Successful green firm is turning up the heat
An environmentally-friendly Coventry company is still expanding after seeing its turnover rise by 500 per cent to nearly £10 million in the last three years.
Geothermal International is taking up all 11,000 sq ft of space at its headquarters at Spencer Court, Earlsdon, thanks to a total funding p ackage in excess of £6.6 million from private investors as well as the Yorkshire Bank.
The company uses ground-sourced heat pumps to provide heating and cooling from the renewable energy stored in the earth, saving fossil fuels and eliminating carbon dioxide emissions.
With the ground remaining at a constant 12 degrees Celsius all year round, it works like a battery by using this to heat the building in the winter and discharging heat back in the summer.
Formed six years ago with two members of staff, the company now employs almost 50 people and also has an office in Stirling, Scotland. It plans to take on another 50 staff over the next three years.
Geothermal International has obtained the exclusive rights to sell and install market-leading US-based Water Furnace heat pumps in the UK, Europe and Russia.
Installation sites include the Chelsea Building Society HQ at Cheltenham, several university buildings and schools as well as both the new Gloucester Police HQ and North Kent Police HQ in Northfleet.
Geothermal International has expanded by taking over all of the office space at its current base at Spencer Court, off Albany Road.
Finance manager Hazel Davidson said: "The company has grown tremendously over the last six years.
"In year four our turnover doubled and in year five it trebled, which is partly responsible to the environmental concerns many people now have.
"We have also been aided by the ever increasing price of oil; our systems deliver up to 70 per cent cost savings on annual heating bills.
Geothermal is something of a family business as Ms Davidson's husband Brian is chief executive of the company and their son Chris works as technical director.
The senior management team has been strengthened recently with Patrick Sherriff, sales and marketing director and Karl Drage, operations director joining the board.
Andy McCabe, senior partner at Yorkshire Bank's Financial Solutions Centre at the Ricoh Arena, which covers the Coventry and Warwick-shire region, said: "The concept that Geothermal International offers is an excellent one because it provides secure, free and inexhaustible energy from the earth and is environmentally friendly as well.
"The company is a real success story for the city of Coventry and the region."
