Thermal Independence Day

Helping YOU find good heating engineers. We share case studies from engineers in the Guild of Master Heat Engineers to help people find top installers, help gas and oil engineers increase their knowledge around heat pumps, and provide a solution for third-sector professionals to understand the industry better.

America

Tomorrow is Independence Day and America celebrates its 250th anniversary. There will be big celebrations. In fact, I think it was written into law back in 2013 that all states have to celebrate the semiquincentennial.

I like American history. I like America. My MOD apprenticeship was on a USAF airbase where I met lots of wonderful people from all the different States. It was a special but strange time when I look back. The 1991 conflict was happening and many of the American military people I worked around were understandably anxious or frightened. But did not show it.

Both UK and American special forces undertook some training there and us plumbers had to install a special facility for dealing with all the chemical casualties they were expecting to be flown back. I got a civilian medal for that. I’ve lot’s of stories from that time but had to sign the Secrets Act so some will obviously be going to the grave with me.

I also lived in America for a time…it holds a special place in my heart.

• I was christened on July the 4th

• I was born in Braintree (Essex) the namesake of Braintree (Massachusetts) where John Adams (2nd President), John Quincy Adams (6th President) and John Hancock (first person to sign the Declaration) were born

• I went to primary school on the same road as St Andrews Church, Hingham. This is where Abraham Lincoln’s great-great-great-great grandfather came from. In 1635 the minister Peter Hobart led about 40 families (about half the town) to cross the Atlantic from Ipswich (the town where my daughter was born). The exodus was so large the remaining towns people had to petition Parliament for financial aid. Hingham, Massachusetts was formed and the Old Ship Church in Hingham MA is officially recognised as the oldest church structure in the United States in continuous ecclesiastical.

• I grew up a few miles from Thetford, the town Thomas Paine came from. His Common Sense pamphlet was instrumental in rallying the cause for independence.

What is Thermal Independence Day?

The literal etymological meaning of ‘Independence’ is the state of not hanging down from something else. It is formed from a latin root word with a few other layers of prefixes and suffixes.

Thermal Independence Day is about elite engineers breaking free from outdated regulatory box-ticking and corporate marketing to establish real-time, field-tested physics as the true standard for home heating.

It doesn’t mean engineers stop ticking the bureaucratic boxes to stay legal; it means we stop letting those minimum compliance boxes define what a great engineer is. We no longer let slow-moving committees or corporate marketing tell us what excellence looks like.

For years, when Government departments, think tanks etc had to engage with ‘industry’ they understandably went to the associations, institutes, industry councils, Awarding Organisations (Like City & Guilds), Certification Bodies and the big players such as British Gas. These are well meaning entities but THEY DO NOT understand current best practices as well as those who practice them day in day out.

Horizontal Learning

As most of you are well aware there is a skills gap in the sector and most out there ‘practising’ are unfortunately not really aware of what current best practice is. The Guild Engineers do. These are peer assessed engineers who keep each other up to date and current. Industry needs to learn from them.

Installer Show 2026 engendered much interest in the Guild from manufactures. We are going to help manufacturers learn from us as much as we learn from them about latest products. We are introducing a model of Horizontal Learning (Engstrom, 2016) where the Guild can bring peer-assessed frontline field intelligence to the table. I’ve spent a number of years analysing how elite practitioners actually absorb, create and share complex technical knowledge. The science proves that traditional, top-down instruction only scratches the surface. Plenty of research published in the Journal of Workplace Learning shows that true expertise of a craft is dynamically created and sustained by the elite practitioners solving unpredictable, real-world challenges at the front line.

The US Constitution & The Thermal Standards

11 years after the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (which was the philosophical announcement of why the colonies were breaking free) came the US Constitution. This set out how a new nation would work. Similarly (it wont take 11 years though) a Thermal Standard is being written which will help people understand heating a bit better than they already do. The Thermal Standard will be our Constitution. The concrete, scientific blueprint for the industry.

Thermal Independence Day tomorrow is ultimately the moment we stop pretending box-ticking makes an engineer competent or elite, and we start letting the actual physics of heat define excellence. It is our declaration that the frontline practitioners are the true authors of modern best practice. By launching our upcoming Thermal Standards, the Guild is moving towards providing a definitive, field-tested constitution for the future of British heating. We are giving the sector something it has never had: a benchmark built by the very best minds working on the tools.

Partner with the Frontline

If you are a think tank, Government entity, policy maker, consultancy, Certification Body, Awarding Organisation, Social Housing Provider, Local Authority or manufacturer striving to deliver genuine decarbonisation, your vision needs the support of front-line reality. We invite you to connect with the Guild today and bridge the gap between policy and practice, ensuring your strategies are informed by the UK’s top peer-assessed practitioners.

The Guild of Master Heat Engineers is supported by our Patrons.

Learn more about our Patrons here.

Nathan

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