EUROPE’S MOST POWERFUL ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING HUB IS HEADING TO OXFORD

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

Oxford printing company wins another Queen’s Award for Sustainability

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.” infrastructure needed for an estimated 36 million EVs by 2040.

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.

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 software and services company invests in EdTech businesses

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.