WHO WE ARE
Founded in 2022 by four mechanical and electrical bods with a shared vision for harmonious building services engineering.
We maintain director level input across all levels of the design and delivery process, so when you work with Chord, it's the goons below who will be balancing your load and plotting the most efficient path.
MATT WRATE
DIRECTOR
"Wratey" joined the industry in 2003 after completing a BSc degree, back when he had hair. He went on to achieve an MSc, CIBSE national student of the year, and PassivHaus accreditation.
Matt has worked on several of the East Midlands' most prestigious construction projects, including a carbon negative office development. Matt has extensive knowledge of educational building standards, and fronts much of our work in the continuing evolution and decarbonisation of school design.
Matt is a lifelong Nottingham Forest and season ticket holder. Matt lives in Nottingham with his spouse, son and daughter.
JIM FRISBY
DIRECTOR
"Jimbo" started as an electrician in 1991 and moved into design six years later. His practical background, combined with over 25 years of design experience, is a potent combination for pragmatic design, on site co-ordination, and de-risking.
Jim has specialised experience of large scale industrial design and infrastructure solutions for high usage sites.
Jim is Leicestershire born and bred, lives in Market Harborough with his spouse, and is keen on skiing and wake-boarding, high adrenaline sports which contradict Jim’s natural allure to the sport of "sitting down with a nice cup of tea".
ALEX JONES
DIRECTOR
Alex has been an M&E consultant since 2004. Originally from Manchester, he came to Nottingham for university and never left, he now fronts some of our biggest longstanding client relationships.
Alex is particularly knowledgable in the residential and higher education sectors, bringing decades of experience to client projects.
Alex, an annoyingly keen runner and cyclist, still speaks fluent Mancunian and is a lifelong Man United fan, but resides in Radcliffe-on-Trent with his spouse and two sons.
SIMON BENTLEY
DIRECTOR
Simon joined Chord in August 2022, as an Associate Electrical Engineer, bringing over 20 years’ industry experience and offering an all-round technical guru role to our Electrical engineering team. Without no technical hurdle able to slow him, Simon was promoted to director in 2025.
Simon’s laid-back nature belies his prolific work ethic, and genuine love of engineering. He spends much of his spare time inventing weird and wonderful creations, such as slug repelling plant pots, faraday cages, and flux capacitors.
ALEX SKIDMORE
DIRECTOR
Alex began his career in 2012 as a maintenance engineer, followed by 2 years’ experience in renewable installations, giving him specialist practical awareness.
Alex moved into consulting in 2016 before joining Chord as an Electrical Associate in 2022. He became a director in 2025.
Alex is a social butterfly, with the technical nous to back it up. His enthusiasm for a fiesta is infectious, making him a hugely popular member of the property and construction fraternity in the East Midlands.
FRED STANNARD
DIRECTOR
Fred began his career in the construction industry in 2006, starting on a 4-year apprenticeship with the founders of Chord, under previous employment. Fred then joined his former management team at Chord in August 2022, as an Associate Mechanical Engineer, before being promoted to director in 2025.
Fred is a great all-rounder at engineering and sport alike. In-between injuries, that is - Fred can get injured tying his shoelaces. Another of the legendary Stannard siblings, although not quite as good at football as his younger brother Harry*
*According to their mum
ASHLEY COWDREY
CONSULTANT
With a career spanning back to 1990, Ash was one of the original founding partners of Chord back in 2022. In April ’26 Ash stepped back a little from his directors’ duties to offer a part-time consultancy role to Chord. This allows us to continue to draw on his industry knowledge and enthusiasm to networking, while streamlining our overheads (as he can’t sign-off his own expenses sheet anymore!)
Ash is a trustee of Nottingham Hot Property, and is an ambassador to the charity Switch Up, a role which saw him win the BBC East Midlands Unsung Hero Award… which he still bleats on about now.
Ash is a keen fan of cricket, and red wine (often combining the two). He’s also a closet birdwatcher, and a huge advocate for his hometown of Nottingham, where he lives with his spouse and three children.
ANDY WEATHERALL
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
As his name suggests – Andy can Weather-It-All! After 22 years as a Royal Engineer in HM Forces, Andy worked for an M&E contractor for 3 years before starting as a consultant in 2017 (poacher turned gamekeeper).
Andy joined the Chord Crew as an Associate Director in August 2025.After leaving the forces in 2014, Andy settled in Nottingham and was quickly seduced into becoming a Forest Fan – weathering some of the toughest times in the club’s rich history (before their current resurgence brought out all the plastic fans… like Ash!).
Andy rarely says no to a pint or a red wine after work. Under the guise of networking, of course.
HARRY STANNARD
ASSOCIATE
Harry (Hazza) is one of the legendary Stannard brothers, a Director and mechanical engineering maestro. Like all the Stannard’s, he’s annoyingly good at every sport, achieving maximum style with minimum effort. Not quite as good at football as his older brother Fred*
*according to their dad
RYAN GIBSON
ASSOCIATE
An Associate Director, residential guru, and legislative safe cracker. Ryan might not say as much as some of the crew… but when he speaks you better be listening, because it’ll be worth hearing!
ANGELINA STANKOVIC
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Angelina (Ange) is a recently qualified Mechanical Engineer, and all-round shining star. Quick-witted and a key instigator of office banter, Ange is proud of her Serbian heritage, which she blames for her passionate approach to social gatherings, and… let’s say ‘legendary’ dance moves!
ADRIAN GONZALEZ
SENIOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Adrian is our electrical engineering, footballing, and DIY genius. As a native to Malaga, Adrian has led the office into a love of all things Spanish – the culture, the wine, the beer, the food, the language. Did you know it’s an offence to put chorizo in paella? According to Adrian it’s a crime against humanity.
JAMIE CLARKE
BIM ENGINEER
Jamie (Jambo) is part of the beating heart of the MK office. An electrical engineer, REVIT master, daylight guru and jack of all trades. A shorts wearer through the deepest winter months, rumour has it he wore long trousers to a meeting once, but there is no photographic evidence.
ALASTAIR MCMICHEAL
BIM ENGINEER
Alastair (Ali) is our consistently stylish REVIT expert, leading the team in all elements of 3D collaboration. A lifelong Leicester City Football fan and a Mean Machine in goal, you would not relish a one-on-one.
REBECCA JACKSON
OFFICE MANAGER
Rebecca is our Office Manager, agony aunt, and fairy godmother. Tell Rebecca what you want to happen, and by the end of the week it will be so! It’s hard to imagine where we’d all be without Rebecca.
MICHAEL HARRIS
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Michael started in the industry 5 years ago, under previous employment with our Director Alex Jones. After 4 years he’d obviously forgotten what Alex was like, and they were reunited, at Chord, in 2025.
As well as being a technical all-rounder in the industry, Michael is into sport – trying his hand (annoying well) at anything, but particularly Hockey (playing in the National League) and Golf.
Clearly not that into football though as he’s a (typical) Man City fan (born in Ashby, raised in Nottingham, studied in Lincoln!).
ABDUL GAFFOOR
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Abdul joined the crew in early 2026, bringing a wealth of innovative low carbon simulation expertise to boost our practical low and zero carbon strategies. Abdul graduated with a Masters in Low Energy Building Engineering from Loughborough Uni in 2020. En-route to doing so he won a worldwide ASHRAE design competition for net-zero building design!!!
Abdul now lives in Leicester with his wife and young child, who takes up nearly all his spare time. With any precious little time he does have available he volunteers for NPO’s and charities, helping them to build and maintain their website – what a guy!
STUART BOWLES
SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Stuart joined us at the start of ’26, bringing a wealth of wide-ranging experience across most sectors from some of the industry’s biggest names. With notable skills in all aspects of digital co-ordination and simulation, he’s been a massive addition to the MK crew!
Beneath his trademark Chord-esque love of the technical side lies a surprisingly competitive sportsman – Stuart is a life-long follower, and season ticket holder, of Wycombe Wanderers FC (proving his resilience isn’t just a professional skill). He’s also a huge fan of cricket, and has played for his local village team, Soulbury, for nearly 30 years.
JACK PASCOE
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Jack is an electrical engineer and all-round office good guy. He’s Chord own food critic and grows his own too, from plastic greenhouse to paper plate – Jack’s your master at getting extra PV panels on the roof
ASHLEY DRENIC
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Ashley joined Chord in the summer of ’24 as an Electrical Engineer. Ash (a.k.a. ‘Tall’ Ash, ‘Nice’ Ash, ‘Helpful’ Ash) is a technical deep diver – getting right into the nitty gritty of his designs. The blueprint of the personable geek we’d associate with the Chord Crew.
Outside of work Tall Ash volunteers as an advisor to a board to help educate people from his community on sustainable events, is a keen photographer, a foodie, and a keen cyclist (who’s been meaning to fix his bike for over two years now).
HARRY RODEN
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Harry Joined Chord in June ’24 as an Electrical Engineer. Harry previously worked in a process Electrical Engineering role and has an interesting project portfolio of experience to call upon. Notably his contribution to a fully automated distillery in Mexico that produces 45 million litres of Tequila per year – Arriba!!! Away from the day job, Harry enjoys the gym, is a keen sportsman and can regularly be found on the rugby field or participating in local running events.
NICHOLA CHEUNG
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Nichola joined Chord as a Mechanical Engineer in our Milton Keynes office, in June. Well-travelled, Nichola completed a Mechanical Engineering Masters degree at Swansea University, and is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Having given up student life Nicola is learning to cook, but it gets in the way of watching MotoGP at weekends.
MARYNA HONTAR
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
Maryna Joined Chord in March ’23 as an Electrical Engineer. Maryna is Ukrainian and has been living in the UK since 2023, although she already speaks English better than Jim. Having worked in the Industry since 2012, Maryna brings wide experience to the team - notably in High Voltage design. Maryna is the outdoors type and likes bike rides, camping and – if it gets warm enough in the UK – open water swimming.
MICHAEL TOUHEY
SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Michael joined the crew in March ’23, as a Senior Mechanical Engineer, having worked in the industry since 1999. Micheal brings specialist technical knowledge to the team, particularly in detailed design, refrigeration design, and is a cool hand when it comes to technical troubleshooting. Michael is into cooking and eating and offsets his love of both with wholesome activities like trail running, off road cycling, climbing. And going to the gym when it rains.
SALMAAN IBRAHIM
MECHANICAL GRADUATE ENGINEER
Salmaan has been in the industry since 2023, after graduating his MSc at Uni of Leicester. He joined the Chord Crew in 2025… and we’re already seeing huge potential.
Sal is a clever guy who’s also into his sport. He plays football regularly and is an Arsenal fan, clearly happy to support a small club who’ve never won a European Cup*.
*Sal says this note will probably need to be updated, within the next few decades or so.
RACHEL HICKLING
BIM ENGINEER
It’s hard to believe Rachel has been in the industry, correcting M&E engineers’ drawings, for over 20 years – she must have started when she was about 10! An absolute BIM wizard, Rachel joined the crew in October ’25.
Outside of work Rachel is a massive ‘Take That’ fan (who among us isn’t?) and has been to concerts all over the UK, including Wembley. Rach is also a huge Notts County fan… she was proud to be at Wembley again in 2023 to see the Magpies ‘re-light their fire’ and return to League Football. (Sorry – best we could think of.)
TRISTAN COCKERILL
ELECTRICAL DESIGN ENGINEER
Tristan has an MEng in Astrophysics – but after discovering that actual space jobs are surprisingly hard to come by, he pivoted to the more technically sophisticated construction sector. NASA’s loss is our gain!
Following four years’ experience as a building services consultant, Tristan joined Chord’s Milton Keynes office in Jan 2025. He can now be seen heroically attempting to navigate MK's notorious roundabout labyrinth on his push bike—a challenge that sometimes feels more complex than orbital mechanics.
When not designing electrical systems, Tristan still indulges his space obsession through sci-fi and astronomy. The sky’s the limit for our Tristan!
HENRY CAVE
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER APPRENTICE
After a week’s work experience in our Nottingham Office in 2024, Henry quickly realised he would never find a better place to work. Fact!
So, he formally joined the Chord Crew in August 2025 as an apprentice engineer. While learning practical skills, deep within the heart of the East Midlands construction industry, Henners also attends Derby College on day release for an HNC in Building Services.
Outside of work Henners is into running and judo… and more recently gaming – where he can indulge these interests in comfort and safety.
TOM WALKER
INTERN
Tom joined the team in the summer of ’23 as a Mechanical Engineering Intern from The University of Nottingham. An absolute knowledge sponge, Tom has impressed everyone with his quick learning skills: - Cad, Revit, duct sizing, taking the mickey out of Ash… he’s picking up all the vital requirements of a permanent Chord Crew member. Tom also likes walking – mainly to the pub, but sometimes takes on steeper challenges!