As a multi-award-winning business, we have been recognised for our:
About Us
Sustainable Building Services (UK) Ltd is a purpose-driven business dedicated to improving homes, communities and lives.
Purpose and Experience
Owned by Sustainable Investments Limited, we share the wider group’s goals. By applying industry best practice and innovative technologies, we work to address four of the most important challenges facing Britain today:
• The cost-of-living crisis
• Fuel poverty and its effects on public health
• National energy security
• Climate change
• Fuel poverty and its effects on public health
• National energy security
• Climate change
As a group, we seek to ensure that financially viable decarbonisation solutions are available to everyone – public sector clients, landlords, tenants and private households alike. It’s our mission to ensure than in the drive towards decarbonisation and net zero, we don’t leave anyone behind.
“Sustainable growth, expertise, innovative solutions and engagement with corporate responsibility, making SBS a truly outstanding company.”
Group Structure
Motivated by purpose, not by profit, we are one of several related companies that all strive to alleviate fuel poverty and to support faster, fairer progress towards decarbonisation. These companies include:
Owner of SBS and the driving force behind the group.
A consultancy business specialising in funding, private finance solutions, asset management and customer engagement.
A Trustmark-registered retrofit decarbonisation contractor, specialising in the management of large-scale retrofit projects.
A leading British designer and supplier of insulated render systems and other energy efficiency products.
Our Chair - Derek Horrocks
Highly respected in the energy efficiency sector, Derek is our founder and company chair. His passion and commitment to raising standards in the industry is evident in the various positions he holds.
Chair of the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG)
Chair of the National Insulation Association (NIA)
Member of the Steering Groups for PAS 2030 and PAS 2035
Non-executive director of the Solid Wall Insulation Guarantee Agency (SWIGA)
With over 30 years’ experience, Derek regularly represents the sector through engaging with UK Government and other key stakeholder organisations. He has helped to inform and influence government policy on matters such as industry standards, best practice, quality assurance and public funding streams. He was named in the Unlock Net Zero Climate Champion’s Power List 2023 and has been shortlisted for the 2024 Climate Champion of the Year award and is a 2024 Construction Leader of the Year Finalist.
THE NATIONAL HOME DECARBONISATION GROUP (NHDG)
In 2023, Derek Horrocks helped form the NHDG, a coalition of Tier 1 contractors and energy suppliers that deliver energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies, at scale.
The NHDG’s objective is to grow the retrofit supply chain through a collaborative platform that enables its members to focus on three core tasks, all of which are critical to achieving national targets for energy and sustainability.
They include:
POLICY – The NHDG shares the view that to deliver essential decarbonisation targets, the sector needs to be ready.
The NHDG works with government to influence policy at all levels to help achieve this.
SKILLS – Working together with the NHDG Workforce Development Partner, The Retrofit Academy, to lead the development of quality retrofit skills and training across the UK.
INNOVATION – Leading on driving the innovation needed in the sector to deliver home decarbonisation at scale, increasing the confidence for investors and consumers.
Above: Derek Horrocks (SBS chair) and Gary Lawson (SBS managing director) at the launch of the NHDG.
Our Offices
In addition to our head office in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, we have additional regional offices that are supported by depots, site offices, training facilities and customer-support centres across the UK.
Our Senior Management Team
Sustainable Building Services is led by a senior management team with many decades of experience in the fields of residential decarbonisation and energy efficiency. Their expertise in these sectors is almost unparalleled.
They are supported by equally experienced regional and operational management teams that have supported exceptional but sustainable year-on-year growth in recent years.
Highly respected and acclaimed in the energy efficiency sector, Derek is also chair of the National Insulation Association (NIA) and a non-executive director of both the Retrofit Academy and Solid Wall Insulation Guarantee Agency (SWIGA).
With over 30 years’ experience, and as the owner of leading commercial decarbonisation businesses, Derek regularly represents the sector in dealings with The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and other key stakeholder organisations. He sits on the Steering Groups for PAS 2030 and PAS 2035 and has helped to inform and influence government policy – including industry standards, best practice, quality assurance and public funding streams.
He also regularly appears as an industry expert speaker at industry conferences and seminars.
Gary has over 25 years’ experience of delivering major retrofit projects - particularly on large-scale housing refurbishment and decarbonisation energy efficiency schemes.
With overall responsibility for all company activities, including health & safety, Gary ensures project delivery in line with all contractual, funding and regulatory requirements. In recent months, this has included over 2,000+ properties upgraded with whole-house retrofit improvements under the PAS 2030 / PAS2035 standards.
He was previously managing director of the energy services division of a FTSE 250 business, which had a divisional turnover exceeding £60 million and specialised in housing refurbishment schemes including energy efficiency measures.
Steve has over 25 years’ experience of delivering major retrofit projects throughout the country - particularly on large-scale retrofit housing refurbishment and decarbonisation energy efficiency schemes.
With regional responsibility for quality, health & safety, supply chain procurement and management, Steve ensures project delivery in line with all contractual, programming and regulatory requirements, under PAS 2030 / PAS2035 standards.
Mike joined SBS in 2021 and has responsibility for Sustainable Building Services in the South. He has extensive experience of delivering major works - particularly on large scale housing refurbishment projects and energy efficiency schemes.
He was previously a main board director in FTSE 250 organisations specialising in support services, infrastructure and construction sectors. He has managed several contracting, facilities management and construction businesses. Prior to joining SBS, Mike was managing director of an SME operating within the energy efficiency, social housing regeneration and decarbonisation sectors.
Additionally, Mike was a director and vice chair of the National Insulation Association and had responsibility for chairing the compliance, scheme development, best practice and marketing working groups. He has close ties with government, industry regulators and UK energy efficiency stakeholders.
Ian has worked his way up from Trainee QS all the way through to commercial manager and now regional director.
Managing all projects within the North-West & North-Wales regions, Ian has developed a team capable of delivering a whole host of internal and external social housing refurbishment contracts for a wide range of clients.
He has previously held senior commercial roles within companies delivering large scale energy efficiency projects and exceeding £100 million in annual turnover.
Our History
Established in 1976, SBS has been at the forefront of residential energy efficiency and decarbonisation for decades. We deliver multi-measure energy-efficiency works to thousands of homes every year, helping residents to enjoy better living conditions while also saving money. We routinely work in occupied properties, including vulnerable households, and on mixed-tenure schemes.
Before the introduction of PAS2030 and PAS2035, we campaigned for and supported the prioritisation of whole-house, multi-measure decarbonisation schemes. We promoted the value of the resulting economies of scale, which boost community-wide impacts and help to accelerate progress in the battle against fuel-poverty.
In recent years, we have consciously adapted our business to respond to the requirements of PAS2035 and are now one of the UK’s leading decarbonisation specialists, managing and delivering retrofit projects at scale.
