Cornwall-based heat pump producer The Kensa Group has announced that long-time chief executive officer Simon Lomax is stepping down due to health reasons.
Kensa Contracting MD Matthew Trewhella has now been appointed as CEO, the company said. It has also taken the opportunity to further strengthen the board, with Kensa Heat Pumps MD James Standley appointed as chief operating officer (COO).
Simon was heavily involved in the creation of Kensa Contracting, a specialist networked heat pump installation business, and, more recently, Kensa Utilities, a business set up to fund, own and maintain the underground infrastructure associated with ground source heat pump technology.
He said: “Having joined Kensa in 2007, it has been a privilege to head up the Kensa Group and play a part in the incredible journey to our present status as the UK’s leading supplier and installer of ground source heat pumps. During my stewardship, I am hugely proud that a remarkable team has found a way to increase revenues 30-fold, as well as create 180 jobs, many of them in Cornwall, during a period when policy was not especially kind to the technology.
“Moving forward, additional investment into Kensa, and more supportive policies, will allow even faster growth as the market recognises our solution provides the lowest cost and lowest carbon heating solution for households across the UK. Kensa will play a major role in the rollout of heat pumps here and elsewhere and the next chapter will be hugely exciting.
“The company is well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities, but my uncertain health means I would like to spend my time in a more leisurely way. That said, I am pleased that I will have a continuing role as a strategic advisor, and I have every confidence that Kensa will continue to deliver high-quality installations on an ever-increasing scale. I have never been surrounded by more talented or more determined colleagues and we have created an exceptional business. It is inspiring to see so many new recruits join the Kensa Group helping to deliver our vision, and I am convinced Kensa will enjoy far more successes in the years ahead. It has been an honour to lead such a remarkable business and I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity.”
Company chair, Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, added: “Nobody has been more responsible for Kensa’s success than Simon. With fierce determination, he has found a way to deliver exceptional outcomes for staff, customers, supply chain partners and shareholders and he has relentlessly advocated for the technology and challenged conventional thinking. The Kensa Vision – small ‘Shoebox’ ground source heat pumps in each dwelling, linked to an ambient temperature heat network, and delivered street-by-street using a ‘split ownership’ model – is Simon’s legacy to the sector, and will make an enormous and lasting contribution to heat decarbonisation and the reduction of fuel poverty in the UK. In the past few years, Simon has battled cancer with equal determination, and I hope he enjoys a thoroughly deserved retirement.”