Technology is now a necessity for us all. But is it benefiting society?
In this issue (pages 10-17) we look at the power of technology to do good, profile innovative “tech for good” businesses, from one producing sustainable energy to another developing bionic arms and yet another using virtual reality to treat mental health issues.
But great technology can only be developed by those with good digital skills. And there’s a problem. Thousands of digital job vacancies currently remain unfilled. It gets worse: a further three million new jobs requiring digital skills will be created in the UK by 2025. If you’re looking to change your career, enrol on a digital skills course. Read our skills feature (pages 66-67) to find out more.
The construction industry is also suffering from a lack of skilled workers. But the sector has other things to worry about too as the government demands it builds more new homes.
However, while they want housebuilders to build more sustainably, ministers have yet to set a standard which is frustrating those across the whole sector.
A number of housebuilders are taking matters into their own hands by setting their own high standards in building zero carbon homes and we’ve spoken to some of them in our special feature (pages 102-104).
Are you suffering from FOBO? (that’s the fear of being overlooked). If you’re working from home but your colleagues are back in the office, this could mean you’re overlooked for promotion. But perhaps you’re worried about returning to work?
Your employer can help. Companies are demanding their landlords make offices feel safer and more attractive. We look at the relatively new art of placemaking being rolled out in offices, business parks and commercial areas across the region. And we don’t just mean a bunch of fresh flowers on the reception desk, some landlords are investing significant sums (pages 94-99).
This year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise were announced in April, celebrating excellence in innovation and exporting. Many companies across the region received awards and our manufacturing focus (pages 52-57 and pages 72-73), looks at some of the innovations currently under way in this sector.
And if you’re after innovation, we have three amazing interviews.
Quantum computing is the Next Big Thing, but do you understand it? Luckily one of the UK’s most inspiring young quantum physicists patiently explains quantum computing in words of mostly two syllables in my interview with her. I think I understood. Read my interview
with Ilana Wisby (pages 82-84) to see if I succeeded.
Gloucestershire celebrated this year when ZeroAvia, the company pioneering hydrogen-powered flight, relocated from Cambridge to the Cotswolds. We spoke to the company to find out more about its incredible ambition to achieve zero-carbon flight by 2030 (pages 74-76).
Fast fashion is so last year. With the growing popularity of second-hand clothing websites such as Depop and Preloved, what does that mean for UK clothing brands? For Tewkesbury-based fashion retailer Weird Fish it means a commitment to sustainable fashion and ethical supply. Read our interview with boss John Stockton (pages 28-30).
From an Oxford spin-out company developing meat-free food (page 86-93), to profiles on Bicester, Malvern Hills Science Park and the man responsible for Stroud’s new shopping centre, along with our usual business news from across the region, your magazine is again packed full of mustread information to keep you on top of what’s going on across the region.
Technology is getting us through the pandemic. And while using it to work or learn from home can be a challenge, without it our economy would be in an even worse shape, and the economic bounce-back we are seeing, which has surprised even the experts, wouldn’t be happening as fast.Kirsty Muir Commercial Director and Co-Publisher Nicky Godding Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher
SKILLS 66
Digital skills are in demand, and what’s the future for apprenticeships?
The Morgan Motor Company, which has been hand building classic cars in Malvern since 1910, has completed a major redevelopment of its visitor attraction, the Morgan Experience Centre in the town.
It is now open to visitors throughout the week and every Saturday.
The investment follows the purchase in 2019 of a majority share in the British company by European investment Group Investindustrial. The Morgan family retains a shareholding.
The new Archive Room hosts more than a century of artefacts, documents, photographs and footage that chart the unique history of the brand. The centrepiece is a full-length cabinet housing items of historical significance.
Morgan produces around 850 models a year, of which more than 70 per cent are exported.
CNG fuels, the UK’s leading operator of compressed natural gas refuelling infrastructure, is to open the world’s largest public access biomethane refuelling station for HGVs in Bristol.
The station, being built near the M4/M5 junction by the Reading-based company, will allow fleet operators to run vehicles on low-carbon fuel. It will be open by the end of the year.
Biomethane is derived from organic waste, such as food waste, treated in
an anaerobic digester where microbes break down the organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas, which is then cleaned and converted to biomethane.
The Avonmouth station will be capable of refuelling 80 HGVs an hour from 14 high speed dispensers. It will join six existing refuelling stations already operational across the UK, and CNG Fuels expects to open a further 14 stations by the end of 2022 to meet growing demand.
A long-established, family-owned dairy company is building a 7,000 sq m headquarters just outside Stonehouse near Stroud.
Dairy Partners, which manufactures mozzarella and pizza cheese for some of the world’s biggest food producers, alongside other dairy products, is investing in new production and storage, as well as offices, a test kitchen and café. The building is on track for completion early next year. The company also has a manufacturing facility in Carmarthenshire.
Dreams, the High Wycombe-based UK bed and mattress retailer, is being bought by USA-based Tempur Sealy International from Sun European Partners for an expected purchase price of approximately £340 million. Dreams’ management team will stay in place.
With 2,000 employees across the UK, Dreams sells 11,500 mattresses, bases
and headboards per week through its network of more than 200 stores and online. It makes its own-brand mattresses in Oldbury, West Midlands.
The sale is a marker of the turnaround Dreams has achieved over the last eight years. The company has delivered six years of consecutive growth and generated sales of approximately £327 million in 2020.
Hundreds of tiny worms are going where no worm has gone before, as they fly to the International Space Station as part of an experiment to understand more about human muscle loss and how to prevent it.
Using hardware designed by Oxfordshire-based Kayser Space, a research team aims to determine the causes of muscle changes during spaceflight and find ways to mitigate these biological changes.
Discovering more about muscle loss in space should expand our understanding of how ageing a ects our muscles; this could lead to more e ective therapies and new treatments for muscular dystrophies here on Earth.
Surprising as it might be to learn, the worms currently heading into space share many of the essential biological characteristics of us humans and are a ected by biological changes in space, including alterations to muscle and the ability to use energy.
Postponed for more than five months thanks to the killjoy pandemic, Coventry’s City of Culture celebrations finally kicked off in June, the first event of scale to be held in the UK since Covid-19 ruined everyone’s fun.
The celebrations began with a major all-day performance. With more than 500 people involved, a total of 43 performances reached all 18 city wards, thanks to 50 heritage Coventry-made cars in cavalcades accompanied by Bhangra, Ska and Irish dancers.
Three custom artist-made trikes led 20 miles of cycle and walking processions, supported by electric taxis, support and production vehicles. Performances were amplified through 120 battery-powered speakers.
Coventry City of Culture celebrations run throughout the year. Previous hosts of the government-sponsored City of Culture celebrations, including Derry/Londonderry and Hull, saw major boosts in tourism and increased business investment following their year in the spotlight.
The worms will be housed in culture bags inside 24 matchboxsized experiment containers, each containing three bags. Once on board the International Space Station, the containers will be placed into the incubator in the station’s Columbus Module. The experiment will take place over a week.
David Zolesi, Kayser Space Managing Director, said: “This launch is the second of a series of three life science payloads developed by Kayser Space to fly to the International Space Station within three years.”
Approximately two million people have started a side project during lockdown, according to Virgin Startup which helps founders kick start new businesses.
But few will put in the hard graft to turn their side hustle into a serious business.
Schoolfriends Will Clapham and Jonathan Jones put their enforced furlough spare time to good use last year thinking up new business ideas to keep themselves motivated. And when they discovered a drink being enjoyed in Japan wasn’t available in the UK, they reckoned that idea could be a winner.
The drink was a whisky seltzer which Jonathan had enjoyed on a trip there,
After much research, business planning, expert advice and (the best bit) tastings done among friends and family during lockdown barbecues last summer, Will and Jonathan launched Mogul & Dram.
It is, they are fairly sure, currently the UK’s only flavoured whisky soda in a can.
Their new brand taps into the fastgrowing hard seltzer market, currently worth more than £10 million in the UK and predicted to rise to £73 million by 2023.
Hard seltzers contain alcohol and carbonated water with a variety of fruit and other flavourings added.
A whisky and soda is a great introduction to whisky for those who’ve not tried it, said Jonathan, and the seltzer market is increasingly popular with younger adults.
According to Tom Mallett at brand consultancy Kantar: “Hard seltzers represent a shift away from the sugary image once associated with ready-todrink products, offering a low-calorie option likely to appeal to healthconscious consumers.”
Furlough led to redundancy from their marketing roles for them both, but by then Will and Jonathan had spoken to industry advisers, including a flavour consultancy in Newbury and Gloucestershire’s Growth Hub, and decided to launch their idea as a business.
“We were challenged on our business plan but overall, everyone felt it was a good concept,” Will added.
The Stroud-based pair have come up with a light, tasty drink which has a small number of carefully selected and measured ingredients. But making a small quantity for a few people is one
thing. Scaling up costs money. They both invested £5,000 and together secured a start-up loan of £25,000.
The funding paid for Bristol design agency Orca to work with them on the name, look and feel of the brand.
It also paid for their first big production run, being done by a company in the East Midlands.
Will and Jonathan are now selling direct to the public through their website and social media channels and marketing to independent food and drink outlets. Later they aim to engage with buyers from larger supermarket chains.
“We are launching in Gloucestershire, Bristol and Southwest London. If we gain a strong foothold in the places we know best, it will make expansion easier,” said Will.
“Now it’s all about getting drams in hands,” he added.
Both men have loved abandoning corporate life to launch their own business.
“With the world in turmoil and while we were on furlough, we didn’t want to waste the opportunity,” said Jonathan. “I loved the sampling we did. Engaging with strangers trying our drink was great.”
What surprised Will most is how much he’s enjoying the financial side of the business. “The bit I thought would be the most boring I’ve enjoyed the most, I’m learning so much.”
And they’re not stopping at just one whisky soda. There’s a whole range to be developed. “We want to do special editions, more varieties and we’re already looking at other potential products,” said Jonathan.
“Hard seltzers represent a shift away from the sugary image once associated with ready to drink products ...” have business.Jonathan Jones and Will Clapham with a Mogul & Dram
Technology can be a force for good. It is also riddled with unintended consequences.
However, in monetary terms, it seems it pays to be good. In 2019, Scaleup accelerator Tech Nation revealed that the UK is a global centre for socially responsible technology innovation. “Tech for social good” companies were worth £2.3 billion in 2018, with a collective turnover of £732 million.
But the man who invented the World Wide Web, the most adopted technology in the world, has said that too much power and personal data now lies with companies such as Google and Facebook. Through his new business Inrupt, Tim Berners-Lee, a graduate of University of Oxford, wants to put individuals back in control.
This feature showcases companies putting technology to good social use.
Buying energy is expensive, and for years it’s been an utterly miserable chore. But some disruptive companies are putting a rocket under the sector, from the pioneering Stroud-based Ecotricity to Good Energy in Chippenham.
While not based in the region, one of the UK’s most successful tech for good businesses is an energy company, and it’s a great case study on technology as a game changer for business and consumers.
Octopus Energy is a renewable energy supplier. At just five years old, and with revenues of more than £2.4 billion, its killer product is the company’s proprietary customer management platform, Kraken, which it licenses out to other energy providers around the world, such as E.ON and Good Energy in the UK and Origin Energy in Australia.
For decades the energy industry was characterised by bad customer service. But Octopus’s founders, including the company’s Group CEO, Greg Jackson, knew technology could transform the sector. Octopus Energy is driving down the
cost of supplying energy to its customers, and Kraken is a key part of that.
Zoisa North-Bond is CEO of both Octopus Energy for Business and Octopus Energy Generation, which manages the company’s wind and solar projects. With almost a decade of knowledge in this fast-growing sector, she understands the priorities.
“Everything is about our customers. How do we make their lives easier, from managing their energy bills, affording green energy to charging their vehicles?”
Until recently, Octopus Energy bought energy exclusively on the wholesale markets. It is now acquiring wind turbines to generate its own energy, as well as buying Octopus Renewables from parent company Octopus Group. This company generates around 2.8 gigawatts from around 300 projects across the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, France, and Spain.
Everything is driven through its Kraken software (which has more than two million Octopus Energy customers in the UK, a further 15 million through license
Technology has changed the world for ever, but is that a good thing? Yes, if it’s put to good use
agreements and with ambitions to grow to 100 million users globally by 2027).
The company is also doing its bit to help businesses buy sustainable energy.
“In two UK regions we offer tariffs linked to local solar farms,” said Zoisa. “Our technology enables a new customer to make a £50 donation to local charities, and if they want they can also visit the solar or wind farm. This approach is capturing the imaginations of businesses large and small.”
Another tech innovation is the company’s pioneering Agile Octopus tariff, which tracks fluctuating energy prices on the wholesale markets every half hour.
“When energy prices dip we text customers to suggest they charge their car or use appliances when the prices are cheaper,” explained Zoisa.
Octopus has also trialled Agile Octopus in the vertical farming industry, where crops are grown indoors in a controlled environment. It’s an innovative method of farming, but is expensive on energy.
“We experimented to see whether vegetable or salad crops know whether it’s night or day,” said Zoisa. “They don’t. As long as they have the right number of hours of light, it doesn’t matter – so growers can use electricity at times when it’s cheapest.”
Kraken is also helping solve the issue of EV car charging. “Currently EV drivers must use different apps to pay for charging on the many different networks,” said Zoisa. “Our Electric Juice Network allows payment through one app and it appears on one bill – even on your energy bill if you are an Octopus customer.”
Energy is energy, regardless of where you buy it from. But the selection of providers inevitably comes down to cost, customer service and increasingly ethical commitments. And Octopus Energy’s technology is helping it deliver on all three.
There are literally hundreds, probably thousands, of tech-for-good companies across the region.
We haven’t got space to list them all. So here’s 10 which recently caught our eye.
Developing techniques to incorporate graphene into Lithium-ion batteries to improve battery life and charging times, while reducing their cost
LatchAid Cirencester Breastfeeding support app for mothers and mothers-to-be
Ohbot Stroud
Open Bionics Bristol
Oxford Brain Diagnostics Oxford
Oxford VR Oxford
Sense Biodetection Abingdon
Sign Solutions Worcester
Qmee Reading
Designs and manufactures affordable robots to teach children digital skills such as coding
Developing affordable, assistive devices that enhance the human body. Its Hero Arm is a multi-grip bionic hand
Breakthrough technology aiming to change the way dementia is assessed
Developing automated VR therapy to treat mental health conditions
Developing rapid, instrument-free molecular diagnostics testing for bacterial and viral infections
Video interpretation app allowing deaf people instant access to an interpreter, relaying messages to the individual the deaf person is trying to engage with
A free app enabling users to share opinions through tailored surveys and with cash rewards when shopping and searching online. It helps brands get more accurate information while benefitting consumers
We Are Digital Coventry
Measures not only profit but social impact. Delivering digital training for housing associations, financial support services for customers of major high street banks and digital projects for central government
“Tech for social good companies were worth £2.3 billion in 2018, with a turnover of £732 million ...”
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Oxfordshire-based TechPixies launched in 2015 as a pilot project funded by Better Broadband for Oxfordshire and the Oxfordshire County Council to help women wanting to boost their digital skills ahead of returning to work.
The project initially worked with 12 women and had a 100 per cent success rate after they all either returned to work or launched a business. TechPixies has since helped thousands of women upskill.
Earlier this year the founder, Joy Foster, was a finalist in the Tech for Good awards, the latest of many such achievements since she launched the project.
When the global pandemic hit the UK in March of 2020, Joy set up and ran multiple free training programmes to help women quickly upskill with modern technology.
More than 16,000 women have now registered for this free training programme.
By Tris Dyson, Managing Director and Founder, Nesta Challenges
Nesta is the UK’s innovation foundation for social good. We develop and run prizes to support those whose innovations could solve the great problems of our time.
We help level the playing field for small businesses and innovators who, too often, are overlooked by traditional R&D grant funding.
Nesta’s Challenge Prize identifies a problem that needs to be solved but where solutions have not been forthcoming.
It then incentivises innovations by rewarding the first or best proven solution to that problem with a significant cash prize.
Rather than prescribing what the solution should be, this prize method supports the most promising ideas in order to develop and progress them, allowing innovators to pivot and iterate in pursuit of the final reward.
This prize method de-risks investment for funders, opening the field to newcomers and unknowns – whether a commercial offshoot of a university research team, a start-up, or even someone working in their garden shed.
Other organisations have done this. In the USA, the Ansari XPrize promoted innovation in private space flight. The winner went on to become Virgin Galactic. Another programme, The DARPA driverless vehicle prizes, have seen competing innovators become pioneers in the American automotive sector.
In the UK, Nesta Challenges has run prizes in diagnostic technology to tackle superbugs, with teams pursuing the £8 million Longitude Prize. In finance, the Open Up challenges spurred the development of new banking services from start-ups that have gone on to become household names.
Foster,Joy said: “Tech for Good is the way of the future. Consumers want sociallyminded businesses - whether that is environmentally or equality and diversity conscious. It is important that no one gets left behind.
“Tech controls nearly all aspects of our lives and so it is important that people from all backgrounds and walks of life are able to access it, use it and more importantly have a say in how it is built.”
We recently announced the six finalists in the running for the £3 million Rapid Recovery Challenge.
Each secured £150,000 to develop technologies that help people access jobs and financial support post-Covid.
We are currently working with Ofwat’s £200 million innovation fund to bring forward new thinking that addresses challenges facing the water sector.
Harnessing technology to drive positive social change is more important than ever. At a time of so many societal challenges, helping release the untapped potential of innovators with the brightest and boldest ideas is essential.
Challenge prizes offer an open platform for innovators to demonstrate the potential of their ideas, with the winners and finalists going on to make real-world change.
Like the majority of inventions, the concept of Plinx came about to solve a problem encountered by Founder and CEO, Tommy Williams. After a day surfing five years ago, and very much aware of the risks of being swept away from his original location without trace, Tommy set about devising a wearable sensor which would send an alert if a user strayed away from a particular area. The initial concept was designed to help people surfing but it soon become apparent that the design had wider potential and in 2019, after time spent refining the idea and design, Plinx launched its product refocused on the construction market.
Using a combination of tags, a company is able to monitor the location and proximity of the things it cares about. It can set up zones which alert users can be monitored and recorded centrally.
• TEAMTag is helmet mounted and designed to protect people enabling them to remain a safe distance away from hazards. It can also support lone working via a built in SOS feature and provides 360degree protection to users.
• HAZARDTag is mounted on cones and allows safe or exclusion zones to be created. These tags will alert if a user or equipment gets too close to a deep excavation or a restricted area for example.
• MACHINETag monitors interaction between plant and users and the respective hazards associated with them such as proximity to equipment which is moving or lifting.
Tags are connected to the cloud through PLINX’s own proprietary wireless network which extends up to 3 miles from a single network device. Plinx’s cloud platform “Intel” then provides a real-time view of hazards as well as historical data and an event log which can be used to monitor
zones of concern. The data remains anonymous unless it needs to be identified (such as for Track and Trace).
In 2020, Tommy and his team realised that the product had additional uses during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLINX’s highly accurate proximity monitoring meant that users could be reliably alerted if they came within the 2m of others, minimising the spread of COVID. As restrictions ease and the world looks at ways of living with COVID on a longer-term basis, the team at Plinx are now refocusing on the original safety benefits of the tags. Large scale projects including HS2 have placed significant orders with PLINX to better protect their workforce.
Plinx is already being recognised for the technology they are bringing to market, winning the Health, Safety and Wellbeing category at the Highways UK Intelligent Infrastructure competition in September 2020.
Since first working with Tommy in 2019, BPE Solicitors has supported Plinx to take what is an incredible and useful invention to market. From support with legal documentation and contracts through to advising on commercialisation to enable Plinx to sell into some of the biggest multinational firms, Emma Hickson, David Gray and Tara Kirkham-Evans at BPE used their knowledge of the sector and inhouse experience to help to maximise opportunities.
What started as a great idea at the kitchen table has now turned into a sustainable and rapidly growing business employing 10 people and with designs to double that by the end of 2021. Clearly ambitious and wanting to realise the benefits for the technology they have created, Plinx are one to watch as they continue their growth and development.
“Plinx is already being recognised for the technology they are bringing to market ...”David Gray, Consultant Solicitor in the Cyber and Technology team, BPE Solicitors.
This summer, the value of wheat globally is skyrocketing thanks to the worst drought that Brazil has experienced in 60 years.
That knowledge nugget might not be of interest to an engineer or cyber security expert. But it will be of great interest if you’re a farmer, food producer or operating in any part of that supply chain.
Surprisingly, there apparently hasn’t been one easily accessible source of sector analysis and insight which is equally
readable for food chain experts and the farmers themselves. Until now.
James Bolesworth established CRM Agri in Cirencester around six years ago. The company compiles and analyses data to help those involved in any part of the agriculture sector make better informed decisions. Last year the company took this a stage further and launched Graintab, an on-demand market intelligence allowing businesses to make clearer, better informed decisions and manage market volatility more effectively.
James has been working in agricultural commodities and risk management for years, working primarily with farmers. Launching Graintab has allowed his team to share intelligence with a much wider market. The daily Graintab report now has around 30,000 reads a month from a global readership. Currently the company has subscribers from 37 countries.
“Our free daily report which goes out every evening, aims to offer a simple analysis of what’s happening across the global agriculture sector.”
Albotherm, a University of Bristol spin-out company developing passive cooling technologies, has secured seed funding to support the development of its variable shading system.
The company’s technology reduces
energy usage in agriculture and buildings. Its temperature-responsive glass coating reflects sunlight, reducing the energy needed to cool agricultural, domestic and commercial buildings, which is expected to account for 13 per cent of global energy by 2050.
Albotherm’s smart transitioning coating technology regulates the temperature of surfaces without the need for energy input. When temperatures rise above a trigger temperature, the technology transitions from clear to white, reflecting away unwanted light to prevent overheating.
The independent, family-run recruitment specialist, founded in Birmingham in 1961, is still breaking new ground, innovating and making inroads into new sectors.
Tim Watts is the lifetime president of the company, based in Meriden, between Coventry and Birmingham. It was his mum, Constance Watts, who asked her husband to help with a £500 loan to start a recruitment business, though she had no formal training and knew little about the sector. She did, though, see an opportunity and, fuelled by determination to succeed, she opened a small office on Temple Street, in Birmingham. In the summer of 1970, a second office was opened in Wolverhampton. It was at this point that Tim came on board, offering to run the new branch on a “temporary basis”. The rest, as they say, is history.
Despite the name coming from a mix of Permanent and Temporary, reflecting the fact that Pertemps has always catered for both temp and perm solutions for corporate clients and candidates themselves, the company is seen by many as primarily a provider of temporary roles.
However, under the Pertemps Network Group (PNG) banner, which incorporates scores of complementary companies, some of them niche sector specialists, nearly 50 per cent of income comes from the permanent category.
This year the company is on track to further increase turnover, something it was not far off last year, despite the well-documented challenges all sectors of business had with lockdown. Pertemps found it was very much in demand helping organisations coping with
shifting demands created by Covid, notably in logistics and healthcare. Its network of 200 offices were quickly up and running and open once it was allowed and safe to do so.
“We can offer clients very flexible solutions to help them adjust as their marketplace moves,” said Tim, who just 13 when his mum founded the company.
“The last year, as everyone knows, has presented unprecedented challenges. Because of our experience, the talent in our ranks and our focus on customer service, we have been able to roll with the punches and help our clients deal with the evolving situation.
“For some of our workers, this has meant reassigning them to other areas. For some clients, it has meant supplying many more suitable candidates to enable them to increase their production, distribution, customer service delivery, or whatever.
“Recruitment is a very competitive and fast-moving sector. Pertemps has not been around for 60 years for no reason. That gives both candidates and clients confidence in our ability to get the best result for them and peace of mind that they are dealing with a recruitment partner who will be by their side through thick and thin.”
It’s all a long way from 1961, when Mrs Watts’s turnover in the first year was £50,000 – a fantastic achievement in itself at the time.
To mark the diamond anniversary this year, Pertemps is hosting a three-day celebration at the end of July, including an awards ceremony and family party. The family element is an important one at the firm. This not just because of the obvious family connection between Tim and Connie, or the fact that it remains privately owned. It is actually an Employee Benefit Trust, which means all staff can share part of the company and benefit from its success.
This has helped foster an environment of strong team spirit, dedication and determination to succeed. This sets the company apart – and, of course, reflect the values on which the company was founded by Mrs Watts all those years ago.
“Many things have changed, but some things have not,” added Tim.
For most, reaching 60 might be a time to slow down, take it easy and rest on your laurels. Not at Pertemps.
“Recruitment is a very competitive and fastmoving sector. Pertemps has not been around for 60 years for no reason”.
Tim Watts, Lifetime President
As the use of drones increases exponentially, aviation technology company Altitude Angel is helping to safely integrate fully autonomous drones into our busy global airspace.
Altitude Angel says it is the world’s leading UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology provider and last year it raised a further £4 million in funding from Octopus Ventures, bringing the total invested in the company in 2020 to more than £7 million.
Its UTM platform allows Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) and manned aircraft to operate harmoniously in shared skies.
Through the widespread adoption of UTM platforms, governments and authorities will be able to begin building the superhighways of the future – networks of interlinking drone corridors which will revolutionise the transportation of goods; from medical supplies and fast-food deliveries to ‘Amazon-like’ parcel drop off and collections.
The potential of drones to radically transform all sorts of industries is huge but for it to be viable, a system is needed to manage drones and, eventually, other types of unmanned air traffic at scale.
Altitude Angel’s technology allows highly automated drones to be safely integrated within a nation’s airspace, allowing drones to be used to survey infrastructure, deliver small parcels, or even deliver important medical supplies, such as donor organs, without disturbing normal air traffic.
Hyperbat, one of the UK’s largest independent vehicle battery manufacturers based at Unipart Manufacturing in Coventry, is using the latest 5G-enabled technology to significantly speed up the manufacturing process for hybrid and electric vehicle production in the UK.
Partnering with BT and Ericsson, among others, Hyperbat is to roll out a world-
first 5G Virtual Reality (VR) “digital twin” solution which allows remote teams in different parts of the country to connect, collaborate and interact using a virtual 3D engineering model. By enabling dispersed teams across design, engineering and manufacturing to collaborate more efficiently, the technology is set to accelerate the pace of innovation within the UK manufacturing sector.
Fertility Focus, the Warwick-based manufacturer of fertility monitoring solutions, has launched OvuFirst, a patented sensor designed to measure skin temperature.
The technology providies women with an understanding of when to try and conceive naturally, and enabling them to determine what issues they may have trying to conceive.
By wearing the sensor on the arm or wrist overnight, OvuFirst confirms a woman’s fertile window with more than 90 per cent accuracy, it says, even if she has irregular cycles.
Fertility Focus CEO, Robert Milnes, said: “We used our OvuSense patented technology to develop the most accurate skin-worn fertility monitoring sensor available on the market.”
COVENTRY FIRM USING “WORLD-FIRST”
5GHyperbat
The Enreach team combines futureproof technology with a formidable team of over 130 colleagues in the UK and 1,000 colleagues across Europe. As a result, they’re an unstoppable force in the UK telecoms market. As the go-to provider for SMEs when it comes to award-winning business communications, the Enreach UK team have been making moves in the industry for over 20 years.
Following 18 months of uncertainty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Enreach team has gone from strength to strength in the UK. As a provider of everything a business needs to work wonders, the team have helped thousands of businesses to work their magic from home to ensure full business continuity in extremely challenging circumstances.
Offering everything from business phone systems to IT solutions, business grade broadband and mobiles, the provider has three industry-leading flagship products to ensure their customers are on top of their game. As well as futureproof technology, the provider has a unique team set up to ensure their customers’ needs are met and that customer service that is second to none.
Unbeatable technology is the norm at Enreach, with three flagship products under their belt the Enreach team have thrived in the past 18 months by ensuring their customers have everything they need to work effectively throughout the pandemic.
HD Touch, the provider’s leading desk phone stands out from the crowd with a HD touch screen display, built-in video calling capabilities and all the apps you could wish for. Combining everything a smartphone can do with traditional phone system features like call recording and call reporting, the desk phone leaves no room for wanting more.
Enreach Contact, the provider’s own cloud solution, was designed for hybrid workers, making it a lifeline for many businesses during
the pandemic. With a built-in softphone and the ability to flip live calls between devices, the provider ensures that not only can their customers work effectively from home but that their technology can aid a better work life balance.
With video calling more important than ever before, the Enreach team used Enreach Meetings, their own video conferencing platform, almost as much as their customers. With private video calls for up to 25 participants, meeting recording and screen sharing all available at the touch of a button, Enreach Meetings has made staying in touch as easy as pie.
Excellent customer support is the name of the Enreach game. As such, the team have a unique set up to ensure every single customer, regardless of their size or their industry are made to feel like VIPs.
With a dedicated account manager for each customer, there’s no such thing as waiting around for assistance. With a single point of contact, the team ensures that any issues are solved swiftly, and customers are kept in the loop at all times.
In addition, the provider has a strong customer support team which ensures customers can report faults, ask questions, and make changes and additions to their services via email, phone call or chat bot.
Finally, the provider has a dedicated training facility for both virtual and on-site training available to all customers, new and old. This way, customers can access training guides or set up live demos with dedicated trainers to ensure that their teams are getting the most out of their chosen solutions.
Whether you’re looking for a quote that’ll make your day or some friendly, impartial advice, you can contact the Enreach team.
Enreach UK’s powerhouse Chief Executive Officer, Duncan Ward, boasts over two decades of experience in the telecommunications industry. Having successfully built and launched the Orange Business brand, Duncan joined Enreach to take the provider to the next level as they aim to become the ‘go to’ provider for unified communications in the new normal. He focuses on providing the most innovative solutions and best customer experience possible as he believes in technology that adds real value for their customers.
Duncan is responsible for all other Senior Leadership Team members.
ceo.uk@enreach.com
Enreach UK’s marketing mastermind Amelia Ebdon has been with the company for 4 years. Having previously worked in a range of sectors, ranging from fashion to food and drink, she takes charge of everything to do with the Enreach brand. Staying ahead of industry trends and ensuring effective communications with customers and partners is the name of the game for Amelia. Amelia is responsible for the UK marketing team.
amelia.ebdon@enreach.com
Following 9 years at Vodafone, Paul now oversees the operations at Enreach UK. With over 20 years’ experience in the industry, he’s on board to provide the best possible customer experience while streamlining and safeguarding the efficiency of the provider’s service operation to allow for continued development and long-term success for their customers. Paul is responsible for the customer support and engineering teams.
paul.roscoe@enreach.com
Enreach UK’s sales superstar Roan has enjoyed extensive experience leading award-winning teams within the telecoms industry. Roan had a substantial understanding of the UK telecoms market including UCAAS (unified communications as a solution) and CCAAS (contact center as a solution). Roan heads up the sales team including internal sales, telemarketing, account managers and UC specialists.
roan.pratt@enreach.com
Passionate about people, Steve has almost two decades of experience in the telecoms industry with a wealth of experience in HR. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, Steve is a strategic leader and focuses on the provider’s employees, internal processes and company culture. Steve is responsible for the People and Culture team.
steve.webb@enreach.com
If you thought that High Street retail was dead and buried, you need to have a chat with Mark Dransfield, whose confidence in Stroud has led to an investment now hovering around £25 million.
And in my view, it’s not exaggerating to call his investment in the old Merrywalks shopping centre as a game changer for Stroud. The town was recently voted the best place to live in the country by the Sunday Times.
It has taken an outsider, a property developer from Grimethorpe near Barnsley, to really inject some drive and enthusiasm to improve the town, which has hitherto lacked capital investment and had little development vision for the future.
Mark’s company, Dransfield Properties, bought the decaying shopping centre for £10 million two and a half years ago and has transformed it under its new name –Five Valleys.
Rothschilds, one of his bankers, had offered him the site and he remembers his first trip to Stroud from Sheffield.
“I had never been to Gloucestershire in my life”, he tells me. “We had built a Lidl in Midsomer Norton and a QuickSave in Weston-Super-Mare.
“The centre on the glossy brochure bore no resemblance to the devastation I saw here when I arrived, and I was about to turn round and go home.
“It just smelt of decay and there were even mushrooms growing.
“But here was a multi-storey car park, a bus station and a railway station all close together. I thought we needed locking up
if we couldn’t make it work – there really was an opportunity.”
Mark’s wife, Deborah had been diagnosed with cancer and she died two and half years ago after 30 years of marriage.
“I didn’t know how long Deborah and I would have together so that’s why I bought Stroud,” he tells me. “I needed something to consume myself with.”
Stroud District Council’s then chief executive, David Hagg, had visited Mark’s town centre schemes at Fox Valley, Sheffield and at Morpeth.
“I was inspired by David’s support”, said Mark. “He was very forward thinking”.
When the district council turned down an out-of-town planning application, Mark decided he had the support to buy Merrywalks. If the council had approved that application, he would not have invested in Stroud.
The die was cast.
“Everything was turned round quickly by the council,” Mark says.
There was further support from GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, with a grant of £3 million and a loan of £1 million.
“On the strength of David Hagg’s support, GFirst LEP and the council’s fortitude over the planning application, we went ahead and bought it.”
Was it worth it? I asked.
“I think so. I have enjoyed it. I do now feel part of the place and people have made
me very welcome. I am 58 now. I don’t need to work, but I love the challenge.”
Mark has strong views about the survival of retail shops.
“Every town centre should be the heartbeat of the community. Retail is theatre. It is not about building a piece of furniture that will last 200 years. We are a nation of shopkeepers and a nation of shoppers.
“People like to go out to get a service, but I think our industry has been extremely lazy. Our sprawling town centres and out of town centres have gone berserk. My honest opinion is that businesses have been recklessly rolled out.
“We have adopted this American philosophy of business and it is just outrageous.”
He means short termism and anything for a quick buck.
“Hopefully, with Covid we can see the back of this – most of these businesses have now gone to the wall.”
Artisan food and other stores have opened alongside the new Sandersons department store, but Mark Dransfield hasn’t finished yet. The next phase will deliver a new medical centre and improvements planned for the upper mall.
“It really makes me feel proud”, said Mark as he heads off to the company flat in the centre to cook his fish dinner.
Mark was born at Grimethorpe near Barnsley where one of my favourite films, Brassed Off, was made.
Later he sponsored the now famous Grimethorpe Colliery Brass band. His dad was a bobby and they moved to Hull. Mark hated school and just wanted to be a professional footballer.
He left school at 16 with Maths and English O’Levels to work for a builder in Hull as a costings clerk. He was soon promoted to junior surveyor. By the time he was 21, he was director of another building company.
Mark has now built 24 Aldi stores, 15 for Safeway and worked with Morrisons and Asda.
“I used to know the towns in the UK by their supermarkets and I loved it.”
Town centre regeneration schemes followed at Sutton in Ashfield, Selby and Morpeth.
“It is all about relationships and being honest with people,” he tells me. “It’s so rewarding to see the transformation of these towns.
“I am a prickly customer to deal with sometimes because I want to get things done.”
He’s making his presence felt in Stroud and the town is far better for it.
A leading Gloucestershire manufacturer of modular accommodation and retail space is to double its workforce.
Lydney-based NewSpace is set to create at least 120 new jobs and has started the search for fabricator welders and industrial paint sprayers – with another 60 specialists needed by the end of this year.
The company, which currently employs 125 people at its multi-acre site on the Lydney Harbour Estate, is working with Worcesterbased jobs firm GMP Recruitment to find the additional workers.
NewSpace designs and creates temporary and residential housing, welfare units, offices, canteens and shops and has been involved in various projects including the high-speed rail line HS2, the construction and hospitality sectors, and played its role in reducing homelessness.
Trackwise Designs, the printed circuit technology manufacturing company, has bought a 77,000 sq ft freehold property at Stonehouse in Gloucestershire.
The new site will enable the company to significantly increase its production capacity to meet expected demand.
Last September the Tewkesburyheadquartered company signed a Product Manufacture and Supply Agreement with an electric vehicle manufacturer.
It expects future orders from additional sectors such as medical, aerospace and industrial markets.
A designer based in Cirencester has helped develop a funky idea to help kids who are becoming increasingly uninspired by online learning.
The Flexitable folding times table grid is a physical item which embodies something practical and ‘hands-on’ to help children stay in touch – quite literally – with normality.
This simple device allows primary school children up to Year 7 to
grasp the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and fractions.
Nigel Chute of Chute Design based in Cirencester has been involved with the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of new products since the 1980s. His specialism is making sure all these functions work together to meet the client’s business objective.
Gloucester Brewery has leased a new 2,500 sq ft dockside warehouse to expand its brewing capacity and open a new taproom and shop.
The warehouse fronts on to the canal basin and will act as an addition to its existing site at Fox’s Kiln which adjoins the new building. Plans have been drawn up to create a selfservice bar and taproom, shop and extra brewing space which will triple its current beer production.
Managing Director Jared Brown said: “We are unbelievably excited to get our hands on this fantastic new warehouse space with its stunning waterside location. This new site will enable us not only to increase our brewing capacity but also create a fantastic new visitor attraction for the city.”
Moreton Cullimore has become chairperson of the national Road Haulage Association (RHA), the youngest national chairperson in the organisation’s history.
The 41-year-old managing director of family-run haulage firm The Cullimore Group has long championed the issues facing hauliers within the region. He is now looking ahead to helping the RHA support the haulage sector’s postCovid recovery.
Stroud-based Ecotricity has sold its electric highway, which was the world’s first national charging network for electric cars, to Buckinghamshire-based Gridserve.
The sale will enable Ecotricity to invest in its core green energy business, with innovations like Britain’s first Green Gasmill – a revolutionary process of making ‘natural gas’ for the grid simply from grass.
It will also bring forward a series of solar and battery storage projects which will be built without government support.
Moreton said: “It is a huge privilege to take up this role at a pivotal time for all areas of our industry.
“Cullimore’s has been in haulage for more than 90 years and we have been members of the RHA since it was established more than 75 years ago.
“My grandfather, father and I have always believed that the support provided by such a strong organisation is invaluable.”
Gloucester Rugby is to make a multimillion-pound investment in its training facilities, building right next door to its Kingsholm Stadium in the city.
The new training facility will sit on the site previously occupied by SLG Beauty. Gloucester Rugby will transform the property into an elite high-performance training centre.
The facility will include a 470 sq m gym, including six Olympic lifting platforms, a rehabilitation centre, dedicated recovery gym, and an indoor training pitch. The sports facilities will be ready to use this summer.
The investment includes an upgrade of the existing pitch at Kingsholm to a world-class artificial turf which will o er the Gloucester Rugby team a premium and durable playing surface.
George Skivington, Gloucester Rugby Head Coach, said: “On Gloucester soil and walking distance from the stadium, the acquisition and development of this facility will fortify Kingsholm as a centre of excellence and double down on our commitment to developing home grown talent.”
More than 1,000 of the country’s nuclear scientists, engineers and support staff are to relocate from Barnwood to new facilities at Gloucester Business Park. The move is part of a long-term plan by EDF Energy to adapt to the changing power generation landscape across the UK industry.
However, the company hasn’t made any firm decisions about the future of its Barnwood site, from where it has operated since the 1970s.
By 2030, the UK will transition from operating eight nuclear power stations –providing 15-20 per cent of the country’s
power – to just two: Sizewell B in Suffolk and Hinkley Point C in Somerset, providing nearer 10 per cent.
The planned move in mid-2022 consolidates a nuclear skills corridor between EDF’s technical Gloucestershire headquarters, an engineering design centre on the edge of Bristol and the hugely significant Hinkley Point C project near Bridgwater in Somerset.
The move will enable closer collaboration between teams supporting the existing nuclear fleet and those developing the future pressurised water reactors.
A year of not having anywhere to dress up smart for has paid off for one clothing business.
Weird Fish, the casual clothing retailer, which has its headquarters in Tewkesbury, saw online sales soar last year, despite stores being closed.
Thanks to glad rags remaining unworn in wardrobes across the world as we all rocked the athleisure look on Zoom calls, the retailer reported an 84 per cent e-commerce sales uplift and a doubling of new customers.
That upward trend continues, with growth accelerating since lockdown eased.
The company reported an impressive 354 per cent rise in e-commerce sales, and overall sales uplifts of 108 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
But such success wouldn’t have happened if Weird Fish hadn’t invested heavily in its digital systems.
According to the boss John Stockton, who joined the business in 2008 when it had around a dozen staff in a small industrial unit in Cheltenham, every bit of capital the company has spent over the last few years has been in technology.
“The only clever thing we have done is invest in digital. Our spend rose 400500 per cent over the last three years, and in people who have contemporary knowledge and skills,” said John. “We will have 20 people in our digital, customer and marketing teams by the end of the year, up from just three a few years ago.”
Last year the retailer more than doubled its customer numbers to 250,000 and this
year it looks on course to reach almost 600,000. It is also attracting a broader demographic thanks to a widening of its product range.
John has substantial retail experience in the casual clothing sector. For eight years before joining Weird Fish, he was CEO of niche surf brand Animal, growing it into a profitable international lifestyle business.
“Having built that business up I wanted to get involved in a lifestyle leisure brand that had good values and the potential to grow.”
Two years after joining Weird Fish he led a buyout, allowing its founder Doug Tilling to retire, and in 2017 he undertook a secondary buyout with private equity fund Total Capital Partners.
At that time Weird Fish was mainly selling menswear but was growing its range of ethical clothing. This is not fast fashion. One of its key products is the iconic macaroni sweater. These are circular knitted, take longer to manufacture and are now made out of sustainable materials.
“We were ahead of the curve,” said John. “As a small and agile business, we had good relationships with our suppliers, some of which I inherited and some I introduced to the business, and we were always pretty strong on the provenance of our fabrics.
Approximately 30 per cent of Weird Fish’s clothing ranges come from Turkey, with the majority from India because its clothes are made mainly from natural fibres. Some
come from Bangladesh and a few from China, which provides the synthetics for its waterproofs.
In 2017 the company decided to boost its commitment to sustainability further.
“We want 80 per cent of our products to be made from organic, recycled or regenerated yarns by 2022.
“This year we will be about 60 per cent, so we’re getting there but we’ve got a way to go,” said John.
It’s also about ethical supply. “We have worked with our Turkish macaroni sweater supplier and one of our two main Indian suppliers for 20 years, the other main Indian supplier for 10 years.”
Weird Fish’s sustainability pledge doesn’t stop at clothing. It was the first UK company to use paper bags made from grass pulp.
And investment in digital technology meant it not only survived but thrived last year.John Stockton
“I found the product in Germany. It uses a fraction of the water that wood pulp uses to make paper,” said John.
Weird Fish now sells across the world, with 180 stockists overseas, predominantly in France, Germany and Holland. Eight per cent of its e-commerce is international.
The retailer has dealt with Brexit by paying the duty for its overseas customers so they don’t have to. Next year it will move into bonded warehouses with Torque Logistics, its third-party logistics supplier, so the issues of VAT and duty are also removed. An unexpected Brexit benefit is that because the barriers of entry into the EU are now similar to other countries, the opportunities for growth in USA and Australia (where its online sales are growing) are even more interesting.
“As a small and agile business, we had good relationships with our suppliers, some of which I inherited and some I introduced to the business, and we were always pretty strong on the provenance of our fabrics”
Weird Fish has 17 clothing stores, mainly in destination locations such as Weymouth, Newquay, St Ives and Scarborough. “They are designed to introduce our brand to customers,” said John. “We have also invested in digital in our stores, in click and collect, click and reserve. When we look at store performance, we talk about their revenues, but also customer engagement, data collection and their general reach.”
Equally important to Weird Fish are its 300 independent stockists, and with the UK’s high streets looking increasingly sad as the bland national chains fall by the wayside, John thinks that independent stores could be seeing a renaissance (he has inside information here: his wife owns an independent clothing store in Blandford Forum).
“They are distinctive, provide a unique offering, have a really good local customer base and are increasingly engaging digitally with their customers. Some are doing local delivery,” he said.
“The regional independents are important to us too, such as Edge of the World in the Lake District which has opened a partner store for us in Keswick.
“We have also launched a B2B portal so our stockists can check stock availability.”
John, 60, has been in consumer businesses almost all of his career. “I started in garment manufacturing in the early 1990s, working for a big manufacturer for M&S. I like seeing the physical garments put together. I have always been attracted to brands that have integrity, are
a bit different and we can take to a wider audience. That happened at Animal as we made surf wear more mainstream and accessible.”
Weird Fish will continue its digital development, invest in sustainability (it’s come up with a great phrase for this: “The only way is ethics”), engage more with suppliers and partners and continue to expand its range.
Despite its online success over the last 18 months, it’s easy to forget what things felt like a few months back in the UK and John is grateful for the support of all partners across the globe.
“We wanted to do the right thing, support our staff, suppliers and partners where we could and continue in daily contact with our overseas suppliers offering whatever help we can as we appreciate that Covid is affecting many of our key supplier countries differently.”
BOOST&Co is expanding across the UK to support SMEs after Covid-19, with its growth loans providing a vital alternative to the banks, says Chris Mears,
We know that companies across the country need help to recover and grow – or build back better – following the coronavirus pandemic, but what are the best ways to provide that support? All too often, lenders believe that they can understand local markets from an office in London, but BOOST&Co has geared up to help SMEs by appointing principals who are part of the business communities in which they work.
The alternative lender recently expanded into Birmingham, Reading and Leeds, as well as strengthening its offices in Manchester, London and Bristol, with Chris Mears joining the Bristol team to cover the south west and Wales. He has spent 17 years supporting SMEs throughout the region and previously served for 18 years as an army officer, deployed around the world.
“It’s a joy to join such an ambitious, capable and agile funder at this critical point. BOOST&Co aims to be different and it feels like a breath of fresh air,” he says. “Businesses are struggling to cope with a fragmented and confused funding environment, when what is needed is speed, clarity and confidence.”
Mears believes that ambitious, innovative businesses need bespoke funding tailored by experts – exactly what BOOST&Co’s growth loans, ranging from £1m to £10m, are designed to provide. “Growth lenders invest more and earlier than banks because they consider a company’s growth rate, not just its history,” he says.
“We take a very different view of funding to the banks. We assess the quality of the management team and the company’s potential, as well as its inherent value, before looking at options to scale the business without harming its profitability. And we ensure that we understand the details – the opposite of the ‘computer says no’ approach that firms often face.”
Growth loans are ideal for businesses that are looking to scale up or recover but lack security. They also work for companies
that are pre-profit but have a clear route to profitability with the right investment. Growth loans can be used to support a number of needs, including acquisitions, management buy-outs, expanding into new countries or investing in facilities, operations or staff.
“Our funding isn’t just flexible – it’s simple, too,” Mears says. The process is transparent, smooth and swift, with firms funded in as little as six weeks. BOOST&Co’s facilities have few, if any, covenants, and the lender does not take seats on companies’ boards.
“The south west and Wales is a hotbed of innovation,” Mears says. “In this area, entrepreneurship is in the blood, and our business leaders deserve the best possible support to create opportunities, jobs and wealth.” With so much potential in the region, a growth loan could be the wisest way for your company to take the next step.
Many firms aren’t aware of the options available, so my role is to send the message that there are powerful alternatives to traditional funding.Chris Mears
Bristol independent animation studio, A Productions, has scooped a national TV industry award for an iconic series that it says has broken new ground in pre-school programming.
JoJo and Gran Gran: It’s Time to Go to the Hairdresser’s won the Best PreSchool Programme category at the Broadcast Awards, which celebrate the best in British TV programming.
The programme, which is the first UK pre-school animation to centre around a black British family and is based on the books by Laura Henry, was created by the BBC Children’s In-House Productions in collaboration
with A Productions for CBeebies.
Katherine McQueen, joint managing director of A Productions, said: “This fantastic recognition is testament to the entire team who have thrown their hearts and souls into this important show.
“We hope this series will help to pave the way for better representation in pre-school programming and beyond in the future.”
The studio’s 150-strong team is based in Bristol and specialises in traditional and digital 2D stop frame, CGI, AFX, Flash and live action.
A beachwear brand born in Australia which relocated to Bristol in 2016 has launched a new range of lightweight shirts for men and boys to wear when swimming, to protect their skin from sun exposure and sand abrasions.
Tom & Teddy’s rash vests offer UPF50+ protection, and the fabric is resistant to chlorine and saltwater, so it won’t break down or go baggy after swimming.
Father and son beachwear brand Tom & Teddy was inspired by the beach lifestyle of Sydney, where husband and wife team Jelle de Jong and Michelle L’Huillier lived.
Michelle said: "In 2010 I moved to Singapore having spent 10 years in Sydney. For the first Father’s Day for my husband and 11-month-old son, Tom, I had my heart set on buying matching father and son swim shorts.
“After failing to find something I liked, the idea of creating a fun, high-quality product took hold. I had learned a fair amount about swimwear but even in beach-fanatical Australia, there was little choice for men or boys beyond the baggy knee-length, surf-brand boardshorts. There was definitely room in the market for a more flattering and versatile swim trunk.”
The production of aerosol stem and gasket seals used in the manufacture of aerosols has gone into overdrive at Bristol-based Avon Group since the onset of Covid-19, with seven billion shipped around the globe in the last 12 months alone.
The company has been able to meet the huge surge in global demand for sanitisers,
cleaning products and soaps thanks to investment in new plant before the crisis.
Avon Group is now the largest manufacturer of these valve and stem gasket seals in Europe, and one of the largest in the world.
Kevin Harrop, group operations director, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a
sudden, massive increase in global demand for these products, which are used in literally billions of household and industrial aerosols.”
Avon Group was established in Bristol in 1979. The company, which is still under the same family ownership, now has manufacturing sites around the UK.
In 2018 The Oxfordshire town of Bicester attracted seven million visitors. OK, to be more accurate, most of them headed to Bicester Village, the town’s phenomenally successful designer outlet village, which generates some of the highest densities of any shopping centre in the world.
But beyond that world-class cathedral of retail, Bicester town itself is growing at a phenomenal rate, with millions of pounds being invested. The town’s population is set to rise from 30,000 to more than 50,000, with 18,500 jobs on offer and 10,000 new homes.
Development is already under way at business parks Catalyst Bicester and Axis J9, and planning permission on two further sites is about to be submitted, according to commercial property estate agents VSL.
Bicester Office Park will be a 500,000 sq ft office park opposite Bicester Village, and up to a further 250,000 sq ft is planned at the 53-acre Symmetry Park, being developed by Tritax Symmetry.
Symmetry Park Bicester has the capacity to deliver up to 755,000 sq ft of logistics floor
space. 88,000 sq ft has been pre-sold to furniture company Bentley Designs Ltd with 110,000 sq ft sold to medical supplies company Medline Services Ltd. A unit of 163,664 sq ft developed speculatively has now been let to Ocado Retail Ltd.
A 60,000 sq ft unit has been let to DPD Group UK Ltd. The distribution hub is the first net zero carbon in construction building in developer Tritax’s portfolio.
“ e town’s population is set to rise from 30,000 to more than 50,000, with 18,500 jobs on o er and 10,000 new homes”
Building at Catalyst Bicester, the new £100 million advanced manufacturing and technology business community which includes a David Lloyd Health and Racquets Club, has started.
Once complete, Catalyst Bicester will total 300,000 sq ft and provide workspace for up to 1,750 new jobs. The first four technology buildings will range in size from 10,000 sq ft to 22,000 sq ft and be ready for businesses to occupy next year.
Construction of the new health and racquets club, which will include a gym, indoor and outdoor swimming pools,
courts, café and restaurant is due to start soon.
Catalyst Bicester is just off the A41 adjacent to the Bicester Avenue retail centre and the new Holiday Inn.
This is the third major investment in Bicester by developers Albion Land. Director Simon Parsons said: “Catalyst Bicester will provide a new style of development in response to demand from technology, advanced manufacturing and high-performance engineering companies and create many new jobs, while helping to reduce out-commuting from the town.”
A former RAF base is undergoing a radical regeneration to turn it into a hub for motorsport, automotive innovation and classic car enthusiasts.
Now the company behind the project, Bicester Motion, is seeking £140 million to further its ambitions.
The project began in 2013 when Dan Geoghegan used his love of historic cars and a successful career in private investment and venture capital, to turn a former RAF bomber station into the UK’s first centre of excellence for historic vehicles.
Eight years later and Bicester Heritage, the first of the four planned quarters, is now home to more than 40 specialist businesses turning over more than £40 million.
The three other quarters will consist of an Innovation Quarter, which received outline planning consent last year (this will o er access to automotive development and testing), an Experience Quarter o ering visitors the opportunity to discover the latest wheels and wings technology and a Wilderness Quarter, a park and nature trail.
Five new industrial and warehousing units at Axis J9 Bicester, totalling more than 200,000 sq ft, have been let to Arrival, the company aiming to build electric vehicles in microfactories across the globe, and Origin, the manufacturer of aluminium bi-folding doors and windows.
The development, Phase One of the
550,000 sq ft Axis J9 Scheme, is being developed by Albion Land.
Phase Three of Axis J9 has already been sold to Mirastar, the pan-European developer, investor and manager of logistics assets.
It will comprise of two logistics and industrial buildings.
Oxford-based Ridge and Partners has designed and developed the masterplan for the site. Proposals include designs for a brand experience centre, a Future Automotive Speed Technologies (FAST) zone and Motor Vaults – a community of private gallery-style garages for car storage with accommodation.
Bicester Motion is aiming to become one of the country’s top 20 tourist and leisure destinations.
It was 1931 when the company first laid its roots in Banbury High Street and it has flourished to become one of the leading firms in the M40 corridor.
Back then, George V was King, and Ramsay MacDonald was elected Prime Minister while locally Banbury United was formed as Spencer Sports Club. As now, it was also a challenging time economically with the country in the grip of the Great Depression.
Over the years the company has grown significantly but its head office has always been in Banbury with it moving to its current location at Penrose House, Hightown Road in 1992.
Rapid expansion has come more recently through mergers with the Hale Partnership’s auditing, accounting and taxation division in High Wycombe in 2010, Baxter Payne and Haigh in Bicester in 2014 and Morgan Harris in Witney two years later.
As a result, Whitley Stimpson’s client base now stretches the country, employing 86 staff and it has been ranked as one of the country’s top accountancy firms for the seventh year running by the prestigious Accountancy Age 50+50 survey.
A key theme throughout its history has been
its commitment to friendly and personal service as well as its dedication to nurturing young talent among its ranks. As a result, many clients have been retained from their early days as start-ups through to becoming multi-million-pound enterprises.
Finance director Martin Anson, who has been with the company for more than 34 years, said: “I have seen many changes. When I started, auditing was completed with big lever arched files. Audit schedules were carried out on A3 paper and all test headings had to have a full report attached to it.
“The report had to be double underlined in red pen, cross referenced, all matters arising cleared and staples had to be at an angle for easy review / turning of the working papers. You had review points for not completing these correctly.
“Never in my wildest dreams in 1986 would I have thought that in 2021 we would be completing audits electronically and watching a virtual stock take taking place in Hull while I sat in the boardroom.”
Every year the firm employs several trainees including a mix of school leavers and graduates who will then have the opportunity to qualify.
Once on-board, new employees can take advantage of well-established and respected training and development programmes and as a result, staff retention is excellent.
Whitley Stimpson recently promoted five staff members to provide greater senior support across the firms four offices in Banbury, Bicester, High Wycombe, and Witney; Rebecca Craker, Victoria Marzana, Vicky Ireson, Luke Wiseman, and Nicola Hicks have been appointed as directors of the business.
“The more senior directors of the firm have pride in watching the people we have trained and nurtured develop into director positions within the firm.
“We support a vast range of clients who’ve been with us for decades so not only do our people stay with us as we train them to become successful directors, but our clients do too.”
For more information about how Whitley Stimpson can support your business visit www.whitleystimpson.co.uk
DirectorJonathan Walton added:
We are proud of the firm’s heritage and having been able to service the needs of the local business community over the last 90 years
An award-winning children’s natural cleansing brand is going for growth as it seeks new investment.
Henley-on-Thames based Scrubbingtons, which already has listings with Ocado, Amazon and others, was launched in 2014 by Karen Waring and Emma Cranstoun after Karen began to wonder why she was still using a bubble bath with a picture of a baby on the front when her five-year-old son wasn’t a baby. At that time there didn’t seem to be an alternative.
But with the world still reeling from the Covid pandemic, children need to learn the importance of washing and personal hygiene for themselves, using ageappropriate products.
So Karen and Emma developed a range of products, which they called Scrubbingtons to encourage children to wash themselves.
Last year Scrubbingtons more than doubled its revenues and is on track to double them again this year.
It sells online and currently also supplies more than 150 schools and nurseries.
Karen said: “The response from parents has been phenomenal and we are delighted with the feedback that they give us every day.”
The business is now seeking growth funding through the Angel Investment Network.
A University of Oxford spin-out which is building a platform that makes 3D accurate body scanning available from any smartphone, is on the hunt for £800,000 investment through the Angel Investment Network.
Aistetic is applying computer vision and deep learning to the real-world problems associated with shopping for clothes online. It is building an innovative e-commerce platform, applying computer vision and technology to enable us to order better fitting clothes.
The company was founded to make tailoring accessible to more people wherever they are, and to do so sustainably, reducing waste and encouraging a more sustainable approach to clothing.
Aistetic’s software will also help clothing retailers make more accurate digital measurements for a better fit, improve sizing recommendations to reduce returns, o er an interactive 3D model to virtually try on and combine clothing to increase average order values and deliver data to optimize new product development, pattern cutting and sizing.
manufacturing for the last 50 years.
Groves is the UK’s leading supplier of sewing and needlecraft accessories.
Adjustoform, which makes dress forms (dressmakers’ dummies to most of us), has been a world leader in dress form
Its acquisition of Adjustoform will further add to its portfolio of products.
From our engagement with sta , a few consistent themes came from the discussions and I thought I would share some of them with you in case you too were thinking of moving to a hybrid model of working:
It is incredible to think it was as long ago as 23rd March 2020 when our staff were last all able to be in the office together. I remember being on a call with clients agreeing to meet for coffee in a few weeks’ time once everything had blown over – more than 16 months and two vaccination jabs later, I am only now able to organise those coffees.
For businesses, a huge amount has changed over the last 16 months and one area of our lives that has changed significantly is the way in which we work and approach our working day.
I remember, not long after the first lockdown, having a discussion during our management board meeting about what we thought a return to the new normal for our employees could look like. It was during this discussion that we decided to involve our employees in the debate to find out from them directly what they would be looking for us to provide. With this in mind, we sent out a staff survey so we could gauge their views. From the responses, it was clear that with the aid of technology, a return to full-time office working was no longer an option and that agile working is what they welcomed as the new normal. To build on the responses we received from the survey and to better understand the practicalities of agile working, we held detailed discussions across a wide cross-section of Freeths, including within teams, our 12 offices, and we created a designated working group representing people throughout the firm looking at the various challenges and benefits of agile working.
Flexibility: The staff survey showed that the vast majority of our people were looking forward to working in an agile way and one of the key attractions is the flexibility this would provide.
Communication: From our discussions, it was clear that agile working would mean that communication would be more important than ever before. This would apply on a firm and team wide basis but also individually and on a one-to-one basis. Our focus would be to make sure staff would still feel part of a team even though they would be working from home but they still would have a feel for the firm’s culture.
Training: We identified a need to arrange training for managers across the business to help them understand the different considerations posed by leading a team in an agile working environment and to equip them with the knowledge and skillset to identify team members that could find that difficult, sometimes even leading to mental health issues. It is worth mentioning one of our successful initiatives implemented last year was to appoint Mental Health First Aiders in each office to help with any issues that staff were experiencing by working from home. I am currently being trained myself.
In respect of our staff based at the Oxford office, the debate was particularly relevant given that the lease on our Oxford office (which has housed over 130 employees for 15 years), was due for renewal in June.
Armed with the information obtained from the engagement with our staff, we have
therefore decided to move to new smaller premises on the same business park that can both accommodate our newly-adopted hybrid model of working, together with providing areas where our staff can really work together in teams through collaboration by sitting in pods rather than on individual desks. Our new office has therefore been designed with both elements in mind with staff having the option of choosing which days they would want to be in the office, and where they would like to be when in the office.
The transition to agile working is obviously a journey that many businesses will soon be embarking on, with the debate ongoing as to how to best service the demands from staff for more agile and flexible working arrangements. What is certain, however, is that this will be a continually evolving landscape as we find what works best for us all.
If you are thinking of adopting a hybrid model of working and would like to find out more about the steps and processes that we have put in place to make this a reality for our staff, please do not hesitate to contact me and/or come to see me in our new office to experience first-hand a coffee from one of our new machines!
Sarah Foster Managing Partner
Ocado Group plc, the leading online grocery platform, has invested £10 million in autonomous vehicle company Oxbotica Ltd, which is based at the Oxford Business Park.
The companies will collaborate on hardware and software for autonomous vehicles.
Ocado wants autonomous vehicles to operate in its customer fulfilment centre, on last-mile deliveries and kerb-to-kitchen robots. The ultimate ambition is to reduce the costs of last-mile delivery and other logistics operations.
An online marketplace for those looking to shop more sustainably has exceeded its funding target of £175,000 through crowdfunder Seedrs.
Generous APE (Animal, People and Environment), based in Wantage, wants to encourage the millions of us not yet buying sustainably to adopt a new way of shopping.
According to founder David Walker-Smith,
a former buying director for Selfridges, demand for sustainable fashion has grown three-fold during lockdown with 62 per cent of millennial shoppers wanting to look and shop more sustainably.
He said: “We have launched with 70 curated brands and that number will grow organically as the business evolves.”
The online marketplace hosts brands and products that give back to good causes.
An Oxfordshire laser communications start-up has established a subsidiary in Florida.
After winning Space Florida’s grand prize at the 2020 Florida Venture Aerospace Innovation and Tech Forum, Archangel Lightworks will open o ces in Orlando.
The company has developed a new generation of space-air laser communication terminals and technologies. Being able to elevate the terminals above the cloud is a key
enabler for industry uptake of laser communication because the best place to use laser communications is where the cloud isn’t.
CEO of Archangel Lightworks, Richard Johanson, said: “Establishing Archangel Lightworks USA is a fantastic step for the company and has been the result of hard work by many.
“We have received significant support from our partners in the region and look forward to growing our team and our presence in Florida.”
Triodos Bank UK has announced new lending to Oxfordshire social enterprise Low Carbon Hub to help construct and operate what will be the UK’s largest communityowned solar park
Ray Valley Solar will be a subsidy-free, community-owned solar park near Arncott, north east of Oxford. The project will have a total installed capacity of 19.2 megawatts and aims to generate enough electricity to power more than 6,000 homes annually through its ground-mounted panels.
Triodos Bank UK has approved a new loan facility, allowing the project to be constructed this year. Further lending will also be made available for its operation, with the park expected to begin generating in autumn 2021.
The project will result in a five-fold increase in the amount of green electricity that Low Carbon Hub is able to generate annually.
Ray Valley Solar is a key trial site for Project Low Energy Oxford, a £40 million crossorganisational project that is conducting real-world trials to understand the role local energy can play in accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon energy system.
Abingdon and Witney College is not an organization that you may necessarily link to undergraduate programmes, but with a 93% student satisfaction rate, placing the College in the top 50 undergraduate providers in the UK, it is an excellent option to consider.
Our “stay focused, stay local” approach has meant that, despite the difficulties surrounding University level education throughout the pandemic, our success rate has remained high at 97% (2019-20 data). Our innovative and individual support for students has meant that students with learning difficulties or disabilities now outperform their counterparts by 5 percentage points overall.
We ensure that our methods of teaching and assessment are based in real-life learning; ensuring that our graduates are more “work ready” when they leave us. Coupled with the fact that 87% of our learners achieve a good level of degree
(1st or upper 2nd) enables 95% of our students to progress into highly skilled employment or higher levels of study.
Our undergraduate qualifications are awarded by Oxford Brookes University; a guarantee of the academic standard. These partnerships open up a whole host of new opportunities, such as access to university resources and support networks, Student Unions, sports facilities to name just a few!
Our undergraduate building (The Advanced Skills Centre) at our Abingdon campus is solely for the use of our undergraduate students; ensuring a community of like-minded individuals
can study together within a high-tech building. Programmes on offer here include electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, business and management, early years and early childhood studies.
Our animal and equine programmes are set within 70 acres of Oxfordshire Countryside, where we home 365 animals including horses, livestock and small animals such as meerkats, birds and reptiles to name but a few. Our on-site commercial enterprises such as a working stud farm, ensure you will gain the practical, hands on experience that you need to enjoy a fantastic career in land based industries.
expert advice and information on undergraduate and professional courses visit www.abingdon-witney.ac.uk/undergraduate-professional/ or email our Admissions team directly at clearing.enquiries@abingdon-witney.ac.uk
The UK’s most powerful electric vehicle charging hub is to be built at Redbridge Park & Ride in Oxford.
Oxford City Council has joined up with Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, and others to build the hub. Initially featuring 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers, the site will be the
most powerful in Europe – with up to 10MW of power – and have the capability to scale up to help meet the need for electric vehicles (EV) charging in the area for the next 30 years.
It is the first of up to 40 similar sites planned across the UK to help deliver the charging
An Oxford printing company is celebrating after winning yet another Queen’s Award for Enterprise for sustainable development.
It is the fourth time Cowley-based Seacourt has been recognised for its excellence in sustainable development. The first was in 2007.
Seacourt, which began trading in 1946, claims to be one of the world’s greenest and most sustainable printing companies.
Gareth Dinnage, Managing Director said: “We are immensely proud of all we have achieved, Seacourt is proof
that companies can act responsibly and prosper. This award cements our ambition to continually strive to do more for society and the planet.”
Using technology and reviewing its entire production and supply chain, Seacourt has revolutionised the normal printing process.
This has included switching to waterless printing; reducing volatile organic compounds emissions by 98.5 per cent, sending no waste to landfill and using 100 per cent renewable energy. The company has been so successful that it says it is a carbon positive business in its entirety.
infrastructure needed for an estimated 36 million EVs by 2040.
Uniquely, the site is directly connected to the high voltage national electricity grid to provide enough power to charge hundreds of EVs at the same time without putting strain on the local electricity network.
Oxford company cleans up with £3.5 million funding package
Ecocleen Services Limited, the commercial cleaning company based in Wallingford, has been supported with £3.5 million for acquisition funding and refinancing of existing facilities by ThinCats, the alternative finance provider to mid-sized SMEs.
Established in 1993, Ecocleen is a leading national commercial contract cleaning provider. Through its franchised business model, the company offers local cleaning throughout the UK, and currently services 33 million sq ft of educational, office, retail, healthcare, media and industrial space, for private and public sector organisations.
Slough-based Advanced, the UK’s third largest provider of business software and services, has bought two Midlands-based education technology (EdTech) businesses.
Advanced has bought Warwickshireheadquartered Smart Apprentices and Mansfield-based bksb.
Smart Apprentices provides software to help organisations manage apprenticeships. bksb develops education technology products which improve English and maths skills.
Education technology has been at the forefront of helping young people keep up, or catch up on lost education during the pandemic. According to a report published in January, the UK EdTech sector grew by 72 per cent last year.
Gordon Wilson, CEO of Advanced, said: “These are two very strategic acquisitions for Advanced. They open up opportunities to expand our already leading position in the further education market to also take a dominant position in both the private training provider and apprenticeship market, at a time where skills development, education and learning in this country is being given a muchneeded renewed focus.
Historic items from the Science Museum Group Collection in London are being moved into their new home, a purposebuilt collection management facility at the National Collections Centre on the former RAF Wroughton Airfield near Swindon.
This new facility, equivalent in size to 600 double-decker buses, provides the stable environmental conditions essential for the long-term preservation and care of its internationally significant collection.
It features conservation laboratories, research areas and photography studios alongside a vast storage hall with 30,000 metres of shelving for the collection.
Alongside the storage facilities, the 545-acre site has large open areas, native woodlands, runways – and one
of
The new facility enables the museum to better store, conserve, research and photograph its unique collection, while improving the process of displaying items in its five museums and increasing the number of items it will be able to loan to UK and international institutions.
Although the process to digitise and pack 300,000 historic objects has been underway for several years, the museum team only began moving objects from its Blythe House object store in London into their new home in May.
The collection will be accessible through public tours of the Wroughton facility, and freely available online through the world’s most extensive online collection of science, technology, engineering and medicine.
Swindon family brewery Arkell’s has finally started work on its £4 million new pub. Christened The Strawberry Thief, it is being built at Tadpole Garden Village, North Swindon.
Brewery Managing Director, George Arkell, said: “It has been a long and challenging year for us all and it is fabulous to now look forwards not backwards. The Strawberry Thief is the biggest project we have undertaken in years. We are immensely proud to be investing in Swindon; it’s our
home town and we can’t wait to see the build take shape and evolve into a fantastic neighbourhood pub.”
The brewery bought the land in North Swindon from developer Crest Nicholson in 2018.
The pub has been designed by Malmesbury-based Clark & Maslin and Concorde BGW Group. Swindon construction company Edmont will build the pub.
A tourist visiting Malvern might be forgiven for taking this pretty Worcestershire town at face value.
There are certainly enough references to former residents Sir Edward Elgar and international violinist Nigel Kennedy to satisfy the culture vultures.
The Malvern Hills which straddle the Welsh border are also a renowned destination for walkers, and the Three Counties Showground hosts some of the country’s most popular exhibitions. And of course, the town is home to the historic Morgan Motor Company and many other major businesses.
But perhaps the most intriguing part of Malvern’s history is its role in the Second World War, when the government relocated its Telecommunications and Radar Establishment (TRE) from London to the town which, tucked as it is under the hills, was considered sufficiently remote that German bombers wouldn’t think to look there.
Two thousand scientists and their families decamped to Malvern from the South East virtually overnight. And after the war, many had come to love the area so much, they didn’t want to leave.
As a result, Malvern became home to one of the most concentrated cyber clusters in the UK and since 1999, the heart of the town’s cyber and tech sector has been the Malvern Hills Science Park.
The science park opened in October 1999 as part of the Defence Evaluation
and Research Agency (DERA), now called QinetiQ and an independent business since 2003. A major employer in the town, it now employs around 800 people.
Malvern Hills Science Park has since expanded independently of QinetiQ. It now offers 100,000 sq ft of office and laboratory space and is home to 36 companies employing around 400 people.
Alan White has been Chief Executive of the Science Park for the last 11 years, moving from his previous role as Head of Development at Aston Science Park in Birmingham.
Under his watch, the park has grown over five phases of development, and he is now working on a sixth phase of development on the remaining land.
“We hope to be able to build a further 40,000 sq ft of grade A accommodation and have commissioned Avison Young to look at what is possible,” he said.
One reason Alan is planning further expansion is to accommodate new businesses, some of which are spin-outs from QinetiQ, and support tenants as they grow.
“One anchor tenant is Collins Aerospace, which occupies Phase 4 of the science park which we built for them as they expanded,” Alan said.
“This is the best sort of success story for a science park, being able to support a growing company with the accommodation they need.”
The company spun out of QinetiQ in 2003. Now owned by Collins Aerospace, it forms part of that company’s intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and space solutions business.
Another manor tenant is Ascertain Forensics which occupies 8,000 sq ft of office and laboratory space in Phase 3.
Other companies include cyber security company Metamission, formerly known as 3SDL and Payara Services, which secured a Queen’s Award for Enterprise earlier this year. Payara is an open source IT company with customers including BMW, Hermes and Rakuten Card.
Cyber companies Borwell and D-risQ, marketing company Text Local and life sciences company Callisto are more examples of companies based at the park.
Malvern Hills Science Park recently established a new company, NexGWorx, building on the work done by the Worcestershire 5G consortium. In 2018, this was one of six government-backed testbeds exploring how 5G technology could improve productivity in key sectors such as manufacturing.
Alan explained: “5G is a phase in the journey of automation and 6G will be next. NexGWorx is working with a number of companies to show how 5G can work in industrial settings.”
Having NexGWorx on site at Malvern Hills Science Park will attract like-minded businesses, said Alan. He deployed the same approach when he launched the Park’s Cyber Skills project, which attracted a number of new cyber businesses, including the National Cyber Skills Centre (NCSC).
While a number of its tenants, particularly those working in the cyber sector, like its discreet location, many welcome the county council’s investment in improving the road network, particularly the A4440, which will make Malvern Hills Science Park much more accessible.
One organisation which has become well established at Malvern Hills Science Park since 2018, is BetaDen.
BetaDen helps entrepreneurs and technology businesses develop their ideas alongside the Worcestershire 5G project team.
Funded by Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and supported by leading local technology and cyber businesses, it offers young businesses an intensive programme to help them build their ideas and ready them for market launch. It also supports the growth of existing businesses.
BetaDen is currently supporting its fourth cohort of businesses.
The organisation is also celebrating the success of previous entrepreneurs who have secured contract wins and investment from companies such as HS2, the NHS, Amazon and Royal Mail.
“We hope to be able to develop a further 40,000 sq ft of grade A accommodation and have commissioned Avison Young to look at what is possible ...”
Worcestershire has set itself some ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030, and to double the size of the low carbon sector in its Energy Strategy.
In response to this, Worcestershire County Council’s Low Carbon Opportunities Programme is here to support innovators, entrepreneurs and businesses within Worcestershire and Shropshire looking to develop their low carbon innovative ideas and technologies. The Programme has a successful track record and has already supported 41 businesses and paid out grants totalling approximately £410,000.
The programme offers a free bespoke 12-hour package of support to SME’s within Worcestershire (eligibility criteria applies), delivered by Shrewsbury Business Consulting Ltd who bring a wealth of commercial experience in the low carbon, renewable energy and the power engineering sectors.
One business who has recently benefitted from such support is Farm Green Energy Ltd. They are receiving funding and support to develop, build and trial a Biomethane dispenser to utilise local anaerobic waste and use it to replace the need for diesel by local transport companies and farmers. This will give these companies financial savings on fuel cost and drastically lower CO2 emissions.
Marco Bille, Director, commented “The whole process from grant application through to approval was seamless and professionally dealt with by the teams at Worcestershire County Council and Shrewsbury Business Consulting. We have received great support by Ewan from SBC, assisting us in planning all aspects of the business model; SWOT
analysis through to budgeting and cash flow forecasting. The team at WCC were extremely helpful in the grant process and I look forward to working closely with them to develop this great innovation. We are hoping to trial our first biomethane fuelled tractor by the end of the year.”
The programme also o ers funding opportunities up to £30,000. Some of the areas that we can help fund are:
• Equipment and Materials
• Demonstrations and testing
• Research and assessment
• IPR Protection
• Accreditations
• Prototyping and demonstrations
• Marketing
The Princess Royal visited supply chain and logistics company Oakland International in Redditch to acknowledge the company’s efforts in ensuring food continued to reach the shelves throughout the pandemic.
Oakland International, a family business which has seen demand rise sharply, invested more than £700,000 in Covid prevention measures to protect employees. These included extending staff canteen facilities and installing new technology including a sanitising drymist fogging system.
The Princess Royal met Oakland team members from across the business, Oakland brand partner Mindful Chef and key customer Golden Acre.
The Earl of Wessex paid a visit to Worcestershire businesses to thank them for their work supporting the nation through the Covid crisis.
Creative communication company DRPG built a dedicated Covid testing centre at its Kidderminster site, spent more than £4 million on infrastructure and employed more than 80 extra people during the year.
His Royal Highness learned how, despite a 60 per cent drop in sales, DRPG developed its virtual event offering into a £9 million business in its own right and implemented the biggest investment programme in the company’s history.
The Earl planted a tree to mark the occasion, alongside members of DRPG’s sustainability team who are creating new borders to encourage biodiversity and increase environmental awareness on the 4.5 acre studio complex.
Dale Parmenter, Group CEO, said: “As a business we are stronger and more prepared than ever to take on the challenges and opportunities in the future.”
The Earl then headed to Malvern Panalytical to learn about its scientific and technical contribution to the development of medicines and vaccines to treat and prevent Covid-19.
Mark Fleiner President, at Malvern Panalytical, said: “Throughout 2020 and 2021 we have witnessed our analytical systems and services make a real contribution to the development of protein antigen and mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines, as well as to the development of antiviral drugs. Malvern Panalytical provides the instruments and expertise to support robust and rapid vaccine development and assist pharmaceutical organisations in assuring the quality of vaccines and other treatments.”
Worcester camping equipment specialist, Olpro, has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade 2021.
The 10-year-old camping brand’s increased international sales helped the business nearly double its turnover and employees within the last 12 months.
Exports account for 12 per cent of Olpro’s turnover and international demand
continues to rise. The company shipped to 29 di erent countries in the last year.
Daniel Walton, founder of Olpro, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be a Queen’s Award winner. The award recognises the exceptional interest in our brand and innovative products, but also represents how people across the globe have shown a growing interest in camping and enjoying the great outdoors.”
A landmark naming rights deal has been struck for one of the UK’s leading multipurpose sports, business and entertainment venues in the Midlands.
Coventry’s Ricoh Arena will be known as the Coventry Building Society Arena for the next 10 years from this summer, after Coventry Building Society agreed a longterm deal with the venue owners Wasps Group.
The sponsorship by the UK’s second largest building society, one of the country’s top 10 best employers, underlines the organisation’s commitment to Coventry and the wider region, and its desire to put the city’s name firmly on the national map.
As part of the first change of name to the venue since it opened in 2005, the
Coventry Building Society brand will be prominent inside and outside the venue, and the agreement will see the two organisations developing and delivering programmes for the wider local community.
The stadium is home to Wasps Rugby and Wasps Netball – and the major sponsorship agreement comes as the venue prepares to welcome back Coventry City Football Club in August.
It is also hosting a Rugby League World Cup clash in October, as well as being part of Coventry UK City of Culture and next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Stephen Vaughan, Wasps Group Chief Executive, said completing such a major deal underlined the appeal and ambition of the venue. He said: “This is far more than
simply a naming rights deal – we had to ensure that we united with an organisation that shares our vision for the arena and our values around what we want to deliver in the wider community.
“Coventry Building Society’s plans underpin ours in many ways, so the fit is really strong and we will put the arena and its fantastic facilities at the heart of our plans.”
Steve Hughes, CEO of Coventry Building Society, added: “The Coventry Building Society Arena will raise our profile across the UK.
“We already have more than two million members, but this shows we want to grow further and help many more people achieve their financial aspirations.”
Leamington Spa software company Yotta has joined forces with Finnish industrial measurement company Vaisala to help UK councils collect accurate data from across their highways network much faster than before.
The information is used to make more intelligent decisions about the future of our roads.
Vaisala’s RoadAI uses high-quality video data and computer vision to assess highway conditions. Yotta’s Horizons and Alloy software interprets the data to provide rapid insight into future planning and maintenance needs.
Ben Brown, Head of Road Asset Management at Vaisala, said: “Instead of undertaking data collection one year, wait to receive the results, interpret them and think about carrying out maintenance the following year, they can do the data collection and develop the plan in weeks and even carry out the maintenance programme, all within the same season.”
Emily See, Senior Consultant of Infrastructure Asset Management at Yotta, said: “Innovation can often be seen as a risk for local authorities, however what we aim to achieve is making innovation safer both for ourselves and our council clients. By working collaboratively local authorities are gaining the benefits of the innovation, minimising risk at the same time.”
A Coventry-based autonomous vehicle design and manufacturer has seen its auto-shuttles begin trials in Cambridge.
Aurrigo has become the first firm in the country to undertake testing of a custom-made autonomous vehicle capable of carrying passengers on a main road surrounded by other traffic, including cars, lorries, vans, bikes and pedestrians.
Able to seat 10 people outside of social distancing restrictions, the three shuttles will take passengers from the Madingley Road Park and Ride site to and around the University of Cambridge’s West Campus.
The trial is part of an Innovate UK and Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles-backed project being led by Aurrigo to explore how autonomous technology can be used on the public transport network.
It is anticipated that passengers recruited for the project will be able to use an Aurrigo app that will allow them to be picked-up at a number of locations across the two-mile route.
“Aurrigo has become the first firm in the country to undertake testing of a custom-made autonomous vehicle capable of carrying passengers on a main road ...”The Aurrigo in Cambridge
It’s been an extraordinary year for Mirius. The Coventry developer and manufacturer of cleaning and hygiene products found itself at the centre of the UK’s response to the pandemic. At the same time it also received a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
Mirius, first established in 1963 as Coventry Chemicals, develops cleaning and hygiene products for the retail, professional and animal healthcare sectors. Last year it turned over more than £45 million, up from £32 million the previous year. At the same time, it faced its biggest challenge yet as Covid-19 rolled across the country.
The company responded by introducing a new range of anti-viral cleaning products in less than three months, investing in the machinery to produce them and doubling the workforce to meet demand.
Managing Director Paul Marsh explained: “Before the pandemic hit we were already discussing what the next big healthcare challenge might be, and what we should be developing to meet it.
“Little did we know how relevant our discussions would quickly become.”
Mirius is used to dealing with pandemics. Its animal health care division is constantly developing products to help combat the spread of diseases such as avian bird flu, African swine fever and foot and mouth disease, to name a few.
“Our microbiologists are very knowledgeable,” said Paul. “In 2019, surprising as it might seem, a cleaning product range with anti-viral properties didn’t really exist, but our team predicted the need for them.”
Lots of products clean and sanitise. Bleach is the obvious one because it kills pretty much anything which comes into contact with it, but you wouldn’t want to use it in a food preparation area or, say, on fabrics or wood when it would taint or discolour the surface being cleaned.
“Coronavirus isn’t a particularly difficult virus to kill. But it does love surfaces and hangs around for a long time,” said Paul.
So Mirius’s microbiologists set about developing a product that could be used for cleaning not just sanitising. The result is Hycolin.
Hycolin antiviral surface cleaners are a range of powerful disinfectants that clean surfaces and reduce the cross contamination risk of germs and viruses.
“We launched Hycolin into the hospital sector, but consumers also wanted reassurance that there was a medicalgrade product which would clean and protect their homes from viruses,” said Paul.
In just a few months the company went from developing the first Hycolin product to selling 11 variations suitable for cleaning and sanitising all areas within a building, from toilets to kitchen areas.
“Although we knew the chemistry worked, we needed to test our products at renowned laboratories to obtain the correct certifications to prove that the Hycolin range killed enveloped viruses such as Coronavirus as well as dangerous bacteria such as MRSA and Listeria,” added Paul.
“The tests demonstrated that our claims were substantiated and that the Hycolin cleaning range is highly effective.”
The pandemic revealed the critical role hygiene plays in defending the world from infection. One Coventry company rose to the challenge magnificently to meet skyrocketing demandMirius antiviral multipurpose spray
Mirius manufactures in Coventry, and during the height of the pandemic last year – like pretty much every manufacturer, it experienced key shortages (the bottle trigger heads were in very short supply at times, along with some active ingredients).
“Our success in securing supplies came down to the tenacity of our team,” said Paul.
“At times we chartered aeroplanes to bring components in so we didn’t let customers down. We even supplied components to competitors to keep them going too.”
Before the pandemic, the business ran two shifts, five days a week. By April it was three shifts a day, seven days a week.
Mirius has the capacity to produce more than one million bottles every week and now employs around 200 people, up from a 125 head count before the pandemic.
“Our workforce has been absolutely fantastic,” said Paul. “They adapted to different shift systems so we always had capable people who knew exactly what they were doing in terms of making, packing and transporting.”
Now, as the world adapts to life postCovid, Mirius is building on its work of the last 12 months.
“We’re talking to our customers, including supermarkets and professional users, to further improve our products,” said Paul. “We are also being approached by innovative small businesses which have some really exciting cleaning chemistries. We are helping them develop their ideas and bring them to market.”
The cleaning sector has suffered from inertia for the last decade or more. That’s changing with new technologies being developed as people better recognise the importance of hygiene, cleaning and the training of staff.
“People are now open to new products, procedures and ideas. It’s become a very dynamic marketplace,” added Paul.
Mirius is also constantly working to improve its sustainability and ecocredentials. It has developed the Mireco plant-based range of cleaning products, as well as working with leading supermarkets to develop their own eco ranges.
Mirius uses r-Pet recycled plastic in its trigger spray bottles, and is accredited to the RSPO certification in its use of Responsibly Sourced Palm Oil.
In April, the company won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. Mirius sells around the world, particularly into the key markets of Ireland and across Scandinavia. Its animal health care products are sold across the Far East, and in the USA it sells through an American pharmaceutical company.
There are many more overseas opportunities, particularly in mainland Europe, said Paul, and across Australia and New Zealand.
Domestically, the company continues to concentrate on product development and increasing brand awareness.
“We gained a lot of customers during the pandemic,” said Paul “Our sales team was glued to the phones, and we were tenaciously sourcing raw materials in order to not let anyone down. We want to build on that by further penetrating current markets and opening up new territories overseas.”
When Steve Lindsey discovered that air compressors absorb a staggering 10 per cent of the world’s energy, and no one had succeeded in making them more efficient for 100 years, he decided to do it himself.
His invention, the Blade Compressor, was a completely new and patented geometry for a machine that is at the core of many industries. It leaks less, uses less energy and is more reliable than traditional machines of this type.
And with the global air compressor market expected to exceed $37 billion by 2022, driven by additional demand from the food & beverage and pharmaceutical sectors, it seemed ideal to launch a new product into a sector ready to embrace potentially costsaving technology.
In 2019, Lontra, the company he set up
in 2004 to design, manufacture and sell the compressor, opened a purpose-built advanced manufacturing centre in Napton, in rural Warwickshire.
And last year, the advanced engineering technology company began production of the blade compressor on a new assembly line in Tyseley, Birmingham.
Lontra has secured significant partnerships with major US distributor networks to ensure it can secure a major market presence in North America.
Steve, CEO of Lontra said: “Beginning production of our first machines for export
was a pivotal moment in Lontra’s growth trajectory.
“It is fast growth manufacturing firms such as ours that reflect the sector’s strength to thrive post pandemic. Manufacturing and exports create a strong bedrock for the economy, supporting local jobs and highlighting our world-class skills that make us competitive on a global scale.”
Sales of Lontra’s LP2 product are forecast to boost the company’s value to nearly £600 million by 2024. Following refinements to the original design, the company says its compressor is now up to 34 per cent more efficient than competitors.
It is fast growth manufacturing firms such as ours that reflect the sector’s strength in depth to thrive post pandemicLontra’s production line in Tyseley, Birmingham
INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IS THE BEDROCK FOR A STRONG ECONOMY
A Warwick-based high-tech engineering company has received its second Queen’s Award for Enterprise. 3P Innovation’s latest accolade for International Trade follows on from it’s first Queen’s Award for Innovation last year.
3P Innovation designs, manufactures and supports top-quality production equipment and machinery, from lab-scale to commercial scale.
3P says it is one of a limited number of companies globally which can design and manufacture such sophisticated and heavily regulated automation.
Its latest Queen’s Award builds on last year’s success for 3P. Shortly after launching a national visor initiative, which saw the manufacturer donate more than 40,000 visors to frontline staff, the company was awarded with a UK Business Hero stamp by the British Chambers of Commerce.
The firm ended the year on a high note after announcing a transition to employee ownership.
3P’s founder and Managing Director, Tom Bailey, said: “In a year that has been challenging for everyone, the team at 3P innovation have worked harder than ever to achieve remarkable international growth.”
“This has provided us with further security and stability in an ever-changing market affected by Covid, and it’s great to see that UK innovation and international growth within the manufacturing sector are being recognised by the Queen’s Awards.”
Baxi Heating’s development of a boiler fuelled by hydrogen has won the innovation category at the Gas Industry Awards.
Hydrogen is an energy carrier which can be created at volume. Both blue and green hydrogen offer zero carbon heat at the point of use.
Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas, usually via steam-reforming, with carbon capture storage (CCS).
Green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity for electrolysis, to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Karen Boswell OBE, Managing Director of the Warwick based company, said: “As a leading player in the British heating and hot water industry we are determined to play our part in achieving the goal of being a net-zero economy.
“We are developing technologies that will help customers to heat their homes and businesses without warming the planet, and hydrogen should play an important role as it produces no greenhouse gases at the point of use.”
Baxi’s Sustainability Pledge, launched last year, will ensure that every product it makes will work with low carbon energy by 2025.
Around 85 per cent of UK homes rely on the natural gas grid for heating. Repurposing it to transport green gas offers a low disruption option towards decarbonising the existing building stock.
Baxi’s boilers currently being tested will run completely on hydrogen.
Its parent company, BDR Thermea Group, has a hydrogen boiler on a field trial in the Netherlands.
Warwickshire is home to literally hundreds of globally-leading automotive companies, from Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin to some not so familiar, but no less impressive companies.
Coventry-based RDM Group supplies products and engineering services to the automotive industry, while Sirius Automotive in Leamington Spa specialises in the production of electric and Subarupowered high performance sports cars.
Then there’s Eatron Technologies in Warwick, an “intelligent software” company specialising in electric and autonomous vehicles and also based in the town is Contechs, a leading provider of specialist design and engineering services to some of the world’s most well-known automotive engineering brands.
But don’t let’s forget there are many other manufacturing companies in the county which serve industries other than automotive that can be celebrated too.
Bluecode Rugby
BPC Engineering Welford-onAvon
Fertility Focus Warwick
FuturEnergy Ltd
Leeson
Stratford-uponAvon
Polyurethanes Ltd Warwick
SJG International Alcester
Staircraft Exhall
The Box Factory Leamington Spa
Vitsœ Leamington Spa
Warwick Acoustics Nuneaton
Specialises in the manufacture of labels for the industrial and commercial sectors
Manufacturer specialising in the design and production of marine grade 316L stainless steel pipe support clamping systems
Manufactures fertility monitoring products
Developed the AirForce-1 domestic wind turbine in 2006. More than 6,000 have since been manufactured and sold worldwide
Designs and manufacturers polyurethane adhesives and coatings
Manufactures rubber extrusions, gaskets and foam conversions
Manufactures staircases, joist floors, door linings and other timber products, and says it is the world’s leading staircase manufacturer
Designs, prints and manufactures all types of corrugated cardboard boxes
Manufactures modular furniture designed in 1960 by the celebrated German industrial designer Dieter Rams
Designs and manufactures high quality audio systems and headphones
Modular furniture manufacturer Vitsœ’s sta kitchen at its innovation Leamington Spa factory
The pretty spa town of Leamington Spa has long been known for being a major hub for the UK’s games design industry. It is said to be the third biggest gaming hub in the UK, with 34 games companies, together employing almost 1,000 people.
The sector provides a major economic boost for the West Midlands, according to a report by UKIE, the organisation supporting the UK’s interactive entertainment sector. Three quarters of the digital media companies in the area are gaming companies – a more typical share would be 5-10 per cent.
The industry began in the town in 1986, when brothers David and Richard Darling founded Codemasters. The pair sold their interest in the business in 2007, and in February this year, the company was sold again, this time to California-based Electronic Arts (EA), for a cool £1.2 billion.
Other games studios followed the Darling Brothers to Leamington. Playground Games was established in 2010 and has gone on to create four award-winning hits. Its Horizon games have picked up more than 100 awards.
Another successful games studio is Ubisoft. Founded in January 2017 and headed by Richard Blenkinsop, the studio has a growing team of more than 50, and with significant plans for growth the studio is recruiting heavily across a variety of job roles.
The sector is well supported by the local further education colleges. Royal Leamington Spa College’s foundation and bachelor degrees in Games Art have been accredited by ScreenSkills Select, the industry-led skills body for the screen industries – film, television, visual effects, animation and games.
The college is one of only eight institutions in the country to have the ScreenSkills Games badge and is the only college to have received the accreditation, with the others all being universities or training schools.
It is estimated that 500 more jobs in game development will be created in the town in the next two years.
We are increasingly seeing the global appeal of British-made products. Exports will help drive UK economic recovery and growth – and British-made products offer UK businesses a price differential in new markets.
As the UK moves towards greater stability post Covid-19 and post-Brexit, increased globalisation and rapidly growing emerging markets present incentives and opportunities for British firms to export. A willingness among consumers in key markets to pay a premium for British-made products, and growing overseas demand for ‘Made in Britain’ goods, further enhance the appeal for UK firms to export – and could have a positive impact on return on investment.
Barclays recently surveyed 10,002 consumers across 10 international markets – France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, the US, China, India, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, South Korea and South Africa – to find out the average price differential they are willing to pay for British products. Our research showed that, while the EU and the US remain important trading partners for the UK, there are significant opportunities for British businesses to grow exports in emerging, high-growth markets such as China, India and UAE.
You can read more at
The opportunities for UK businesses increasing exports into these markets stretch beyond simply financial growth. New revenue opportunities help diversify a business’ customer base and scaling up offers increased efficiencies. Scaling up also enables businesses to explore innovation and recruit people with the skills and outlook to take new directions and seize new opportunities. All these developments have the potential to increase competitive advantage and provide long-term stability. For British businesses keen to seize the opportunities that exporting presents, it is clear there are considerable rewards to be gained.
www.barclayscorporate.com/insights/trade/made-in-britain/
Rebekah Taitt Relationship Director, Corporate Banking, BarclaysEmail: rebekah.taitt@barclays.com
David Currie has joined Coventry-based Deeley Group as Land and Partnerships Director to help spearhead the company’s drive to grow its Affordable Living brand.
Vail Williams has appointed James Newton as a surveyor to its business space team in Reading. James joins from Lambert Smith Hampton where he spent four years working across the Thames Valley.
Reaction Engines, the Abingdonheadquartered company pioneering the development of a rocket-propelled aircraft that can fly into space, has appointed Philippa Davies as Head of Engineering, a role which will see her more directly involved in shaping the direction of the business as she leads the entire Reaction Engines’ engineering division.
James Cowper Kreston have promoted Brad McAvoy and Margaret Savory to Partners.
Brad joined James Cowper Kreston in 2018 as a corporate finance director from Australia where he worked for one of the ‘Big Four’ as a director. Margaret joined in 2016. She specialises in tax for entrepreneurial businesses.
Bristol-based Nick Fairham has been appointed to head BDP, a global architecture and engineering design practice which has more than 1,000 staff and studios around the world.
Williams Advanced Engineering has appointed automotive industry veteran Jean-Marc Gales as Chairman. JeanMarc will work closely with CEO Craig Wilson, who has led Williams Advanced Engineering for seven years.
07 A
Cheltenham-based clothing retailer Superdry has appointed Peter Sjölander as Chairman. Formerly CEO of Helly Hansen, he replaces Peter Williams, who has stepped down.
Chris Eldridge Head of Shows and Commercial at The Three Counties Showground in Malvern has had his role expanded to an overall remit for shows and venue hire, while Jane Edwards has joined in the new role of Show Manager.
Barry Bodin-Jones has left GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership to become Business Development Manager at Gloucester-based professional construction consultancy Vitruvius Management Services.
Worcestershire law firm mfg Solicitors has announced 10 promotions.
Farming expert Alexandra Phillips is promoted to partner. Andrew Chandler and Sally Smith also becomes partners along with commercial property specialists Ben Rothery and Rhiannon Clark
Five lawyers have also been promoted to senior associate and associate level.
Maynard Burton (centre in photograph), chairman of mfg Solicitors said: “The promotions come after a hugely difficult year where they have shone time and again.”
Just weeks after being elected, Bristol’s animal-loving Metro Mayor, Dan Norris, visited Wild Place Project to hear about Bristol Zoo’s impending move to its new site near Cribbs Causeway and discuss with Chief Executive Dr Justin Morris the plans to create a new world-class zoo for the West of England.
In November last year, the zoo revealed it was selling off its historic Clifton site for housing after years of declining visitor numbers. Together Bristol Zoo Gardens and Wild Place Project welcomed 830,000 visitors in 2019 but only 424,500 last year due to closures and limits on visitors during the pandemic. But the cost of feeding the animals and other fixed expenses has not changed.
Bristol Zoo Gardens is the fifth oldest zoo in the world. It opened to the public in July 1836 and has since welcomed more than 90 million visitors. It has also helped save more than 175 species from extinction in human care and in the wild and is currently working on conservation and research projects across the world.
Mr Norris said: “Wild Place Project is a unique place to visit. It’s great to see wild animals such as bears, wolves and lynxes in an almost-authentic habitat – animals that were once native to the area 10,000 years ago. It is great to hear about the exciting plans to move Bristol Zoo in Clifton to this special site to create an environmentallyfriendly, forward-thinking zoo, that will have conservation at its heart.”
Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire has partnered with construction company Morgan Sindall to create nine new woodlands.
The historic palace plans to plant more than a quarter of a million trees to transform the land as part of an ambitious series of sustainability initiatives.
The project will be delivered in conjunction with Grown In Britain, an independent not-for-profit that the Morgan Sindall Group helped set up in 2011, focusing on investing in woodlands and certifying British wood products.
Blenheim Palace Chief Executive, John Morgan, said: “This exciting project is about more than our quest to achieve net zero – though that remains our very valid goal. This is about creating a legacy with an environmental net gain and the creation of substantial natural capital, across the board.
“Our woodlands will provide measurable, demonstrable gains in terms of soil, air and water quality, not to mention the wellbeing benefits for all those who can come and enjoy the forest as it grows.”
Redditch, Worcester and Hereford are three of a total of 26 towns in England that will share more than £610 million to boost their local economies and create jobs.
Redditch has secured £15.6 million and Worcester £19.6 million. Hereford is set to use its £22.4 million investment to introduce a fleet of electric buses and
regenerate the museum, library and art gallery into a unique modern visitor attraction.
Worcester will use a substantial portion of its cash to undertake regeneration of Shrub Hill railway station, a key gateway into the city. Redditch will invest in skills, digital manufacturing, green infrastructure
and town centre regeneration in accordance with the Town Investment Plan.
The aim of the government’s Town Deals, which all have sustainability at their heart, is to help breathe new life into neglected areas or unused buildings to boost businesses, community events or provide much needed new homes.
In a move which will help the NHS work towards its commitment of a net zero health service and boost the environmental credentials of all healthcare customers, Grundon Waste Management has announced that its clinical waste operation is now selfsu cient in green energy.
Grundon’s site at Knowl Hill in Berkshire pipes landfill gas from its adjacent former landfill site into a gas engine which is now generating around 350kW of renewable electricity – that’s enough to power the entire operation and still send at least a third of its output to the National Grid.
Overseeing the project has been James Gilbert, Grundon’s Environment & Energy Manager, who said: “On an average working day, we use around half of our self-generated electricity to power our site and send the remainder to the National Grid, so it is quite significant.”
Two Leamington film students have launched their own production company and are already securing work across the region.
Adam Hasan and Lily Shepherd, both 22, have set-up Purple Light Film Productions whilst studying for their BA Honours in Digital Film Production at Royal Leamington Spa College (part of WCG, Warwickshire College Group).
The duo has already been commissioned to produce music videos for local artists and been approached by local businesses, one being a commercial Barbers shop, to shoot promotional videos.
Recently the pair have worked on music videos for Lil $heep, Josh Holmes, and a short called; Smoking Dogs ready for the festival circuit.
Purple Light has also purchased a drone to support future projects and is in the process of acquiring a commercial drone pilot license.
Sharpness-based tower crane company, Bennetts Cranes, is supporting a conservation campaign to bolster the breeding population of the UK’s largest bird, by sponsoring a habitat restoration project at Slimbridge Wetland Centre near Berkeley.
Bennetts Cranes launched “Cranes for cranes” to represent support for the conservation campaign, which is aimed at helping the recently reintroduced population of common – or Eurasian –
cranes, a bird that until around a decade ago had been extinct in the UK for 400 years.
Edward Seager, Managing Director of Bennetts Cranes, said: “We’d been looking for a project we could get involved in that would be beneficial for our environment, and cranes seemed the perfect fit. It’s even better that we can see the work and get involved in this project at Slimbridge because it is only a few miles from our headquarters.”
A Tetbury-based wildlife product manufacturer expanding across the USA expects to generate sales of £4 million over the next five years.
Since 2010 the company has received support from the Department for International Trade including funding to attend trade shows overseas.
As a result, exporting now accounts for 30 per cent of Wildlife World’s total sales after a growth of 87 per cent in the last year to the USA.
Duralock, a leading manufacturer of sustainable PVCu fencing, is launching in North America through an exclusive licence agreement with international consultant Michele Fischer. The private family business specialises in equestrian rail and fencing systems and its products, made in Oxfordshire from 80 per cent recycled PVCu, are used on racecourses, training centres, polo grounds and equestrian facilities in 33 countries.
Michele, who will serve as managing director, specialises in horse racing operations and wagering systems. She said: “The launch of Duralock North America is an opportunity to modernize and enhance fencing performance with a special emphasis on safety and sustainability.”
Outside North America, Duralock’s fencing products are used in a range of different sporting arenas – including soccer, rugby and cricket stadiums – as well as other commercial applications including moveable crowd barriers.
The company has also recently established a fulfilment centre there.
Vanessa McDonald, Sales Manager for Wildlife World said: “With the COVID lockdown, I wasn’t able to travel to America and attend trade shows. This meant we had to invest in our online presence in the USA.
“We set up a new website and Department for International Trade funding enabled us to secure an online specialist in the US. We’re also getting support with our IP protection.
Wildlife World has also secured deals with retailers in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The winners of the 2021 Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade have been announced, celebrating the achievements of UK businesses following an incredibly challenging year.
3P innovation Warwick
Alice Caroline Tewkesbury
ALS Mechatronic Gloucester
Boardies International Bristol
Mirius Coventry
Embed Coventry
Glentham Life Sciences Corsham
M Lloyd Engineering Leominster
Melford Technologies Amersham
Ocere Cheltenham
Olpro Worcester
Oxgene Oxford
Payara Malvern
Scanning Pens Melksham
Advanced machinery and automation for medical and FMCG sectors
Designs Liberty-print sewing kits and accessories
Factory automation machinery and control systems
Swimware using sustainable fabrics
Cleaning and hygiene products manufacturer
Automotive electronics and embedded software
Chemicals and raw materials for research, analysis and production
Manufacturer of agricultural equipment
Manufacturer of bespoke digital technology
Digital marketing
Camping equipment and accessories
Cell and gene therapy technology
Software for mission critical production systems
Assistive technology for those with reading difficulties
Tonic Games Gerrards Cross PC, mobile and console games
Tru eHunter Cirencester
Westminster Group Banbury
Supply of fresh truffles and products
Advanced security, consultancy and training
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More than half of students looking to apply to higher education in 2022 are interested in apprenticeships but find it difficult to find information about them.
A third of students at schools and only half in colleges said that they were not told about apprenticeships, despite there being a legal requirement placed on schools to do so.
Now, the Cheltenham-based national Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) has promised to make it much easier for students to find out more information on its website.
UCAS research reveals that more needs to be done to highlight the benefits of apprenticeships. Only eight per cent of students surveyed associated apprenticeships with a good job.
Boris Johnson’s lifelong loan entitlement revealed in the Queen’s Speech really does offer us a significant change for access to learning and skills.
And in my view, it could pave the way for a new culture of skills fit for the 21st century.
We are living longer so careers will need to extend too.
Is it feasible that as education finishes in the teens and twenties, those early learnings will see someone through their whole working life?
The Prime Minister’s lifetime guarantee is a great idea. But it must be planned and
A paltry four per cent associate the word “prestigious” with apprenticeships compared with 76 per cent for a traditional university degree.
UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant said: “UCAS is about much more than
executed with all the partners involved –particularly our further education colleges and universities.
Hitherto, careers planning for young people and vital retraining for older workers has been something of a shambles.
I hope that a proper Work Plan to take Boris’s lifetime guarantee forward will start to put an end to the belief that university entrance is the be-all and end-all to a successful career.
But that will only happen if the guarantee remains a flagship policy with plenty of cash investment and good leadership.
I would like to see an industrialist of stature like James Dyson being the figurehead of this new work and training culture.
Apprenticeships are currently in intensive care and the whole system needs major surgery.
I am reminded by the headline over the Sunday Times business news column written by James Timpson, chief executive of Timpson Group.
applying to an undergraduate degree – we provide information across the full range of post-18 opportunities. But more needs to be done to shake off the outdated stigma or misplaced snobbery associated with apprenticeships, given they are a great start to any career.”
“The apprenticeship levy is a load of old cobblers”, it said.
And James is right. It’s a good idea in principle but needs urgent reform.
Isn’t it appalling that more than £1 billion in levy money has recently gone unspent by businesses?
The manufacturing sector’s trade body, Make UK, says the unspent money should be used by government to revamp the scheme.
Our economic recovery relies heavily on young people being given new opportunities – many through apprenticeships while our older, displaced workers must be offered retraining.
I am proud to be an ex-apprentice having started as a junior reporter at 17.
And at 74, I am still learning.
Ian Mean is an honorary vice president of Gloucestershire College and a board member of GFirst LEP
Ian Mean
Apprentices at University of Gloucestershire
A new report published by the UK’s technology trade body, techUK, reveals a huge discrepancy between the demand for digitally skilled workers in areas such as coding, and the opportunity to retrain in these fields for the many millions made redundant due to the Covid-19 recession.
It says that immediate action is needed to close the growing digital skills gap with thousands of digital job vacancies remaining unfilled.
And it gets worse: three million new jobs requiring digital skills are predicted to be created in the UK by 2025. Where will we find the people to fill them?
techUK’s task force is calling for the government to work with tech firms to remedy the situation.
Jacqueline de Rojas, President of techUK said: “The Covid-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on the lives of many people, on their wellbeing and employment prospects. Almost two-thirds of those who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic are under the age of 25.
“As employers in this sector, we know that many good jobs in technology will be created in the years to come – bringing with them the opportunity for people to thrive. We must connect these jobs with those who need them. This will equip far more people with the skills and pathways they need to thrive in a future defined by new technology.”
almost as many as picked engineering. Colleges and universities across the region are offering apprenticeships or degree apprenticeships in digital skills. The University of Gloucestershire is offering degree apprenticeships in cyber security, data science and digital technology, among others. WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group), is offering advanced apprenticeships in software development.
If gaming is more your style, Royal Leamington Spa College, which is based in one of the UK’s hotspots for video game development, is offering foundation and bachelor degrees in games art, having been accredited by the industry-led skills body for the screen industries.
There is certainly interest in the sector. Computer Science degree apprenticeships are a popular choice for students heading to university, according to a poll by UCAS of students applying to study in 2022. Of those who expressed an interest in degree apprenticeships, more than 65 per cent picked Computer Science,
In 2019 more than 60 per cent of students on the Games Art degree went straight into employment.
In recent years its students have been employed by companies such as Leamington Spa-based Playground Games and Pixel Toys, Excalibur Games in Banbury and Oxford-based Exient.
“Almost two-thirds of those who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic are under the age of 25”
Wave Optics, the Oxfordshire-based augmented reality company, is being bought by its customer Snap Inc for $500 million.
WaveOptics, which launched in 2014, now has more than 100 employees. It creates waveguides and projectors to bring augmented reality to the mass market.
USA-based Snap Inc believes
A newly formed accountancy firm based in the West Midlands has made its first acquisition.
BK Plus was set up by David Baldwin and Shaun Knight following their departure from David’s family accountancy business Baldwins last year. Their new company has now bought Chapman Nash accountancy in Warwickshire.
In 2016 Baldwins was sold to Cogital which subsequently rebranded to the rather more funky name of Azets last year.
Shaun, co-founder BK Plus, said: “It is fantastic to join forces with such a well-respected firm in our first major acquisition, so soon after launching the business.”
“reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.”
Waveguides are a display technology that enables the overlaying of virtual objects on to the real world through a transparent surface like glass and
accompanying light projectors. Snap is already using WaveOptics displays in its new spectacles.
Snap’s purchase of the Oxfordshire business means it has acquired the maker of a key component for AR glasses in a fast-growing industry.
Regional law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys, which has its headquarters in Worcester, has completed its merger with 176-year-old firm Hewitsons.
Managing partner Rod Thomas said: “We are pleased both that the merger has been completed successfully and that it has been received positively by the staff and clients of both firms.”
Colin Jones, former managing partner of Hewitsons, said: “We all recognise the strengths each party brings to this merger and we’re looking forward to
developing those further across a wider network.”
The move brings the two firms together into a firm of approximately 780 people with a £65 million turnover.
Harrison Clark Rickerbys (trading as HCR Hewitsons in Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Northampton) has offices in Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Hereford, London, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Hereford, Thames Valley, Worcester and the Wye Valley.
Vectura Group PLC has agreed a £958 million takeover by Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with $260 billion of assets under management.
Vectura, which employs around
450 people, provides innovative inhaled drug delivery products to bring medicines to patients. It is one of the few companies globally with the device, formulation and development capabilities to deliver a broad range of complex inhaled therapies.
St. Modwen, the Solihull-based property investment and development business, has agreed its sale to the USA-based global investment company Blackstone for around £1.2 billion.
In February the company said it intended to focus on housebuilding and logistics after reporting a loss for 2020 of
nearly £121 million, following its profit of close to £50 million in 2019.
Danuta Gray, chair of St Modwen, said: “Over the last four years, St. Modwen has successfully reshaped its business to focus on logistics and housebuilding. Following careful consideration, we believe this offer is in the best interests of St. Modwen
A company that develops seasonings and flavours has been bought by Europe’s largest sustainability-focused private equity investor.
TasteConnection, based near Wottonunder-Edge in Gloucestershire, was acquired by Ambienta in April.
Founded in 2002, TasteConnection is a leading manufacturer of innovative seasonings and flavourings, with a core focus on the snacks and savoury markets. TasteConnection has a strong presence in the handmade crisps,
chips, and ready meals markets and a client base of more than 70 of the largest UK snacks producers and food brands, as well as many niche UK brands.
Andrew Sainsbury, Co-founder of TasteConnection, said: “We have ambitious growth plans for TasteConnection; this move was the logical next step in securing our future and ability to provide our customers with cost-e ective, industry leading seasonings and provenanced ingredients.”
The huge surge in demand for delivered pizza has seen turnover at White’s Foodservice Equipment in Redditch grow to a record £4.5 million over the last year.
Business boss Tim White supplies pizza ovens, spares and food preparation equipment to major names including Domino’s Pizza, Papa John’s and independent operators across the country.
He said: “Business has gone through the roof over the last year. We operate a spare parts website as well, and supply woodfired and normal commercial pizza ovens made by the leading manufacturers in the industry.
“We now have around 15 full time staff and will be aiming to recruit two or three more over the next 12 months.”
shareholders and significantly accelerates the value that could be realised by St. Modwen if it were to remain independent.
“Additionally, the board is reassured by Blackstone’s views and approach to investing in the business and supporting our people.”
Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd, the Bristol-based engineering and aeronautical business developing electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has merged with Broadstone Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in order to launch on the New York Stock Exchange.
The transaction will result in Vertical becoming a publicly-traded company valued at approximately £1.5 billion ($2.2 billion).
The listing on the New York Stock Exchange is expected to close in the second half of 2021.
Vertical was founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, an established entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Ovo Group, the energy company which wants to create a world without carbon and which includes Ovo Energy, the UK’s second-biggest energy retailer with revenues of £4.5 billion.
Vertical’s mission is to make air travel personal, on-demand and carbon-free.
When we were creating the Partners& brand, we did a lot of research into what prospective clients were looking for in their broker. We wanted to make sure that the brand we were creating challenged the status quo and really addressed the needs of our clients.
In our view, the insurance sector had found itself in a difficult position. What was once regarded as an industry acutely focused on relationship, today is characterised as transactional, impersonal and bogged down in red tape.
We’ve all experienced it – call centres, ever changing teams, increasing fees, decreasing service levels, reams of unintelligible documentation - you are left feeling uncertain about whether you’re adequately covered or not, and frankly, just proceeding on blind faith.
We wanted to get away from all that. So we engaged in focus groups to get an understanding of what really mattered.
We started from the premise that we’d hear what most of us in the professional services sector would expect: experience, technical expertise, sector understanding…sound familiar? Interestingly, in our clients’ minds these were givens.
Clients expected this, but it wasn’t enough to get them to turn their heads and break free from the inertia which characterises the industry.
The feedback we received from these focus group participants was compelling. It spoke directly to the poor experiences they had almost become resigned to receiving.
What they wanted all pointed to relationship. They wanted their broker to spend time building a rapport with them, developing insight, and to express a degree of care for them and their business.
They wanted their broker to “speak plain English”, to help them understand the fine print and to explain what insurance they have and why they have it.
When the time came for a claim, they wanted their broker to be there for them, standing shoulder to shoulder with them, fighting their corner to help secure the best outcome.
Finally, they wanted a broker to work in partnership with them, to co-create a programme that is spot on for their business – not an off the shelf solution, but one that addresses their specific risks.
I’m sure these comments will be familiar to others in the wider professional services sector. In the race for profit, and focus on spreadsheets and shareholders, many have forgotten that we actually are people businesses.
“We exist to support our clients, to provide important advice to help them, their businesses, their employees and their families to succeed, thrive and achieve their goals”.
- CEO Phil Barton
The last year has brought about many changes in the way we conduct business. Let’s hope one of the lasting impacts of the pandemic is a return to focusing on people – our clients and our colleagues. As we challenge the status quo, that’s exactly what we intend to do.
Our aim is to be the best insurance advisory business in the UK.
Welcome to the next generation insurance advisory business.
Utilities start-up The Bunch has moved to new premises following a period of rapid expansion.
Founded by student Elliott HerrodTaylor in 2017, The Bunch consolidates household bills into one monthly payment for students, helping to ease the stress around bills while at university
as well as granting individual liability for tenants – which means if one housemate doesn’t pay, the others aren’t responsible.
The Bristol business has seen 250 per cent growth this year, after completing a funding round of £900,000 in 2020. Having serviced more than 10,000
After a record-breaking year of online sales and new product launches, Sophie Scarrott is expanding her business online, but it does mean the closure of the retailer’s store in Cheltenham this month.
Keith Scarrott Shoes was established in 1975 by Sophie’s father. The company designs exclusive collections of boots and shoes in Cheltenham which are handmade in Italy or Spain.
Sophie took over the running of the business 16 years ago.
Using digital platforms like Instagram and Facebook to increase their reach, Sophie and her team made the most of each lockdown. As a result, the business saw a phenomenal 400 per cent growth in sales.
Sophie said: “The pandemic allowed us to push forward with our digital plans much faster than planned.”
But she says it’s not the end of physical retail for Keith Scarrott Shoes, which will occasionally appear as a pop-up store.
Sophie added: “I believe in a flexible trading model, partnering with exciting brands and retail spaces, using digital insight to drive our activity.”
Just a year after a skilled young auto engineer launched his car repair business he has moved into bigger premises.
Gavin Cunningham’s vehicle recovery and repair business has now transferred to premises five times bigger than his original base in Redditch, creating jobs along the way.
The firm has moved to a 5,126 sq ft unit on the Washwood Industrial Estate.
The new venture came after Gavin lost a job that saw him rise from a teenage tyre fitter to a regional manager. He sold possessions including his car to buy a recovery truck to start the business, enabling him to raise enough money to get his first set of premises.
customers, The Bunch has grown from a team of seven to 20 in the past six months.
The company has moved to bigger premises in St Pauls, Bristol, and wants to hit an ambitious growth target of £5 million turnover this year, from its current from £1.9 million.
Advanced surface coating technology company, Hardide Coatings, which doubled the size of its UK production facility with a move to a new 20,000 sq ft site in Bicester earlier this year, has seen improvement across all its key markets.
The company reported revenues of £1.8 million for the six months ended March 31, in line with the second half of last year.
The company also said that there is an “exciting development under way with a very large UK-based electric vehicle manufacturer”. Gas turbine blade developments are also well advanced with a major European manufacturer.
Robert Goddard, Chairman of Hardide, said: “There are signs of improvement across all of our key markets.
“Revenue from energy, flow control and aerospace customers all increased in the first half with sales to aerospace customers increasing by 26 per cent and to energy and flow control by four per cent each.”
In 2012 the government identified robotics and autonomous systems as one of the eight great technologies that could significantly improve the UK’s international competitiveness, productivity and economic growth.
It established the UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) network and allocated £25 million to establish eight RAS centres for excellence across the UK.
Last year’s International Federation of Robotics’ report highlighted the extent to which UK manufacturing is losing ground on international competitors, according to Tom Bouchier, Managing Director at Coventry-based FANUC UK, one of the leading global manufacturers of factory automation.
He said: “The report lays bare just how far behind the UK is when it comes to the use of industrial robotics.
“While there is a level of enthusiasm among UK manufacturers when it comes to robots and automation, the IFR report shows how much work is to be done in turning this positivity into tangible growth.”
Robotics can be deployed where humans cannot work, such as in nuclear facilities, space exploration or in other extreme temperature environments.
They can also replace missing human limbs, or more prosaically be deployed in warehousing and manufacturing.
Increasingly, as they become more sophisticated, robots are going to be more efficient than a human being.
Industrial robot sales were up 7.5 per cent last year, with 1,931 robots sold in 2020 compared to 1,797 robots sold in 2019.
While the automotive sector has been one of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic, a recent BARA (British Automation and Robot Association) survey of robot manufacturers and distributors found that the auto-sector topped the industry sectors’ league table during Q4 for industrial robots sold in the UK.
Oxford tech company, Createc and the Oxford Robotics Institute have combined their technology to create an autonomous robot that removes the need for people to work in dangerous environments such as nuclear disaster zones.
Createc develops smart radiation detection and 3D gamma radiation mapping technology. Its N-Visage sensor has been deployed worldwide, including at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The Oxford Robotics Institute’ autonomous navigation system called ‘VILENS’ or Visual
Inertial Legged Navigation System allows robots to navigate hazardous sites and collate data remotely.
Matt Mellor, Chief Executive at Createc said: “Createc and ORI’s technology will satisfy an emerging need for a robotics module which enables companies to rapidly develop and field robotics systems based on commercial off-the-shelf components, confident in their ability to operate in a nuclear environment.”
Dr Maurice Fallon, Oxford Robotics Institute added: “Our autonomous navigation technology can operate in all kinds of problematic situations, including completely dark conditions.”
The Hero Arm is the world’s most affordable multi-grip bionic arm. Designed by Bristol-based Open Bionics co-founder, Joel Gibbard, it is engineered and manufactured in the UK. The Hero Arm is a lightweight and affordable myoelectric prosthesis which is now available in the USA, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand for below elbow amputee adults and children aged eight and above.
Gloucester-based Plunkett Associates, a prototyping, tooling and production services business, uses cobots to product parts quickly for clients.
A cobot, or collaborative robot, is designed to repeat a process over and over, alongside human beings. They are already widely used in the manufacturing sector.
As an SME, the ability to work 24-hour round-the-clock shifts without having to take on additional manpower helps Plunkett produce parts cost-effectively and quickly. However its cobots are needed across a variety of machines and tasks,
so the business developed a way to give its cobot access to one of its Fanuc CNC machines to remove turned parts, replace with new and run through the night.
Plunkett manufactured a table with numerous options to give the cobot easier access to the machine. It needed to have complete stability as any movement would throw off the pick-up and drop-off of parts and it needed to be transportable so could not be fixed to the floor.
Plunkett added a parts platform to hold the blanks for the cobot to pick up, and a chute for the finished parts.
While our bars and restaurants were forced to close during the pandemic, an increase in online demand for wine and spirits meant the ageing plant at wine retailer Laithwaites’ Gloucester facility was no longer enough.
So it commissioned Gloucester robotics company CKF to design a new case feed and palletising system.
The company designed a fully automated layer palletising system with a multi-lane accumulation feed system mounted on a new mezzanine floor.
The new system enabled Laithwaites to handle a 50 per cent increase in demand and improve productivity from 65 per cent to 98 per cent.
According to the World Bank, more than 3.5 million tons of solid waste is produced by humans every day.
At the Bristol Robotics Institute, one scientist wants to put this poo to good use and is working on the next generation of bio-engineered fuel cells.
Professor Loannis Leropoulos’s microbial fuel cells (MFCs) mimic an animal’s stomach with microbes breaking down food to create adenosine triphosphate (a molecule that carries energy within cells).
The Bristol lab began building MRCs to power its EcoBots (robots that can remain self-sustainable by collecting their energy from environmental material, mostly waste matter).
While MFCs are still in their infancy, the institute wants to commercialise the invention. The lab recently succeeded in enabling its MFC prototypes to power mobile phones, smart watches, and other devices (including the EcoBots).
Bristol Robotics Institute is a collaborative partnership between the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol, and home to more than 450 academics, researchers and industry practitioners.
Road traffic accounts for 10 per cent of total global carbon emissions, so it’s not surprising that many of the world’s car manufacturers are now promising to build only electric cars by 2030.
In comparison, air traffic is responsible for much less, around three per cent. A single flight produces three tons of carbon dioxide per passenger, but the challenges associated with green flight are bigger.
One company that says it is well on the way to building the world’s first commercial hydrogen-electric plane is ZeroAvia, which has relocated from Bedfordshire to Cotswold Airport near Cirencester.
Last September, ZeroAvia completed the first test flight of a six-passenger airplane powered solely by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell.
The Piper Malibu flew for eight minutes on fuel cell power alone. It reached a height of 1,000 feet and an airspeed of 100 knots (115 mph).
OK, eight minutes at that speed will only get you a few miles down the road, but for the first time the world could see the potential of hydrogen-electric powered aircraft which emits just water vapour during flight. This could be the future of carbon zero air travel, certainly
for short or even medium-haul flights.
A lot of people are excited about this technology. In November, the company was named in the USA-based TIME magazine’s 100 best inventions of 2020 and ZeroAvia has attracted investment from British Airways owner IAG Group, among many others.
ZeroAvia was established in 2018 by Dr Val Miftakhov. A pilot of both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters Dr Miftakhov is a
ZeroAvia has proved that hydrogen-powered flight is possible. The challenge is now scaling up to make it commercial. This entrepreneurial aviation company is determined to succeed
serial sustainable transport entrepreneur. He was a head of R&D at Google in California for six years before founding tech company eMotorWerks to develop smart grid electric vehicle charging technologies. He sold the business in 2019 and launched ZeroAvia.
ZeroAvia’s first home base was in California. It established its UK base at Cranfield before moving to Cotswold Airport in April, where the project is headed by Sergey Kiselev, Vice-President of ZeroAvia in Europe and best friend of Dr Miftakhov.
Why did the entrepreneurs move to Cotswold Airport from Cranfield, which has
a rich history of aerospace research?
Being closer to London, Cranfield’s airspace is a lot busier, said Sergey. And for flight testing of completely new technology, space and flexibility are key.
“Cranfield helped us establish our footprint in the UK. But we needed an airport with more flexibility for flight testing and more space to grow,” he explained.
And ZeroAvia liked the airport owners, who have their own green ambitions.
Cotswold Airport’s CEO, Suzannah Harvey is aiming to make the airport carbon neutral within 10 years. She said: “We are
planning to invest around £3 million in putting solar film on our hangar roofs, which will cover all our electrical use. We are also making headway to install electrical vehicle charging points for customers at our restaurant AV8.”
Cotswold Airport also has a flight training school and general aviation traffic, and the South West is an acknowledged centre of aerospace excellence, so securing the skills needed to drive technological innovation is likely to be less challenging. Currently ZeroAvia employs around 30 people at its new base, which will increase to around 50. It is currently advertising a range of jobs on its website.
“A 50-70 seat seater turbo prop will be able to compete financially with a small jet. And given that the cost of carbon emissions is increasing and the price of hydrogen dropping, the advantage will get greater”
By 2023, ZeroAvia expects to be able to demonstrate flights up to a 500-mile range in a 20-seater aircraft.
And by 2026, the company is aiming for a 500-mile range in aircraft with up to 80 seats increasing by 2030 to more than 1,000-mile range flights in aircraft with 100 plus seats – enough to fly commercial aircraft to the South of France, guilt free.
And flying carbon free might not be more expensive. “Our analysis shows that a hydrogen powertrain is not only competitive in terms of carbon footprint but also in cost savings,” said Sergey. “A 50-70 seat seater turbo prop will be able to compete financially with a small jet. And given that the cost of carbon emissions is increasing and the price of hydrogen dropping, the advantage will get greater.”
With a first flight under its belt, ZeroAvia secured an additional £15 million to kick start the development of a larger engine for a 50+ seater zero emission aircraft. This round of investment brings the company’s total private funding to close to £40 million.
But for a ground-breaking project such as this, private funding isn’t enough. Buy-in from government is essential too. The
company’s expanding UK operations are partially supported by a grant from UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK, and ZeroAvia is part of the UK Government’s Jet Zero Council.
“Aviation is rightly a highly regulated industry and as we develop new technology, we need government regulatory support as well as private investment,” said Sergey. “We found the UK was the best in terms of getting the programmes for the companies like ours funded. It’s the combination of the ease of securing investment money from government and the flexibility in how we can spend it, as long as we spend it on research and development.
“It also helps that the UK has a mature aerospace industry and human capital,” he went on. “For us the talent is an important component. All our engineers are UK based and worked in aerospace or automotive before.”
The appetite for investment in hydrogen power is growing, said Sergey. “Those who have invested in us such as IAG Group, Shell Breakthrough Ventures and Amazon clearly have an interest in such technology working.”
Coupled with the current government appetite to invest in green technologies, the future could be clear blue sky for ZeroAvia.
ZeroAvia says there are no major technological breakthroughs needed to achieve commercially viable flights in a hydrogenpowered plane (and by commercially viable Sergey says that a 19-seater plane is the smallest size which would meet this criteria). However, he says that a lot of research and development is still needed to optimise the technologies to achieve this.
Another significant challenge is securing the right certifications to be able to fly.
It is as safe to fly in a hydrogenpowered plane as one powered by traditional kerosene, said Sergey. Hydrogen is not as flammable as kerosene and is only dangerous if it’s confined in an enclosed space. So ventilation is key, as are automatic valves, and a myriad of other leak detection systems.
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Teams meetings can run really efficiently if you make them, you can even set a timer to finish the video call early to give you time back to decompress. Being productive is about setting agendas, prioritising and doing the important things.
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that enables your workforce to get what they need quickly. If they can get the files they need and the answers to their key questions, then you won’t have to force their behaviour - it will happen organically.
In the past year, rightly so, we have focused on people’s physical and mental health and what they needed in order to work from home successfully. But we also mustn’t lose sight of what a business needs to remain competitive. Remote or hybrid working challenges long-held beliefs about how employees perform well, but it takes strategic planning and the right technology to scale in a way that drives performance while maintaining employee culture and wellbeing. Read
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Collaboration is at the heart of how the University of Gloucestershire’s C11 Cyber Security and Digital Innovation Centre continues to advance the work of its member and o ce clients from its base in the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park (GSTP) at Berkeley Green.
C11 offers easy access from the M5 and M4, free parking, and a 16,000sq ft workspace overlooking the tranquil River Severn. The Centre provides firms with a secure environment, including purposebuilt conference and networking facilities, incubation offices and cyber-forensic labs with high-spec PCs.
Now, C11 is turning to its clients to share the benefits of its partnership-driven environment…
Simon McWhirter, Head of Engagement for Active Building Centre (www.activebuildingcentre.com)
“We aim to revolutionise the construction of the UK’s buildings so that they intelligently capture energy from solar or wind, and then can decide whether to use, retain or trade that power back into the market.
“C11 fosters many partnership opportunities and we’re already looking into biofuels with another company here, and working on upgrading existing buildings on site to net zero standards.”
Patrick Goodenough, Director of CamEra Group (www.cameragroup.co.uk)
“We developed a handheld thermal camera product in 2003 for SARS to measure and record body temperature,” explains Patrick.
“The system was mothballed, but then COVID-19 happened and it turned into an incredibly busy year for us. Our products are currently monitoring up to 27,500 people every day. We’re particularly passionate about C11’s collaborative environment and are working with Aetek on potential aviation-links and Active Building Centre on facilities monitoring. Everyone here wants to help you succeed.”
Phil Curzon, Director of Aetek Aetek, a specialist consultancy providing interior design services to global aerospace companies is starting to see signs of market recovery post-Pandemic.
“Our focus is primarily on Korean military applications, but we’re gradually pushing into the civil market. It costs upwards of $10m to develop and certify a new commercial economy seat and we’ve done a lot of learning to develop our own and other products. C11 has some very interesting companies. We’re working with Active Building Centre to identify items in the UK that could be exported to Korea.”
Gavin Powell, Technical Director at CGTech Ltd (www.cgtech.co.uk)
“CGTech Ltd is the UK office of the global CNC-simulation software company, and we focus on providing technical support
for our UK and overseas customers. We’ve been based at C11 for two and a half years and are always keen to collaborate with other organisations here. We also have access to potential apprentices.”
Pete Barrett, Group Property Manager at SGS College Group (www.scitechglos.co.uk)
With five and a half years at GSTP, Pete was involved in the original conception of C11.
He explains: “C11 provides an essential working space, allowing organisations to come together, and the University of Gloucestershire’s cyber skills link to all of the park’s activities. We’re envisaging the continued expansion of the park and are working with Active Building Centre to grow the low carbon cluster here.”
Rayelle Pentland-Smith, Business Development Director at the C11 Cyber Security and Digital Innovation Centre, concludes: “It’s thrilling to see the collaboration between C11 clients and other GSTP residents.”
“We’re now planning student internships with companies on site, network development links between engineers and University specialists, and also using C11’s super computing capabilities to support high volume data storage and analysis.”
Collaboration is key to cutting-edge innovationC11 clients enjoy the space to network and share ideas.
Stratford-upon-Avon now has 5G coverage
Now you can surf the internet as fast as surfing in the sea thanks to EE, part of BT’s consumer business unit, which has added outdoor 5G coverage to some of the UK’s most popular tourist and coastal destinations.
160 UK towns and cities are able to offer the fast speeds offered by the company’s 5G network.
5G is one of the fastest technologies currently available in the world. In May 2019 EE launched the first 5G service covering major UK cities
Immersive Labs has secured Series C investment of around £53 million in a round led by Insight Partners.
James Hadley, Immersive Labs CEO and Founder, said: “Not so long ago, to most organsations, cyber skills were limited to technical teams remediating laptops and changing passwords.
such as Birmingham and Cardiff.
Locations across the region which now have 5G include Aylesbury, Stratfordupon-Avon, Swindon and Worcester.
EE only announces a new 5G location when there are meaningful levels of 5G coverage there. At this stage in the company’s 5G rollout, the criteria which needs to be met incudes a minimum population of 10,000 people, 5G coverage to at least a third of that population, and coverage in the town or city centre.
British tech companies dedicated to making the internet a safer place have seen revenues soar in the last year.
An independent report, The UK Safety Tech Sector: 2021 Analysis, commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), revealed the safety technology sector is one of the fastest growing parts of the UK’s tech industry, with a 40 per cent increase in revenues in the past year – reaching £314 million – and a 30 per cent increase in jobs.
And more than half (58 per cent) of all safety tech jobs are based outside London.
Safety Tech companies develop technologies which help to make online experiences safer, and protect users from harmful content, contact or conduct.
The research reveals that while Edinburgh, Leeds and London are established safety tech hotspots, Oxford and Bristol are also seeing growing activity.
2020 was also an important year for investment in safety tech firms. Readingbased SafeToNet (safeguarding technology that detects and filters risk in real-time) raised more than £2.5 million through a crowdfunding campaign with Seedrs.
In March, SafeToNet announced that it had bought 77 mobile phone shops across Germany, which will be branded as SafeToNet Family Stores. These stores will sell contracts from Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica. Smartphones and tablets made by Samsung, Nokia, Apple and others will include SafeToNet online safety software so that mobile devices and tablets are ‘Safe Out of the Box’ and children are protected online.
“Cyber knowledge, skills and capabilities are now in huge demand across entire organisations.”
The company, which helps improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams, is experiencing more than 100 per cent year-on-year growth.
Oxford-based Pimloc (a deep learning platform enables private businesses and public organisations to protect sensitive or personal data in video) raised a £1.4 million seed investment in 2020.
Overall, the total external investment raised by the sector in 2020 reached £39 million across 22 deals.
cyber security training company raises £53 million to scale up
News headlines often feature big industry names being hit by a cyber-attack. But alarmingly, research from Aviva[1] has shown that the majority of British SMEs -86% - do not have any cyber insurance cover in place.
Whilst this can be a conscious decision made by the business owner, it’s often the result of a lack of understanding of the risks and the impact a cyber-attack could result in.
Cyber insurance has a reputation as only being needed by businesses that hold sensitive data – but privacy exposure isn’t the only risk facing businesses today. In fact, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting traditional industries that hold almost no sensitive data at all, whether through ransomware attacks that halt operations or business email compromise scams that result in wiring payments to fraudulent accounts.
A recent UK government report – Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020 – reveals some sobering facts:
• 46% of businesses have reported having cyber security breaches or attacks in the past 12 months.
• Among this 46 per cent of businesses that identify breaches or attacks, more are experiencing these issues at least once a week in 2020 (32%, vs. 22% in 2017).
• And one in five of this 46 per cent (19%) have experienced a material outcome, losing money or data. Two in five (39%) were negatively impacted, for example requiring new measures, having staff time diverted or causing wider business disruption.
Many SME businesses are at risk not because they hold sensitive data that cyber criminals are seeking to gain, but simply because they are vulnerable to an attack. This is often a combination of a lack of understanding of the risks and exposures,
staff awareness and training and not having the right or even any cyber insurance in place.
The world of cyber insurance is full of terminology – malware, ransomware, phishing and social engineering to name just a few. Most of us are now familiar with these and have at least a basic understanding of what they mean.
But how many of your staff would recognise a suspicious email or weblink if one arrived in their inbox from a supposedly trusted source?
The Covid pandemic has changed the way many of us now work with remote working set to continue for many businesses to some extent for the long term.
Where in pre-Covid times, a team member may receive a suspicious looking email and be able to ask a colleague for their thoughts before reacting to it, remote working makes that sense-checking much harder and so the potential for clicking on a link that could result in a form of cyber-attack is significantly greater.
Remote working has had a massive impact on the adoption of digital solutions, meaning that cyber cover should now be perceived as an essential part of a company’s insurance programme – not just an extra or add-on luxury.
This is where understanding the risks to your business is crucial. Cyber insurance doesn’t just protect against an attack but having
[1] All data is taken from a survey of 505 British SMEs across the UK, in a wide variety of industry sectors, conducted by YouGov from 12 April – 24 April 2021 on behalf of Aviva.Nick Jones Cert CII, Managing Director
It’s easy to become confused about cyber insurance –how it works, why it’s needed and what the real threat to your business is.
the right cover in place can provide you with access to experts to get your business back on track in the event of a cyber incident.
With cyber policy language becoming more standardised, cover being provided as part of a packaged product and as a stand-alone policy, how do you find the right solution for your business?
Of course, you can jump on Google and a myriad of cyber insurance policies can be found and taken out at the click of a button. But does that give you the peace of mind that insurance is designed to do?
What might seem a cost-effective solution at the time of purchase could in fact prove extremely costly in the event of a cyber-attack if the policy chosen doesn’t provide the cover and support you thought it did.
Talking to an adviser with technical knowledge and a commitment to see the threats, risks and concerns to a business from the owner’s perspective is key. In simple terms, engaging with an experienced insurance adviser to help you understand the solutions that can be put in place is the best way to proactively manage the risks to your business.
For more information, visit www.focusorm.co.uk
We offer a complimentary, no-obligation cyber risk assessment.
This report will provide you with an understanding of where the threats to your business are, using a simple traffic light system and identify any action needed to be taken to stop potential cyber risks turning into a real attack.
To request your report or to find out more email cyber@focusorm.co.uk or call our team on 01865 953 111
FOCUS can provide solutions to complex insurance needs including:
Directors and Officers Liability
Intellectual Property Protection
Clinical Trials Liability – including global programmes
Research and Development Operations
Property Damage/Business Interruption including
Public and Employers Liability
Products and Services Liability
Errors and Omissions Liability
Cyber and Privacy Risks
Remote working has had a massive impact on the adoption of digital solutions, meaning that cyber cover should now be perceived as an essential part of a company’s insurance programme...
The achievement of quantum computing is the new holy grail for economists and scientists across the world, and the UK is competing with other major world economies to be the world’s first quantumready economy.
Experts say that quantum computing has the potential to solve many of humanity’s problems. It could help us identify the causes of major diseases, predict the next pandemic and solve engineering, technological or scientific conundrums such as climate change that have eluded the world for generations.
But what is this amazing technology?
Quantum computers aren’t simply much faster versions of classical computers. They’re not supercomputers, they operate off entirely new rules, harnessing nature at its smallest atomic scale. And in this nanoscale environment, our world acts very differently.
Dr Ilana Wisby is the 30-year-old CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits, which operates the UK’s most advanced and currently only commercially available quantum computer.
Explaining quantum computing to a layperson is not easy, but here’s Ilana’s broad explanation.
“Imagine playing a game of pool. In the world we live in, we can predict that when hit, the ball will either fall in the pocket or not. But in the quantum world, it could go in a totally different direction, or even disappear through the table.
“Somewhere between our everyday world and the nanoscale, the world suddenly becomes much more random and uncertain.
“But despite all that randomness and uncertainty, we can understand it using a ton of maths and quantum mechanics.”
Why is all this so important? Because as well as helping scientists solve major global problems, in the coming decades the productivity gains resulting from quantum computing are expected to surpass more than £341 billion globally.
There are three key concepts to building quantum computers. Here is Ilana’s topline for us non-scientists.
“The first concept is quantum, the notion that an atom or molecule is quantized, it is discrete. If you give it a kick of energy it will jump immediately to the next shelf without any transition in between. The second is superposition. Think of spinning a coin with a head and a tail. Until it lands you don’t know which way it’s going to land. As it spins, we describe that as being in superposition. The third is entanglement. If you have two coins and spin them around at the same time, the output of one depends on the other, making a special relationship between them.
“By applying these core quantum concepts we can build quantum bits, the fundamental building blocks of a quantum computer which will ultimately allow us to process exponential amounts of information in ways that today’s computers will never be capable of.”
Ilana became the first CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits in 2017, the year it was spun out of University of Oxford by founder Dr Peter Leek, who had developed a
quantum bit (qubit) with commercial potential.
However, despite much hype in some sections of the media, high impact quantum computing remains some years off, according to Ilana, and the ecosystem is still being developed.
“We see near-term applications within a three-to-five-year time period in NISQ (Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum Applications), where we don’t have a perfect quantum computer, but it can outperform what can be done on supercomputers.”
Oxford Quantum Circuits, which currently employs 30 people, recently moved into new offices at Thames Valley Business Park in Reading where it has built a commercial quantum laboratory.
“Around half our staff are quantum physicists with PhDs. We also have software and electrical engineers, project managers, commercial and business minds and more,” explained Ilana. “If I built a entire team of academics, I wouldn’t be building a company but an academic research group.
“We want people who are innovative in their thinking and want to make an impact in the world. We need supply chain and business management skills as well as quantum physicists. We won’t be innovative if we don’t have diverse backgrounds.”
Diversity is a topic close to Ilana’s heart, especially as she is possibly not the first person you might think of as the boss of a ground-breaking deep tech business.
The world is at the dawn of a new technology which could solve some of humanity’s most challenging problems. Ilana Wisby is one of those at the helm of the UK’s quantum charge
“Somewhere between our everyday world and the nanoscale, the world suddenly becomes much more random and uncertain”
Ilana Wisby
Growing up in Yateley, Hampshire, she attended the local comprehensive and her first ambition was to be a musician (she plays the piano).
Instead, she studied physics at Royal Holloway, University of London, with a minor in music and went on to complete a PhD in quantum physics at the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington.
“I love quantum physics in terms of building things, and understanding how crazy, spooky, bizarre and different it is from the real world. You can get lost in it. And there is so much more to be fully understood.”
While completing her PhD, she began working with tech start-ups and decided it wasn’t academia that floated her boat, but making a difference in the real world.
“I loved the start-ups’ fast pace and amazing can-do attitude. I found my passion for entrepreneurship as I developed programmes, managed teams of international remote workers and talked to customers.”
As she began to make a name for herself, Oxford Science Innovation headhunted her to become the first CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits, a company still in its infancy.
Three years and around £10 million of funding, later, the company has built the UK’s most advanced quantum computer.
A lot has happened in those three years, not least over the last 18 months. “When the pandemic hit, we were about to start setting up the laboratory, and half the team were in America at a conference. I had to get them back fast,” said Ilana.
“We set up remote working, reforecasted cashflows, renegotiated deals with our landlords and pushed the building of the lab out a bit. We also had to capture the culture we were trying to build in the virtual as well as the physical world.”
Personal tragedy also hit Ilana and the business last year when her lead software engineer, who was also a very good friend, passed away. “Losing a friend, who was also helping build the company with me was, and continues, to be awful.”
But it’s how a person chooses to respond to seismic events that shapes their growth in character, allowing them to become stronger and seize opportunity out of adversity.
And Ilana is the first to admit she is completely different from the person who took on the role in 2017.
“I’ve developed my confidence and I lead with love, but one of the things that I had to learn fast, much of it through mentoring, was what being a leader means for me and getting comfortable with it, particularly as a woman in this role. You go through the highs and lows, celebrate the wins. You also have to do the difficult things in the right way, and that’s not always easy.”
As the world appears to be at the threshold of a truly transformative technology, there is also the challenge of applying this power and knowledge ethically.
Ilana said: “I truly believe that a business can be successful, entrepreneurial and ethical at the same time. However, it requires forethought, and I am involved in many conversations on ethics internally and across the industry.”
She is also determined to improve diversity in the field of quantum computing.
“It is a challenge being a woman in this world. Making sure I have a really robust support network has been very important for me personally – finding my tribe of women, my cheerleaders who help me understand the daily challenges.”
Helping support the next generation and support the opening up of the minds of others is also important to her.
“We are nowhere near where I want to be in terms of diversity within OQC, but it is something we are focused on in our recruitment. Making sure that I am visible, able to represent women to inspire and mentor them and other minorities in this space is really, really important to me.”
Ilana and her team are now concentrating on building Oxford Quantum Circuits into the UK’s most successful quantum company, financially and in terms of social impact.
“We want to deliver positive change, put quantum in the hands of humanity to help solve some of those really challenging problems. We want to be recognised across Europe as a deep-tech leader and to inspire a new generation of women in STEM.”
“Quantum computers aren’t just much faster versions of classical computers, even supercomputers. ey operate o entirely new rules, harnessing nature at its atomic, smallest scale”
Spin-out companies raised a record £1.30 billion equity investment in 2018, according to research undertaken by Beauhurst and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The number of deals secured remained similar in 2019, but the amount invested decreased by 18 per cent. While the data for 2020 remains incomplete and the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on spin-out success and investment trends
remains to be fully understood, the significantly increased average investment size could suggest a trend of more follow-on funding and less new investment.
According to the research, in a report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering in January, The University of Oxford produced the most spin-out companies since 2011, at 156, just beating the University of Cambridge at 140, with
the University of Bristol coming in at number seven at 51 spin-out companies and the University of Warwick at number 11 with 38. From April 2020 to March 2021, Oxford University Innovation supported the creation of 37 companies.
Pharmaceutical, clinical and analytical sectors have the largest number of spin-out companies. Spin-outs are also commonly found in the software-as-aservice sector and materials sectors.
Ivy Farm, an Oxford University spin-out launched in 2019 is looking to be the first commercial producer of sustainable, cultured meat in the UK, producing sustainable sausages by 2023, followed by meatballs and beefburgers.
The company has launched a £16 million fund-raising programme to build a pilot research and development facility as the first step towards producing 12,000 tonnes of cultured pork a year by 2025.
It is estimated that the meat and dairy industry accounts for 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, greater than all the world’s transportation systems combined, according to Ivy Farm.
Yet demand for meat is predicted to rise by another 70 per cent as the world population grows to almost 10 billion by 2050. Many think that the demand on traditional meat production would drastically accelerate deforestation.
Ivy Farm co-founder, Russ Tucker, said: “Already nearly half the worldwide harvest is required to feed livestock and that’s
only going to go up. Cultured meat is the silver bullet – through new technology we can provide real, high-quality meat while saving the planet.”
Russ first came across the challenges of efficiency and sustainability in the meat industry while he was working as a management consultant. Hailing from generations of farmers and butchers on both sides of his family, Russ nevertheless returned to Oxford University, where he had first gained his degree, and began working with a team on the company’s novel biotechnology.
Ivy (which stands for in vitro), Farm’s non-GMO production process uses technology developed at Oxford University, in the same building that developed the Covid-19 vaccine.
A small number of cells are taken from an animal and placed in a bioreactor. The cells are exposed to a perfect mix of vitamins and nutrients so they replicate and produce meat in as little as threeto-four weeks. The system is continuous – so muscle and fat can be harvested
A University of Warwick spin-out company has secured investment from Oxford Technology Management and other private investors, alongside being awarded £300,000 from Innovate UK.
The funding will allow CryoLogyx to build on the development of new cryoprotectants which allow more cells to survive the freezing process and to replace the organic solvents.
In order to store and transport cells for research, or as advanced medicines, they must be frozen because they are not stable at room temperature for long periods.
The traditional solution to this was to add organic solvent ‘antifreezes’, similar to those used in a car.
without disturbing cells growing underneath.
Ivy Farm believes its technology is a game changer because of a unique “scaffold” system where the cells grow.
The company is already in discussions with the Food Standards Agency, which will have to approve cultured meat before it can go on sale in the UK.
Rich Dillon, Ivy Farm’s chief executive, said the company will also talk to regulators in other parts of the world.
In December, Singapore became the first country in the world to approve cultured meat for sale.
Rich said: “Make no mistake, cultured meat is here to stay. It’s a compelling proposition – real meat, guilt-free.”
In the short-term the company is focussed on licensing its biotechnology to other businesses, but in the longer term it will develop its own brand of cultivated meat products.
CryoLogyx will use its technology to transform emerging, advanced, cell-based therapies, simplify the medicines development process, and aid supply chains.
Dr Thomas Congdon, co-founder and chief executive of CryoLogyx said: “We are delighted to have been awarded Innovate UK funding to commercialise our research and begin delivering real value and innovation to the cell research and therapy sector. Effective commercial cryopreservation solutions are imperative for the discovery and deployment of new medicines.”
Dr James Lapworth of Warwick Innovations, who is working with Professor Gibson to commercialise the technology, added: “This award from Innovate UK recognises the potential for Warwick’s new cryopreservation technology to have a significant impact on the medicines discovery and cell therapy industries, both of which have been identified by the UK government as priority areas for economic growth.”
“Already nearly half the worldwide harvest is required to feed livestock and that’s only going to go up. Cultured meat is the silver bullet ...”
Spinning out your business and going it alone is a really exciting time for any business, and we’re often asked: once I’ve spun out, how do I monetise my intellectual property?
Before you can consider monetising your IP, have a think about the following two questions: first, what is your IP? And second, do you actually own it?
We’ve addressed each of those questions below, before going on to explain how you can make money from your IP.
As a first step, you will need to identify the IP that your business uses. Is it registered or unregistered IP? Who created it? Examples of registered IP are trademarks, registered designs, patents and domain names. Unregistered IP could be copyright, unregistered designs, knowhow (for example processes, procedures, recipes) or trade secrets. You need to figure out what IP your business uses and whether it has been registered or not. If not, has it been documented so that it is clear what it is?
Once you have an idea of what IP your spin-out uses, you need to check that your new company actually owns that IP. It sounds basic, but we regularly see companies using IP that they think they own but that, on investigation, is in fact owned by the parent company, by the university, or jointly-owned with codevelopers or other third parties. Just because you created IP, doesn’t mean that you own it. If you aren’t sure, it’s
best to formally assign the IP to your new company in writing, so that there can be no confusion later down the line. Remember that any assignments of registered IP will need to be recorded at the relevant intellectual property office.
A word on jointly-owned IP: if you jointlyown IP with a third party, each party can use that IP, however you will each need the other’s permission in order to assign the IP or to license it to a third party. This is incredibly restrictive and we advise against owning IP jointly if at all possible.
It is much better for one party to own it outright and to allow the other party to use it on certain terms.
Once you know what IP your company uses, and you are comfortable that your company owns that IP, you can think about making money from it. The most common way to monetise IP is to license it to third parties. You can grant an exclusive licence (where only the licensee can use the IP), a non-exclusive licence (where you can license the IP to multiple parties) or a sole licence (where both you and the licensee can use the IP). Licences are incredibly flexible and can reflect whatever terms you agree with the licensee. In addition to exclusivity, you will want to think about territory, term and, crucially, scope. By scope we mean: what is the licensee permitted to do? Can they use your IP for any purpose or for any types of goods or services? Or are they limited, for example, to using your patent for a drug for certain indications, or your trade mark on certain types of products? Think carefully as you can grant an exclusive licence to one party for a certain limited scope and also grant another exclusive licence of the same IP to another party for a different limited scope.
When considering licences you will also want to think about what warranties you are giving (if any) regarding the IP, what responsibility each party takes for any
liability (including product liability) as well as who will be responsible for maintaining and enforcing the IP. For instance, if a third party thinks that your licensee’s use of your IP infringes their rights, is it for the licensee to defend that claim, or is it up to you?
Another key area for spin-outs to consider when licensing IP is improvements. You are likely to be constantly improving your offering, meaning your IP will evolve. Is any IP in those improvements automatically included in your licence, or will that be licensed separately?
Finally, you will of course want to think about royalties. Not all licences are royaltybearing, but to monetise your IP you will likely want a cut of whatever profit your licensee makes. Is the royalty a fixed fee or should it be a percentage of profits? Is it fixed for the term of the licence or is it negotiable? Is your royalty variable based on your licensee hitting certain milestones (for example sales milestones, or further development milestones)? These are all considerations to be negotiated and written into your licence.
However you decide to make money from
your IP, you will want to make sure that you are clear on the terms on which you are allowing anyone else to use it. At least as important as the above, is making sure that you can stop sharing when you want/need to. Termination provisions are key so that you retain control of your IP.
It is also possible to release capital from your IP by entering into a security agreement or putting it in escrow. These options limit the control that you have over your IP so please consider any terms very carefully before doing so.
It sounds basic, but we regularly see companies using IP that they think they own but that, on investigation, is in fact owned by the parent company, by the university ...
Oxford Technology Park, the major new science and technology park for Oxford, has unveiled plans for the Innovation Quarter - 11 two-storey buildings of striking contemporary design, to accommodate the rapid growth of Oxford’s science and technology companies.
From 5,160 sq.ft. to 7,045 sq.ft. apiece, each unit will provide highly flexible space to suit the varied needs of technology and science-based occupiers from spin-outs and start-ups to second and third generation businesses that require grow-on space.
Ground floors will be presented in a shell format ready for tenant’s fit-out and capable of use for the full range of laboratory, R&D and light production purposes. First floors will be finished to a Grade A office specification but can be readily adapted to technical uses if required. Externally, buildings will be arranged in two terraces flanking a central service area, offering scope for the installation of technical plant, as well as generous loading, parking and amenity space.
Oxford Technology Park also has the unique benefit of its convenient location at the heart of the North Oxford eco-system and neighbouring Begbroke and the high-tech/ life-science hubs of Oxford.
Since the inception, sustainability has been the principal ethos of the park, meaning the Innovation Quarter’s environmental credentials, which will be rated BREEAM Excellent, will include carpet tiling from recycled materials, automatic movement and daylight sensitive lighting, mixed mode mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, energy monitoring system, solar gain resistant enhanced cladding and electric vehicle charging points.
Along with the latest facilities, the Innovation Quarter will provide communal space where a business community can form, where collaboration can be cultivated and where innovation can thrive.
Works have started and the space is due for completion in the Autumn this year.
The Innovation Quarter follows on from the development of a 49,000 sq.ft. HQ facility for Native Antigen, the 34,125 sq.ft. landmark, lab-enabled office Building One which will be ready in the summer and the 101-bedroom hotel and restaurant.
As Oxford Technology Park looks to welcome the first businesses to the park, it has recently launched its eNewsletter –The Bubble and its own industry podcast –
OX TECH TALKS, which will feature the most prominent thought leaders and business professionals in the science and technology sector from across Oxfordshire.
Each episode will share insights and practical advice to help businesses navigate the changing landscape as well as focusing on the ever-evolving business world of science and technology at the heart of Oxfordshire’s A34 Knowledge Economy spine.
The first series will focus on the business journey, from the state of the market, starting and growing a business, pivoting or exiting to managing an established business, along with noticing the warning signs of decline and how to adapt and reinvent your business for continued success.
Future episodes will also cover topics on innovation and trends in the science and technology sectors, such as: the revolution of AI & Data analytics, open source software, advanced medical technologies and sustainability.
To subscribe to The Bubble e-newsletter and view ‘Ox Tech Talks’ podcasts, visit oxfordtechnologypark.com
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that farmers need to produce 60 per cent more food by 2050. That means 42 per cent more cropland will be needed.
While herbicides have been key to enabling food production to keep pace with population growth, many think the key to global food security is sustainable intensification.
One company driving the technology to achieve this is MoA Tech, a company spun out of Oxford University in 2018.
MoA Tech’s herbicide discovery platforms are now entering field testing.
Since the 1940s, new active ingredients from more than 25 di erent modes of action have flowed from research and development in crop protection discovery companies and crop yields have soared as a result. (A mode of action is a biological process that the herbicide interrupts, a ecting normal plant growth).
However, no significant new herbicide modes of action have been commercialised for more than three decades. As a result weeds are get the upper hand as herbicide resistance spreads across the globe.
In April, MoA Tech announced two new investors which further the company’s
Series A funding round by £5 million. Shanghai-based agriculture and food tech venture capital company Bits x Bites and BGF, the UK’s growth economy companies investor, have joined earlier investors bringing the total raised to around £12 million.
Bits x Bites became interested in MoA Tech and its potential new herbicide which could help it fight the threat to Chinese agriculture of resistant weeds.
MoA Tech CEO, Dr Virginia Corless said: "This funding will support the expansion and acceleration of our discovery programme, which will deliver new herbicides to benefit farmers worldwide."
A new report by the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE) and Universities UK predicts that over the next five years universities will help launch 21,700 new companies and charities.
They will also provide more than £11.6 billion worth of support and services to small enterprises, businesses and notfor-profits.
The report reveals that universities in the South West will provide more than £472 million of support, while universities in the South East will provide nearly £2.4 billion of services. This includes
specialist advice, access to the latest facilities and equipment to develop innovative products and conducting bespoke research projects.
Over the next five years, universities in the West Midlands will create more than 1,300 new companies and charities. In the South West the number is predicted to be more than 1,800, while in the South East the number is slightly lower, at more than 1,700. These include university spinoffs, social enterprises and graduate and staff start-ups.
Established by the government in 2004 to improve enterprise and
entrepreneurship in higher education, NCEE is now run and funded by the sector.
Programmes include the Entrepreneurial Leaders programme, which has been running for more than 10 years, and supports education leaders to become more creative, innovative and agile.
Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of Universities UK said that universities must step up to the challenge of driving the UK’s recovery, including innovating to solve emerging challenges and collaborating to strengthen support for local communities.
CytoSeek Ltd, a biotech company spun out of Bristol University which is developing the next generation of cell therapies to treat cancer, raised £3.57 million in March. The funding will support the development and licensing of CytoSeek’s artificial membranebinding protein platform.
CytoSeek's mission is to use its its technology to help treat solid tumours, along with other next generation cell therapies.
The company was founded in November 2017 to commercialise the technology developed by Professor Adam Perriman and his team at the University of Bristol.
The funding round was led by Science Creates Ventures, a new early-stage Bristol-based deep tech fund which invests in next generation technologies that can revolutionise healthcare, quality of life and the environment.
The fund was only launched last December and CytoSeek is its first investment.
Carolyn Porter, CytoSeek CEO said: “We are delighted to be Science Creates Ventures’s first investment and to be supported by a syndicate of experienced investors. This is a testament to the growth potential of the company’s technology and the strength of the team.
“We look forward to working with our new and existing investors to advance our mission of developing the next generation of cancer cell therapies.”
The Silicon Gorge tech cluster, encompassing Bristol, Gloucester, Swindon and Bath, is a burgeoning hub of innovation, according to research company Beauhurst, with Bristol in particular home to a strong cohort of tech companies.
And many of these are university spin-outs.
Actuation Lab was spun out of the University of Bristol in 2019 by three academics seeking to commercialise their mechanical innovation, the Callimorph actuator.
This keeps equipment such as valves and heating, ventilation and air conditioning dampers (HVAS) operating without corroding, helping prevent the high costs associated with unplanned downtime in the energy, marine and mining industries.
Following a significant recent investment, the award-winning company has taken up residence at Bristol’s National Composites Centre, which provides access to some of the most advanced composite manufacturing capabilities in the world.
This will bolster Actuation Lab’s research and development activities and foster business development.
Simon Bates, chief executive at Actuation Lab said: “As well as having our own secure lab space on site, the NCC have partnered with us on a pivotal Innovate UK funded project, which will see our Callimorph actuator rapidly progress towards a marketable product.”
In 2020, the company was also awarded a place on the Oil and Gas technology TechX accelerator, OGTC, along with £100,000 of equity free funding.
OGTC supports the oil and gas industry to develop technology which will accelerate the transition to an affordable net zero North Sea.
The programme led to Actuation Lab winning a small business research contract from the government to explore how its technology could be applied to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes.
Will FOMO (fear of missing out), or FOBO (fear of being overlooked), be enough to encourage you back into the office?
With Zoom, Skype or Teams negating the need to physically gather for a meeting, and e-commerce meaning we no longer need to go into a shop to buy things, what will it take to encourage a return to office life?
If employees think their continual no-show at work might result in them missing out on a promotion to a colleague who is showing up to the office regularly, they are more likely to return, but perhaps that’s not enough.
Landlords can help, and many are, by making their office building, business park or even shopping centre feel safer, more
Associated British Foods, which owns the retailer Primark, also owns The Quadrangle, a newly-built mixed-use development in Cheltenham.
It has appointed placemaking consultancy Activate to help it create a community within the building from scratch. Activate is also advising on Aztec West Business Park in Bristol on behalf of the park’s management company, and Lower Precinct Shopping Centre in Coventry.
The Quadrangle in Cheltenham is a mixed-use development which will offer four floors of office space and two floors of retail and restaurants. Activate has been commissioned to create and deliver a comprehensive occupier engagement programme to the 70,000 sq ft scheme. The programme has been designed and costed to promote collaboration, wellbeing and enrichment among the business space’s occupiers, with the ultimate goal of improving employee satisfaction and productivity.
Andrew Sparrow, director of placemaking at Activate, said: “The first phase of the community and occupier engagement programme will consist of building relationships with local stakeholders, including the council, the business improvement district, Cheltenham Festival Organisers and the Friends of Imperial Gardens, as well as interim pop-up
comfortable and as attractive as possible – and that doesn’t just mean a few fresh flowers in public areas, colourful seating or benches outside the building.
Real consideration is needed as to what tenants want to ensure staff and visitors feel safe. We talk to landlords who are investing in placemaking to entice us back to work.
opportunities in any vacant ground-floor commercial units.
“In the longer term, and once occupiers have begun to move into the office units, Activate will organise networking and social events, introduce health and wellbeing activities, meet environmental, social and governance targets through incorporating things like sustainable travel initiatives, and strengthen internal communications with and between occupiers.”
“Activate will organise networking and social events, health and wellbeing activities ... and strengthen communications”
Eagle Tower is probably Cheltenham’s most prestigious office address. This iconic building, Cheltenham’s only tower block which was constructed in 1969 for its original tenant Eagle Star Insurance, was bought by its current owner, successful property development veteran Mel Griffin, in 2003.
Fast forward nearly 20 years and Mel retains a great affinity with the building, which has undergone continual investment over the last two decades. So much so that during last year, at the height of the pandemic, he spent more time there than ever before.
“My main home is near London, but I partially relocated here last year to support everyone. Even when I’m not here I speak to our management team five or six times a day,” he said.
It’s this personal connection and continuity of ownership which helps make Eagle Tower a community. If any of the tenants have issues, they can talk to the boss, Mel and his team face to face.
“At the height of the pandemic we stayed open for those who really needed to be here, or if they wanted to pop in,” he said.
It must have felt a bit odd for his core team, which included the Eagle Star receptionist, maintenance and security teams, who were all there throughout. Normally the building houses up to 1,000 workers. But
there were times during last year when the whole building hosted the grand number of just 10 people in the offices.
The plight of the town has not gone unnoticed by Eagle Star’s management team either.
Earlier this year they pledged to work with the Cheltenham charity Caring for Communities and People (CCP) through to the end of next year to help raise money. The charity will also be able to use some of the building’s facilities.
As a location, Eagle Tower has the best views in Cheltenham, parking and competitive rents thanks to its long-term private ownership, and a hands-on owner who loves the building enough to want to be in and amongst those working there. It seems there’s no substitute for the personal touch.
Cheltenham’s most prestigious o ce address, so good the owner can’t stay awayEagle Tower, Cheltenham
“My main home is near London, but I partially relocated here last year to support everyone. Even when I’m not here I speak to our management team five or six times a day”
Whether you’re looking for a small/medium office or a larger space, Eagle Tower can offer flexible terms to suit all needs
Flexible terms from 3 months to 10 years
Office for 2-100 people, giving your business scope to grow
5 minute walk from Cheltenham Town Centre
The best office views in Cheltenham
On-site parking available
24 hour secure access
Meeting rooms for tenants and non-tenants to hire
Last year, Midlands property developer Godwin Developments, working in partnership with Lowesmoor Regeneration Ltd, submitted plans for a new £85 million waterside community in Worcester city centre.
Proposals for Lowesmoor Wharf are set to completely transform the 3.2-acre canalside site, off Lowesmoor Terrace.
The development will provide 330,000 sq ft of home, office and retail space, and create a new urban destination in central Worcester.
The measures mean the word “beauty” will be prioritised in planning rules for the first time since the system was created in 1947 – going back to a previous time when there was a greater emphasis on whether a building was considered attractive to local people.
Matt Chandler, Development Director at Godwin Developments, said: “Our vision is to deliver a lifestyle-led destination that is similar to other standout schemes – such as Gloucester Docks and Eagles Works in Oxford. We plan to pay homage to the rich canal history of Worcester and the wider Midlands region. These will provide a focal point of the development and its new waterside apartments, cafes and restaurants, proposed as a part of the scheme.”
an urban conservation area with industrial heritage, town centres, new neighbourhoods, rural settlements and urban regeneration sites. Each pilot receives a £50,000 grant to carry out the project.
A new national design code meaning areas are beautiful, well-designed and locally-led is being tested across 14 areas in England, including in Herefordshire and Nuneaton and Bedworth in Warwickshire.
The code will ensure future developments are beautiful and fit in with local character.
The 14 successful applicants include
The code gives local planning authorities a toolkit of design principles for new developments, such as street character, building type and façade as well as environmental, heritage and wellbeing factors.
“Beautiful” funding will help develop local design guide
Waterside development in Worcester will transform city
“Our vision is to deliver a lifestyleled destination that is similar to other standout schemes ...”CGIs of Lowesmoor Wharf
Thoughtfully designed recreational and leisure space on a business park can have a big part to play in the cross fertilisation of ideas and innovation. If you give people a place to mingle and wander, connections will be made.
That’s certainly true of Milton Park near Oxford, and also at Culham Science Centre down the road near Abingdon, where at lunchtime scientists and engineers have been known to play informal games of football on the extensive green spaces.
Other business and technology parks score through their geographical location, such as at Oxford Technology Park at Kidlington, where the first phase of more than 140,000 sq ft of development is under way, and which has the unique benefit of an airport right next door. While few business parks can boast that, the 20-acre park will also offer a gym, shops and other amenities when completed.
At Milton Park near Oxford, placemaking has always been about how amenities, recreation and leisure can successfully be integrated into a science and technology park environment, according to
“Since Milton Park was established more than 35 years ago, a key part of our investment has been in making it a connected place with green spaces on the doorstep, places to walk and shops to grab a bite to eat or post a letter.”
“Today we have 250 companies, more than 25 amenities on-site and 2,653 trees; it sounds exact because every single tree is registered and logged with ASA Landscape Architects”Aerial View of Milton Park
Recreation and leisure space can be successfully integrated into a science park environment with forethought and good design, he said.
A key consideration is how the space might be used as an extension of the internal office space. Providing areas where people can hold outdoor meetings, eat lunch or areas for contemplation.
“Today we have 250 companies, more than 25 amenities on-site and 2,653 trees; it sounds exact because every single tree is registered and logged with landscape architects.”
Green initiatives also include planting wildflowers, swift boxes and duck islands
Bristol is one of 70 local authorities in line to benefit from support from the government’s High Streets Task Force, an alliance of placemaking experts working to redefine our high streets, many of which have been decimated after Covid lockdowns.
The High Streets Task Force, commissioned in 2019, provides support to local leaders in town centres and high streets in England.
Along with the other 60 local authorities (none of which, apart from Bristol, are in the West Midlands, South West or Thames Valley region), the city will receive support from Task Force experts to diagnose the
issues blocking transformation and to recommend ways to make positive change happen on the high street.
Simon Quin, Executive Director of the High Streets Task Force, said: “This is not just about support for 70 locations alone.
“The High Streets Task Force is a wider commitment to raising the skills and resources of local leaders to transform our towns and cities for many years to come. For every high street we support directly, we hope that many more will benefit from the approaches and learning gained locally.”
to increase biodiversity and provide a better environment.
The Park has evolved a Travel Forum Group into the Greener Workplace Forum which has representatives from 45 park businesses and Philip’s team is updating road signs which includes a mapping project to make green spaces and buildings easier to navigate around.
Later this year Milton Park will initiate a wayfinding project to signpost the many walks and cycle routes around the site.
MEPC also has longer-term plans. “As part of our 2040 Vision, our masterplan to sustainably grow the Park by a further 10,000 people, placemaking is integral to
this strategy, reducing our reliance on the car to use sustainable travel modes such as cycling, bus and walking, adding to our amenity offer such as the recent arrival of popular Goring-based Pierreponts Café to our Innovation Centre,” said Philip.
Milton Park recently unveiled its new flexible co-working space, the Bee House at 140 Eastern Avenue which is undergoing a £12.4 million refurbishment and will be ready for occupation by February 2022. Once finished, it will be home to around 550 people.
There is also a new café close to a series of outdoor meeting “rooms”, and outdoor seating among bee-friendly wildflower planting,
Commercial building projects of all kinds can benefit where the assets are held as investments.
Even those that fail to meet the criteria for the new allowances may still be able to access other allowances and tax reliefs. In particular, property developers who hold the developments as a trade can claim additional relief under the contaminated land relief provisions.
Gemma Brindley, Corporate Tax Director who leads Crowe’s property team in the South West, looks at the benefits of these allowances.
after 3 March 2021 and that the goods are paid for within the qualifying period – 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.
The enhanced Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) of 100% can still be claimed on the first £1 million of eligible plant and machinery and integral features.
housing associations, buy-to-let landlords, and DIY self-builders who install eligible blinds and shutters in the property they are developing. The zero-rating applies to eligible purchases made on or after 5 October 2020.
Commercial concerns which lease property can claim super deductions for eligible assets in their leased buildings, as can any company (excluding partnerships and LLPs) provided it pays UK corporate tax and holds the asset as an investment.
The 50% allowance refers specifically to assets built into the building to help it function; this can include lifts, heating systems, and ventilation systems.
If your expenditure is eligible under the Structural Building Allowance, you will not be able to claim the super deduction. However, the new short-term allowance is available for all other eligible expenditures, provided the contract was entered into
The 100% rate on AIA will end on 31 December 2021. If you haven’t done so already, this may be your last chance to review whether you can benefit before the enhanced rate is removed.
Another boost for all property developers, including residential, is the not unexpected May ‘roller blind’ VAT announcement by HMRC.
This announcement means eligible rollerblinds and shutters qualify as building materials and are consequently zero-rated for VAT.
This is good news for developers,
Construction companies should benefit from the new level of allowances, whether they hold the asset themselves as an investment, or because of the opportunity to claim these super deductions by their clients.
The larger the construction project, the greater the potential benefit. As with all generous allowances, getting the specifications and detail right makes all the difference.
Other allowances and reliefs are available. For help and guidance on what constitutes ‘eligible’ and whether you can benefit from current allowances, please contact Gemma Brindley who leads Crowe’s property team in the South West.
For help and advice please contact Gemma Brindley, Corporate Tax Director at Crowe in Cheltenham on 01242 234421 or email gemma.brindley@crowe.co.uk
The chance to claim super-sized allowances (super deductions) for one year from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 is an opportunity not to be missed.
Gloucester-based Newland Homes has launched a new strategy to build zero carbon homes from the end of this year.
The company, which turns over more than £60 million annually, revealed its plans alongside an announcement that it is to build 22 low carbon and zero carbon properties on the former plant nursery site at Kidnappers Lane in Cheltenham.
This latest development follows its first zero carbon homes development in Tickenham, North Somerset, where the company is currently building 32 detached homes fitted with technology such as air source heat pumps and high-performance solar panels. It’s also building 43 zero carbon homes at Chapmanslade near Frome. Properties have been orientated to maximise solar gain and will be constructed with high levels of insulation.
Newland Homes’ Development Director, Jeremy Drew, said: “More people are realising that low or zero carbon homes are not just nice to have, but increasingly important.”
But building a zero-carbon home is a significant extra cost that can add up to 10 per cent to the build cost of each house, according to Jeremy. This might be one of the reasons that the bigger housebuilders
have yet to commit to building low or zero carbon homes in quantities.
“As an independent housebuilder, we don’t have a more senior central board analysing our margins,” said Jeremy. “We have secure funding streams through our banks and if we decide we want to spend more on building zero carbon homes we don’t have to ask anyone.”
However, what Newland Homes or any of the other housebuilders don’t know yet is how much customers will value zero carbon homes.
“We believe there is a genuine desire and appetite for eco housing,” said Jeremy. “But few housebuilders are offering them, and customers often find themselves the victims of “greenwashing” when they view a new property.
“A sales centre on a large site may have solar panels, aerating taps, bat boxes and water butts but if they ask, customers discover these are not always standard on the other houses.”
Newland Homes began adapting to zerocarbon homes two years ago, said Jeremy. “I asked our technical department if we put in high spec solar panels and air source heat pumps, what more did we have to do
to build a carbon zero home. Obviously, we have to provide quite a lot of solar panels, but together with some further insulation improvements, zero carbon can be achieved.”
Most Newland Homes are not yet built using timber frames, Jeremy admits, because they are more expensive and the labour force which understands how to build them is smaller. But the developer continues to assess all the components of the house and wants to partner with others who are also moving towards zero carbon.
“As we get our zero-carbon product in place, and we understand better how the customer values it, we will adopt further carbon neutral policies. We are following the United Nations’ initiative Carbon Neutral Now, where people commit to making their carbon footprint less and report yearly on their progress,” he said. “We were inspired to do so by Stride Treglown, a leading architectural practice we work with.”
Jeremy hopes that the standards set by smaller, traditional housebuilders such as Newland Homes, will in time be followed by the bigger housebuilders. “It’s the nudge theory,” he said. “Once we start it, others are likely to adopt the same policies once they can see the financial and social benefit.”
The UK needs at least 300,000 new homes every year to bridge the current gap in demand and supply. Surprisingly, despite the pandemic, government statistics reveal that 243,770 were built in 2019-2020, the highest number since 1987.
But it’s no longer just about the numbers, it’s also increasingly about how sustainably built and carbon-friendly they are.
The government’s mantra for everything, including the housebuilding industry, is to “build back better”, but according to the National Federation of Builders, ministers haven’t even set out a roadmap to get to net zero homes, or even defined what a net zero home is.
According to Rico Wojtulewicz the Federation’s Head of Housing and Planning Policy: “We have always said that if the government can decide on a national standard of housing, for instance one such as the international low energy design standard of the Passivhaus, then the industry can plan the route to achieving that.”
But he warns that change has to be deliverable. “Let’s work out a pragmatic way to achieve zero carbon homes –and the first question that needs to be
answered is what is a carbon neutral house? Is it one on district heating? Does it use ground or air source heat pumps? Is it made of wood? Is it airtight?
“The method of construction and materials used have to be thought through. Rushing towards a solution will create problems in the future. We need to work out a
A £20 million government investment has been awarded across 10 West Midlands councils, including Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, to retrofit more than 1,500 homes, establishing the country’s first decarbonised neighbourhoods.
Herefordshire, Coventry, North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon councils have secured more than £5.5 million for more than 450 homes between them.
Wychavon District Council in Worcestershire has secured more than
pragmatic way to get to the end goal and identify what that goal is.”
And he warns that while academics can come up with novel construction methods and materials, that doesn’t always mean they will do the job. “Whatever the industry decides, the solution needs to be one which can work at scale.”
£5 million to retrofit 236 homes, while Worcester City Council has secured funding to retrofit 140 homes.
The West Midlands will also benefit from £61 million awarded to the Midland Local Energy Hub to upgrade additional homes in the region.
“Let’s work out a pragmatic way to achieve zero carbon homes – and the first question that needs to be answered is what is a carbon neutral house?”
An Abingdon company is building what it says is the most sustainable private residential development site in the country at the moment.
Greencore Construction, which is based at Culham Science Centre, is building 25 zero-carbon homes at Southmoor, between Oxford and Swindon.
According to Managing Director Ian Pritchett, they are even more energy-efficient than the well-known Passivhaus design standard.
Greencore Construction was set up in 2013 by Ian and his colleague Martin Pike to build high performance, low carbon buildings using natural materials (predominantly hemp, lime and timber). To date the company has built 50 houses, including the 25 it is building at Springfield Meadow, and has plans to build a total of 500 climate positive houses over the next five years.
The houses at Springfield Meadow (nine of which are classed as affordable homes), are carbon negative houses, taking out more carbon than they put in.
Ian said: “Most building materials have embodied carbon because the processes needed to produce them includes quarrying, firing and transporting, so they are responsible for CO2 emissions. But there are a class of building materials that come from plants, such as wood, hemp and woodfibre which reverse that.
“They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into cellulose which locks up carbon. When we decide what we build with, we try to balance those two things so we have at least as much carbon locked up in the bio base materials as are emitted from the high energy materials, and that’s how we can achieve zero.”
But as it builds, it learns, and Greencore now knows that it can go even better than carbon zero, to build carbon negative houses.
“Our experience so far has given us the concept which we call climate positive. We want to prove that building at volume can be done in a sustainable way.”
One of Greencore’s challenges is finding enough sites on which to build, because many residential development sites are owned by big housebuilders, so the company is continually on the lookout for local landowners to partner with.
But Ian is concerned about the government’s true commitment to sustainable development. “Politically we are being encouraged to build houses such as these, but the current legislation allows housebuilders to build to a pretty mediocre standard.”
Springfield Meadow isn’t the only zero carbon housing development in
Oxfordshire. Elmsbrook, at North Bicester, was the UK’s first eco-town.
A joint venture between property company Fabrica and developer Crest Nicholson, a total of 40 per cent of Elmsbrook will be devoted to green spaces, including allotments, sport areas, recreational facilities, cycle and walking paths.
The 400-home development is the first phase of Bicester’s eco-town that will eventually provide 6,000 homes and associated infrastructure.
According to the UK Green Building Council, it is the first and only UK development which meets original principles of PPS1 for eco towns and the largest true zero carbon development in the UK, incorporating regulated and unregulated energy.
“ ...there are a class of building materials that come from plants, such as wood, hemp and woodfibre ...”
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