Colleagues,
It goes without saying, but I will say it – I am super proud to be able to lead our EMEA business.
We have a fantastic foundation in our people, our capabilities, the solutions we offer and customer relationships, and a real opportunity ahead of us.
My expectation is clear: stay close to our customers, own our commitments and deliver with consistency. I know we have the capability to do it. Let’s keep raising the bar together.
Five-Year Strategy
Our 2026–2031 ambition is to build a $1bn EMEA business. We are focusing on 15- 30 strategic customers and on winning, growing and retaining the right work. That includes hyperscale and colocation customers such as ‘Sunshine’, AWS, Meta and Microsoft, alongside selected regional partners and operators such as CyrusOne, Virtus and DataVita.
Customers increasingly need complete, dependable cooling solutions. We can bring together chillers, air handling, fan walls, controls, commissioning and lifecycle support. Our focus is to make those offers easier to qualify and deliver, with the quality and economics of each commitment clear from the start.
Three sites ♦ One EMEA team
Each site has a clear role in our $1bn ambition. The figures below are the strategy’s planning ambitions for the sites, connected as one EMEA network.
Our Growth Outlook
Scaling
Q1 and Q2 have been challenging, but Q3 & Q4 is where we expect to see the business take off and our transformation begin in earnest. Significant orders support our journey to $1bn. We expect growth to build from Q4 and continue over the next five years.
To support that growth, we are hiring more than 80 people in Q3, with a further increase in hiring planned for Q4. We expect all EMEA factories to move towards capacity, with Leeds likely to reach its current maximum first. We need to scale thoughtfully, look after each other and keep improving how efficiently and effectively we execute.
Our priorities for the months ahead
We will improve delivery and forecast reliability, stabilise output and quality as we scale, make products and processes more repeatable, strengthen materials and capacity planning, and grow service and lifecycle support alongside new equipment.
We will keep challenging ourselves to improve business performance and execute our plans well.
As we continue to grow, Safety and Quality must remain at the very heart of everything we do. Doing things right the first time is both an individual duty and a collective promise to one another.
- Own Your Part: Follow approved processes, verify your work, and speak up early. If something feels unsafe or unclear, pause the job and ask for help. We solve problems at the source – we never pass them on.
- Strengthen the Team: Look out for your teammates, ensure seamless shift handovers, and treat every near miss or defect as a valuable learning opportunity to fix root causes.
- Leadership Commitment: Our leaders are accountable for providing the proper training, tools, and time to execute every task safely and thoroughly.
Our bottom line will always be simple: no delivery deadline or output target is ever more important than sending every colleague home safe and delivering equipment of uncompromised quality.
What We Need to Get Right
Keep the Customer Promise
Be clear on scope, design, price, dates and responsibilities before we commit. Raise risks early and agree a practical response.
Plan From Evidence
Connect customer demand with real capacity, materials, skills and test readiness.
Own the Handoffs
Make the next step clear across sales, product, engineering, projects, plants, finance and service.
Grow our Capability
Grow our capability. Share knowledge, develop skills and create room for colleagues to take responsibility.
Why Your Contribution Matters
It’s easy to get absorbed in the day-to-day grind and forget the human side of what we do. Our strength has always come from our people, and I want to remind everyone across our business just how vital your contribution, support, and presence are to those working alongside you.
I want to give special credit to our entire frontline and operational teams across the business, whose technical expertise and tireless dedication continue to drive our operational excellence.
I also want to warmly welcome our new starters and congratulate colleagues reaching milestone work anniversaries. Your contribution matters, and I want us to make sure it is recognised in townhalls and newsletters to come.
Supporting Movember
November brings Movember and International Men’s Day on 19th November, highlighting the critical importance of men’s mental health and wellbeing.
While growing a moustache is a visible way to raise awareness, the real responsibility belongs to all of us: fostering an open, caring culture where no one – men and women alike – feels they have to struggle in silence.
I encourage everyone across our business to look out for the people you work alongside. Taking the time to ask a colleague if they are truly okay, and being ready to listen, is one of the most powerful things any of us can do.
For more informa
tion about Movember, click the moustache!
Remembrance at Airedale
This month, as we observe Remembrance Day, we pause together to honour and remember the service personnel who gave their lives in conflicts past and present, as well as the veterans, reservists, and military families within our own business community.
At 11:00 AM on Wednesday 11th November 2026, we invite everyone across our offices, manufacturing facilities, and project sites to observe a national two-minute silence in shared gratitude for their service and sacrifice.
Poppies
As part of the annual poppy appeal, The Royal British Legion have brought some poppies into Leeds again this year. If of interest to you, these are with Bex in reception.
The red poppy is a symbol of both Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future. Poppies are worn as a show of support for the Armed Forces community. The poppy is a well-known and well-established symbol, one that carries a wealth of history and meaning with it.
Royal British Legion
The Royal British Legion helps members of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, veterans and their families. They support serving and ex-serving personnel all year round, every day of the week. Their support starts after one day of service and continues through life, long after service is over. You can find out more about the work they do here.
Thank You
I’m proud of what we are building across EMEA, and I’m excited about where we can take it. Thank you for everything you do. Let’s keep raising the bar and deliver better than we expect of ourselves.
Lastly, I’m really looking forward to our company Guy Fawkes event and seeing you there, keep warm, safe and have fun!
