Retrofitting Business Space

We were lucky to visit the extremely busy Simon Baseden from AAC Group and spend time with one of the 'grandfathers' of the the heating and cooling world.

Over the course of two days we got to witness the training regime, operational routine and meet first hand customers that Simon and his team were working with.

AAC Group has been around for a while and Simon is part of two generations of heating and cooling engineers. He's keen to emphasise that bringing up others is a core part of his business.

"We built a training rig in our own office so people could practice - before I let them loose on the public."

The company covers a substantial region, with residential installs in Kent and the South East, they cover a fair few miles. His commercial heating and cooling teams work on projects all across the South East of England, with long term contracts at MoD, civil and retail units from Gravesend to the Isle of Thanet, and even into the big smoke. London.

As we pulled Simon away from his busy desk and got him to show us around the office and warehouse headquarters, we discovered he was "dogfooding" his own business.

He was so keen to make sure business customers understood how effective clean heat was, he converted his own commercial unit into an exemplar of the technology he installs in their units. What blew the production teams socks off, was the comfort levels.

Rain Outside - Cosy Inside

We visited him before the heatwaves, there was no buckling rail as we arrived, in glorious British spring time - our time in the Garden of England was punctuated by bursts of brief sunshine, some howling winds and a torrential downpour that grounded the drone for part of the day.

Inside AAC HQ. Toasty. Air that smelled fresh (even with our drying socks hanging around) and a dedicated team of support staff happily beavering away in a beautifully controlled office space.

Simon explained he'd fitted out heating and cooling systems in millions of square feet of commercial properties across his region, the one unifying fact that every business discovered working with him - the energy savings. Whether it's giant VRF units or industrial arrays of 30Kw heat pumps delivering clean heat, Simon showed us a list of customer case studies as long as our arm - all of whom where saving money from adopting clean heating and cooling.

Businesses and Heat Pumps

Simon demonstrated examples on his design portfolio of units where large heat pump units kept enormous office spaces warm using a combination of solutions that replaced the existing gas systems, delivering consistent heat to hundreds of office staff, warehouse operative and engineers in a variety of environments.

Surprisingly, when we sat down and audited his energy bill for the unit he was occupying - the entire unit had a yearly electricity bill that was less than the costs for a conventional 3 bedroom house.

"If you put the right combination of technology in - you can heat and cool any commercial space, for a lot less." - Simon Baseden

This was obviously a bit of a showstopper moment. In the industrial parks of the South East, there are thousands of SME spaces where units hum away burning the cash of the business owners, large spaces with draughts and openings, multiple access points - draining energy out in deep winter and cooking the inhabitants during the summer months.

"Yeah we can fix that."

Says Simon. But he's not doing it himself. His patient team do let him back on the tools sometime, but not often. Preferring to give him more of a mentor role (it's better value for his business). Simon had multiple training units in his HQ building, including a cylinder and piping rig which every single engineer has had a go connecting, piping and lagging.

They all know the score - if you can't pass the standard for installing, the 'Simon standard' - you don't get to go out in the van.

The Bit No One Knows

Once a quarter. Simon does something many businesses shout about.

He prefers to do it modestly and with no fanfare. Simon chooses a remediation project - often older customers or those with young children - where he personally attends and makes sure the heat pump he's remediating is fixed, serviced and brought back to full operation.

Then at the end of the job, the homeowner is presented with a heavily subsidised bill - discounted by Simon and his team.

It's done with no press release, he doesn't even take photos. The only sign is weirdly low bill sitting on his accountants desk... and a whole lot of goodwill that resonates around his company.

It's About Service - Not Growth

As our time with Simon came to an end, we asked why he didn't scale the business, in the face of an order book that stretches into 2027.

His response was poignant and epitomised the ethos he's had whilst running this company for over 20 years.

"I can't sleep at night - if I know a job's not done right"

That dedication to serving his customers has come at some personal cost. We met his wife en route between jobs. They are a smashing couple totally invested in their workforce - but when I asked about bringing work home - I am met with peals of laughter.

"Yeah. I might have to admit - I've fitted practically everything on my own house. Often more than once."

Then his wife cracks a joke that sums up Simon Baseden and his superb family run business.

I can't repeat it verbatim - but let's just say. If you don't get the heating right in your own home - there's someone who can make your life way more difficult than any customer.

So on that note, we departed the Kent countryside and spent a long car journey wondering how we could get our home energy bills lower than an office complex.