The facilities, at Leatherhead and Stockport, include new showrooms for CIAT equipment and are part of the company’s drive to develop the practical hands-on skills of engineers involved in installing and servicing CIAT’s growing range of air-side and air conditioning equipment.

The training centres will operate alongside the existing UK training network of sister company Toshiba Air Conditioning, which has 13 dedicated facilities across the country, and augment CIAT’s global training centre located at Culoz in south eastern France, at the heart of CIAT’s main manufacturing and research and development site.

Paul Smith, CIAT UK head of sales, said: “The new training centres and showrooms will enable specifiers, installers and service companies to get up-to-speed with the latest technology and gain hands-on experience with equipment and controls. The aim is to equip contractors to deliver outstanding service to their own customers.”         

He added: “In addition to the training function, the new Stockport premises enable us to hold additional stock so we can react quickly to urgent product requirements for our customers. It will also have a trade shop and equipment collection facilities.”

The new Leatherhead and Stockport facilities will operate year-round, with a scheduled programme of courses supported by bespoke training to meet specific installer, consultant and end-user needs. The Leatherhead facility will serve customers in the south of England, while the Stockport facility will support customers in the Midlands, north of England and Scotland.

The centres are equipped with working examples of CIAT’s recently introduced high performance ClimaCIAT air handling units, Floway DX air handling units, Ereba heat pumps, AquaCIAT Power chiller, Major Line and Comfort Line heat pump-based FCUs, and its new line of split DX units and control systems.

Equipment is fully accessible to enable engineers to gain valuable hands-on experience in commissioning and fault diagnosis.