Martin Thornley

Meet Martin

Martin joined TLP in 1991 as a Graduate Building Services Engineer after leaving Newcastle University Tyne Polytechnic with a BEng (Hons) Degree in Building Services Engineering , at the start of his career he worked directly under Stan Lumb who was the Electrical Director at the time, where he focused on both mechanical and electrical design for a variety of both industrial and commercial projects. His experience developed rapidly working alongside both Stan Lumb and other senior mechanical engineers, allowing him to run projects from both a mechanical and electrical perspective within a short number of years.

He quickly developed his own client base of both leisure and hotel operators along with architects and project managers, the experience gained in developing these clients resulted in him leading a Management Buyout in 2006 where himself and Graham Powell took over the day-to-day operation of the business as Stan Lumb and Stuart Thornley left the business.

Due to the careful financial management of the team the company weathered the 2007 – 2009 recession mainly due to robust financial controls and having a long term strategy for client retention and growth. Since 2010 the company has thrived and a further MBO was completed  by Martin in May 2022 when Graham Powell left the business and James Forster and Ken Beall were appointed by Martin to the Board of Directors. In addition, this came with further promotions to Associate Directors for 4 other employees cementing the company growth strategy as turnover increased and the client base has widened with key blue chip clients added to the client base.

Martin has a great belief that as building services engineers, we have a responsibility to leave the planet in a better place that we found it, which is why Sustainable Development and design is now at the fore front of  the ethos of TLP as we continue to grow.