Our History
With over 30 years experience, we are proud to have an enviable reputation for designing, delivering and installing innovative air conditioning and chiller products and solutions. Here's a timeline of our business growth.
1992
A Big Year!
Cooltherm was founded in 1992 in Bristol by Ken Strong and Peter Kent. Both individuals had significant experience in the field of air conditioning chillers which was developed whilst working for companies including Carrier, McQuay, Westinghouse and York.
The company originally specialised in the supply, installation and maintenance of large scale McQuay centrifugal chillers to clients including the government. One of our early notable projects was the provision of 8+mW of cooling for the original GCHQ complex in Cheltenham.
1992
Partnership
1992 was an important year; Cooltherm and the Italian company Geoclima partnered to develop and distribute water chillers to bring technologically advanced machines to the market whilst remaining commercially competitive. A relationship that remains at the heart of our business today.
1992 - 2005
The Innovation Period
Over the next few years, Cooltherm developed as a leading bespoke chiller supplier with the flexible support of Geoclima and specialised in the more challenging chiller replacement market.
The flexibility of the Geoclima philosophy allowed us to design and build chillers at their Italian facility. This simplified the installation of replacement chillers, reducing the cost of the mechanical installation and the overall project investment.
It was also a period of FIRSTS:
- Integrated free-cooling chillers developed and installed up to 1.2mW
- Ultra-low noise machines developed
- "The Plantroom" in the chiller concept
- Pioneering energy efficiency & green refrigerants
2005 - 2015
Introduction of Turbomiser
Cooltherm and Geoclima were one of the first OEMs in the world to apply the Turbocor magnetic oil-free compressor and the first to use the technology in an air-cooled configuration successfully. The Turbomiser™ was born.
2005 - 2015
Constant Development
Over the next decade, our air and water-cooled Turbomiser chillers have evolved to be the most efficient chillers on the market, with adiabatic and ultra-low noise variants available. We are constantly developing all our compression technologies, from scroll and screw to Turbocor®.
2016
Cooltherm Group
In 2016 Ken Strong retired after a lifetime of service in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry and the management team formed parent company Cooltherm (Group) Ltd.
In 2016, as the world became more focused on our planet, Cooltherm started to pave the way be developing "green" solutions using the latest HFO and natural refrigerants with Ultra Low Global Warming potential. We also started to work more closely with our customers to reduce their carbon footprint by specifying environmentally friendly equipment and solutions.
2017
Introduction of Circlemiser
We are constantly developing the Turbomiser product and, after ten years of constant development, we advanced the efficiency of the air-cooled machines evolving it into a completely new concept: Circlemiser™.
The Circlemiser™ is 15% more efficient than Turbomiser™, which is already over 30% more efficient than the closest alternative on the market.
2018
Carver Group Acquires Cooltherm
In 2018 The Carver Group acquired Cooltherm. The West Midlands-based Carver Group centrally manages competence centres for research and development, manufacturing, and project management in order to create innovative heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions for a wide range of market sectors including retail, industry and the public sector. As well as having its headquarters in Walsall in the UK, the group has representation in 50 countries and offices in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Canada.
Aidan Killeen, Carver Group chief executive officer, said: “The acquisition of CoolTherm clearly demonstrates our intention to create a Group offering high quality bespoke products and services to all our customers. We see the business as remaining a separate organisation from our current manufacturing businesses, but believe that after five years of rapid growth for the Group, it will offer us the opportunity to grow in other directions, both nationally and internationally and will form a key part of our new five-year plan for expansion.”