Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Competition

Overview

Refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat-pump systems are crucial for health, comfort, and sustainability, supporting industries from food storage to data centres. With heat pump installations on the rise, these technologies are key to the UK’s Net Zero goals.

This competition challenges entrants to demonstrate their technical expertise through real-life industry scenarios. Tasks will cover digital programming, fault finding/diagnosis, fabrication, service and maintenance of technical equipment, focusing on energy efficiency and sustainability.

It’s an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills in cutting-edge technologies that are shaping the future of the industry.
This competition is managed by The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

The skills you need to demonstrate

Interpreting detailed drawings/schematics
Fault finding/diagnosis for control circuits
Flame brazing
Fabrication and installation
Recovery of refrigerants
Pressure testing
Evacuation/dehydration
Charging refrigerants
Legislative record keeping

Useful resources

Prepare for competition success

Our library of endorsed local skills competition briefs ‘benchmarking assessments’ helps prepare learners to build technical skills, productivity, and mindset competencies for national competition success, including employability progression pathways.

Paired with the benchmarking tracker, educators can record progress, identifying strengths and target areas for improvement. Together, they offer a reliable, standards-led framework, creating a sustainable model for skills development that supports educators to empower learners to be competition ready.

Access on the Learning Lab

Entry criteria

Candidates must be employed or, working towards (or have achieved within the last 12 months), a recognised qualification in refrigeration, air conditioning, or heat pumps.
Candidates must have, or will have achieved, a recognised F-Gas Category 1 certificate prior to the regional event.
Competitors must be at least 16 years old.
Candidates should have no more than 3 years of industry experience (excluding apprenticeship duration) at the time of registration.
There is no limit to the number of competitor per organisation, but we prioritise quality over quantity. Please ensure pre-competition activities identify those capable of producing high-quality work.

How it works

1. Register

Registrations open on Monday 2 March 2026, 9am and will close Friday 27 March 2026, midnight.

2. Entry Stage

Entry Stage will be released on Monday 3 March with a final deadline of 14 April, 2025.

3. National Qualifiers

Qualifiers will take place between 5 May, 2025 to 27 June, 2025 (Exact dates will vary by competition).

4. Announcement of finalists

Scores are quality assured and Finalists are announced

5. Training and development

To help finalists prepare ahead of the UK Final, we will provide relevant technical training and share mindset development techniques, to support them to remain focused on achieving success.

Prepare students and apprentices by engaging with our benchmarking resources to master their skills and mindset masterclasses to build confidence and resilience on the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.

6. National Finals

The National Finals are scheduled to take place in Wales during the week commencing 16 November 2026.

7. Squad UK

Competitors who are age eligible and have achieved the benchmark score will be invited to opt into Squad UK for the WorldSkills 2028 cycle, subject to the skill progressing to the international competition cycle.