Lord William Haughey OBE, Chair of City Facilities Management Ltd, performed the opening ceremony, with the launch forming part of the wholesale group's ambition to offer convenient top-level training to engineers across the UK by building on the success of its existing academies, which include two air conditioning training centres, an industrial refrigeration academy and an F-Gas/sustainable solutions academy in Wetherby.

Hayley Cattell, Managing Director of Beijer Ref UK & Ireland, said: 'It was great to welcome so many visitors to Glasgow. Our aim is to provide engineers with the training they need, where they need it. The ultimate target is for no engineer to be more than two hours away from expert guidance.''

The new facility, at 140 St Andrews Road in Glasgow, boasts an extensive range of sustainable heating and cooling training rigs, with a training room dedicated to renewable technology including CO2 and A2L systems and a heat pump training area covering the latest heating products.

More than 50 people attended the event, with most taking the opportunity to book discounted training courses on the day.

Available industry courses include:

F-Gas Category 1

Introduction to CO2 as a refrigerant

Installing & commissioning CO2 condensing units

Basic refrigeration electrics & safe isolation

Hydrocarbon & flammable refrigerants

Basic introduction to industrial refrigeration

For further information about any of the Beijer Ref academies, email info@beijerrefacademy.co.uk