Run by volunteers, our nine regional groups offer unique opportunities to share experiences, develop knowledge and network with each other across the UK and in the Far East.
We also have a Section dedicated to the needs of our Company Members and our Young Persons Network is there to support the next generation of gas professionals.
Irish Section
The Irish Section covers Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, hosting events in Belfast, Dublin and Cork. Key themes of our events include: the activities of the gas network operators in Ireland and renewable sources of energy.
Chair: John McCorry
John is a Senior Design Engineer at Fingleton White. Since finishing university in 2009, he has worked within the natural gas sector in Northern Ireland, holding previous roles as a construction supervisor and Senior Engineer for a distribution network operator. John joined Fingleton White in 2024 and is responsible for the design and management of projects in the gas distribution network sector, from conceptual phase through to project completion.
Email: [email protected]
London, Southern & Eastern Section
A diverse region that includes the English capital and a large expanse of coastline, the London, Southern & Eastern Section offers a range of events including technical talks and tours to facilities such as the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Isle of Grain.
Chair: Kieren Shipp
Kieren is an Energy Operations Area Manager for Cadent in the East of England. His role includes overseeing the operation of offtakes, regulators and pipelines across all pressure tiers in the distribution network. Since leaving school, he has worked in the gas industry starting off as an apprentice undertaking mains replacement and diversions. Since starting in the industry, he has continuously sought opportunities for his personal development.
Email: [email protected]
Midlands Section
The Midlands Section has the largest number of IGEM members in its region, with the vast amount of IGEM comapany members being based in this area. This provides a great opportunity for technical visits and tours, as well as the chance to hear from industry experts at technical paper evenings.
Chair: Marc Owen
Marc has over 34 year's of experience working in the gas industry, now working as a Technical Compliance Manager at Bring Energy Ltd. He covers a varied range of areas domestic and commercial along with LPG and oil in his role. Marc has also been registered with Corgi and then Gas Safe for many years alongside OFTEC, holding many varied ACOPS/ACS accreditation certificates. He is also a member of IGEM’s Large Business Forum (LBF), Midland Section Forum (MSF), Committee panellist for the BSI Standards and sits on IGEM’s EngTech Working Group.
Email: [email protected]
North East & Yorkshire Section
The North East & Yorkshire Section hosts a range of successful events and tours that review innovation and the future of gas, providing insight into the work on hydrogen taking place in the area and linking with Northern Gas Networks (NGN), operator of the gas distribution network in the region.
Chair: Daren Dickinson
Daren has spent over 20 year's within the Radius Group after joining in 2004 from another plastic pipe manufacturer. He held roles in extrusion, granulation, and supply chain within Radius Systems before moving to the pipeline services division, Radius Subterra. It is here that he trained as a Gas Assistant eventually becoming a Site Technician then increasing in seniority to become the Senior Technician responsible for field teams in the North of England & Scotland. He now works in the HSE management team as a SHEQ Officer where his frontline safety experience is helping to shape future operations.
Email: [email protected]
North West Section
The North West Section host a series of events ranging from technical paper evenings with keynote speakers, to industry site visits across the region. Its popular Christmas lunch takes place the second week of December and is a great opportunity to network with colleagues from across the industry.
Chair: Nick Jerman
Nick is Head of Customer Operations at Cadent Gas Limited. He has worked with Cadent for over nine year's beginning his career in the gas industry as a Construction Engineer in 2009 at National Grid and then remaining with Cadent when the gas distribution arm was sold. Nick is currently responsible for delivering Emergency, Repair and New Connection operations in the North West.
Email: [email protected]
Scottish Section
The Scottish Section's event calendar provides a range of learning opportunities across Scotland. Our events cover a number of specialisms, and we like to vary the format by including paper evenings, showcase events, technical talks and social and networking events in our programme.
Chair: Gordon McMillan
Gordon is the Innovation Scouting and Discovery Lead at SGN, dedicated to developing new opportunities to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. A graduate of chemical engineering and business leadership, Gordon's mission is to help propel SGN forward through cutting-edge technology and strategic innovation, directly impacting the quality of life for communities.
Email: [email protected]
Far East District Section
The Far East District Section covers Hong Kong and China and is an extension of the Institution designed to support members by connecting them with fellow professionals and organisations working on the gas network within their geographical area.
Chair: Charles Chan
Charles is Director of KL Consulting Engineers Limited. He began his career with Mobil Oil in Hong Kong as an LPG engineer in the 1980s, and later worked in Australia with ICI Explosives for 14 years, before moving back to Hong Kong in 2005 as a consultant serving various oil, gas and energy companies. Charles also serves on various boards such as the Gas Safety Advisory Committee and the Vocational Training Council.
Email: [email protected]
South West Section
The South West Section host two showcase events a year, one in the spring and the other in the autumn. The events provide a great opportunity to hear from a range of industry speakers who will cover one particular theme at each event. These popular events also provide a wonderful opportunity to network with colleagues from across the industry.
Chair: Josh Williams-Trim
Josh’s background is in National Gas Distribution. He has been involved in the gas industry since 2009, starting as an apprentice with Wales & West Utilities. Following his apprenticeship, he was qualified as a First Call Operative, during this time further trained in Field Rhinology, Industrial and Commercial and Network Maintenance. He is currently Operational First Line Manager at Wales & West Utilities.
Email: [email protected]
Welsh Section
The Welsh Section’s activities include technical paper evenings and an interesting array of site visits to facilities across the country. We try to make the most of the variety of gas related facilities within Wales, such as the Cardiff Energy Recovery Facility, peaking plants and coke ovens. Our annual dinner takes place in the autumn and is a wonderful opportunity to network with colleagues from across the industry.
Chair: Jodie McEvoy
Jodie is an Internal Auditor for Wales & West Utilities (WWU), with over 17 year's of experience working for the Gas Distribution Network. She joined Wales & West Utilities in 2006 shortly after leaving school and hasn’t looked back since. Jodie has a wide breadth of experience across Business Services, System Operation and Process Safety, and has recently joined the Internal Audit team at Wales & West Utilities.
Email: [email protected]
Young Persons Section
Members aged 35 and under are automatically assigned to our Young Persons Network (YPN) in addition to their local Section. Designed specifically to support individuals early in their career, the benefits of the YPN include: career mentorship, technical paper evenings, best practice industrial visits, opportunity to enter the annual YPPC Competition formally known as the Young Persons Paper Competition, networking with like-minded peers and social events.
Chair: Harriet Guiry
Harriet is a Lead Hydrogen Innovation Engineer for the Business Development Theme in the Innovation team at National Gas. Following a year developing her knowledge on the way the current National Transmission System is operated working in the short-term risk team, she has moved to considerable longer-term strategy work looking at the energy transition. Specifically her work now involves looking into Hydrogen Blends, Carbon, Storage and alternative fuels.
Email: [email protected]
Company Members
The Company Member Section is designed to support the organisations affiliated to IGEM. Whether you’re a sole trader or large multinational corporation, our Section activities can help you raise the profile of your organisation, recruit talented individuals and develop the skills and expertise of your workforce enabling you to thrive and grow.
Chair: Tony Wimpenny
Tony is the Director and co-founder of Bohr, established in 2022 to enable renewable gas production and utilisation through development and supply of blending, measurement and control technologies and solutions. Tony previously managed a leading gas systems integration company and has been in the gas industry for over 10 year's, prior to which he worked for several years in aerospace engineering. He serves on numerous gas quality forums in the UK, Europe and internationally, focussing on standards and implementation approaches for natural gas, biomethane, hydrogen and other related topics.
Email: [email protected]