Scottish Renewables' Heat Summit 2023 Speakers

Patrick Harvie MSP

Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights The Scottish Government

Patrick Harvie MSP spent his childhood in Dumbarton, and attended Dumbarton Academy followed by Manchester Metropolitan University.

Before becoming an MSP he worked for a sexual health charity as an LGBT youth worker in Glasgow, and was involved in the campaign to repeal Section 28 during the Scottish Parliament's first session.

Mr Harvie was elected as an MSP for the Glasgow region in 2003, has served as Convenor of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee during session 3, and as Co-Leader or Co-Convenor of the Scottish Green Party since 2008. He was appointed Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights in August 2021.

Iain Carr

Director of Sales, Kensa Contracting

Iain has a wealth of renewables experience in both technology and technical application. A long-standing ambassador of heat pump technology, with experience in supply chain, manufacturing and contracting.

Gareth Fenney

Head of the Heat in Buildings Future Delivery Unit, The Scottish Government

Gareth is the Head of the Heat in Buildings Future Delivery Unit within the Scottish Government’s Head in Buildings Delivery Division. He leads work on public engagement, future funding and finance and skills and supply chain, as well as work to establish a national public energy agency to support the delivery of heat and energy efficiency in Scotland. Gareth has worked within government on heat and energy efficiency for over 10 years, including on the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy and Heat Networks (Scotland) Act.

Christina Gaiger

Associate, Architype

Christina was the youngest ever President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) from 2020 – 2022, and only the second woman to hold the post. In 2020 Christina was recognised in the Architects Journal 40 Under 40.

As an Associate at Architype Ltd, Christina shares their passion for environmental design, attention to detail and retrofit. Previously Christina has worked for Helen Lucas Architects Ltd, in Edinburgh and TsAO & McKown Architects in New York. Following two years in Paris at Renzo Piano Building Workshop, working on the creation a new university campus within a 17th century fort in Amiens.

Christina continues to focus on the creative re-use of existing buildings and is a vocal advocate for VAT parity. As RIAS President, Christina vowed to shake things up and work towards changing the perception of the professional body.

Neil Kitching

Specialist, Green Heat and Water Technologies, Scottish Enterprise

Neil Kitching is a geographer, former accountant and progressed his career supporting Sustainable Development policy. He currently works as an Energy Specialist for Scottish Enterprise. His role is to maximise the economic benefit to Scotland from the planned transformation to ‘green heat.
Neil is passionate about the environment and is the author of Carbon Choices, on the common-sense solutions to our climate and nature crises.

Fabrice Leveque

Climate & Energy Policy Manager, WWF

Fabrice is climate and energy policy manager at WWF Scotland, leading the organisation’s advocacy work to tackle the climate emergency, with a particular focus on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings. His current focus is the transition away from fossil fuel boilers towards efficient, electric heat.

Having qualified as an energy specialist and looking for ways to directly tackle climate change, he worked in the microgeneration sector on both solar PV and thermal technologies. Following this he moved into policy and analysis roles in industry, think tanks and NGOs, gaining extensive knowledge and experience of the of the renewable heat and electricity industries.

David Linsley-Hood

Consultancy Director, Locogen

David is the Technical and Projects Director for Locogen Consulting.

He is a Chartered Engineer with 20 years’ experience in renewable energy system design, project development, training and consultancy. He has led a wide range of projects across the full project lifecycle including installation of systems involving single and hybrid renewable technologies. David’s experience also a comes as a certified installer and of renewable energy systems and many years as a senior lecturer in renewable energy system design.

David has a technical specialisms in industrial decarbonisation and the integration of low carbon heating systems, having designed and delivered multiple portfolio-wide programmes for both public and private sector clients. These focus on the complexity of adapting buildings to the lower temperatures and operational requirements of heat pumps and advanced heat networks. He is also the technical director for our innovative Hydrogen distillery project currently under construction.

Professional Practice Masters, BSc (Hons), CEng, CEnv, MEI, CIBSE heat network consultant

Hanna Lundström

Sustainability & Climate Change Officer, East Lothian Council, Vice Chair, BE-Change Makers

Hanna has a background in psychology and experience of working with net zero projects in both higher education and local government. At East Lothian Council, she manages the Council’s Climate Change Strategy to make estates and operations net zero as well as decarbonising the wider county. As Vice Chair for the BE-Change Makers, she works together with other young professionals in the sector to advocate for systematic change. The group takes on the role as a ‘critical friend’ in shaping the future of built environment.

Sarah-Jane MacArthur

Partner, Brodies

Sarah-Jane is an energy and projects lawyer with diverse experience across several sectors. In the energy sector, Sarah-Jane’s primary focus is on renewables and she has contributed to the successful delivery of many projects. She has supported developers, sponsors, funders and the public sector on various energy projects including: district heating, energy from waste, windfarms (both on and offshore), hydroelectricity and tidal power.

Sarah-Jane’s expertise spans drafting and negotiating various contracts crucial for project development, including construction and operations agreements and sales/ customer agreements. She also manages due diligence for project finance transactions and advises on the sale and purchase of development and operating assets. Sarah-Jane has also advised on energy licensing and regulation and on various support mechanisms including RHI, FIT, RO and CfD and grant funding agreements.

Claire Mack

CEO, Scottish Renewables

Claire has been Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, since October 2017. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work to grow Scotland’s renewables sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Claire is a member of the First Minister’s Energy Advisory Board and is co-chair of the Renewable Energy Strategic Leadership Group. She is also co-chair of the Scottish Government Marine Energy Industry Group.

Claire is a member of SSEN’s Network for Net Zero Stakeholder Group and a member of the Centre for Work-Based Learning in Scotland Advisory Group. She was recently awarded a STELAR award for executive leadership from the University of Strathclyde.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. She has previously worked in various roles at Ofcom in Scotland, focusing on economic regulation of telecoms, radio spectrum and the mail market while also looking at developing digital participation of individuals and businesses.

Evelyn McDowall

Associate Director, Turner & Townsend Contract Services Ltd

Evelyn McDowall has over 30 years experience of procurement and asset management. She joined T&T from Wheatley Group, where she had asset management responsibility for its 60,000 homes.
She has a wide range of experience of managing investment, new supply and sustainability programmes including investment planning, portfolio management and procurement across the public sector.

Chris Morgan

Director / Architect, John Gilbert Architects Ltd

Chris is an architect and a Director at John Gilbert Architects with over 30 years’ experience in ecological design and sustainable development. He has maintained a range of experience from masterplanning and energy infrastructure, through to award-winning and innovative architecture, research and teaching.

Previously a Chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association, Chris is one of only three architects with advanced sustainable architecture accreditation from the RIAS. He is a design review panellist for Architecture + Design Scotland and has certification in Passivhaus design, building biology and permaculture.

Stefanie O'Gorman

Director of Sustainable Economics, Ramboll

Stefanie is a Director of Sustainable Economics at Ramboll. Her consulting experience (supported by academic training in environmental management, natural sciences and economics) spans the planning, technical delivery, and management of policy and infrastructure projects. Stefanie has worked in Scotland for over 20 years and is currently working across Net Zero and Climate Adaptation sectors considering the economic and wider opportunities associated with the transition. In addition, Stefanie is a member of the Climate Emergency Response Group.

Colin Reid

Energy, Carbon and Sustainability Manager, Wheatley

Colin Reid is Energy, Carbon and Sustainability Manager for the Wheatley Group. His role includes solutions for meeting energy performance, fuel poverty and carbon targets across Wheatley’s existing and new build homes, as well as corporate estate and wider environmental sustainability goals; including regulatory as well as the organisation’s additional ‘stretch’ targets.

Colin has worked in social housing and energy performance of buildings since 2008. He has contributed to several Scottish Government expert panels including the Zero Emission Social Housing Taskforce (ZEST) and the development of District Heating Regulations. He is a chartered engineer with CIBSE and the Energy Institute.

Nick Sharpe

Director of Communications & Strategy, Scottish Renewables

Nick Sharpe is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Communications and Strategy. With a background in public relations and having formerly worked as one of Scotland’s most senior journalists, Nick translates Scottish Renewables’ policy outputs into public messaging, ensuring that the renewable energy industry is prepared for changes in sentiment, policy and perception.

Nick manages a team of four and is currently working to expand Scottish Renewables’ presence in and knowledge of the energy supply chain as the transition to net-zero gains pace.
Nick trained on the South Wales Echo then spent seven years at the Sun, latterly as Chief Reporter.

He then worked at Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s largest public relations consultancies.
At Scottish Renewables he’s also responsible for overseeing Scottish Renewables’ digital, marketing and social media channels.

Mark Wilkins

Technology & Training Director, Vaillant Group UK

Mark has been working in the heating industry for over forty years and brings a wealth of expertise and in-depth knowledge of low carbon heating solutions. Having worked in many markets, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Turkey, he has a lot of rich and engaging information he can share on the subject.