This is an edited version of the unLTD Business Podcast interview. To listen in full click here.
In the latest unLTD Business Podcast, host James Marriott chats with Stuart Sinclair, CEO of Consortium Drilling, about his inspirational journey from humble beginnings in the Shetland Islands to leading innovation in the UK’s renewable energy sector.
Thanks for joining us on the unLTD Business Podcast this month, Stuart. I’ve been thinking that this will be an interview of two halves. What you do is very interesting and relevant as CEO of Consortium Drilling, but you also have an interesting backstory. Could we start on that?
Ok. I’m from the Shetland Islands, which you might be able to tell from my quite unique accent…
Yes. It’s somewhere you might think of as a nice place to escape the world for a bit, but what’s it like growing up there?
It’s a brilliant place to grow up. You get long summers, but during the wintertime, you’re in darkness. The winters were long, but the summers were beautiful.
I might be sounding a bit like a Shetland Tourist Guide now, but it’s got the most heterogenous, diverse geology in the whole of Britain – everywhere you go looks different. In terms of growing up, the schools were good, and there was a big culture of playing musical instruments and sports. It’s quite a close-knit community – there are only 22,000 people living on the island.
I enjoyed living there, but now I’m in Sheffield. This place has kind of become my home. I’ve done two masters degrees at Sheffield University, I’ve got my family here, and we’re close to the Peak District – it’s a brilliant place to live.
It wasn’t the most straightforward childhood for you, was it?
No, not really. We were relatively poor growing up. How can I put it? I lived in a cot until I was about six years old. We had a really small house and moved when I was six, and then when I was 11, my dad passed away. Mum couldn’t work as she had a lot of health issues.
I went to work when I was 11, initially in a knitwear factory. Shetland has a big heritage in knitwear – you might have come across Fair Isle Knitwear. It’s world-famous for its patterns. I worked evenings and weekends in the factory, so I’ve always worked from a very young age.
I was a big football player when I was younger. I remember my first boots being three sizes too big when I started and three sizes too small when I finished. I had pretty sore feet! I also had a Teddy Smith jumper that I wore for about five years straight at school. We pretty much had the same food every day.
Times were hard, and we didn’t have much money. I worked to earn a shilling so I could buy things. I left the knitwear factory, then became a waiter in an Indian restaurant. That was interesting because I learned to speak Bengali and some Urdu and Hindi.
I worked many jobs through my teens – as a tiler, farmer and in a bakery. Those were my teenage years, just trying to get by.
You went from jobs such as working in restaurants to dealing with multi-million-pound deals in your current role. When did things begin to change?
When I was about 16, in Shetland, we did something called Standard and Higher Grades, which are now GCSEs and A Levels in England. I sat my Standards and did okay, but I didn’t turn up for my Highers – I was too busy out drinking and playing pool.
Also, I didn’t really have a place to study in my house. Because of my family upbringing, we weren’t really encouraged to do homework. It was quite dysfunctional, and I think the turning point for me was when my housing conditions got really bad.
My guidance teacher came to me and said, “Stuart, you’re a smart guy. What’s going on?” I said, “Well, why don’t you come and see my housing conditions?” He then understood what I was facing.
I went to the housing department to try and get an environment where I could study. I remember reading all the material about how the points system worked – if you had more points, you had a higher chance of getting a house. But I didn’t have a baby, a criminal record or high needs, so it was hard to get points.
Eventually, I was sent to a hostel where drug addicts lived. It had dark purple walls, no white goods and no bed. I was around 16 or 17 at the time, deciding whether to stay at home or go on the streets.
In my final year of school, I moved to the Janet Courtney Hostel, where many kids from the island went for schooling. It was really good for me. That guidance teacher did that for me, so I decided to study hard in my final year.
I got an Advanced Higher in Geography and did really well in Physics and Maths. I ended up with some of the best grades in Scotland, which earned me a BP scholarship. I left the island to study environmental science at Stirling University.
Let’s just clarify something – how many degrees do you now have?
I suppose it depends on what you classify as a degree. But I would say I have five equivalent degrees and I’m now working on my sixth.
And how many languages do you now speak?
I’m not actually very good at languages, but I enjoy learning. When I meet people from different countries, I try to learn something from their language.
For example, I was at a Fuellers event in London, and the lady next to me was from Nigeria, so I spoke some Pidgin English with her. The chap across from me was German, so I spoke German with him. The guy to my right was from India, so I spoke Urdu.
People were watching, thinking, “Can he speak all these languages?” I wouldn’t say they are my strong point – I just like to know a little about lots of different ones. It’s great for rapport-building and trust. I’d say I know bits of 13 to 14 languages.
Let’s jump forward to the present day. Can you tell us a bit about what your business does?
I own a company called Consortium Drilling, and it’s kind of in the name. The consortium came together with myself, another chap called Steve Rogan and another guy called Charlie Palmer. We all came together through different companies we owned and saw a gap in the UK market.
We own the biggest, highest-spec drilling rig in the UK in terms of onshore drilling. It can go offshore, but we mainly focus on onshore UK. Essentially, we drill big holes in the ground. Most people don’t realise there have been over 2,000 deep wells drilled onshore in the UK.
The reason we set up this business was to target environmentally-friendly ways of producing energy. I’m a big advocate for geothermal energy. There are some really exciting lithium production projects happening in the UK right now. Hydrogen storage is another emerging market – drilling deep wells into salt cavities to store hydrogen. Those are the three core emering markets we’re involved in.
How did you go from your university degree to owning your own business?
After I finished my degree at Stirling, I went back to the Shetland Islands and joined a graduate placement scheme, working with marine vessels. That was really interesting – I worked alongside the marine engineering superintendent and got involved in a whole range of things.
I then worked in the council’s legal and risk department, doing risk assessments and risk registers. When I was 22, the transport manager in Shetland – who looked after the buses, inter-island aerodromes and ferries – said to me, “Why don’t you come and design our management systems for aerodromes?”
That was my first consultancy role, where I set up as a sole trader. From there, I got a job in Bridlington, England and worked for companies like SSE plc, which stores gas in salt cavities. I also worked for a variety of energy companies, both onshore and offshore.
In 2011, I set up my consultancy and started providing services like health and safety, quality assurance, business continuity and raising capital for worldwide projects.
As I mentioned earlier, myself, Charlie and Steve have worked together on and off for probably 10 years. We eventually said, “Why don’t we take all our experience and apply it to renewable energies?” So, that’s what we did.
Give us an idea of the scale of what you do. You mentioned owning the biggest drilling rig in the UK. Can you put that into perspective?
It’s a 1,000-horsepower rig that can drill to about 5,000 metres below the ground, but I’d say our sweet spot is between 1,000 and 4,000 metres.
When it comes to geothermal energy, the average temperature gradient in the UK is roughly 32 degrees per kilometre. So, if you drill down three kilometres, you’re looking at over 90 degrees, which is enough to do a lot with in terms of heat. If you go even deeper, you can generate power as well.
There’s a company in Cornwall called GEL set to launch the UK’s first deep geothermal power project. That’s a project that our team has been heavily involved with.
Energy is very much on people’s minds now – especially with rising bills. It’s vital to bring new forms of renewable energy online, isn’t it?
Yes, 100%. The momentum is here now. I’m part of a parliamentary group in London, and MPs are beginning to see geothermal energy as a resource we should be utilising.
I’m a big believer in using our own indigenous resources. It’s right beneath our feet, it’s available 24/7 and the UK has really good heat resources. Iceland and Indonesia are already doing this, and Paris has a whole heat network powered by geothermal energy.
In the UK, as we move away from fossil fuels, we’re also creating opportunities. There are lots of skills, resources and supply chains we can shift towards job creation in geothermal energy.
Some exciting things are also happening in the US, where companies like Google, Meta and Amazon are working with geothermal providers to power their data centres. Geothermal doesn’t rely on critical minerals like some other renewables, which makes it an attractive option.
Do you find some people freak out a little when you use the word “drilling”?
Yes, I think so. But it’s a case of helping people understand what that really means. We’re not fracking – we’re just drilling a big hole in the ground.
As I mentioned, there have been over 2,000 deep wells drilled onshore in the UK. It’s a very heavily regulated industry, with oversight from the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency, planning authorities and local councils.
I think community engagement is really important. We can do this safely and in an environmentally-friendly way, and that’s the message we need to get across.
Where would you like to see the geothermal market in five years?
That’s a good question. I think geothermal energy needs to be part of the UK’s policy agenda. Labour talks about offshore wind and solar, but geothermal deserves to be in the same category as other renewables.
I’d love to see NHS hospitals using geothermal energy for heating. There are great opportunities in areas like Cornwall, where power generation could be a focus, and in Sheffield, where the geology is ideal for heat networks.
The more of these projects we do, the better – scaling up will reduce the cost of drilling, improve the supply chain, and lead to more innovation.
What role do you think geothermal plays in the journey to net zero – and is net zero even a realistic goal?
That’s a good question, but you’d probably need to ask a politician about that one! As a practitioner and business owner, I can say geothermal plays a massive role in net zero.
The way I see geothermal is twofold: heat and power. It can decarbonise both. It’s also an indigenous resource, meaning we don’t have to rely on importing energy from elsewhere.
The government needs to back geothermal, just like it supported offshore wind. Once that happens, the private sector will step in, and we can really make a difference.
For more information contact Stuart Sinclair at: stuart.sinclair@consortiumdrilling.com
or head to www.linkedin.com/company/consortium-drilling-ltd
