7 April 2025

The MCS Foundation has welcomed Dr Garry Felgate as its new CEO, to lead the MCS Group at a crucial time in the mission to decarbonise homes, heat, and energy.

Garry Felgate has over three decades of senior leadership experience across the private sector and civil society, and in government advisory roles both as an executive and board member. His experience includes senior business leadership roles at KPMG, Carbon Trust, AEA Technology, Energy Retail Association and Association for the Conservation of Energy, and non-executive and advisory positions at The Energy Saving Trust and the UK Public Health Association. He chaired the Energy Billing Code, the Energy Selling Code, the Supplier Requirement for Smart Metering Board, the Brighton and Hove Energy Services Co-op. He holds a BSc in Architectural Engineering and a PhD in Building Engineering (focused on energy in the domestic built environment) from the University of Leeds. He is a fellow of the Energy Institute and the RSA.

Garry Felgate joins The MCS Foundation at a time of growth and increased ambition for the MCS Group across its three core work streams. On the advocacy front, having won campaigns to get zero-rated VAT on domestic renewable technologies, extend the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and introduce the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, The MCS Foundation is now aiming to secure passage of the Future Homes Standard and to reduce electricity pricing to drive the electrification of heat.

In support of innovation, The MCS Foundation has awarded grants of over £3m to support the scaling up of retrofitting and research into positive solutions to make all UK homes carbon-free, and continues to roll-out its Local Area Retrofit Accelerator (LARA) programme to test models for large-scale retrofits.

In its role to assure the quality of small-scale renewables and build consumer confidence, the MCS Foundation via its wholly-owned subsidiary the MCS Service Company Ltd are preparing to launch transformational changes to its Certification Scheme.

Garry Felgate will be the first Chief Executive of the MCS Group, providing leadership to both The MCS Foundation and the MCS Service Company.

Garry Felgate said, “It is an enormous honour to be joining The MCS Foundation, an organisation that excels in evidence-based research, ambitious policy work, and action-oriented programmes to drive change.

“More households than ever before are installing renewable energy in the UK, but we know we need to accelerate installations to meet climate goals. Now is a crucial time for that acceleration, and The MCS Group will be at the forefront of achieving it.”

Chair of the Trustees of The MCS Foundation, Fabio Nehme, said, “The MCS Foundation has become today one of the leading voices in the UK in efforts to decarbonise homes, delivering a unique combination of intellectual and technical capital, financial resources and mobilisation capabilities to inform policy-making, ensure quality standards, and drive large-scale innovation. Looking forward, our ambition is to build further on those strengths to accelerate the change needed, and we could not be happier to have Garry taking the helm at this point in time. His leadership experience, understanding of the sector and passion for our field will help guide our special organisation through its next growth phase.

“The MCS Foundation trustees would like to express our deep thanks to the excellent service offered by David Cowdrey, who has led The MCS Foundation with skill, ambition, and consideration as interim CEO during the recent leadership transition period.”