Award Winners | Celebrating the Stars of the Gas Industry
The Gas Industry Awards give recognition to those who contribute towards the gas industry with their outstanding efforts and innovations, showcasing their dedication and passion.
At this year’s awards, hosted by comedian Lucy Porter, the winners were announced for each of the twelve categories.
Oliver Lancaster, Chief Executive Officer at IGEM, said: “The Gas Industry Awards is fantastic moment in the year to stop and celebrate the efforts of our industry to deliver the secure natural gas system of today, and to support the energy transition to a more sustainable gas future.
“It’s great to see the many ways our industry colleagues are adapting and innovating to achieve net zero, deliver efficiencies and safety improvements, be better than best practice at customer service, developing our teams and young talent, and showcasing the finest products, projects and individuals in the sector.”
Mike Foster, Chief Executive at the Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA), said: “At a time when energy bills, energy security and carbon emissions are high on the political agenda, it is worth remembering that gas keeps the lights on and it heats homes and businesses right across the UK. What happens in the gas industry therefore matters to the country at large.
Our annual industry awards showcase just what talent and expertise exists in the gas industry. Award winners should therefore be very proud of their achievements, serving both their industry and our country.”
IGEM and EUA would like to thank the event sponsors: Bilfinger, Cadent and SGN. Along with the award category sponsors: United Infrastructure, Radius Systems, Georg Fischer, Dresser Utility Solutions, GrainLNG, Bilfinger and DNV.
Gas Industry Award Event Sponsors
Company of the Year (up to 250 employees) | Sponsored by United Infrastructure
Winner: Darke Engineering Ltd
Established in 2010, Darke Engineering delivers technically robust gas engineering services built on precision, reliability and safety. Employing 90 people, it operates across the UK gas and energy sector and maintains long-term partnerships with Cadent, SGN, NGN, BPA, Valero and Mainline Pipelines Ltd. The company is recognised as operating in a highly competitive marketplace, competing with well established brands while demonstrating strong initiatives, investment and growth.
RUNNERS UP
Bohr Ltd
ThermoServ Ltd.
Large Company of the Year (over 250 employees)
Winner: Murphy
Murphy has a distinguished history in the gas industry since the 1950s and is the UK’s leading privately owned engineering and infrastructure provider, with expertise in pipelines, network interventions and complex installations supporting National Gas Transmission and the Gas Distribution Networks. The judges highlighted its exceptional range and scope of projects, outstanding data-rich submission, strong global performance, financial strength, CSR and ESG commitment, and strategic partnerships, making its 75-year legacy well worth celebrating.
RUNNERS UP
OVO Energy
Penspen
Customer Service Award
Winner: SGN – Pivoting to the Front Line
In winter 2024/25, SGN’s Southern network ranked last for customer service, prompting a transformation focused on putting customers first through expanded depots, 600 additional staff and strengthened frontline support, driving satisfaction to 9.5/10 in 2025. Judges praised the excellent turnaround in customer service performance through strong, deliberate actions - changing the operating model, increasing staff, improving training, rewarding performance, delivering a bespoke caring service, working with partners and consistently going above and beyond.
RUNNERS UP
Cadent for The Mobile Advice Centre - keeping rural communities safe and warm
Cadent, Skewb and LDPs for Turning Trust Around: Delivering a Step‑Change in Customer Experience
Wales & West Utilities for Putting customers at the heart of our emergency response.
Engineer of the Year | Sponsored by Radius Systems
Winner: Danny Cheetham, Senior Integrity Engineer, Cadent
Danny has led Cadent and the gas industry’s involvement in developing the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), going beyond his role to help shape it into a robust platform aligned with safety and operational needs. Through collaboration with key partners, he improved its integration with existing processes, enhancing efficiency and safety, while his cross-industry leadership and engagement have driven wider improvements.
Winner: Sam Hansen, Asset Planning Manager, National Gas Transmission
Sam made a significant contribution to gas transmission safety and performance, securing £288m of RIIO GT3 funding through evidence-driven asset planning, improving pipeline integrity with new ROSEN analytics, and introducing satellite imagery to enhance easement and vegetation management efficiency. He also advanced understanding of AC corrosion, resolved a critical data discrepancy, and strengthened asset management practices through ISO 55001 coordination and strategy development, laying a strong foundation for future regulatory periods.
RUNNERS UP
James Hodgkins, Principal Mechanical Engineer at WSP
Nancy Thomson, LTS Futures Project Director at SGN
Net Zero Innovation Award
Winners: Utonomy, SGN, Cadent, Northern Gas Networks, Wales & West Utilities, DNV, National Gas for the 'Intelligent Gas Grid' Project
The IGG project, funded by Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund and led by SGN with partners including The IGG project is developing an autonomous gas network system to reduce methane emissions, detect faults early and increase biomethane capacity. Field trials delivered a 16% reduction in methane leakage and up to 31% reduction in governor pressures. Judges said the project tackles the heart of transforming gas infrastructure to transport net zero products and represents excellent UK GDN collaboration.
RUNNERS UP
Cadent for The Digital Platform for Leakage Analytics (DPLA)
SGN for LTS Futures
Wales & West Utilities in collaboration with Codi, British Gas, Vaillant, Steer Energy, KIWA for Pioneering hydrogen demonstrator homes and the potential future of low-carbon living
Business Innovation Award | Sponsored by Georg Fischer
Winner: ROSEN for Non-Intrusive Pipeline Assessment (NIPA)
ROSEN demonstrates strong long-term commitment to innovation, with over 600 engineers and scientists focused on asset integrity and operational safety. Its Non-Intrusive Pipeline Assessment (NIPA) uses advanced inspection techniques, data analytics, and global datasets to assess pipeline threats where traditional methods are limited. In 2025, NIPA was applied across over 705 km of pipeline, successfully identifying critical defects and progressing toward subsea deployment via ROV, showing clear innovation and industry benefit.
RUNNERS UP
SGN for SMF Query Tool
Wales & West Utilities for ‘Smart Pressure Control’ trials to increase biomethane capacity year-round.
Leadership Award | Sponsored by Dresser Utility Solutions
Winner: Sarah Kimpton, Vice President, DNV
Sarah has over 35 years’ experience as a chemist, beginning in the natural gas industry, and now focuses on decarbonisation, particularly hydrogen, CCS, and the UK Energy Transition Outlook. She is a respected thought leader and Leadership Team member at DNV, contributing to strategy development, industry standards, and thought leadership studies, while actively engaging in STEM and DEI activities. Judges described Sarah as an excellent Industry leader, role model and champion for continuous personal development.
RUNNERS UP
Tim Roff, Head of Technical Consultancy – Energy Transition at United Infrastructure
Russell Thomas, Technical Director at WSP.
Product of the Year
Winner: Bosch Commercial and Dunphy for Bosch UC8000F 145-1200kW Boiler with Hydrogen Dunphy Burner
The Bosch UC8000F 145–1200kW Boiler with Hydrogen Dunphy Burner is highly deserving, meeting key gas industry needs as the first high-capacity, 100% hydrogen commercial unit with CE certification and extensive real-world testing. It offers dual-fuel capability (natural gas or hydrogen) for flexibility and energy security, improves safety through advanced engineering, and enables significant CO₂ reductions of up to 700 tonnes per boiler annually, making it a robust, future-ready solution for the energy transition.
RUNNERS UP
Deltaflare for Phoenix
Oxford Flow in collaboration with Cadent for Oxford Flow PRISM.
Project of the Year
Winner: SGN for LTS Futures
The LTS Futures Project aims to develop a blueprint for repurposing local transmission system pipelines to 100% hydrogen, supporting whole-network decarbonisation. It recently completed a UK-first 30km pipeline repurposing trial, including new hydrogen connections and safe operation demonstrations such as in-service welding, hot tapping, and flow stopping. The project provides key evidence to support a future methodology for converting the UK’s LTS pipelines to hydrogen and enabling large-scale use of the existing gas network for clean energy transport.
RUNNERS UP
Digital Inspector Ltd in collaboration with Cadent for Digital Inspector - Resolving an industry challenge
Wales & West Utilities for Critical pipeline upgrade in the Eryri National Park, North Wales.
Safety Award | Sponsored by GrainLNG
Winner: Cadent in collaboration with Ripple&Co for Trailblazing a Safety-First Future
Cadent delivered an immersive safety experience for over 350 employees using simulated gas explosion scenarios to improve decision-making, behaviour and safety learning. Judges described it as an excellent collaborative company-wide safety engagement between a GDN and SME.
RUNNERS UP
DNV for A Trusted Voice in Safety
Wales & West Utilities in collaboration with QEMS for The Future of Competency Management.
Early Career Achievement Award | Sponsored by Bilfinger
Winner: Harveen Matharu, Senior Pipeline Engineer - Inspection and Corrosion, Cadent
The judges said Harveen was a very good candidate, worthy of an award after demonstrating career excellence across cultural leadership, engineering innovation, and research. Since joining as a graduate in 2019, she co-founded the organisation’s first ED&I network, Embrace, leading initiatives in inclusion, Women in STEM outreach, and mentoring. She has also contributed to corrosion management by improving compliance, shaping RIIO 3 investment decisions, and enhancing data-driven insights, while pursuing a PhD in human-robot collaboration and applying AI to advance engineering decision-making.
RUNNERS UP
Tom Beardsley, Welding Technician at National Gas Services
Bosco Chiramel, Senior Operations Engineer at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Mumbai Refinery
Kishan Shane Sicotra, Gas Network Analyst at National Gas Transmission.
Investment in People | Sponsored by DNV
Winner: Skewb for The Skewb Futures Programme
Skewb Futures, described as a standout programme by the judges was launched to address the challenge of sustaining growth in a constrained talent market by reducing reliance on lateral hiring and building future-ready consultants with technical, commercial, and adaptive skills. The programme created an accelerated internal talent pipeline, combining structured learning, live client delivery, and innovation, with twelve graduates working alongside teams to develop new opportunities.
RUNNERS UP
Cadent for Transforming Health and Wellbeing Through Positive Engagement
GrainLNG in collaboration with Connectr Early Engagement for Driving Employee Engagement with a New Approach to Community Outreach
Northern Gas Networks in collaboration with University of Bradford
Skillhouse Bradford for Net Zero Education.
Special Recognition Award
Awarded to: Howard Forster, Chief Operating Officer, Cadent
Howard has been awarded for Individual Innovation in recognition of his leadership in developing Cadent’s Advanced Leakage Management Approach, combining advanced methane detection and digital analytics to enable data-driven, risk-based interventions with significant environmental and operational benefits. He also founded the Global Technology Forum to drive cross-industry collaboration across European gas networks and secured regulatory support and funding for the programme, delivering impact across Cadent, the UK gas industry, and internationally.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Awarded to: Mike Johnson, VP Senior Principal Consultant, DNV
With almost 50 years of service to the gas industry and internationally recognised contributions to gas safety, explosion science, risk assessment, and incident learning, Mike has shaped modern understanding of gas explosion hazards, influenced safety standards and regulatory practice, and contributed to major incident investigations including Buncefield and Piper Alpha, as well as domestic gas safety improvements. He has also supported IGEM and the wider profession through knowledge sharing and mentoring, leaving a lasting legacy of improved safety and public protection across the industry.