Diamond Gas: the energy-saving installer keeping it local, green and profitable
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23rd March 2015
Milton Keynes-based Diamond Gas Electrical and Maintenance Services Ltd is a small, family-run heating and gas installation and maintenance company established in 2004 with a very clear mission: to provide a quality service to all its customers.
Husband and wife team Chris and Deborah Gregory set up their company after returning from living in France with their newborn twins.
“My husband had previously trained as a plumber working on the railways, and we saw a huge gap in the property maintenance market for people who can run and manage a business and give really good customer service – one based around family values and trust,” explains Mrs Gregory.
The company is a founding member of the Milton Keynes Trading Standards’ Buy with Confidence Scheme and has been community-focused from the start, working with charities such as Age UK.
But two years ago, it became clear the company was not economically viable. “We were shrinking and we were on the verge of laying off another member of staff – one had gone onto part-time already,” recounts Mrs Gregory.
Then in early 2012, the National Energy Foundation (NEF), a charity based in Milton Keynes committed to improving energy use in buildings and looking for local traders, approached Diamond Gas to fit a suite of domestic gas boilers.
The relationship was to prove a crucial turning point for Diamond Gas, putting the business in touch with the Institute for Sustainability’s RE:Start Local project, a south east-wide initiative set up to help address the challenges facing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing supply chain and innovation opportunities in the UK’s £3.6 billion renewable energy sector, and led locally by Milton Keynes Council.
“It was the first time we’d been treated as professionals in the industry,” says Mrs Gregory.
Re:Start Local provided a range of activities for SMEs, including workshops and one-to-one support.
The first workshop Chris and Deborah Gregory attended was in July 2013 on Government Incentives to promote sustainable energy. This was followed by a Green Deal installer workshop, two Meet the Buyer events, and a marketing workshop.
“For the first time ever, we were speaking to other people in the industry, sharing experiences,” recounts Mrs Gregory, who is about to sign up to the Green Deal Installer programme with the NEA following RE:Start Local.
But the project has achieved much more for Diamond Gas, according to Mrs Gregory, who credits it for helping to turn her business around.
“As a result of the initiative, we have managed to refocus our business on what is profitable; we are growing again and we’ve taken a member of our staff back on. We now know what jobs to prioritise. If a job is too small we say it is too small – we do less turnover but make more profit.”
Through RE:Start Local, the Institute for Sustainability worked in partnership with B&E Group, Crawley Borough Council, Milton Keynes Council, National Energy Foundation, Reading Borough Council, West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, MTW, TV Bio Energy and TV Energy.
Completed in December 2014, the project was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
“My husband had previously trained as a plumber working on the railways, and we saw a huge gap in the property maintenance market for people who can run and manage a business and give really good customer service – one based around family values and trust,” explains Mrs Gregory.
The company is a founding member of the Milton Keynes Trading Standards’ Buy with Confidence Scheme and has been community-focused from the start, working with charities such as Age UK.
But two years ago, it became clear the company was not economically viable. “We were shrinking and we were on the verge of laying off another member of staff – one had gone onto part-time already,” recounts Mrs Gregory.
Then in early 2012, the National Energy Foundation (NEF), a charity based in Milton Keynes committed to improving energy use in buildings and looking for local traders, approached Diamond Gas to fit a suite of domestic gas boilers.
The relationship was to prove a crucial turning point for Diamond Gas, putting the business in touch with the Institute for Sustainability’s RE:Start Local project, a south east-wide initiative set up to help address the challenges facing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing supply chain and innovation opportunities in the UK’s £3.6 billion renewable energy sector, and led locally by Milton Keynes Council.
“It was the first time we’d been treated as professionals in the industry,” says Mrs Gregory.
Re:Start Local provided a range of activities for SMEs, including workshops and one-to-one support.
The first workshop Chris and Deborah Gregory attended was in July 2013 on Government Incentives to promote sustainable energy. This was followed by a Green Deal installer workshop, two Meet the Buyer events, and a marketing workshop.
“For the first time ever, we were speaking to other people in the industry, sharing experiences,” recounts Mrs Gregory, who is about to sign up to the Green Deal Installer programme with the NEA following RE:Start Local.
But the project has achieved much more for Diamond Gas, according to Mrs Gregory, who credits it for helping to turn her business around.
“As a result of the initiative, we have managed to refocus our business on what is profitable; we are growing again and we’ve taken a member of our staff back on. We now know what jobs to prioritise. If a job is too small we say it is too small – we do less turnover but make more profit.”
Through RE:Start Local, the Institute for Sustainability worked in partnership with B&E Group, Crawley Borough Council, Milton Keynes Council, National Energy Foundation, Reading Borough Council, West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, MTW, TV Bio Energy and TV Energy.
Completed in December 2014, the project was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
