Business & Innovation Magazine - Issue 10 November 2018

Editor-in-Chief

Nicky Godding

Tel: 07966 510401

nicky.godding@nkmedia.co.uk

Commercial Director

Kirsty Muir

Tel: 07971 912020

kirsty.muir@nkmedia.co.uk

Chairman, NK Media Ltd

James Palmer

Regional Account & Events Manager

Rosemary Henderson

Tel: 07889 227432

rosemary.henderson@nkmedia.co.uk

Marketing & Events Co-ordinator

Lizi Clapham

Tel: 07955 855817

lizi.clapham@nkmedia.co.uk

Customer Services enquiries@nkmedia.co.uk

Accounts accounts@nkmedia.co.uk

Magazine Design

Brace Creative Agency www.brace.co.uk

Magazine Printers

The Manson Group

www.mansongroup.co.uk

Chief Photographer

Rob Lacey www.roblaceyphotographer.co.uk

Contributing Editor

Anita Syvret www.syvretmedia.co.uk

Contributing Writer

Ian Mean

Sub Editor

Joyce Matthews

Nicky Godding Editor-in-Chief

07966

What will the UK look like in 20 or 30 years’ time? As the monumental challenge thrown up by Brexit continues to dominate the headlines, we thought it was a good time to take a look at the future of our region –because we are all facing a truly generational change.

Our main feature takes a snapshot of some of the biggest issues facing every business including transport, skills, cyber threats and investment.

We’re also looking at the changing nature of the workplace in our co-working feature. There’s growing concern in the national press about the threat of loneliness. Most of it is focused on people living alone, but equally there are thousands of people running home-based businesses who also feel out of the loop. Now affordable office space is readily available across the region which can be booked daily, weekly or monthly. Most of the space is funky and colourful with great social spaces (and the coffee’s almost always free).

Alongside our many regular features, we also reveal the value of science parks to the UK. The co-location of ambitious companies, often in complementary sectors, encourages communication, collaboration and supports research and development.

Running through our magazine, as always, is the sense that the power of community drives business just as much as it does our home lives.

In this, our biggest issue to date, we’ve travelled across the region to reveal the fantastic businesses, people and business opportunities available, and we’ve hardly scratched the surface.

Business & Innovation Magazine is a bi-monthly magazine published by NK Media Ltd. Our readers are business owners, senior executives, key influencers, entrepreneurs, innovators and those working in further and higher education, and government departments. Any opinions expressed by those quoted in this magazine are their own and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of Business & Innovation Magazine, or of NK Media Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form of advertising or promotion without the written permission of the Editor-in-Chief or Commercial Director.

ISSN 2514 - 7609

Member of the Professional Publishers Association

SPOTLIGHT ON LEADERS

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

P42

IN THE HEADLINES WE VISIT DECLAN ALLEN, MD AT HORIBA MIRA

BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

P10

WE TALK TO JAMES PALMER BOSS OF 9 GROUP

SPOTLIGHT ON MANUFACTURING

P104

THE BEAUTY, AFFORDABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF CO-WORKING SPACES

P61

P79

P100 CEO Interview: Nick Anderson of Spirax Sarco THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE REGION’S ECONOMY

HISTORIC SPORTS CAR COMPANY RE-IGNITES MARQUE

Aston Martin Lagonda, which has its headquarters near Warwick, made national news in October following a £4.3 billion listing on the London Stock Exchange.

In the same month, another historic sports car marque announced more modest plans to manufacture a car first designed and produced by founder Sydney Allard in 1946.

Now, after a gap of more than 50 years, Allard cars will be made in Gloucester and sell for £269,000 upwards. You could buy an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera for £225,000, but what price on a car handmade over six months by craftsmen above a modern car made on a factory assembly line?

Allard were part of this country’s drive to rebuild the economy after the Second World War. They were well positioned to export to America as their cars were designed to use the high power V8s then being produced in the States. To get around import duties, many cars were sent across the Atlantic without engines, which were bought and fitted in the USA by their new owners.

Around 2,000 Allards were made between 1946-1956 and the family estimate that around 500 original cars still exist across the world.

Sydney Allard won the 1952 Monte

Carlo rally in an Allard. He also brought drag racing to Europe. His son, Alan, gained was dubbed “the fastest man in the world” by the press at the time. Alan’s son Lloyd raced in an Allard-built car from 2002 to 2007.

Now the family are back manufacturing, building the Allard JR Continuation. The cars have a handmade aluminium body and are powered by an original 1950s Cadillac engine, fully rebuilt and producing up to 300 bhp. Thunderous and thrilling, the cars are identical to the JRs raced at Le Mans.

Interest in the JR Continuation has been high and Allard Sports Cars say they now have only limited build slots available.

Dyson goes electric in Singapore

Dyson, which has its global headquarters in Malmesbury, will build its first advanced automotive manufacturing facility in Singapore. It is scheduled for completion in 2020.

Jim Rowan, Dyson CEO, said: “Dyson’s growing automotive team is making excellent progress from the state-of-theart hangars at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire where we are investing £200 million. We now need to move quickly towards manufacturing and assembly.”

The company picked Singapore based on supply chains, access to markets and the availability of expertise.

Open Cosmos to drive new technologies into orbit

The cost of space missions are usually sky high, but Harwell-based Open Cosmos is hoping to provide access to space at a fraction of the cost by removing the three main access barriers: time-consuming paperwork, expensive technology and overall costs.

The space satellite innovator has linked up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch “Call to Orbit”, a competition allowing organisations to put their technologies and applications, from remote sensing to telecommunication and navigation, into orbit.

Winners will be given access to Open Cosmos’ orbit readiness programme and support from the ESA, allowing them to go from concept to orbit readiness in three months.

“This opportunity continues our ongoing efforts to democratise the use of space missions as a tool to solve big global challenges,” said Rafael Jordá Siquier, CEO of Open Cosmos.

“We want to make sure that anyone with useful space technologies or space applications can bring them to orbit benefiting from Open Cosmos’s fast and affordable space missions.”

Call To Orbit will be open until October 2019.

Cotswolds bakery proves an export success

Following growing popularity of the Japanese delicacy sushi across the UK, we’re now returning the favour.

Japanese foodies can now enjoy the most English of baking after Cotswold bakery Huffkins delivered its first significant export contract in September.

Huffkins, established in 1890, has shipped a 1.7 tonne order of fruitcakes, shortbread and branded merchandise to Japan, with more orders already signed for 2019.

The business secured the export deal after receiving support from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for International Trade (DIT) to attend a major food trade show in Tokyo last March. It was part of a delegation showcasing British food and drink to the Japanese market.

Natasha Whittaker, Head of Wholesale and Export at Huffkins, said: “Exporting has been a key element of Huffkins’ business strategy and our new deal with Japan is a real opportunity for the business’ growth.”

The bakery’s products are now available in two high-end department stores in Tokyo, and as of this month will be for sale online through Huffkins’ Japanese distributor website. In November, the distributor will also be opening a shop in central Tokyo, with a dedicated section for the bakery’s goods.

Buildings spruced up for 2021 as city adapts to changing economy

Landscapes across UK cities are changing fast as the country adapts to increased consumer demand for more leisure activities. Buildings originally used for retail and industrial purposes are now being put to a wide range of alternative uses.

The Leofric Hotel ballroom in Coventry has been converted into a climbing wall and the city’s former Co-op department store has been developed into cafés, restaurants and apartments. Now an old industrial building has become a karting track.

The 38,000 sq ft building on the Charter Avenue industrial estate has been transformed by TeamSport Indoor Karting after investment of around £1 million. Since opening in the summer, 2,000 racers have poured through its doors.

Jonathan Moore, director of Holt Commercial, achieved the successful letting on Curriers Close to TeamSport on behalf of Christchurch Property.

Christchurch’s Managing Director Tony Harris, said he was delighted to see the building thriving with a new use. “TeamSport Indoor Karting have brought a fantastic facility to Coventry.

“Much of Coventry’s success has been built on the motor industry and it’s

great to see people having a good time as they race around the building’s new karting track.”

Jonathan said the changing face of the economy meant that more buildings were being converted. “There has been a move towards people looking for different leisure activities in recent years and the property sector has had to keep up with that and find the right space to fit those needs for operators.”

“Much of Coventry’s success has been built on the motor industry and it’s great to see people having a good time as they race around the karting track”

Coventry is still buzzing after being named UK City of Culture for 2021. Chenine Bhathena, the Creative Director for Coventry City of Culture Trust, said at a recent event that partnership working with businesses was now even more important in the lead up to, during and after the momentous year.

“It’s a chance to reimagine the city and think about ourselves as a future city rooted in our history but considering our global identity.”

Tony Harris (Christchurch), Rod Stone (TeamSport), Jonathan Moore (Holt Commercial)

IT’S ALL CHANGE AT THREE MAJOR REGIONAL BUSINESSES

Three major regional businesses made headline news on our regional news website, businessinnovationmag.co.uk after revealing changes in ownership.

Passionate about People, the Stonehouseheadquartered £100 million plus turnover staffing resource group behind Omega Resources and Datum RPO sold to Nottinghamshire-based Staffline Group plc. Cheltenham-based Accounting for Entrepreneurs was acquired by national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe, from boutique accountancy practice Tayabali Tomlin.

Premiership rugby club Worcester Warriors has been sold to a consortium.

The primary funder of the rugby club deal is Errol Pope, alongside former Swindon Town Football Club chairman Jed McCrory, Scott Priestnall and former Premiership rugby player David Seymour.

“The new owners have backing and a clear vision to ensure Warriors can achieve long-term success and become one of the top clubs in the Gallagher Premiership”

Pope is a property finance specialist and has a passion for community-led projects in sport, says the club.

The consortium has indicated it has plans to further develop the Sixways site to generate additional income, with the intentions of making the club selfsustainable and achieving long-term success both on and off the field.

Grundon invests £7 million in Banbury waste facility

In the headlines

With waste management right at the top of the UK agenda, the UK’s largest family-owned waste management company, has opened a 20,000 sq m waste facility to serve businesses in Banbury and the surrounding areas of North Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

The £7 million investment by Grundon on the Thorpe Way Industrial Estate in the town, accepts commercial and industrial waste, in addition to domestic waste and recyclables from Cherwell District Council. This includes plastics, cardboard, paper, wood, glass and plasterboard.

The development took less than a year to complete, with Grundon working on

the design and build with its contractor Clugston Construction Limited.

Grundon, which has its headquarters at Benson, Oxfordshire, works to reduce the financial and environmental impact of its customers’ waste.

The construction of the new waste facility, on previously undeveloped land owned by Banbury Town Council, is the first phase of a longer-term commitment by Grundon to the town.

Victoria Prentis, MP for North Oxfordshire, officially opened the new facility. She said: “It is fantastic to see a family business like Grundon investing in Banbury and the local area. We all have a

Worcester Warriors was sold by Sixways Holdings Ltd which had invested £40 million into the club since it took ownership in 2007. Warriors Chairman Bill Bolsover, who will remain on the Board, said: “Having met with numerous potential new owners and investors we have found long-term owners capable of taking the club to the next level.

“The new owners have backing and a clear vision to ensure Warriors can achieve longterm success and become one of the top clubs in the Gallagher Premiership.”

They also demonstrated that they have the capability to invest millions of pounds into Warriors.

With gloomy national news headlines predicting corporate stagnation in the face of Brexit uncertainty, these successful deals could be a good indicator of the strong regional business environment.

duty to deal with our waste, and Grundon has a strong reputation for effective waste management and helping the region’s businesses reduce the amount which goes to landfill alongside actively encouraging recycling.”

Premiership club Worcester Warriors is just one major regional business under new ownership

Victoria Prentis, MP For North Oxfordshire opens the new facility with Neil Grundon

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

James Palmer made a million aged 25, lost most in the dotcom bubble then started again. Now he leads the multi-million pound business he founded, and invests in promising start-ups

By Nicky Godding

JAMES’S CRITERIA FOR BUSINESS INVESTMENT

What

does an entrepreneur look like? What makes them different? How does making a difference in the world, making money — or both, seem to come so easy they can do it more than once?

Turns out that most entrepreneurs look like all the rest of us – the difference is on the inside, and making money isn’t as easy as it might appear. The vast proportion of studies on entrepreneurs reveal them as passionate, hardworking, not afraid to take risks, opportunistic and sociable. And very often they’re dressed the same as the next man (and it is still, regrettably, more than often a man than a woman).

So, when I meet entrepreneur and investor James Palmer, who is also founder and CEO of multi-million turnover IT and communications business 9 Group, he’s sporting a casual jacket and trousers.

Before you read further, I must declare an interest. Just seven months after launching this magazine last year my co- director, Kirsty Muir, visited James to talk about advertising. Rather than just asking the usual questions – such as magazine reach and readership, he asked more incisive questions about the business.

Three months’ later, he made us an offer (which we accepted) to invest in our publishing company. We weren’t looking for investment, So why?

“I like investing in businesses where I have a personal interest,” he said. “I love print media and buy at least seven or eight titles every month, from business magazines to multi-interest ones, from cars to boats to holidays – all sorts.

“Most entrepreneurs like investing in businesses that interest them and I think that quality print media, such as magazines, have a future.”

A trait of entrepreneurs is being well informed and quick to identify trends. “I read news from all sides of the political spectrum. I read the UK media, global news and online via Apple and Sky News.

“I have to say I’m not a fan of the BBC, I find it increasingly politicised.”

He’s also interested in people. “My wife, Jo, and I are out probably three nights a week with different people talking about a whole variety of things, serious and more social. It gives me a broader perspective of where the world might be going.”

Freedom comes with responsibility

Some entrepreneurs cite their gritty upbringing as giving them the determination to made it to the top. James’s is no rags to riches story. He grew up in Surrey, went to state school and had a happy childhood. The End.

Actually, no, it was just the beginning. What James did have was a father who ran his own business, and James learned early to be responsible for himself. If he wanted something he took Saturday jobs and saved up.

Palmer senior was also an entrepreneur, developing his refrigeration business into power and energy production and expanding into the Middle East.

“I saw him running his own businesses and loved the freedom it gave him, but our infrequent holidays were often punctuated with him having to find a phone to keep in contact. He worked long hours, so it did impact on the family. On the upside, he had passion in what he was doing and was able to retire early.”

James left school without completing A-levels and took a year out to work in a shop, alongside studying for a business diploma. “The shop job gave me confidence when I was dealing with the general public.”

He started a higher national diploma in business and finance and then took a job

Do I like the business model?

I like telecoms because it’s revenue recurring. If a business model means you have to wake up on the first of the month and effectively start again, that’s tricky.

Do I like the people who are running the business?

Has the business got scalability? If it’s never going to be a more than a micro business, and the market for the product is tiny, my interest is likely to be more limited.

with KPMG with the aim of training in accountancy. That didn’t last, it seemed he just wasn’t cut out to work in an office 9-5. Back to square one then.

It was his mother who suggested he went into sales, something that he hadn’t considered, because she could see he was great with people, and in 1995 he landed a job with a telecoms company just as the sector was deregulating.

“I was selling one product for the company, but another new recruit and I spotted that there was money to be made in selling products for a number of companies, so we left our jobs and became agents for several companies. That meant we could go into any customer and get them the best deal.”

“I love print media and buy at least seven or eight titles every month, from business magazines to multi-interest ones from cars to boats to holidays – all sorts”

James Palmer on how to work like an entrepreneur

James said: “For the Generation Noughties (those born between 20002009), the notion of going into an office from nine to five isn’t inspiring. They want flexi hours and thanks to the power of the cloud, data and software can be location agnostic. Those not tied to a workplace can work from anywhere, and that’s a trend I see continuing. Flexibility and entrepreneurialism are the future and 9 Group’s communications and IT systems support that.

“Having multiple skills in a wide variety of business sectors is key. One of the things I enjoy about being a non-exec director or chairman of other businesses is that my experience allows me to point out how they might be able to do it better in their business. I have a chairman in my business who is helping me by doing just that.

“Entrepreneurs are positive people. What makes a good entrepreneur is having the vision to know what you want to achieve (and that includes social entrepreneurs for whom it’s not the profit that is the destination but the social impact on society) and having a strategy to achieve it. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers. I live and breathe my work, I think about it all the time and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

When the bubble bursts

There were four friends in the business. None of them took a salary at the beginning and James worked evenings and weekends to cover his living costs. It took less than two years for the business to become established as a communications reseller. The team negotiated wholesale rates with suppliers and bundled up packages to give customers the best rates.

But it was tough. James’s co-founders left to earn more money elsewhere. He kept going and by the age of 25, he’d built the revenue to £1 million.

Then he sold it, for some cash but mostly equity in the acquiring business just as the dotcom boom burst. “By the time I could sell the equity, the value had nosedived and I didn’t do half as well out of it as I should have done. A lesson learned,” he says ruefully.

At 26, he had to start again, but the lure of running his own business was too strong, and in 2001 he launched what has developed into 9 Group.

“The intention was to get to around £3 million revenue before looking for the next opportunity but I enjoy it, so as we’ve hit each milestone, we’ve carried on.”

Seventeen years later and Stonehouseheadquartered 9 Group, turns over more

than f £40 million. It employs around 200 people, including 100 in Gloucestershire and around 70 in Luton.

The company’s market is predominantly larger office-based businesses. It is an IT and communications reseller which also runs servers and data centres. It buys from big network operators such as BT, Virgin and Talk Talk, selects the best solution for each customer – depending on where they are located in the country and which network provider has the fastest speeds in an area, and pulls all the hardware together in one robust network provision.

“We are a solutions provider. That’s where we add real value, bringing different suppliers under one roof and being competitive for business customers. We take responsibility for any IT and comms problems so our customers don’t have to battle with networks or other IT companies,” James explains.

9 Group isn’t the biggest business in this space. Larger competitors include Gamma, and Daisy, but it’s at the top of the second tier of medium to large brands alongside a dozen or so other players.

James is still enjoying himself. “We don’t feel we need to beat competitors of the same size, but seek to seize market share from the bigger players.”

A broader interest in business

9 Group

James’s interest in investing began at 9 Group. “We have bought to expand either our customer base or our capability. For example, we bought an engineering business to give us technical onsite knowhow and a specialist billing company to improve our invoicing systems.”

The thrill of the investment appeals. “I have stakes in companies, from training to publishing and software start-ups. Fundamentally I invest in people. My input is financial and advisory. I am relatively hands-off because most entrepreneurs are best left to carry on doing their thing. The idea is that an investor brings knowledge and experience to the table. As we head into uncertain times, a positive vision and cando attitude are my primary strategies.”

9 Group

Target helps deliver Chinese culinary arts qualification

Regional round-up

Gloucester-based Target Catering is building a training kitchen to meet the needs of the UK’s first industryrecognised Chinese Culinary Arts qualification, the (LuBan) Diploma.

FOOD WASTE MAKES HEALTHY WALLING MATERIAL

A Stonehouse-based company established after its founder, a builder, wanted to drastically reduce the amount of gypsum plasterboard being thrown into a skip, is now designing low-carbon construction products for healthy buildings and their inhabitants.

Adaptavate currently has three marketable products.

Breathaboard is a carbon neutral breathable plasterboard made out of biocomposite food crop waste such as industrial hemp, oil seed rape or flax. The materials are bound together with low carbon binders and completely compostible at the end of their life.

Breathaplasta is a fast-setting high performance lime plaster, a healthier alternative to mainstream plaster products. The product is available through independent building product suppliers such as Swindonbased Ecomerchant, or online from Adaptavate. The company also produces an ultra-breathable plaster primer.

Adaptavate founder, Tom Robinson, explains: “Skips full of plasterboard were costing us money to get rid of. Gypsum is also a dwindling resource as it comes either from the ground or coal-fired power stations which are closing as the world increasingly adopts sustainable energy policies. I realised there was a challenge,

and where there’s a challenge there’s an opportunity.”

Tom studied for a Master’s degree in sustainable architecture and wrote part of his final thesis on breathability in buildings, a topic he now feels passionately about.

“We are designing low-carbon construction products which help ensure the longevity of our fragile ecosystem while performing better than market leading products.”

“Breathaboard is a carbon neutral breathable plasterboard made out of biocomposite food crop waste such as industrial hemp, oil seed rape or flax”

Adaptavate has won awards and Tom is now actively searching for production partners for its’ Breathaboard product in the UK, Europe and Canada to help scale up production from its prototype facility in Stonehouse.

“We are looking for partners and investors to get it to scale in order that we can have the wider impact we feel is needed,” added Tom.

Traditionally, the skills and techniques required in the Chinese foodservice industry have been passed down the generations, but with younger people now favouring alternative careers, restaurant owners are having to look elsewhere for skilled staff.

Developed by PAM Education and Tianjin School of Commerce, the Diploma has been approved by British Education qualification awarding body Qualifi.

PAM Education and Tianjin School of Commerce approached specialist commercial kitchen designers Target Catering to prepare a training kitchen layout at Crawley College.

Target works with Asian restaurants across the UK and recently completed a staff canteen kitchen design for a leading electrical component factory in China.

“Working within the foodservice industry for more than 30 years, we regularly hear about the lack of skills and training available, specifically in the Asian sector,” said David Pedrette, Managing Director of Target Catering Equipment. “It is great that something is finally being done as it plays a huge part within the entire foodservice industry.”

Adaptavate’s Breathaboard

Target Catering, Chinese Culinary Arts Diploma

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Stroud Brewery launches small batch brews as it celebrates crowdfunding success

Regional round-up

With UK sales of organic beer up year on year, Stroud Brewery has launched a range of small batch limited edition brews. The first is an organic lager called Light Organic Lager or LOL.

The organic brewery has also secured £300,000 in crowdfunding via the ethical bank Triodos to kit out its new brewery and bar, which it moves into this autumn.

The second ale of the small batch brews is a pale ale called Melba (4.4 per cent) which uses unsold organic bread from Chipping Sodburybased Hobbs House Bakery as one of its ingredients.

“We see sales of organic produce up year on year, with sales of organic beer, wine and spirits up by 8.7 per cent. We believe small batch brews will also encourage new audiences into the category to try different styles of craft ales”

Greg Pilley, MD of Stroud Brewery, said: “We see sales of organic produce up year on year, with sales of organic beer, wine and spirits up by 8.7 per cent. We believe small batch brews will also encourage new audiences into the category to try different styles of craft ales.”

The brewery has been in business for 12 years at its site near the town.

The new site is only 400 yards away and has been designed to accommodate the growing needs of the brewery.

WINNERS OF THE 2018 LOCAL BUSINESS CHARITY AWARDS REVEALED

As the winners of Gloucestershire’s third annual Local Business Charity Awards were announced, the team behind the initiative revealed that they will be expanding the awards into North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Scotland, under the continued sponsorship of Jelf Insurance.

The awards were founded by Jelf in 2014 to recognise the support given by Gloucestershire companies to county charities.

Charities vote for businesses which they think deserve wider recognition for their commitment to either raising money for or awareness of a charity.

In Gloucestershire, the winner of the Jelf award, which was open to entries from charities with an annual turnover of more than £200,000 a year, was Randall and Payne, nominated by the Pied Piper Appeal.

The company was nominated for its strong support of the charity including

raising just under £14,000 towards a local playground project.

The winners of co-sponsor Ageas’ award, open to entries from charities with an annual turnover of less than £200,000 a year, were Dee & Griffin Solicitors, nominated by Longlevens Rugby Football Club for their support in putting together the first mixed ability rugby team in Gloucestershire.

The winner of the individual award, announced by Dame Janet Trotter, the outgoing Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire and a judge of the awards since their launch in 2014, was Elaine Hodgin, Sales and Marketing Manager at Clarkson Evans.

Elaine, whose prize was a £300 voucher for a weekend away, was nominated by the Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity, for being a driving force behind the company’s charity of the year support and for making a significant difference to the lives of local cancer patients.

Cheltenham emotional intelligence business sells to global consultancy

Cheltenham-based business psychologists JCA Global have been acquired by global workforce business PSI Services (UK) Limited.

John Cooper, co-founder and CEO of JCA Global, said: “We are excited to join the PSI family and be part of this rapidly growing international

talent and leadership development consulting practice.”

The acquisition extends PSI’s considerable presence in the talent measurement arena and will give its clients access to JCA Global’s awardwinning emotional intelligence assessment and development solutions.

Local Business Charity Award winners

Stroud’s retail renaissance continues

DUNKERTON’S ORGANIC CIDER OPENS NEW STORE

A family organic cider company now owned by the founder’s son, former Superdry boss Julian Dunkerton, has opened a new store at Charlton Kings, Cheltenham.

Dunkertons Organic Cider Co was founded in 1980 by Julian’s late father Ivor and his stepmother Susie, who pioneered organic cider production.

They placed environmental values at the heart of their vision and set about making a unique cider, operating in a similar fashion to a vineyard.

Helen Browning, Chief Executive of the Soil Association, attended the official opening of the new store.

She said: “Ivor and Susie started Dunkertons cider with the intention of working in harmony with the environment. They are true pioneers of organic cider production in the UK.”

The shop is the latest addition to the Dunkertons Organic Cider Co at Charlton Kings. The largest cidery in Gloucestershire, it is also now open to the public.

Hawkins & Brimble gears up for crowdfunding

Hawkins & Brimble, a British grooming brand only founded in 2016, has achieved revenues exceeding £1.3 million and sold more than 350,000 products in 15 countries worldwide.

The company is now planning to raise part of its next round of funding via Crowdcube, a leading equity investment platform.

Rooted in classic British style and made from traditional ingredients with a modern twist, the brand offers 15 products across grooming, bath and hair care categories for men and it’s already won a raft of industry awards.

Founder and CEO, Stephen Shortt, said:

“I want Hawkins & Brimble to become a leading global brand for natural men’s grooming products and aim to raise our sales to £9 million by 2022.”

Stephen, 44, added: “I am the youngest of four brothers who all have very successful businesses, with one brother having an OBE to his name. I worked with all of them in their businesses for 25 years learning health and beauty distribution in the UK and abroad. Hawkins & Brimble has been the best platform for me to bring together everything I learned in my career to date and it’s surprising even me with its runaway success.”

As retail across the country continues to struggle, Stroud town centre looks to be experiencing a renaissance. With a £10 million refurbishment of its Merrywalks shopping centre currently under way, a new, independent town centre delicatessen has opened.

Armadeli is housed in the former Swan pub on Union Street and stocks cheeses, charcuterie, accompaniments, organic wines, beers and ciders.

Owner Armorel Willoughby, said: “My team and I share a passion and interest in food and drink and we have spent a great deal of time sourcing a fantastic choice of products.”

Armadeli stocks more than 100 cheeses from the UK and Europe, over 50 different cured meats and a range of chutneys, olives, antipasti and savoury biscuits.

The delicatessen has indoor and outdoor seating for its licensed café bar.

Originally from a legal background Armorel, decided to pursue her interest in food and drink and has worked at Whole Foods Market and Gloucester Services. She is also a member of the Guild of Fine Foods.

“Our first aim is to become a respected part of the Stroud retail community. We then hope to build the awareness and increase the online sales of hampers and cheese celebration cakes. Further ahead there may even be more Armadeli delicatessens.”

Armorel Willoughby outside Armadeli in Stroud

Regional round-up

Dunkerton’s

Hawkins & Brimble

Protecting environments with people in mind

Overseeing the safety of large scale properties, events and public spaces is no easy task. That’s why the region’s most recognised venues trust Allcooper to keep their staff and visitors protected.

Watching over the Three Counties Showground

Playing host to some of the UK’s premier rural events, the Three Counties Showground attracts over 1 million visitors every year. Set in the shadows of the iconic Malvern Hills, the 90-acre site features a purpose-built exhibition centre, conferencing facilities and huge outdoor spaces for animal and trade shows.

Allcooper worked alongside the Three Counties management team to implement a new, cutting-edge IT network that would provide complete coverage for the entire showground, including all entrances and access points. Fibre cabling was installed along the entire site perimeter and buried underground so as not to interfere with the surroundings. CCTV systems were then integrated onto the network to provide the latest High Definition surveillance – day and night – for total site security and visibility.

Tackling supporter safety for Gloucester Rugby

With a capacity of over 16,000 supporters, Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm Stadium is a hive of activity every match day, bringing with it a heightened level of risk. Combine this with the daily use of extensive conferencing, hospitality and community facilities, it’s clear that ensuring the complete safety of spectators, visitors and staff is paramount for this renowned sporting organisation.

By maintaining and monitoring the intruder, fire safety and CCTV systems across all areas of the stadium, Allcooper have given Gloucester Rugby total control over one of their most pressing responsibilities. Having been trusted with the club’s safety and security requirements for over a decade, Allcooper have been able to continually update and future-proof these systems, leaving the club free to safely go about its business.

University reveals new School of Business and Technology

NEW FOREST OF DEAN CAMPUS IN CINDERFORD

Gloucestershire College has unveiled its state-of-the-art campus in the Forest of Dean and welcomed the college’s first students.

The £15.8 million campus forms a major part of the Cinderford Northern Quarter regeneration project and offers post-16 education and training facilities.

The lakeside site includes a community street, a large central space for work and play, lined with commercial, student-run services such as a hair and beauty salon and a restaurant with views across the surrounding countryside.

Hartpury granted university status

Regional round-up

Hartpury has been officially granted university status by the government in a landmark year for the awardwinning institution.

Hartpury University – formerly University Centre Hartpury – will operate alongside Hartpury College on its 360-hectare campus which is within easy reach of Gloucester and Cheltenham.

University Vice-Chancellor Russell Marchant said: “I’m delighted that we will be Hartpury University, sitting proudly alongside Hartpury College, which was awarded Ofsted Outstanding this year. It has been an incredible journey and we’re excited to have finally reached our

Respect for the local environment was a key consideration and highlights include a sedum-planted roof, including automated window blinds to shield bats from light spill, which can stop them feeding.

A pedestrian and cyclist-friendly, tree-lined boulevard is served by regular bus services by Stagecoach and Michael’s Travel.

The University of Gloucestershire’s new School of Business and Technology at Oxstalls campus has opened. The multi-million-pound centre includes a new home for Gloucestershire’s main Growth Hub. The development is an integral part of the university’s 2022 Strategic Plan, which also sees development of an iconic Design Centre, improved facilities for new nursing and paramedic science courses, and enhancement of the 65-acre Oxstalls Sports Park.

The new School of Business and Technology features a business incubation centre, Thompson Reuters trading rooms, its own courtroom, enabling students to take part in simulated court proceedings, and equipment on par with that of the world’s corporate headquarters. The facilities are available for businesses to hire.

The university says it is the first in the UK to have an integrated Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Growth Hub, bringing together business, staff and students. The Growth Hub – a partnership between Gloucestershire’s LEP and the university, seeks to play a central role in helping businesses to grow and providing students with industry experience.

destination, especially as this year Hartpury College celebrates its 70th anniversary.

About 10 per cent of Hartpury’s student population are international students.

It has particularly strong connections in Canada, North America and South Africa, particularly in its equine provision, which is the largest of its kind in the world.

University of Gloucestershire ViceChancellor, Stephen Marston, said: “Working with businesses is a key part of what we do. The new school of Business and Technology has been designed to inspire learning, support new businesses and develop the university’s partnerships.”

The campus was designed by Gloucester-based architects Roberts Limbrick and built by Barnwood Construction.

Russell Marchant (back row, centre), Hartpury University staff and students, and Chair of Governors Edward Keene (front row, second right), and Mark Harper MP (front row, far right)

Ribbon cutting ceremony. Principal Matthew Burgess, Assistant Principal Sandra Tyrrell and Simon Carey, Managing Director Barnwood Construction,

Gloucestershire’s new Forest college campus

The University of Gloucestershire new business school

Business Media Club reaches five year milestone

A monthly marketing training club run by Worcester-based Chris Green Media has reached its fifth anniversary.

Mayor of Worcester Jabba Riaz joined the celebrations at the Business Media Club, which combines communications and marketing training, professional development and networking.

Chris Green Media are a specialist Midlands-based media, communications and marketing team providing communications coaching, media training, PR and creative services and inspirational events as well as the popular Business Media Clubs and the Business Leaders Media Academy.

At the anniversary meeting at CGM Media Centre in Blackpole East, current and past members shared experiences with visitors of how the club had shaped their approach to marketing and Worcestershire’s poet laureate emeritus and club member Maggie Doyle recited a specially written poem.

Business Media Club meetings are held at CGM Media Centre. Future themes in the 2018-19 programme will include thought leadership, storytelling and lead acquisition marketing.

“We believe the club’s continued success is due to blending listening with learning and our ‘all egos are left at the door’ approach which encourages people from a wide range of businesses and organisations to have their say and to exchange ideas in a sharing environment.”

Chris Green, Managing Partner

Chris Green Media

Chris and Teresa Green of Chris Green Media with the Mayor of Worcester, Jabba Riaz.

© PHOTOGRAPH: DOUG ANDERSON

FINAL HURRAH FOR EU LEADER FUNDING AS TWO BUSINESSES BENEFIT

Two Worcestershire businesses are among the last to benefit from a five-year European Union funding programme which has been supporting rural development projects initiated at a local level.

Astley Vineyard secured £50,000 for the construction and equipping of a visitor centre and winery, less than a year after the Haywood family bought the business just outside Stourport-on-Severn.

Ultimate Wraps, a high-quality vinyl wrapping business in Kidderminster secured £10,000 funding.

For Ultimate Wraps, the funding meant it could purchase a large format printer, enabling production of large-scale digital prints to be applied to vehicles and other substrates.

The funding came from Worcestershire County Council’s LEADER programme, part of the Rural Development Programme for England and delivered in the county

by Worcestershire County Council and the Worcestershire Local Action Group on behalf of Defra.

The construction of the Astley Vineyard visitor centre has now been completed with a shop and area for tasting and tours, and the family have now moved wine production in-house.

“Between 2015 and 2020 a total of £138 million was made available in England under the LEADER programme scheme”

Tim Haywood, Owner of Astley Vineyard said: “The LEADER funding has been instrumental in enabling us to make transformational changes to our business.

“We have been able to build a centre that does justice to the quality of the wine. The

Pharmacy expansion for B&H Jagpal

The husband and wife team behind B&H Jagpal of Healthpoint Pharmacy in Bewdley have bought a pharmacy in Colwall, Herefordshire, following £544,000 in funding from Santander Business Banking.

The pharmacy currently serves 2,500 residents. The owners have aspirations to expand opening hours and recruit a new full time pharmacy manager. In addition, the pharmacy will offer a prescription delivery service for local residents. The

couple has more than 30 years’ experience managing pharmacies and their pharmacy in Bewdley, Worcestershire, has a turnover of more than £1 million per year.

Balbinder Jagpal, owner of B&H Jagpal, said: “We are excited to be able to purchase a long-established pharmacy in the rural village of Colwall.

“We think our experience of the sector and our plans for a delivery service and increased opening hours will ensure that

development of this building allowed us to open up the vineyard to visitors and will give us the flexibility to experiment with our wine with our production now in-house.”

The team at Astley Vineyard has seen an immediate and sizeable increase in visitor numbers, and are on track for more than 1,200 visitors in their first full year of operation.

Hannah Warwick, founder of Ultimate Wraps said: “The LEADER funding we received has allowed us to take that next step for Ultimate Wraps, which has proven to be extremely lucrative.

“The new equipment has increased turnover, created two new jobs and allowed the business to look into the possibilities of taking on new apprentices.”

Between 2015 and 2020, £138 million was made available in England under the LEADER programme scheme. The final round of funding closed in September.

we serve the community in the best way possible.”

Steven Wright, Relationship Director for Santander Business Banking said: “I am so happy to have assisted this client’s aspirations to acquire a further pharmacy and look forward to working with them.

“The owner’s sector knowledge and the funding provided, will ensure the pharmacy sees increased growth and turnover.”

Ultimate Wraps

Clever solution to organised children’s wardrobes

When father of two, Nick Lewis, failed to find decent clothes hangers for his growing children’s clothes, he designed his own.

“There was no multi-size and multi-use hanger that could grow with your kids and be used for all types of clothes.”

Since 2001, Grohangers have been selling in countries around the world, including Japan and the USA, in major retailers and online, including Mothercare and Amazon.

Nick, who lives in Worcester, said: “The Grohanger has been selling successfully around the world for years and receives consistent five-star reviews. We listen to customers about how we can make kids clothes storage even easier, and have been busy working on new designs and features to deliver an even better product.”

The latest 24-piece set includes more clips and offers a useful space saving feature creating over 50 per cent more wardrobe space by allowing Grohangers to be clipped underneath each other.

WORCESTERSHIRE BUSINESS INVESTS IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLE FLEET

Worcestershire sister businesses Smart Cut Ltd and TFN Landscapes have expanded their fleet of commercial vehicles with the purchase of 10 new Isuzu trucks.

The companies, which are part of the £5million annual turnover Smart Cut Group, now have a 50-strong combined vehicle fleet.

Smart Cut has its head office, workshop, machinery store and training facility at Bishampton near Pershore, and TFN Landscapes is based in purpose-built premises at Noake Farm, Hucclecote, near Gloucester.

The companies’ new commercial vehicles are all Isuzu Grafter Green rigids, which are expected to cover a maximum of 40,000 miles in their

two-year working life within the fleet.

They were supplied by local Isuzu dealer Aquila Truck Centre in Worcester.

Smart Cut Director and Founder Tom Rimell said: “We have taken the 10 new vehicles as part of our 2018 fleet replacement programme and will soon order a further 10 for delivery in 2019.”

Smart Cut Ltd has been in business for more than 30 years primarily as a ground maintenance company servicing businesses, housing associations and local authorities across the West Midlands, from Birmingham in the north to Gloucester in the south.

TFN Landscapes provides soft landscaping, turfing and tree planting services for all the main national housebuilding organisations in the area.

SMH Fleet Solutions to drive growth with LDC investment

Mid-market private equity investor LDC has taken a minority investment in a leading vehicle management and logistics company based in Worcester.

SMH Fleet Solutions, which provides fleet management services to automotive manufacturers, rental and leasing

companies, achieved record revenues of more than £42 million last year. The company says the investment will enable it to further expand across the UK and expand its service through a “buy and build” strategy, following the successful acquisition of vehicle remarketing firm CD Auction Group last year.

Martin McAuley, Managing Director of SMH Fleet Solutions, said: “For us, the time is right to bring an investment partner on board.

“We’re now focused on further expanding our footprint and continuing to grow our offering.”

Garry Jones of Worcester-based Isuzu Truck dealer Aquila Truck Centres, with Tom Rimell, Director of Smart Cut Ltd

Regional round-up

SALES AND MARKETING WORKSHOP DELIVERS FOR COUNTY SMES

The Enterprising Worcestershire Programme attracted employees from 15 Worcestershire-based SMEs to its first interactive sales and marketing workshop.

The workshop was delivered by local entrepreneur Stuart Allen, Managing Director of The Sales Performance Company and founder of #WorcestershireHour, the weekly virtual business networking group.

Enterprising Worcestershire is a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) part funded Worcestershire County Council initiative providing a support network to early stage business.

“Enterprising Worcestershire is a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) part funded Worcestershire County Council initiative”

As well as free workshops, it offers mentoring and a match-funded grant. Access to the Enterprising Worcestershire programme is free for any Worcestershire-based SME that has been trading for less than 36 months.

Morgan Cars and Pashley collaborate on cycle range

The Morgan Motor Company is collaborating on a new range of bicycles with fellow British company, Warwickshire-based Pashley Cycles.

Founded in 1926, Pashley Cycles is the longest established British cycle manufacturer, famed for its range of traditionally built cycles.

Olpro regional winner at British Chamber of Commerce Awards

Olpro, the Malvern Hills-based designer and importer of camping and caravanning products for the UK market and for export around the world, is one of the regional winners of the 2018 British Chamber of Commerce Awards, in the category of digital communications.

Olpro makes products, from tents, camper van awnings, melamine tableware, printed windbreaks and essential chemicals for camping, camper vans and caravans. The company, established in 2011, says it tries to produce its products with as few middlemen as possible, to ensure quality and affordability.

Selected by British Chamber regional judging panels from hundreds of entries, the regional winners will go through to the national finals, being held in London at the end of this month.

The Pashley-Morgan range will include two new bikes, both of which will be produced at Pashley’s Stratford-upon-Avon factory. The bicycles have a hand-crafted frame which features a new curved top tube design. The range has been jointly developed by the Pashley and Morgan design teams.

More than 17 million camping and caravanning trips were enjoyed during 2016, with 15 million being spent in Britain.

The total number of trips is expected to rise to more than 21 million in 2020, according to market analysts Mintel. It says that Britain’s camping and caravanning market will be worth £3.2 billion by 2020.

Cheaper petrol prices and a move towards staycation holidays have also boosted the popularity of camping, caravanning and motorhome trips.

Regional round-up

“Olpro aims to produce its products with as few middlemen as possible, to ensure quality and affordability”

The new Morgan inspired Pashley Cycle

Regional round-up

5th Annual Worcestershire Festival of Business

The 2018 Worcestershire Festival of Business took place at Chateau Impney Hotel in Droitwich Spa. The fifth annual celebration of Worcestershire enterprise and entrepreneurship was the biggest event so far. The event was sponsored by City Signs with further support from Worcestershire LEP, Bank House Hotel, Welcome Telecom, Chateau Impney, Areca Design, You Do Better and Business & Innovation Magazine.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB LACEY

Would you like to feature your business event, launch or party in our business events section?

Faye Allen-Carter, Stuart Allen-Carter, Sarah Grout and Alice Schwarz from Worcestershire Festival of Business

Muff Murfin from Youthcomm Radio with Natalie Parker from Gtech

Neil Sysum and Amy Sysum from SW&A Accountants

Jo Watkins and Verity Hudson from Hewett Recruitment

Dani James from Thursfields Solicitors with James Miles from Worcestershire Cricket Club and & Rosie Henderson from Business & Innovation Magazine

George Smart and Abz Randera from One Creative Environments

Rosie Henderson from Business & Innovation Magazine with Julie Bullock from Basepoint Bromsgrove

Sam Turner and Laura Bligh from Headturner Search

Duncan Laker from Welcome Telecom

Darren Wilkins and Sarah Wilkins from City Signs

Izzy Craig and Harriet Simpson from Heart of Worcester College

Alex Price from Worcestershire LEP

Malvern Festival of Innovation 2018 Gala Dinner

As part of the week-long Malvern Festival of Innovation, Dr Adrian Burdern founder of the festival hosted the black-tie gala dinner event in the elegant surroundings of Malvern College. Guests enjoyed a stimulating evening of conversation over a three-course meal, before hearing from guest speaker Hilary Sutcliffe, Director of SocietyInside. Hilary spoke ethics, responsibility and stakeholder involvement across technologies, including projects on artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnologies, industrial biotechnology, synthetic biology and gene editing and quantum technologies. Hilary is co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Values, Ethics and Innovation, and is also co-driving a World Economic Forum project developing a series of actionable Principles for earning Trust in Tech Governance (TIGTech). www.festival-innovation.com

PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB LACEY

Malvern Festival of Innovation 2018 gala dinner

Rosie Henderson from Business & Innovation Magazine with Dr Adrian Burden Founder of Malvern Festival of Innovation and Hilary Sutcliffe from SocietyInside

Linda Smith from Betaden with Megan Long from Rift Technology and Dawn Harford from Artwork Creative Ltd

John Davies from Pervade Software with PCC Simon Clifford from Northamptonshire Police & Roberto Desimone from BAE Systems

Louise Pryor and Trevor Thomas with Sir John McCanny from Queens University Belfast and Dr Richard Chisnall from InnovaSec Ltd

Ian Buchanan from 3SDL with Linda Scott from Stem Ambassadors Hub and Andrew Scott from QinetiQ

Simon Moore from HiveLogic with Yvonne Charrot from UK Cyber Security Forum and Tim Charrot from The IASME Consortium

Tony Bennett from Coomber Innovation with Dr David Bott from WMG and Nick Boocock from Caption Data Ltd

George Hannah from Ericom Software and Paul Walker MBE from Malvern Hill Science Park

Nick Tudor from D-RisQ with Emma Parkin from ASV Global and Ria Wild from University of Worcester Business School

Stephanie Coates and Dr Emma Philpott from The IASME Consortium

Herlig Marles, which is based in Worcester, has developed its architecture practice from inception to a thriving, innovative company, thanks to support and a grant through the Enterprising Worcestershire programme. As part of this programme, the business secured matched funding which assisted with the purchase of virtual reality software and headsets to help clients visualise their projects.

A technical challenge

Right from the very launch of their company Herlig Marles, directors Anita Marles and Vanessa Anderson were keen to provide a high level of service to clients. However, both were using incompatible computers and software, which led to a disjointed approach and meant they couldn’t collaborate as effectively as they would have liked to provide the best result for clients.

The journey starts

Anita and Vanessa sought backing from the Enterprising Worcestershire programme, an ERDF funded programme offering support and funding to early stage businesses with the potential to grow. As part of this programme, they attended a variety of workshops on topics including HR, marketing, GDPR and Intellectual Property. The guidance they received through these sessions was invaluable, providing business knowledge to push the company forward and allowing Anita and Vanessa to meet with other like-minded individuals who were also on the same journey to growing their businesses.

In Other News…

Worcester Architects Bring Buildings to Life with support from Enterprising Worcestershire

“The support programme provided by Enterprising Worcestershire was a wonderful way of ensuring that we had everything in place to run a successful organisation, whilst providing a platform to meet with likeminded groups of people who had started their own journey.”

Herlig Marles was also successful in its application for matched funding through the Enterprising Worcestershire programme and received a grant of £1500, which Anita and Vanessa used to purchase a laptop and 3D software, including Virtual Reality goggles to bring their ideas to life.

No need to dream

From the inception of a client project, Herlig Marles can now draw everything in 3D, so that everyone, including those who find it difficult to read plans, can visualise what the end result will look like.

This has enabled the business to attract a wider range of clients and speed up the design process. It is currently using this new technology to work on projects from domestic designs to building conversions and even a church extension.

EW have now launched their Business Events Portal, showcasing all of the free early stage workshops in one useful events calendar; covering topics including GDPR, Using NLP to Influence Sales, Bookkeeping and How to Find Clients via Twitter. Take a look at: businesseventsworcestershire.com

Look out for our next event in December, which will provide the opportunity for advice and support to enable you to successfully develop your business!

“The support programme provided by Enterprising Worcestershire was a wonderful way of ensuring that we had everything in place to run a successful organisation, whilst providing a platform to meet with likeminded groups of people who had started their own journey.”

Vanessa Anderson, Director Herlig Marles

Inspiration through innovation

It is not just the team at Herlig Marles who have benefited from this investment. Through their outreach work with schools and their role as STEM ambassadors, Anita and Vanessa are now sharing their innovative approach to encourage the next generation to consider a career in architecture and the building industry. Visit a careers fair now and you will have to join the queue at the Herlig Marles stand as young minds jostle to take their turn with the VR headsets!

To find out more about Herlig Marles and the work they do please call 01905 355455 or visit www.herligmarles.com

For more information on the EW programme please visit www.business-central.co.uk or call 01905 677888

A team of architects, passionate about bringing buildings to life, have been able to do just that thanks to the support of a fully funded business assistance programme.

Directors Anita Marles (left) and Vanessa Anderson (right)

WORCESTER UNCOVERED

It’s got a stunning cathedral, a university particularly known for its sporting excellence, the mighty River Severn flowing right through the middle (a blessing and a curse depending on the seasons), and a huge amount of history.

Prince Arthur, King Henry VIII’s older brother, was buried in Worcester Cathedral (he died at Ludlow Castle aged 15 in 1502, having been married very young to Catherine of Aragon). His brother Henry married Catherine seven years later. You’ll remember the story. It didn’t end well.

The following century, the final battle of the English Civil War took place in Worcester in 1651 and exactly 100 years later one of the oldest porcelain brands in the world was established in the city.

The pottery, which came to be known as Royal Worcester, was launched in 1751 by two gentlemen who wanted to develop a method of making porcelain which could boost the city’s prosperity and employment.

They succeeded. For more than 250 years the Royal Worcester factory made china fit for kings. In 2009 the brand was sold to the Portmerion Group and is now manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent.

The factory was bought by The Bransford Trust and recently restored. It now hosts a theatre, exhibition, concert hall, café and the Museum of Royal Worcester pottery. And of course, there’s the city’s glorious Worcestershire sauce which is

still

It is this mix of history and pragmatism that makes Worcester a unique place in the 21st century.

the city’s regeneration, including the latest development at Cathedral Square which includes our new offices, we have maintained our commitment to Worcester.

“Last year this commitment was reflected in our decision to expand and invest here rather than moving out of town. Worcester offers our employees a great place to live and work.

While the city is rightly proud of its longevity and famous residents, it is looking outwards, embracing new technologies and business sectors to maintain its place in the UK economy.

A thriving city

Charlotte Thornton-Smith, partner at Harrison Clark Rickerbys (HCR) and head of the firm’s Worcester office, loves the city and its ambitions.

She said: “Worcester is thriving and the richness of its history and culture blends well with innovative business. Harrison Clark Rickerbys is part of that history. Charles Harrison started his legal practice here in 1904. It merged with Tony Clark’s practice in 1965. Since then, all through

“We take real pleasure in playing our part in the community – our employees raise money for the HCR charitable trust which donates to Worcestershire charities. With boundless energy, our employees also get involved in other good causes, in particular St Richard’s Hospice and Worcestershire Breast Unit Haven, to name but two.

“Being trusted advisers to people during some of the most significant moments in their lives, whether that’s moving house, getting divorced or buying and selling a business, our passion for people means that we will always advise on the individual’s specific circumstances,” added Charlotte.

This approach serves HCR and its clients well with turnover growing by 60 per cent since its merger with Rickerbys in 2013.

“Our expertise and advice has supported generations of Worcester families and businesses at crucial times of their lives to thrive, grow and invest here, just as we have done. We are glad to be an integral part of the city’s past, present and future.”

made at the Lea and Perrins factory on Midland Road.

“Worcester is thriving and the richness of its history and culture blends well with innovative business.

Harrison Clark Rickerbys is part of that history”

Photography: Fred Hanbury

Worcester stands tall

A trail of beautiful giraffe sculptures took Worcester by storm this summer.

A total of 57 brightly decorated giraffes, large and small, sponsored by local businesses, were placed within a one-mile radius of Worcester city centre.

The campaign, launched by St Richard’s Hospice and supported by Wild in Art, raised money for the St Richard’s Hospice Build 2020 Appeal, which aims to raise the funds needed to build a bigger hospice, enabling more patients and families to be cared for in Worcestershire. The total cost for expanding and redeveloping the existing building in Wildwood Drive, Worcester, is £5.3 million.

Sara Matthews, Project Manager for Worcester Stands Tall, said: “We have been blown away by the fantastic support of the business community during this project. Law firm Harrison Clark

Rickerbys were one of the many business supporters, sponsoring Snowdrop, illustrated by artist Katie Hodgetts. Her grandfather was Katie’s inspiration. He passed away in 2016 and received the help and care of St Richard’s Hospice through art therapy sessions. Imagery and colour were chosen by the artist to symbolise peace, heaven and memories.

Celebration for city’s sporting excellence

Worcestershire County Cricket Club has been celebrating since mid-September when it won the Vitality Blast T20 title.

Worcester Racecourse also celebrates its 300th anniversary this year.

Worcester Warriors retained its spot in the Gallagher Premiership Rugby last season.

As the current season got under way, its sale (which was handled by Harrison Clark Rickerbys) was also announced.

The club has been sold to a consortium. The primary funder was Errol Pope, alongside Jed McCrory, Scott Priestnall

A degree in sports science, a career in videography

More than 97 per cent of University of Worcester graduates are in full-time employment or further study within six months of graduation – above the national average. The figures also show that 67 per cent of its university graduates remain in the West Midlands, providing a vital workforce for the local economy.

The university is known for its excellence in sports education, but more than 10,000 students study wide ranging degree courses.

Fred Hanbury, 24, completed a Sports Science degree at the university. He also made videos in his spare time.

On graduation he became a personal trainer, but quickly realised his first love was in the film industry.

and former Premiership rugby player David Seymour.

The West Midlands only professional basketball team, the Worcester Wolves, is based in the city alongside the Great Britain men’s wheelchair basketball team at the University of Worcester.

The men’s and women’s teams, who brought home gold and silver at the 2018 World Championships, are now preparing for the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020. The sport’s national governing body has appointed Jayne Ellis as British Wheelchair Basketball’s new performance director.

Fred takes up his story: “Film and video allow me to reflect other people’s passions, and try to address big issues in society such as social media addiction. This was highlighted in my recent feature length film Bits and Pieces.” Fred’s film premiered at the Odeon in Worcester in September, raising money for Mind, the mental health charity. The film exposes social media addiction as an illusion which represents the perfect life, yet emphasises that it is not always real.

Fred added: “The people I met through Worcester University inspired me. The city also has a mix of incredibly scenic places to film.”

Adding to the city’s cultural offer is the new Worcester Art House on Castle Street which opened in October.

Charlotte Thornton-Smith, partner at Harrison Clark Rickerbys, with the Harrison Clark Rickersby-sponsored giraffe.

Worcester Uncovered

Photography: Fred Hanbury

Driving the Midlands Engine

Worcestershire is part of the Midlands Engine, a coalition of councils, local enterprise partnerships, universities and businesses seeking to drive economic growth across the region.

The county has been spearheading its cyber initiative. This high-profile programme has included reciprocal missions to the USA, with further overseas trips planned in 2019.

Some of the city’s biggest companies are currently participating in a major 5G testbed project. This is a multi-million pound government trial of new high-speed connectivity.

Yamazaki Mazak and Worcester Bosch are involved because of their work around Industry 4.0 (automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies). Industrial applications are one of the key areas where 5G has the potential to add significant value.

SCOTCH EGG BUSINESS HATCHES TWO NEST CAFES

Worcester is home to probably the only Scotch egg shop in the world.

Earlier this year the team behind The Handmade Scotch Egg Company, Neil and Penny Chambers, decided to expand their business, taking on the café in the newly-restored former porcelain works in Worcester. Since it opened, business at The Nest is booming.

This is Neil and Penny’s second Nest café. The original is based at Little Verzons Fruit Farm, Ledbury, where there is also a shop, antiques emporium and garden centre. Little Verzons farm is now also a wedding venue.

year, their farm café attracted the attention of the architect working on the redesign of the Royal Porcelain Works.

“He put us in touch with Worcester Live, the registered charity which runs Huntington Hall, The Swan Theatre and the Henry Sandon Hall at the Works,” explained Neil.

Neil and Penny also met the Bransford Trust which owns the Works, and they offered the café lease to the couple.

Marcus Burton, of Yamazaki Mazak, said: “The 5G Testbed represents a hugely exciting opportunity to drive further productivity growth and facilitate even faster data transfer and analysis for manufacturers.”

It is estimated that 5G in manufacturing could lead to productivity increases of up to one per cent. In the first quarter of 2018, UK manufacturing output stood at £44.6 billion. A one per cent increase would add £1.78 billion in value over the course of a year, which could have a significant impact on the UK economy.

The couple, who started The Handmade Scotch Egg Company 15 years ago selling this unique delicacy at farmers’ markets, weren’t planning to open a café at all, but opportunity came knocking.

“After years of doing farmers markets and food festivals, cold, early mornings on the road had begun to lose their appeal,” explains Neil. “We also needed more kitchen and office space.”

Friends told them that Little Verzons fruit farm was up for sale, and it didn’t take them long to take the plunge. Last

Since opening, The Nest café is thriving. Now Neil and his team are working closely with Worcester Live on creating activities and events around the Royal Porcelain Works.

These include a regular monthly food and drink market outside on the terrace, as well as art exhibitions. They are also building a programme of festive events to celebrate the venue’s first Christmas.

“The aim for The Royal Porcelain Works is to be a new cultural centre for Worcester, and we’re pleased with how things are progressing,” said Neil.

The Nest Café, Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester

Worcester

“The 5G Testbed represents a hugely exciting opportunity to drive further productivity growth, and facilitate even faster data transfer and analysis for manufacturers”

Worcester: Home to two UK top 100 fastest growing businesses

Two of the UK’s most successful private businesses are based in Worcester.

The Lioncourt Group builds everything from one-bedroom apartments to luxury five-bedroom family homes across the Midlands and central England.

Lioncourt has seen turnover soar to £66 million since 2013, and expects to hit £100 million this year. It plans to grow to £250 million by 2023.

GTech, which designs cordless cleaners as well as battery-powered garden tools and electric bicycles, appeared in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 and in its International Track 200.

Lioncourt Homes is the fastest growing home builder in the UK and has been ranked as the 413th fastest growing business in Europe among all industries in

31 countries by the Financial Times. This follows the company’s success in being placed 41st in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and 12th in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100.

Colin Cole, Chief Executive of Lioncourt Homes said: “We are extremely proud of our achievements which is testament to the special culture we’ve built and the effort and the drive of our employees.”

GTech’s Nick Grey left the vacuum cleaner-maker Vax in 2001 to design his

Sanctuary Group is one of the UK’s leading social landlords

Sanctuary Group is one of the UK’s leading social housing and care providers and one of Worcester’s biggest employers, with a turnover of over £700 million and more than 13,000 staff nationwide

From its headquarters on Castle Street in the heart of the city, the Group employs more than 1,600 people in a variety of roles across the Worcestershire region.

Sanctuary’s staff have helped make the Group the success it is today with a significant portfolio of 100,000 homes across England and Scotland including general needs, low-cost home ownership, sheltered and supported housing, student and key worker accommodation.

With more than 100 care homes under its management, including nine in Worcestershire, Sanctuary focuses on delivering its charitable objectives of providing high quality housing and care to those who need it most.

The Group provides employment opportunities for local people including managerial, technical, nursing, care, customer service, maintenance and administrative roles.

This is in addition to its successful graduate programme and award-winning apprenticeship scheme which play an integral role in developing the next generation of business professionals.

own cordless floor sweeper, taking on established brands such as Dyson and Hoover.

Gtech’s turnover is now in excess of £120 million and international sales hit £18 million in 2017.

Gtech has expanded into eight new territories across Asia, the Middle East and Europe during 2018, while planning to move some of its production back to Worcestershire from China next year.

to take part in fundraising activities and volunteering placements for the city’s foodbank, their chosen “Charity of the Year”.

Worcestershire Association of Carers has also benefited from financial support from the Group, while staff continue to engage in local events such as the Worcester Street Sixes charity cricket tournament.

Nick Grey, Founder and CEO of Gtech

Sanctuary is part of the Worcester Cares initiative to help tackle homelessness in the city and staff are actively encouraged

Worcester Uncovered

WARWICKSHIRE PHYSIO PRACTICE EXPANDS

A Team GB physiotherapist specialising in the treatment of elite athletes and performing artists has expanded her Warwickshire clinic to support rapid growth.

Louise Curley has seen her client base grow significantly since launching the Rejuven8 Physiotherapy Clinic at Stoneleigh Park two years ago, and hopes the move into bigger space on the estate will act as a springboard for continued expansion.

She has taken Rejuven8 from a traditional treatment room to a clinic featuring high-tech equipment including a fully sprung dancefloor which is used by professional dancers.

Louise said: “It means that I can now offer a broader range of prehabilitation and rehabilitation physio-led services designed

to optimise the health and performance of all patients.”

Louise treats young British, European and World Champions from a range of sporting disciplines, and provides physiotherapy support for British Gymnastics at national and international competitions.

Colin Hooper, Estates Director at Stoneleigh Park, said: “Louise’s work with some of the country’s most promising young athletes is testament to her reputation in this specialist

New campaign launched to grow regional economy

Regional round-up

A major new campaign has been launched to help grow the regional economy.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, which represents 2,000 business members across the region, is behind the Go For Growth: Trade Local campaign that aims to get companies, local authorities and other organisations using more suppliers in the area.

The Chamber will be holding a series of events to help bring companies face-toface with potential partners and suppliers. It will also host business opportunities on its website to keep firms up-to-date with potential contracts.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it was the right time to

launch the campaign in support of the regional business community.

She said: “This isn’t about being inward looking. The Chamber is a massive advocate of international trade and being an outward looking area that wants to do business right around the world. That won’t change.

“But what we see and hear from businesses is that there is the potential to bring more companies together to work with one another – and that would have a major positive impact on the local economy.

“Due to our location and expertise, we have a plethora of superb companies on our doorstep and it makes sense on every level to tap into that bed of talent.

work with some of the country’s most promising young athletes is testament to her reputation in this specialist field and her plans to gain a stronger foothold within performing arts is an exciting development”

field and her plans to gain a stronger foothold within performing arts is an exciting development.”

“One element is asking bigger companies and organisations – such as local authorities – if they can work more closely with local businesses through procurement.”

The campaign was officially launched at the Chamber’s Business & Trade Expo in September.

Keely Hancox, Ajay Desai, Chris Nagle and Louise Bennett of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber

Louise Curley at the Rejuven8 Physiotherapy Clinic with four of her ambassadors, Carly Bates, Francesca Barker, Megan Kealy and Naana Oppon

“Louise’s

IPP LOGIPAL’S RELATIONSHIP WITH TULIP BLOSSOMS

One of the leading pallet and box rental providers to fast-moving consumer goods supply chains has begun working with the country’s largest pig farmer and producer of pork, which is headquartered at Warwick Technology Park.

Warwick-based Tulip, part of global meat processing company the Danish Crown Group, has signed a contract with Coventry logistics company IPP Logipal, part of Pooling Partners, to ensure its range of own-brand bangers, fresh pork, bacon and cooked meats make it to supermarket shelves.

Tulip owns household brands Danepak, Spam and Stagg Chilli.

Pooling Partners has a long-standing commitment to the circular economy. It promotes the recovery and re-use of durable pallets and boxes in sustainable pooling systems. It is also the only pallet pooler to manufacture its own products, as well as retrieving, repairing and repatriating pallets.

The company sources wood from sustainably managed forests, producing and repairing more than 20 million pallets and boxes from certified wood annually.

With an annual turnover of £328 million, Pooling Partners employs more than 840 staff.

Phil Storer, UK Director of Pooling Partners, said: “It’s been a bumper summer for food producers for obvious reasons but this agreement with Tulip will ensure they receive a quality service at all times of year, in any weather.

“As a company which has committed to ensuring every staff member understands the benefits of sustainable operation, it chimes well with everything we stand for at Pooling Partners. It’s a relationship we hope will blossom over many years.”

Global ambitions for Midlands recruiter

A Midlands recruitment company has announced international expansion after striking a deal with the Volvo Car Corporation.

Apex Recruitment, which specialises in the automotive, engineering and advanced manufacturing sectors, has been engaged by Volvo, part of the Geely Group which owns Coventrybased LEVC, the makers of the London Taxi, to recruit staff for its Swedish operations.

Warwick-based Apex worked with specialist consultants 52 Global in Coventry to negotiate the agreement with Volvo and is recruiting for various positions at its production, research and development facilities.

Richard Marchington, Sales and Marketing Director of Apex, said:

“We have been talking with Volvo for around 18 months about helping them recruit staff.”

“Their announcement that all new Volvo models from 2019 will enjoy some form of electric propulsion has upped the ante in the automotive world and there will be a great deal of work to make that happen.”

“They realise that our reach within the industry extends globally and are keen to tap into the skills of the people we work with.”

Tulip’s UK operation consists of four businesses: Tulip Agriculture, Britain’s top pig farmer, Tulip Fresh, the country’s number one pig processor and operator of abbatoirs, Tulip Food Company, a leading supplier of food products to the UK’s retail and foodservice sectors, and Dalehead Foods, which supplies Waitrose.

“It’s been a bumper summer for food producers for obvious reasons but this agreement with Tulip will ensure they receive a quality service at all times of year, in any weather”

Regional round-up

Richard Marchington and Paul Sullivan at 52 Global

REVEALED: THE FUTURE FOR

GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE COLLABORATION

Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies one of the UK’s most exciting technology parks. We meet Horiba MIRA’s Managing Director Declan Allen

By Nicky Godding

“We are working with dozens of global brands and tenants, as well as their visitors and suppliers, and they all need to know that their ideas and data are safe, so confidentiality and cyber security are massively important to us”

It has 39 automotive test facilities, including wind tunnels, research and development labs, advanced emission test facilities and a 100 kilometre specialised “proving ground” (think a track almost the size of Silverstone where pre- and post-production vehicles are tested to their engineering limits)

The advanced technological capability on MIRA Technology Park has even attracted interest from Princes William and Harry, both of whom have visited the park.

More than 40 engineering companies, including Honda, Haldex, GKN, Bosch, Goodyear, Jaguar Land Rover and Lockheed Martin have permanent teams here, taking advantage of the world-class facilities, some of them working alongside skilled engineers employed by MIRA Technology park owner Horiba MIRA.

Automotive engineering and development company Horiba MIRA Ltd (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) employs around 650 people, most at this technology park, and turns over around £60 million annually.

Automotive innovation and inspiration

Every one of the co-located companies are undertaking innovation, research and development, validation and certification in their respective fields, in purpose-built spaces, and there is a palpable feeling of collaboration across the whole site.

Rather than a technology park, it feels more like a vibrant campus where more than 1,200 people work. Throughout the day there’s more than a sizzle of motor

racing atmosphere as various car marques are driven fast around the track by expert drivers testing every bit of their capability. Now that’s a job I’d love to have.

The Managing Director at Horiba MIRA Ltd is Declan Allen, who stepped into the role in April this year.

Declan is the perfect fit for Horiba MIRA. With a Masters in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast, he has a life-long love of motorbikes and cars (he regularly rides his Ducati, and has built himself a Caterham car). He has almost two decades of industry experience drawn from global engineering company Ricardo, and Mercedes Benz Formula 1, where he was part of the management team who re-established the brand as the world’s top Formula 1 team.

Taking confidentiality and skills seriously

With so many world-class companies on site, all vying for competitive advantage in the fast-moving (in both senses of the phrase), world of automotive engineering and intellectual property, confidentiality is Declan’s biggest concern.

On arrival, visitors are welcomed by security staff. Their cheery faces mask methodical checking of all electrical equipment before visitors are allowed beyond the gates. The cameras on my laptop and phone are covered to protect and control data on site.

“We work with dozens of global brands and tenants, their visitors and suppliers, and they all need to know that their ideas

A 21st century battle of Bosworth Field

A planning application has been approved to build a new test facility on a tiny corner (less than half a per cent) of the ancient battlefield of Bosworth,

In September, Horiba MIRA Ltd secured planning permission to invest more than £26 million to build a driverless car testing track on the site.

Naturally this caused some local concern. With the huge area available to Horiba MIRA, could the test track not be built elsewhere on site? Despite aiming its best brains on the problem, Horiba MIRA say there was no alternative. “We turned this place upside down and inside out to try and accommodate the facility elsewhere on the site and it just wasn’t possible,” says Declan.

“This is massively important for the technology park, local jobs and the UK as a whole. The facility, which is part of a project called TIC-IT, will be a global centre of excellence and enhance the UK’s capabilities for the development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) technology.”

Construction on the TIC-IT consortium, led by Horiba MIRA in partnership with Coventry University, will begin in December.

Horiba Mira

Horiba Mira

Declan Allen, Managing Director, Horiba Mira

On a vast 750-acre site near Nuneaton, straddling the Warwickshire and Leicestershire countryside (including the site of the historic Battle of Bosworth) lies MIRA Technology Park, a national centre of automotive excellence.

Horiba Mira

and data are safe, so confidentiality and cyber security are massively important to us,” says Declan.

Another major challenge is attracting and retaining talent. “We have great people, but we need to keep them, as well as adding to our teams,” he adds.

On this front, the company hasn’t made it easy for itself. “We’ve created a fantastic technology park and attracted 40 competitors to our doorstep,” he said. “All are vying for talent and there’s the risk that they’ll entice away our skilled engineers.”

But there are a number of things in Horiba MIRA’s favour. “We offer real variety across the business,” says Declan. “Our staff can work for a wide number of customers and technologies in the many countries across the world where we run projects, and they can move from engineering to testing or new technology areas.

“The whole layout of this site, how we design our buildings, the systems we use and our social media make it an appealing place to work, and we have had an excellent graduate intake over the last few years.”

Horiba MIRA has close-knit relationships with universities including Coventry, Loughborough and Leicester.

Currently there are 10 Coventry PhD students working for the company on autonomous vehicle technology.

Most recently MIRA Technology Park secured government funding, in collaboration with North Warwickshire College, to build MIRA Technology Institute which opened at the end of September.

It will provide a technical training platform where missing niche automotive skills in

A history of engineering innovation and international collaboration

Horiba MIRA grew out of the Motor Industry Research Association, established by the government in 1946 to build on the UK’s expertise in automotive engineering. Spun out from public ownership in the 1970s to stand on its own financial feet, MIRA became a membership organisation, but by the 1990s was struggling to secure investment to keep the facilities at the cutting edge of technology.

The association’s fortunes began improving in 2009, when Dr George Gillespie took over as Managing Director. Dr Gillespie had won widespread respect for his research into low emission engines.

He saw the opportunities that such a unique site (the former RAF Lindley base) could offer, situated as it is within the UK’s ‘golden automotive triangle’.

Dr Gillespie expanded what the site offered, including testing and engineering alongside the technology park, but he still needed external investment.

Achieving Enterprize Zone status from the government in 2011 (which offers tax breaks and other government support for businesses located on the site), was a significant step forward.

particular can be delivered. “We will cater for everything from hands-on skills to PhD students,” says Declan.

Design and engineering solving 21st century problems

Horiba Mira

Alongside Horiba MIRA’s research and development, the company can manufacture small volumes or prototype runs of products. Recently these have included military vehicles.

However, the site’s financial future was finally secured in 2015 when MIRA was purchased by Horiba, the Japaneseowned testing equipment group. Since the purchase, Horiba has accelerated MIRA’s growth and taken its capabilities into more than 40 markets. Dr Gillespie was awarded an OBE in 2014 for his services to international trade.

For Horiba, the purchase of MIRA has allowed expansion from precision and emissions measuring on traditional internal combustion engines into engineering consultancy covering sectors such as electrification, connected and autonomous vehicles and automotive cyber security.

Declan Allen succeeded Dr Gillespie as Managing Director earlier this year. He joined MIRA in 2011 and is undertaking further collaboration with Horiba to develop these key strategic areas as well as emerging topics such as vehicle resilience.

Declan is also focused on expanding the business’s international reach through the Horiba network, particularly in Japan, China, India, Europe and the USA.

The MIRA Technology Park is attracting foreign investment, creating jobs and investment in long-term infrastructure. Earlier this year it won a Queen’s Award for Export.

The company is also undertaking research and development in battery technology. “We work at a battery cell level, taking a flexible approach to the cell chemistry, whether it’s lithium, hydrogen or sulphur,” explains Declan. “We work on battery optimisation, considering elements such as safety, thermal performance and electromagnetic compatibility, using our test facilities.

“Whatever we are working on, everything comes together to solve complicated problems in the automotive and defence sector.”

“Whatever we are working on, everything comes together to solve complicated problems in the automotive and defence sector”

RECYCLING INNOVATIONS WIN OUT AT THIS YEAR’S VENTUREFEST

A graduate from Oxford Brookes University has won the 2018 Venturefest Oxford Pitching for Success competition with a cash prize of £1,000 which will include mentoring and support to scale his reusable coffee cup business.

But Harrison Hall wasn’t the only person pitching for support to help reduce the number of items that go to landfill. David Thomas of Mintfinity also pitched his idea for a web platform which makes empty packages valuable.

Harrison’s start-up business OneCup, aims to reverse the habit of single use disposable food/drink containers by replacing them with quality reusables at the point of need, starting with coffee cups. Earlier this year, Harrison received funding and mentoring from the Brookes Enterprise Support Programme to trial his idea at one of the university’s cafes.

He has since developed his business plan to specifically focus on coffee consumers. This includes creating an app that will allow OneCup members to borrow

knowledge of

their products are being consumed, so they obviously contribute to this system more if they know about you, than if they don’t”

reusable coffee cups at their point of use through smartphones, and creating a monthly membership cup-loaning scheme.

Mintfinity is a rewards currency platform which aims to make empty packages valuable, encouraging consumers to be more responsible with recycling.

Co-founder David Thomas said: “When you own a product you have a responsibility to society to manage that product. There is no right to allow you to throw it away, as society has to bear the cost of recovery and remediating the harm done.

“As the consumer really bears the costs of packaging, via the producer and taxation,

Mercedes-Benz dealer Rygor kicks off Oxford United sponsorship

Oxford United Football Club has signed a sponsorship agreement with Mercedes-Benz dealer group, Rygor Commercials.

The EFL League One club has acquired three new vans with funding support from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

Rygor, whose branch in the city has just been given a £1 million facelift, presented the club with a pair of

Mercedes-Benz X-Class pick-ups and a 3.5 tonne van from the Sprinter range.

Rygor Commercials’ Van Sales Executive Duncan Kelly set his sights on winning an order from the club he has always supported.

“I grew up in Oxford and have been a ‘Yellows’ fan for as long as I can remember,” he said. I was very proud when I saw our stunning new vehicles

they will also benefit from efficient systems to help them responsibility return products back into recycling or re-use.”

Through the Mintfinity platform, consumers are rewarded for recycling, and producers learn how their products are being consumed. Producers will contribute more to this system if they have great knowledge of their consumer, says David.

More than 750 visitors attended Venturefest Oxford as the event celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Rygor Commercial’s X-Class was drafted in for a ‘shoot the boot’ competition at half-time

“The producers value the

how

Harrison Hall and his One Cup

lined up outside the ground, and the Rygor name alongside the pitch.”

Regional Round-up

Twin Town Challenge host the 2018 finale Le Grand Bal

Earlier this year, Oxfordshire’s business community took part in the 2018 Twin Town Challenge in aid of charity SpecialEffect. One hundred moviethemed old cars travelled from Blenheim Palace to Le Touquet in France

The grand finale to this huge charity challenge was Le Grand Bal, organised by the Twin Town Challenge 18 team when the final fundraising figure was revealed.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB LACEY

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Brendon Cross of STL Communications, Kate Landry-Madden from Le Touquet Twinning Team, Jo Sensecall of STL Communications, Bernard Baudoux and Ann-Margerite Fauquert of Le Touquet Twinning Team and Dr Mick Donegan of SpecialEffect

Ken Norman gets the evening under way

Team from Oxford Products, Alex Hammond, Mark Porter, Derek Levell-Collins, Justin Thomas and Andrew Hammond Katie Smith with Simon Smith from Wellers

Claire Cross from Twin Town Challenge with Twin Town Challenge Volunteers Sophie Wilcox and Sangita Legge and Kirsty Muir of Business & Innovation Magazine

Debbie Austin and Christina Nawrocki of Wellers

Ed Gibson, Tom Kennedy, Clifford Brown, Christie Kennedy and Peter O’Connell from Shaw Gibbs

The B Team, Ben Thackray, Neil O’Regan, Chris Lawrence and Mark Helling from Shawcity

Nick Jones from Focus Risk Management with Sophie Jones and Brendon Cross of STL Communications

Tom Warner and Elio Recchia of Hayes Recruitment

TASTY NATIONAL RETAIL LISTING FOR THE BRITISH HONEY COMPANY

The Midcounties Co-operative’s Best of Our Counties programme, which champions British produce by sourcing quality food and drink from the counties it trades in, has enabled producers across Oxfordshire to secure national retailer product listing.

The British Honey Company is one of the Oxfordshire suppliers to benefit through the programme. The partnership began in August 2016, when the company’s artisan honey secured its first major UK retailer listing through the Best of Our Counties range.

Since then the honey producer has blossomed. In 2017 it was able to expand its product range by launching an assortment of spirits infused with honey.

The line has proved incredibly popular since being introduced to more than 50 Midcounties Co-operative Food stores across the UK.

The Co-operative provided additional support by helping The British Honey Company explore further avenues for expansion, such as its newly-developed variety of artisan jams infused with gin. The jams are currently stocked in

StreetDrone helps Oxford schoolchildren get into driverless cars

three stores, with plans to expand further soon.

Nikky Wall, Sales Account Manager at The British Honey Company, said: “Working with The Midcounties Co-operative has enabled us to grow our range and do what we love the most - craft tasty honey-infused treats and spirits for people in Oxfordshire and beyond.”

“It’s been brilliant to see our partnership with The British Honey Company grow and we’re proud to be able to support Oxfordshire suppliers and independent businesses through our food stores”

Matt Fletcher, Direct Sourcing Manager at The Midcounties Cooperative Food, said: “It’s been brilliant to see our partnership with The British Honey Company grow and we’re proud to be able to support Oxfordshire suppliers and independent businesses through our food stores.”

£5.2 million to boost innovation in Oxfordshire

A £5.2 million programme to encourage innovative business ideas in small and medium-sized enterprises has been launched by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP).

Innovation Support for Business (ISfB) will boost opportunities for start-ups, small and medium (SME) businesses and enhance the infrastructure for research and innovation in Oxfordshire.

“This is an important initiative to support ideas and innovations among our SME community,” said OxLEP’s

Director of Business Development, Richard Byard.

“Originality and ideas are what will drive Oxfordshire’s economic success in the future.

“Our Innovation Support for Business programme will support these smaller businesses.

“It will help build relationships they need, get the right commercial research resources and help bring new products to market.”

StreetDrone, an Oxford-based startup which aims to get driverless cars into UK universities for researchers and students to test autonomous car software, welcomed schoolchildren to its factory during the summer.

Mike Potts, StreetDrone Founder and Managing Director said that universities and schools need to encourage more of the UK’s brightest brains to get involved in the driverless car industry, along with securing the right funding and resources.

“We want to get self-driving cars into UK universities so more people can build and test safety apps. This was previously going on within car manufacturers such as Uber and Google.”

A group of around 20 young people explored the technology alongside StreetDrone engineers.

The visit was organised by the Oxford Trust which encourages the pursuit of science and enterprise and engages with businesses and individuals to widen awareness and access to careers in science. It is currently building Science Oxford Centre at Stansfeld Park which will be the UK’s first indoor-outdoor science education centre for primary-aged children.

Earlier this year the centre, being built by Oxford-based construction company Beard, announced that The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, founded by Lord Sainsbury in 1967 to strengthen science and engineering skills in the UK, is supporting the project.

StreetDrone

The British Honey Company

The Oxford Trust Enterprise Awards 2018

Guests gathered at Oxford Brookes University for the annual celebration of The Oxford Trust Enterprise Awards 2018. These recognise and celebrate the innovative science and technology companies and entrepreneurs working in the region. The awards acknowledge the work of those who are just starting out on their innovation journey as well as established businesses that have become successful and had a major positive impact on the regional economy.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB LACEY

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Steve Burgess and Georgina Ferry from The Oxford Trust with Sir John Bell

Dr Graeme Smith from Oxbotica with Rob Buckingham from The UK Atomic Energy Authority

Keynote Speaker, Jonathan Flint, President Elect of the Institute of Physics and former CEO of Oxford Instruments

Nigel Tipple from OxLEP with Alison Richardson and Andrew King from Richardsons

Adrien Bizeray from Brill Power with Jude Eades from Science Oxford and Tim Cowper Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Philip Campbell from MEPC Milton Park with Eliot Forster from Advanced Oxford

Matthijs Branderhorst and Greg Brett from Marks & Clerk

Seth Roberts from Marks & Clerk with Martine Benoit from ON Communication and John Simmons from Radioactive Waste Management (RWM)

Lynn Shepherd from Venturefest with Matt Smart from University of Oxford

Eliot Forster from Advanced Oxford with Sarah Haywood from MedCity and Peter Couldery from Alan James Ltd

Tony Bullock and Nidhi Rathore from Barclays with Ben Patyra from TriTeq

More than 350 cyclists completed the annual Bidwells Golden Triangle Bike Ride – a 100-mile charity cycle event from Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes.

All entry fees paid go directly to cancer support charity Maggie’s, to help raise £21,000 towards its work providing free practical, emotional and social support to people living with the disease.

More than 75 Bidwells staff took up the challenge this year.

The 100-mile rural route starts in Oxford, weaving in and out of villages and small towns, and has a halfway point near Milton Keynes in Woburn, where those who prefer a 50-mile route to Cambridge can start their journey.

SUN SHINES ON BOB CHAMPION CHARITY FUNDRAISER AT JACKDAW CASTLE

Jackdaw Castle near Cheltenham, the home of Jonjo O’Neill Racing, was the venue for a special summer lunch to raise money for The Bob Champion Cancer Trust. More than £5,000 was raised on one of the hottest days of the year.

At the height of his career, in 1979, Bob Champion was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He was given months to live.

After undergoing aggressive chemotherapy, Bob survived, going on to win the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti. His experiences led to the foundation of The Bob Champion Cancer Trust in 1983.

The Trust raises funds for the Bob Champion Cancer Research Laboratory, which forms part of the largest malededicated research facility in Europe, at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey.

“The Bob Champion Cancer Trust raises funds for the Bob Champion Cancer Research Laboratory, which forms part of the largest male dedicated research facility in Europe, at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey”

It also raises money for a research team at the Bob Champion Research and Education Building at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. To date the trust has raised more than £15 million.

Trainer Jonjo O’Neill continues to enjoy one of the most successful careers in horseracing. As both jockey and trainer he has reached virtually every height the sport has to offer, along the way overcoming adversity, including beating cancer himself.

Bidwells staff get on their bikes for Maggie’s

Guests gather for pre-lunch drinks at Jackdaw Castle for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust lunch

Bidwells bike ride

For one night only, Gloucestershire business leaders experience rough sleeping

More than 70 of Gloucestershire’s most well-known business people, including this magazine’s Commercial Director Kirsty Muir, spent a night sleeping rough to raise money and awareness for county charity Caring for Communities and People (CCP).

On October 10, World Homeless Day, they hunkered down at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester in donated sleeping bags to experience just one night in the cold.

Cordell Ray, Chief Executive of CCP, said: “Gathering together high-profile business leaders in this way highlights the plight of the homeless and gives those participating just a taste of what it is like to sleep rough.”

Kirsty said: “It was a very humbling experience and I can’t imagine what it

would be like to sleep rough every day for weeks or months, rather than just one night. After the sleep out we had to commit to go to work without showering or a change of clothes.”

All proceeds raised help CCP provide accommodation for homeless young people and continue its pioneering work with families to help prevent homelessness in the first place.

Thursfields trio walk 50 km to raise £1,000 for hospice

Businesses in the community

A trio of keen walkers from Thursfields Solicitors marched 50km in a single day to raise more than £1,000 for a Worcestershire hospice.

Trainee solicitors Nicola Pearce and Katie Morris, from Thursfields’ Kidderminster office, and legal assistant May Patel from the company’s Solihull office, entered the Thames Path Challenge for St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester.

The money raised will go towards the hospice’s Build 2020 appeal for the final £1.4 million needed to build a bigger hospice, enabling more patients and families to be cared for.

No Get out of Jail free for Oxfordshire businessmen

Helen and Douglas House, which provides hospice care for babies and children in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties, banished 10 local business people to the cells of Oxford Castle and Prison, only releasing them when they had each raised £999 in bail money.

This was the charity’s first Jail & Bail fundraiser, which finally raised more than £10,000 for the charity.

Friends scale Great Wall for children’s hospice

Two intrepid Worcestershire women set off on a week-long trek along the Great Wall of China, one of the seven wonders of the world.

Raising money for Acorns Children’s Hospice in the charity’s 30th anniversary year, they did it as part of a team of 30 trekkers.

Best friends, businesswoman and cofounder of Redditch-based Oakland International, Sallie Attwell and Christine Sumner, who retired from

nursing after 49 year in the NHS wanted a charity challenge. Sallie said: “Every penny raised will go directly to Acorns Children’s Hospice.”

Established in 1988, the charity provides palliative care to children and young people as well as support for their families.

In the past year Acorns has cared for over 870 children and more than 1,090 families across the West Midlands, including those who are bereaved.

The prisoners were locked up with a phone and laptop each as their only means of communication. To get themselves released from prison, they had to secure their ‘bail’ money in just one day.

“Gathering together high-profile business leaders in this way highlights the plight of the homeless and gives those participating just a taste of what it is like to sleep rough”

‘Prisoners’ raise money for Helen and Douglas House

A bank that puts customer satisfaction first

Handelsbanken is renowned for its local relationship banking and primary aim of delivering the best possible service. No one epitomises this more than Ian Horseman, Corporate Banking Manager at the Cirencester branch, having built a reputation for his knowledgeable approach.

Ian joined Handelsbanken in 2017, after being impressed by their approach of modern banking with traditional values. Commenting on his move, Ian said: “After 30 years with two different high street banks I was attracted by the chance to use all my banking skills, including making lending decisions and building long-term customer relationships.

“Handelsbanken is best known for providing personally tailored banking solutions. We take the time to get to know our customers and their needs to provide the best personal advice and service we can, and we take a holistic view, meaning that whether a customer’s requirement is for personal or corporate banking, we can deal with all of their needs under one roof and understand the whole picture.”

This is perhaps just one of the reasons that Handelsbanken has come top for customer satisfaction for nine years running in

301 Cirencester Business Park

Love Lane, Cirencester, GL7 1XD Tel: 01285 650262

handelsbanken.co.uk/cirencester

an independent survey of British banks (EPSI Rating 2009-2017) and in the inaugural survey year has been named as the most recommended provider for SME banking by the Competition and Markets Authority’s Independent Service Quality Survey (August 2018).

“From agriculture to leisure and everything in between the Cotswolds offer diversity across both business sectors and landscape. It’s simply a great place to live and work, and I love being part of the community and being able to meet the continuing growing demand for our local relationship banking approach.”

In his role, Ian spends much of his time getting to know new customers and build relationships with the aim of being their trusted banking advisor. He says “I enjoy dealing with people and helping them throughout their life.

There are many scenarios in which I can make a real difference, such as helping customers to buy or expand their business, buy homes for themselves or their children, or invest their money for the future. The fact there are no product targets or incentive bonuses in Handelsbanken means we can focus solely on what is best for the customer, not what is best for the bank at any particular time.”

Ian Horseman, Corporate Banking Manager, Handelsbanken Cirencester

Ian Horseman, Corporate Banking Manager Handelsbanken Cirencester

Bob Champion MBE hosts Summer Lunch at the home of racing legend Jonjo O’Neill

Bob Champion MBE and Trustees of the Bob Champion Cancer Trust hosted their summer lunch at Jackdaws Castle, home of Jonjo O’Neill Racing. After a Champagne drinks reception and tour of Jackdaws Castle, one of the UK’s top training yards, guests enjoyed a locallysourced lunch hosted by a panel of racing experts, Bob Champion, Jonjo O’Neill, Mike Cattermole and Richard Pitman. The event raised £5,430 for the charity.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARL HEWLETT

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Bob Champion, Mike Cattermole, Richard Pitman and Jonjo O’Neill

Jackdaws Castle

Michael Howden and Lee Moulson from Cheltenham Racecourse

Trainig horse at Jonjo O’Neill stables

Jacqui O’Neill, Sue Smith and Jeanette Champion

Ursula Sefton, Flo Willis and Mark Stone

Charles Stirling and Bob Champion

Visitors watch a demonstration of the swimming facilities at Jackdaws Castle

Anne Brooks, Sue Sanders and Helen Hogben

Elaine Mines with Emma Allen from Cheltenham Racecourse

Nicky Godding from Business & Innovation Magazine with Jonjo O’Neill and Kirsty Muir from Business & Innovation Magazine

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MARKETS ACROSS THE REGION

It’s nearly Christmas Market season. We can almost smell pine needles and Glühwein. With dozens to visit across our region, we’ve picked some town centre Christmas markets to whet the appetite.

Cheltenham

November 22-December 15

Housed in seasonal wooden chalets, Cheltenham’s Christmas Market pops up mid-November under the Christmas lights on the Promenade.

It features 40 stalls selling a wide range of Christmas gifts, crafts, food and drink in a unique Christmas Market atmosphere. Enjoy a glass of glühwein and a bratwurst while you wander.

Gloucester

November 15-25

Spread around the ice rink in Orchard Square at Gloucester Quays, this market features around 40 traditional chalets selling high quality seasonal food, drink, art, jewellery, accessories and festive gifts, and with new artisan producers attending each week, there’ll always be something different to discover.

There’s live seasonal entertainment, music and street acts as well as plenty of activities during the evenings and at weekends.

Worcester

November 29-December 2

Worcester’s Victorian Fayre began back in 1992 by traders on picturesque New Street and Friar Street. Now in its 26th year, the Fayre stays true to its traditional roots with plenty of Victorian themed characters, festive treats and a wonderful atmosphere.

Rosie doesn’t spare her Blushes

This year there will be almost 200 stalls across the city centre, selling local arts and crafts, delicious street food and gifts.

A full programme of entertainment is planned. Look out for Victorian characters in Gin Lane, lofty entertainers on stilts, brilliant musicians on the stages and buskers on every street corner.

Oxford

December 7-22

Oxford will again be filled with festive joy when the Oxford Christmas Market returns to the heart of the city on historic Broad Street.

With choirs singing Christmas carols, market traders offering unusual and handmade gifts, colourful decorations around wooden stalls and the aroma of mulled wine and cinnamon drifting in the air – it’s a magical Christmas experience.

Stratford-upon-Avon

December 7-9

Stratford-upon-Avon’s three-day Victorian Christmas Market is planning more than 150 unique stalls filled with seasonal gifts.

The Victorian Market will host local makers, an international area and an extensive selection of street foods including traditional roast turkey, all displayed under Christmas lights.

One of Gloucestershire’s longestestablished hairdressers, Blushes, has expanded to New Street, Worcester. Our intrepid sales manager, Rosie Henderson, tried the new salon out.

“Friendly staff greeted me and offered complimentary drinks - including a gin and tonic. They introduced me to Carina my consultant who made me feel at ease.

“After a quick consultation, Carina’s colleague Max whisked me away to apply a luxurious L’Oreal Smartbond to my hair. I relaxed in one of their comfortable reclining chairs (I usually get a cricked neck). Max was easy to talk to, informative regarding my treatment and we enjoyed a good old chinwag.

“Carina cut my hair into a beautiful edgy bob (which several customers complimented me on). My appointment flew by and I felt like I’d had a lovely catch up with an old friend — just what the doctor ordered for a busy fulltime working mum of young twins.

“I had a wonderful experience and would recommend a visit to this delightful salon in a heartbeat.”

Before After

Oxford’s atmospheric Christmas market

Cheltenham Christmas Market

Business & Innovation Magazine host Family Business Leaders

Some of the region’s best family run companies joined Business & Innovation at the stunning Calcot & Spa for a family business lunch. Following a feature on family businesses in our September issue, we plan to extend our coverage and support of family run businesses who make up the backbone of our economy and hosted a lunch in association with Crowe UK to get to know some of them better.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB LACEY

Nick Latimer of Crowe UK and Peter Roper from The Family Business Practice

Darren Aston from Aston and James with Ian Horseman from Handelsbanken Cirencester and Paul Dean from Aston and James

Sadie Morris from Howard Tenens with Dale Williams from BPE

Lisa Smith and Rebecca Smith from Smiths Gloucester Ltd

Jane and Adrian Gillman from Gillmans Electrical Group

Moreton Cullimore from Cullimore Group with Alex Rose from Beards

Nicky Godding from Business & Innovation Magazine with Eamonn McGurk from McGurk Group

Tom Lister and Rob Lister from Lister Communications

Clara McGurk from Ruroc with Nicola Bird from KW Bell Contracting

Marc Warner from Warners with Roman Cooper from Allcooper Group

The Barn at Calcot & Spa (part of the Calcot Collection)

Family owned The Calcot Collection is a small, eclectic group of luxury hotels, inns, restaurants and spas. Calcot the flagship hotel plus Barnsley House, The Village Pub and The Painswick are all situated in the beautiful Gloucestershire Cotswolds. The Barn, recently refurbished as part of Calcot’s meeting and business space ranges from large and spacious to cosy and more intimate and can accommodate from 4 to 35 delegates boardroom-style, or up to 150 theatre-style. The Barn boasts all the techy features with a team who will help you fine tune every detail for your corporate presentation or business gathering. Calcot.co

Chris Wills from Willans with Paul Williamson from Hillside Brewery

Mike Warner from Warners and Don Robins from Printwaste

Ben and Sadie Morris from Howard Tenens with Sally Barker from Calcot

Nick Bracey from Brace Creative with Dave Phillips from Allcooper and Eamon McGurk from McGurk Group Darren Aston from Aston and James with Lucy Ratcliffe from Buzz Electrical Richard Dean from Crowe UK with Abid Naser from Smart Survey

Antonia Shield from BPE with Di Pitts from Handelsbanken Cirencester

Duncan Laker from Welcome Telecom with Mitch Bracey from Brace Creative Chris Mould from Crowe UK with Tracey Pope from Protrack

Trevor and Polly Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery

We are an architectural interior design studio focused on improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. We specialise in workplace design that aims to increase creativity and productivity.

Taking a user centred approach to design enables us to achieve amazing workplaces for our clients, that provides employees with a comfortable and welcoming working environment.

Our interior design service offers far more than an aesthetically

pleasing interior. We take the time to understand your company visions and values, and work with you to achieve a bespoke interior design that demonstrates these.

Investing in a professionally designed and space planned workplace ensures you get the most out of your office space and addresses common employment issues, such as attracting and retaining the best talent, reducing employee absences and contributes to keeping your workforce happy, healthy and productive.

Gemma Bennett BA (Hons) Creative Director - Interior Design Design Bank Studios

T: 07446 273699 | E: db_studios@outlook.com

W: www.designbankstudios.co.uk

“Design shapes the future of human experience to create a better world”

THE RISE AND RISE OF CO-WORKING

The largest private occupier of office space in London, second only to the UK government, is serviced office operator WeWork. An impressive statistic, given that the American business only opened its first UK location in 2014.

But it’s not the only company, and London is not the only city, to be providing a service which meets the needs of today’s more mobile workforce who don’t want to be bogged down by a formal office lease.

Gemma Bennett is creative director at Worcester-based Design Bank Studios. She worked in a regular office for years before returning to university and retraining as an interior architect where part of her degree was studying co-working spaces and their impact on freelancers and co-workers.

“The beauty of co-working is that it’s flexible. A good co-working space will have quiet areas, task-focused areas and places to network. There’s also the opportunity to collaborate with others – perhaps creatives working together on projects could be more likely to spark ideas off each other.

Another benefit of co-working includes the avoidance of loneliness. Working solo can be isolating.

Bloom.Space Malvern

Bloom-Space is a co-working space and business incubator next to The Coach House Theatre in Malvern. As well as being a place to work, members can call on mentoring, advice and support to help their business grow.

Bloom.Space offers hot desks and fixed desks with membership including unlimited tea and coffee, free meeting room hire, colour printing and photocopying, high speed Wi-Fi and free mentoring, training and workshops.

Global property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, says uncertainty around Brexit may be driving demand for flexible workspace.

Small businesses are thinking twice about committing themselves to long leases, and the same could be said of larger corporates looking to avoid long-term space commitments.

A growing characteristic of co-working environments is their attractiveness and added benefits of free Wi-Fi tea and coffee. What’s not to like?

But there are downsides too. A business which needs a lot of equipment won’t suit co-working. A landlord won’t welcome you dragging in a portable 3D-Printer or dumping piles of files next to the DayGlo contemporary seating. What about

confidentiality? An open Wi-Fi network could be more easily hacked than your home-based network, and it’s easy to leave documents open on a computer or listen to a co-worker’s phone conversation.

Issues such as these aside, co-working spaces are increasingly being used instead of the local coffee shop and are much more suitable places to work. Costa’s loss is this new real estate sector’s gain.

And some of them are so beautifully furnished, who would want to go home?

Co-working is getting more popular. And with some spectacular places to work, you might never want to go home.

“The beauty of co-working is that it’s flexible. A good co-working space will have quiet areas, task-focused areas and places to network”

Above and this photograph: Bloom.Space Malvern

There are so many awesome places to co-work and connect in Worcestershire! We believe that great things happen when people get together, which is why we’d like you to join us. We are developing a community of inspirational individuals and brilliant businesses to help the region grow and become recognised nationally as a hub of innovative ideas and projects.

So, whether you want to connect, collaborate, co-ordinate or just be inspired, WINN should be your first point of call.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to be innovative with your products, services or processes, or if you just want to celebrate diversity and entrepreneurship. We can help you to showcase your ideas, learn from other innovators and be inspired. To become part of this map contact us today. Read our blog for insights, interviews and ideas as you get involved in the CONVERSATION!

THE KILN

Worcester’s first co-working space is opening on the High Street. Join us for a friendly place to work, surrounded by like-minded people, great coffee and good wifi. Join today at the kiln.co/let-me-in

hello@thekiln.co | www.thekiln.co

THE HIVE

Impress your customers and colleagues by holding your meeting in The Hive using one of the eight meeting rooms, the 50 seater studio or even Level 0. Perfect for conferences or large presentations.

Sawmill Walk, The Butts

Worcester WR1 3PD

Tel: 01905 846606

www.thehiveworcester.org

BLOOM.SPACE

Co-working, incubator, accelerator. Everything you need to support your business. Mentoring, training and advice, plus offices, meeting rooms, free refreshments, high speed Wi-Fi.

The Grange, Grange Road

Malvern WR14 3HA

Tel: 01684 53 1234

www.bloom.space

MALVERN HILLS SCIENCE PARK

Located at the foot of the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire’s Science Park provides unrivalled service for new and growing technology businesses

Geraldine Road, Malvern Worcestershire WR14 3SZ

Tel: 01684 585200

www.mhsp.co.uk

WYRE FOREST HOUSE

Conference and meeting facilities, on-site cafe, events team and IT support, flexible workspaces, free parking.

WYRE FOREST SPACE

Flexible incubation workshops and workspace, easy in-out terms, free parking.

Wyre Forest House

Finepoint Way

Kidderminster DY11 7WF Tel: 01562 732101

www.wyreforestspace.co.uk

ANGLO HOUSE

A blend of original Victorian features and modern dynamic design offering office accommodation with a difference.

Worcester Road

Stourport-on-Severn DY13 9AW Tel: 07860372443

www.anglohouse.co.uk

UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER BUSINESS INCUBATOR

Located on the City Centre campus it provides a package of support including: Co-working space, Meeting rooms, Dedicated mailbox, 1-2-1 support, Networking events.

Charles Hastings Building

Worcester Business School

University of Worcester City Campus, Castle Street, Worcester WR1 3AS Tel : 01905 85 2444

www.worcesterenterprise.org

OPEN SPACE BUSINESS CENTRE

Fully Serviced Office Spaces for 1-20 people.

Willow End Park, Malvern WR13 6NN

Tel: 01886 834814

www.openspacebusinesscentres.co.uk

OPEN SPACE MEETING ROOMS

Modern spaces for your business meetings and events. Free Parking.

Upper Interfields, Malvern WR14 1UT

Tel: 01886 886100

www.openspacerooms.co.uk

MALVERN

Open Worcestershire

CIVIC CENTRE

Easy-in... Easy-out office space designed specifically for start-up and expanding small businesses. Month on month shortterm agreements – includes parking, wi-fi and office furniture.

The Civic Centre, Stourport-on-Severn

Tel: 01299 877214

www.stourporttowncouncil.gov.uk/ office-space.aspx

KIDDERMINSTER

BROMSGROVE

REDDITCH BUSINESS CENTRES

Office, workshop and light industrial units. Free car parking, on-site secretarial support, flexible meeting room hire and ‘virtual’ office service.

Greenlands Business Centre – Studley Road, B98 7HD

Rubicon Centre – Broad Ground Road, B98 8YP

Heming Road Enterprise Centre – Washford Industrial Estate, B98 0DH www.redditchbc.gov.uk (search business centres)

THE BUSINESS CENTRE

Flexible arrangements for Office Space, Virtual Space, and Meeting & Conference Facilities. Edward Street, Redditch, Worcestershire, B97 6HA Tel: 01527 831277

www.thebusinesscentre.co.uk

BASEPOINT BUSINESS CENTRES BROMSGROVE & EVESHAM

The perfect location for all your business needs from Managed Office Space to Customised Virtual Offices.

Isidore Road, Bromsgrove Enterprise Park, Bromsgrove, B60 3ET Tel: 01527 834600

Crab Apple Way, Vale Park, Evesham, WR11 1GP Tel: 01386 764700

www.basepoint.co.uk

REDDITCH

THE BARN CO-WORKING SPACE

Flexible, furnished & friendly. Feel-good High Street co-working space. Ideal for freelancers, digital nomads & start-ups.

WORCESTER

BETADEN

PERSHORE

BetaDen is Worcestershire’s first dedicated tech accelerator, co-located with Worcestershire’s 5G testbed. It is a commercial accelerator offering start-up’s and scale up’s mentoring, funding and support to accelerate the tech industry here in Worcestershire and beyond.

Unit 50-51, Malvern Hills Science Park Geraldine Road

Malvern WR14 3SZ

Tel: 01905 672700

www.beta-den.com

EVESHAM

36 High Street, Pershore WR10 1DP Tel: 01386 555999

www.thebarnpershore.co.uk

SPACE AT WCG –PERSHORE COLLEGE

The place to do business. We offer a fantastic range of affordable, bright, modern meeting spaces, with friendly efficient service and great facilities. Every room has natural daylight and is air conditioned.

Avonbank, Pershore

Worcestershire WR10 3JP

Tel: 0300 456 4550

www.wcg.ac.uk/space

WAYS TO CONNECT

WINN Wednesday

Innovation networking events that encourage collaboration, with engaging and inspirational speakers sharing their innovation insights and journeys. Join us!

info@winn-hub.com winn-hub.com

STOURPORTON-SEVERN

Unicorn House, Cirencester

Unicorn House is not only a great place to work, but also to relax, with a yoga studio, showers and private garden.

Depending on the membership selected, workers have access to their own private space and filing cabinet, shared space, high speed Wi-Fi, a telephone booth for private phone calls, meeting spaces and more.

Venture House, Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon District Council’s flagship business centre, Venture House, opened its doors in April 2016 after receiving £450,000 of funding from the government’s Local Growth Fund through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).

The funding was used to transform a redundant council-owned building into a creative environment for new and homebased businesses wishing to make their

first transition into a commercial setting. Venture House provides hot desk space, co-working, serviced offices, meeting space,

networking, free on-site parking, Wi-Fi, and free on-site business support provided by the CWLEP Growth Hub.

The Wheelhouse, Oxford, Coventry, Gloucester

The Wheelhouse in Oxford is located in a converted 18th Century chapel on St Clements with high ceilings, a modern design and natural lighting. It has 30 fixed desks, meeting rooms and ergonomic furniture. The Wheelhouse co-working space in Coventry has a central location on Earl Street while Gloucester’s recently-opened Wheelhouse is located next to the city’s Cathedral on College Green.

The Wheelhouse, Oxford

HQ Gloucestershire, Upper Rissington

HQ Offices in Upper Rissington opened its doors in September. It is a collaboration between two selfemployed friends, Nick Grant and Richard Myers .

Nick said: “With the phenomenal rise of WeWork and changes in work patterns, Richard and I could see more people setting up their own businesses and operating on a more flexible and affordable basis. With this in mind, we set about finding a suitable building in the right location.

“I believe Upper Rissington is a perfect spot as it can draw professionals from nearby Moretonin-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold while also serving surrounding smaller villages. The new housing development in Upper Rissington serves HQ well, with useful amenities such as a supermarket, café and chemist all within a short walking distance.”

Urbanoid, Oxford

Urbanoid offers workspaces in Oxford just 10 minutes walk from the train station. Designed by an architect, it provides what some other co-working spaces fail to mention - large desk

space and lots of natural light. Alongside the usual high speed Wi-Fi, informal meeting areas and flexible terms, it also offers large presentation screens in its meetings rooms, and generous storage.

Court Street Creative Arches, Leamington Spa

Court Street Creative Arches in the heart of the cultural quarter of Leamington Spa appeals to artisans and creative, arts and media businesses that require a unique office environment or studio.

Spacious multi-purpose workspaces have been created by refurbishing 13 Victorian railway arches. The result are light and airy studios.

The Hive, Worcester

A slightly different sort of co-working space, but very popular in Worcester. This is a stunning collaboration between the University of Worcester and the city council. This joint public and university library, the first of its kind in Europe, opened in 2012 and also offers a contemporary business centre with meeting rooms, conference facility and customer contact centre.

The building is home to a quarter of a million books, 800 study stations and attracts more than a million visitors a year.

CO-WORKING SPACES

The Workplace, Cheltenham

With ergonomic chairs, locking cabinets, shared free use of laser printer, phone booth, fibre optic broadband and intranet membership, all members of Cheltenham’s Workplace on Regent Street also share use of the Plotting Room, a small meeting space for two or three people.

Members receive discounts on food and drink from The Find coffee house downstairs, which can be brought straight to their desks.

Growth Hub

Gloucester & Cirencester

Gloucester’s Growth Hub moved to a new home in the University of Gloucestershire’s business school in October. The move followed the success of the new Growth Hub opening at the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester in September. Both have complimentary tea, coffee and Wi-Fi. Work and meeting pods and much more.

Engaging ways to find your own co-working space

There are thousands of venues across the region which could be used for offices or meeting spaces, but they can be hard to find, and sometimes even their owners don’t recognise the potential of their property.

Engaging Spaces is one brokering service for property owners with potential venues for meetings and business events, and those wanting to book them.

The team behind Engaging Spaces say they have organised and attended every

type of meeting, conference, workshop, training session and networking event there is and their experience brought them to the same conclusion: finding a good meeting room is more difficult than it should be.

It was this shared frustration, and the recognition that the Midlands has creative spaces crying out to be used, that led to the launch of Engaging Spaces. The company lists venues across Coventry, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire on its website.

Schools and educational facilities can also be ideal for businesses.

In 2011, Oxfordshire-based School Space set up as social enterprise to help schools generate extra funds by hiring out their spaces to clubs, societies and local businesses.

The team works with schools to market their facilities and bring in local users. It manages the booking process, all customer enquiries and service admininistration.

Best known as an active member of the Constructing Excellence Committee for Gloucestershire, Jonathan left Roberts Limbrick architects for the new role, explaining that, “I really enjoyed my time at Roberts Limbrick and it was great to work on so many varied projects, but after 14 years in one company, I was ready for a new challenge and working with RRA is a really exciting opportunity.”

Actively involved in delivering BIM projects up to level 2, Jonathan has worked on a number of high profile projects in both the public and private sectors and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, to reinforce RRA’s skilled team of architects, technologists and construction specialists.

“In order for RRA architects to deliver its growth strategy in the Gloucestershire region, we needed the expertise, drive and enthusiasm of a special individual. Jonathan is exactly that person; combining huge expertise with a real can-do attitude. And, it helps that he’s a jolly nice chap as well.”

Mark Powles, Managing Director RRA Architects

RRA Architects grows its commercial offering with addition of new Director

The firms expansion plans have included a bid to increase market share of commercial and educational sectors. This has already resulted in the recent completion of highly successful projects such as, The Growth Hub and Balcarras Music School, and includes completion of the first phase of the exciting Dowdeswell Park development on the outskirts of Cheltenham, marked by the opening of Dunkertons Cider.

RRA Architects was established in 1986 in Hereford and expanded to have offices in Cheltenham and London. The appointment of Jonathan White has also instigated a move for the company, which is relocating its Cheltenham offices to larger premises on the Elmbridge Court Business Park. Jonathan welcomed the move to the Business Park saying that “it’s not just an ideal location for serving Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and all the surrounding areas, but with so many

The directors at RRA are always willing to meet potential clients to discuss a project in detail so please contact Mark or Jonathan:

Tel: 01242 269374

Gloucestershire | Herefordshire | London

construction related businesses in the one place it appears to be gaining a reputation as a ‘Construction Hub’.”

RRA Architects has built a strong reputation and comprises of a highly dedicated multi-disciplined team who between them have a wide range of experience and knowledge of design, planning, conservation and commercial aspects of the built environment and Jonathan’s new appointment adds strength to the RRA team.

Mark is hugely proud of the RRA team and their unrivalled reputation for practical, design led, solutions on unconventional sites and their ability to gain difficult, sometimes almost impossible, planning approvals. This ability to draw on the experience of the whole team, including their outside interests, is one of the key strengths of RRA and a main factor in its success.

rraarchitects.com

Jonathan White, a respected and well-known face in the construction industry, has been appointed by award-winning practice, RRA Architects, as a director.

Jonathan White and Mark Powles, RRA Architects

WHAT WILL TOMORROW’S BUSINESS LEADERS LOOK LIKE?

Our working lives have changed beyond recognition over the last ten years. Will tomorrow’s bosses have to change the way they lead? We sought the opinions of two generations of leaders

Ian Brewster Contracts Director at Barnwood Shopfitting, Gloucester

Earlier this year Ian graduated from the Quolux LEAD course, a 10-month intensive leadership development programme for business leaders and senior managers.

He hadn’t been in a learning environment since he left school, so why did he take on the course?

“I was very apprehensive, but as senior directors at Barnwood we wanted to set an example and encourage our middle management to develop their skills, in preparation for the business to support the next generation of management.”

Ian certainly considers that the leaders of today, and certainly in the future, need to have different skills and qualities to those he has seen most often during his career.

“When I look back at my career at Barnwood, I only ever worked for one person, from the age of 15-45. In those days – perhaps particularly in this industry, managers tended to be very autocratic and I became the same. I worked hard and expected people to follow my lead. I had no soft skills.”

The course fundamentally changed his outlook. “I began to understand how much I was living on the edge of stress all the

time. Others were more democratic and it seemed to work for them.

“I now listen more and try to build empathy.” It seems to be working. “The feedback I get through the grapevine is that my staff think I’m more approachable and responsive, and as I’ve stepped away from the day-to-day work and become more strategically driven, I’ve given them more opportunity to grow into that space.

“I’m now implementing what I’ve learned and giving myself the space to develop.

“Whatever their age, I think most people can develop their leadership skills. When I was younger I found it easy to rise to the responsibilities of being the captain of football and cricket teams, but perhaps only 20 per cent of leadership skills are instinctive, the rest can be taught.

“The world is changing and we have to change with it,” adds Ian.

Beth O’Neill, 29 Head of Commercial at Howard Tenens, one of the largest privately managed logistics companies in the UK

“I believe all leaders share certain qualities, however both their leadership styles and areas of expertise will differ, not only from each other but from a time perspective also. Whether down to technological advances, circumstantial changes or other variables, I believe leadership success is the ability to adapt and change.

“The world of work is in a transitional period at the moment where autonomy is required to move forwards. However, we need to be respectful and open to historical experience and expertise while also introducing new ways of thinking which may not have previously been considered. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes drives innovation.

“I think we all occasionally fall into the trap of assuming age equals experience, (or rather relevant experience) which isn’t always the case. Therefore I think perhaps caring less about what other people think would make me a better leader.

“I think leadership is ultimately instinctive, but I also think everyone can benefit from studying, researching and educating themselves to ensure continual evolution and development.”

Ian Brewster, Contracts Director, Barnwood Shopfitting Ltd

Beth O’Neill, Head of Commercial at Howard Tenens

SPOTLIGHT ON LEADERSHIP

Angharad Trueman, 30 Managing Director of CGT Lettings Ltd, Cheltenham

“I think we are entering into an era where promotions to leadership are no longer from length of service but from demonstrated merit.

“Future leaders will need to not only lead and inspire their teams but also lead innovation, manage change and empower a multi-generational workforce across different locations. Social media, remote workers and aging workforces are new challenges where leaders of the future will need to develop new management skills.

“The working environment is adapting, as is the concept of working hours. More companies opt for agile working systems where staff work from home and only attend offices for meetings (if at all, with the use of Skype for business).

“We are also seeing many businesses question the concept of traditional 9-5 working, with more flexi-time and parttime options available. Millennials are really drawn to companies where, as long

Marcus Taylor

Co-founder and CEO of Venture Harbour

Marcus started building websites at the age of 10. By 25 he had a multi-millionpound portfolio of online businesses. Among a slew of accolades, Marcus was most recently named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Class of 2018.

“When we think about great leaders, often names like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Genghis Khan, Elon Musk and Steve Jobs spring to mind. They all had a powerful vision which they were able to communicate in an inspiring and emotive

as you work your allotted weekly hours, you can work them when you like.

“To become a better leader I feel I need to become better at delegating. I tend to do everything at once, which means I often work a million miles a minute and worry I don’t give enough time to my team.

“Delegating more tasks would give me extra time to help them achieve their goals, in terms of development and personal life. I am learning to do this. It also means I can spend more time looking strategically at business development and growth.

“The more you study about leadership techniques and styles, the more self-aware you become. I have completed some management training, and often read books on leadership and managing change.

“Every manager remembers the first uncomfortable conversation they had to have with someone, but it becomes easier with practical experience.”

Advances in technology have led to a rise in remote working, automation and an easily accessible global marketplace (the internet). At Venture Harbour, we run nine businesses with only three fulltime employees and 20 or so freelancers working in Argentina, Portugal, India and Australia. Despite running the business from a small town in rural Oxfordshire, we serve almost eight million people a year. This would have been almost unheard of back in 2008.

way. While the world has changed, human brains haven’t evolved much over the past few thousand years. In that sense, I do not think today’s leaders need anything more –or less – than the leaders of the past.

There are three skills that I think every single leader, myself included, can always work on to become not just a better leader, but a better parent, friend, partner etc. They are: practice humility, help others achieve their goals and listen.

“Every manager remembers the first uncomfortable conversation they had to have with someone, but it becomes easier with practical experience”

Angharad Trueman, Managing Director, CGT Lettings Ltd

Marcus Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Venture Harbour

10 tips for next generation leaders

Sandwiched between senior management and the wider staff, “middle leaders” play a crucial role in the success of any organisation. Developing leadership skills among middle leaders can accelerate organisational change, as well as preparing these individuals for senior management roles in future.

That’s why QuoLux, the leadership development and strategy specialist, created LEADlight. It’s exclusively for the middle leaders of businesses whose MDs or directors have completed LEAD (their flagship leadership programme) and are equipped to support the next generation.

QuoLux’s 10 tips for managers keen to develop their leadership:

1. Listen Developing active listening skills, listening carefully to your team and providing support and encouragement will help increase employee engagement.

2. Motivate and inspire 70 per cent of an employee’s motivation is influenced by their manager. Set clear and realistic goals, find out what drives each team member, involve them in decision-making and provide them with the tools and support they need to achieve their tasks.

3. Say what you do, do what you say Your behaviour sets the tone and provides an example to others. Integrity is an essential trait for leaders.

4. Communicate Think about what you say and how you say it. Communication is essential for building strong relationships with your team.

5. Coach Set clear objectives for the team, have regular reviews and provide support where necessary.

6. Empower Give your staff the authority and responsibility to make decisions where appropriate. Those with the relevant understanding will make the best decisions.

7. Encourage a culture of accountability Set clear goals, delegate authority and encourage your team to assume responsibility and commit to success.

8. Recognise success Recognition should be sincere and genuine – a simple thank you can go a long way. Don’t confuse recognition with reward. By recognising your staff, you can increase morale, productivity, engagement and retention.

9. Develop self-awareness If leaders know themselves, they are more likely to effectively lead people and organisations. Reflect and seek feedback from others to increase awareness of your own strengths and limitations, and the impact of your behaviour on others.

10. Embrace a culture of learning What can you learn today that is going to help you be better tomorrow?

Leadership that delivers now and in the future

If we are to create a future that delivers on ambitions for a healthy society, with a strong economy and opportunities for people to fulfil their potential, we need good leaders.

Actually, what we need is good leadership. What’s the difference? Leadership describes the behaviours of leading that can be found throughout an organisation, encouraged and supported by excellent leadership in the top roles.

The imperative for better leadership is striking; we must increase productivity and our capacity for innovation, not just in pockets of excellence, but throughout the businesses in our region. Leadership holds the key to unlocking our untapped human potential, not least through developing truly engaged employees. Research shows that not only are firms with highly engaged workforces 18 per cent more productive than those with low engagement, but innovation grows too. In fact, 59 per cent of engaged employees said that their job brings out their most creative ideas, against just three per cent of those less engaged.

If we’re honest, traditional leadership development in the UK has clearly failed as 68 per cent of workers, an eye-watering 20 million people, are disengaged. That’s why it’s important to be discerning when choosing external advisers, coaches or skills programmes. Fortunately, this region has some of the most innovative and proven leadership development support in the UK; we’re proud to bring the world’s leading experts on business strategy and leadership to work with delegates on our leadership programmes, designed specifically for owner-managers and their directors. Independent research among our LEAD alumni, shows they have grown sales by almost a third, and employed 13 per cent more people.

These leaders are already making a difference in their businesses and our economies. They are also developing their next generation of leaders, the “middle leaders” who will be the board directors of the future.

Skilled, visionary, emotionally-intelligent; our future success needs great leadership.

Find out more about QuoLux leadership programmes, www.quolux.co.uk

Jo Draper, Director, QuoLux

CAREER

A Redditch-based business outsourcing provider has appointed industry specialist Ian Parry as its new Director of Energy and Water Services.

Ian will lead The Sigma Financial Group’s new consultancy division targeted at the utilities sector.

LIONCOURT HOMES APPOINTS SALES DIRECTOR

Lioncourt Homes in Worcester has appointed a sales director to support its growth plans. Liz Herring (pictured with Lioncourt CEO Colin Cole) has worked as Sales Director at Redrow, David Wilson Homes and Crest Nicholson, and held sales and marketing roles at McCarthy & Stone and Aspen Retirement Living.

TOP CLAY SHOOTING BUSINESS TO BUILD CORPORATE HOSPITALITY

A Midlands-based property group has made two strategic appointments as it plans for significant growth. The Deeley Group, which is based at the Coventry Business Park, has brought in Anthony Holt as the company’s new Group Development Director and Jane Fradgley as Senior Development Manager.

BARCLAYS NEW APPOINTMENT IN WORCESTER

Barclays has appointed Ross Veale as a Relationship Director for Worcester. Ross has responsibility for clients with turnovers of more than £6.5million, working with other parts of the Barclays Group to ensure consistent service.

Ian Coley Sporting has appointed Joanna Thomas to build the corporate hospitality side of its award-winning clay shooting business, based just outside Cheltenham. Joanna is a competitive shooter and Gloucestershire county champion. She will be responsible for organising team building, client entertainment and fundraising events.

MD HELPS SHAPE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

A leading Midlands-based construction business leader has been chosen to help shape the future of the industry. Julie White, Managing Director of Coventrybased diamond drilling and concrete sawing specialists D-Drill, has been selected to sit on the Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB) England Council. Julie has run D-Drill for a decade following a management buyout.

NORTH WORCESTERSHIRE WELCOMES PAUL SPOONER AS INTERIM HEAD OF SERVICE

North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration has welcomed Paul Spooner as its Interim Head of Service following the departure of Dean Piper. Paul is a highly experienced executive director and chief executive who has worked for unitary councils, a London borough, government bodies, and most recently a new town development corporation.

Law firm Brethertons, which has offices in Banbury, Bicester and Rugby has welcomed Emma Fyson as a Senior Associate to its employment team. Emma joins Brethertons from Deloitte LLP where she held the position of Employment Legal Counsel. Prior to that, Emma was a Senior Solicitor within AXA UK’s Group Legal team.

SENIOR PROMOTION AT BPE SOLICITORS

BPE Solicitors has promoted Antonia Shield, head of BPE’s Commercial Property Team, to Deputy Senior Partner. Antonia has been an Equity Partner at the Top 200 law firm since 2010. She has extensive experience advising some of the UK’s most successful retail and leisure brands including Superdry, Pure Gym, Golden Tulip and Wyevale while heading up BPE’s 30-strong property team.

OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL APPOINTS GROUP IT DIRECTOR

Specialist UK and Ireland multi temperature supply chain operator Oakland International, based in Redditch, has appointed Shaun Devey as Group IT Director, a new boardroom role focused on enhancing information technology across group operations. Previously the winner of the Motor Transport Best Use of Technology Award, Devey has a strong strategic and operational business focus.

Tom Bradley has been promoted to the newly-created role of CEO at Oxford Capital. Tom joined the firm in 2015 and has been a partner since 2016.

Prior to Oxford Capital he enjoyed a successful career in venture capital and will continue to lead the firm’s venture capital activities.

RRA ARCHITECTS FOCUS ON BUSINESS GROWTH

RRA Architects is targeting business growth with the appointment of Jonathan White as a director to work alongside Managing Director Mark Powles. Having worked for Roberts Limbrick Architects for 14 years and with a seat on the Committee of Constructing Excellence, Gloucestershire, Jonathan brings knowledge and experience to the award-winning practice.

Yvonne Reeds has become Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council alongside her existing role as Chief Executive of Cherwell District. The partnership arrangement will offer opportunities to join up services for residents, reduce costs and secure investment to support the projected growth in homes and jobs.

KNIGHT FRANK TEAM GROWS

Knight Frank has expanded its Cheltenham office. John Symonds, Emma Bowen and Fredy Saju join its residential team. John joins Cheltenham’s finance team from Knight Frank Finance’s global headquarters in London. Emma joins to help meet increased demand for viewings. Fredy previously worked in Knight Frank Cirencester’s valuations department.

THE MEAN VIEW

By Ian Mean

How often do we hear local employers saying that they just don’t get the raw material they need from young people leaving education? Quite a lot in my view.

And while I tend to support the employers here because they know exactly what skills they need, I feel we now need to break the mould in terms of how companies offer work experience.

Currently, work experience tends to be tortuous from both the school position and the local company standpoint.

I believe Gloucestershire could be a game changer to the benefit of our young people and local firms if we developed a Work Experience Charter.

How would it work?

School heads would invite local companies in so they could get a real feel of the school, its employability focus and aspirations for their students.

I say heads of schools because I think it is so important that the process has time invested from the very top.

Too often, I am afraid, it is left to junior teachers with no experience of dealing with business and their needs.

I would like to see clusters of schools getting together and taking the lead in a charter process and pinpointing the key local companies, large and small.

The initiative must come from the schools themselves — perhaps under the auspices of GFirst LEP, the local enterprise partnership of which I am a board member representing small businesses.

I have recently been involved with the Gloucester Academy, a school that had some challenges, and introduced them to electrical contractors Clarkson Evans with whom I have worked on apprenticeship development for the last 15 years.

As a result, their chief operating officer, Lindsey Young, is now meeting the school.

Here is a Staverton company with a brilliant apprenticeship culture, training all its own electricians and now wiring something like one in 10 new homes being built in the UK.

“Work experience for our young people is such an important springboard to their future careers that we must start treating it in a far more business-like way”

I think that the Gloucester Academy could develop a sustainable employment pipeline for some of their students, which would really benefit local employers.

This is just the sort of partnership I envisage from the inception and development of a Work Experience Charter for Gloucestershire.

I recently interviewed Nick Capstick, OBE, Chief Executive of the White Horse Federation, which runs 28 schools including the Gloucester Academy. He was enthusiastic about the idea of a Work Experience Charter.

“We in education are tired of the world of work saying we don’t produce kids that they can use,” Nick told me.

“However, it is partly through our own ignorance because we do not know what employers want. If they are not helping us, we can’t shape it.

“If schools can work with local industry, they can discover what their natural skills could be. It is not about academic skills, it is about natural skills fit for purpose.”

Nick added: “A Work Experience Charter would actually require kids to work. Sometimes when they return from work experience, students say they have spent time on basic jobs. For instance, when they have been to a plumbers, they have told us they sorted out washers for two weeks.

“What I think we need is a psychological contract of reciprocation.”

I could not agree more. Work experience for our young people is such an important springboard to their future careers that we must start treating it in a far more business-like way.

Work Experience for young people is vital for them to discover what is really meant by the world of work.

Ian Mean is Gloucestershire Director of Business West, and a former regional newspaper editor.

He was the vice-chairman of the former Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company and a Freeman of the City of Gloucester.

He is an honorary vice-president of Gloucestershire College and has an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the University of Gloucestershire for supporting business in the county.

Ian is chairman of the Gloucestershire Hospitals Trust Organ Donation Committee and a board member of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, championing small and medium-sized businesses.

Ian Mean

THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE REGION’S ECONOMY

What does the future hold for this region’s economy? Brexit will happen on March 29 next year. What happens after that? We look at some of the issues and opportunities.

What will the UK look like in 10-20 years? Will it be vibrant? Will we be looking wistfully at the European Union wondering where it all went so wrong?

Accountants Grant Thornton published their Vibrant Economy Index in September. The challenge, they say, is that local authorities must ensure that economic and social policies are intimately connected.

That means developing a whole set of programmes and activities that contribute to good outcomes. If the provision of education, health and housing doesn’t meet the needs of the community, their ability to create economic prosperity will always be limited.

In the Grant Thornton Index, the most prosperous regions in the UK are, unsurprisingly, London and the South East. But drill down into their outlook for dynamism and opportunity and the picture is rosier for this region.

The Vale of the White Horse in Oxfordshire (home of much of the UK Science Vale), is ranked number five, with Oxford and Coventry both sitting comfortably in the top 20 (though Oxford might be disgruntled to learn that rival city

Cambridge is at the top of this chart). The Grant Thornton Index highlights corridors of vibrancy tracking along the M4 and M40, as well as clusters around Oxford, Milton Keynes and Reading.

In the South West, Tewkesbury and South Gloucestershire sit in the top 20 per cent nationally. Cheltenham isn’t far behind.

Across the West Midlands, Coventry is in the top 20 per cent of Grant Thornton’s

dynamism and opportunity index, along with Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Worcester and Warwick stand out as the best performers in terms of community, trust and belonging, and North Warwickshire has seen the greatest improvement in performance on the overall Vibrant Economy Index, moving up 90 places between 2013 and 2017.

The Index doesn’t stop at traditional measures of success such as average workplace earnings and employment, it also looked at the relationships between different places and the subsequent role of infrastructure in connecting places and facilitating choice.

It’s not rocket science to learn that patterns emerge where prosperous and dynamic areas are surrounded by more inclusive, healthier and happy places.

“Patterns emerge where prosperous and dynamic areas are surrounded by more inclusive, healthier and happy places”

The UK took a major step towards more widespread use of electric vehicles when the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act became law in July.

The Act gives government new powers to demand increased numbers of electric vehicle charging points at motorway service stations, and local mayors can request installations at large fuel retailers.

The government has set out plans for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040.

It has also committed around £1.5 billion to support the transition, aiming to build private sector investment confidence in electric vehicles and electric vehicle roadside infrastructure.

The challenge that presents for vehicle manufacturers is one thing, but will the UK’s road infrastructure be ready? It’s all well and good for big city authorities to demand that residents and businesses adopt electric vehicles — they have better public transport infrastructure to support the traditional road network.

What happens where there is little public transport in more rural communities? The average national commute is less than 30 miles, but those living outside towns and cities rely on cars to get to work each week.

Nissan says that the battery range on its 2018 Leaf is 235 miles. The battery range on Jaguar Land Rover’s all-electric car, the I-PACE, is 290 miles.

Do we really want to be nursing a coffee for 20-30 minutes at every motorway

WILL ELECTRIC VEHICLE DOMINATE OUR ROADS IN 2030?

Since 2007 Innovate UK, along with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and more recently, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, has revealed investment in a series of funding opportunities to support low and zero emission vehicle technologies.

These have included:

 468 unique organisations

 303 projects

 1,157 project partners

 £568 million Industry and Innovate UK support

 £321 million grant funding to industry

service station waiting for the car to recharge? And, as the government has acknowledged, many more charging points will be needed to service the increased number of electric vehicles.

Norway leads the world in the adoption of electric cars. Nearly a third of all new cars sold there this year will be plug-in models.

With the average distance between cities more than three times that in the UK – if they can do it, surely this country can?

David Browne, Director at Warwickshireheadquartered Jaguar Land Rover, drives the new I-PACE, and recently took his first

long trip in it to Scotland for the weekend. “I’ve had the I-PACE for a few months and on a day-to-day basis, range is never a concern.

“I planned the route and it did take us longer to drive there, because we had to stop to charge the car’s battery.

“Having said that, when we got to Scotland, there were many more rapid charge points (where a decent charge can take just 30 minutes) than we’d anticipated, so it was easier.”

There is a degree of satisfaction in driving an EV car, he agrees. “You do feel like you’re contributing to the transition to an electric future. In that respect it’s very satisfying to drive.

“On longer journeys there is the need for re-charging stops, but I’m willing to pay that price for the benefits, including never having to visit a petrol station again. As battery technology and infrastructure improves, recharging will get quicker.”

“You do feel like you’re contributing to the transition to an electric future. In that respect it’s very satisfying to drive”

Jaguar Land Rover’s new all electric I-PACE has a distance range 290 miles, the manufacturer says

SHIFT TOWARDS LOW-CARBON VEHICLES WORTH BILLIONS TO SUPPLY CHAIN

Experts at the Coventry-based Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) are predicting huge opportunities for supply chains in the growth of the electric vehicle and alternative fuel market.

Speaking at a major low carbon vehicle summit in September, Sean Worrell, Business Development Manager for Redditch-headquartered GKN, said: “In the next five years our order book is currently over £2 billion for electric drive units, principally around the gearbox and integration. We have an order book that will expand massively, and 60 to 70 per cent of that value is in the supply chain, so there is an enormous opportunity and not just in automotive.”

Is the UK ready for the wider adoption of electric vehicles? “Although the government has set a target for 2040, I think the transition to electric vehicles will accelerate before then,” says David.

“With new models coming to the market with everyday practicality, we’ll see increased customer ‘pull’. Once people convert to electric they rarely go back. Increasingly we’re seeing the private sector supporting this by investing in infrastructure.”

David recently drove a traditional car. “I had to get used to engine noise again, I’ve got used to driving in silence.

“I would have described myself as a petrolhead, but I’m absolutely sold on the benefits of electric vehicles and would find it difficult to go back. Now it needs either national, regional, local government or enlightened business to really drive wider early adoption of electric vehicles by further supporting the development of the charging infrastructure.”

OXFORD TO HAVE WORLD’S FIRST POP-UP ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING POINTS

Oxford has been awarded £474,000 to become the first city in the world to trial pop-up on-street electric vehicle charging points.

20 ‘UEone’ retractable pavement bollards will be installed by Urban Electric Networks Ltd on streets with on road, off pavement parking.

The scheme will be available to residents with electric vehicles, and those who want to own an electric vehicle.

Urban Electric will undertake a £600,000 trial of the UEone with Oxford City Council, which recently announced a proposal to create the world’s first Zero Emissions Zone in 2020. The trial is

co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, following the successful bid led by Urban Electric, in partnership with Cheltenham-based product design company Duku, and Oxford City Council.

Councillor Tom Hayes, Board Member for Safer, Greener, and Environment, said: “Everything Oxford does to tackle emissions has to be practical if it’s going to be effective.

“We have set ourselves the big goal of introducing the world’s first zero-emissions zone to clean up our toxic and illegal air. But we will only achieve that goal if we support and encourage local drivers to replace their older polluting vehicles with cleaner versions.”

EV CHARGING TO BE MORE WIDESPREAD

In June oil giant BP bought the UK electric vehicle charging company, Chargemaster, which runs the largest network of public charging points in the country. BP knows it must adapt its traditional petrol station business to meet the anticipated increase in electric vehicles.

Stroud-headquartered Ecotricity was an early pioneer of electric vehicle charging. It now has charge points

at every UK motorway service station, in many IKEA store car parks and at Land’s End and John O’Groats. It says it is planning to increase its number of fast charge stations.

There are currently more than 6,500 locations with EV car charging points across the UK. With around 37.3 million vehicles licenced for use in this country, around 135,000 are electric. This is set to grow to 12 million by 2040.

The road ahead

Ecotricity charging points

SKILLING UP THE REGION’S ECONOMY

A study by the global foundation Nesta, education company Pearson and Oxford Martin School looking at the future of skills and employment in 2030, revealed that we shouldn’t believe all the scare stories about automation taking our jobs.

The study found that employment in sectors such as education, health care and the wider public sector are likely to grow. Low skilled jobs in fields such as construction and agriculture are also less likely to suffer poor labour market outcomes than has been assumed.

The report, The Future of Skills Employment in 2030, predicts the future will be about leveraging both human and machine capabilities. The workforce won’t only need specific skills, but a broader base of knowledge. English language, history, philosophy, administration and management are all associated with the occupations which are projected to see a rise in workforce share.

The study challenges what it calls the “false alarmism” that “holds back technology adoption, innovation and growth”. Don’t be scared, be brave, seems to be the message.

It also predicts that around one tenth of the workforce are already in occupations that are likely to grow as a percentage of the workforce. Around one fifth are in occupations likely to shrink, much lower than recent studies of automation have suggested.

Occupations such as creative, digital, design and engineering have a bright outlook, says the Nesta report. Architectural and green occupations are expected to benefit from increased urbanisation and a greater interest in environmental sustainability.

Sara-Jane Watkins Principal at Stroud College Gloucestershire (SGS)

“The landscape of skills within the region is changing rapidly for further education colleges with SGS proactively embracing these changes.

As a result of funding that colleges receive per student remaining static for almost five years, plus the introduction of the levy, through to new T-Levels, skills are high on the agenda, with SGS committed to meeting the Government’s Industrial Strategy and Local Enterprise Partnership targets.

“SGS is focussed on ensuring our student population develops the skills to be employable and has a clear strategy to engage with businesses to understand what skills they wish future employees to have.”

The next generation of workers shouldn’t be as concerned about machines taking their jobs as some headline-grabbing scare stories might indicate. The future of work won’t only be influenced by automation.

Di Batchelor Principal and Chief Executive Abingdon & Witney College

“As a general further education college, technical skills have always been at the heart of everything we do. We operate almost exclusively within the confines of the county, so take pride in focusing on what has the highest impact nearest to home.

“We work closely with Oxfordshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership for whom I am a board member, and use their Labour Market Information reports to inform decisions about skills and curriculum planning for the future. We engage with the local business community, evolving the additional skills we develop in our students to ensure they get so much more than a qualification from us.”

Stephen Marston Vice Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire

“Future economic growth is dependent on improving the supply of people with the right skills and qualifications to meet both current and future labour market needs.

“The University of Gloucestershire is committed to equipping all our students with the knowledge, skills and experience to make them highly employable when they graduate.

“We offer all students opportunities to gain employability skills through work experience, placements, volunteering and business-led projects.

“We are rapidly expanding our range of higher and degree apprenticeships, such as leadership and management, computing/cyber and engineering. We are introducing new courses to meet skills needs in the county, such as nursing and paramedic science. And through our Growth Hub we are working directly with businesses to support growth and innovation.”

1,000 STUDENTS TRAINED TO REDUCE SKILLS GAP

More than 1,000 young people have trained to be plumbers or electricians at an enhanced construction learning facility at Royal Leamington Spa College, part of Warwickshire College Group (WCG) since it opened three years ago.

As a result, 50 construction businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire have been helped to address the sector’s recognised skills gap.

THE FUTURE FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE

By Ian Mean Director of Business West for Gloucestershire and GFirst LEP board member for small businesses

As this issue of Business & Innovation Magazine went to press, council leaders and chief executives of Gloucestershire’s district councils were studying the conclusions of the Vision 2050 Big Conversation (a county-wide project launched earlier this year to explore ideas to help shape its long-term future).

I have studied the submissions from five of the six district councils—minus the Cotswolds. And I don’t think they are going to fudge some of the big issues, like the haemorrhaging of young people every year from the county at an alarming rate. That would be easy to do.

Matthew Burgess Principal and Chief Executive, Gloucestershire College.

“Our educational philosophy is to ensure our students leave college work-ready, equipped to remain in the county and contribute to the region’s workforce. Our apprenticeships, further and higher education courses – from engineering through to computing and business studies – means we are a key pivot in contributing to the future-proofing of Gloucestershire’s economy. We have close working relationships with more than 1,000 county employers and deliver training opportunities to school leavers and employees who want to upskill and develop their careers.

We have also been shortlisted for a £14 million bid to become part of a regional Institute of Technology with other educational and employer partners, aimed at digitising our future workforce across the board. The results of this governmentbacked scheme are due to be announced next Spring.

But if they don’t build the foundations of a sustainable 2050, the almost 400 councillors involved would be failing our young people whose hopes and aspirations are surely key to the outcome of this project.

The Big Conversation started in February after Gloucestershire County Council had a big shock when the Cotswolds considered jumping ship from Gloucestershire and joining

up with West Oxfordshire. “Coxit”, as it became known, collapsed but the county wisely decided to start thinking about the future over the next 30 years.

Had they not given thought to it before?

The different councils’ reports were positive about the project although both Gloucester and Cheltenham were opposed to the idea of a “super city”— one of the six big ideas initially suggested as part of the project vision.

So, what is going to happen now?

I understand that at least two of the district councils have decided to set up development boards to help pilot their ideas on 2050.

You could, of course, set up a development corporation for the county or a special company like we did in 2004 with the regeneration of Gloucester—the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company.

One thing is certain. That guiding company or group must not be dominated by councillors, professionals from the private sector are key.

Young people must be in the mix too. They are the future of Gloucestershire and our adjacent counties.

PERSHORE AGRI-TECH CENTRE DRIVES SECTOR SKILLS

The MEP for the West Midlands, Anthea McIntyre, visited Pershore College to discuss how its agri-tech facility is helping Worcestershire’s extensive agriculture and horticulture sectors.

Pershore College’s Agri-Tech Centre was completed in 2017 with the support of funding from Worcestershire LEP. The investment has enabled the college to develop and deliver support for schools to raise awareness of agriculture and horticulture as high-tech, highly-

skilled industries, in order to encourage more young people to consider a career within these sectors.

The Pershore College Agri-tech Centre houses electronic, robotic and computerbased technologies that are used to educate and train students and local employers on modern applications of agri-tech.

The road ahead

Mark Bonham (Assistant Principal, WCG), Anthony Freeman (graduate), Peter Husband (Group Deputy Principal, WCG) and Gemma Gathercole (Productivity and Skills Executive Officer, CWLEP)

John Farmer, Pershore College, MEP Anthea McIntyre, Pershore College Director Sharon Bell and Professor Roy Kennedy

THE REGION’S TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS REVEALED

COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE

The £82 million Coventry Station masterplan, scheduled for completion in the autumn of 2020, includes creating a second footbridge to connect all platforms, extension to the platforms, a second entrance on to Warwick Road with stepfree access to all platforms and a multistorey car park for 644 vehicles.

A bus interchange will also be built connected to the station building via a new access tunnel under Warwick Road.

A self-propelled Very Light Rail vehicle using clean battery technology and no overhead line equipment is being planned for Coventry. This project involves the

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Improvements costing £5.5 million are being made at Cheltenham Spa railway station. These include more car parking spaces and a redesigned station forecourt. Further funding of close to £4 million will go towards the redevelopment of Gloucester railway station underpass, improving the frontage of the station and car park access.

The £6.4 million Gloucester Central Transport Hub was completed this summer. It provides a state-of-the-art bus station that will integrate various modes of transport, including bus, rail, walking and cycling in its city centre location.

Improvements to the A419 at Stonehouse are planned to reduce congestion and mitigate anticipated future traffic growth resulting from additional development west of Stonehouse.

The £3.8 million Cinderford Northern Link Road has provided access to the new GlosCol campus in the Forest of Dean. Investment of close to £2.5 million at

development of a prototype vehicle and test track with phase one costing more than £14 million.

The planned A5 Corridor scheme will enable the dualling of the A5/A47 Longshoot to Dodwells route which will improve journey time reliability and support current and future economic activity in Warwickshire, Leicestershire and the wider A5 corridor.

The delivery of the A46/A425/A4177 Stanks Road network scheme will enhance access to Warwick town centre and help future employment and housing growth in the area.

“Improvements to county transport networks are welcome but technology is changing behaviours. Investment will undoubtedly help ease pinch points for the time being. However, our behaviours are changing so fast as a consequence of technology that it is a major challenge for this generation to deliver an infrastructure in support of our future reality”

Antonia Shield, Partner at Cheltenham-based BPE Solicitors

Gloucestershire Airport has enabled two new roads to be built. The airport is currently home to over 180 aircraft and 30 companies, employing more than 500 people.

Gloucester’s new transport hub

OXFORDSHIRE

The Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy (OxIS) is an Oxfordshire Growth Board-commissioned project involving all six Oxfordshire Local Authorities. Its purpose is to identify, map and prioritise Oxfordshire’s infrastructure requirements to 2040 and beyond.

A major project in Oxfordshire is the plan to link together the fast-growing technology hotspots of Oxford and Cambridge. Earlier this year Highways England announced its preferred expressway route to be Corridor B. This will pass either west or east of Oxford and is expected to take up to 40 minutes out of the journey between the A34 south of Oxford and the M1.

Building the new link close to the east/ west rail link will also offer more options for the commercial development of up to one million new homes by 2050, in line with proposals by the National Infrastructure Commission, and encourage more people to travel by train rather than cars.

A full public consultation begins this autumn, in which residents and businesses in and around the corridor will have their say on more detailed designs for the route.

WORCESTERSHIRE

Rail passenger volumes on Worcestershire routes are set to increase by up to 97 per cent in the next 25 years, according to industry forecasts.

Continued investment in the county’s transport networks is key, with the new Worcestershire Parkway railway station currently under construction. This new station forms part of the wider £50 million plus rail investment programme in Worcestershire and is a key part of the longer term Worcestershire Rail Investment Strategy. New proposals for Kidderminster Station and work to dual the Southern Link Road to relieve congestion is on schedule.

A GLOBAL FUTURE FOR REGIONAL ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING

Renishaw is a world-leading metrology company, born out of South Gloucestershire where it has its headquarters.

Employing more than 4,000 skilled people, 95 per cent of Renishaw’s sales are made outside the UK. This summer the Group reported another strong year with record revenues of £611.5 million, an increase of 33 per cent on 2016.

What does the future hold for companies such as Renishaw? We invited the global manufacturer’s Head of Communications, Chris Pockett, to give his perspective.

Do you expect your business sector to expand, flatline or contract in the next 20 years or so?

“Renishaw’s core business is dimensional metrology (measurement) and with manufacturing companies around the world seeking to produce ever more complex parts to higher dimensional accuracies, while also requiring more data about their manufacturing processes as part of their Industry 4.0 initiatives, then the demand for measurement products should continue to increase. The drive for greater automation in the face of global skills shortages also means an increasing role for in-process measurement technologies.”

How are you developing the business to meet that demand?

“We have always taken a long-term approach to business and invest accordingly, whether in product

development to meet our customers’ likely future needs, in production processes that will enable us to meet rapidly changing demands in an ever-more complex world, in property that will give us the space to grow over the longer term, and most importantly in people.

“Last financial year for example we reinvested 14 per cent of sales into research and development, and in 2019 we are planning to recruit a record number of apprentices and graduates, and invest more in our education outreach programme for schools, including a new education centre at our HQ site.”

of new market opportunities, and the trends in manufacturing are all positive for Renishaw.”

What do you think the landscape around your offices will look like in 10-20 years?

“In terms of the local environment for our five key Gloucestershire sites, then judging by the changes over the previous 20 years, and current strategic local government planning, then we are likely to see ongoing population growth which will bring challenges and opportunities. Our sites are all in relatively rural locations and the pressures of population growth on infrastructure, especially our roads, will need to be addressed.”

What are your views on what the future holds for Renishaw?

“While there will always be the possibility of short-term uncertainties, such as Brexit and currency rate volatility, because we take the long-term view and we are in a strong financial position, then we are confident about the long-term prospects for the company. We have a strong base of innovative products, we have an extensive global sales and marketing footprint to support our customers and take advantage

How do you think your staff working environment and daily working life will change?

“A key part of Renishaw’s success will continue to be the ability of people with differing skill sets to work together to solve tough engineering problems. Therefore, while over the past decade we have seen a trend towards more flexible work patterns, I would expect there to be a continuing need for many of our teams to primarily work together in a physical environment as there is still no effective substitute for personal interaction.”

“A key part of the success of Renishaw will continue to be the ability of people with differing skill sets to work together to solve tough engineering problems”

World-leading products from Renishaw

Secure the future of your data with Shield House

Don’t let data infrastructure affect your business growth. Reduce costs and resource and re-invest in your business, by moving your on-site IT infrastructure to Shield House colocation facility.

Colocation allows you to install your servers in a professionally-managed data centre, rather than your own premises. Instead of using space in your own building, whilst paying for expensive cooling and server maintenance, why not use a data centre to do it for you. High speed network connections, will give you rapid access to your servers and storage, just as if they were installed in your own office.

BENEFITS OF COLOCATION

1: Free up budget to invest in growth

On-site servers are one of the largest cost centres for businesses, from office space, employing skilled technicians and powering your servers, to ensure they are kept at a steady temperature. Powering and cooling on site is a huge drain on businesses. By moving your infrastructure in an external data centre, you can avoid many of these costs while still having the IT resources you need to grow.

2: Create space to grow

Expanding your business often means finding more space to house your growing team. Looking for new premises can be costly and disruptive, but if you have a room or floor that’s currently housing your IT equipment, colocation can free up that space. You’ll save costs on finding and moving premises - as well additional cost savings that come from moving your IT infrastructure offsite.

3: Keep applications running at all times

Businesses rely on critical applications like websites and core business software systems operating at peak performance without server room errors such as battery power outages, backup failures, slow servers and lack of IT staff. By colocating and installing your servers in a professionally managed data centre you increase uptime, reliability and keep infrastructure running. Shared data centres provide expert management and support 24-7, 365 days a year. Dual power feeds and multiple backup generators maintain power availability.

4: Maximise data security and regulatory compliance

Keeping data security protected, and avoiding security breaches, fines, reputational damage and business downtime, can be a big drain on time, budget and resources. With colocation, you shift the security and compliance burden. Indectron can offer round-the-clock security protecting the building, locked cabinets, rack alarms and top-of-the-line biometric access control systems.

PLACING YOUR BUSINESS AT THE CENTRE OF OURS

Shield House is located in Gloucester encompassing the Bristol, Bath and Great Malvern cyber technology clusters and within easy reach of the motorway network linking it to Bristol, Birmingham, Oxford, Swindon and Reading.

Get in touch to book a data centre tour and find out how we can help your business.

E: sales@indectron.com

T: 01452 452452

www.indectron.com

CYBER COMPLEXITY IS THE ENEMY OF SECURITY

Sophos is one of the world’s most recognised computer network protection companies. A British company with its headquarters at Abingdon, Sophos leads innovation in solving the world’s most pressing network protection problems.

We invited Matt Boddy, Security Specialist at Sophos, to outline the sector’s future issues.

“With cyber security, complexity is the enemy of security. We’ve seen the number of threats multiply over the years and are now analysing 40,000 malicious files a day. I expect this to increase. To tackle this magnitude of threats, artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced to predict what a malicious file may look like.

“We spend a lot of time at Sophos simplifying complex solutions to make security easily manageable for customers. This simplistic approach means we are able to implement highly complex artificial intelligence networks, which can block never-seen-before threats with just two options on the customer side: on and off.

“It’s often forgotten that we carry a microphone and camera around with us at all times. Our mobile phone can listen in to confidential conversations, at work and at home. But the microphone and camera

attached to our mobile phone have become an essential part of daily life, being our source of news and contact with friends and family.

“Mobiles are often overlooked by IT departments, unlike Windows machines where anti-virus is essential to the deployment of the machine. Mobiles often go without any protection at all. At Sophos we are innovating to make sure our mobile devices are as secure as they can be and we’ve recently introduced artificial intelligence to Android to block malicious software which has never been seen before.”

Watch out, cyber threats are going mobile says Sophos

It’s all going mobile. Mobile phones will be an essential part of the business to protect, whether it’s a personal or corporate phone. With the current state of the management of mobile phones in most businesses, it’s only a matter of time until we start seeing big data breaches hitting the news due to this large oversight.

DRIVING CONNECTIVITY AND BEATING THE GROWING CYBER SECURITY THREAT

The biggest issue for every business now, and even more so in the future, is cyber security. Worcestershire and parts of Gloucestershire are known as cyber valley. They have the highest concentration of cyber companies in the UK. The Malvern cyber security cluster alone consists of more than 80 cyber companies.

Recently a new technology business accelerator programme has been launched in Worcestershire. Funded by the county’s Local Enterprise Partnership and supported by leading local technology and cyber businesses including Titania and DeepSecure, BetaDen is offering up to 10 individuals, SMEs or scale-ups intensive support designed to build their idea and ready it for market launch.

As well as having their own space at the BetaDen Hub in Malvern Hills Science Park, participants will be able to access industry-leading technologists, lab spaces, investment coaching, proof of concept grant funding, events, workshops and commercial meetings offering real routes to market.

CHELTENHAM PLANNING ON NEW CYBER PARK

Funding of £22 million has been secured for a new UK cyber park in Cheltenham, close to GCHQ. The UK Cyber Business Park is designed to support the development of the UK’s cyber security capability through the colocation on a single site of government, academia and industry.

Centred on development land to the west of Cheltenham, the park is intended as the first facility of its kind in the UK, with an ambitious target operational date of early 2020.

THE‘E-TAIL’ JUGGERNAUT

Our shopping habits are changing the commercial property landscape.

The decline of the high street is certainly not a new concept, as the proliferation of news stories about retail chains going under clearly illustrates. While historically our high streets have consisted of all A1 retail units, the transition in how we shop means this model is no longer workable. As the digital age brings connectivity to every part of our lives, shopping has become an area inextricably linked with the World Wide Web.

This is further evidenced by a report from UK Finance which revealed that debit card payments had overtaken cash for the first time with consumers using their cards 13.2 billion times in 2017, an increase of 14 per cent compared to the previous year. This was in comparison to 13.1 billion cash transactions, a decrease of 15 per cent in the same period. The rising popularity of online shopping was cited as a factor responsible for this change.

We’re not only making more purchases online, our expectations for delivery are getting faster. The shift is having a knockon effect for the commercial property sector. It is no surprise that industrial and logistics is forecast to be the best performing commercial property sector in the coming years, with huge demand for shed and warehouse space to process our e-tail deliveries. This type of building is already at a premium with limited stock and land available, so increasing demand is forcing prices and rents up further.

There is every indication this upward trend will continue. As a Commercial Property team we are fortunate to be involved in some very high value deals for some of our logistics clients who are looking to try and stay one step ahead of the online shopping juggernaut.

“We’re not only making more purchases online, our expectations for delivery are getting faster and faster. The shift is having a knockon effect for the commercial property sector”

Eddie Stobart recently committed to a new purpose-built facility at a regional distribution centre being developed at Midlands Logistics Park, Corby with a gross internal floor area of 844,000 square feet and an eaves height of 18 metres. This development has been forward funded by Titax Big Box REIT to the tune of £81.8 million. While this is one of the larger deals we have been involved with this year it is indicative of the buoyancy in this market.

However, while we are currently experiencing a boom period in the growth of logistics infrastructure generally, have we fully understood the impact it is going to have on the wider fabric of our built environment?

Perhaps there are warning signs if we take a look across the pond to our American cousins. Online shopping is even more embedded in everyday life in the US than it is over here.

There are even rumours of American investment in the UK logistics market –they know a good investment when they see one. But as a result of US logistics growth many shopping malls, synonymous with American life in the 1980s and 1990s, now lie derelict. While the impact on our malls may not be so profound, the lasting effect on the high street is here to stay.

Is this drive for same day fulfilment a good thing? Given that we are still in a period of ongoing growth, it’s perhaps difficult to know exactly what the long-term ramifications will be, but surely we should be looking at how we can make this a more sustainable change in our behaviour for the long term.

We need to consider the impact on traffic, congestion, air quality and the built environment in the long term, in addition to working with our high streets to reinvent and help them evolve for the coming decades. With luck, their appeal (and purpose) will broaden into a truly mixed use (where it isn’t already) of leisure destination, places to socialise, work, live and, yes, still browse and shop where that is going to be economically viable.

www.bpe.co.uk

Antonia Shield, Head of Property Services at BPE Solicitors, considers the retail revolution and whether the shift to sheds is sustainable for the long term Antonia

Shield, BPE Solicitors

Funding for innovation: debt funding

Last month we discussed grant funding options. This month, we focus on debt funding…

What is debt?

Debt arises when a business borrows money to be paid back at a future date, often with interest. Debt can be either secured against assets (business or personal) or unsecured.

The main advantages and disadvantages, as compared to equity finance, are summarised below:

Pros

 Retain ownership (and control) of the business;

 Fixed repayments – easy to forecast cash impact; and

 Often cheaper than equity finance (tax relief on interest payments).

Cons

 Security requirement, often including personal guarantees;

 Locked into rigid repayment schedule; and

 Can be repayable on demand (if a business exceeds facility limits and/or breaches financial covenants).

For start-ups, borrowers should be innovative, high-growth and disruptive, but more importantly backed by a credible management team.

What are the sources of debt finance?

Institutional lenders/banks provide overdrafts and loans for SMEs, with facilities often requiring some form of security. We have recently seen

the emergence of IP asset finance which is secured against patents and trademark registrations.

Innovate UK, a public body agency, has been allocated £50 million to fund innovative projects undertaken by UK SMEs via new ‘Innovation Loans’. These loans are intended to finance late-stage R&D projects that have not yet reached the point of commerciality. Loans range from £100,000 to £1 million and come with payment terms and interest rates which are often more attractive than those offered by institutional investors.

Matters to consider when applying for debt funding

Debt can often be expensive and it is therefore important to avoid unnecessary borrowing. The total cost of the debt, including interest rate and any arrangement and redemption fees, should be considered.

Lenders will want to secure their debt against assets. For innovative businesses, particularly at the early stages, there is often little by way of company assets; in some cases there may be intellectual property. More often than not personal guarantees are required. For individuals that provide personal guarantees, they are personally liable for the loan in the event the company cannot meet its commitments, which can be quite daunting.

As a condition of the debt, a lender will often insist on a company operating within certain financial parameters. These are known as covenants and are a method of the lender imposing a form of governance over the company.

How can we help?

Management and investors alike need to understand how the debt will be repaid; cash flow forecasts are key to demonstrating this. Banks will also often require monthly management accounts to test compliance with covenants and to ensure that a company is trading as forecast.

We have links with a number of debt providers and are well placed to advise on the sources of debt relevant to a business situation.

For further information, or to arrange a free initial meeting, please contact Paul Fussell

(paul.fussell@hazlewoods.co.uk) or James Whittaker

(james.whittaker@hazlewoods.co.uk)

Tel: 01242 680000 www.hazlewoods.co.uk

Silicon

valley

investment

in British companies reaches £1 billion

TWO BECOME ONE AS WORCESTER ACCOUNTANTS MERGE

Worcester-based CB Chartered Accountants has merged with Haines Watts as part of the national accountancy firm’s expansion plans.

Managing Partner John Painter will become a Haines Watts partner and he brings his team of 10. Chris Hobbs, CB’s former Tax Partner, will take on the role of Tax Consultant.

CB’s offices in Worcester and Tewkesbury will be rebranded, with the office in Tewkesbury becoming Haines Watts’ first permanent base in Gloucestershire.

Tim Pearce, Managing Partner of Haines Watts Worcester, said: “We’ve known each other for many years and I trained with John and Chris from 2002 - 2005, right at the start of my accountancy career. As soon as I knew that a deal with them was

“CB’s offices in Worcester and Tewkesbury will be rebranded with the office in Tewkesbury becoming Haines Watts’ first permanent base in Gloucestershire”

possible, I was determined to make it happen. It feels like I’ve come full circle.”

Haines Watts is a top 15 accountancy firm. Haines Watts Senior Manager James Howard and his CB counterpart Dan Jackson have been promoted to Associates while Client Manager Gareth Williams has been promoted to Cloud and Outsourcing Manager and Zoe Jones to Practice Manager.

Crowe secures Accounting for Entrepreneurs

Crowe, the national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm, has acquired a Gloucestershire accounting business specialising in helping entrepreneurs.

The firm has taken on the client portfolio and work in progress of Accounting for Entrepreneurs from boutique accounting practice Tayabali Tomlin.

Cheltenham office Managing Partner, Guy Biggin, said: “We have acquired Accounting for Entrepreneurs as part of our commitment to entrepreneurial business and to boost our offering to small and medium-sized businesses. For clients, it will mean increased support and resources to better serve their needs. This deal represents a further investment

by Crowe in technology and advisory solutions to meet client needs in a changing regulatory environment.”

A client service team of five has moved into Crowe’s Carrick House offices in Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham.

Crowe will continue to work with the business’s former owner Aynsley Damery to embed the new services.

Aynsley said: “We took our own advice. Our business had matured to the point where it was neither big nor small. We needed to take the next step. This deal is about delivering for our clients through Crowe’s regional, national and international reach.”

Investment from Silicon Valley into British companies has reached £1 billion for the first time, according to new research from Oxford-based law firm Penningtons Manches and released in its report From the Golden Gate to the Golden Triangle

Based on investment activity from the US into the UK – specifically London, Oxford and Cambridge – the report reveals unprecedented levels of capital flowing into British software companies from the Bay Area. The number of deals has increased by 252 per cent since 2011.

Penningtons Manches has a team of lawyers operating in San Francisco to advise start-ups looking to expand or attract investment in the US and venture capital firms investing in British companies.

The research was launched by James Klein, who leads the digital business group across Penningtons Manches in San Francisco.

Stratford accountants come together

Burgis & Bullock has merged with fellow accountants Guard D’Oyly, which is currently based on Mansell Street, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The move will see all the existing Guard D’Oyly team, including its Principal, Nick White, move to Burgis & Bullock’s Elm Court premises.

Nick said: “The merger has been prompted by the impending implementation of the government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative. Burgis & Bullock’s expertise in this field puts them in a perfect position to continue assisting the clients we have been working with over the past 40 years.”

POSITIVE AGING APP LAUNCHED TO HELP SHARE PRECIOUS MEMORIES

A memory-sharing app to help older people tell their life stories and save memories has been launched, It’s not only received endorsement from national celebrities but is one of nine finalists in the Challenge Dementia Prize, the first national search for next generation products, technologies and services that could transform the way people live with dementia.

The Remarkable Lives app builds an interactive timeline of memories for older people.

Traditional social networks can’t backdate but Remarkable Lives can chronicle people’s life stories from the beginning. People can use the app to record a personal memoir, but its main purpose is to save someone’s life story, perhaps before it’s too late.

Remarkable Lives founder, Stroud-based Owen McNeir, said: “The app is based on storytelling. We all love a good story; yet there are so many stories close to home, in our own families, that get forgotten or lost. That was one of my motivations for starting Remarkable Lives – being shocked to learn so much about my own grandparents after they’d passed away.”

Actor, comedian and writer Matt Lucas has given his support for the project. He said: “I love the humanity of Remarkable Lives. Real people, real voices, real-life experience – this is inspired. It’s just what the world needs right now.”

Owen ran life story workshops in care homes but was astonished at how so many

people’s life stories were unknown to both families and carers.

“I saw how this impacts our chances of ageing healthily, compounding loneliness and isolation at a time in people’s lives when they should be valued and heard,” he said.

“I love the humanity of Remarkable Lives. Real people, real voices, reallife experience - this is inspired. It’s just what the world needs right now”

“We need to take seriously the benefit and impact of treating a person as a human with an identity, not just as a collection of symptoms or list of tasks, especially if they’re struggling with memory loss or unable to communicate through anxiety or distress.”

Remarkable Lives is simple and intuitive to use. It doesn’t require an older person, who might not be tech savvy or confident using apps, to operate it. Someone else, such as a child or grandchild, can create the profile and build the timeline with photos and stories.

It has secured one of seven places on the EU-funded, SEAS2Grow AgeTech accelerator, which provides an important platform for the app to be developed with older people and health and care organisations in the UK and France.

For the UK to develop more fuel-efficient cars, plastic-free packaging, energy positive buildings and other applications, new steel alloys are needed.

Developing and testing them could now be 100 times faster, allowing products to reach the market faster, thanks to funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The £7 million is for a new “virtual factory” being developed by Swansea University with WMG at the University of Warwick, and Tata Steel. This will allow users of steel to drive innovation with market need.

Developing new steel alloys is currently a very slow process, requiring expensive trials on hundreds of tonnes of material, much of which has to be remade into new steel products.

The solution from Swansea University, Tata Steel and WMG is Rapid Alloy Prototyping, allowing much of the testing to be carried out in research labs and imaging suites – a virtual factory –rather than in an actual steel plant.

In overall terms, it means newer and better steel products can be made ready for customers far more quickly.

The new Remarkable Lives app

Dr James McGettrick of Swansea University, with an X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer which analyses the extra nanolayers added on top of steel to improve adhesion or resistance to corrosion.

The Future is Hybrid Cloud the key to Digital Transformation

Cloud computing is now firmly established in the IT landscape. It would be fair to say that every UK business and in fact every individual, somewhere in their daily lives are enjoying the benefit that cloud computing can deliver.

The winds and currents that guide cloud technologies are the business needs of organisations as they demand more and more form their infrastructure.

First Solution take a look at the next generation of cloud solutions – hybrid cloud – which is already enabling the next wave of value for business and looks certain to grow even more dominant in the future….

What is Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid clouds are a mix of private and public cloud computing deployment models. A hybrid cloud environment allows users to dynamically select the appropriate workload for their computing requirements, but importantly shift workloads between the private and public clouds with the evolving needs of the business. By allowing workloads to move between private and public clouds as computing needs change costs and resources can be better manged and controlled. Hybrid cloud offers businesses greater flexibility and improved computing agility.

The Second Wave of Cloud Computing

The large providers of public cloud platforms like such as Microsoft with Azure and Amazon with AWS have already significantly transformed the terrain by making cutting-edge computing

capabilities increasingly accessible even to the smallest players. That was the ‘first wave’ of cloud computing. A clear demonstration of the success is the ability of any size business to easily use a machine learning platform without the need of a hefty investment upfront.

Hybrid cloud is being cited by industry thought leaders as the ‘second wave’ of cloud computing, capable of further disruption and allowing companies to punch way above their weight with a smart balancing of the deployment options for data and applications. Owing to the disruption caused by public cloud, many organisations are now faced with uncertainty. Companies are battling the predicament of figuring out an efficacious and viable technology approach that champions innovation and doesn’t impede their companies’ propensity to rapidly adapt to evolving needs. Therefore, with the kind of flexibility it offers, we can safely say that hybrid is the future of cloud.

Bridging the Gap with Hybrid Cloud

It is easy to see how cloud technology is causing a pronounced transformation in the way business currently develops, deploys and administers IT services. Today, modern growth business requires on-demand, robust and consistent qualities of cloud-based platforms across their business IT assets and resources.

As cloud computing continues to evolve, the promised transformation opportunities can still be realised regardless of legacy infrastructure or applications. This is where hybrid cloud comes into its

own. Hybrid clouds can help business reconcile this gap between the old-time, conventional enterprise IT framework and the contemporary cloud-driven architectures; while still being effective and practical.

Is Hybrid Cloud the Future?

Although opting for a hybrid cloud strategy can pose many challenges to businesses of all sizes due to complex IT architecture and security challenges. The key to create a successful hybrid cloud is to select the right partner with the necessary experience in the cloud software layers that are compatible with the required hybrid cloud deployment, ensuring proper interoperability with that public cloud’s application programming interfaces (APIs) and services. The implementation of compatible software and services also enables instances to migrate seamlessly between private and public clouds.

For more information on how we can help transform your business with hybrid cloud infrastructure contact the team on 01242 335 549.

www.firstsolution.co.uk

Wherever you maybe on your own digital transformation journey Hybrid Cloud is the next wave of cloud computing which is the key to unlocking the value of digital transformation in your organisation.

Cyber security is the top organisational risk for 2019

CYBER TEAM TO PROTECT BUSINESSES FROM ON-LINE CRIME

Two of Gloucestershire’s emerging tech firms are helping businesses arm themselves against cyber-crime.

The Cyber Security Associates’ (CSA) Security and Intelligence Operations Centre (SIOC) has many tools at its disposal, but a simulated test to guests at its official launch showed just how it could deliver simple effective lessons for any size business.

A test email revealed just how easy it can be to expose potential weaknesses within a group.

Richard Graham, MP for Gloucester and one of the Government’s trade envoys, said: “Cyber-crime is a real and growing threat to business in Gloucestershire and the UK economy. The CSA SIOC will make a significant contribution to Gloucestershire as a centre of cyber excellence.”

CSA is working with Severnside Software Ltd, the business IT support specialists. Roger White, Managing Director, said the partnership was a powerful extra service for its customers.

“The cyber threat is constantly evolving. You can’t cover everything. You have to partner with people who have the expertise. CSA director David Woodfine has 25 years’ experience in the information security sector, first as a commissioned officer in the RAF and later as a consultant on the commercial side. He is also the man heading up the new centre.”

The CSA SIOC can monitor IT end points and servers, test organisations with email phishing campaigns, search the dark-web and internet for leaked information on companies, train individuals through eLearning courses on the cyber threat and give face-to-face training at board level to explain why cyber risk is important.

Its Quedgeley nerve centre at Waterwells Business Park, a room filled with screens is manned by young and talented analysts who are trained to spot unusual behaviour and stop the cyber threat.

CSA is working with the National Cyber Security Centre to help the new programme for the Cyber School Hubs.

3SDL selected to provide defence space masterclass

Malvern-based 3SDL delivered a masterclass to help the Defence Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) further their understanding of the space domain and its implications on the future. This comes at a

vital time for the UK as our Armed Forces grapple with the increasingly complex issues of warfighting in a contested domain which is being shaped by rapid innovation and development in the commercial arena.

New research based on the responses of over 300 chief internal auditors working in organisations across Europe, reveals that cybersecurity is now such a big concern that a clear two-thirds (66 per cent) majority of all the respondents said it is now one of the top five risks their organisation faces. Internal audit advises the board on the effectiveness of an organisation’s management of risk.

The research is published in the latest annual risk report ‘Risk in Focus’ covering eight EU countries.

“Cyber-crime is a real and growing threat to business in Gloucestershire and the UK economy. The CSA SIOC will make a significant contribution to Gloucestershire as a centre of cyber excellence”

Dr Ian Peters MBE, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors said: “Cybersecurity has been a high-priority risk for a number of years and this shows no signs of abating.

“High-profile cyberattacks such as Petya and WannaCry are becoming more and more prevalent and this means that organisations are only as strong as the weakest link in their IT supply chain.” Dr Peters said.

A major obstacle to mitigating cyber risk is the piecemeal approach organisations have taken to their IT infrastructure planning and development over past decades.

Poor governance and oversight of IT functions has meant businesses have gradually built siloed systems and bolted on parts of their network over a period when cyber risk was low.

David Woodfine, Richard Graham and Roger White at the new Security and Intelligence Operations Centre, Gloucester

“We make the systems, controls and valves that are required on an industrial steam distribution system. We are the world leader in this sector by far”

SPIRAX SARCO STEAMS AHEAD

Spirax Sarco is one of Gloucestershire’s leading employers. And with revenues rising, the future is steaming hot for this global engineering business.

By Nicky Godding

Chief Executive Nicholas Anderson is upbeat as we meet in Spirax Sarco’s Georgian headquarters overlooking well-tended gardens. This summer the publicly-listed global engineering company which has its headquarters in Cheltenham, reported first half revenues rising 28 per cent to nearly £548 million.

Spirax Sarco is the global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of industrial and commercial steam systems.

Steam may not sound particularly high tech but don’t be fooled, it is still by far the most efficient way of transferring heat energy into industrial processes.

Buying Gestra in particular was a once in a generation opportunity for Spirax Sarco, according to Nick. “Every one of my predecessors would have liked to secure Gestra, because they make the best industrial boiler controls in the world, but the timing wasn’t right for them. I was the lucky chap finally able to make it happen.”

Chromalox was the company’s second acquisition. Based in Pittsburgh, USA and founded in 1917, Chromalox uses electricity to do what Spirax Sarco does with steam.

Steam is the most efficient technology for lower temperatures (between 100-200°C) and larger, sustained power loads.

FACTS ABOUT NICHOLAS ANDERSON

He travels a lot, but still loves it. “I don’t want to sit in my head office ivory tower. I don’t want to lose touch with what all our good people are doing.”

Despite having gone around the world more times than most, there are still many places he hankers to explore, including parts of Africa, the Middle East and central Asia.

The crowning point of his academic career (which includes an MBA and other executive programmes), was the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School. “I encourage all our people to undertake continuous professional development.”

He loves historical movies, especially if they involve wars. His wife rather less so.

Another high-flying company in the Spirax Sarco Group is Watson-Marlow. Based in Falmouth, it specialises in making peristaltic pumps (think how fluid is pumped through a tube, the squeeze point is pushed forward which creates suction to draw in more fluid). Spirax acquired the business in 1990 when it was turning over £6 million annually. That’s now risen to £250 million.

Nick joined Spirax Sarco seven years ago to run the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for the company. Two years later, when CEO Mark Vernon retired, Nick was appointed to replace him. “It is the most enjoyable job I have ever done and the crowning part of my career,” he says.

The other most prevalent technology able to do that is electricity and between them they provide up to 80 per cent of all industrial heating requirements.

Revenues rose seven per cent, supplemented by revenue from two major acquisitions, German company Gestra and USA-based Chromalox. The company has had its eyes on both businesses for years.

But if an industrial process needs higher temperatures (up to 800°C), smaller power loads and quick on/off capabilities, then electricity is more efficient.

“Following our purchase of Chromalox, we believe we are the only group in the world that can offer both technologies,” says Nick.

Working up a head of steam

Spirax Sarco

Spirax Sarco designs, manufactures and sells every product to control and manage steam other than the boiler itself. “We make the systems, controls and valves that are required on an industrial steam

“Working for Spirax Sarco is the crowning part of my career”

Spirax Sarco headquarters, Cheltenham

distribution system. We are the world leader in this sector by far,” says Nick.

“We are also a niche industry, and proudly so. Steam use continues to evolve because it has such diverse applications, from heating, sterilizing and cooking to vacuum packing and more, in pretty much every industrial sector.”

Spirax Sarco products are often bespoke so it has developed an effective direct sales business model. The global sales teams work with customers to help solve their productivity and process challenges. “Our customers are paying for our technical knowledge just as much as our products,” says Nick.

The company has sales offices in more than 60 countries worldwide, distributors in almost 120 and has won Queen’s Awards for Innovation.

It also invests significantly in research and development, and continuously reviews how its R&D pipeline is successfully feeding into sales. Typical development times for new products range from six months to three years but that depends on the products being developed. “A new

innovation could take years, and the nature of R&D is that you won’t have a 100 per cent success rate. Not every idea turns out nicely.”

While the company has additional manufacturing facilities in North America, Latin America and Asia, nearly a quarter of all Spirax Sarco’s manufacturing is done inside the UK, a fact of which Nick is proud.

A world of opportunity to grow

Does Brexit worry him? Not as much as the wider macro-economic environment. “We are so broadly spread across industrial sectors that the best predictor of markets is global industrial production growth rates.”

Spirax Sarco sees opportunities for growth in all areas of the world, including Britain, though the pace varies, dependent on each region’s economy. Today, the UK represents around seven per cent of global revenues. The USA is about a quarter and China is around 12-14 per cent. “We are not exposed to any individual country

Spirax Sarco’s Turflow Heat Exchange or sector, so ultimately what concerns me is not a specific country’s problems,” Nick explains.

“We will have to navigate Brexit but we are just one of many countries experiencing economic uncertainties worldwide.”

Nick is unflappable and jokes that, having lived and worked in Latin America for many years, he has a ‘PhD’ in economic crises from the school of life.

“In practice I have lived through many economic cycles around the world in my 35-year career, and Brexit is just one more. It doesn’t mean we are immune, but we feel we can manage our way through it.”

Nick take the global view through a very British perspective

Nick looks British, but his accent isn’t. He’s tall, could he be Dutch? It turns out he is British, though born and brought up in Argentina, and he’s used to people mistaking his nationality. “My accent is almost impossible to identify,” he laughs.

At one stage Argentina had the largest British community outside the Commonwealth and Nick spent 40 years of his life there and in Brazil – twice in each country in fact.

In the 19th century British investment poured into Argentina and a substantial British population grew up around it, supporting the building and operation of some the country’s major infrastructure, including railways and ports.

British banks were established and industries such as meat processing grew up. “My father worked for food processing company, the Vestey Group. When they

closed in Argentina he was transferred to Brazil, so the family followed.”

Nick studied civil engineering at university in Brazil. He joined British engineering company Foseco, now part of Vesuvius, moving to Alcoa, the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminium. He spent seven years in Brazil and four in Argentina. He then moved to global engineering company John Crane, now part of Smith Group plc (which until 2000 was called Smiths Industries with a site in Cheltenham, now part of GE Aviation).

He has lived and worked across the world, from Latin America and the USA to Asia Pacific. Before Spirax Sarco he was based in Singapore, regularly travelling to China, India, Australia and Korea.

One has to feel for Nick’s wife, destined forever to follow her career-wanderlust husband around, but she doesn’t seem to

mind. They met, married and had their children in Brazil. “She is Italian and grew up in Brazil. She’s wonderful and I wouldn’t be here today without her support and encouragement.

“Coming to the UK was a challenge for her. It coincided with our youngest going to university in the States and Cheltenham is as different as it could be. But we now think of it as home. Our children will be travelling here from Washington and California to join us for Christmas.

“One of the nice things about moving to Spirax Sarco was working in the UK. I always considered Britain as my homeland – I’d been coming all my life to visit family and for work, but I’d never lived here.”

Nick says it was his best career decision. “Spirax Sarco is a wonderful company, with great people and Cheltenham is a lovely place to live.”

Spirax Sarco

RECRUITMENT IN MANUFACTURING POST BREXIT WHAT NEXT?

In May, EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, warned that nearly half of its members were concerned about recruiting and retaining professionals possessing the right skills post-Brexit, with the number of EU workers likely to decline.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), EU migrants account for around 11 per cent of the manufacturing sector workforce. However, this figure only relates to those working on a permanent basis, and does not include the number of temporary EU workers relied upon by manufacturing companies in the UK.

The government states that it is committed to bringing net immigration down from 273,000 to under 100,000. Yet at the same time there have also been noises to suggest it is open to accepting highly-skilled workers from abroad where possible.

Given the uncertainty presented by the on-going Brexit negotiations, it is a challenging time for manufacturing businesses across the region to plan and prepare for their future operations.

There is genuine concern across businesses of how they will be able to respond to, and make up, a potential shortfall as large as 11 per cent of their workforce.

Additionally, there is a risk that EU workers living in the UK now feel unsure of their future in the UK, and those who travel regularly to the UK for temporary

work may be equally put off and seek employment elsewhere.

Whatever the outcome of the Brexit talks, it seems likely that an immediate workforce shortage could impact the manufacturing industry quite severely with a knock-on effect on output in the short term. How long this ‘short term’ period will last is open to speculation.

It is likely that we will see significant wage inflation for those skilled workers most in demand as the manufacturing industry is forced to compete for their services.

Consequently, planning will be essential, not only in workflow but also in business and financial planning. Businesses will need to ensure they have robust plans in place, not only to ensure continuity of supply of the skilled workers they depend on, but also to cope if they are unable to recruit the workers they require in key areas of the business.

Nonetheless, it is worth remembering the lessons learned from periods of upheaval.

One of the UK manufacturing industry’s main strengths is its undoubted resilience, which saw it adapt to rapid advances in technology throughout the 1990s and the early part of this century.

Home grown talent is often the best and most economical route forward, and so a focus on recruiting and training the

domestic workforce could prove to be a viable solution.

There may also be the need to consider taking steps to retain those workers with specialist skills who may be soon due to retire, as an immediate measure.

In the meantime, we need thorough guidance from the government on the position of EU workers seeking settled status.

Clear rules are necessary to understand whether specialist staff from the EU will be allowed into the UK for temporary postings. Manufacturers, too, will have a role to play. They will need to understand how the new rules or systems affects UK workers visiting the EU to wor,k and adapt accordingly.

Posting workers to Europe, even for short periods of time for events such as trade exhibitions or client meetings, will undoubtedly become more complex after March 2019 when Britain officially leaves the European Union, so again manufacturers need to keep up to date with the latest developments.

Whatever the future holds for the UK as a whole and the manufacturing industry, it is vital for manufacturing companies to seek specialist advice to understand the issues and implications they could face in the next six to 12 months and beyond, as the UK transitions into life outside of the EU.

Chris Mould, Partner in the Cheltenham office of national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm, Crowe, looks at the prospects of a declining skills workforce as we depart the European Union Chris Mould, Partner, Crowe UK

COGSDILL ALL TOOLED UP FOR GROWTH

A Nuneaton tool manufacturing business formed more than 100 years ago in the USA is looking to create new jobs after securing crucial funding.

Cogsdill, formed in 1914 as a cutting tool, regrinding and repair service in Detroit, has had a UK base in Nuneaton for more than 60 years, most recently moving to the Bermuda Industrial Estate in 2014.

The firm has secured funding for a £120,000 milling machine and a £45,000 measuring machine, just weeks after contacting the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hub for assistance.

Williams

Lee Donaldson, Executive Director, said: “our customer base has grown to several different markets including aerospace, renewable energy, oil and gas, along with our automotive roots and motorsport.

“These are very demanding sectors and we needed investment to satisfy our growth objectives and customer requirements.”

Gary Thyeson, Account Manager with the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP Growth Hub, said: “We look forward to seeing Cogsdill grow over the coming years.”

Advanced Engineering and Unipart to produce batteries

The UK’s largest independent vehicle battery manufacturer will open in early 2019 in Coventry, creating around 90 jobs at a new multi-million pound facility that will produce batteries for future hybrid and electric vehicles.

The factory will be operated by a new joint venture, Hyperbat Limited, combining the strengths of two of the UK’s leading companies, Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart Manufacturing Group. The launch customer for Hyperbat batteries is the Aston Martin Rapide E, which will be a limited production run.

Craig Wilson, Managing Director of Williams Advanced Engineering, said: “We bring together two innovative companies to deliver cutting edge technology that will literally power the

Yamazaki Mazak becomes 5G testbed

Worcester-based Yamazaki Mazak has been chosen as one of a select few UK companies to act as a ‘testbed’ for the deployment of next-generation 5G technology, with a view to improving commercial digital infrastructures and ultimately boosting productivity across the UK industrial sector.

Mazak is part of the Worcestershire 5G consortium, and was chosen due to its pioneering work in implementing Industry 4.0 design principals throughout its portfolio of machine tools and CNC technology.

Ontic buys US business

Ontic, the aerospace industry’s leading provider of ‘extended life solutions’ for Original Equipment Manufacturer legacy products, has bought USAbased Firstmark Corp, an aerospace aftermarket service provider.

Gareth Hall, President and Managing Director of Cheltenham-based Ontic, said “Firstmark is an ideal fit for Ontic with a high quality portfolio of products supporting civil and military aircrafts.”

“We are delighted to be working with Williams Advanced Engineering on this venture. We have developed an advanced manufacturing facility on our Coventry site”

future of sustainable transport in the UK and beyond. We are pleased to be working with Unipart, growing a new capability for our sector in this country for hybrid and electric vehicles.”

Carol Burke, Managing Director of Unipart Manufacturing Group, added: “We are delighted to be working with Williams Advanced Engineering on this

venture. We have developed an advanced manufacturing facility on our Coventry site – the very site in which the British auto industry produced some of its first petrol vehicles.

“The site will now provide clean, sustainable electric batteries that can be tailored to individual auto manufacturer’s requirements and available to a wide range of companies seeking to introduce electric vehicles into their ranges.”

Video CGI of the new Hyperbat factory

Cogsdill Finance Manager, Lloyd Spencer, Kierandeep Ba of Coventry city councill, Gary Thyeson, Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, Cogsdill Director Lee Donaldson

WORLD-LEADING SCIENCE AND INNOVATION HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Some of the world’s most exciting nuclear research and development is going on in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside, on an unremarkable site next to the A415 Abingdon to Dorchester road.

But looks are deceiving. Culham Science Centre is home to the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) which owns the centre, its Culham Centre for Fusion Energy research lab, RACE (Remote Applications in Challenging Environments) and Materials Research Facility, a branch of the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory, and the Joint European Torus (JET).

Fusion and Fission

The UK’s nuclear power stations operate nuclear fission, which releases heat energy by splitting atoms. Fusion, on which a large part of Culham Science Centre’s research is being undertaken, is the combination of two lighter atoms into a larger one.

Fusion powers the sun and scientists are seeking to achieve nuclear fusion on earth. The aim is for the tokamak reactor to successfully heat plasma up to 100 million degrees Celsius, seven times hotter than the centre of the sun. This is the fusion threshold at which hydrogen atoms can begin to fuse into helium, unleashing non carbon-emitting, virtually limitless energy.

JET is the world’s largest and most powerful ‘tokamak’, a design of nuclear fusion reactor, and the focal point of the European fusion research programme. UKAEA hosts it on behalf of the EUROfusion consortium, which involves

OXIS Energy goes global with Brazilian investment

Culham-headquartered Oxis Energy is developing an innovative Lithium Sulfur battery chemistry that will revolutionise the rechargeable battery market and has huge potential for city transport across the world.

researchers from 30 organisations across the continent. Since it began operating in 1983, JET has made major advances in the science and engineering of fusion and more investment is planned for the project.

Along with a further 37 countries, the UK is also participating in the ITER project in France, a huge commitment to build the biggest fusion experiment in the world and its development wouldn’t be possible without the significant contributions being made by scientists from Culham.

The government has vowed to make the UK a world leader in nuclear technology. It is investing £86 million funding in a ‘national fusion technology platform’ at Culham Science Centre.

Opening in 2020, this will provide researchers with test facilities to tackle the big engineering questions in fusion and encourage more industrial involvement to help commercialise it as an energy source.

Last year OXIS Energy produced around 4,000 cells (a cell is the smallest energy storage units of a battery. Several placed together form a battery). This year it should produce around 5,000. In the next 12 months the company will be automating its manufacturing process at Culham ahead of a new production facility to be built in Brazil. This is being funded by the Brazilian government and will be managed by Oxis Energy.

The Brazilian expansion has been made possible thanks to a £3.7 million investment from Aerotec, a Brazilian Private Equity fund earlier this year.

OXIS Energy will continue its UK research and development but sees the Brazil venture as a huge step forward. The Brazilian manufacturing plant will be eventually capable of producing millions of cells annually. The plant will initially focus on commercial expansion throughout Latin America and will also address the aviation, defence and heavy electric vehicle markets worldwide.

“JET is the world’s largest and most powerful tokamak, and the focal point of the European fusion research programme”

Aerial photograph of Culham Science Centre

RACE to the finish

A major UKAEA research facility at Culham is RACE (Remote Access in Challenging Environments). Imagine the most challenging working environments – from space or nuclear to mining or radiation. Only robots can operate in such hostile places. RACE has developed remotely-operated equipment to maintain fusion reactors, including JET (the Joint European Torus), and is taking its technology into other industrial fields where it is difficult or dangerous to send people.

RACE is also working with Oxbotica, which is developing control systems for autonomous vehicles. Oxbotica’s autonomous vehicles are currently being tested at Culham Science Centre. They’re easy to spot (despite having engineers and

Rocket science at Culham

Alongside the government agencies at Culham Science Centre is a healthy mix of commercial companies. One of the largest is Reaction Engines.

This company is developing a new generation of hypersonic propulsion system – the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) engine. Put simply, this is a cross between a very efficient jet engine with the thrust of a rocket which will enable aircraft to fly over five times the speed of sound in the atmosphere, and allow space launch vehicles to be built that will radically improve the affordability and responsiveness of access to space.

The SABRE’s unique heat exchanger technology will enable very hot incoming air to be cooled from 1,000 degrees to

Making a material difference

Another strand of the nuclear activities at Culham is UKAEA’s Materials Research Facility (MRF). This site, run by Operations Manager Monica Jong, has secured further government investment to expand its facilities to offer more equipment for material property research in support of fusion and fission. Finding the right materials to build future reactors is a key challenge and the MRF has a vital role in the UK’s nuclear research capability – allowing scientists to study samples of candidate materials at scales much smaller than the width of a hair.

developers sitting in the front seats), but even if they weren’t emblazoned with logos, apparently you can spot an autonomous car because it always indicates at roundabouts.

The 100-strong team at RACE consists mostly of engineers and the organisation needs more. The RACE team can make a remotely operated system productive and is applying this knowledge in commercial situations.

Putting faster diagnosis in the hands of medics

Sense is a start-up based at Culham which is developing a hand-held device to make molecular testing available outside the laboratory. The device will speed up diagnosis so that, potentially, a test can be made by a patient’s bedside or in the surgery and the results given in 10 minutes, rather than having to wait much longer to receive results from the lab.

The company was founded in 2014 by molecular scientist Harry Lamble and his brother Ralph, a design engineer. Harry said: “We are focusing first on being able to use it to diagnose infectious diseases and oncology indications. Our early portfolio of products will most likely be for the diagnosis of infections, and we expect to launch a range of clinical tests over the next few years.”

minus 150 in milliseconds. The company will be undertaking a key test later this year and is planning a major ground test of the air breathing engine core at Westcott, Buckinghamshire.

Reaction Engines employs around 190 people and has raised more than £100 million in the last three years with investment from some of the most influential names in aerospace and finance, including BAE systems,

Boeing and Rolls Royce, including UK government funding commitments.

Alongside fundraising for the main core programme for SABRE, recent funding will allow Reaction Engines to accelerate its commercialisation plans for its heat exchanger technology, with opportunities in motorsport, electric vehicle thermal management, waste heat recuperation, small satellite cooling and aero-engines.

The Joint European Torus Tokamak at Culham Science Centre

Winners of the Oxford Trust Enterprise Awards revealed

The Oxford Trust has revealed the winners of its 2018 Enterprise Awards.

The awards, run in partnership with Venturefest Oxford and sponsored by Barclays, Marks & Clerk, Advanced Oxford and product design company Triteq, took place at Oxford Brookes Headington Campus.

They celebrate Oxfordshire entrepreneurs and start-ups as well as established tech businesses and individuals who have made an impact on the economy. Previous winners have included successful companies such as Oxbotica, Immunocore and Adaptix.

The Young Entrepreneur Award was won by Alexander Reip, co-founder and CEO of Oxford nanoSystems which develops innovative coatings to improve two-phase heat transfer surfaces.

The Breakthrough Technology Award was won by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which has developed the world’s first nanopore DNA and RNA sequencing devices.

The Award for Innovation was won by Consultant Connect. Its innovative telecoms system enables GPs to obtain immediate advice from local NHS hospital consultants.

The winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award was Professor Sir John Bell. The University of Oxford’s Regius Professor of Medicine, Professor Bell has been at the forefront of the life sciences strategy, research and innovation in the UK, and specifically Oxford. His research on immune activation in autoimmune diseases and his strong desire to have the best researchers in the field work collaboratively in Oxford was directly responsible for the creation of two successful Oxfordshire companies: Immunocore and Adapitimmune.

DIAMOND LIGHT SOURCE OPENS NATIONAL ELECTRON

BIO-IMAGING CENTRE

Nobel Prize winner Dr Richard Henderson has officially opened a new electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) at Harwell, Oxfordshire.

At the same event, Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of the world leaders in high-end scientific instrumentation, and Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron and one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, announced an agreement to launch a new cryo-EM capability for use in the life sciences industry sector.

Cryo-Electron Microscopy is a relatively new field of science which allows electrons to be frozen and then studied in their normal state. This means that scientists can see biological elements as a whole and in an active state,

The announcement confirms Diamond as one of the major global cryo-EM sites and provides the life sciences sector with an offer not available anywhere else in the world.

Professor Dave Stuart, Life Sciences Director at Diamond, said: “Access to 21st century scientific tools to push the boundaries of scientific research is essential for academia and industry, and what we have created here at Diamond is truly unique in the world in terms of size and scale.

Warwick spin-out Humane Technologies to help ‘citizen scientists’

A spin-out company from the University of Warwick will focus on the development of open-source and innovative laboratory equipment for life sciences researchers and citizen scientists.

Humane Technologies Ltd aims to reduce the financial barriers to starting out in scientific research by offering both professional and would-be researchers the tools to build their own laboratory equipment. The company is preparing to launch its first two products, MicrobeMeter and Measure.

Founded by two Warwick researchers, Prof Orkun Soyer and Dr Kalesh Sasidharan from the University’s School of Life Sciences, Humane Technologies has a vision of expanding access to the tools and technologies which are currently found only within fully-equipped research labs.

The founding duo believe that this approach can bring scientific endeavour within the reach of all curious minds, by overcoming a key barrier to experimentation and discovery: the cost of getting started.

“Access to 21st century scientific tools to push the boundaries of scientific research is essential for academia and industry, and what we have created here at Diamond is truly unique in the world in terms of size and scale”

New cryo-EM facility at Diamond

In Oxfordshire alone, ground breaking research has meant investment of over £1 billion in recent years making the region one of the top Bio Clusters in Europe, home to hundreds of early stage and large organisations involved in own drug or medical device research and development, contract research, manufacturing and consulting services.

Oxford and the surrounding area is home to a significant number of science and business parks including Milton Park, Oxford Science Park, Harwell, Culham, Begbroke, Cherwell Innovation & Howbery Park, amongst many more housing some of the fastest growing businesses in the UK and Europe. The University of Oxford is ranked first in the world in clinical, pre-clinical and health, and counts 23 Nobel Prize winners in medicine and chemistry among its graduates.

FOCUS specialise in providing insurance advice and solutions to companies in the hi-tech, scientific and medical environment and are proud to support many businesses located across the regions science and technology parks.

Almost twenty years ago FOCUS began working with academics, scientists, investors and business advisors in this sector. We have close relationships with Oxford Innovation, Oxford University Innovation and Oxford Sciences Innovation and have established ourselves as the specialist local broker within this industry group. We have excellent connections with many of the region’s science and technology business parks and regularly visit our clients on site to learn about how their business is growing so that we can adapt and adjust their insurance solutions accordingly.

The UK is a global leader in science and innovation and there are now more than 100 science parks across the country.

One of our success stories

In 2002 Focus was contacted by a company’s founder, working from his own home office after securing some seed funding, to provide advice on what insurances it would need in its very early stages. It has grown rapidly raising well over £150M in funding through private funding, grants and then a public offering to become a global business providing healthcare diagnostic testing products and services around the world, with office and laboratories in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia. We are extremely proud to still be their trusted insurance advisors.

“The quality of service and encyclopaedic knowledge of the insurance industry displayed by the FOCUS insurance team has been second-to-none for many years. We are safe in the knowledge that our insurance requirements have been very well catered for.”

Geoff

Why talk to FOCUS?

FOCUS is one of only a few insurance brokers in this area able to deal with the needs of these unique industries. We have special arrangements with a number of insurers who are able to provide bespoke cover for businesses in these sectors. We have always believed that it is important to support start-up and early stage companies in these sectors and build long term relationships with them as they continue their journeys into larger organisations, sometimes with overseas representation. We enjoy working relationships with all the leading insurers and partner with many of them uniquely to ensure our clients benefit from appropriate protection and risk management solutions which are also affordable, especially important at the early stage of the company’s life cycle.

FOCUS also provides bespoke solutions for Private Clients and can help with insurance needs including:

 High Net Worth Home Insurance

 Motor Insurance – including Family Fleet

 Private Landlord Insurance

Bush, Finance Director Oxford Immunotec Ltd

SCIENCE PARK SPECIAL

The co-location of ambitious companies, often in complementary sectors, encourages collaboration and supports research and development in science and technology, especially as many of them are located close to universities.

Around these companies sit support services, from marketing to professional legal and financial support, even child care nurseries for park employees, to support park tenants' growth.

Such environments feed directly into the UK’s industrial strategy, which seeks to boost our economy through encouraging businesses and individuals to take on the grand challenges needed to build the industries of the future and maintain the UK’s place on the world stage.

It’s a grand ambition, but is it working?

Certainly there are some exciting UK success stories. One of the UK's few unicorn companies (a business valued at more than $1 billion) has sites on

two science parks. Oxford Nanopore is on Oxford Science Park, with a manufacturing facility at Harwell.

Across the UK, there are more than 100 science parks and this looks set to grow following Bruntwood and Legal & General Capital announcing their intention to create the UK’s largest property platform dedicated to driving science and technology growth in regional cities.

The deal will see the two partners invest £360 million into a new company, Bruntwood SciTech, which has a business plan supporting the creation of 20,000 high-value jobs.

Science parks across the region

Oxfordshire

 Begbroke Science Park

 Bicester Innovation Centre

 Cherwell Innovation Centre

 Culham Innovation Centre

 Culham Science Centre

 Harwell Innovation Centre

 Milton Park

 Oxford BioEscalator

 Oxford Centre for Innovation

 Oxford Science Park

 Quadrant, Abingdon Science Park

 Witney Business & Innovation Centre

South Gloucestershire

Bristol & Bath Science Park

West Midlands

 Coventry University Technology Park

 Malvern Hills Science Park

 MIRA Technology Park

 University of Warwick Science Park

“The co-location of ambitious companies encourages collaboration and supports research and development”

Over the last two decades, the growth of science and technology parks across the UK has helped create thousands of successful knowledgebased businesses.

Milton Park science park

Oxford Science Park

Property management and development company MEPC, which manages Milton Park near Didcot, is working on a 2040 Vision for the science park. With more than 250 businesses and 9,000 people working there, Milton Park is one of the UK’s most successful science parks.

Head of Asset Management, Philip Campbell, said: “We have a responsibility to ensure that the park keeps pace with the changing physical, social, political and economic landscape of the surrounding area.”

The organisation is calling for anyone working at Milton Park, living nearby or who is involved in any other way to help create a shared vision for the future.

The first stage in this process is to understand perceptions of Milton Park as it is today. MEPC is inviting people to complete a short survey on the Park, from which it can begin to build its strategy.

South Glos Council scoops up Bristol and Bath Science Park

South Gloucestershire Council and The University of Bath have bought the Bristol & Bath Science Park in a joint £18 million bid.

The new owners will use their strengths, expertise and networks to fully realise the park’s potential as a centre of excellence for research and development across the region.

As a regional asset, the science park will provide space for businesses, helping to further strengthen the South West’s position as a hub for sustainable economic growth.

Plans for the 36-acre site will complement existing businesses based at the park as well as exploiting regional science and engineering strengths.

The Science Park will also be home to the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS).

The University of Bath was awarded £38.9 million towards this £60 million facility which will research future advanced propulsion systems.

The Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems

(IAAPS) is projected to stimulate more than £67 million in additional automotive research investment by 2025, creating a further turnover of £800 million for the UK automotive sector and supporting nearly 1,900 new highly productive jobs.

Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Toby Savage, said: “We recognise the park’s potential as a future driver of economic growth which would bring even more new high-tech jobs to the area.

"We look forward to working with Bath university, other local universities and partners to develop the park and cementing South Gloucestershire’s reputation as a hub for innovation, technology and collaboration.”

The purchase from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) marks an important milestone to secure local ownership.

“As a regional asset, the Science Park will provide space for businesses, helping to further strengthen the South West’s position as a hub for sustainable economic growth”

Bristol & Bath Science Park

Milton Park calls for help in creating its 2040 vision

Science Parks

MILTON PARK REVEALS 30,000 SQ FT EXPANSION OF FUSION RESEARCH COMPANY TOKAMAK ENERGY

Tokamak Energy, the groundbreaking fusion energy company, has expanded by more than 30,000 sq ft into new premises at Milton Park, Oxfordshire, as it advances its pioneering work to become the first in the world to achieve industrial scale power from fusion.

Tokamak Energy was established in 2010 and has been at Milton Park since 2013. It has taken the whole of 173 Brook Drive, a 46,000 sq ft high-tech research and office building, on a 15-year lease.

The company seeks to accelerate the development of fusion energy and to deliver power at an industrial scale by 2025. Tokamak Energy’s experts are upgrading their latest-generation compact spherical tokamak, which they intend to be the first device in the world to demonstrate the commercial potential of fusion power. The device, known

as the ST40, aims to produce plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celcius within the next two years. This is the temperature needed for controlled fusion power.

the cutting-edge science and technology occupiers who stay and grow at Milton Park, and contributes to the thriving sciences cluster at the park and within the wider region.”

Dr David Kingham, one of the founders of Tokamak Energy, said: “This rapid expansion at Milton Park marks another key step towards our goal of commercially viable fusion power. Tokamak Energy is an agile business tacking a huge challenge for the world, but solidly based on world-leading expertise in fusion and in superconducting magnets in Oxfordshire.

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at MEPC which manages Milton Park, said: “We are pleased to see Tokamak Energy expanding at Milton Park, by almost fourfold, as it continues on its world-leading research. This is precisely the kind of business which complements

“Our agility and novel approach has been further helped by the nurturing and accommodating community that MEPC has created at Milton Park. Working alongside like-minded businesses in a flexible and forward-looking environment has been a key component in our success to date.”

University of Warwick Science Park welcomes new tenants

Humane Technologies, RYSE 3D Ltd, Innous, Future CAE Technologies (UK) Ltd, DriveTry and Zenzero are the latest businesses to locate themselves on one of the University of Warwick Science Park’s campuses at the Business Innovation Centre, Coventry, The Venture Centre and Innovation Centre at Warwick and Blythe Valley, Solihull. The University of Warwick Science Park (UWSP) was

established in 1982 by a number of partners. The University of Warwick acquired sole ownership in 2012.

Today it operates across three sites, hosting hundreds of businesses.

The University of Warwick Science Park’s Business Support Service supports innovation-led businesses from start-

up support to strategic consultancy for established firms.

Services include incubation facilities via Ignite, access to finance including the Minerva business angel network and professional route to market development from Techmark. Based out of the Venture Centre, the services offered are available across UWSP’s sites.

“This rapid expansion at Milton Park marks another key step towards our goal of commercially viable fusion power”

Science

Parks

David Kingham, Chairman, Tokamak, Philip Campbell, Commercial Director, MEPC, Jonathan Carling, CEO, Tokamak

UK science parks host

5,000 companies

Property consultancy Bidwells estimates that more than 5,000 companies are now located on UK science parks.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS EXPAND AT WITNEY BUSINESS & INNOVATION CENTRE

School friends Aadam Akram and Joe Spicer launched Social Out-Cast, an online retail business, while studying A-Levels at Henry Box School in Witney.

Just 12 months later, they are celebrating a six-figure profit.

Since completing their studies, the duo have set up base at the Witney Business & Innovation Centre, becoming the newest firm to join the many pioneering businesses based there.

Social Out-Cast is an online business, known as drop shipping, promoting goods and taking orders on behalf of manufacturers while not holding stock.

Joe explained: “We look at what’s

“I knew the Witney Business & Innovation Centre was a fantastic place to network and we have already met people we can work with in the future”

trending, what’s gone viral and the season’s trends, then promote the item on social media platforms before linking back to our website, where customers can place their orders.

"We are, in effect, the middle man –we promote the goods and take the orders before passing them on for the manufacturer to ship out."

A home for tomorrow’s science

Along with Culham Science Park (read our feature on Culham in this issue’s Science and Technology pages), Harwell is one of the UK’s most exciting science parks.

Sitting on 710 acres south of Oxford, it is home to the UK’s Diamond Synchrotron, the European Space Agency, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and dozens of some of the UK’s most exciting private companies in space, pharmaceutical, bio-tech and other sectors.

The Harwell Science & Innovation

Campus has now embarked upon an ambitious expansion plan with millions of square feet of new working and research space.

This will be supported by hundreds of new homes for people working on site together with improved onsite amenities.

Within this overall masterplan, planning permission has been sought for a new 500,000 sq ft expansion of the life science and healthtec cluster sited close to the major facilities at its core.

Start-ups are an important element of this, illustrated in the Oxford market. Take up by small companies has increased in recent years.

More than 60 per cent of office and lab take-up in Oxford in the first half of 2018 was by companies in knowledgebased industries.

The pace of growth in the science and tech sector has driven significant demand for large floorplate space. Thirty per cent of current total requirements are for properties of more than 50,000 sq ft, Bidwells says. Currently there is close to 1.2 million sq ft of requirement for office and lab space in Oxford. The city’s science parks will be a core supplier of this space, but Bidwells expects current supply shortages to persist.

“The pace of growth in the science and tech sector has driven significant demand for large floorplate space. Thirty per cent of current total requirements are for properties of more than 50,000 sq ft”

Even among large companies this ability to grow and pursue new innovation is essential. This emerged as a key concern in a recent survey undertaken on Bidwell’s behalf by YouGov of the largest global R&D companies operating in the UK.

The pace of growth is explained by the statistics on R&D activity. Over half of the major companies surveyed had increased expenditure on R&D over the last five years. Almost a third of survey respondents reported that they plan to take on new property over the coming five years due largely to business expansion.

Aadam Akram and Joe Spicer with centre manager Alli Anderson

Science Parks

KOHLER MIRA UNVEILS PLANS FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART CENTRE IN WORCESTER

Kitchen and bathroom giant Kohler Mira has announced plans to create a state-of-the-art distribution, training and office unit in Worcestershire.

Kohler Mira, parent company of UK shower brand Mira Showers, is initially investing more than £20 million in the first phase of its 11.3-acre development. Phase 1 of the scheme will provide 158,000 sq ft with a further phase creating up to an additional 100,000 sq ft.

The scheme will be delivered by Stoford Developments at Worcester Six Business Park, near Junction 6 of the M5 near Worcester.

Kohler Mira, owned by Kohler Co, manufactures Mira showers, taps and bathroom accessories. It already has operations in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Hull.

Charles D’Auncey, Director at Harris Lamb who secured Kohler Mira as a tenant, said: “We’re particularly pleased to have attracted the brand to the park as, initially, the business was seeking a suitable Gloucestershire site.

“Having seen Worcester Six, however, Kohler Mira agreed that Worcestershire was the right site for its distribution and training centre.”

Construction could start before the end of the year, subject to planning consent, with a view to delivering Phase 1 by April 2019.

Liz Hazeldene, Managing Director of Kohler Mira, said: “This is an exciting opportunity that reflects our continued investment in the UK. This purpose-built facility is a result of both an increase in

Ecclesiastical looks outside city for new HQ

One of Gloucester’s biggest employers, has revealed plans to move to new headquarters outside the city.

Ecclesiastical Insurance is planning a purpose-built head office at Gloucester Business Park. The new building will accommodate all Gloucester-based employees.

The financial services group has signed an Agreement to Lease with business park owners Arlington, who are now seeking planning approval for the new building.

Ecclesiastical has been in Gloucester since the 1970s and the lease on Beaufort House, its current head office, is due to expire at the end of 2020.

James Raven, Managing Director of Arlington, said; “We are proud to be working alongside Ecclesiastical Insurance to deliver their new HQ.”

Once planning permission is approved, the building is expected to be completed during 2020 with the move taking place before the end of that year.

customer demand and the need to meet future business requirements.”

Stoford director Gerard Ludlow said: “Worcester Six is beginning to gain real momentum and this major inward investment in the region by Kohler Mira demonstrates that it is being recognised as a key business location in the Midlands.”

“This is an exciting opportunity that reflects our continued investment in the UK. This purpose-built facility is a result of both an increase in customer demand and the need to meet future business requirements”

Kohler Mira wants to build a stateof-the-art distribution and office unit at Worcester Six Business Park

Commercial Property

What the new Ecclesiastical HQ could look like

Distribution centre on M40 snapped up by Paloma and Graftongate

Paloma Capital and Graftongate Properties have bought the former Jacobs Douwe Egberts distribution centre in Banbury.

The 200,000 sq ft warehouse sits near Junction 11 of the M40 on a 13.7 acre site next to Waitrose and includes a fiveacre car park.

It will be refurbished by the new owners and is expected to have a completion value of around £20 million.

Jamie Hockaday from Graftongate said: “This is an excellent opportunity to renew the economic life of a core asset, previously occupied by DHL and Aston Martin. There is no competing supply along the M40 between High Wycombe and Birmingham and we are already receiving occupier interest.”

White Commercial and Savills acted for the vendor. Managing Director of White, Chris White, said: “We are currently experiencing good demand from logistics and distribution businesses who are looking for locations in central England.”

Banbury is becoming established as a distribution centre, having attracted companies such as Amazon, Hello Fresh and the Entertainer which recognise the importance of the M40 as a trunking corridor.

Hello, hello. . . Gidney transforms former phone exchange

Gidney Holdings has transformed an iconic Solihull telephone exchange into apartments and office space, with a £3.1million funding package.

The family business, established in 1982, specialises in residential property developments across the Midlands.

It has transformed the former BT telephone exchange building in Poplar Road into 10 apartments with a suite of offices on the ground floor.

The redevelopment was achieved with a £2.3 million loan from Lloyds Commercial Banking and £875,000 from the Housing Growth Partnership.

Andy Gidney, director at Gidney Holdings, said: “The team at Lloyds

Bank has strong sector expertise that has been invaluable in this project and we’re looking forward to starting the next one.”

Vaughan Hobbs, Relationship Director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said:

“The UK housing sector is a buoyant place to be and our latest Housebuilders report showed that SMEs like Gidney Holdings have seen a significant uplift in their growth prospects, with 26 per cent predicting a year-on-year increase in the number of homes they build this year.”

Speculative development in M5 growth corridor steams

Property consultants Bruton Knowles and logistics sector specialists M1 Agency have announced that the owners of Gloucester 12 plan to push ahead with speculative development of a site at Junction 12 of the M5.

A planning application is in the pipeline for the first four buildings, offering 17,000 – 40,000 sq ft of industrial and commercial space within the M5 corridor Growth Zone.

Gloucester 12 is being developed by construction company Sisk Group with Graftongate as development managers.

Graftongate Director Philip Silk said: “This is a significant commitment to take plans forward quickly but also recognition of the strength of the Gloucester economy.”

Robert Smith of Bruton Knowles, joint agents for the site, added: “The shortage

ahead

of suitable premises for small to mid-size growth and growing businesses across multiple sectors is escalating demand so the design of flexible-use units at Gloucester 12 is expected to attract wide interest.”

Chief Executive of GFirst LEP, David Owen, added: “We are delighted to see speculative development on effectively brownfield land. The M5 corridor has great connectivity to the rest of the UK.”

“The UK housing sector is a buoyant place to be and our latest Housebuilders report showed that SMEs like Gidney Holdings have seen a significant uplift”

Stephen Windsor from Housing Growth Partnership, Andy Gidney from Gidney Holdings and Vaughan Hobbs from Lloyds Bank in one of the flats at The Exchange

Refurbished Warwick Technology Park office sold for £13.2 million

Nurton Developments’ One Warwick Technology Park office building has been sold for £13.2 million.

Knight Frank acted on behalf of the local authority purchaser and JLL represented Nurton in a deal reflecting a net initial yield of 6.99 per cent.

The 49,157 sq ft multi-let building is on the 70-acre Warwick Technology Park near Junction 14 of the M40. It was recently refurbished by Nurton Developments to provide Grade A office accommodation over three floors.

The building is fully-let to three main tenants: Delphi Diesel Systems, Baker Hicks and Accenture, and produces a net rental income of £984,658.50 per year.

Rupert Young, development director of Nurton Developments, said: “We’re delighted with the sale of this valueadded opportunity which performed exactly to business plan over a near three-year period.”

FASTENAL SPREADS ITS WINGS IN COVENTRY

The Coventry branch of global giant Fastenal has moved into new premises in the city.

The operation, which provides fasteners, tools and other supplies to the manufacturing industry, has relocated to an 8,700 sq ft unit on the Henley Road Industrial Estate, owned by The Wigley Group.

US-based Fastenal, which has branches in 24 countries worldwide, chose

Coventry as one of its first bases in the UK in 2011 and now has 16 branches in the UK and Ireland.

Kimberley Marsden, general manager of the Coventry branch, said: “Business here is booming and this new unit provides us with room for further growth.

“In the longer term, it may give us the potential to act as a hub to hold and distribute stock to our branches throughout the UK and Ireland.”

Deeley tops out for affordable homes in Leamington

Deeley Construction held a topping out ceremony at a new affordable housing scheme in Leamington Spa.

The regeneration of the brownfield site in Old Milverton Road, formerly home to Dairy Crest, consists of 18 new affordable homes. Four will be available for rent and 14 will be sold as shared ownership.

Martin Gallagher, Managing Director of Deeley Construction, said: “Work has

progressed very well thanks to the strength of the partnership between Deeley, Waterloo Housing Group, Warwick District Council and the local community.”

Anthony Riley, of Waterloo Housing Group, added: “This is one of a series of schemes that we are developing under the W2 Partnership with Warwick DC and Homes England on brownfield sites in the town.”

Princess sails into a new berth in Warwick

Princess Yachts has sailed into a new home in Warwick.

Princess Motor Yacht Sales has moved to a new building in Athena Court, Tachbrook Park, just across the road from its previous base which it shared with Rybrook Holdings.

Warwickshire property company AC Lloyd, which owns Athena

Court and has major holdings in Tachbrook Park, worked with agents Bromwich Hardy to secure the lease.

Princess Motor Yacht Sales is the UK’s official distributor of Princess Yachts, annually selling around 80 new yachts ranging from £400,000 to £19 million.

Managing Director Colin Capewell said it made sense to set up within the

Rybrook group’s offices when they only had four employees but both businesses were growing and needed more space.

“We now have meeting rooms as well as offices for all our staff whether they are based here or travel from Spain, Germany and the UK,” he said. The company is also planning to recruit more staff for its brokerage arm.

Commercial Property

Warwick Technology Park

Kimberley Marsden from Fastenal (second left) with, (l-r) Coventry University placement students Shafyur Rahman and Katie Sclare, and The Wigley Group estates manager Louis Smith at the new unit

Kickstarter

to

Professor Orkun Soyer and Dr

are on a mission to make biosciences research more affordable for schools, professionals and would-be scientists.

Humane Technologies is based at Warwick Science Park’s Ignite incubator, receiving support from the Park’s Business Ready support team.

Their first product is an open source MicrobeMeter, an innovative device that allows users to continuously analyse the cultivation and growth of microbes.

This is only the beginning of their ambitious plans, which is to design a range of affordable open source devices that are essential for conducting bioscience research.

Professor Soyer said: “There is a barrier restricting experimentation and discovery within biosciences and that is the cost of scientific research.

“The technology used by biologists is expensive and hasn’t really moved with the times, so we are offering a product here that is cheaper and more modern.”

Dirk Schafer, business mentor at the University of Warwick Science Park, said: “We are pleased to be assisting Humane Technologies, who I believe have the potential to positively impact on the world of microbiology.”

For more information on MicrobeMeter or Kickstarter, visit www.kickstarter.com/ projects/160868749/ microbemeter-by-humanetechnologies

Kalesh Sasidharan

Two Warwick based scientists have launched a

campaign

bring biology to a whole new audience.

Dirk Schafer, Dr Kalesh Sasidharan and Professor Orkun Soyer

Following major investment, Bloxham Mill in Banbury offers state-of-the-art technology-led commercial space…

Bloxham Mill, a privately-owned enterprise serving the business community of North Oxfordshire, is a central satellite location for businesses, including a number of multi-national FTSE-listed companies.

The Copse @ Bloxham Mill is a newly built self-contained office building set in a stunning semi-rural environment. The Copse offers modern office space and its cutting-edge technology overcomes any problems relating to connectivity normally associated with a rural location.

Built to a sophisticated, technology-led specification, The Copse comprises approximately 8,000 square feet (750 square meters) of luxurious offices set in the grounds of Bloxham Mill – itself a thriving business centre, with over 100 resident and virtual businesses. Within easy reach of Banbury town centre and major motorway networks, and only 20 miles from Oxford, The Copse is now ready to welcome new tenants.

Technically speaking

Built with a future-proofed, state-of-theart technology infrastructure supported by the Bloxham Mill Data Centre, Ray Avery, Managing Director of Bloxham Mill explains: “Bloxham Mill is the only UK business centre to have its own dedicated Data Centre, and we are fully

“The crux of The Copse’s technological edge is that it will draw from Bloxham Mill’s increasingly progressive certified Data Centre via primary and secondary Fiberlink connectivity, and flexibility to scale up bandwidth requirements for specific clients as and when required. The 300mb secure service will be super-resilient and diverse, with automatic failover as part of a sophisticated disaster recovery platform.”

Martin Whittle Chief Operating Officer Ethos Technology

equipped for protection from cyberattack. Getting a good broadband speed is generally challenging in semi-rural areas but our connection speed is super-fast, and we also benefit from strong mobile phone signal. That is good news for our new Copse clients.”

Hi-tech features and benefits include:

 Cloud-based Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone system enabling instant messaging, voice recording and follow-me call routing

 External and internal 24-hour access via bio-metric technology

 A three-tier Videx alarm system configured to a level generally only applied to the highest level requirements

 Fully monitored CCTV

 An external intercom system linked to Bloxham Mill’s main Reception, that can be assigned to any company and any telephone number

 iPad sign-in/sign-out Reception service capable of sending emails, meeting requests and booking rooms

 Electronic charge points for cars directly aligned to government directives for the environment are being installed

Interior perspectives

Whilst the technology ‘backbone’ of The Copse has undoubtedly been a major priority, no less attention has been paid to the interior look, feel and facilities inside the building. The Copse has been built to the highest specification, and furnishings, fixtures and fittings are of exceptional quality in terms of durability and appeal. Meeting and break-out rooms are fully equipped with multi-media facilities and attractive decor.

Ray Avery concludes: “The Copse is a prestigious building, constructed with a future-proof technological infrastructure, and the highest standards expected in today’s working environment.”

The Copse @ Bloxham Mill At-a-glance

 8,000 square feet of open-plan office space

 Terms: 5-year lease with 3-year break clause by either party

 High spec technology infrastructure – including 300MB Broadband connectivity

 Data centre services available

 24-hr access via bio-metric technology

 24-hr tier-three security

 Air conditioning

 Kitchen area in each office

 Meeting rooms

 Break-out areas

 Quiet zones

 On-site catering (Reg’s Café at Bloxham Mill)

 On-site car parking

“The Copse is ideally suited for individual businesses requiring an office, or a complete floor, or even for entire occupancy by a head office of an international, national or regional organisation. It is a prestigious addition to our Bloxham Mill “family” and I am looking forward to seeing it prosper in the months ahead. Working at The Copse will give businesses not only a room with an amazing view, but the best technological connectivity around.”

Ray Avery, Managing Director Bloxham Mill

For more information on The Copse @ Bloxham Mill please call Ray Avery: 01295 722 800 | 07917 005 205 ray.avery@bloxhammill.com

OXFORD BIOMEDICA BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO FORMER ROYAL MAIL SORTING OFFICE

The former Royal Mail sorting office in Oxford, renamed OxBox, is to be given a new lease of life after being taken over by an expanding biotech company.

Oxford BioMedica has taken on the 84,000 sq ft development at Oxford Business Park on a 15-year lease. It was founded in 1995 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford’s Department of Biochemistry and has since developed into a leading gene and cell therapy company.

The sorting office, formerly known as the Oxford Mail Centre, closed its doors in June 2009.

Oxford BioMedica is starting a twophase fitout of the building funded by its £20.5 million share placing secured earlier this year.

This will see the installation of 45,000 sq ft of clean rooms, offices,

HSBC opts to stick with Botley

HSBC has relocated to new Oxford premises less than a mile from its previous home.

It has taken on 3,200 sq ft at Hanborough House in Walbrook Court, Botley after moving from nearby Midland House on a 10-year lease.

Agents VSL & Partners acted for landlords Mayfair Capital Investment Management.

Richard Venables, director of VSL &

“This facility has been vacant for almost 10 years and an investment of this scale by a local company represents a huge vote of confidence in the local economy and its burgeoning biotech sector”

warehousing and laboratories with space left over for future expansion.

Up to 100 highly skilled jobs will be created, adding to the company’s existing 400-strong workforce.

Director of Commercial Property Consultancy VSL, Andrew Lockhart, said: “This facility has been vacant for almost 10 years and an investment of this scale by a local company represents a huge vote of confidence in the local economy and its burgeoning biotech sector.”

Buckingham wins contract for Carterton Leisure Centre

The Buckingham Group has been appointed as main contractor on the major expansion of Carterton Leisure Centre.

Plans include new changing rooms, a four-court badminton sports hall and an indoor trampoline park.

The centre, which opened in 2003, will also get a new café, its gym will be upgraded and some of the original building will be reconfigured to create new fitness and spinning studios and a crèche. The car park will be extended.

Building work will be completed by October 2019.

The plans are part of a 10-year, £9.3 million investment programme secured by the Council last year with GLL Better, its leisure services contractor.

Speculative development in Wantage pays off at Grove Business Park

NFU Mutual, Penman Consulting and Forensic Access have completed leases to take office space in the new 10,500 sq ft Aspect House development at Grove Business Park in Wantage.

NFU Mutual has chosen Grove Business Park for its new regional office, Penman is relocating from Faringdon, and Forensic Access is expanding. Aspect House was a speculative development initiative.

Partners said: “Botley is the hub of Oxford’s professional services and HSBC were keen to ensure they retained their presence here while improving their accommodation.”

“It was a bold move for us which paid off,” said Richard Lyall, Project Director at Grove Business Park Ltd. “We fully believe that Wantage needs this quality of office space and the fact that we had this building fully committed before construction was complete was testament to this.”

OxBox is the new home of Oxford BioMedica

Commercial Property

HSBC has new premises in Botley

GLOBAL BEAUTY BRAND CHOOSES THE BREWERY FOR ITS NEW INTERNATIONAL HQ

Cheltenham-based beauty brand SLG has revealed plans to open a new international HQ in Cheltenham where it will consolidate 120 staff from its Cheltenham and Gloucester sites.

The global company is the powerhouse behind a wave of beauty and male grooming brands including COLAB Dry Shampoo, LMX by Little Mix, Zoella Beauty, Johnny’s Chop Shop and Superdry Performance Grooming.

Work has begun on a £2.5 million fitout of the 27,000 sq ft premises on the first floor of The Brewery Quarter in Henrietta Street. SLG aims to have the new HQ up and running by January 2019.

The new space will include design features such as a 20ft shipping container

Plasterers join forces and plump for new premises at Bond’s Mill

Two plasterers have taken the plunge, joined forces and leased new premises at Bond’s Mill in Stonehouse.

Rich Fletcher and Clive Noble, now trading as Stroud Machine Plastering Ltd, have taken on an office and store on a twoyear lease at the business park, owned by Robert Hitchins Ltd.

The pair had been working together for 11 years, each with their own company: Rich as NW Plastering from Stonehouse, and Clive as CA Noble Plastering Services from Stroud.

“The Bond’s Mill premises are perfect. We’re really enjoying being part of the

staff shop, upcycled vintage phone boxes, café and bar area and a transparent orange meeting cube.

CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Miles Dunkley, said: “We have long felt that the work environment is vital in stimulating creative thinking and intent. As a trend and fashion geared business, we wanted to take full advantage of this office move and create the most incredible work space we could.”

SLG was founded in 1985 by Miles’ parents, Graham and Bobbie Dunkley, who manufactured cosmetic sponges and powder puffs.

Still privately owned, the company turned over £38 million last year. It has a satellite office in Shanghai.

Stroud forges ahead to provide commercial units for start-ups

Speculative commercial units offering 18,350 sq ft of employment space have been developed by St Modwen for Stroud District Council to provide rental space for start-ups and small businesses.

They join the eight business units already occupied at Littlecombe Business Park in Lister Road, Dursley as part of the overall provision of 100,000 sq ft of commercial premises planned for the development.

Pete Davies, Development Director for St Modwen West and Wales, said: “Stroud District Council, decided to speculatively buy these new units to meet local business demand and attract investment to Dursley.”

The wider Littlecombe development provides 92 acres of mixed-use facilities comprising 450 new homes and apartments, employment space, a community hospital and 40 acres of green open space.

BizSpace invests £6 million in new Gloucester site

BizSpace, the largest provider of flexible workspace with offices and workshops across the UK, is opening its second business centre in Gloucester.

vibrant business community on site and have already found reciprocal business among the other tenants,” said Rich.

Helen Hawke from Robert Hitchins was pleased to welcome the plasterers to Bond’s Mill which sits alongside the Stroudwater Canal in a mix of refurbished Victorian mill buildings and modern commercial premises.

Once the HQ of Birds Eye Wall’s, the campus at Barnwood Point Business Park consists of two buildings, providing more than 43,000 sq ft of office space over three and four floors.

Purchased for £3 million in December 2017, BizSpace has invested a further £3 million into refurbishing the second building, inside and out. It has created 75 serviced offices, ranging from 125 to 2,500 sq ft, together with communal areas, an updated reception and co-working space.

Plasterers Clive Noble and Rich Fletcher with Helen Hawke from Robert Hitchins

SLG’s new beauty brand HQ

WORCESTERSHIRE

PROPERTY Commercial

Work has started on Asparagus Point, a new industrial estate at Vale Park, Evesham.

Property company Hortons’ Estate Limited is speculatively building 39,450 sq ft, comprising eight units ranging in size from 3,500 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft.

A 15,000 sq ft unit is also being built on behalf of Leamington Spabased storage, removals and van hire company Squab which acquired the freehold property from Hortons’ Estate earlier this year.

NEW WAREHOUSE AT HARTLEBURY GETS THE GO-AHEAD

Councillors have granted planning permission for a major design and build opportunity at Hartlebury Trading Estate in Worcestershire.

Hartlebury 30 will provide 30,000 sq ft of warehouse and office space as well as a yard area and 58 car parking spaces.

Rupert Jeffries, of Collingwood Rigby, asset manager for the estate, said: “Demand for opportunities at Hartlebury Trading Estate is high and we want to be able to offer prospective new occupiers a new building built to the latest modern standards.

Hartlebury Trading Estate houses 90 businesses in 130 buildings ranging from 500 sq ft to more than 100,000 sq ft covering 230 acres.

Occupiers include FedEx, TNT, Wyvern Furniture, FW Hipkin, Concept Furniture and Forest Garden.

More than £3 million is being ploughed into upgrading and enhancing the estate, owned by Schroder Real Estate Fund since 2013. Improvements include new security systems, new roofing and a digital system to deter seagulls.

Construction company J Tomlinson was awarded the £2.6 million contract to build the scheme. Work is scheduled to complete in December.

Richard Norgrove, property director at Hortons’ Estate, said: “There’s a scarcity of good quality industrial units in Evesham which is why we have committed to speculatively building nearly 40,000 sq ft at Asparagus Point.”

Agents for the development are Fisher German and Harris Lamb.

The Agent’s view

Our regular new slot offers commercial property agents an opportunity to highlight recent projects. Here, Andrew Grant of Andrew Grant Estate Agents discusses the sale of the former 19th century St Mary’s Convent School, Battenhall, Worcester.

“This circa £5 million deal saw the former main house and school buildings sold to Enterprise Property Group Ltd with full planning permission to turn it into a fantastic retirement village.

“The scheme received significant consideration from the planning authorities for the use of the property in

a very sensible way, especially as it benefits the community. The planning granted was for 100 units together with the communal areas to create a care community. The main Grade II Listed house remains, parts of which will provide communal use.

“St Mary’s was a popular and wellregarded independent nursery and school until its closure in 2014. The main school on which the planning was granted extended to some 44,712 sq ft with a total area of about 6.4 acres.”

£3 million of improvements are under way at Hartlebury Trading Estate

Diggers have moved in to Asparagus Point

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