Ten Years of SE² #10 – The heart of the matter

People have always been at the heart of what SE2 does.  They are our life blood,  if you will. We work for them - and with them - and many have become our friends.

In an earlier birthday blog (the one about behaviour change) I listed the things that SE2 ISN'T. But what we ARE is people people. Whether we're framing policy, facilitating workshops, delivering training or writing guidance, people are always front centre of our thinking. Because if you don't put people right in the middle of climate change, nothing's going to change.

Being in business for 10 years (not to mention our time in the sector before SE2 was born), you see a lot of people come and go: some of them good, others you're rather glad to see the back of (!)  We've known several people as new entrants and watched them rise to giddy heights - and luckily for us they've taken us with them (Richard Rugg and Tim Rotheray both spring to mind). It's one of the reasons, I think, that so much of our work is repeat business or comes from word of mouth recommendations.

 Being a small organisation, we work closely with like minded associates to help us punch above our weight (it always surprises us slightly to find reports we've written mentioned in dispatches - it's like taking a walk and finding a younger version of yourself coming towards you). Recent collaborators have included Joanne Wade, Phil Downing, Katie King, Ruth Rule, Arnout Andrewsand Nic O'Connor, but we've done a lot of work in the past too with the likes of Peter Rickaby, Steph Moore, Neil Cutland and Paula Owen.  In working with these guys we put our reputation in their hands (and vice versa), and so far it's worked out pretty well!

I need at this point to mention two giants of the industry who are sadly no longer with us but were hugely influential on SE2 in our formative years: John Chesshire - an academic realist who (amongst many other things) chaired the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes - and Peter Lehmann - Chair of the Energy Saving Trust and fuel poverty champion through his work with FPAG. Liz and I both have very fond memories of them, and like many others have stories we happily recant about them. I think we both expected them to be here to celebrate our 10th birthday with us: their insight and influence across the industry echoes still.

I hope they'd be proud of us and what we've achieved: from small acorns mighty oaks doth grow. But without our colleagues, clients, associates, stakeholders - and most of all friends - we wouldn't have as much to celebrate. And it wouldn't have been as much fun!