Sparks of 2026: #24 - Nathan Gambling
Nathan Gambling is not new to heat. He is not new to argument either. And he is certainly not new to the long, stubborn history of British homes that leak warmth as fast as we try to generate it.
Podcaster, publisher, educator and now leader of the Guild of Master Heat Engineers, Nathan occupies a rare position in the retrofit world. He bridges trade heritage and modern building physics, lived experience and measured performance, patience with beginners and zero tolerance for nonsense. He is one of those figures who does not simply comment on the sector but actively shapes how it thinks.
Born out of what can only be described as the white hot heat of heating history, Nathan’s family story runs deep through the making of warm, liveable homes. If you listen to his podcast long enough, you come to understand the people and influences that shaped him. His upbringing. His values. His way of thinking. There is a sense of continuity in how he talks about heating and homes, a respect for what came before, and an awareness of responsibility to those who come next.
Spend any time with Nathan’s work and one thing becomes clear very quickly. He is not interested in vibes. He is interested in outcomes.
Across his podcast, newsletter, LinkedIn posts and increasingly formal education work, he returns again and again to fundamentals. Heat loss. Emitters. Flow temperatures. System design. Human behaviour. He talks about buildings as systems, not products. About cause and effect. About why shortcuts fail and why rules exist in the first place.
This understanding is hard-won. It comes from years of practice, observation and mistakes. Nathan has embedded himself in the physics and science of heating and energy in a way that is increasingly rare in a sector flooded with surface-level messaging. That depth is why his voice carries weight, especially when he challenges poor assumptions or calls out wilful ignorance. He is not doing it to score points. He does it because buildings respond to physics, whether we like it or not.
Nathan is also a constant presence on LinkedIn. Informative. Provocative. Occasionally shouty. Even he would probably admit that the caps lock key gets a bit of exercise now and then. But people read it. They engage with it. And they learn from it.
Many of the professionals I speak to across the energy and retrofit sector have encountered Nathan at some point. Designers, installers, educators, manufacturers. One thing is common to almost all of them. You get a gentle feeling that Nathan is both a patrician and a protector.
A protector of truth. Of value. Of the integrity that comes from observing the basic principles and physics of heating.
Sometimes people feel as though they are being told off by a schoolteacher. But when you actually speak to Nathan, that caricature quickly falls away. In conversation, he is warm, generous with his time and genuinely interested in where people are coming from. What sits behind the firmness is fairness, discipline and a deep respect for the craft. He values tradition. He values history. And perhaps most unfashionably of all, he values basic maths.
That combination matters because retrofit can be intimidating. Heating systems are complex. Many people feel unsure before they even ask a question. Nathan has an effortless way with people who have little or no experience, and that approachability is one of his most underappreciated contributions to the sector. At the same time, when misinformation risks harming occupants, installers or the credibility of retrofit itself, he does not soften the message. He sharpens it.
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Nathan's Superb Newsletter
Nathan often refers to himself as part of the old guard. He is not wrong. He carries decades of accumulated knowledge that many in the sector are only just rediscovering under new branding. But he is also clearly part of the vanguard.
The Guild of Master Heat Engineers is the clearest expression of that. It is not a vanity badge. It is an attempt to formalise excellence, raise standards and create a home for deep expertise in an industry that desperately needs it. As people steadily sign up and as sponsorship and support grow across the platforms where Nathan publishes and operates, it becomes increasingly clear that this is not a side project. It is infrastructure. It is legacy work.
Looking ahead to 2026, Nathan’s place in the retrofit sector feels secure, not because of hype, but because of relevance. We will see further partnerships. Further educational initiatives. Possibly new products. Almost certainly more strong opinions.
More importantly, we will continue to see his influence in how heating and energy are talked about, taught and implemented. In how installers think about emitters. In how designers talk about systems. In how the industry slowly shifts away from slogans and back towards substance.
For that reason, and with genuine respect, we are delighted to include Nathan Gambling as Spark #24 of 2026.
Because he is building something that will outlast the noise.
Congratulations, Nathan.
