Business & Technology
Calisen appoints Gary Adams as Water Operations Director
Calisen has appointed Gary Adams as Operations Director for Water, its second senior hire in quick succession.
Adams joins from Northumbrian Water, where he led a £160 million metering programme and managed a 220-strong field and office-based team. He will lead operations for Calisen’s water unit as the business expands.
The appointment comes as the UK water sector faces the prospect of sweeping regulatory change. The Government’s proposed Clean Water Bill would combine the functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England under a single regulator, in what Calisen called the biggest shake-up in the sector for decades.
Calisen is best known as a smart meter provider in the UK energy market, with around 16 million meters in operation, including about 40% of all smart energy meters in UK homes. The group has worked in metering modernisation for more than a decade and employs about 1,500 people across offices in Manchester, Market Harborough, London, Wigan and Portsmouth.
Adams brings more than 20 years of experience across regulated utilities, technology and large-scale transformation programmes. At Northumbrian Water, he was responsible for end-to-end metering operations, smart technology deployment and community engagement.
His arrival follows the recent appointment of Dr Diane Bitzel as Chief Technology Officer. Bitzel previously served as Chief Digital and Information Officer at Vodafone, extending a run of senior hires as Calisen builds out its leadership team.
Water expansion
The move signals a push to strengthen Calisen’s position in water metering as utilities prepare for tighter scrutiny of leakage, supply resilience and customer consumption. Smart water meters are increasingly seen as a tool to identify network losses and give households and businesses better information on usage.
Pressure on the sector is mounting. Water companies are under growing scrutiny over leaks, infrastructure performance and long-term supply, while ministers have signalled a broader reset of oversight arrangements.
Catherine O’Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of Calisen, linked the appointment to those wider pressures.
“Gary’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the water sector. With demand predicted to outstrip supply in the 2050s in the UK – and shortfalls forewarned for the mid-2030s – it is vital we radically reduce the billions of litres of water lost to leaks every year. Smart metering is central to that challenge, enabling water companies to detect leakage, optimise networks, and engage customers in reducing consumption. Gary’s experience leading one of the most complex metering transformation programmes in the UK water sector is exactly what we need as we step up to play our part in solving this critical national issue,” said O’Kelly.
Adams said the industry was entering a period of operational and regulatory change that would require utilities and suppliers to rethink how programmes are delivered.
“The water sector is on the cusp of its largest regulatory and structural reform in a generation, and Calisen is laying the foundations to play a leading role in that shift. Having spent much of my career at the intersection of utilities, technology and large-scale operational change, I have seen first-hand how transformative the right infrastructure and data capabilities can be for customers and communities. Delivering against the sector’s evolving expectations requires more than installing meters. It requires integrated operational models, strong programme governance and the ability to convert data into actionable outcomes. Calisen has the scale, financial strength and technical capability to support water companies through this transition, and I am excited to join a business with the ambition to make a real difference,” said Adams.
Sector reform
The proposed regulatory overhaul could reshape procurement, compliance and reporting across the industry. Companies serving the water sector are watching closely for signs of how a single-regulator model might change decision-making and the pace of investment in network monitoring, metering and other forms of infrastructure oversight.
Calisen has been broadening its reach beyond its core energy metering base. It has launched its first international business in Germany and has positioned itself around the digitalisation of utility infrastructure in both energy and water.
Adams’s appointment adds direct experience of delivering a large metering transformation programme within a regulated water company. That background is likely to matter as utilities face pressure to modernise ageing systems while responding to a changing regulatory framework and rising expectations around efficiency and resilience.
At Northumbrian Water, he oversaw a programme spanning metering operations, smart technology deployment and community engagement, while managing a workforce of 220.
Oxford-based Peripear has secured an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award and a £74,974 grant for its development of a wearable device designed to prevent perineal trauma during labour.
The funding will support continued product development ahead of the company’s planned first-in-human study.
Nina van Schaick, co-founder and COO of Peripear as well as a midwife who trained at Oxford Brookes, said: “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to see this gap.
“I was incredibly lucky to meet my co-founder, Eviatar Natan, right as my frustration about the lack of translation of evidence into practice had peaked.
“There was a proven mechanism that could reduce injuries occurring in up to 90 per cent of vaginal births, and it was being left out of clinical pathways simply because no standardised tool existed to deliver it.”
Peripear is developing what it describes as the world’s first automated perineal thermotherapy wearable, designed to prevent perineal trauma during childbirth.
A perineal thermotherapy wearable is an emerging medical device.
It is a hands‑free warm compress device used on the perineum during the second stage of labour to reduce severe tearing and episiotomies while improving maternal comfort.
Ms van Schaick added: “I’m a farmer’s granddaughter, and when I started practising over 14 years ago, I asked: where is the tool I need to implement this evidence? I looked around and realised we were still asking clinicians to improvise.
“Peripear is what happens when the person who has lived the problem, both personally and professionally, meets the person who can help her build the solution.”
The company behind bikemaker Raleigh, which was founded 139 years ago and has supplied bikes to the UK’s cycling city of Oxford over the years, has filed to appoint administrators.
Accell UK and Ireland, part of Netherlands-based Accell Group, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators as the wider group kickstarted insolvency proceedings.
This follows a difficult spell for Nottinghamshire-based Raleigh, which confirmed job cuts in 2024 before reporting a £30m loss in financial accounts published the following year.
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The boss of Accell said it was a “deeply sad and frustrating situation” and that it had “tirelessly explored” every option for the future of the cycling business.
The company bought Raleigh in 2012 for around 100 million US dollars (£74 million), adding to its roster of bike brands throughout Europe including Haibike, Winora and Ghost.
Raleigh was founded in Nottingham in 1887 and was well-known for its Chopper model, which featured extended handlebars and is now part of its “retro” range.
It no longer manufactures bikes from Nottingham, and its head office has moved to Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, while the company has shifted to selling electric bikes under Accell’s ownership.
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Accell went through a restructuring in February, securing additional funding from shareholders and lenders and reducing debts.
The group said it had since “explored every possible avenue” for its future, including discussions with potential buyers, but that it had not been possible to find a solution which means the business can continue operating.
It has therefore initiated insolvency proceedings in the Netherlands.
Accell’s chief executive Jonas Nilsson said: “This is a deeply sad and frustrating situation given all the hard work and everything we have achieved, with the support of shareholders and lenders, to restructure Accell’s operations and finances.
“It is an especially difficult moment for our employees, creditors, customers, suppliers, and partners.
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“Every realistic option for the future of the business has been tirelessly explored, and none have resulted in a solution to continue the Group in its current form.
“Our immediate focus is to support an orderly process, provide clarity wherever possible, and work with the relevant court-appointed administrators to preserve viable activities and employment where circumstances allow.”
At its 1970s height, Raleigh employed more than 13,000 people across the UK, with around 8,000 working at its various Triumph Road sites in Nottingham.
The former factory land later became the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus.
Raleigh subsequently moved its headquarters to Church Street in Eastwood, before leaving that site and relocating to Durban House in 2024.
Celebrating both GCSE and A-Level Results Days, the chain will offer the popular dish to students who buy one of its bubble teas.
The free offer is available at all 42 Rosa’s Thai restaurants across England and Wales.
To avail of the free noodles, students need to register on Rosa’s Thai website for a unique code, which they should present at the restaurant together with a copy of their results.
Rosa’s Thai has a new range of bubble tea flavours, including Ube-Taro, Matcha-Coconut, Mango Sticky Rice, and Milo Chocolate Milk, as well as favourites like Home-brewed Thai Tea with Tapioca, and Lychee Mango with mango boba.
Students can sign up for their free Pad Thai at rosasthai.com/result-day-free-pad-thai and find their nearest restaurant at rosasthai.com/locations.
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