The Business Magazine SW&M - July 2024 Edition

FUTURE AVIATION THE OF INSIDE:

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

The future could be bright. Just don’t land businesses with any more surprises

By the time this magazine has been published, we will have a new government.

Will they understand what business need and want? …. and I mean really understand, acknowledge and be prepared to create a fiscal environment that will allow businesses to plan strategically and invest in property, plant and people.

It was in February 2016 that David Cameron announced that there would be a vote on whether the UK should leave the EU. At that time a lot of businesses put a hold on expansion and investment plans until they knew the outcome. But for the next eight years, the seismic shocks have just kept on coming … Covid-19, the Ukraine and Gaza tragedies ….

But it is truly amazing how resilient this region’s businesses are. And in this issue, once again, we celebrate some of the sectors, businesses and business leaders who are resolutely looking ahead.

Our Aviation cover feature looks at how much time, innovation and money are being invested in decarbonising flight. We won’t stop people flying, but there are so many companies investing billions in the technology to allow us to do it guilt-free.

Our second feature celebrates the rural economy. And that doesn’t just mean farming and agriculture. Tourism and manufacturing might sound surprising bedfellows, but manufacturing is flourishing in many tourism hotspots, it’s just often tucked away.

Nicky Godding Editor

... it is truly amazing how resilient this region’s businesses are. And in this issue, once again, we celebrate some of the sectors

In this issue we meet a man who founded what has become one of the UK’s fastest-growing outdoor brands, which puts sustainability at its centre. And a family jewellery business which is celebrating a phenomenal 220 years in business this year.

We’ve also added to our deals pages, where we highlight some of the region’s most significant mergers, acquisitions and business sales. We look at the stories and people behind some of the transactions.

And if you’re fed up with your day-job and looking for a bit of light relief, read our feature on 10 cool ways to make a living. One man abandoned his career in the corporate world to become a private chef. Another has built her business in creating incredible structures, all made from chocolate.

And there is so much more within these pages.

Whatever happens at Westminster, the business world rolls on.

THERE ARE STAFF PARTIES – AND THERE IS LOUNGEFEST

Festival-goers at this year’s LoungeFest

Loungers, the fast-growing café-bar and restaurant chain, which also owns the Cozy Club and new roadside dining brand, Brightside, closed all its 250 UK sites for one day in June to let staff enjoy a day-long music and food festival.

LoungeFest began in 2013. It’s the Bristol-based restaurant chain’s annual celebration to thank its more than 8,000 UK staff for their year-round hard work.

Guy Youll, Loungers’ Chief People Officer said: “It was a fantastic day with more than 4,000 team members celebrating. This year marked our 10th LoungeFest and it was the biggest and best yet.”

The first Lounge café-bar was opened by founders Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid in Bedminster, Bristol. Five years later they opened in Bath and by 2009 they had 10 neighbourhood café bars. Since then the business has opened more than 220 Lounge sites in small towns and local neighbourhoods across the UK. Its Cozy Club brand is a

I think not only is this the most talked about staff party in hospitality, it must officially now be the biggest

bigger, city centre format, currently with around 35 sites.

Last year the company launched roadside dining brand Brightside drawing inspiration from formats like the 1970s Little Chefs.

In our experience (and we’ve visited a fair few Loungers around the region), the company’s customer service is pretty hot – the staff are efficient, friendly and

the interiors are comfy, with a shabby/ chic vibe.

Guy added: “Loungers was one of the first in the industry to host a big party for teams and it gets bigger every year.”

Nick Collins, Loungers CEO added: “It’s a significant investment, not least closing the entire business for 24 hours, but worth it. It’s a great expression of everything special about the business.”

King Charles is new Patron of the Royal Agricultural University

Following a major Buckingham Palace review of more than 1,000 royal patronages, the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) has announced that King Charles has agreed to be its new patron.

The university, based in Cirencester and founded as the Royal Agricultural College in 1845, was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth, who was Patron of the institution from 1952 until her death in 2022, the university has been waiting to hear the outcome of the review.

Professor Peter McCaffery, ViceChancellor of the RAU, said: “We were thrilled to receive confirmation from Buckingham Palace that His Majesty was accepting the Patronage.

“The decision reflects the longevity of our relationship with the royal family, our relevance to the sector we serve, and the personal interest of the King.”

The RAU, which became a university in 2013, is due to celebrate its 180th anniversary next year.

Professor McCaffery added: “We have exciting plans ahead of our 180th

anniversary including the completion of our new Land Laboratory Teaching Centre, plans for our new Innovation Village, and our partnership agreements in the UAE and Uzbekistan to support them in meeting their COP28 commitments by establishing centres of excellence for sustainable agriculture.

“We look forward to updating His Majesty on our progress with all these developments, and many more, and hope that he may find time to visit us.

His Majesty became President of the Royal Agricultural College in 1982 while he was the Prince of Wales. In 2015 he attended the university’s annual graduation ceremony in Cirencester.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, Chair of the RAU’s Governing Council, said: “‘We are deeply honoured that His Majesty The King has accepted the patronage of the Royal Agricultural University.

“Our mission, and passion, for sustainable farming, food production and land management, owes a great deal to the leadership of His Majesty who has shown sustained commitment to these issues for many years.

“The world needs solutions to the climate, nature and public health crises and we are committed to helping to find them.”

Blackcurrant grower wins Innocent Drinks funding to support biodiversity plans

Pixley Berries has been named one of just 11 farmers across the globe to receive financial backing from Innocent Drinks to support projects that safeguard the future of fruit and vegetables.

Blackcurrant grower Pixley Berries, which is based near Ledbury in Herefordshire, is a winner of the drinks manufacturer’s Farmer Innovation Fund.

The funding will help growers to boost biodiversity and deliver fairer farming practices.

Pixley Berries will use the grant to support a bio-stimulant and a sensory device to look after blackcurrant crops over the next three years.

This is the second time the grower has won.

Managing director, Anna Ralph, said: “Being a winner for the second year running means we can advance our work to identify pragmatic approaches with deliverable benefits to blackcurrant growing and other crops.

“By combining biostimulants,

measuring chlorophyll, microbials, and focusing on minimum cultivations we’re pioneering a new approach.”

Pixley is increasingly conscious of the need to grow plants in a responsible way. Nettles and other wild plants are given the opportunity to prosper on its headlands, encouraging a natural habitat for butterflies, moths and their larvae.

The company said: “We’re always looking at sustainable practice and consider ourselves early adopters in this respect.”

King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, at the Royal Agricultural University’s 2015 Graduation ceremony

CHAI-FLAVOURED DOUGHNUTS ANYONE? ALL MADE FROM NATURAL INGREDIENTS

A Swindon bakery which produces around 20,000 doughnuts every week introduced its latest flavour for National Doughnut Week. This is held annually to raise money for national charity The Children’s Trust, which supports children with brain injury.

Doughnut bakers Pipp & Co teamed up with Bath-based chai producers Henny & Joe’s to create a limited edition of 1,300 chai-flavoured doughnuts – and sold out.

Pipp & Co, which is based on the Isis Trading Estate, makes all its doughnuts from natural ingredients, with no additives or preservatives. The new chai and cinnamon variety were sold at farmers’ markets and from its online store.

“We reached out to Henny & Joe’s because we love the chai products they make and we wanted to create a special doughnut for National Doughnut Week,” said Betina Evangelista, who runs Pipp & Co with husband, Mario.

“They have the same ethos as we do, producing a quality product using only natural ingredients. We thought a chai flavoured, filled doughnut would be a great addition to our range.”

Lottie Heynen runs Henny & Joe’s with partner Ash Bailey.

They started producing chai concentrate when Ash – who was working in a café – realised the quantity of additives and sugar used in regular, powdered chai. With the fast-growing popularity of chai latte, Henny & Joe’s products – which are also caffeine-free - are now available in independent coffee shops and retailers, and via Amazon.

Lottie said: “We work with independent companies who have the same ethos as ours, and Pipp & Co ticked all the boxes.

“The doughnuts they created were very tasty, and the chai goes so well with the cinnamon bun.”

New £3m support programmes will help drive West Midlands growth

Two new support programmes for young companies in the transport sector have been launched by Business Growth West Midlands to support some of the region’s brightest businesses and help others move into new markets.

Businesses can now apply to join the High Growth Accelerator and Supply Chain Transition Programme, which are fully funded for businesses thanks to Commonwealth Games legacy money set aside to drive economic growth across the West Midlands.

The Supply Chain Transition Programme will help small and medium-sized enterprises diversify their customer base by winning new orders in growing areas of the economy such as aerospace, very light rail and light electric vehicles and micromobility such as e-scooters and cargo bikes.

Up to 160 businesses will benefit from workshops, one-to-one coaching, peer-to-peer support and meet-the-buyer events.

This programme is being delivered by C&W Business Solutions Ltd covering electric light vehicles and very light rail, Midlands Aerospace Alliance and Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), which is part of University of Warwick.

The High Growth Accelerator will identify 50 of the region’s businesses with the most potential and provide them with tailored growth support.

This programme, delivered by Birmingham-based Gateley Global, will help companies learn how to use data to drive strategy, access research and development facilities, provide guidance on issues such as intellectual

property, and support on topics such as governance and tax.

Business Growth West Midlands is delivered by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The High Growth Accelerator and Supply Chain Transition programmes have been made possible thanks to the £70 million Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund – the underspend from the 2022 Games which the government agreed to reinvest back into the West Midlands.

Richard Parker, the new Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said:

“We’re setting a new course for the region’s economy – one that will ensure our region is at the front of the race to develop the jobs and industries of the future.”

Pipp & Co teamed up with Henny & Joe’s to make chai-flavoured doughnuts

THE FUTURE OF AVIATION PLANE SPEAKING

By Nicky Godding, Editor

In less than a decade, when you look up to the sky, the planes may look the same, but the way they’re powered will be very different.

Aerospace companies are investing billions in decarbonising flight. It’s the number one challenge for an industry which is one of the UK’s biggest success stories.

Our aviation industry is the third largest in the world. It contributes more than £22 billion to the country’s economy and underpins more than 350,000 jobs.

Alan Fisher is CEO at Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, one of the UK’s most established aerospace associations which supports the sector’s growth.

“Our biggest challenge is how we can fly aircraft without the current major impact on the environment. Battery technology might

Aerospace companies are investing billions in decarbonising flight. It’s the global industry’s number one challenge

work for cars, but not to power long-haul aeroplanes,” he says.

“While batteries will power general aviation, such as air taxis and other urban air mobility systems, as the planes go up in size the industry will move towards hydrogen-fuelled aircraft, or hydrogen cell-fuelled aircraft.”

Hydrogen can either be burned in a jet engine or be used to power a fuel cell generating electricity to power electric propulsion. If powered by hydrogen, an aircraft requires four to five times the volume of conventional fuel to carry the same onboard energy. Providing hydrogen in gas form also requires a lot of storage volume.

While the government has hydrogenpowered aircraft as part of its future aviation initiatives, the technology isn’t there yet –nowhere near in fact.

Sustainable aviation fuels –an interim solution

But there is an interim step – sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), and the world is making significant progress here. Last November a Boeing 787 flew from Heathrow to New York entirely powered by SAF. It was a first. The downside is that SAF is basically farm, animal (or even human) waste, fats, greases and oils - and we don’t have enough human or animal waste – or used chip fat.

And despite what the headlines might suggest, SAF isn’t carbon-free, it’s carbon neutral.

Alan explains: “To create SAF, unlike hydrogen, you create carbon on the ground. While you’re not burning it in the sky and it makes aerospace look environmentally-friendly, that’s not the

Every little helps to drive progress

But the aerospace industry is looking at everything, including reducing the weight of aircraft.

“The lighter the aircraft, the less propulsion is needed, so less fuel is required leading to lower environmental damage,” said Alan.

“The Boeing 787 is 60 per cent composite now, making it a lot lighter, and the Airbus A320 has a more efficient environmentally friendly engine.”

How an aircraft is flown can also contribute to its fuel efficiency – just as with road vehicles.

whole picture. You can’t create SAF without creating carbon.”

So back to hydrogen and the immense technical challenges around that.

“If you put hydrogen in aircraft, where do you put it?” asks Alan. “And will it be cryogenically cooled, which means putting an icebox on the plane. Or are you going to put in methane, a noxious chemical, to make it fluid? And how are you going to pump it around and use it as propulsion?”

Then there’s the infrastructure needed to support both SAF and hydrogen, on the ground and in the air. To use a different type of fuel, an aeroplane’s infrastructure – all the piping, pumping, connectors and seals will have to change too.

It’s almost like going back to the drawing board for how a plane will operate.

“An aircraft is at its most efficient in cruise control,” said Alan. “The most inefficient part of a flight is the take-off and landing. We can’t do much about improving the take-off (rather than make it less steep, which can’t always be done), but technology can stop pilots having to go round and round to wait for a landing slot.

“There is a lot of ground to aircraft communication technology being developed which allows air traffic control to tell pilots to adapt their speed further out so that they arrive and can land without stacking. These are logical solutions that take practical thinking rather than large investment.”

There are so many challenges to making flight environmentally-friendly, but the commercial prize is so great that the world’s biggest aerospace companies are investing billions to be first in the race.

Luckily for this country, the UK’s aviation engineering prowess is among the best in the world and a lot of that is down to the huge amount of collaboration that goes on among aviation companies and their engineers.

A good example of this is a programme called HyFive, a collaborative venture between aerospace companies such as GKN Aerospace, Parker Meggitt and others researching hydrogen propulsion and hydrogen systems on aircraft.

But while collaboration hasn’t stopped, the freedom of movement which helped

facilitate that, previously possible thanks to the UK’s membership of the European Union, has been made more of a problem thanks to Brexit.

Engineers can still commute between the UK and, say, Airbus in Toulouse, but it’s more time-consuming with more paperwork is involved.

Skills is another issue in any industry, but particularly in aerospace. There is a skills gap in the number of maintenance engineers needed to service and maintain electric aircraft and those being trained, and that will only grow as the numbers of electric aircraft grow, unless more engineers are recruited.

The three biggest challenges: skills, investment and driving technology

“Ask any company in aerospace and aviation what their biggest challenges are, and they will say skills, access to finance, technology exploitation and export,” said Alan.

“We have technology managers to support young companies seeking finance, and we link them into funding streams and programmes to help them.

“The big problem in this country is after Technology Readiness level three (TRL 3 – where proof of concept has been established), there’s no funding.

“And that’s right at the start of what we call ‘the valley of death’ where it’s all costs and no revenue. So, while technology development is supported by government, when our innovators have got proof of concept, we leave them. And two things can happen – either the innovation dies on the vine, or a global enterprise will buy the company. And this isn’t healthy for the company, or the UK because the key thing about having a start-up is they can be extremely agile.”

Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, and fellow organisations such as the West of England Aerospace Forum, NorthWest Aerospace Allance, Aerospace Wales and the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, work with start-ups to help them in practical areas such taxes, export licences and space to grow.

ROYAL INTERNATIONAL AIR TATTOO 2024 PUSHES BOUNDARIES IN AIR AND SPACE

Billed as the world’s largest military air show, the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) returns to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire this month. More than 150,000 people are expected over the three days from July 19-21.

With an operational theme of Pushing the Boundaries in Air and Space, this year’s RIAT gives people the opportunity to see aircraft they’d never normally have access to.

The show will also highlight the work of flight test and evaluation in modern aviation, look back at 100 years of British military flight testing and showcase the latest technological developments, such as electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Chief Executive Officer for Royal Air Force Charitable Enterprises, Paul Atherton said: “RIAT is a world-renowned event which takes place in the heart of the Cotswolds and we are proud to deliver it every year.

“We are expecting aircraft which operate in unique areas and really demonstrate the role of aviation, whether that is in defence, transport or scientific work,”he added.

Bristol-based Aeralis is just one of the companies with a presence at RIAT this year. Aeralis is pioneering a civil-certified, digitally designed, modular light jet aircraft system to deliver flexible, affordable defence capability

The company said: “The ever-advancing complexity of aircraft design – both in terms of hardware and software – and the essential need to deliver a demonstrably safe and airworthy aircraft are almost in conflict. Where broadly a quarter of a programme cost would have been aligned to certification, this is now more like threequarters, with increasing pressures to accelerate time-to-front line of new and more potent capabilities.

“AERSIDE (Aeralis Smart Integrated Digital Enterprise) enables the company to test infinitely more scenarios in the digital world, long before a pilot needs to slide on a G-suit. The physical prototyping and flight test campaign that will follow will serve as real-world validation of the digital simulations – and not as a primary means of proving the aircraft is safe and airworthy.”

Firefly makes progress on sewageto-sustainable fuel facility

Bristol biofuel company Firefly Green Fuels has made significant progress towards commercialisation of its unique Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

The company, which has developed a process to convert processed human sewage into fuel, has secured a raft of new agreements with industrial partners.

These include chemical company Haltermann Carless, energy facility developer Petrofac, Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), a technology provider for the production of renewable and conventional transportation fuels, and Anglian Water.

Firefly plans to build a pilot facility, followed by a commercial-scale plant at Global sustainable hydrocarbon producer Haltermann Carless’s Harwich refinery. Anglian Water will provide Firefly with the waste for feedstock.

James Hygate, Firefly’s CEO, said: “These agreements mark a significant leap forward in realising our ambitions to develop a sustainable SAF industry here in the UK.

“Opening up this new sewage pathway will bring new jobs and growth.”

Firefly has been working fast to bring this novel SAF pathway online in the UK, ahead of further planned expansion into global markets.

Independent analysis by Cranfield University has shown that Firefly’s SAF offers a 92 per cent CO2e saving versus fossil jet fuel.

Last year low-cost airline Wizz Air signed an offtake agreement with Firefly, carrying a value of almost $1 billion across 15 years.

Yvonne Moynihan, Corporate and ESG Officer at Wizz Air, said: “Being the leading airline in Europe for environmental sustainability on a per

Tom Cruise visits RIAT in 2022. Photo credit Nick Dungan

passenger basis, we hold SAF as a core component to our sustainability strategy.

“It’s a subject that we, as a business, are deeply passionate about. Our strategic vision is long-term, and we take pride in being at the forefront of reducing emissions intensity globally.

“Since 2023, Wizz Air has actively supported Firefly fuels through investment, and we are optimistic that this partnership will drive progress within the industry, bringing us closer to affordable and accessible SAF options for all.”

Firefly’s novel route to SAF uses a difficult to dispose of, abundant waste feedstock –sewage sludge.

Processed human sewage is a globally available resource that carries tremendous potential to support the decarbonisation efforts of aviation.

Firefly hopes its facility will be in commercial operation by the end of the decade.

UK consortium spearheads hydrogen fuel system development

A group of UK aerospace and academic leaders have established a consortium to develop a world-leading hydrogen fuel system and supply chain supporting zero-emission aviation in the 2030s.

HyFIVE combines the expertise of engineering companies Marshall and GKN Aerospace, which has its international Centre of Excellence in composite wing structure design and production at Bristol, and Coventry-based aerospace company Parker Meggitt. Specialised research and development is being undertaken by the universities of Bath, Manchester and Cardiff.

In March the consortium confirmed initial funding of nearly £40 million, with an investment of £17 million from industry to be matched with £20 million from government. The project is supported by the ATI Programme, a partnership between Department for Business and Trade, Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK (UKRI).

The HyFIVE consortium’ s objective is to develop, test and validate a modular, scalable cryogenic hydrogen fuel system architecture suitable for multiple aircraft classes and compatible with either hydrogen electric propulsion or hydrogen combustion powertrains.

The collaboration will cover five key aspects of technology development for hydrogen fuel systems: storage, conveyance, indication, fuelling and venting.

Timely achievement of these objectives will support the successful introduction of a new generation of zero emissions aircraft in the 2030s.

Marshall is deploying its expertise in complex system design, integration and certification, honed through decades of delivering aircraft fuel systems and complex aircraft modification projects.

GKN Aerospace, which specialises in the design, manufacture and assembly of aircraft structures, engine components and systems, is contributing its advanced materials and hydrogen cryogenic system optimisation knowhow.

Parker Meggitt, now part of the Parker Aerospace Group within Parker Hannifin, is leading on sensing, thermal management and fluid conveyance.

The consortium’s three universities are providing research capabilities and advanced testing facilities in areas such as hydrogen-electric propulsion, cryogenic applications, power transmission, turbomachinery and next-generation material development.

The project is also developing a supply chain of SMEs to undertake more specialised challenges around testing, engineering support and component development, supporting UK industry while also laying the groundwork for future supply chain capability development.

Jacqueline Castle, Chief Technology Officer, Aerospace Technology Institute, said: “The HyFIVE programme is primed to solve the significant technical, safety, certification and industrialisation challenges associated with the application of LH2 (liquid hydrogen) in aviation and those identified by our FlyZero programme and Destination Zero strategy.”

James Hygate, CEO at Firefly

THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT IS HYDRO GEN

… AND THE TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE IT IS BEING DEVELOPED IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE

In January last year, ZeroAvia made flight history. The aviation pioneer, which is developing the world’s first zero-emissions engines for commercial aviation, flew a 19seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain.

The plane successfully took off and landed at ZeroAvia’s research and development facility at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire. It was a 10-minute flight that changed the way the industry sees sustainable flight for ever.

Its technology caught the eye of green energy activist (and owner of Stroud-based

green energy provider Ecotricity), Dale Vince, who is the first to call out anything he sees as green-washing.

Last year Dale announced the launch of a new airline, Ecojet, which he aims to become the world’s first electric airline. Ecojet signed an agreement with ZeroAvia for up to 70 hydrogen-electric, zero-emission engines. It is one of many such agreements ZeroAvia has signed as the industry, and investors, become increasingly confident in the potential of its technology.

Last November, ZeroAvia also completed a $116 million Series C funding round,

backed by the UK Infrastructure Bank alongside Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and NEOM Investment Fund (NIF).

The most environmentallyfriendly and economic answer

ZeroAvia is developing hydrogenelectric propulsion systems, which it says is the most environmentally-friendly and economically attractive solution to aviation’s growing climate change impact.

Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen

ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 on take-o during the 10th flight test of prototype ZA600 engine last July

in fuel cells to generate the electricity needed to power electric motors turning an aircraft’s propulsors, making these engines the cleanest and most efficient path to powering future aircraft.

The business was founded in 2017 by USA cleantech entrepreneur Valery Miftakhov. His company eMotorWerks had developed smart EV-grid integration hardware and software, which he sold to an Italian energy company.

He went on to found ZeroAvia to solve the aviation industry’s growing climate impact.

ZeroAvia now employs more than 350 people across its Gloucestershire and California sites. It is initially targeting a 300-mile range in 9-19 seat aircraft by the end of next year and up to a 700-mile range in a 40-80 seat aircraft by 2027.

To drive such ambition, you need the best people and in 2021 the company recruited James McMicking from his previous role as one of the founding executives and Chief Strategy Officer at the Cranfield-based Aerospace Technology Institute (the body developing the UK’s aerospace technology strategy).

“The industry is interested in hydrogen because it generates no CO2 emissions at the tail pipe and can be generated using a variety of sources of energy which are all clean,” he said.

Isn’t sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) already contributing to cleaner flights? The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that SAF could contribute around 65 per cent of the reduction in emissions needed by aviation to reach net-zero in 2050. But that will require a massive increase in production to meet demand.

“While SAF helps reduce CO2 emissions, there isn’t enough waste available to produce the amount needed to sustain the global aviation industry,” says James.

“Producing enough SAF will require new and expensive production processes, including ‘power-to-liquid’ fuels that need both clean hydrogen and captured CO2 combined to make the jet fuel. The cost of this will be astronomical compared to today’s fuel prices and using hydrogen directly to power aircraft will be more efficient and cleaner.”

ZeroAvia has a highly skilled workforce with a Silicon Valley mindset: let’s do it and learn

So why not use batteries, as in electric road vehicles? Because hydrogen is much lighter compared with batteries and can be stored as a gas or liquid, James points out. And every extra ounce of weight matters when you’re in the air.

Let’s do it and learn

True innovation is led by new entrants to the sector, James said: “Entrepreneurial start-ups don’t have the baggage associated with maintaining a legacy product line based on different capabilities and are entirely focused on one mission: the introduction of new technology.”

ZeroAvia launched in California and became an Anglo-American company thanks to ATI support. Having seen what it was hoping to achieve, James moved to the company.

“ZeroAvia has a highly skilled workforce with a Silicon Valley mindset: let’s do it and learn.”

The company undertakes engineering and aircraft research, development and integration at Cotswold Airport, and after the pioneering flight using its prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain last year, it now runs regular flights to test the engine further.

“We have built up a strong flight test team at ZeroAvia to conduct all our engineering test flights which is essential for feeding important learnings back into the development of our commercial engine. We’re the only company in the UK with this capability.” he said.

New plane design to deliver zero-emission flight

Historically, planes have been designed to carry fuel in the wings, but you can’t easily store hydrogen there, so if more aviation companies adopt ZeroAvia’s technology at the design stage (rather than retrofitting existing planes as will be done in the

medium term), future planes could look very different.

“A new plane might have more propellers,” said James. “Most planes have two engines, but with an electric powertrain the electricity can be created in one place and power directed where it’s needed. This could make the fuselage more bulbous to accommodate the extra fuel, and the wings skinner to make the plane more aerodynamic.”

ZeroAvia is already working with airframers developing new aircraft to run on hydrogen.”

New infrastructure will also be needed by airports around the globe to deliver the hydrogen production, storage and distribution required to support future zeroemission routes – and ZeroAvia is working with international airports on developing such hydrogen infrastructure.

James admits that ZeroAvia’s technology doesn’t yet solve the problem of longer flights. “It may well be that hybrid engines are used on long haul flights, a combination of hydrogen turbine and fuel cells working together.”

The biggest challenge for any flight is getting the plane up to cruise altitude, which requires a huge amount of power. Once at cruise, the power needed to propel a plane reduces substantially.

James sees those using large turbo-props for regional flights this decade, followed by new narrow body jets in the 2030s for regional flights being the first to make the switch.

“Our challenge is scaling the technology as quickly as possible to bring zero emissions to every aircraft; so far we’ve doubled power output about every two years and aim to continue or even exceed that rate of development.” he added.

At ZeroAvia, there are more than 350 of aviation’s best minds determined to be the first to achieve this ambition.

SKYBORNE CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF INTEGRATED ATPL PROGRAMME

Pilot training academy Skyborne is marking five years of its flagship Integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence programme. Since the first trainees arrived at Gloucestershire Airport in 2019, the course has been a cornerstone of Skyborne’s aviation training.

In March it also welcomed its first trainees as part of British Airway’s Speedbird Pilot Academy, which offers fully-funded flight training for up to 100 candidates. Skyborne was announced as the official UK partner for the Speedbird Pilot Academy last year.

Lee Woodward, Skyborne’s CEO, said: “I feel incredibly proud of what we have achieved in five short years. From the academy’s formation, building bespoke training facilities, acquiring aircraft and simulators and welcoming our first trainees, to where we are today; the journey has been remarkable.

“Our Gloucestershire base now works in tandem with our US academy in Vero Beach, Florida and we’ve built an expert team of talented instructors in the business who contribute to Skyborne’s success.”

Despite challenges posed to aviation by the pandemic and Brexit, Skyborne has maintained an impressive track record, with 90 per cent of its UK graduates securing airline placements.

Carla Booth, Skyborne’s Commercial Director, added: “Witnessing our trainees go on to become first and second officers has been incredibly fulfilling. At Skyborne, we don’t just train pilots, we help them realise their potential and reach their goals. Our growing airline partnerships with British Airways, IndiGo, Delta Air Lines and SkyWest among others are testament to our commitment to helping our graduates thrive.”

Safran Corporate Ventures accelerates investment in innovation

Safran Corporate Ventures, the French multi-national aerospace and defence company Safran’s venture capital arm, is increasing its investment capacity and equity stakes in start-ups developing disruptive technologies.

Formed in 2015, Safran Corporate Ventures now has a budget of €130 million, an increase of more than 60 per cent, to accelerate its investments in strategic areas of innovation for the Group: decarbonisation and digital.

Safran has a major site in Gloucester. Safran Landing Systems has been building landing gear in the city for more than 85 years, dating from the innovative designs of Sir George Dowty to advanced landing gears for the world’s most modern aircraft.

The facility has also provided a broad range of landing gears fitted to most of the UK military aircraft, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon. Gloucester is also home to Safran’s landing gear maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.

Since its inception, Safran Corporate Ventures has invested in 22 start-ups, 17 of which are still in its portfolio. It currently has three funds. Its strategy is to identify the world’s most promising technologies in Safran’s strategic areas of innovation and invest alongside others.

The first British Airways Speedbird Pilot Academy trainees at Skyborne, with Guy Bowen, Project lead, Pilot Recruitment (centre).

Vertical Aerospace to fly at UK’s first vertiport testbed

Vertical Aerospace, the Bristol-based aerospace and technology company designing and building zero emission, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered aircraft, is to use the UK’s first vertiport testbed in Bicester to conduct demonstration flights and test key procedures ahead of commercial launch.

Skyports Infrastructure, which is developing vertiport infrastructure for the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry, has signed an agreement to develop the UK’s first vertiport testbed at Bicester Motion, the 444-acre Oxfordshire estate dedicated to pioneering mobility technology.

Skyports aims to open its UK vertiport by the end of this year.

Andrew Macmillan, chief commercial and strategy officer at Vertical Aerospace, said: “We are pioneering a new, hassle-free way to travel with zero emissions, but we can’t do this alone. Creating the right infrastructure is critical to getting electric aircraft into the air and the UK’s first vertiport will help accelerate this by providing crucial learnings to the industry.”

Vertical Aerospace was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick, the entrepreneur who set up energy supplier OVO Energy in 2009.

Vertical Aerospace says the electrification of flight is not only possible, but practical too, promising more sustainable transport networks and reducing emissions in urban centres.

THE AGE OF THE FLYING TAXI DRAWS CLOSER

Flying taxis, crime-fighting drones and critical 999 care deliveries could all be a reality by 2030 thanks to the government and industry’s joint Future of Flight action plan, announced by the Department for Transport in March.

Setting out a roadmap for drones and novel electric aircraft in the UK, the plan details how technology once confined to the realm of sci-fi could transform our skies.

And drone technology could boost the UK economy by £45 billion by the end of the decade.

The document details plans for the first piloted flying taxi flight by 2026 and regular services by 2028, regular drone deliveries across the skies by 2027 and demos of autonomous flying taxis without pilots on board by 2030.

Other actions set out in the plan include allowing drones to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) so that the sector can grow without limiting the skies for other aircraft, allowing smaller aerodromes to operate as vertiports for electric aircraft.

The benefits of this new technology are already being seen in the UK. West Midlands Police use drones to tackle violent crime and antisocial behaviour. In July last year, a drone team successfully identified two offenders and another suspect at a speed and distance that would have taken ground officers hours to track down.

For six months between October 2022 and March 2023, the UK drone service provider Skyfarer partnered

with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and Medical Logistics UK to test drones to deliver surgical implants and pathology samples between sites. In one case, drones helped cut the delivery times of surgical implants between Coventry and Rugby hospitals from up to an hour to just 18 minutes – a 70 per cent decrease.

It will also enable the development of vertiports – mini-airports for drones and electric aircraft that take off vertically – (see story left) by developing certification standards and reviewing the use of existing infrastructure to deliver at speed, boost safety and security and put the passenger first.

Duncan Walker, Chief Executive of Skyports and Chairman of the Future of Flight Industry Group, said: “The UK is home to one of the world’s most important aerospace industries and is in an ideal position to be a pioneer in the next era of aviation. The government and industry have a joint commitment to support the development, industrialisation and introduction of new aviation technologies.”

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Founder and CEO, Vertical Aerospace, said: ”The UK has a long heritage in aerospace and the publication of this plan sets out how we will lead the next revolution of flight. With government and business working together, we can unleash the huge economic, environmental, and social benefits of zero emissions flight globally. Vertical is hugely proud to be at the forefront of leading this new chapter.”

Vertical Aerospace is pioneering electric aviation

DIAMOND SHINING BRIGHT AS A

Beards Jewellers in Cheltenham is celebrating more than 220 years this year. Alex Rose, sixth generation of the family business, talks about its heritage and the future

By Nicky Godding, Editor

Jewellery never goes out of fashion. For millennia, the human race has celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and events with carefully chosen pieces.

What does a spouse buy to mark a ruby or diamond wedding anniversary? A rhetorical question for many. Want to reward a successful career? Consider investing in a watch made by Breitling, Omega or Parmigiani Fleurier. From engagement to eternity rings, jewellery can instantly conjure up the best memories for many of us.

You can buy all these off the internet, but if you’re making a sizeable investment, visit a jeweller – perhaps the one that sold your grandparents and parents their wedding

rings and has been around for more than 200 years?

In Cheltenham, that could well be Beards. This family jeweller has been around longer than Cheltenham’s Promenade (the Regency town’s historic shopping street), where it faces the town’s formal gardens.

The business has been in the same family since the 18th century.

The Waite’s officially established the business in 1804, but according to Alex Rose, current managing director and sixth generation (who celebrates his 40th birthday this year, alongside Beards 220th anniversary), unofficial records go much further back.

“The business started in the 1750s as Waite and Sons Ltd watch and clockmakers. By the 1860s we had expanded into jewellery, making everything on site.”

Fast forward more than a century and a half and we arrive at when Alex took over running the business from his mother Angela. She had run it very successfully since the 1970s, after being handed the role following the tragic death in a car accident of her brother, Richard, when he was only in his 20s.

Showing an early interest

Alex is a twin and one of four children, so it wasn’t a given that he would take on the business, though he’d shown an early interest.

Alex Rose, Managing Director at Beard’s Jewellers

“Our customers can see their jewellery being made – it’s a tangible experience and they can also explain exactly what they want to the person who’s making it”

“When I was at school, I'd help around the shop at the weekends, sweeping floors, making things, generally getting to know the place. By the time I was looking at something to do in my gap year before joining the army (I had been accepted at Sandhurst), I suggested to mum that I approach Cartier in London to do work experience.”

Who wouldn’t want to work at Cartier –one of the world’s most luxurious watch and jewellery companies?

It was there he discovered he was good at selling, so good in fact that Alex became one of Cartier’s top four sales people at its New Bond Street store, and he began to rethink his career.

“I asked Cartier what I needed to do to progress and they suggested I train as a gemologist either in London or New York.”

Of course, he chose New York.

“I had a fantastic time out there. I also learned so much more about the industry, about diamonds and coloured stones – and started to fall in love with them. It sounds a bit geeky, but there you go.”

A changing of career plans

Then reality kicked in. “Mum saw my growing interest. She flew over to New York to suggest that the family business would benefit from having me, and perhaps I should put aside my plans for the army and get involved in the business.”

This meant paying back his army scholarship – a bit of a wrench at the time, he admits.

But family ties run deep and he returned to Cheltenham. “Over the following years I gained more experience – and had a few heated debates around the kitchen table, like many family businesses. And I made my share of mistakes – that’s how you learn.”

Alex reflects on his 2016 decision to open a store in London – in the Royal Arcade.

“We had a good client base in London. Mum and I discussed the opportunities and agreed to open a store there. We found suitable premises in the Royal Arcade, Old Bond Street and for the first couple of years it was great.”

Then Covid happened. Shops shut and Beards’ London store costs became a weight on the main business.

“In hindsight we got distracted and didn’t give enough time to our very, very loyal client base in Cheltenham,” Alex says.

So the business redirected its focus back to the town.

Alex’s has since invested around a million pounds on rebranding part of the Cheltenham store front facing the Promenade to Omega Watches, alongside increasing his stock of timepieces.

“Watches will always be a big part of our business, so we invest in presenting them in the way that brands expect,” he said.

However, it’s in bespoke jewellery where Alex sees the biggest opportunities – and where he plans to expand the business next.

Britain’s jewellery industry is thriving – perhaps partly because people see jewellery as being a good investment in turbulent economic times. The market size, measured by revenue of jewellery and watch stores in the UK, was £8.7 billion last year say industry analysts IBIS World.

Bringing authentic experiences back to retail

Alex recognises that retail is now, more than ever, about an authentic experience – a fact that some retailers have forgotten over the last few years.

Beards in Cheltenham is the only jewellers for quite some distance which employs watchmakers and jewellers on site he says.

“We do our design and manufacturing here, alongside jewellery and watch repairs – the full capability,” said Alex.

“Our customers can see their jewellery being made – it's a tangible experience and they can also explain exactly what they want to the person who’s making it.

But he’s not complacent. “Experience alone isn’t enough of a reason to buy from someone. You have to back it up with excellent service and product.

“That's where a family business still has value over the multiples.”

Beards makes its own jewellery. All its precious metals are recycled and diamonds ethically sourced and certified.

What does he think about lab-grown diamonds, a relatively new industry which has hit the headlines in recent months? “Yes, there’s no mining involved – although it does take a lot of energy to make them, which is fine if the manufacturers are using green energy to do so, but not everyone is.

“A lab-grown diamond is as authentic as a mined diamond and we do make beautiful jewellery from them, on request.”

Working with Cheltenham’s town centre retailers

Alongside running Beards Jewellers, Alex is chair of Cheltenham’s Business Improvement District.

The town recently saw its iconic department store close after 200 years. Cavendish House, a few steps further up the Promenade than Beards Jewellers, was part of the House of Fraser Group bought by Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley in 2018. It is now a huge, empty retail space.

But there are plans to repurpose the space, which Alex says can’t come too soon.

While Cheltenham has a lot going for it, all towns and cities are having to rethink themselves.

“We can’t rely on a few weeks of festivals every year,” said Alex. “As retailers we need to work together to bring vibrancy, entertainment and joy back to the town throughout the year.

“Our job at Cheltenham BID is to make sure the town is the best it can be, and the retail offer is what current and future visitors want. We want to encourage landlords to invest in their properties. The onus is then on us, as retailers, to offer experiences alongside goods.”

Looking to the next generation?

Beards, which has an annual turnover of around £4.5 million, employs a small team of 15, including a jewellery designer, workshop team and experienced salespeople.

“It’s difficult to get experienced jewellers, so we train them and encourage them to take advantage of special courses. They’re all talented and we’re lucky to have them,” said Alex.

With four siblings, Alex says there were discussions about who should lead the business into the next generation. “I feel fortunate that it was me, but I’m immensely proud of my siblings who are all successful in their own right.”

He jokes: “I’m still here running the corner shop, but I also have the responsibility of making a success of what my forefathers and my mother have built.”

Alex now has two children of his own. Would he like them to go into the business?

“They’re only eight and six. I’m not sure I

want them to experience what we have gone through in the last four years – shops shutting over lock-down, the work involved in retrenching the London business back to Cheltenham, the stresses of the economic slowdowns and recessions.”

Having said that, his eight-year-old daughter recently began taking an interest in gemstones and found one which Alex then set into a necklace for her birthday. He might say he doesn’t want her to take on the responsibility, but he won’t deny her the opportunity if she wants to seize it.

The importance of fostering innovation

Customers to Beards are welcome to visit its workrooms above the showroom.

“We like everyone in the same building because the lines of communication are shorter,” said Alex. “Sending an email to an outworker with a customer’s requirements just isn’t the same.”

This allows for innovation too. “We are a creative industry and bounce ideas off each other regularly. We need that direct interaction, and with most of our jewellery pieces bespoke we need innovation to move our designs and techniques forward.”

This year Beards is celebrating its 220th anniversary and in September, for one day only, it will relaunch its Diamond Rush to raise money for two local charities, Maggie’s and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. “We will be hiding 10 diamonds around the town and will invite people to buy a map and take part in the diamond hunt,” he said.

Over the years the Beards Diamond Rush has raised thousands for its charities, and the event also encourages younger people to get involved.

Alex is visibly passionate about the business. So which bit of the job does he enjoy the most?

“I love the look on the faces of our customers when they see jewellery our team has designed and made for them. Seeing their real pleasure means we’ve done our jobs properly and that's what we all really want.”

Alex Rose in his Cheltenham showroom

SHORTAGE OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS TO HIT SUMMER SERVICE

A nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers and an exodus of staff leaving for new roles elsewhere means a major drop in service this summer at Gloucestershire Airport.

Gloucestershire Airport will not provide an Air Traffic Control (ATC) Service for 10 days across a 10-week period and on days when ATC is provided, the service will begin 30 minutes later and end 30 minutes earlier.

While the airport has already recruited or promoted five new air traffic control officers, the earliest any of them will be fully trained is not in time to prevent these changes to service provision.

Airport Managing Director, Jason Ivey, said: "We’ve spent considerable time consulting those that operate from Gloucestershire Airport and have implemented as many of their suggestions as possible, within the bounds of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations and individual contracts.

"The revised opening times in place for July, August and part of September have meant many of our ATC team have had to cancel leave and change their own family arrangements, for which we are extremely grateful.”

The new Senior Leadership Team put a

full manpower plan in place for Air Traffic Control several months ago, covering recruitment, training and succession planning to ensure such a situation will not be repeated.

This plan included the introduction of the new air traffic controller pay scales to help with recruitment and retention and a £500,000 investment in Air Traffic Control Tower equipment to improve the working environment and service.

Gloucestershire was the UK’s busiest general aviation airport last year.

Chris Brian, Air Traffic Services Manager, said: "I am extremely proud of the efforts and sacrifices that our ATC staff are making to ensure we do everything possible to support our customers and recover from this situation.”

Graham Carter, General Manager at Castle Air, said: "As an operator at Gloucestershire Airport, we have been consulted throughout the decision-making process to support the conclusion that has been reached in terms of ATC opening hours.

“The future proofing of ATC is essential for the growth of our organisation over the next 12 months, and it is good to hear that there is a plan in place.”

Record revenues again for Cirencester’s Hercules

Hercules Site Services, the labour supply company for the infrastructure and construction sectors, has reported record revenues again.

Unaudited results for the six months ended March 31 revealed revenues up 32 per cent to nearly £50 million. Gross profit increased by 21 per cent to £8.1 million.

Hercules, which has its headquartered at South Cerney near Cirencester, also opened a construction academy in Nuneaton opened in January which will help it meet demand for labour on HS2’s northern section.

Initial work has also begun on Sizewell C Nuclear plant, Hercules first engagement in the nuclear industry. This is expected to be in construction for up to 20 years with an estimated cost of £30 billion.

Brusk Korkmaz, Chief Executive O cer, said: “This continued success has been achieved by a great management team which has a desire to over-achieve. Our supply of skilled operatives to both the HS2 Northern Section and other infrastructure sites has increased. In addition, we have added further new labour supply frameworks, including Costain and Hill Group, which will stand us in good stead in the years to come.

“We are on track to meet market expectations for the full year, as the strong momentum in the construction and infrastructure sectors continues.”

Gloucestershire Airport

Job opportunities knock at Cotswold Designer Outlet project in Tewkesbury

Construction company Bouygues UK, which is on-site building the new Cotswold Designer Outlet at Junction 9 of the M5 is working with Gloucester and Tewkesbury Job Centres to find job seekers to join its construction team.

Bouygues UK is the main contractor delivering the first phase of Cotswolds

Gloucester-based Planet Logistics goes employee owned

Gloucester-based supply chain and logistics courier Planet Logistics has transitioned to employee ownership.

Established in 2001 by David Summerhayes, Planet Logistics offers urgent business to business same-day delivery in the UK and Europe, specialising in hazardous goods, storage space and exhibition support.

The company has been sold to its employees through the establishment of an employee ownership trust (EOT).

David Summerhayes, Planet Logistics founder, said: “The EOT transaction provides continuity for our customers and staff and will enable the business to retain its strong culture and independence.”

Stephen Hadlow, Partner in law firm Brabners, which advised Planet Logistics alongside Castletons Accountants and business adviser Peter Barrett, said: “Employee ownership is the fastest growing business ownership model in the UK and Planet Logistics represent a significant milestone for our team as our 50th EO transition deal in four years.”

Designer Outlet in Tewkesbury, a major new development by Gloucester-based developer Robert Hitchins. Construction began last November, and the outlet is due to open next Spring.

The outlet hopes to welcome up to 90 brands to the 186,000 sq ft Cotswoldsinspired setting at Tewkesbury.

Bouygues UK is working with the DWP to target job seekers who are work-ready to join the team during the construction phase.

The sector-based work academy programme (SWAP) gives jobseekers 16 years and over claiming benefits, the opportunity to apply for jobs.

TEWKESBURY PARK SECURES MAJOR

INVESTMENT FOR

ENERGY

EFFICIENCY

Cotswold hotel Tewkesbury Park has secured a £500,000 investment from Lombard to upgrade its plant room to include combined heat and power which it estimates will save £100,000 per year in energy costs.

This highly efficient process captures the heat created by electricity generation to meet its water and space heating requirements.

Tewkesbury Park is a family-owned, luxury hotel resort and 18-hole golf course sitting on the site of the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury.

The business, which employs 134 people, is run by Linda McIntosh, her son Chris and daughter Claire White.

They estimate that the use of combined heat and power will save 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Chris said: “We are passionate about making our hotel more sustainable and setting a positive example that others in the hotel industry can follow. The investment from Lombard has allowed us to take a big step forward in this regard.

“This will allow us reduce our emissions and make huge costs savings, while increasing our security of supply with a system powered by LPG that can run even if the grid does not.”

The family discovered the neglected hotel in 2014 and, seeing its potential, purchased and refurbished it over a four-year period, adding a new events venue and bedrooms in the main house.

Commercial Director Claire recently put her luxury hotel experience to use on new ITV game show The Fortune Hotel.

Tewkesbury Park Hotel enjoys stunning views

Peter Barrett, Nathan Samuel (Brabners), Stephen Hadlow (Brabners), Andrew Ford (Castletons) and David Summerhayes (Planet Logistics)

DOG OWNER TURNS PASSION INTO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

A Cheltenham dog owner has turned a passion for her pooch into a business selling pet accessories and matching items for owners, thanks to a start-up loan from the British Business Bank.

Nomi Nellan, 25, was inspired by her dog Buddy the ‘Jug’– a pug/Jack Russell terriercross, who doesn’t like over-the-head harnesses, so Nomi developed her own more user-friendly option.

She also began selling matching items for owners, such as bows and scrunchies. Her designs became popular with other dog owners and in 2021 she launched The Neutral Dog Company.

Last year, Nomi applied for a £5,000 Start-up Loan from British Business Bank partner BizBritain to increase her range and enable trading at dog shows and events.

“I used the loan to manufacture more sizes and different products, like leads and collars,” said Nomi.

She can now see her business side hustle becoming a full-time occupation. At the moment, she combines running The Neutral Dog Company with her day job working at the head office of a clothing firm in Cheltenham. It often means coming home and spending evenings sorting stock and orders.

Industrial products supplier building on rich history to forge expansion plans

A leading industrial products supplier is expanding its fasteners division in Gloucestershire.

Till & Whitehead is expanding its Longborough distribution facility for the window trade by a third in response to growing demand.

The investment is part of a sevenfigure funding package from Lloyds Bank.

Till & Whitehead Limited was established almost 150 years ago and started as a specialist ironmonger and cotton mill furnisher. It went on to supply some of the country’s largest infrastructure projects stemming from the industrial revolution, including the Manchester Ship Canal.

Lewis Farrell (Nomi’s fiancé) Nomi Nellen (Founder), Kennedy McCarthy (Brand Ambassador) and her dog Mabel, Myrthe Nellen (Nomi’s mum)

BRISTOL'S BART SPICES UP ITS BRAND

Bristol-based herbs, spices and ingredients brand Bart has spiced up its brand.

The new brand design, created by awardwinning The Space Creative, aims to inspire home cooks by delving into the rich history and origins of each ingredient.

The packaging pays homage to the continent of origin and the specific plants from which these ingredients hail. The packaging also now has tasting notes.

James Adams, Commercial Director at Bart, said: “The herbs and spices category has grown by more than £150 million since 2019 and shows no signs of slowing down. Within this, Bart is currently the fastest growing brand, with sales increasing more than 61.5 per cent year-on-year.

“With cost pressures easing and viral food trends shaping the way Gen Z and Millennials experiment with food at home, the brand refresh is timed to appeal to the modern foodie and re-engage our existing customers.”

Bart was founded by husband and wife Jo and Reg Bartlam who sold the spices from their Bristol home. In 1983 the business moved into a purpose-built factory in Bedminster but the business grew so much that by 2021 it had moved again to new premises at Severn Beach.

In 2017 it was acquired by Germany’s largest spice producer, Fuchs Group. Barts employs around 200 people across its Bristol and Newbury manufacturing sites.

Bristol’s top businesses surpass £15bn in turnover

Bristol’s top 200 privately-owned businesses achieved a landmark amount of revenue last year, increasing overall turnover by 33 per cent to reach £15.5 billion, according to data from Grant Thornton.

The business and financial adviser’s inaugural Bristol Limited report analysed private companies in the region and highlighted the city’s top 200 companies as measured by both annual turnover and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).

Energy company Ovo Group Ltd ranked number one in the report out of all 200 businesses by turnover. By profit, the leading business was identified as legal advisers TLT LLP.

Bristol’s business support services sector contributed the highest proportion of overall revenue compared to any other single sector. It achieved a total turnover of £4,081 million –a 28 per cent increase on the previous year.

The consumer market followed as the

Nisbets catering equipment company sold

The purchase of Bristol-based Nisbets, a leading distributor of catering equipment and consumables, has been completed by international distribution and services group Bunzl plc following clearance by the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

Frank van Zanten, Chief Executive O cer of Bunzl, said: “Nisbets, is a high-quality business with an experienced and well-respected management team. Their digital expertise and market-leading range of own-brand products will further strengthen our position in the catering equipment sector.”

The Bristol company was established in 1983 by Andrew Nisbet to sell knives to students in catering colleges. It has grown to be a leading provider of specialist foodservice equipment and consumables, employing around 1,800 people with record sales for the year ended December 2022 (its last filed accounts) just short of £500 million, and record profits too. It has a presence across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

second largest sector by revenue in 2023, with an 18 per cent increase in turnover from 2022 to £2,142 million. Dairy company Yeo Valley ranked first in this sector.

One of the top three ranked businesses in technology, media and telecoms was world-famous animation studio Aardman. which saw a 39 per cent growth in employees to 2,852,

The business is now majority employee owned following a sale of 75 per cent of shares to an employee ownership trust.

The new Bart’s Brand

Blackfish Engineering wins global challenge

Bristol renewable energy engineering firm Blackfish Engineering has won the inaugural Norwegian O shore Wind (NOW) Accelerator.

The company's groundbreaking quick-connection mooring solution, C-Dart, impressed industry leaders with its innovative approach to mooring challenges in the floating o shore wind sector.

The NOW Accelerator sought new global solutions for the floating o shore wind industry, focusing on flexibility, scalability, low maintenance and longevity. Blackfish Engineering’s C-Dart mooring quick-connector is a rapid, reliable and low risk system designed for asset retrieval and station keeping, the company says.

Marcus Gay, Commercial Manager at Blackfish Engineering, said: “Our C-Dart system o ers a significant advancement in operational e ciency, safety, and sustainability, addressing critical challenges in the o shore wind industry.

“To be recognised by such an esteemed group of judges and to be cited for its innovation is a testament to the work we have put into it. The company looks forward to further developing the C-Dart system and contributing to the advancement of sustainable solutions in the o shore wind sector.”

COFFEE BRAND TASTES SUCCESS

THANKS TO SOUTH WEST INVESTMENT

A young Bristol coffee brand has been backed by SWIG Finance with a £158,000 loan.

The funding is being used as working capital to enable TrueStart Coffee to take advantage of growth opportunities with new retailers.

Husband-and-wife team Helena and Simon Hills set up TrueStart Coffee to create a coffee range with all the health benefits of great coffee and a consistent caffeine content.

The business, a certified B Corp, currently employs five members of staff, with three new roles being created in the next six months.

As a certified B Corp, TrueStart Coffee is

always looking for new ways to improve its social and environmental impact, including reducing its carbon footprint. Currently, more than 92 per cent of its packaging is recyclable.

Helena said: “The funding has enabled us to increase our inventory as well as grow the team by hiring more talent here in the South West.”

SWIG Finance’s Senior Business Manager, Nicola Parker, said: “I was delighted to support Simon and Helena with their growth plans. They have worked hard over the years to create a memorable brand that stands out in its marketplace and their evolution has been fascinating. They have consistently grown their customer base and have some very exciting opportunities in front of them.”

One of the West of England’s leading construction soil and aggregate recycling companies has been acquired by Heidelberg Materials UK.

Bristol-based B&A Group employs a team of 70 and specialises in the supply of recycled and primary aggregate as well as site clearance, earthworks, land remediation and sustainable land regeneration.

It had its most successful year to date in 2023, turning over more than £50 million and making a pre-tax profit of £9.1 million.

Maidenhead-based Heidelberg CEO Simon Willis said: “B&A Group has an unrivalled reputation in the South West, underpinned by a strong team.

“This announcement follows the completion of our acquisition of recycling company Mick George in May and adds an additional source of high-quality recycled materials for use in our sustainable building materials.

“It is an exciting opportunity for us, and I am looking forward to working with the B&A Group to grow the business further.”

Blackfish Engineering’s C-Dart mooring system

SWIG’s Senior Business Manager, Nicola Parker, with TrueStart Co ee’s Helena and Simon Hills

THE IS GREAT OUTDOORS OLPRO’S BUSINESS

OLPRO is one of the UK’s fastest-growing outdoor brands which takes sustainability seriously. We meet its founder, Daniel Walton

By Nicky Godding, Editor

If you want to test out your product’s true quality and durability, work with an adventurer.

That’s what OLPRO did.

The Worcestershire company which sells outdoor gear, from campervan awnings and tents to everything you’ll want for sleeping under the stars, sought advice from Ed Stafford, the first human ever to walk (and camp) the length of the Amazon River.

OLPRO founder and CEO, Daniel Walton, said: “It was an incredible experience working with one of the world’s most intrepid adventurers. We first showed him what we’d designed over an internet call as he was in Peru at the time. And he said – it’s good, it’s practical and it’ll sell. That’s what we wanted to hear.”

Just as important to OLPRO and Ed

Stafford, the range is eco-friendly. In fact, all OLPRO ’s awnings and tents are now made from recycled plastic bottles.

“We are a sustainable business, a certified B-Corp, and there are now as many commercial reasons to produce sustainable products as ethical ones,” said Dan.

B-Corp status is awarded to businesses meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability, and more people are asking about sustainability credentials before they buy.

When Olpro says “sustainable”, it means everything

OLPRO ’s tents are made from recycled plastic, but that’s not enough for the

team. The company offers product lifetime warranty, has a spares website so customers can extend the life of their tents and equipment, and sends products it can’t recycle to Retribe (part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation community) which repurposes waste fabrics into an array of goods.

Anything Retribe can’t use is offered to local further education colleges such as Heart of Worcester College and Hereford Arts College, although there’s getting less of that.

OLPRO also works with companies such as Tangerine Fields and Fat Frank’s which erect and retrieve tents at big music festivals such as Glastonbury.

“They buy our tents, put them up at festivals rather than people abandoning their own after they go home, take them

Daniel Walton, OLPRO founder and CEO

Our fear is that if somebody buys a tent and either doesn’t like camping or has a poor experience, they could throw it away, so it doesn't really matter if it was recycled, it still ends up in a bin, and we don't want that

His uncle ran a climbing shop in Sheffield and took young Daniel and his brother to the Peak District at weekends.

“We did a lot of free climbing – no ropes and things which we really shouldn’t have done at that age. We’d sleep in bivvy bags, cook food outside and it was really good fun.

It was the opposite of his second passion – gaming. “I’d spend half my time out camping and the rest in my bedroom playing video games.”

This combination of understanding the great outdoors and technology has served Daniel well. OLPRO doesn’t have physical stores, it sells everything online, so customer experience and fulfilment has to be super slick.

Daniel started his business life before he’d left school. “At 14 I was writing games and sending them to computer magazines They’d put them on discs and attach them to their latest issues.”

His programming proficiency got noticed. He was named in an article co-written by Peter Molyneux, the celebrated British video game designer, on up-and-coming games programmers.

Daniel went on to study computer science and sociology at Sheffield College, then criminology at Bangor University.

up called lastminute.com where he was quickly promoted to IT manager.

Now a household name, it’s easy to forget that lastminute was one of the internet’s true early disrupters. The online travel and gift agency was technology-driven but wasn’t regulated to sell tickets, so another company called Apollo Travel, where Daniel was based, did that.

“I split my time between working for lastminute in Rotherham and its Marble Arch offices in London,” said Daniel.

“I’d sit in meetings and what I picked up most was that at lastminute, everyone looked not at what they were doing now, but what they'd be doing next year and the year after.

“Brent (Hoberman, who co-founded lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox), was always in the board meetings, while Martha would come in halfway though, make some really meaningful points which would drive things in a particular direction.

“Everyone loved her, she was really good at her job, but she didn’t hang around in meetings.”

It was at this stage in his career that Daniel met his fellow founding OLPRO directors, Michael Harby – and Daniel’s future wife Lisa.

down and use them again,” explains Daniel, who is 47.

OLPRO also has a “pre-loved” (second hand to you and me) website.

But there’s always more that can be done says Daniel. “Our fear is that if somebody buys a tent and either doesn’t like camping or has a poor experience, they could throw the tent away, so it doesn't really matter if it was recycled, it still ends up in a bin, and we don't want that.

“We design everything properly, particularly to make sure there’s no danger of water ingress, for which we have a couple of patents pending, pack them full of spares and give them a lifetime warranty.”

Daniel and his wife Lisa set up OLPRO in 2011. Daniel had enjoyed the great outdoors since he was a kid.

And if you love the outdoors, you’re not going to ignore one of the UK’s most beautiful mountaineering regions, Eryri (formerly known as Snowdonia), if it’s on your doorstep. Daniel embraced it all, from climbing, hiking and cycling to sailing on the Menai Strait.

Learning from lastminute.com

Romance kept him in Bangor for a year after university and he set up a business fixing computers and selling software. But when love’s young dream fizzled out he returned to Sheffield. However, his business experience proved invaluable, he says. “I didn’t make money, but I didn’t lose any either.”

Back in Sheffield, around the millennium, he began working for an entrepreneurial start-

Then lastminute.com relocated everything to London and asked him to follow as customer service manager.

Did Daniel want to move to the other end of the country when he’d not long met Lisa? No – and nor did she.

Change of direction opens up a new career

Fortuitously, her brother-in-law offered Daniel a job at his company, Towsure Products, which had a store in Sheffield selling vehicle towbars alongside caravan and camping gear.

“They’d never had anyone who wanted to help them expand. I accepted the job and we travelled around the country looking for a town to open a second store.”

Sheffield, where Towsure was based, was

the perfect location in the north – close to the Peak District and a massive camping fraternity. Southampton, though, had a similarly huge boating community, and that’s where they settled.

Daniel and Lisa got married (in Las Vegas, since you ask), and the family expanded to three children.

More Towsure stores opened under Daniel’s tenure – the one in Halesowen turning over £60,000 in its first weekend.

“They were good times. The economy was stable, the industry was growing and the internet was coming on in leaps and bounds,” said Daniel, who by that time had relocated back to Sheffield as General Manager to run Towsure’s massive call centre, which was the crux of the business but had been struggling.

Daniel turned around the call centre’s fortunes to a point where it was making sales of around £100,000 a day.

Time to move on – to a company called Outdoor Revolution where he joined as Sales Director. He was also involved in product development, making trips to China to visit manufacturers and meeting some of the UK’s largest retailers such as Halfords and The Range.

The next few years saw him working his way up through the industry, but always for other people.

Then one Christmas a local tragedy made him rethink his life and career.

“A neighbour passed away of a brain haemorrhage. He was only in his early 40s.

“It made me think life’s too short – I’m not enjoying working for other people, it’s time to do something for myself.”

Six months later, OLPRO (the name made up from “Outdoor Leisure Products”), was born.

The camping industry might look homogenous from the outside, but companies differ in their offer depending on what you want from your gear. Daniel said: “Our core is making awnings and equipment for campervans and we also have a really good tent range.”

The camping sector is growing fast

According to Statista, more than 7.5 million people are expected to enjoy camping by 2028.

But OLPRO didn’t enjoy overnight success. The first few years were a struggle, Daniel admits. “We didn’t have a big cash injection, Mike and I both invested our own money.

“We brought in and sold containers of goods, then brought in more. Our warehouse was small and once I had to sleep there to protect the stock because we couldn’t fit it all inside.”

Having left a good job, and with a wife and children to support , Daniel also remembers sitting in front of Excel spreadsheets for

years with Lisa, worrying it wasn’t going to work. “We weren’t doing the volume we needed, we’d just designed three new lines and I was getting more stressed because we couldn’t repay a bank loan until we’d sold them, so Mike suggested we take the kids away for a break.

“I had to tell the bank they’d have to wait for their money until the new products launched – the first in our new line of inflatable campervan awnings. That wasn’t really a good look when we were about to go on holiday.”

But the new line arrived and it was a success. That was in 2015 and the hard work didn’t stop. Daniel attended show after show to raise the profile of OLPRO, and finally began to spot an upwards curve in sales on his spreadsheets.

The company now turns over around £3.5 million annually and last year moved to new headquarters at Holt Health near Worcester.

When I arrive for this interview, the team (which now includes his two adult daughters, one a talented artist, the other an accounting apprentice), are working with the rest of the team setting up for a big exhibition and photoshoot which they can, conveniently, hold in a field next to their countryside HQ.

More than 40 tents have been expertly erected, photographers are taking pictures of tents, awnings and equipment. The sun is shining and it’s a truly beautiful day –perfect for camping.

Daniel at his Worcestershire HQ

WORCESTERSHIRE AWASH WITH AMBITIOUS TECH BUSINESSES

Eight more Worcestershire technology entrepreneurs have joined BetaDen’s award-winning nine-month Accelerate programme.

BetaDen offers support to technology entrepreneurs, start-up and scale-up businesses.

The programme offers participating businesses support to rapidly commercialise their innovations including mentoring, proof of concept grant, marketing, a showcase event, free office space at Malvern Hills Science Park and access to BetaDen’s extensive network of partners, alumni and investors.

To date, BetaDen has supported more than 50 innovative technology businesses in the county, whose innovations include worldfirst and game-changing technologies such as 5G at sea (Jet Connectivity), largescale 3D concrete printing (ChangeMaker 3D) and voice-face fused recognition technology (FARx).

Graduates of the programme have so far supported more than 210 jobs and raised more than £500 million in investment and funding.

The businesses joining the eighth cohort include DMA Technologies, an online conferencing and virtual exhibition platform based in Worcester, and Garland Surgical – a Malvern-based medical device design and development company.

Other Malvern companies making the cohort include HD Connectivity which is developing ismart devices to improve tech experiences at home, and Nonowrap which is developing waste-reducing, smart reusable pallet strap technology.

Other companies joining the programme include Sandfield Engineering Based in the Wyre Forest, Sandfield is developing a solar-powered, air-operated pollution containment valve that prevents spillages from contaminating water systems, while Bromsgrove based Smart 90 is building an AI-powered growth platform for accountants.

Split Second Research, a neurosciencebased market research platform in Worcester and Zone Manager, based in Redditch is developing a logistics management system.

Donston Powell, Director of External Affairs at BetaDen, said: “We welcome our latest cohort to BetaDen to help them take their innovations to the next level.

“Our award-winning programme helps participants accelerate the commercialisation of their products and we can’t wait to see what this cohort will achieve.”

BetaDen recently announced Apogee Associates, Wynne-Jones IP, Jerroms and Higgs LLP as commercial partners for this latest cohort.

Worcester Warriors Rugby Club sold in pre-pack deal

Business advisory firm Quantuma has completed a pre-pack administration sale of Worcester Warriors which it says will secure the club’s future and protect jobs.

Quantuma’s managing directors, Brian Burke and Andrew Watling were appointed as Joint Administrators of Atlas on April 24 and completed the sale of its business and assets shortly afterwards to Junction 6 Limited.

In May last year Loxwood Holdings, a group company that owns Wasps Rugby Football Club stepped in to financially assist Atlas in completing its purchase of the former Worcester Warriors Rugby Club from its administrators. This financial assistance was intended to be short-term to help support the recovery of Worcester Warriors and to allow Wasps a shortterm option to play at Sixways Stadium in Worcester.

But Atlas was unable to meet its ongoing financial obligations. As a result, Atlas entered into an insolvency process.

The purchaser of Atlas is part of a newly incorporated group of companies. This group has been funded by Loxwood Holdings with support from the local business community, several of which have become shareholders in the new group.

Chris Holland, director of Loxwood Holdings, said: “We would hope that the community will flood back to Sixways under its new ownership, and support what is an amazing sporting and conference and events facility. We have engaged and obtained the support of the Worcester Warriors Foundation, and the Worcester Amateur club.

“The support of the business community and the Warriors supporters is not taken for granted, and is of huge importance to us.”

Betaden’s latest tech entrepreneurs

HUSBAND AND WIFE TEAM

SECURE FUNDING TO ACQUIRE WIRE MESH BUSINESS

A Stourbridge husband and wife team have bought a wire mesh business following an £80,000 funding boost from business funding company UKSE.

Cameron and Elizabeth Wakeman bought the business from David and Debbie Walters on their retirement.

Midland Wire Mesh, based in Halesowen, is an industrial wire mesh manufacturer serving sectors including construction, gardening, drainage and the pet industry.

Cameron has more than 14 years of sales, marketing and management experience of the metal industry, in businesses including Midtherm, Servosteel and Intec Laser Services.

Elizabeth will be responsible for the company’s finance and business marketing.

Midland Wire Mesh was introduced to UKSE by Birmingham based Central Business Finance.

Our aim is to focus on diversifying into new markets ...

A further £95,000 was provided to support the purchase by West Midlands and Wales lender BCRS Business Loans.

Cameron said: “Our aim is to focus on diversifying into new markets including racking, pet care, safety and architectural.”

UKSE Regional Executive Mike Lowe added: “Midland Wire Mesh are a great example of a Midlands manufacturing business looking to grow through investment and innovation.”

UKSE has invested more than £115 million, supporting 8,000 businesses.

International exhibitions and events contractor doubles size of Redditch operation

Just a year after expanding into new premises in Redditch, exhibition displays firm Vertex has doubled the size of its operation at the town’s Park Farm Industrial Estate, securing a fiveyear lease on a 5,340 sq ft unit.

Owner Ross Wardle explained: “Our growing workload led us to look for additional production and storage facilities.

“As well as designing and making exhibition and trade stands for clients, we o er them access to a modular system called beMatrix.

“It enables us to combine style and impact with speed and a more coste ective approach for some clients. We have also launched a Vertex rental arm and relaunched our website.

“As a result, we are winning more work and creating exhibition stands in Paris, Athens and Amsterdam, as well as working with customers preparing for this summer’s Farnborough Air Show.

“Our expanded base in Redditch, along with our sister site in Coventry, give us the ability to handle even more work as our impact on the exhibitions industry continues to pay dividends.”

Ben Truslove of John Truslove helped Vertex secure a five-year lease on the second Springside unit.

Ben Lyons at Thursfields represented Vertex in the leasing negotiations, while Adam Taylor-Smith at Womble Bond Dickinson LLP acted for landlords IOGP Ltd Partnership.

Ross Wardle of Vertex (left) with Ben Truslove of commercial property agents John Truslove

Cameron and Elizabeth Wakeman (centre) with Mike Lowe of UKSE (left) and Central Business Finance Director Steve Harris (right)

OX DELIVERS REVENUES AS WELL AS GAME-CHANGING TRANSPORT

OX Delivers, the Leamington Spa based e-mobility start-up, which is helping to revolutionise goods transport across Africa, has delivered its strongest first financial performance to date.

The company generated $262,000 in revenue in the first three months of the year, as well as scaling up operations in Rwanda.

For less than $1, an OX Delivers customer can transport a sack of goods to market across the challenging terrain typical of African countries, completing the task in hours instead of days by foot or bicycle.

The OX Delivers transport-as-a-service model enables farmers and traders to access larger markets further from home, where prices are higher and new opportunities are available.

Customers pay only for the space they need on a kilogram-per-kilometre basis and the service is accessible via an app or toll-free number.

The original OX Truck, designed by Professor Gordon Murray in 2016, was the world’s first flat-pack truck and the first vehicle designed specifically for Africa in 40 years.

The OX Delivers team has re-designed the vehicle, transforming it into a purpose-designed electric truck. The vehicle is 10 times cheaper to run than all existing alternatives.

During the first three months of 2024, OX Delivers completed 258 zero tail-pipe emission journeys covering more than 18,000km, providing reliable, affordable transport-as-a-service which it says is transforming the lives of thousands of people in Rwanda by delivering their produce to market more efficiently.

Baxi opens flagship training facility at Warwick HQ

Baxi, which manufactures boilers and heating systems, has opened a new 10,000 sq ft academy at its Warwick HQ.

This increases its annual installer training capacity on the site from 600 delegates last year to 2,000 in 2025.

For the first time, a Baxi training facility will have a dedicated training room, allowing installers to get hands on with Baxi’s complete residential and commercial product portfolio under one roof.

The new facility includes a digital studio to support Baxi’s new e-learning platform, to be launched later this year.

Ian Trott, Baxi’s Head of UK Training, said: “I’m excited about the future – not just because of our fantastic new training centre in Warwick, but because of our opportunity to support commercial sector skills through a dedicated solutions room in Warwick”.

Demand has exceeded expectations since it began operations in Rwanda in 2021.

Today, OX Delivers supports more than 4,000 customers, ranging from the Bank of Rwanda to smallholder farmers and traders. 80 per cent of orders come from repeat customers.

Simon Davis, OX Delivers founder and CEO, said: “This is an exciting year as we continue to scale our operations in Rwanda and launch our next-generation electric truck.”

“OX Delivers enables our customers to connect to new markets. This transformative impact shows the power of our approach and will enable us to truly change the way Africa does business.

“With no direct competitors in this field, OX Delivers has the potential to expand its offer to service millions of customers.

“In the UK, our 20-strong design and manufacturing team has started the prototype build of our next-generation electric truck.”

The company’s new focus on solutions training, alongside its traditional product training, is expected to be replicated in Baxi’s other main training centres in Warrington, Dartford and Dublin.

“Our Warwick investment is the blueprint of what we will do in the future” said Ian.

A recent report from the consumer rights group, Which?, said successful decarbonisation of buildings will only be possible if professionals are equipped with the right skills.

It recommends that installers sign up to a mandatory accreditation scheme, designed to create a universal high standard of skills to work with new technologies that will give confidence to homeowners to make the change to clean heat.

Ian added: “We’re part of a larger national project to transition traditional heating engineers towards installing new, renewable technologies, and to earn a living through green jobs in our low-carbon future.”

The Ox Delivers truck

WARWICK BUSINESS NAMED CLEANTECH START-UP OF THE YEAR

Warwick-based Flux Aviation has been named as the Cleantech Start-up of the Year at this year’s Midlands Start-up Awards.

Flux Aviation is developing electric powertrain technologies that will enable zero emission aviation for passenger and cargo aircraft serving regional routes.

Flux Aviation’s co-founder and CEO, Radovan Gallo, said: “This recognition

highlights our efforts to push the boundaries of technology to create a better tomorrow, aligning with global sustainability goals.”

The UK Start-up Awards were established to highlight the success of start-ups across 10 UK nations and regions.

It celebrates the achievements of entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy.

This recognition highlights our efforts to push the boundaries of technology to create a better tomorrow ...

The Awards are supported nationally by a number of companies including Starling Bank.

Harriet Rees, the bank’s Chief Information Officer, said: “Turning an idea into a successful business takes a lot of courage and dedication. Congratulations to Flux Aviation on winning their category in the Midlands and making it to this year’s UK national final. Start-ups need certainty to plan ahead. It’s great to see so many thrive, especially in these challenging economic times.”

More than 114,000 new firms were created in the Midlands in 2023 and according to Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the awards, demonstrating the growing importance of entrepreneurs to the regional economy.

Flux Aviation will now progress to the UK Start-up Awards final being held at Ideas Fest on September 12, which takes place in Hertfordshire.

Solihull laser manufacturer on track to double turnover

A manufacturer of high precision laser-marking systems could double its turnover since opening its first UK base at a science park in Solihull.

Lasit Laser UK is on track for year-onyear growth since settling into o ce space at Blythe Valley Innovation Centre, owned by Solihull Council and managed by the University of Warwick Science Park.

The firm supplies high quality, precision laser marking systems for identification marking in a variety of sectors, including vital marking on medical and automotive products. Permanent identification

marks are mandatory in many industries for traceability purposes.

Laser marking is also used on of items for aesthetic purposes, such as branding on metallic bottles and other promotional items. Lasit Laser UK supplies its machines directly to businesses wanting to perform engraving in-house.

Barrie Rice, the company’s General Manager, said: “Many of our customers need reliable laser marking solutions.

“For example, in the medical sector, replacement joints must have clear

unique marking before they can be implanted into patients.

“Using below par or incorrect laser technology can lead to corrosion which can cause problems, including the growth of germs or indeed failure of the part, which is unacceptable in the medical industry.

“We use a laser technology called picosecond which means the laser is only in contact with the surface for less than one-billionth of a second. This ensures the marking is permanent but does not change the nano-structure of the material.”

Flux Aviation team with their electric aircraft

Pets’ Kitchen Ltd

sells Vet’s Kitchen division to focus on growth

Pets’ Kitchen has sold its Vet’s Kitchen division, which it says will allow it to focus on its Vet’s Klinic veterinary practices.

The Vet’s Kitchen brand, which primarily sells dry dog and cat food, has been bought by Pets Choice, which includes the Webbox, Bob Martin, Felight, TastyBone and B-Calm brands.

Laura Shears, Managing Director of Swindon-based Pets’ Kitchen, said: “We hope to see the Vet’s Kitchen brand thrive under its new ownership.

“We will continue to collaborate with the Vet’s Kitchen team to provide veterinary insight and support product development. Meanwhile, our focus will be to drive further growth in veterinary services where we have a unique proposition and exciting plans for the future.''

Vet’s Klinic was established in August 2012 as part of Pets Kitchen.

It has grown substantially sinece then. Vet’s Klinic is now the largest single-site first opinion practice in Swindon, with a team of more than 30 veterinary professionals.

Jack Griggs, Senior Manager in Corporate Finance who led the transaction for James Cowper Kreston, said: “We are delighted to have acted as advisers to Pets Kitchen, having also advised on their fundraise three years ago. Vet’s Kitchen has developed an outstanding portfolio of products dedicated to the health and wellbeing of pets.”

DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT SIGNED ON SWINDON’S ICONIC OASIS LEISURE CENTRE

Swindon Borough Council has exchanged contracts with UK property developer SevenCapital on a new development agreement for the Oasis Leisure Centre. This will allow the developer to agree terms with a tenant to run the iconic facility and finalise plans to refurbish and reopen it.

Once the refurbishment works and lease have been completed, the Oasis and North Star sites would be sold to SevenCapital, with the council having the option to purchase the refurbished Oasis.

As part of the development agreement, safeguards are in place to retain the swimming pool’s popular slides and a wave machine, while the lease to the tenant will also include a 10-year keep open clause.

It is anticipated a planning application for the Oasis will be submitted later this year.

Cllr Jim Robbins, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, said: “I am really pleased that after many months of working with SevenCapital we have delivered a deal which will not just see the Oasis reopened, but will preserve the famous dome, the wave machine and of course the fabulous slides that were synonymous with the facility for so many years.

“We have also inserted a buy-back option for the Oasis and a keep-open clause

because it is vital we have safeguards in place to ensure what has happened previously does not happen again.

“We are closer than we have ever been to seeing the Oasis reopened and now the ball is firmly in SevenCapital’s court to agree a lease with a tenant and confirm the specifications that will give the Oasis a longterm sustainable future.”

Damien Siviter, Group Managing Director at SevenCapital added: “SevenCapital and Swindon Borough Council have a mutual goal of breathing new life into the Oasis for the community and future generations to enjoy.

“We’re delighted to have reached this agreement, which marks a positive step forward, and look forward to a continued close working partnership with the council as we push ahead with our plans.”

The Oasis Leisure Centre has been closed for more than three years after its operator at the time, GLL, said the facility was losing money and needed capital investment following the first Covid-19 lockdown.

GLL subsequently surrendered its lease to the owner of the site, SevenCapital. The following year, the Oasis was listed, significantly increasing the cost of bringing the building back into use.

CEO and Chair of apetito to step down after 25 years

Apetito, the UK’s leading food producer to the health, social care, care homes, and education sectors, has announced that after 25 years, its CEO and Chair Paul Freeston will be stepping down at the end of the year.

Under Paul’s leadership, Trowbridgebased apetito UK and its Wiltshire Farm Foods home delivery business has grown from £30 million to £250 million in the UK, and increased its team from 400 to almost 2,000.

He also led the apetito Group into Canada and USA and has been a member of the International Group Board since 2007.

Paul said:“My passion for our business and belief in its future potential to grow is undiminished. However, at the end of 2024, it will be time to pass the baton on as I am looking to invest my energies into new business opportunities and challenges.

“I’m immensely proud of what we have accomplished as a team and know that I leave behind a strong legacy and a team poised for even greater future success.

“Apetito is a fantastic company making a real difference to the people we serve. It also benefits from long-term stability through family ownership”.

Robert Düsterberg, Deputy Chairman of the apetito Group and a member of the owning family said: “Paul has grown our business with passion and dedication and been the driving force behind the success of apetito UK, transforming challenges into opportunities and always having a clear vision of the direction the company needed to go.

“His commitment and visionary leadership have shaped apetito UK and led the Group into North America.”

“With Paul stepping down, we will prepare for the next phase of growth and work on the succession plan is under way”.

SALE OF CHIPPENHAM LOGISTICS GIANT TO GXO COMPLETES

GXO Logistics, the USA-based contract logistics provider, has completed its acquisition of Chippenham-headquartered Wincanton in a deal worth £762 million.

GXO Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Wilson, said: “This valuable acquisition for our company advances our position as a global pure-play logistics leader.

“By combining Wincanton’s footprint and expertise in the UK and Ireland with our

global reach and transformative technology, we can provide a wider range of services to new and existing customers across geographies – and accelerate our long-term growth trajectory.”

The deal with GXO came after a previous offer in January from French multi-national CEVA Logistics – part of the CMA CGM group – in a deal worth almost £567 million.

But on the last day of February, GXO made a

higher cash offer, which was accepted by the Wincanton Board the following day.

The acquisition will expand GXO’s offering and customer base in several key strategic growth sectors in the UK, including aerospace, utilities, industrial, and healthcare. Additionally, the complementary infrastructure and offerings will enable GXO to manage the combined company more efficiently, resulting in greater productivity and lower costs for the benefit of customers.

FROM A PRINCE TO A KING

As the Prince’s Trust becomes The King’s Trust, we meet one business which has flourished thanks to its support

Over the last 48 years The Prince’s Trust, which was set up by Prince Charles in 1976, has helped around a million young people develop their confidence and work skills, and encouraged them in accessing job opportunities.

More than 90,000 of these young people have been helped to start a business by The Trust.

Now, as the charity changes its name to The King’s Trust, reflecting King Charles’ continued interest in supporting the next generation, Cirencester photographer Kay Ransom is celebrating almost 20 years in business after receiving support from the charity at the start of her career.

Kay, now 44, contacted The Prince’s Trust after starting her first job.

“After graduating with a degree in video production and photography from the University of Gloucestershire, I spent three years working on feature films and TV productions, but my heart was always in photography,” she said.

However, few 24-year-olds have much cash behind them to start a business, let alone know how to set one up, so what to do?

“A family member suggested I contact The Prince’s Trust, which has an office in Gloucester,” said Kay.

“I didn’t think I’d be eligible, but the Trust was great. They enrolled me on a business support course which covered some of the key issues people face when first starting out, from marketing to admininistration and finance.

“At the end, the 20 or so of us on the course were offered either a grant or loan.

“I accepted a grant of £300, a good amount of money at the time, rather than a loan of around £2,000 because I didn’t want to be saddled with debt – and I’d put just enough away from my work in film and TV to buy a professional camera, but what I really needed was a good lens, which the £300 almost covered.”

Kay Ransom’s photography: Looking towards Cirencester Park from the Parish Church

Armed with her new-found knowledge and equipment, Kay set up the business in 2005.

A year’s worth of mentoring and support

The Prince’s Trust also assigned her a mentor. “They support you for your first year. The Trust also paid for me to attend a two-day Young Entrepreneur’s Conference in Edinburgh which offered more skills development. It was great.”

Looking back, it was a good time to enter the photography profession which by then was seeing the second generation of

Early on I was working for the likes of Unilever, Capita and Tesco Bank because I met the right people. That gave me the confidence in my late 20s to ditch my imposter syndrome

Unencumbered with the intricacies of traditional film processing, Kay was a digital native – fully comfortable working with new technology.

For the first three years, Kay Ransom Photography was busy. Then 2008 arrived, that infamous year which included the biggest financial crisis the world had seen and everything stopped –photoshoots and marketing campaigns were abandoned, with freelancers in many industries often being the first to lose out.

“I picked up temping work to bridge the gap,” said Kay. But she wasn’t ready to give up on her ambitions, and after a few months contacted the Trust’s Gloucester office again.

“I asked if they could give me any advice, and they offered me something even better – a job photographing the year’s South West Prince’s Trust Awards.

“It was lovely to work with the organisation that got me going, and absolutely great to have their support.”

The Awards helped Kay back on her feet. While a decade later she has had to deal with the Covid crisis, she’s built up more resilience and now has around 60 active customers keeping her busy.

Kay shares some of what she’s learned over two decades of photography work.

How do you keep busy throughout the year?

“Look for patterns in your industry. When is it quiet, and when is it more likely to be busy? For a corporate and event photographer such as me, quiet times tend to be over the summer and at Christmas, so become confident in those quiet patches and use the time to market yourself.”

And learn that you’re good enough, she adds. “Early on I was working for the likes of Unilever, Capita and Tesco Bank because I met the right people. That gave me the confidence in my late 20s to ditch my imposter syndrome.

“Before, I always tried to show confidence when meeting clients even though I didn’t always feel it. Reassuring your clients that you are more than capable helps everyone.”

Now Kay’s work is evenly split into three categories: events, corporate business and portraiture (mostly for business).

What photography would she not undertake? “I’ve steered away from baby photography, because it’s a particular skill. And I’d never be a paparazzi.”

King Charles will be reassured to hear that.

digital cameras being rolled out.

Kay Ransom

01 Curtain rises on Bristol Beacon’s new chief executive

Simon Wales has been appointed chief executive at Bristol Beacon. In his previous role as chief executive of Stowe House Preservation Trust, Simon oversaw growth in audiences and income, created a public arts programme and planned restoration projects as part of a £25 million overall programme.

02 Claire moves from fashion’s Joules to ProCook

Gloucester-based kitchenware company

ProCook has appointed Claire Tait as Marketing Director. Claire joins ProCook following an eight-year tenure at lifestyle brand Joules.

03 Housing association appoints experienced property man as chair

Two Rivers Housing has appointed Ted Pearce as Chair to replace Yvonne Leishman who will step down in October. Ted has served on the Forest of Dean housing association since 2019 and currently chairs the Two Rivers Development Board.

06 Mark on track for new role with HS2

Mark Wild OBE has been appointed Chief Executive of HS2. Mark brings almost four decades of experience to the role, including helping deliver complex railway systems, most notably as the CEO of Crossrail.

04

Change of managing partner at RSM UK Bristol Audit, tax and consulting firm RSM UK, has appointed Joanne Webber as office managing partner in Bristol. Joanne is a tax partner and leads the national global employer services team at RSM. She joined the firm seven years ago.

05

New man behind the wheel at Stagecoach

Stagecoach has appointed Chris Hanson to lead its bus operations in the West of England as Managing Director of Stagecoach West. He joined Stagecoach from First Bus last year, where he started as a bus driver before taking on senior leadership roles.

07

KW Bell Group appoints Chief Operating Officer

Gloucestershire construction firm KW Bell Group has appointed Nicola Bird as its new Chief Operating Officer. Nicola started out with the group 15 years ago as a parttime administration clerk before founding AccXel Construction School.

08 Bristol deep tech VC appoints successful founder to partner

SCVC, the Bristol-based early-stage deep tech venture capital firm, has appointed John Williams as a partner. John is best known as co-founder of UK-Japanese billion-dollar tech company Kudan, which paved the way for modern computer vision augmented reality. He will work alongside Harry Destecroix (left below) SCVC’s managing partner and founder of record-breaking startup Ziylo.

09

BGF appoints Chris Olds as Chief Operating Officer

Investor BGF has appointed Chris Olds as Chief Operating Officer. He was previously chief financial officer of Bristol technology company Ultraleap, where he raised more than £100 million in equity and debt, and led the acquisition of US tech company Leap Motion.

10

mfg Solicitors adds expertise to commercial property team

mfg Solicitors has appointed a new partner. Property specialist Emma Chater has joined the firm, and is based at the company’s Bromsgrove office. Emma is pictured with Clare Regan (right), partner and head of the law firm’s commercial property division.

11 Appointments will strengthen internal operation and culture

Two appointments at Wiltshire IT company Mintivo will help it maintain six years of growth, says Managing Director Alex Jukes (below, centre). Operations Director Mark Adams (left) becomes People and Culture Director. Jason Lovell (right) becomes Operations Director.

12

New director for fastgrowing email marketing company

Cheltenham data and email marketing specialist, Acquirz, which aims to work with iconic brands and SMEs, has appointed George Gallot as Group Account Director. Acquirz has seen yearon-year growth of 200 per cent.

RANSOMEWARE IS ACUTE THREAT SAYS GCHQ, BUT

IT’S NOT THE ONLY ONE

Ransomware continues to be the most acute and pervasive cyber threat for UK businesses and organisations according to Anne Keast-Butler in her first keynote speech as Director of GCHQ at CyberUK, the government’s flagship cyber security conference in Birmingham.

“We’re doing everything we can to counter it,” she said. “Working with partners to detect criminal activities and degrade the Ransom as a Service ecosystem, and produce intelligence that means those involved in ransomware are held to account.”

In May the National Crime Agency unmasked the leader of the LockBit ransomware group, Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev.

“There is no hiding place for cyber criminals and [it was] a brilliant example of international partnerships.”

But GCHQ is increasingly concerned about growing links between the Russian intelligence services and proxy groups to conduct cyber attacks – as well as suspected physical surveillance and sabotage operations.

“Before, Russia simply created the right environments for these groups to operate but now they are nurturing and inspiring these non-state cyber actors and, in some cases, seemingly co-ordinating physical attacks against the West.”

Russia, along with Iran, pose immediate

We want to engage with China where it’s mutually beneficial. Like tackling climate change, engaging in safe trade –and AI safety

threats, but it’s China which is the epochdefining challenge, she said.

“The people of China and the Chinese community overseas have contributed greatly to life in the UK. But recent events remind us that our country and democratic institutions remain of interest to the Chinese authorities.

“We want to engage with China where it’s mutually beneficial. Like tackling climate change, engaging in safe trade – and AI safety. It matters that China joined in signing the declaration on AI last November at Bletchley Park, the wartime home of GCHQ.

“But the leadership of the People’s Republic of China is increasingly working with others to try and reshape the world.

“Responding to the scale and complexity of this challenge is GCHQ’s top priority and we now devote more resource to China than any other single mission.”

CyNam welcomes CyberNorth on trade mission

CyNam, the cyber security cluster for Cheltenham and Gloucestershire welcomed members of fellow cyber security cluster CyberNorth on a trade mission to Cheltenham.

CyberNorth which covers the North East England and its delegates were introduced to new contacts, received insights from GCHQ, and briefed on Gloucestershire’s tech ecosystem and its plans for the £1 billion Golden Valley cyber project. The mission concluded at CyNam’s headline event “Delivering a Cyber Secure Space”, was made in partnership with the Cheltenham Science Festival.

This had a particular focus on the UK's role in safeguarding its space infrastructure.

Danielle Phillips, Director and Cluster Lead at CyberNorth said: “To lead this trade mission to Cheltenham is a key moment for CyberNorth to foster collaboration and connections among our membership community.

“Cyber threats continue to evolve and accelerate at high speed, and collectively we can learn from and collaborate to help shape the landscape.”

CyNam has more than 5,000 members and its mission is to drive the growth of the cyber and technology ecosystem in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire.

Hollie Wakefield, General manager of CyNam, said: “CyNam believes cluster collaboration is so important to the growth of the sector across the region. Our agenda was packed full of networking and business opportunities.”

Anne Keast-Butler, Director GCHQ speaking at CyberUK

KELPI LANDS £4.3M FUNDING TO TAKE SEAWEED PACKAGING TO MARKET

Bristol biotech Kelpi has secured £4.35 million investment to take its pioneering biomaterial technology to market. The funding will allow the business to expand operations, grow the team and run scale-up pilots.

The company's biomaterial is unique in matching – even exceeding the performance of plastic, in particular with a strong water barrier and resistance to greasy contents or acidic foods.

The equity funding round was led by Gloucester-based Blackfinch Ventures, with funding from Green Angel Ventures, Kadmos Capital, QantX, Evenlode Foundation and the South West Investment Fund as well as follow-on investment from Bristol Private Equity Club, One Planet Capital and private angel investors.

Having initially sought £3 million in

Kelpi stood out as a strong combination of worldleading scientific innovation with extensive entrepreneurial experience

equity investment, raising £4.35 million constitutes a significant success for Kelpi.

The funds will be used to advance manufacturing pilots and gain regulatory approval for its proprietary coatings for paper and card as well as continue a commercial roll-out which has already seen Kelpi win research and development contracts with companies such as L’Oréal, Diageo and Waitrose, and tropical fresh fruit supplier Blue Skies.

Kelpi uses only renewable feedstocks, sourcing seaweed farmed sustainably. Seaweed sequesters huge amounts of carbon dioxide as it grows, deacidifying

the ocean and providing a rich environment for fish.

Kelpi CEO Neil Morris said: “This landmark investment enables Kelpi to take to market our world-leading packaging material that is already being chosen by clients."

Dr Reuben Wilcock, Head of Ventures at Blackfinch, said: “Kelpi stood out as a strong combination of world-leading scientific innovation with extensive entrepreneurial experience. Their technology has immense commercial potential and we’re excited to be backing the company to scale up and go to market.”

Kelpi secures major investment for its pioneering biomaterial

TECHNOLOGY SEES PROTOTYPING IN LARGE SIZE 3D

New additive manufacturing technology designed and manufactured in the UK already has £200,000 of pre-orders.

LANDR, which has been spun out of fast-growing Warwickshire company RYSE 3D, wants to unlock engineeringgrade technology and materials for small and medium-sized companies which don't have the deeper pockets of larger manufacturing companies.

Its large format FDM printer enables users to build larger and more complex parts and can be applied to rapid prototyping and volume production for use in automotive, aerospace, healthcare and consumer sectors.

It is the brainchild of Warwickshire’s Mitchell Barnes, who recognised the need for a cost-effective 3D printer that delivered high power and flexible capability. The company says its nearest competitor is 10 times the cost, three times the weight and twice the size.

Mitchell, who recently saw RYSE 3D claim a King’s Award for Enterprise Innovation Award, said: "I was

frustrated with what I was seeing in the marketplace, especially the lack of options that were in our financial reach.

"Like most difficult things I encounter in life, there was no choice but to take them head-on and develop innovative solutions from scratch.

“Over the course of the next 12 months, the team has designed, tested and built LANDR 500, a 3D printer that will support a wide range of engineeringgrade material, delivering strength and durability of large and complex parts.”

He continued: “This technology is simply not built in the UK, yet we knew we had the knowledge and technical expertise to change that. It has been a real labour of love, but we have now built and are successfully using 10 printers at our sister business RYSE 3D.

He added: “We are hugely proud to be a British manufacturer and are delighted to bring world class additive manufacturing technology designed and manufactured entirely in the UK to a global audience.”

New polystyrene recycling process could be more economical and energy-e cient

Engineers have modelled a new way to recycle polystyrene that could become the first viable way of making the material reusable.

The team of chemical engineers, based at the University of Bath who collaborated with Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, say their technique could be the first to make recycling polystyrene both economically viable and energy e cient.

Dr Bernardo Castro-Dominguez, a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath, said: “Chemical recycling techniques are a major focus within chemical engineering right now, and cost and energye cient ways to breakdown plastics to their primary building blocks such as polystyrene are urgently needed.

“Less than five per cent of polystyrene is recycled at present – our work shows that as much as sixty per cent of all polystyrene used today could be replaced by chemically recycled styrene.”

The researchers say that policies to incentivise consumers to recycle polystyrene, or divert it from landfill, would help make the process even more economically attractive.

Mitchell Barnes, of RYSE 3D

THE LATEST DEAL ACTIVITY ACROSS THE REGION

Cybersecurity firm OnSecurity (Bristol)

has secured investment from Gresham House Ventures (London)

Advisers: Cavendish

Alltube Engineering (Northamptonshire)

has been acquired by Interpump Fluid Solutions UK (Worcestershire)

Medical device manufacturer Entaco (Worcestershire)

has completed an MBO with support from Private equity firm Traditum (Yorkshire)

Construction engineering firm Hydrock (Bristol)

has been acquired by

Engineering consultant Stantec (Cheshire)

Buy-side advisers: DLA Piper (legal), EY (tax)

Sell-side advisers: KPMG (corporate finance), Freeths (legal)

Agency Crisp Digital (Buckinghamshire)

has been acquired by Education marketing firm Hybrid (Bristol)

Buy-side advisers: Womble Bond Dickinson, Hazelwoods

Insolvency firm K J Watkin & Co. (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Accounting firm BK Plus (West Midlands)

Security services firm Glevum Security (Gloucestershire)

has been acquired by TMA Security Services (London)

Buy-side advisers: GS Verde Group

Energy contractor Enerveo (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Energy firm SSE (Scotland)

Software provider Parity Projects Limited (London)

has been acquired by Software provider CoreLogic UK (West Midlands)

Software provider Applicable (Bristol)

has completed an MBO, acquiring from Telecoms group NTT (Japan)

Advisers (to Applicable): The MGroup

IT provider Centrality (Bedfordshire)

has been acquired by IT provider Intercity (West Midlands)

Sally Narrowboats (Wiltshire)

has been acquired by Anglo Welsh Waterway Holidays (Bristol)

Distributor Varley Castors (Cheshire)

has been acquired by Castor and wheel manufacturer BIL Group (Wiltshire)

Buy-side advisers:

Dow Schofield Watts (financial DD)

DSW Tax Advisory (tax) DWF (legal)

Sell-side advisers: Hill Dickinson (legal)

Nursing home Green Tree Court (Devon)

has been acquired by Somerset Care

Estate agents Loveitts (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Property firm Sheldon Bosley Knight – SBK (West Midlands)

Blu Wireless Technology (Bristol)

has sold a minor stake to Network technologies firm Westermo (Sweden)

Engineering consultancy Premtech (Leicestershire)

has been acquired by National Gas Transmission (Warwickshire)

Buy-side advisers: Shakespeare Martineau

|

sales-i (West Midlands)

has been acquired by sugarCRM (United States)

Sell-side advisers: Cavendish

BEHIND THE DEALS

We take a more detailed look at some of the biggest deals over the last two months

Stantec acquires Bristol design consultants Hydrock

In May, Bristol engineering design consultants Hydrock was acquired by Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering which is listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

Hydrock, which turned over more than £67 million in the year to March 2023 (an increase of more than 25 per cent and its best year of trading since the business began in 1995), has more than 950 employees across 22 UK offices and a large client base across a number of sectors including education, energy,

healthcare, industry, defence, leisure, retail, hospitality and residential.

The transaction coincided with the retirement of CEO and founder 29 years ago, Dr Brian McConnell.

The sale, for an undisclosed sum, provided a successful exit for investor BGF.

Since its original investment in March 2018, BGF provided £5.6 million to support Hydrock’s organic growth plans as well helping to fund the acquisition of seven complementary consultancy businesses.

During the time of BGF’s investment, Hydrock has significantly scaled its operations, expanded into new geographies and services, and focused on larger projects in high growth sectors.

As a result, Hydrock has seen revenue increase from £30 million to £84 million.

Dr Brian McConnell, retiring founder and CEO of Hydrock said: “BGF has been an excellent partner and its investment in the business has played a critical role in our growth story.

“Over the course of the investment partnership, Hydrock has expanded its services and reach which has been supported through a programme of strategic acquisitions. I’m proud of the progress we have made in the last six years – all while keeping our distinctive culture very much alive.”

Hydrock provided multidisciplinary engineering services on the construction of the University of the West of England’s flagship Faculty of Engineering and Design building and continues to support the university with its campus development

Bristol security company secures £5.5 million investment from Gresham House

OnSecurity, the Bristol provider of IT security services, has secured £5.5 million of growth investment from Gresham House Ventures.

OnSecurity specialises in cyber security penetration testing and this marks its first round of equity investment since launching in 2018.

The firm, which has grown through using its own resources, will use the investment from Gresham House Ventures to accelerate growth and increase research and development spend.

OnSecurity has ambitions to become the world's leading pentest engagement platform. It now has almost almost 300 customers and more than 5,000 penetration tests completed. It wants to expand its headcount from 35 to 70 employees over the next few years.

Conor O’Neill, co-founder and CEO, said: “I’m super proud of what the OnSecurity

team has achieved as a bootstrapped business to date.

“With no funding we’ve grown to a multi-million pound turnover business and developed a truly powerful piece of technology, which makes booking and managing penetration tests as simple as possible.

“The time is right to really accelerate our growth by taking a funding round, and from our first conversations with Ben and the team at Gresham House Ventures, they were our preferred investors.”

Steve Carle, at Gresham House Ventures, added: “OnSecurity has built a robust and differentiated platform in a market that has historically been plagued with manual processes and poor customer experience.

“We believe the business is well-placed to expand its client base further in the face of new cyber security challenges.”

Kidderminster-based Interpump Fluid Solutions buys Alltube Engineering

Kidderminster-based Interpump Fluid Solutions UK has acquired Alltube Engineering in Daventry for £1.94 million, marking a pivotal moment in its expansion e orts.

Founded in 1986 Alltube Engineering Ltd specialises in the manufacture, fabrication and manipulation of rigid tubes and flexible hydraulic hoses, supplying original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket applications across industries including agriculture, construction, handling and transport.

This acquisition brings processes inhouse such as CNC Bending, welding, tube forming and pressure testing.

Interpump Fluid Solutions’ UK Managing Director, Paul Childs, said: “This move improves our position in the market and highlights the continual commitment to providing customers with solutions for applications.

“As we bring these new products and services into our portfolio, we are wellpositioned to support our expanding customer base.”

Glevum Security sold to growing London company

Glevum Security has been acquired by London-based security service company TMA Security Services in a deal advised on by the GS Verde Group.

Gloucester-based Glevum Security Ltd provides professional security services for companies across Gloucestershire and the surrounding counties, from major corporate concerns to small family-run businesses.

TMA Security was founded in 2019 by Mark Telford.

This landmark deal marks the first acquisition for TMA Security. Buying Glevum Security will expand its service area and client base, along with being able to provide additional services.

Mark Telford is a former Royal Marine and has more than 25 years of experience in the security industry, working for private companies across the globe, as well as in operations for Reuters, HSBC, Sotheby’s, Battersea Power Station and G4.

In recent years, TMA Security supplied more than 500 professionals for both the late Queen’s funeral and King Charles’s coronation, working with the police and other security parties to ensure incident-free hosting of these important historical events.

Mark, said: “Glevum shares TMA’s core beliefs of responsibility and keeping people safe through the latest developments in security, and the team has invaluable knowledge in improving and developing new security products.

“The acquisition of Glevum Security means that TMA can expand our valuable services, client base and expertise.”

THE FIRST SOUTH WEST 250 RANKING LAUNCHED

The South West 250 ranking celebrates the top privately-owned businesses in the region listed by annual sales turnover.

Qualifying companies must be independent and headquartered in the South West region.

The 2024 edition of the Ranking is researched and compiled by The Business Magazine and sponsored by expert witness and consultancy company Diales, and growth equity investors Gresham House Ventures

Cumulatively, the 250 companies have a healthy annual turnover of more than £24 billion and create an impressive 77,506 jobs.

A series of networking events will be held throughout the programme to promote and connect these 250 companies.

Sponsors

Gresham House Ventures is an experienced investor, providing flexible growth and secondary capital. Gresham House Ventures partners with exceptional management teams in fast growing, innovative business across a diversified range of sectors, including healthcare and education, consumer markets and enterprise solutions. The team has been working together for more than 10 years and has made more than 100 investments into growth businesses. www.greshamhouseventures.com

Gresham House Ventures is part of Gresham House, a specialist alternative asset management group. Gresham House invests across a range of strategies, with expertise in private and public equity, forestry, housing, sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy and battery energy storage.

Gresham House is committed to operating responsibly and sustainably, taking the long view in delivering sustainable investment solutions.

As a global expert witness and consultancy business, Diales has been providing support and expertise to clients in the construction and engineering industries across the world for over thirty years. Our skills and knowledge span quantum, delay, project management, architecture, civil engineering, structural engineering, mechanical and electrical services, and power and environmental engineering.

The quality and experience of our people is fundamental to our success. Whether your requirement is for initial commercial and programming support, technical advice or dedicated training at the outset of a project, or dispute management and testifying expert witness services, our skilled and experienced team can assist.

We have experience in projects across the industry, including building, highways, structures, utilities, renewable energy, power, process and nuclear and transportation. Combined with our inhouse IT expertise that allows us to work remotely and handle large volumes of data, our highly qualified team is dedicated to delivering exceptional services on time and within budget.

We create innovative and flexible solutions for our clients at every opportunity, with our company values of innovation, integrity and transparency at the core of what we do.

If you would like more information please contact Jo.Whittle@thebusinessmagazine.co.uk

TEWKESBURY DEFENCE COMPANY TO SUPPLY ARMY WITH BOMB DISPOSAL ROBOTS

Defence manufacturer L3 Harris Technologies has secured a £21 million contract with the Ministry of Defence to supply 50 of its T4 bomb disposal robots.

The robots, which will provide greater protection for British soldiers, will support bomb and hazardous material disposal, helping the explosives teams who attend thousands of callouts every year, all over the country. This will greatly reduce the risk to service personnel and the public when neutralising bomb and chemical threats.

The T4 robots are being made in Florida, with the repair and overhaul being undertaken at L3 Harris Technology’s Tewkesbury facility.

Weighing in at just over 100kg, the T4s will be used as a rapid response system for emergency situations as the compact size means they can be transported in a standard 4x4 vehicle.

The systems have been contracted by

Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the procurement arm of the MOD and include an initial three years of in-service maintenance and repair support.

Major General Lizzie Faithfull-Davies, Director Land Equipment at DE&S, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the project team at DE&S, who have worked with their industry partner to harness available cutting-edge technology and have identified a critical capability that can respond to hostile explosive threats and help in keeping the wider general public safe.”

Ed Zeiss, President of Space and Airborne Systems at L3 Harris, said: “The T4 EOD robots are the world’s most capable robot for operations in crowded and difficult environments like subways, airports and even hospitals.

“We’re honoured to continue working with the UK Ministry of Defence as they provide this technology to the British Army.”

Volklec to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Coventry

Volklec, a new UK manufacturing business making batteries for electric vehicles, has launched in Coventry to manufacture sustainable batteries for on-road, o -highway and track vehicles.

Volklec is working with UKBIC, the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and national manufacturing development scale-up facility, which also provides skills for the growing EV battery sector.

The company aims to build batteries to meet the needs of small volume and niche vehicle manufacturers. Volklec says its product development and rapid route to scale-up provides a critical component in the roadmap to giga-scale production. The collaboration will create jobs in the West Midlands, the company said.

Imran Khatri, Volklec founder, said: “Our initial focus is on the automotive industry, providing security of supply to the sector, then we intend to look at the broader electrification markets as well.”

Sean Gilgunn, UKBIC Managing Director, said: “This agreement marks the start of Volklec’s journey to create a battery with the potential to scale up to significant volumes in the coming years. Manufacturing cells at volume is vital to ensuring the UK prospers from the energy transition towards net zero.”

An L3 Harris’ T4 bomb disposal robot

SIR DAVID MCMURTRY TO STEP DOWN AS RENISHAW CHAIRMAN

Sir David McMurtry, the founder of Gloucestershire-based global manufacturer Renishaw, is to step down as the company’s Executive Chairman this month.

The 84-year-old engineer founded the company with John Deer more than 50 years ago and has been instrumental in driving the success of the business as Chief Executive and as Executive Chair. He will remain on the Board as a NonExecutive Director continuing to provide expertise on product innovation. Sir David Grant, the Senior Independent Director, will assume the role of Interim Non-Executive Chairman while the Board begins the hunt for his successor.

The success of Renishaw was based on Sir David’s invention of the touch trigger probe.

This solved a dimensional measurement problem faced by Rolls-Royce when

Boeing opens new UK defence facility at Bristol HQ

Boeing has expanded its presence in Bristol. The new facility is home to Boeing’s UK-based defence operations at Bristol Business Park.

Steve Burnell, managing director of Boeing Defence UK said: “Boeing’s presence in Bristol dates back more than two decades and our new, modernised facility, home to Boeing Defence UK, represents the next chapter of our history.”

In Bristol, Boeing supports defence programmes for the British armed forces, including the UK’s Apache and Chinook helicopters, C-17 Globemaster, P-8A Poseidon and assists the UK’s E-7 Wedgetail programme in Birmingham, where three Boeing 737s are being modified to become the future Airborne Early Warning and Control fleet for the Royal Air Force.

manufacturing the Olympus engines that powered the supersonic Concorde aircraft.

But the McMurtry family will still be involved. Sir David McMurtry’s son, Richard, will be appointed as an additional NonExecutive Director. Richard is a highly experienced director of various businesses and an investor who supports start-up companies committed to developing the future of innovation in the UK. He trained as

an engineer with significant involvement in product development and robotic systems.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 250 Index, Renishaw has a current valuation of around £3 billion.

The company employs more than 5,000 people in 36 countries including 3,400 staff at its sites in the UK – primarily in Gloucestershire and South Wales.

ICOMAT RAISES MORE THAN £17M TO AUTOMATE ADVANCED COMPOSITE MANUFACTURING

A University of Bristol spin-out has raised £17.6 million to deliver lighter transport faster and at a lower cost.

iCOMAT is one of the leading manufacturers of advanced composite structures for the aerospace and automotive industries.

Traditional methods create components by layering straight fibre layers – iCOMAT’s solution allows for the fibres to be directed precisely, optimising the structural property. This groundbreaking technology can reduce weight by up to 65 per cent

compared to the latest commercial solutions. It also boasts the power to increase production rates tenfold.

The company is currently working with more than 25 customers from across the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors and is building its first production factory in Gloucester.

Dr Evangelos Zympeloudis, iCOMAT’s Founder and CEO said, “Our process not only offers unparalleled structural efficiency, but unlocks fully automated production workflows, akin to automotive stamping lines.”

Sir David McMurtry

PRIMA DENTAL CROWNED WITH A KING’S AWARD RECOGNITION

FROM ROYALTY FOR REGION’S KEY EXPORTER

The trading prowess of one of Gloucestershire’s biggest exporters – Prima Dental Group – has been honoured with an esteemed King’s Award for Enterprise 2024 for International Trade.

The world-leading designer and manufacturer of precision dental and medical instruments, Prima Dental, is just one of 252 organisations nationally to be recognised this year with this prestigious award, which celebrates business excellence across the UK.

The company’s win also marks a hat trick of royal accolades for the organisation, as it was a previous recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2014 and 2018.

PURSUIT OF BETTER

The award comes on the back of what’s been a challenging time for many manufacturing businesses and highlights the resilience and adaptability of Prima Dental. A strength that the company’s managing director, Alun Jones, believes should be attributed to the organisation’s brilliant team.

“The King’s Award serves as a testament to the hard work, skill and dedication of every member of our team and their continued commitment to our purpose – the constant pursuit of better. It’s this philosophy that filters through all that we do, and aspire to do. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of better for our employees, partners and customers – leading to a positive contribution to oral healthcare worldwide,” he comments.

“It's an immense honour and we are thrilled by our company's achievement in

winning the King's Award for Enterprise for International Trade. The award serves not only as validation of our past efforts but also as a catalyst for further growth and we’re excited about what lies ahead.”

INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY

Prima Dental has had a meteoric rise to success over the last 10 years to see it become the largest dental bur (drill) manufacturer in the world – fuelled by its remarkable international trade performance. In that time, it has expanded

Alun Jones, Managing Director and CEO, and the Executive team

THE KING’S AWARD SERVES AS A TESTAMENT TO THE HARD WORK, SKILL AND DEDICATION OF EVERY MEMBER OF OUR TEAM AND THEIR CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO OUR PURPOSE – THE CONSTANT PURSUIT OF BETTER.

its reach to supply more than 90 countries, supported by two joint ventures in Brazil and Hong Kong and two subsidiaries in China and India.

The company’s trade strategy has focussed on growing its market share in mature markets, including the USA, Europe and Middle East as well as developing countries like India, Brazil and China. Critical to this approach has been the depth of market understanding, commitment to long-term relationships, investment in machinery and talent, alongside a constant focus on innovation to spearhead exciting new technologies.

Today, more than 90% of Prima Dental’s £37.6m turnover is generated from international trade and this is expected to increase to more than £50m by the end of 2025.

FUTURE FOCUS

These impressive turnover targets are set to be met by developing its business in Brazil, India and China to service demand at a regional level with business structures and strategies that align with the markets they serve.

These developing markets are seeing an increase in the number of dental professionals and cosmetic practitioners –a growth area that Prima Dental is uniquely positioned to capitalise on. This is thanks to the company’s market knowledge and ability to adapt its product ranges to reflect the specific and particular preferences of each territory. And, it’s this approach that enables Prima Dental to not only manufacture and supply high-quality products at a price point that would have historically only given clinicians access to low-quality products, but also avoids

onerous import tariffs and minimises environmental impacts.

Longer term, the company aims to diversify and enhance its product portfolio to include medical instrumentation, boosting its offering to international markets even further.

And, given its past success, continual commitment to improvement and trio of royal awards, you can feel confident that these aims will be met. The future is certainly bright for this booming business.

THE KING’S AWARDS

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, were renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Senior Leadership Team

UNLOCKING THE RURAL ECONOMY

It’s not all fields and farmsteads out in the South West rural heartland

By Daniel Face, reporter

If images of Amazon Prime’s Clarkson’s Farm are flashing across your mind, you’re not alone. The “rural economy” is just another term for agriculture – right?

Defra, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, begs to differ. Its Statistical Digest of Rural England notes that the nation’s industrial breakdown is, in fact, ‘broadly similar’ across rural and urban areas.

Of course, that depends on how you define ‘rural’. As far as Defra is concerned, and for the purposes of this feature, we’re talking local authority districts with a majority of their population in rural areas –think small towns and villages.

Public administration, education and health tops the list in both areas, with the sector’s rural businesses accounting for around £58 billion, or 23 per cent, of the nation’s gross value added (GVA) in 2021 – the latest figures available.

Rural is relatively bigger on real estate (15 per cent) and manufacturing (13 per cent), and inevitably smaller on financial and insurance activities and professional services.

What about agriculture, forestry and fishing? Shouldn’t that skew the

breakdown? Well, a little – but only by a couple of percentage points. In 2021, the sector contributed £7.1 billion to the £270 billion GVA of rural England.

There’s far more to the rural economy than fields and farmsteads. No matter the industry, though, there’s a problem. Rural authorities are increasingly lagging behind the rest of the country, and especially behind London.

Bridging the productivity gap

In 2001, rural productivity was 89 per cent of the national average. By 2020, that number had dropped to 81 per cent.

The government has a few theories as to why.

Small enterprises are far more common in rural areas, with the greatest proportion of employment occurring in businesses with between 10 and 49 staff.

And the relatively low-productivity sectors of agriculture and tourism are nonetheless big employers in rural England.

Plus, the more sparsely populated an area, the less likely it is to benefit from the kind of agglomeration effects enjoyed

by urban centres with tight-knit business communities.

But there’s one major contemporary obstacle to growth which has proven even more pronounced within rural economies, and which should come as no surprise –skills.

A survey earlier this year from the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) found that just over half of all rural businesses find it difficult to recruit or retain suitably skilled staff, compared to less than half of urban firms.

“Skills and labour availability are major challenges for rural businesses and are affecting current productivity and future growth”, said Dr Barbara Tocco, senior research associate at NICRE.

“Given the geography of rural areas and the limited pool of suitable labour locally, opportunities for skills improvement policies should concentrate efforts on facilitating collaborative action by sector and/or locality.

“Our research sheds light on the need for long-term strategies that can better address rural labour market needs, including opportunities and access to funds for skills improvement and training provision.”

Getting to the root of the problem

Robert Halfon, former minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, agrees.

“We’re increasing apprenticeship funding £2.7 billion by the next academic year so more employers can tap into the skilled workforce they need”, he said.

“Our land-based colleges are also developing the future workforce rural enterprises need.

“They’re hives of technical and vocational skills, offering high-quality T Levels in areas such as agriculture, land management and production, and skills bootcamps in various green skills.”

In the South West, those institutions include Wiltshire College Lackham near Chippenham, while Gloucestershire is home to both Harpury College and the Royal Agricultural University (RAU).

The latter was awarded £5.8 million by the Office for Students (OfS) in late 2022 to build a new Land Laboratory Teaching Centre, which will replace the ageing labs at its Cirencester campus and is soon due for completion.

Building solid careers is the key here. Rural employment opportunities for young people can often be seasonal, insecure and/or part-time – readily available, but short-term and lacking in future prospects.

As the former minister adds: “These training opportunities have a mutually beneficial relationship for employers and learners.

“They provide employers with a solution to tackle skills shortages and nurture a tailored workforce, while also providing learners with a pathway to a good career and better wages.”

Turning on the money tap

There’s no way around it – rural England needs investment. If you ask the Centre for Progressive Policy, a think tank championing inclusive economic growth, some of the biggest opportunities lie in manufacturing.

Last year’s Open for Business report highlighted Stroud (Gloucestershire), Mendip (Somerset) and South Somerset as potential rural gold mines for manufacturing investment.

“Our analysis reveals many pockets of high-potential industry in small cities, towns, coastal and rural areas across the UK”, said lead author Ross Mudie.

“Encouraging business investment into these communities could transform their economic fortunes and boost the UK economy by £70 billion.

“Government has a critical role to play to create the conditions to attract business investment into these places and industries.

“A new manufacturing mission should be the backbone of an ambitious strategy to revitalise UK enterprise and deliver fair growth across the UK.”

But not everyone is prepared to wait for a top-down approach, and that’s especially true outside the big cities.

Data from Venture Forward, an annual report compiled by domain registrar GoDaddy, shows that 94,464 new start-ups were founded in rural England in the 12 months leading up to 2023, with 15.8 per cent of those based in the South West – second only to the South East.

Support for these ‘micropreneurs’ has come from Westminster in the form of the £2.6 billion Rural England Prosperity Fund, launched in 2022 to help local authorities fund capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure.

The West of England mayoral authority secured an £828,000 share of the fund, with another £2.6 million for Wiltshire, £764,000 for the Cotswolds and £1 million for Stratford-upon-Avon – including a couple of thousand for our next interviewees – to name a few.

Use cases for the funding range from investing in food processing equipment to visitor accommodation and converting farm buildings for other business applications.

That alone should go to show the sheer variety of industry spread throughout the rural South West. But if you’re not convinced, in this feature we’ll meet some thriving businesses carving out a niche in the country.

Kaleb Cooper of Clarkson’s Farm launched a new bursary at RAU last year. Image: Paul Nicholls

Investment could see Stroud in Gloucestershire become a manufacturing powerhouse

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IS THE NAME OF THE GAME FOR GO COTSWOLDS

Reviews are a big deal for any hospitality business. But few can claim a track record as flawless as Go Cotswolds, a family-run operation providing small-group guided tours from Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in-Marsh.

Out of 1,331 ratings on TripAdvisor, 1,296 are ‘excellent’ – the full five stars – with almost all others ‘very good’.

Happy travellers write in from India, Australia, Singapore... and particularly North America, from where almost half of the company’s 3,700 visitors originated last year.

So, what’s the secret?

“The Cotswolds are gorgeous,” said Lisa Benjamin, who co-directs the business alongside husband Tom from their home just outside Stratford.

“You could take a tour around here with a driver that said absolutely nothing, and you’d probably still give it five stars.

“But if you read our reviews, almost every single one names their guide – the service, the knowledge, the fun they’ve had with that person.

“All of our guides are local people with their own stories to tell.

“Steve’s dad used to be the vicar of one of the parish churches in Little Compton.

Martin’s an ex-police officer, so he’s driven around the Cotswolds from a very different perspective.

“It’s not just a learned script we’re providing, it’s lived experience.”

Staffing up, branching out

Nowadays, Go Cotswolds employs six guides, with four minibuses crisscrossing the Cotswolds on a daily basis.

It’s a far cry from the one-man operation Tom launched in the summer of 2014, while Lisa came on board a few years later as the admin began to pile up.

Growth over the years has been organic and fairly slow. This is partly by choice, but the couple have also faced an obstacle all too familiar to any rural business – whether they be in manufacturing, agriculture or tourism.

“Living in a small town, our pool of potential staff is much smaller,” said Lisa.

“None of our team have ever worked as tour guides before. When we went to recruit last year, obviously we had a list of criteria, but what we were really looking for was personality.”

The couple interviewed around eight people, and the first they were ready to hire on the spot. But another two were also really promising, so they ended up taking on all three.

Granted, not every rural firm is able to broaden their scope like this when faced with a smaller labour pool, especially where certain qualifications are involved.

That being said, it’s clearly worked for Go Cotswolds. With a growing team of guides behind them, Tom has finally been able to step back for the first time in a decade and plot out what’s next.

“We’re very much a seasonal business, and don’t necessarily want to be”, he said.

“In the winter, if we had a programme of tours that could target a local market, then we’d have that extra income throughout the year.

“When it was just me as owner-operator, I’d get to the end of October, and I’d just want to put my feet up and not even think about anything for a few weeks at least.

Secret Cotswolds and Walks & Villages are popular tours for the business

Tom Benjamin, founder and director of Go Cotswolds.

“But having people on board to help out with the day-to-day guiding and admin will allow us the opportunity to plan a lot further ahead.”

Another ongoing challenge for the business has been transport.

Go Cotswolds started out at a single pickup point in Stratford, though with direct trains from both London and Oxford to the Gloucestershire town of Moreton-in-Marsh, it made sense to expand.

That’s all well and good – provided the trains are running.

On any given day, their guides might pick up a group from hotels and B&Bs in Stratford, and another staying in Moretonin-Marsh. The rest are relying on public transport.

Ups and downs of rural trading

“I dare to think about the number of tours that have been cancelled because of rail strikes,” said Tom.

“We’re talking thousands of pounds in lost revenue for us and for local businesses.

“People often book months in advance of their travel and have everything plotted out – two days in Edinburgh, one in York, two in Stratford.

“If a strike happens, it all falls down like a house of cards.

“But we do encourage people to get to us by using public transport. We want them to leave their cars at home and let us do the driving.”

It’s all part of Go Cotswolds’ ethos of sustainable, responsible tourism – and this is where being a rural business comes into its own.

Just a year after launch, the company had already joined the Caring for the Cotswolds scheme, whereby visitors can opt to add a small donation to the price of their tickets.

The money goes directly to Cotswolds National Landscape, an organisation which works to conserve the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and which distributes funds from a common pot

to local community groups, education and heritage projects.

Before long, Tom and Lisa were matching their customers’ donations, and last year managed to put almost £1,000 towards the scheme.

What goes around comes around

“There can be tension when people living in these cosy, beautiful villages get flooded with tourists”, said Lisa.

“We didn’t want to be part of that problem. We wanted to be giving something back.

“There’s a tiny little village called Snowshill that we visit on one of our tours, and every month the parish council has a coffee morning in the village hall.

“Our international customers absolutely love bunching up in there with the locals and having a cup of tea and a bit of lemon drizzle.

“And the locals love it as well because they

get to make a bit more money than they would otherwise.”

For all that Go Cotswolds has put into the community, they’ve also received plenty of local support. Being rurally located has proven no barrier in that regard.

Tom and Lisa previously received a £4,500 grant through Warwickshire County Council’s Adapt & Diversify scheme, enabling them to overhaul their marketing with fresh photos and videos.

They also recently secured £2,460 worth of funding via the Rural England Prosperity Fund to launch a new tour, with another application currently in the works.

And they’ve long been members of Shakespeare’s England, a not-for-profit partnership between Warwickshire’s tourism businesses and local authorities.

Perhaps most importantly, though, there’s a man in Chipping Campden who’s promised the couple a bottle of champagne once they make their first million.

“He might be waiting a while!”

The majority of Go Cotswolds’ customers are international visitors

BRITAIN NEEDS MORE FARM VETS

There are just 139 farm veterinary practices across the UK – not enough says the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. One practice in Gloucestershire is aiming to buck the trend

By Nicky Godding, Editor

Over the last decade, more qualified vets are choosing to work in small animal practices, citing work/life balance as one key reason.

Perhaps treating a sick dog, cat or budgerigar in a warm consulting room during working hours might seem preferable to attending a distressed farm animal in a field, miles from the road on a freezing January night.

But if you are willing to give up five years to fully qualify as a vet, surely many young vets are looking to make a real difference?

Apparently not enough, and the consequence of this is a shortage of farm vets across the country.

One veterinary practice seeking to reverse this trend is Tyndale Vets in Gloucestershire. Mind you – it’s not easy to find. I miss the final turning on my way to the interview, and then drive right past it and have to reverse. Despite being on a large site, there’s only

a small sign indicating the practice, but that doesn’t matter, according to Senior Partner David Preece.

“We are a farm-only practice, and the general public don’t need to know where we are. Every farmer knows Tyndale and the business is not the building, it’s our people who are out and about every day of the week backed up by an experienced team and technology.”

Maintaining independence in an increasingly corporate world

Tyndale is the only independent farm-only practice in Gloucestershire, employing a 30-strong team, which includes 11 vets, with plans to recruit more. The company covers the whole of its home county, across to Bristol and into South Wales.

Alongside its departments which look

after dairy, beef, sheep, dairy goats, deer and camelids (in the UK that’s alpacas and llamas), Tyndale has one of the UK’s most successful advanced breeding, genetics and bovine IVF laboratories.

The business, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary, has recently appointed three new directors and is determined to maintain its independence at a time of wider consolidation across the industry (which is currently under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority –particularly in regard to the high cost of veterinary services to pet owners, an area which Tyndale Vets doesn’t service).

Senior Partner, David Preece, said: “We are part of the community, the business is part of the community, and we are helping to keep the wealth generated by our farmers and us in the region.”

New partner, Sam Ecroyd, added: “I have worked here for 10 years. I am a farm vet and it’s a privilege to become part of the

Bryony Kendall out on a farm visit

community. Driving around the countryside, I feel connected to the area and know pretty much everyone who’s involved in the farming here.”

David established the practice with Nick Eames (who has just retired). He believes in supporting farmers properly.

“While our main business is commercial farmers, a smaller part of the business serves those people who farm 50 acres, or a have a small beef herd for example, as an income-generating sideline.”

David in particular has seen a big change in farming over the last decade or so. “A lot of dairy farms have given up because of fluctuating milk prices, although those which are still operating are doing so more efficiently, with cows able to produce more milk because we have a better understanding of nutrition and health – that’s meant a rise of around three per cent in milk production per cow in some cases. We’ve also got more farmers rearing beef cattle.”

Technology is increasingly an essential farming aid

And more general farm vets have given up too, which means that Tyndale is in demand across a wider region.

“Our vets will drive from South Gloucestershire to Bridgend to do half an hour’s work, because there’s no other vet in the area,” said David.

The deployment of technology can help both farmers and vets.

Sam highlighted one example: “Some of our farmers use a monitoring system using special collars on their cows. These record, in real time, how many times a cow has chewed the cud, how much food she’s eaten, her health, whether she’s ruminating. All this information is fed into an app on the farmer’s phone, in real time, so that if there’s a problem it can be dealt with more quickly.

“A good stockman will do that anyway, but with fewer stockmen available on farms, and more cows to look after, such a piece of technology can make a big difference because we can pick up when a cow is sick earlier, and just as importantly –where the cow is on the farm so we can reach her quickly.

“Recently the technology reported that a cow had ketosis – a common disease in adult dairy cattle. The cow looked fine because the disease was in its early stages, but we took and measured her blood on the spot to confirm and treat it. Using algorithms, the computer had worked out not only that the cow wasn’t well, but what was likely to be wrong so we could treat her more quickly.”

Sam offered another example. “I was on a routine visit two weeks ago and just as we were finishing the farmer’s phone alerted him to a cow with a twisted stomach. We were able to operate on her there and then. Rapid treatment meant a rapid recovery for the cow with less medication and saved the farmer a second visit from us. Better for her, better for the farmer and a better outcome for us, because we want our farmers as productive as they can be.”

The practice offers an advanced IVF breeding programme for beef and dairy

cattle, and artificial insemination services in dairy goats (in fact it is at the forefront of developing goat AI and advanced breeding in the UK). It also offers a genetic recovery service and genetic library with a highly qualified team operating out of a modern and efficient laboratory on site.

A business like any other

Tyndale Vets is not the gentle, James Herriott-type practice I’d expected.

That’s down to David, and his new codirectors.

“Tyndale is as much a business as any other. And with any business, it’s either developing or dying. No business can just tick along.

“We have set ourselves fairly ambitious targets. We want 10 per cent annual growth and we can do this if we keep pushing on, developing new income streams – such as semen collection from bulls where there is big demand and which we are working on.”

Alongside Sam, Kit Heawood and Harry Dibble have also been promoted to director, joining existing directors David and Bryony Kendall.

“With our new team taking more responsibility, there’s a new energy and drive because they have a personal stake in the business,” said David.

“There has been a period of consolidation in the veterinary industry but being independent puts us in charge of our own destiny. We control how we work, our pricing structure and crucially our personal service levels, because that gives us all true job satisfaction.”

Left to right: Sam Ecroyd, Harry Dibble, Bryony Kendall, David Preece and Kit Heawood

Sam Ecroyd with calves

Evidence-based office design – Addressing the challenges of rural workplaces

Often overlooked by big players in larger towns and cities, rural offices present their own unique challenges to employers trying to attract top talent. With environmental factors, transport links and standing out against urban competition being some of the most prominent concerns, how can creatives identify the specialised requirements of countryside spaces and embed them into functional and engaging workplace designs? The answer: evidence-based office design.

What is evidence-based office design?

Great office design is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage in the war for attracting talent, but the benefits should also extend to helping a business’s employees work more efficiently and collaboratively.

Evidence-based office design in the workplace involves gathering factual data through observation – such as how long employees work in certain spaces – surveys and workshops. This data helps shape design decisions, ultimately aligning a workplace with the genuine needs and desires of a business.

A search for truth

A well-designed office considers how people interact both socially and professionally, how people spend their time, and the types of spaces required. It emphasises the importance of relying on hard

evidence rather than assumptions, as individual perspectives on the needs of the business may vastly differ from reality.

In doing so, a desire for more meeting spaces might actually be a need for more spaces where small groups can chat in a cosy breakout space. Or, maybe there’s plenty of big meeting rooms but only a few people use them at time, so the space needs to be reallocated more evenly.

Data gathering for workplace design doesn’t have to be impersonal. Holding focus groups and workshops are a great and informal way to gain insight into how people work and their requirements for a workspace.

In terms of rural offices, a common topic is sustainability requirements, with environmental efforts spanning far beyond those of typical urban offices. In addition to the coveted BREEAM or SKA ratings, employers

must consider how the office will directly affect the local area, including neighbouring wildlife. Efforts are then taken to minimise disruption before, during and after the fit out process, as well as enhancing the benefits such as maximising natural light and ventilation.

By examining different teams or ‘neighbourhoods’ within a business, it’s possible to understand the various types of spaces required and how they can positively impact work habits, as well as overcoming potential challenges. For example, rural offices often lack local amenities compared to their urban counterparts. Whether it’s popping to the shop on your lunch break, grabbing a coffee in that quirky spot on the high-street, or fitting in a midday workout at a nearby gym, amenities in towns and cities can be hard for rural offices to compete with. In this case, creatives can incorporate high-quality amenities

Great design is often subjective –not everyone likes the same colours or finishes – but evidence-based design means that any changes can be backed up with conclusive data

into their designs, providing stateof-the-art café areas, gyms, and wellbeing spaces all under one roof. Having these facilities not only meets the evidenced requirements of employees, but also encourages hybrid workers to make more frequent use of the office.

Evolving ideas

After gathering evidence, the data needs to be analysed and interpreted. If only 60% of desks are occupied at any given time, where are people spending the rest of their time? This helps identify spaces to consider in the redesign.

For example, you might see rural offices feeling disconnected due to the combination of minimal transport links, hybrid working, and having clients based in bigger towns and cities. It’s not only the physical disconnect at play here, as having a large portion of correspondence on Teams calls can majorly impact the social connection between employees and with potential clients, especially if the technology isn’t up to scratch.

These findings are then shared with designers to help the decisionmaking process. Poor internet connection is not uncommon in rural areas, so if a company is moving into a new space, it’s important to first ensure that it has the capabilities to facilitate a company that heavily

relies on online correspondence. Once this initial hurdle is addressed, designers can ensure that meeting rooms are optimised for Teams calls, using the latest technology and effective acoustics to improve productivity and privacy. Additionally, a focus on collaborative areas will provide space for employees to brainstorm and work together in person, and flexible breakout areas and kitchen space can become social hubs to foster a sense of community.

Great design is often subjective –not everyone likes the same colours or finishes – but evidence-based design means that any changes can be backed up with conclusive data. The real beauty of evidence-based office design is the collaborative effort, ensuring that the data gathering process gives everyone the opportunity to contribute ideas and share experiences. It’s important to have these discussions with a varied pool of employees, as priorities will differ across the business.

With many people looking for jobs in conveniently located towns and cities, HR teams based in the countryside are keen to incorporate ways to attain and retain talent through their new space. When interviewing new staff, the office will leave one of the strongest first impressions that new recruits will have of a company – so it needs to be memorable. Evidence-

based office design can be used to seamlessly reflect company culture throughout the space, giving clues to potential employees about what it’s like to work there and standing out against possible competitors.

Additionally, retaining said talent can pose a similar challenge, as the temptation of a flashy new office in London might be enough to sway an employee into moving on. A destination workplace that takes into consideration the bespoke wants and needs of staff, includes excellent amenities and flawless design features is the key to keeping employees engaged, productive, and maintaining high levels of job satisfaction.

A matter of fact

Alongside stunning views, fresh countryside air and tranquil peace and quiet, rural offices, by their very nature, have their distinct challenges. With each location and company bringing their own unique set of requirements, an evidence-based office design approach ensures a purpose-built space that truly ticks all the boxes, grounded in facts.

From initial observations and surveys to design workshops that provide decision makers with the chance to visualise their ideas, the reliance upon facts rather than assumptions ensures the delivery of a wellinformed, bespoke design, every time.

THE REPURPOSING OF OUR TOWNS WILL BE FOR THE WIDER GOOD

The government’s stringent new energy regulations could drive a new era for urban life

Converting legacy town and city centre buildings is expensive for property owners, but the longer-term benefits could deliver not only for landlords, but also for tenants –and the wider community.

Since April last year, all new and existing commercial lettings must have an EPC rating of E or above unless a valid exemption applies.

That’s a headache for long-term city centre property owners who have enjoyed receiving regular income on commercial buildings, such as offices and retail. But now many are seeing the life cycle of their property coming to an end.

This could either be because professional companies such as law and accountancy firms demand top quality space to attract the highly-skilled employees they need, or thanks to a steep drop in demand for retail premises. Many face having to make what could be a hefty investment in refurbishing their buildings to meet not only new energy performance standards, but also higher expectations from tenants.

In older, listed buildings – of which there are many in cities such as Bristol, Bath or Warwick for instance, if an EPC is below an E ranking, landlords will not be able to continue with an existing tenancy. It is

currently expected that, for a commercial property, a C rating will be needed by 2027.

According to David Chichester, the Bristolbased Regional Director at commercial property agency Eddisons, while the property sector is still awaiting clarification on this from the new government, some landlords are already thinking proactively and beginning to plan their strategy for reinvestment.

“Others, perhaps those commercial property owners who have enjoyed longer ownership and years of relatively regular rental income, may not have the appetite to invest significant sums in upgrading. As a result, they are considering selling,” he said.

Because refurbishing older buildings won’t just be about upgrading their energy performance. Regulations now require better disability access, which could mean a great deal of reconfiguration – with all the planning challenges that come with that, and the higher expectations of tenants, particularly residential.

“Town house floorplates in many of our towns and cities are often small,” said David.

“In the past, professional services firms have used them as attractive office space in the

centre of a town or city. But increasingly even smaller firms are looking for more modern workspaces which meet today’s hybrid working style.

“And a conversion to residential, which is what many local councils want to bring vibrancy and life back into their town or city centre, will be expensive if they are to include everything a residential tenant expects, such as an en-suite to each bedroom,” said David.

“If a landlord wants to attract good tenants, they will have to make these investments, but on the flip side, if they do invest, they have a much more valuable asset in the longer term.”

Bringing more city centre buildings into residential use

While it has been happening for more than two decades, the decline in town and city centre footfall has been relentless, and the pace has increased over the last few years. First it was the attraction of out-of-town shopping – with the opening of shopping centres such Cribbs Causeway in Bristol.

Then developers saw opportunities in city centres. In Bristol developers built the new

Cabot Circus, Bristol

Cabot Circus which opened in 2008. These city centre retail spaces did bring shoppers back into the cities, but their benefits didn’t extend much further into secondary retail.

Then there has been the rise in online shopping, and then the pandemic. As a result, demand for city centre retail and office space has suffered.

One way to revive our high streets and city centres is to convert redundant commercial buildings into residential use. This can not only reverse the doughnut effect where there’s no activity in the centre, but plenty going on around the edges, but also revive a city’s night-time economy – which is good news for local councils which will see council tax take go up.

And it attracts other commercial segments too. Hairdressers, coffee shops, beauticians and gyms alongside cafes, bars and restaurants.

“Planning is regularly cited as delaying investment in our towns and cities, and certainly investment in our planning departments is needed,” said David. “It takes months to get a planning application through when it used to take weeks, but in 2021 the government introduced new rules making it simpler to convert commercial premises into residential.

“Then we can look at what is appropriate for the market locally, and there are a number of new asset classes. A property owner may want to look at a straight residential conversion, or perhaps selfcontained studios for young professionals. Houses of multiple occupation would meet the lack of student and young professionals accommodation in some of our university cities.

Build or convert-to-rent is a lucrative sector in many cities such as Bristol, Coventry or Warwick because there is a certain percentage of the population which is relatively transient.

“After university, graduates often stay in the city where they studied for a few years or relocate for work early on in their career. In both cases, until they decide where to build

Converting redundant city centre commercial buildings into residential is in everyone’s interest

their lives more permanently (and saved enough money for a mortgage), many are happy to live in shared accommodation as long as they have their own facilities.

“It’s about understanding the market and where it’s going to go next,” added David. “Those wanting to upgrade old office buildings to meet the expectations of the modern worker will need to consider adding to its facilities – and not just a small gym in a corner, but a proper communal space where staff can socialise. There’s no point offering facilities if it’s just a box-ticking exercise.

“Converting redundant city centre commercial buildings into residential is in everyone’s interest,” he said.

“Yes, the investment required from property owners may be significant, but looked at in the longer term it will help to meet the country’s chronic shortage of residential properties, boost councils’ tax take, bring back a sense of community into our towns and cities and provide landlords with regular income from buildings they can be proud of which meet the government’s longer-term high energy performance requirements.”

A former commercial building on the periphery of the city centre of Bristol was redeveloped into a mixed use building arranged with workspaces for small creative businesses and 24 self-contained studios/bedrooms above.

It was an attractive four-storey building but with an unusual triangular floor-plate which meant rooms in a variety of shapes and sizes.

After redevelopment it o ered private o ces, workshops and messy space alongside plenty of break-out spaces, kitchen facilities and comfortable seating. It has since attracted a range of creatives and entrepreneurs.

The high specification studios/ bedrooms all have en-suite shower room facilities and communal space and have been let to professional tenants.

David Chichester, Regional Director at commercial property agency Eddisons

KEPLIN GROUP TAKES UP SPACE AT MEON VALE BUSINESS PARK

Logistics developers and manager

St. Modwen Logistics, has leased an additional 75,000 sq ft of space to the Keplin Group, a specialist in distribution and logistics for the e-commerce sector, at its Meon Vale Business Park near Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Keplin Group also signed a deal with St. Modwen Logistics to extend its lease by five years on a neighbouring 43,000 sq ft unit, which it has occupied since 2019. The firm now occupies around 120,000 sq ft of space at the park.

Meon Vale Business Park comprises around 900,000 sq ft of flexible and sustainable warehousing and office space, with major occupiers including Ford, Reddipak Ltd, Unipart and XPO Logistics.

Raman Mehra, CEO at Keplin Group, said: “Flexible, well-located warehouse space is vital to our business in

reducing our customers’ vehicular miles and delivery times, and overall carbon footprint. Our expansion at Meon Vale and continued partnership with St. Modwen will support our future growth.”

St. Modwen Logistics was advised by Bromwich Hardy.

The park is part of St. Modwen’s broader 479-acre mixed-use Meon Vale scheme, which is home to a £5 million leisure centre, community centre, retail space, 1,050 homes and more than 35 acres of woodland.

From this month St. Modwen Logistics’ portfolio of assets has become part of Indurent, a new pure play UK logistics champion.

The business will have more than 200 assets totalling 26 million sq ft of logistics space.

Architect Sheppard Robson appointed to design Cheltenham’s Golden Valley scheme

Developer HBD has appointed Sheppard Robson to lead on the design of its second phase of the landmark Golden Valley scheme in Cheltenham.

The award-winning architecture practice will be responsible for the design of the next two buildings to come forward. The firm joins the Golden Valley team alongside architect BDP, which is already well progressed with designs for the Innovation Centre and mobility hub, which will form the first development phase.

Golden Valley is one of the country’s most high-profile schemes; a oncein-a-lifetime project at the heart of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy. Once complete, it will deliver one million sq ft of commercial space and is expected to create 12,000 new jobs.

The masterplan also includes the development of 1,067 low carbon homes, community services and amenities.

HBD is delivering the development alongside Cheltenham Borough Council and key local partners.

The borough council has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government’s department for levelling up housing and communities to secure the £20 million provisionally allocated to the scheme from the latter’s levelling up fund.

Meon Valley Business Park

Godwin expands Bristol presence after buying residential site

National property business Godwin Developments has secured its second residential site in Bristol through the acquisition of Places for People’s consented Dove Lane scheme.

The gateway development in central Bristol has detailed planning for 358 homes, including 72 affordable properties, spread across buildings of various heights, as well as public open spaces, landscaping and areas dedicated to shops, businesses and community activities.

The 4.3-acre former paper factory site sits next to the M32.

Godwin will work with Places for People and build on the design, community and stakeholder engagement work already undertaken by them during the next stages of the development.

Simon Boreham, Managing Director of Residential Development at Godwin, said: “Bristol is currently experiencing an enormous shortage of homes across all tenures and urgently needs to

deliver additional stock to meet the needs of people across all life stages and incomes.

“This brownfield site presents a major opportunity to optimise the limited developable space in central Bristol to create new thriving residential communities that integrate well into the local context and deliver green spaces to tackle the climate emergency.

“We look forward to working closely with Places for People, the local community and stakeholders across Bristol to transform this site into a new vibrant and inclusive scheme that caters to the needs of current and future residents of the city.”

Dove Lane is the second scheme for Godwin in Bristol, which recently submitted a planning application for a high-quality 101-bed student living scheme on Newfoundland Road, situated next door to Dove Lane.

Midlands Engine showcases more than £48bn investment opportunities at national real estate forum

The Midlands Engine Partnership showcased investment propositions worth in excess of £48 billion at this year’s UK Real Estate Infrastructure Investment Forum (UKREiiF).

It said the projects have the potential to create around 380,000 jobs – more than doubling current jobs in the region.

On display were projects such as Worcester’s Shrub Hill Development.

Developer Muse also presented an emerging masterplan for Solihull Town Centre. Mell Square has been identified by the council as a key opportunity area.

The masterplan aims to unlock the area’s potential, while creating smaller public spaces, leisure facilities and

homes – as part of a diverse community. Coventry City Centre is also poised for a major transformation as detailed plans for the City Centre South scheme have been approved by the council.

The project, which has been in the planning stages for over a decade, is set to begin later this year with the demolition of older sections of the city centre.

Sir John Peace, Chairman of Midlands Engine, said: “The potential for the Midlands to lead the way in driving national economic growth is hugely significant.

“UKREiiF continues to provide the Midlands Engine Partnership with the platform it needs to demonstrate

to global investors that investing in the Midlands and its exceptional development opportunities is a sound business decision.”

A campaign demonstrating how university research and development can be the catalyst for investment in the region was also o cially launched at the Midlands Investment Reception at UKREiiF.

The campaign, led by Midlands Innovation and Midlands Engine, presented five investment prospectuses – each with a focus on a sector where the Midlands leads the world in research and development: agri-tech, creative and digital, health and life sciences, transport technology and zero carbon energy.

Artist’s impression of Dove Lane scheme

... WAYS TO MAKE A LIVING COOL 10

Love what you do? Turn the page then. But if you’ve always had an inkling that you might enjoy something more, we’ve gone hunting for some really cool ways to make a living

By Nicky Godding, Editor

The last thing Steph Douglas wanted after giving birth in 2010 was flowers –however much she appreciated the well-meaning gesture. “Trying to arrange and then later dispose of flowers when I was completely overwhelmed with everything from baby to bodily functions was all a bit much. What I really wanted was five minutes to drink a cup of tea, soothe my weary body or just eat biscuits.” So Steph launched Stroud-based Don’t Buy Her Flowers in 2014; fast forward 10 years and her website now hosts gifts for every occasion, all with thoughtfulness at their core. www.dontbuyherflowers.co.uk

Katie Wilber stepped away from her role as a wedding planner to establish Cotswold Connected in 2021. Based near Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, the 28-year-old social media expert has since helped businesses achieve exceptional results – from small start-ups to international brands. One client even went viral on Instagram with 2.9 million views and gained nearly 10,000 followers over three months. Alongside social media management, Cotswold Connected offers social media training, auditing and event content creation.

www.cotswoldconnected.com

Bromsgrove-based ecommerce gym wear brand Silverback Gymwear focuses on the strongman, strongwoman and strength sports markets, with 30,000 returning customers – from professional athletes to avid gym goers. Founded by Richard Gardener in 2016, its recent product range, Fortis, was co-developed with Britain’s Strongest Man, Adam Bishop, and will see the business expand into other areas including professional rugby and mixed martial arts www.silverbackgymwear.com

Having grown up as a second-generation Indian immigrant in London, Rajesh (Raj) Darji was exposed to a wonderful concoction of cultures, aromas and flavours. Raj’s first corporate career saw him living and working in different parts of the world. These experiences informed the types of ingredients he likes to cook with and how they are prepared. Raj stepped away from the corporate world after 22 years to pursue his passion for cooking. He became a private chef with Scratch Cook Social in Leamington Spa. Raj also offers cooking classes and team building events, including Spice Blending for team innovation.

www.scratchcooksocial.com

Katie B Morgan has been a self-employed decorative painter, Illustrator and restorer, specialising in British Folk Art since 1985, painting fairground rides, gypsy wagons, murals, interiors, clock dial restoration and illustrated maps. She says: “With a lifelong passion for paint I can motivate myself and be commercial, doing boring work alongside fun jobs. I'm lucky to have continuously supported myself in a trade and craft that I still get a buzz from...I might not be rich and famous but I'm happy.”

www.kbmorgan.co.uk

Prudence has been making chocolate sculptures and food art for years. She sculpts chocolate and food into edible art – and it all began with her making a penguin from a pear when she was six years old. She did an art degree at Winchester School of Art. “As part of my degree show I made an interactive room where you could eat the skirting boards made from chocolate.” After graduating she set up Food is Art to make her dream come true. Prudence now designs and creates installations and sculptures all over the UK – and the world.

www.foodisart.co.uk

Everyone knows Aardman, the Bristol animation studio that brought the world Wallace & Gromit, Shaun The Sheep and many more. Now Mark Simon Hewis, head of the Aardman Academy, has shared his top tips for getting into the industry. They include practising your craft. He says: “I believe no one is born with outstanding skills in any art form. They have become brilliant through practise, making mistakes and learning from them, finally getting to what looks like an e ortless standard through repetition.”

www.aardman.com

The Wave is a purpose-built inland surfing destination in Bristol. British surfer, social entrepreneur and founder of The Wave, Nick Hounsfield, dreamed about creating a place where people could get outdoors, be active and connect with themselves and each other. He said: “Having worked in healthcare for 18 years I realised that so many of the physical and mental health issues people were battling came about due to inactivity, a disconnection from nature, and a breakdown in connections between people.” www.thewave.com

Olympic medallist Jenny Jones surfs The Wave

Doing something practical to decarbonise the world is the coolest thing that any of us could do. Tom Robinson, CEO and founder of Bristol-based Adaptavate, is doing just that. His business, which is leading the development of low-carbon and carbon-negative construction materials, has launched the world’s first carbon-negative technology to produce plasterboard. The leap from producing low-carbon construction materials to providing an additional carbon-negative product comes through the incorporation of char – produced by the pyrolysis of ligno-cellulosic materials. This locks the CO2 sequestered by plants into a stable state, and into the board, preventing it from being released.

www.adaptavate.com

How would you like to develop and deliver a freshwater habitat restoration and creation project? A recent job post on Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s website is offering applicants the opportunity to do just that. And there’s a budget of £1.1 million along with a team of six project managers to help you. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is part of the UK Wildlife Trusts movement and was founded in 1962, driven by a concern to protect local wildlife and natural habitats. Today, it manages more than 40 nature reserves across Wiltshire and Swindon, including wetland, woodland, meadow and chalk downland habitats. www.wiltshirewildlife.org

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