Leadership

Sustainable Building Services was founded upon a clear vision and a belief that sustainability must lie at the heart of everything that we do.

Making that vision a reality demands effective teamworking at every level, but it also demands strong and determined leadership. We’re therefore fortunate that we are led from the front by influential industry figures; people who have helped to shape the sector through constructive engagement with government, professional bodies and the institutions that define the standards to which we all work.

Derek Horrocks

Highly respected and acclaimed in the energy efficiency sector, Derek is our founder and company chair. In addition, he holds a number of other important positions.

He is chair of the National Insulation Association (NIA) and a non-executive director of both the Retrofit Academy and the Solid Wall Insulation Guarantee Agency (SWIGA). In 2023, he also helped to found the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG), a coalition of businesses aimed at delivering high-quality energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies at scale. In the same year, he was named in the Unlock Net Zero Climate Champion’s Power List 2023.

With over 30 years’ experience, 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 – on matters such as 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 Lawson

With overall responsibility for company activities, Gary ensures project delivery in line with all contractual, funding and regulatory requirements. To date, this has included over 2,000+ properties upgraded with whole-house retrofit improvements under the PAS 2030 / PAS2035 standards. (update)

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.