Mr West joined Aqua back in 2007, after studying marine engineering at Southampton’s Solent University. He quickly progressed from a Graduate Sales position to Special Projects Engineer, working on larger scale technical process cooling projects across Europe, America, and the Middle East.

In 2015 Aqua won The Queen’s Award for Enterprise, Innovation for a unique leak prevention system designed for data centre and other critical cooling applications. Mr West played a key role in the design, development and roll out of the LPS, which enabled Aqua to establish itself as a cooling specialist within the data centre arena. The LPS went on to gain recognition from the Institute of Physics with an IOP Commendation, as well as winning other industry awards.

Over the years, Mr West has helped grow and support Aqua’s design and project teams, being actively involved on bespoke cooling systems for clients, with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability.

“They say time flies when you’re having fun and the last 15 years have gone past very quickly,” explained Mr West. “I think by now, temperature control is part of my DNA. I love the technical challenges it throws up and the fact that no one day is the same. This new role will allow me to play an even bigger part in Aqua’s ongoing growth. It is an exciting time for the business, and I am looking forward to seeing where we go next.”

Aqua founder, Simon Davis, commented: “Mike has played a significant role in making us the company we are today. His technical knowledge and application expertise is second to none and it has been great seeing his progression over the years. Operations Director is a brand-new role at Aqua and I am delighted to see Mike take on the mantle.”

As operations director, Mr West takes responsibility for service, project, sales administration, health and safety and quality.