From Hospitality to Heat Pumps | Emma Bohan of IMS Heat Pumps

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Emma Bohan, Managing Director of IMS Heat Pumps, a specialist renewable heating company installing air source, ground source and water source heat pumps, plus solar PV and batteries, from bases in Scotland and Sheffield. Emma and her team help homeowners and small commercial clients move away from gas boilers towards low-carbon, electricity-based systems that can be powered by renewables.

Emma explains, in plain English, how heat pumps work, who they’re right for and why combining a heat pump with solar panels and a battery – the “holy trinity” – can both cut carbon and reduce fuel bills. She shares examples from self-builds, major renovations and “grand designs” style projects, as well as small commercial jobs like tractor showrooms and warehouses.

We then dive into her unexpected career journey. Emma started out in hotel and catering management, working her way up to operations in a hotel group before realising that never seeing her family over Christmas and New Year wasn’t the life she wanted. After a stint in the civil service, she joined a business development consultancy, helping manufacturing companies and early renewables innovators tackle bottlenecks, explore new markets and commercialise technology. That’s where she first encountered heat pumps and the founder of a pioneering UK heat pump company.

Years later, that same founder brought several installers together with a big vision: to grow a national heat pump business and develop “heat as a service” – a mobile-phone-style model where customers would pay a monthly fee that covered both their heat and the equipment. Emma joined as operations manager, using her hospitality-honed process and people skills to run the installation business day to day. But the company over-invested in the new service model, funding ran out and the business went into administration.

At that point, Emma could have walked away. Instead, she stayed up crunching numbers and pitched a bold plan to the Scottish and Sheffield installation teams: buy the viable installation part back from the administrators and rebuild. In 2019 they relaunched together as the current IMS Heat Pumps. Since then, they’ve grown year on year in revenue, profit and headcount, focusing on quality installations, tight geographic areas and a strong service ethos: sell it right, design it right, install it right, support it well – and make life easier for everyone.

Emma also talks about the practical realities of running an installer business: limiting the operating radius so they can look after customers properly, the joys and pains of vans and engineer logistics, and why their internal mantra is “have an easy life” – not in the sense of coasting, but in doing things properly first time so Christmas shutdowns really can be a shutdown, with only the occasional emergency call-out.

We also explore what it’s like to be a woman leading in a male-dominated sector. Emma shares how she has found the renewables and heat pump world welcoming and supportive, with several male mentors championing her, and a growing number of women running the “back office” and, increasingly, leading businesses. She talks about how regulation and admin have created real opportunities for women who are strong on organisation, compliance and customer communication, and how women in the sector tend to gravitate towards and support each other.

Finally, Emma offers grounded advice for anyone thinking about starting or scaling a business in a technical sector: stay curious, learn the technology, track what’s happening in your industry and policy environment, build a strong “frenemies” network of other installers, and don’t be afraid to be corrected. For her, every day is a school day – and thick skin, hospitality-grade work ethic and a willingness to learn have been key ingredients in her success.

This is a fast-paced, story-packed conversation about renewables, resilience, restarting after failure and designing a business that works for customers and the people who run it.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What IMS Heat Pumps does and the technologies they install: air source, ground source, water source heat pumps plus solar PV and batteries
2. The benefits of the “holy trinity” – heat pump, solar and battery working together
3. Domestic vs small commercial projects, from self-builds and major renovations to tractor showrooms and warehouses
4. Emma’s early career in hotel and catering management and what hospitality taught her about process, logistics and customer service
5. Moving into business development consulting and working with early renewable energy and energy efficiency innovators
6. The “heat as a service” concept and why the original business failed despite a strong idea
7. How Emma, the Scottish and Sheffield teams bought the viable installation side out of administration and relaunched as IMS Heat Pumps in 2019
8. Growing each year in revenue, profit and staff by focusing on quality, service and realistic geography
9. Why they limit their operating radius to around two hours from base to protect customer service and engineer sanity
10. The internal motto “have an easy life” and what that looks like in practice for sales, design, installation and aftercare
11. The not-so-glamorous reality of vans, breakdowns and keeping engineers on the road
12. Emma’s experience as a woman leading in a male-dominated industry – mentors, allies and the growing community of women in renewables
13. Opportunities for women in the sector, especially on the regulated, administrative and leadership side
14. Her advice for future founders and leaders: be open to learning, track industry and policy with tools like alerts and newsletters, build a network and don’t be afraid to be corrected