The Swedish HVAC manufacturing company HL Hydronics entered the UK market in 2017. Since then the company has quickly gained market shares through an effective expansion strategy and superior products.
The purpose of the Sustainable Heating & Cooling (SHC) by Sweden initiative is to support the international uptake of sustainable solutions for heating and cooling, while addressing the challenge to decarbonise the sector. Sweden has a long history of promoting sustainability and was in April 2020 the third country in Europe to shut down its last coal plant from operation. There are approximately 40 Swedish suppliers and solution providers that are part of the SHC initiative, and all are an important part of decarbonising the sector while keeping the heating and cooling systems reliable and efficient. SHC had the chance to speak with Björn Lennartsson, CEO of the Swedish company HL Hydronics, and learn about their company’s international journey so far and about their challenges and learnings.
Together with the SHC initiative, HL Hydronics entered the UK market in 2017 and has since experienced a strong growth. HL Hydronics quickly won market shares by offering units of high quality at a competitive price, and they are often chosen by contractors because their units are benefiting from an easy installation process that can be carried out by a single person.
“The process to establish in the UK has gone much faster than we first thought. Together with great distributors and positive response from contractors, real estate companies and service engineers have shown us that they have really taken our product to their hearts” – Björn Lennartsson
Of course, HL Hydronics met some initial challenges in their international journey, such as proving their value and get initial sales traction, but according to Björn Lennartsson, three things have been crucial for their success and in overcoming those challenges:
HL Hydronics offers a complete range within pressure maintaining, expansion and vacuum degassing for liquid heat and cooling systems, but the real secret ingredient is reliability. Problem-free operations and great service are what contractors in the UK heating sector sought after and this was the perfect gap that HL Hydronics could fill. Compared to other solutions on the market, HL Hydronics’ products are smaller which save space (as shown in the image above) and easier to handle as they make possible for one person to carry out the whole installation whilst for other products at least minimum two persons are required and the installation can take multiple days. This makes HL Hydronics products competitive and desired by many actors on the UK market. As a next step, HL Hydronics formed a collaboration with BioNordic, a UK distributor with plenty of experience working with the Swedish and UK heating sector. HL Hydronics initially earned the trust of the UK market and established their first UK client relationships by inviting contractors to Sweden, where all products are developed and manufactured, for product demonstrations. The rest is history and today there are many notable end users that HL Hydronics supplies their H-line unit to, e.g. one of the largest train stations in Manchester, a hotel at Gatwick Airport, Ampleforth College and Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.
Looking ahead HL Hydronics sees UK as a very attractive market and aims to continue their strong growth trajectory.
About HL Hydronics:
HL Hydronics offers a complete range within pressure maintaining, expansion and vacuum degassing for liquid heat systems, having created a new standard for pressure maintaining with a built-in motorised valve which gives a smooth pressure maintenance and keeps the variations to a minimum. All products are developed and manufactured in Sweden, and will extend the lifetime of any liquid heat or cooling system.
Learn more about HL-Hydronics>
Contact details:
Björn Lennartsson, CEO HL Hydronics
+46 573 73 57 31
bjorn@hlhydronics.se
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Sweden is at the forefront of decentralised heat networks technology. Our aim for “Sustainable Heating & Cooling by Sweden” is to facilitate knowledge sharing between British, French and Swedish stakeholders and develop and encourage environmental and economic best practice.
To find out how we can help you and your organisation, please contact our London or Paris-based “SHC” teams. We can introduce you to leading consultants, suppliers of technology and services who will be pleased to share know-how of the development of sustainable heating & cooling solutions.
