An Icon For 150 Years

Over the last century the Irish heating industry has changed dramatically, growing and innovating at an unprecedented rate to provide greener, cleaner heating and hot water solutions tailored to the needs of the modern consumer.

But amidst all this change, one name remains the same – Baxi. Here Paul Clancy, MD of Baxi Potterton Myson reflects on 150 years of a heating icon.

The Baxi story begins in 1866 when Richard Baxendale started out building railway wagons from wood, iron, steel and brass. After 10 successful years, the business went under after the world depression of 1879 – but two years later, Baxendale was back in business in Chorley as Richard Baxendale and Sons: Engineers, Millwrights and Machinists.

In the 1930s, a concept by Richard’s grandson John became the company’s first product for the heating market and the first to use the Baxi name. Launched in 1935, the solid fuel Baxi Patent Fire had a revolutionary underfloor draught system. Throughout the 1950s, the company became increasingly focused on the domestic heating sector and Baxi quickly became a household name.

In the 1960s, Baxi saw a growing trend for gas products and appliances and began to develop its own range of gas boilers and heating products. In 1966, the Baxi Bermuda was launched, taking the market by storm with its unique offering combining a living room gas fire with a back boiler small enough to fit behind the hearth and providing domestic heating and hot water.

Baxi began selling gas boilers in both the Republic and Northern Ireland as natural gas first became available in the 1980s and 1990s. This coincided with the company developing into a wider group when it acquired the assets of Blue Circle heating, including Potterton domestic boilers. Baxi developed its range from gas back boilers to the wall hung versions which preceded the condensing technology available today.

The company evolved into a wider solutions provider with the addition of commercial heating and hot water brands Potterton, Andrews Water Heaters and electric heating and hot water specialist Heatrae Sadia before merging with De Dietrich and Remeha to form BDR Thermea in 2010. This ability to change has meant Baxi holds a market-leading position in many European markets including Ireland, with products such as Baxi Ecoblue at the leading edge of gas boilers available today.

The social housing market in Northern Ireland was particularly welcoming of Baxi. Working in conjunction with the Housing Executive, the Baxi Bermuda was a popular installation in many homes. Later on, the wall hung Solo boiler became a widelyinstalled alternative to the Bermuda back boiler, along with the Duo-tec and Solo HE. Baxi later worked with Firmus Energy and contractor H&A Mechanical to produce boilers exclusively for the social housing stock in the Firmus gas area. Baxi worked alongside Phoenix Gas to promote the Bahama and Barcelona products to one-off installers but it wasn’t until October 2000 when Baxi made a real mark on the Northern Ireland heating market with the launch of the 105e combi boiler. It was the first cost competitive combi on sale in Northern Ireland, helping to promote the benefits of gas to the wider public, and to date remains Baxi’s most successful product sold in the region.

The launch of Baxi Ecoblue in 2014 made waves in the Republic of Ireland in particular. Representing a landmark in product innovation, it’s currently the best-selling Baxi product in the region, offering both reliability and efficiency.

In 2015, the Ecodesign (ErP) Directive was introduced for heating products across Europe. Baxi ensured its products were compliant and met the needs of its Irish customers, and invested in support work to ensure its installers and supply chain in Ireland understood the implications of the Directive. Education is an important element for Baxi’s activities in Ireland, having opened state-oftheart training facilities for installers in Dublin and Newtownards.

For more information on Baxi Potterton Myson please visit www.baxipottertonmyson.ie/ about-us.htm