People and Companies forming GeothermalPlus

Chairman – Sir Christopher Edwards

Sir Christopher Edwards is the first Chairman of a NHS Medical Education England (NHSMEE) providing government ministers with independent advice on planning the future number of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and medical scientists in the NHS in England, as well as overseeing their education and training.

Sir Christopher was the first Head of Imperial College School of Medicine, a position he held from 1995 to 2001.  He was responsible for successfully merging the medical schools of St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Westminster, the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital and the National Heart and Lung Institute at the Royal Brompton Hospital, to form Imperial’s School of Medicine in 1997. 

In 2003, Sir Christopher was made a Fellow of Imperial College and is affiliated to Imperial College as a Senior Research Investigator in the Division of Medicine.  Sir Christopher is currently the Chairman of Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, one of Imperial’s partner NHS Trusts. 

Prior to joining Chelsea and Westminster in 2007, Sir Christopher was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He has also held numerous senior positions including President of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland and Chairman of the Council of Heads of Medical Schools.

Director Hydrogeology - Professor Paul Younger

Professor Paul Younger is an environmental engineer and hydrogeologist with a worldwide reputation for his pioneering research and outreach programme of community-based projects to remedy the serious threat to the environment caused by water pollution from abandoned mines – work which won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for the University in 2005.

Paul has extensive public and private sector experience in the field of minewater management, including projects for The Coal Authority, Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. He is also the Principal Hydrogeological Design Advisor, Groundwater Cooling project, London Underground Ltd’s “Cooling the Tube” programme. The first borehole for this project was completed by Drilcorp earlier this year.

Paul has numerous publications to his name including “Mine water: hydrology, pollution, remediation”
 He was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2007.

Technical Director – Professor Chris Underwood

Chris Underwood is Professor of Energy Modelling for the Built Environment, having originally joined the School as a researcher in 1981.  His research interests lie in the adaptive control of building systems; building energy ‘microgrids’ and geothermal heating and cooling systems.  He has published over 60 refereed research papers and books and holds the CIBSE Dufton and Napier-Shaw medals for research outputs.  His teaching interests lie in cogenerating systems, heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration.  He has authored over 50 consultancy reports on subjects ranging from the modelling of cogenerating systems to the design analysis of geothermal heating and cooling systems. Chris has maintained links with industry and has delivered numerous consultancy projects ranging from solar glass to system design, installation and troubleshooting. He was also active in plans for Bates Colliery in Blythe, Northumberland incorporating heat pumps using pumped minewater.

Company Affiliations

Drilcorp Ltd provide nationwide specialist drilling services

Drilcorp Ltd was established as a drilling contractor in 1992, to serve the growing demand for commercial and domestic independent water supplies, dewatering and in response to a requirement for renewable forms of energy, geothermal drilling for heat pumps.

Over the past 16 years Drilcorp has grown to be one of the most respected drilling companies in the United Kingdom, offering an unmatched range of specialist services to an extensive range of clients with whom they are pleased to have developed excellent working relationships. It is one of their key objectives to develop long-term working relationships with all clients by means of providing unrivalled levels of service throughout the whole range of our drilling services.

Drilcorp is a corporate member of a number of relevant associations including; The British Drilling Association (BDA), The UK Welldrillers Association (WDA) and The National Ground Water Association (NGWA).

Drilcorp’s core business has historically been generally focussed on groundwater. This has included drilling water wells to supply high quality cost effective water to a whole range of clients and industries, dewatering for the Civil Engineering and Construction industries and monitoring wells for the Environment Agency or the NERC. Further more specialised services have also included water well associated work such as well rehabilitation, pumping tests, CCTV inspections, and borehole alignment surveys.

More recently Drilcorp has made significant investment into training and equipment to service the growing geothermal renewable energy heating / cooling market and has had a great deal of success in completing a wide range of projects throughout the UK including a number of high profile works including the first borehole for Transport for London’s “Cooling of the Tube.”

Always at the forefront of new technology, Drilcorp has made a significant investment in advanced ‘sonic drilling’ technology for environmental and contaminated land surveys. This recently developed drilling method obtains soil samples of a quality never before thought possible. The fact that Drilcorp was the first company to bring this technology to the UK demonstrates the company’s commitment to deliver the most cost effective and environmentally friendly solutions to all of our clients through advanced technology and innovative methods.

With an extensive fleet of truck, track and trailer mounted rotary and percussive drilling rigs to suit just about any type of terrain, specialist ancillary equipment and a wide range of ancillary in-hole equipment to complement, Drilcorp Ltd has also developed the reputation for its ability “to go where no other drilling contractor can go”. Be it extremely confined operating areas, limited access, difficult terrain, severe traffic congested areas, working within or adjacent to high profile or listed buildings or even remote islands.