We are YOU!
Buckinghamshire Community Energy (BCE) is a community benefit society, which means it is a not-for-profit social enterprise registered with the FCA, with an asset lock and funding from the community for the benefit of the community.
Any surpluses go back into funding energy efficiency and renewable energy projects which benefit the people of Buckinghamshire.
As a community benefit society, anyone can become a Member by investing in our community energy projects and can have a say in how BCE is run by voting at the AGM.
The Board is made up of a maximum of 12 Directors, eight of whom are elected by the Members or co-opted onto the Board, and who serve for three years before retiring or standing for election.
The Team
Kirsty Shanahan
Kirsty is a professional marketer with 25 years’ experience in a wide range of industries, target markets and products communicating across all media channels. Most recently, she was PR and Marketing Manager for Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity which gave her expertise in grassroots community marketing and a wide local network. She has achieved the Gallileo Expert Certificate in Renewables.
Kirsty founded BCE because she felt there was a lack of concrete progress in moving people and businesses towards carbon neutrality in Buckinghamshire. Her aim is to help make sustainable, low carbon living and working the new norm. That means removing the financial and behavioural barriers for many homes and businesses that prevent that from becoming a practical reality.
For the past two years she has been a Project Manager for Community Energy Pathways, building capacity in the community energy sector and support for local authorities.She has a good understanding of the energy system as a whole as well as much of the technical, policy and regulatory factors shaping our energy future.
Gavin Roberts
Gavin is an experienced renewable energy and energy efficiency expert with extensive solar PV experience, gained through being involved within the sector since 2005.
Gavin has spent 10 years project-managing the installation of solar systems on all types from buildings and field based sites.
The last five years have been spent in low carbon consultancy providing advice on decarbonisation technologies for clients.
A classically trained building surveyor background also provides a commercial understanding of construction, including legal & lease issues.
Gavin is driven by a desire to make a real difference in the fight to limit and adapt to climate change.
David Blackmore
David is a BAFTA award-winning film editor, community fundraiser, environmental activist and campaigner for climate justice.
Ever since studying Geography at Cambridge he has had a passion for preserving and protecting the natural world and ensuring fair and equal access to its finite resources. With the rapid deepening of the climate and ecological emergency he feels an urgent need to do all he can to build for a more just, secure and sustainable world for present and future generations.
That means reducing waste, promoting renewable energy, increasing biodiversity and helping communities in the global south withstand the effects of global heating.
David is also Secretary to the recently formed community group, Climate Action Wendover (CLAW).
Kasmira Armstrong-Brown
Kasmira Armstrong-Brown is an economist and regulation expert with 10 years’ experience working with regulated utilities across the US and UK. She has hands-on experience of designing regulatory frameworks and incentive regimes and also helping regulated companies comply with existing regulatory obligations.
Kasmira is currently working as Strategy Manager for SSE Energy Solutions and brings an in-depth knowledge of Government policy and funding programmes to the BCE Board, as well as a strategic insight into future trends which might affect community energy projects.
She completed her MBA at Warwick Business School and the HEC School of Management in Paris. Prior to that, she held roles with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics as Production Coordinator for the US Consumer Price Index and as an economist forecasting GDP for the development of employment projections.
She has joined BCE as a local resident with an intense interest in decarbonising energy use and reducing carbon emissions through energy efficiency and retrofit and the Board has already benefited from her knowledgeable and intelligent contribution to BCE’s response to the Government’s Call For Evidence on Community Energy in the spring of 2021, as well as being an expert sounding board for Kirsty in her Development Director role.
Helene Gosden
As Retrofit at Scale Taskforce Leader Helene works to leverage all of Arup’s expertise in building reuse, net zero carbon strategy and urban regeneration.
Heading up Arup’s UK Taskforce, Helene is addressing the system challenge of retrofit to meet our net zero commitments, whilst also seeking to deliver aggregated benefits to local communities through a place-based approach to transformational change.
Helene has developed strong relationships across the sector, working with both central government and a number of Local and Combined Authorities as well as Housing Associations and Developers. Helene led Arup’s team supporting Salix and DESNZ with Technical Assessment for the Social Housing Decarb Fund and Home Upgrade Grant 2 as well as Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.
Helene has a Masters in Interdisciplinary Design and recently completed a short course - Women Leading Change: Shaping our Future, both with the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership. She was shortlisted for the Unlock Net Zero Climate Champions Power List in 2023 and in 2025.