The History Of Worcester Bosch Boilers

As one of the world's leading names in heating innovation, Worcester Bosch is synonymous with customer satisfaction, blending high end technology with assured traditional engineering. In this blog we will take a look at the rich lineage of the brand, and how Worcester Bosch continues to create.

Worcester Bosch Brand Origin

The Worcester Engineering Co Ltd was founded in 1962 by Engineer Cecil Duckworth at the Old Vinegar Works in St. Martins Gate, Worcester. 

Brand Development for Worcester Bosch

By the mid 1960’s Worcester Engineering had rapidly cemented itself as a market leader in oil fuelled heating in the UK. The Worcester Firefly model proved an early success for the brand.

In 1970 Worcester outsourced the manufacture of some key boilers to Japanese company, Sunwave. As the 1970s progressed, and with the introduction of the soon to be revolutionary combi boiler in the UK, the at one time 95% monopoly that oil held in home heating dwindled, and the intrigue in gas as the most prevalent fuel source grew.

The 1980’s was a mixed decade in terms of highs and lows for Worcester. The company managed to resurrect itself from a factory fire, manufacturing boiler units just three weeks later and rebuilding the factory 104 days after the initially destructive blaze. 

Worcester then overcame bye-law obstructions from the water authorities, in order to continue to develop their latest cost efficient and space saving combi boiler concept designs to provide both heating and hot water.

In 1986 in an attempt to raise equity capital, Worcester was floated on the London Stockmarket with share prices soaring from an initial £1 to £13 in just eighteen months. In 1987 Worcester Engineering was renamed Worcester Heat Systems.

In the 1990’s Worcester opened new advanced large scale production and training facilities, the centrepiece of which was the new company HQ at Warndon on the edge of worcester.

In 1992, a significant moment for the brand, after two years of negotiations, Worcester was sold to Robert Bosch GmbH, joining the Bosch Group. Worcester would now be regarded as a key element of Europe's most successful domestic heating company.

In 1995, Worcester founder Cecil Duckworth became the first English head of Bosch’s Heating Division.

Modern Era Of Worcester Bosch Boilers 

The 2000’s saw a focus from the brand on environmental concerns, creating the award winning Environment 2000 initiative.

This led to the designing and production of eco-conscious Worcester boilers with a trope of energy efficiency, as well as affordable pricing. The highly successful greenstar range was also launched, winning several industry awards from CORGI, and OFTEC.

The 2010s saw a highly successful decade for Worcester Bosch, with great commercial success after heavy investment in consumer advertising to promote their customer centric high quality boilers. Worcester Bosch received many accolades within the decade including Which?

Awards for the greenstar boiler series and commendations for their outstanding customer service. The 2010’s were also a decade for celebration and reflection as Worcester celebrated 50 years, Bosch celebrated 150 years, and in 2018 Worcester’s 50,000th boiler was manufactured at the clay cross site.

Key Worcester Boilers | A Timeline

• 1962 - Firefly

• 1970 - Heatslave

• 1975-  Delglo

• 1977 - Danesmoor

• 1980 - Hoppamat

• 1982 - Heatslave senior

• 1985 - Heatslave 9.24

• 1987 - Highflow

• 1990 - 9.24 Electronic

• 1992 - 230,240,280

(1995 Worcester are acquired as an extension of Bosch)

• 1996 - CDi

• 1997 - i Series

• 1998 - Si

• 2000 - CBi

• 2001 - Greenstar HE

• 2005 - Greenskies flat plate solar thermal

• 2006 - Greenstore GSHP 

• 2007- Greenstar Camray

• 2008 - Greensource air to water heat pumps

• 2011 - Greenskies evacuated tube solar thermal

• 2012 - Greenstar CDi compact

• 2014 - Worcester wave 

Worcester Bosch Quality

Priding themselves on being a leading manufacturer for over half a century, Worcester continues to be a boiler brand trusted by millions across the UK. Worcester Bosch has a 4.6/5 star rating on customer review website Trustpilot, having been reviewed over 30,000 times!

Consumer informative guide Which? recently awarded Worcester Bosch its illustrious best buy accolades on their entire Greenstar gas and oil boiler range.

New Worcester Bosch Boilers

Here at iHeat we want our customers to receive the highest quality products, that's why we stock a wide range of Worcester Bosch boilers.

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