Thrift Energy Group has transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), becoming one of the UK’s largest employee-owned retrofit and energy efficiency businesses. The move transfers ownership of the Gateshead-based organisation into a trust structure for the long-term benefit of its workforce.
As part of the transition, founder Derek Campbell has stepped down from his executive role to become Non-Executive Chairman. Campbell has spent more than 40 years working in the retrofit and energy efficiency sector. Existing directors Rob Browne and Josh Raffo will continue to lead the business as Managing Director and Commercial Director respectively.
The company said the decision followed a sustained period of investment in its people and operational capability. Over the past year, Thrift Energy Group has expanded recruitment and reinvestment across the organisation, growing its headcount to 116 employees. The majority of staff are based at the Group’s headquarters in Gateshead.
Thrift Energy Group incorporates both Thrift Energy and Provincial Seals (PSL), with the latter operating as an accredited training provider. Provincial Seals is approved by ABBE and GQA to deliver NVQ qualifications, supporting skills development within the construction and retrofit workforce.
The ownership transition comes as the UK Government advances its Warm Homes Plan, a £15bn programme scheduled over the next five years. The plan aims to reduce household energy bills, increase the use of solar power, and accelerate the rollout of heat pumps as part of a broader effort to address fuel poverty and decarbonise housing stock.
Thrift Energy Group said it is preparing to scale delivery across the North East, where an estimated 14.4% of households are classified as living in fuel poverty. The business has previously supported thousands of UK homes and commercial properties in accessing more than £96m in government-backed retrofit funding, while also contributing to workforce reskilling across the green energy sector.
Rob Browne, Managing Director, said the employee ownership model was chosen to preserve the company’s culture and long-term direction.
“When we looked at the future of Thrift Energy Group, we explored all the options, but what became clear very quickly was that we didn’t want anything to change,” Browne said. “We’ve loved building this business alongside our team, and we want to keep doing that — focusing on our customers, culture, values, and people. An EOT allows us to do that, with the added benefit that our team now gets to share in our financial success too.”
Alongside the ownership change, the Group has announced plans to launch the Thrift Energy Group Academy. The initiative will fund and support employees in gaining further qualifications across roles including retrofit assessment, project management, and quantity surveying. Training delivery will draw on Provincial Seals’ existing accreditation and infrastructure.
Josh Raffo, Commercial Director, said the move was also intended to secure the business’s regional roots while building capacity for national programmes.
“We were determined to ensure Thrift remained a Gateshead business, supporting people across the North East and creating jobs in the region,” Raffo said. “At the same time, we are building the capability needed to scale delivery as national retrofit programmes ramp up and play a role in lifting local people out of fuel poverty.”
Provincial Seals is expected to support wider access to retrofit careers across the region, contributing to the estimated 180,000 additional professionals required nationally to deliver the Warm Homes Plan.
The company said employee ownership would underpin its long-term approach to growth, workforce development, and delivery of energy efficiency projects, positioning the Group to respond to increasing public investment in housing retrofit.
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