Ian Fleming has been working with EOGB since 2013. He initially worked as a Gas Technical Trainer and Assessor for several years before becoming a part-time consultant, supporting us with compliance. In 2024, he joined the company permanently as Compliance & Renewables Manager.

Tell us about your degree and your University experience?

I didn’t go to university straight after school. After leaving school in the early 1990s, university was not the first step—instead, a three-year apprenticeship with British Gas laid the foundation for a career in the heating industry. This was followed by extensive work with natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) across both domestic and commercial settings, as well as domestic oil, unvented hot water systems, and legionella prevention.

I later worked as a trainer and assessor of heating engineers specialising in various areas, as well as conducting on-site assessments and safety auditing. I am also gaining qualifications in incident investigation, including carbon monoxide incidents and then progressed into renewable heating systems, covering both air and ground source heat pumps as well as solar thermal hot water and solar PV installations.

Currently, I’m studying part-time with the Open University for my master’s degree in engineering, as well as supporting STEM activities promoting various roles in engineering to hopefully inspire young people and attract them to future engineering roles.

How do you apply those skills in your role at EOGB?

I use all of the skills and experience I have gained over my career on a daily basis at EOGB, whether working with our technical team to improve processes and the services we offer, working with our R&D department to develop solutions for an ever changing energy industry in this country, or looking to the future with a range of renewable products such as the Sapphire range of air source heat pumps.

What is the best aspect of your job?

Working with a great team who are dedicated to providing reliable energy efficient solutions for our country’s evolving energy market, and working with all sizes of companies and their end-users as they transition to more sustainable forms of heating.

How does your role contribute to EOGB’s overall goals and customers?

By listening to our customers and end-users, future plans can be formulated, so we are not only at the cutting edge of technology in our sector, but we are also able to provide customers and end-users with products and services that they not only need, but also demand as the industry becomes more aware of the possibilities of more energy efficient heating systems.

What industry trends or innovations do you find most exciting right now?

The move towards the decarbonisation of the domestic heating sector, as well as the introduction of smarter heating controls that will help to reduce the cost of heating all our homes and reduce our reliance on energy providers.