ZEROAVIA MAKES AVIATION HISTORY

Gloucestershire-based aeronautics innovator ZeroAvia made aviation history in January, flying the largest aircraft in the world to be powered by a hydrogenelectric engine.

The flight took place from the company’s research and development facility at Cotswold Airport near Kemble and lasted 10 minutes.

The leader in zero-emission aviation, which moved to Kemble in 2021 to take advantage of its long runway, ample hangar space facilities and robust infrastructure, took to the skies for the maiden flight of its 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the left wing of the aircraft.

The aircraft completed taxi, take-o , a full pattern circuit, and landing.

The landmark flight forms part of the HyFlyer II project, a major R&D programme backed by the government’s flagship ATI Programme, which targets the development of a 600kW powertrain to support 9-19 seat aircraft worldwide with zero-emission flight.

The twin-engine aircraft was retrofitted to incorporate ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engine on its left wing, which then operated alongside a single Honeywell TPE-331 stock engine on the right.

Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia founder and CEO, said: “This is a major moment, not just for ZeroAvia, but for the aviation industry as a whole, as it shows that true zero-emission commercial flight is only a few years away.

“The first flight of our 19-seat aircraft shows just how scalable our technology is and highlights the rapid progress of zeroemission propulsion.”

Best foot forward for vegan footwear brand

Two students who were tired of hearing about fast fashion companies run by billionaires putting profit first, have decided to change things.

Motivated by the idea that only around one per cent of fashion is recycled, Jordan Grayson and Holly Boxall set up Trash Planet in 2020. They have now designed a fully recyclable vegan footwear range made predominantly of recycled materials — encouraging customers to return the shoes once they reach their end of life.

With the majority of old footwear ending up in landfill and comprising of materials that cannot naturally decompose, there is a glaring threat to the environment that the industry has continually failed to address, they say.

Cirencester-based Trash Planet is now looking to break the mould and demonstrate that footwear fashion does not have to be detrimental to the climate — while influencing consumer behaviour surrounding fashion waste.

The team have also planted around 11,000 trees to remove more than 440 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere as it looks to pave a sustainable future for the industry.

Cheltenham cyber co-working space sold to national innovation company Plexal

Co-working space and innovation company Plexal has acquired a majority shareholding in Hub8 – the network of co-working spaces for businesses in the cyber-tech, digital and creative sectors in and around Cheltenham.

Plexal, founded by DV4, a long-term investment fund advised by real estate fund adviser Delancey, already has a presence in London and Manchester. It has acquired the Cheltenham company as part of an ongoing mission to build the UK’s most connected cyber ecosystem.

Hub8 launched the town’s first co-working space dedicated to enabling the growth of the region’s cyber-tech sector in 2019. The innovative start-up grew rapidly with the launch of its second facility in partnership with Gloucestershire College at its Cheltenham campus in September 2021.

Hub8 started working with Plexal in 2019 to help develop joint initiatives. In 2021, they collectively won the National Cyber Security Centre Innovation Partner programme.