Meet our team

Charles is the Chairman of Gilkes Energy which he founded in 2008. He is also the Executive Chairman and majority shareholder of Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd. Charles is also a Director of a series of companies in the renewables sector. Prior to returning to the family business in 2006, Charles spent 24 years in the Army. He also helps his wife with her forestry business.

Henry Chaplin is a director and shareholder of Gilkes Energy and Gilkes Energy's investment companies including the pumped storage hydro project companies. His background is in investment banking and infrastructure funding with Noble. Prior to his collaboration with Gilkes, he founded and is chairman of NCM Fund Services which administers over £3 billion of assets. Henry led the original fundraising and structuring of GHI Holdings, the main holding company of GEL’s run of river projects, its subsequent £43million debt refinancing and, more recently, the development funding of GEL’s pumped storage hydro projects. Previously, Henry was an officer in the Royal Green Jackets and he has rekindled his work with the military in the last decade leading four climbing expeditions with wounded soldiers including Everest, Manaslu and Denali.

Carl Crompton is the Managing Director of Gilkes Energy and leads the Project Development team.

Carl's current focus is on developing a number of large pumped storage hydro projects, including energy storage economics, financial analysis and capital raising.

Prior to joining Gilkes Energy Carl worked in corporate finance advisory (M&A and capital raising for growth companies) for Cavendish Corporate Finance in London. Prior to that Carl has worked in various commercial and financial roles in industry including Rolls-Royce Industrial Power and British Nuclear Fuels, both in the UK and internationally, including Switzerland, France and New Zealand.

Carl has a 1st Class degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from INSEAD.

Gavin McGill is the Technical Director of Gilkes Energy. He has more than 35 years' experience in design and construction of a range of power and infrastructure projects. He has worked on a wide range of hydropower projects, from sub-5MW up to pumped storage projects in GW range.

Gavin is currently heavily involved in the development of Gilkes Energy's pumped storage projects and is focused on project development, concept design, engineering and procurement.

Gavin holds an Honours Degree in Offshore Civil Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

David Tomb is a Project Director with Gilkes Energy. He has 20 years' experience in project development, design, construction and operations, primarily in the Hydropower sector. He has worked on a wide range of projects of varying scale, from sub-5MW up to pumped storage projects in the GW range.

David is currently heavily involved in the development of Gilkes Energy's pumped storage projects and is focused on project development, preliminary civil engineering, procurement and contracting.

David holds a 1st Class Masters Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. David is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers.

Fraser Allison is a Project Director with Gilkes Energy. He has 20 years' experience in project development, design, construction and operations, primarily in the energy sector. Having been involved in Hydropower since 2012, he has worked on a multitude of projects of varying scale, from sub-5MW up to pumped storage projects in the GW range.

Fraser is currently heavily involved in the development of Gilkes Energy's pumped storage projects and is focused on project development, preliminary engineering, E&M interfaces, procurement and grid connections.

Fraser holds a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Alasdair MacInnes is the Operations Manager for Gilkes Energy, with responsibility for the maintenance and service of the hydro operating portfolio. He has 9 years' civil design, project management and site supervision experience in the UK hydro industry as well as previous structural design experience. He has worked on the successful delivery of a number of renewable energy infrastructure projects in remote areas of Scotland.

Alasdair holds a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Glasgow and is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Martin Hendry is the Lead CAD Technician for Gilkes Energy.  He has 20 years' experience of working as a Civil and Structural Engineering CAD Technician in a wide range of civil engineering projects and has worked in the hydropower sector for the past 10 years.

Martin served an apprenticeship as a Civil Engineering Technician and has a National Certificate in Civil Engineering.

Karen Blackburn is an accountant at Gilkes Energy. She has worked for Gilkes for over 15 years in a variety of finance and accountancy roles, with the last 10 years dedicated to the hydro project portfolio.

Karen is a Fellow Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians with a Diploma in Accounting. She also continues to study in a number of fields; Accountancy, Business, Mathematics and recently Global Climate Change and Environmental Awareness.

Nicola Waters is the Project Administrator for Gilkes Energy and joined the team in 2017. Nicola has over 10 years’ experience in the Energy sector and holds a Level 2 Diploma in Business Administration.