Worcester Bosch (commonly referred to as Worcester) is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

based heating and hot water products manufacturer. The company was founded in 1962 by Cecil Duckworth as Worcester Engineering Co Ltd in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After changing its name to Worcester Heat Systems Ltd, in 1992 the company was acquired by

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch (styled BOSCH), is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 188 ...

, adopting the new name of Worcester Bosch. Headquartered in

Warndon Warndon is a northeastern suburb of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. It is also a civil parish which is named after the suburb. The parish, which includes the villages of Trotshill and Warndon was part of Droitwich Rural District until 1 ...

, a suburb of the city of Worcester, the company employs more than 2,000 people across the headquarters and manufacturing plants in Worcester and Clay Cross, Derbyshire, including a network of over 300 service engineers and over 80 technically trained field sales managers.

History

The company was founded by Cecil Duckworth in 1962 as Worcester Engineering Co Ltd, based at the Old Vinegar works in Worcester. Worcester's early success is attributed to the pioneering of combination boilers in the UK, further successful performance in the UK heating market led to the expansion and relocation of the factory to its current headquarters in Warndon in 1990. Continued growth was followed by the acquisition by Robert Bosch GmbH in 1992, with the company changing its name to 'Worcester, Bosch Group'. As part of Bosch's heating technology subsidiary, Worcester is a brand of Bosch Thermotechnology Ltd, the collective name that refers to Worcester, Bosch Group and Buderus (acquired by Bosch in 2003). Whilst Worcester's origins lie in oil and gas boilers, recent years have seen the company champion renewable technologies such as

solar water heating Solar water heating (SWH) is water heating, heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for ...

, ground source and

air source heat pump An air source heat pump (ASHP) is a heat pump that can absorb heat from air outside a building and release it inside; it uses the same vapor-compression refrigeration process and much the same equipment as an air conditioner, but in the oppos ...

s. The company runs schemes such as the Environment 2020 awards to reward and promote energy efficiency and reinforce their commitment to being an "''environmentally responsible manufacturer''". Worcester has been awarded the royal warrant by the Queen for supplying hot water products to the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

. Worcester Bosch Group were a founding sponsor of the Upton Blues Festival, but in 2009 reluctantly pulled out. The company has strong connections to the

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

Rugby club through Chairman and founder Cecil Duckworth CBE, and that was renewed in 2010 when Worcester, Bosch Group was named as the Warriors new shirt sponsor up to the 2012-13 season.

Product portfolio

Worcester's product portfolio covers seven technologies: * Boilers fired by

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...

and

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

Solar water heating Solar water heating (SWH) is water heating, heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for ...

Geothermal heat pump A ground source heat pump (also geothermal heat pump) is a heating/cooling system for buildings that use a type of heat pump to transfer heat to or from the ground, taking advantage of the relative constancy of temperatures of the earth through ...

s * Air to air heat pumps * Air to water heat pumps Worcester's gas, oil and LPG ranges consist of regular boilers, combination boilers and system boilers; these are wall-hung, floor-standing or externally sited. Worcester's solar water heating range was released in 2005, with the ground source heat pump range being released in 2007 and the air source heat pump range being released in 2008.

Installation

Worcester operates a loyalty scheme known as the Worcester Accredited Installer scheme. Worcester Accredited Installers "''specialise in Worcester products and can offer extended warranties''" and benefit from features such as the online 'Find an Installer' search. Worcester Accredited Installers are experienced in fitting Worcester products but are not employed by Worcester. Worcester specifies that all members of the Worcester Accredited Installer scheme are

Gas Safe Register Gas Safe Register is the official gas registration body for the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey, appointed by the relevant Health and Safety Authority for each area. By law all gas engineers must be on the Gas Safe Register. Gas Safe ...

ed.

Relocation plans

It has been announced in the local and national press that the company has applied for planning permission to relocate its Warndon headquarters to a new site near junction 6 of the M5. This land is part of the Green Belt. An interview with Paul Middlebrough, leader of the

Wychavon Wychavon () is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. The largest towns therein are Evesham and Droitwich Spa; the council is based in the town of Pershore. The district also includes numerous villages and surrounding rural ...

District Council in the Worcester News provided some support for the proposed move; "Strategically, Wychavon recognises the absolute necessity to retain Bosch and formulate its expansion in the Worcester area. In this difficult and probably deteriorating time, the fact that Bosch are going to expand is good for everybody. The proposal will provide opportunities for more employees to move into a prime location, which places us in a good position to promote jobs for local people as the economy recovers."

Data breach

In May 2018, a serious data breach inadvertently revealed the home addresses of “tens of thousands” of Worcester customers.

References

{{Authority control British royal warrant holders Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies Home appliance brands Home appliance manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1962 Manufacturing companies based in Worcester, England Natural gas companies of the United Kingdom North East Derbyshire District Bosch (company) 1962 establishments in England 1992 mergers and acquisitions