Perkins Group, said: “With £2.7bn of funding available to inspire an anticipated 750,000 installations by 2020, we are expecting the RHI to do for the renewable heating sector what Feed-in Tariffs did for solar photovoltaics.

“To qualify for RHI payments, each building has to undergo a Green Deal Assessment. Smart installers will maximise their income by adapting their business to cover all aspects of each RHI project – the assessment, the retrofitting of the building fabric, and the installation of the heat pump, biomass, or solar thermal technology. The Travis Perkins Group is the only player in the market with leading merchants in each product sector, helping installers access the best products and prices to offer a complete whole-house solution.”

The Travis Perkins Group, through its exclusive partner Toriga, can offer a nationwide network of Green Deal assessors to assist installers, or alternatively can help installers to become registered Green Deal Advisors upon completion of Domestic Energy Assessor and Green Deal Advisor training. The Toriga assessment software will also enable installers to easily calculate the benefits of a RHI installation for each homeowner.

Training for the RHI can be organised through nationwide branches of PTS, CPS, and Travis Perkins, facilitated by the Group’s training provider partner, PPL Training. The courses include Microgeneration Certification Scheme registration, renewable heating and heat meter installation. Mentoring for the Green Deal can be accessed through Easy Green Deal, with accreditation through NICEIC.