Council Members
Laura Bishop, Infinitas Design
Laura is a strong advocate for heat pumps and encourages councillors and developers wherever she sees new developments throughout the UK. She believes that heat pumps should be deployed in place of traditional heating & cooling systems. As a qualified CIBSE Heat Network Consultant, she has influenced the use of heat pumps for low and ultra-low heat networks on local and national levels.
She is a director of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association and Chair of the Council.
Edward Thompson, ICAX Ltd
Edward Thompson joined Mark Hewitt, an architect who has specialised in energy-efficient buildings for many years, and Andy Ford, a mechanical services engineer and founding partner of Fulcrum Consulting, who jointly developed the ideas that led to Interseasonal Heat Transfer, Thermal Banks and solar assisted ground source energy. This novel ICAX approach to harnessing ground source energy has provided innovative systems for supermarkets, schools, community centres and for maintaining roads free of ice and snow.
The current challenges for GSHPA members are to demonstrate the potential for GSHPs in District Heating, to learn how to exploit the opportunities presented by Demand Side Response – as well as to persuade BEIS to take the actions it knows it should to promote ground source energy as the key route to reducing carbon emissions from heating and cooling.
After reading science at Oxford, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and working in finance, computing and venture capital Edward has specialised in helping young companies with new ventures.
He is a director of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association and Vice Chair of the Council.
Andrea Ellison, Dragon Drilling
Andrea Ellison is co-founder and Finance Director of Dragon Drilling in North Wales and after an initial career in accounts with a national brewery chain, Andrea trained as a maths teacher. She has taught in all key stages and was headmistress of a private school until leaving education in 2010 to concentrate on the family businesses.
She was voted onto the Council of the GSHPA in 2014 and has been actively involved in the promotion of heat pumps and the Association. With experience in finance, company law, operating a private school and three commercial organisations Andrea has brought a wide range of skills to the GSHPA as well as the drive to promote the use of heat pumps to politicians, installers and potential users. An excellent communicator, she has a no-nonsence approach to business and a proven record of achieving demanding targets. She has recently produced an 'Off the Shelf' scheme of work for schools for children from ages 5 to 16 which is available for schools throughout the UK.
She is a director of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association, Treasurer, and chair of the Marketing Committee and the Drilling Standards Committee.
Tim Baker, BA Hydro Solutions
Tim Baker is a geologist and hydrogeologist, who has been working in the water supply, ground source heating/cooling and regulatory sectors for 20 years and has supported the Association by representing it on trade stands and with technical and practical support over this period. He is passionate about the need to establish and uphold high design and installation standards.
Emma Bohan, IMS Heat Pumps
Emma has had an interest in the heat pump industry since assisting with the start-up of a heat pump company in 2002 that sold out to a manufacturer in 2008. She has been working in the design, supply, install of heat pumps full-time since 2016, and is excited to see the market, and opportunities, expand for everyone.
Robin Curtis, GeoScience Ltd
Robin Curtis is a Principal Consultant of Geoscience based in Falmouth, Cornwall. When working at the Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in Cornwall in 1984 he developed an interest in ground source heat pump technology. Since 1992 has been responsible for the introduction and promotion of these systems in the UK. He has been involved in the design, installation and commissioning of a variety of ground source heat pump systems from the smallest social housing installations up to some of the largest closed loop projects in the UK.
Robin is the author of several papers and articles on ground source energy, and is an engineering member of the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association. He is a member of the editorial board of Geothermics, and has been involved in a number of GSHP training initiatives.
Chris Davidson, GeniusEnergyLab
Chris graduated in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College before spending several years within the Ford Motor Company in Marketing and Business Process Engineering. In 2001 he co-founded GI Energy which grew to become the UK market leader in large scale ground source heat pump systems. As Chief Technical Officer Chris and his team took direct responsibility for over 200MW of system designs from initial feasibility to system prove out and ongoing monitoring.
Chris has been instrumental in working with the DECC to improve the Renewable Heat Incentive after launch. He has also provided training for CIBSE, Cambridge University, Oxford University and Imperial College covering topics from complex energy systems analysis to ground source heat pump system design.
Having founded GeniusEnergyLab in 2014 Chris now focuses on providing design, funding, policy and consulting advice on energy systems of all sizes.
John Findlay, Carbon Zero Consulting Ltd
John has over 30 years international geosciences and engineering experience ranging from oil exploration to water resource management. He is a Chartered Engineer and formed Carbon Zero Consulting in 2007 to provide independent technical design input to GSHC schemes. His mix of engineering, geology and borehole expertise is well suited to the complex demands of the open and closed loop GSHC market.
John has worked on some of the UK's largest open and closed loop heating and cooling schemes as well as many high profile water supply projects. Both areas require sound knowledge of UK geology, hydrogeology, borehole techniques and the regulatory environment. John has provided input to develop GSHPA Standards, the BGS open loop screening tool, the CIBSE WSHP code of practice and the Environment Agency good practice guidelines.
Ken Gordon
Ken is a chartered mechanical engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers with 30 years experience of drilling boreholes for private water supplies. He is currently operating as a consultant, advising clients on ground source heat pump systems which integrate with building insulation, air tightness, ventilation and solar energy. He believes that ground source heat pumps must be the sustainable heating of choice to tackle climate change.
Neil Lawson, ESB
Neil Lawson is a specialist thermal engineer with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a 25 year career in the field focusing on improved efficiency and reducing pollution. Involved in domestic, commercial, process, petrochemical and utility scale applications. Since 2007 he has been involved in the GSHP industry firstly as Technical Director of ISO Energy developing efficient solutions for rural estates, exemplar green buildings and low carbon hotels using GSHP. Neil quickly identified the opportunity of simultaneous heating and cooling, pioneering its application. Since 2014 as Technical & Operations Director at Geothermal International moving into the integration of GSHPs with other low carbon technologies such as PV, solar thermal, CHP and waste heat for heating/cooling at the 3MW scale. He is a Director of Sandford Hydro CIC, which is building 440kW of hydro power, currently the largest on the Thames, coupled to a series of GSHPs to provide heat and power to a community. Since 2011 Neil has been lobbying government on the benefits of the GSHP beyond the RHI.
Ken Kneale, Solid Energy
Ken has over forty years of experience in the commercial and industrial mechanical engineering industry and now represents Solid Energy in the UK and Ireland. He has a full understanding of the current market, the new technical advances, the regulation framework and the issues surrounding the ground source heat pump industry. He deals with both large and small consultancies and end users throughout the UK and has a very clear understanding of their expectations. He believes that it is important that the Council represents all sectors and he is able to put forward the views of a manufacturer.
Paul Leedham, Matrix Energy Systems Ltd
Paul, along with Andy Louth, has been developing training materials for the new apprenticeship for heat pumps which is due in September 2022.
Andy Louth, GroundTherm Ltd
Andy, along with Paul Leedham, has been developing training materials for the new apprenticeship for heat pumps which is due in September 2022. He has been co-ordinating with other associations and training bodies in developing the new training materials.
Bob Roddy, Amber Heating
Bob Roddy is commited to seeing the end of heat poverty and a reduction of the environmental impact caused by the use of combustion to heat our homes.
Natasha Wilkinson, Arup
Natasha leads Arup's UK north region ground energy business and is a Chartered Geologist specialising in hydrogeology. Leeds based, Natasha has worked on a wide variety of UK and international projects, including Euston Station in London. Natasha has been involved in ground energy projects for over ten years, and assisted in drafting the GSHPA's Closed-loop Vertical Borehole and Energy Pile Standards.
Natasha's other project specialisms are groundwater resources, groundwater – surface water interaction and environmental impact assessment. She has a passion for environmental protection and climate change mitigation which drives her enthusiasm for GSHP technology.
The GSHPA also offers non-voting positions on the Council to representatives from the Heat Pump Association and the British Drilling Association.
Others serving on sub-committees
Stephen Bielby, Secretary, GSHPA
Stephen joined the GSHPA on 1 January 2021. He supports the Council and is responsible for the delivery of secretariat services including liasing with members, event coordination, writing and editing newsletters, developing media campaigns and general communications.
The Ground Source Heat Pump Association is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and operates through its Council.
Sub-Committees
Policy Development Committee - chaired by Chris Davidson
Members of the Policy Development Committee attend meetings organised by BEIS to lobby for ground source energy and the electrification of heat as the strongest route toward achieving the Government's aims for the Clean Growth Strategy and the Clean Air Strategy.
Technical & Standards Committee - chaired by Robin Curtis
Marketing and Communications Committee - chaired by Andrea Ellison
Training and Education Committee - chaired by Paul Leedham
The Association provides information on GSHPs and makes presentations to promote the ground source industry to key audiences.
For more information about the work of the Association, or about Ground Source Heat Pumps, please e-mail info@gshp.org.uk, or write to the address below.