The Business Magazine SW&M - March 2024 Edition

south west and

INSIDE: SKILLS CRISIS THE

FEATURE: TARGET NET ZERO

10 COOL TOWNS & CITIES

AMBITIOUS LEADERS

WHAT DO WE WANT FROM GOVERNMENT?

There’s going to be a General Election this year. How can the next government really help business?

What do businesses want from government? Our team of journalists get out of the o ce as much as they can to meet businesses face-to-face across the region, and we’re all hearing the same thing.

Businesses want stability and clarity of intention so they can plan ahead knowing government intentions.

This really shouldn’t be so hard, surely governments are there to set policies and intentions for the nation to follow?

But over the last few years such has been the upheaval of Brexit, then Covid, then global conflict which sent energy prices into the stratosphere followed by a cost-of-living crisis – and has most recently hit world supply chains not long recovered from Covid, that the government hasn’t done so.

And it’s left many businesses frustrated. Will their forward planning match that of government? And with a General Election looming this year, who is likely to be leading the next government?

One of the biggest issues for all businesses has long been the recruitment and retention of skilled workers. Our front cover feature considers the issues and what can be done about it.

Our second feature looks at how the region is targeting net zero after the government scaled back some of its carbon emissionreducing policies.

We are all inspired by success stories and there are many throughout this issue. We

Nicky Godding Editor

have three big interviews with successful business leaders.

Julie White is the boss of a national drilling company based in the West Midlands. She built one multi-million-pound turnover business from scratch and the reinvigorated the family business. But that’s not all, she’s a committed and vigorous campaigner for improving skills in the construction industry, who has gained the ear of government.

Paul Bence is the boss of a group of companies in the construction sector who’s celebrating 170 years of his family’s business this year. Since taking over the day-to-day reigns of the Cheltenhambased business from his father, he’s grown and expanded the company and has no intention of taking his foot of the accelerator. He wants to pass it on in good shape to the next generation.

Finally, Daniel Szor is the founder of Cotswolds Distillery near Shipton on Stour. This native New Yorker, who has made the Cotswolds his home, was inspired to create a distillery after seeing the barley growing in the field behind his house. The distillery is now producing some of the best British gin and whisky you’ll ever taste and has, over the last few years, expanded the distillery itself, built a beautiful visitors centre and is now creating a wetlands landscape to deal with the distillery’s waste naturally.

The Business Magazine is the voice of regional business and the more businesses we meet, the more we realise how important it is that these voices are heard, regionally and at the heart of government.

CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST COMING TO BRISTOL AS ZOO PUSHES AHEAD WITH CONSERVATION PLANS

Following the closure of its historic Clifton site last year, Bristol Zoological Society is turning its attention to its South Gloucestershire Bristol Zoo Project, previously known as The Wild Place before being rebranded last year.

It has now secured planning permission at the Blackhorse Hill site to build a Central African Forest habitat.

This initiative is a major step forward in the Society’s plan to create a new conservation zoo, where at least 80 per cent of species will be connected to its conservation work in the UK and around the world.

Landscape architects Grant Associates and architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios helped Bristol Zoo secure planning approval.

The original Bristol Zoo opened in Clifton in 1836. It became the world’s fifth oldest zoo but in 2022 the Zoological Society announced its closure, following years of declining visitor numbers and having made an operating loss in four of the previous six years. The final hammer blow

to its finances was Covid, which closed all tourist attractions.

Last October commercial agents Savills began marketing the Clifton site for residential development, excluding the historic Bristol Zoo Gardens which will remain free to visit.

The Society, meanwhile, has turned its attention to the redevelopment of its larger 136-acre site which it first opened in 2013.

The latest plans involve Western lowland gorillas and cherry-crowned mangabeys living together for the first time in a UK zoo as part of ambitious plans to conserve and protect some of the world’s most threatened species. Work will begin this spring and see the zoo’s existing gorillas joined by mangabeys, as well as critically endangered slender-snouted crocodiles, endangered African grey parrots and several extremely threatened species of West African freshwater fish.

The gorillas and mangabeys will be living in an area four and a half times the size of the gorilla’s current home at the former Bristol Zoo Gardens. Central African Forest

All of the mammals, birds, reptiles and fish that will live in Central African Forest are classified as threatened in the wild

will make the most of the wooded area of the site. Like the attraction’s awardwinning Bear Wood, the new habitat will give visitors the opportunity to observe the animals in a natural scene, connecting people to threatened wildlife in an immersive landscape.

Brian Zimmerman, Director of Conservation and Science, Bristol Zoological Society, said: "All the mammals, birds, reptiles and fish that will live in Central African Forest are classified as threatened in the wild. The creation of this habitat not only presents a unique opportunity for us to bring these wonderful creatures together and expand our conservation work, it also enables us to participate in and lead managed breeding programmes, to help protect them in the future."

CGI of the planned new Central African Forest habitat at Bristol Zoo Project

Worcestershire entrepreneur comes up with vegan Scotch ‘egg’

Worcestershire sustainable food start-up Veg Life is now producing a completely plant-based classic –the Scotch ‘egg’.

Company founder Rhian Ca ull, who came up with the vegan idea in her parents' kitchen, has a background in conservation and travel, said: "I have a passion for sustainability and wanted to continue that. I am dedicated to creating delicious plant-based products but also committed to making a positive impact on the world.”

Rhian used to lead expeditions to rural locations in Kenya, Uganda, Galapagos and Borneo and has seen first-hand what sustainable projects can achieve.

After returning to Malvern from Dubai in 2020, she set about changing people’s perceptions about plant-based food. She has also pioneered plantbased pickled eggs, egg sandwich fillings and pastries.

The Veg Life Scotch eggs are available at Westmoreland services, Gloucester services and various independent shops across Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Weston, Wales and Bristol as well as online.

New commission chair to explore tidal energy potential in the Severn Estuary

A pioneer of the world’s wind energy industry has been appointed to lead a cross-border e ort to explore the potential sustainable energy of the Severn Estuary.

As Chair of the Western Gateway, Dr Andrew Garrad CBE, will help explore the potential of the Severn Estuary which has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world and could potentially provide up to seven per cent of the UK’s total energy.

Western Gateway is the UK’s first panregional partnership to bring together local leaders from two countries. Stretching

across South Wales and Western England, it aims for the region to lead the UK’s e orts to reach net zero.

In 1984, Dr Garrad co-founded the consultancy Garrad Hassan which grew to become the world’s largest independent renewable energy consultancy, employing 1,000 people in 29 countries when he retired in 2015. He has been President of the European Wind Energy Association, Chairman of the British Wind Energy Association, now known as Renewables UK, and was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to renewable energy.

Gloucestershire entrepreneur launches prebiotics drink

A new drinks brand that wants to revolutionise the soft drinks market has launched with an emphasis on gutfriendly ingredients and environmental sustainability.

Co-founder and CEO of Living Things is Ben Vear, known to many from his family’s famous Gloucestershire ice cream business Winstones. He has since worked for Mars, Urban Fresh Foods, and more recently as General Manager at co ee company Minor Figures.

Living Things’ sodas are manufactured in the UK, carbon negative and packed in fully recyclable cans.

Ben said: “Tasting good and doing good don’t have to be in conflict. More than ever the consumer isn’t looking for another sugar-filled soft drink but for solutions that don’t just taste great but also pack health benefits and environmental credentials. With Living Things we’re creating a new class of soft drink that finally does all three.”

WHATLEY MANOR IS UK'S FIRST CLIMATE POSITIVE HOTEL

Wiltshire’s Whatley Manor Hotel has announced that it is the first Climate Positive hotel and spa in the UK.

The hotel began to implement a comprehensive sustainability and decarbonisation strategy in 2019 that combined e orts to address climate change with energy e ciency, waste

reduction, community engagement and funding climate action.

while delivering an exceptional guest experience.

Hotel owner, Christian Landolt, said: “At Whatley Manor Hotel, we believe that luxury should not come at the expense of the environment. Becoming the first Climate Positive hotel in the UK is a testament to the team’s dedication to create a positive impact on the planet

“Despite our significant achievements so far, there is still much to do, our actions do not stop here and we cannot and will not rest on our laurels. We are committed to achieving Climate Positive each year to ensure we carry on being responsible for more than our current emissions.”

Coventry’s No Ordinary

Hospitality Management serves up free street food for staff

No Ordinary Hospitality Management (NOHM) has teamed up with Midlands food truck vendors to provide free street food for its sta every quarter.

Based in Coventry, NOHM sources baked goods and snacks for its restaurants and cafes from indie businesses throughout the region. Most recently they called upon the likes of Gyro Guys, KK Catering, The English Indian and Pietanic to provide free lunches outside one of their venues, Coombe Abbey Hotel.

Sophie Allan, HR administrator at NOHM, said: “We trialled this initiative last year and we’ve had such a positive response we felt it was important to keep it going.

“It’s also a brilliant opportunity to build on our connections with fantastic suppliers in Coventry and Warwickshire and support independent businesses in the region.

“We’ve been able to bring members of sta together for a chat and a spot of lunch, and we think it’s been really

beneficial to the overall morale of the team. It’s a chance to catch up with colleagues from di erent areas of the business and adds a bit of variety to what can be a very demanding job in hospitality.”

NOHM also operates St Mary’s Guildhall and The Park Bistro in Coventry, and provides conference and corporate event marketing support to Stoneleigh Abbey and IXL Events Centre at Dallas Burston Polo Club.

Whatley Manor

THE RECRUITMENT CHALLENGE – CAN EMPLOYERS SOLVE IT?

Everyone’s talking about the challenges in skills and recruitment – but can it be sorted out quickly?

By Nicky Godding, Editor

The UK has a major challenge on its hands to boost employment and skills. If you manage a tech, cyber or construction company, run a large agricultural enterprise or any business in the care sector, engineering or life sciences which are experience significant shortages – this won’t be news.

But what are businesses doing about it?

Because since the pandemic, the world of work has changed. While big companies might want all their sta back in the o ce, many employees are stubbornly refusing to jump back on the five-day-weekly commute.

In fact, some employees have moved so far away from where they work to make new lives for themselves and their families, that a daily commute is no longer a ordable.

Shelley Poole is founder and director of HR Consultancy Wellington HR, and chair of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development in the West of England.

She says this has created problems for businesses outside the large metropolitan areas such as London, Birmingham and Bristol.

“Companies in places such as Bristol, Coventry, Bath or Birmingham, or the smaller towns, are now competing for those skilled people who’ve always lived

and worked there but can, since Covid, apply for city jobs further away because they don’t need to be in the o ce every day and can a ord the commute if it’s not five days a week.”

reactive, focused on quick fixes for today’s problems rather than looking at long-term problem solving.

And that means that some regional companies are having to rethink not only their salary levels, but also how they can make their business more attractive so that workers won’t want to look further afield.

Of course, there are lots of jobs which must be on site – in construction and agriculture for example, where sta need to be within close commuting distance –but increasingly prospective employees can pick and choose from a wider geographical pool of companies. And they will often want to find a company which they respect.

Cat Brown, Director at West Midlands-based Pertemps Network Group, said: “We’re seeing a real shift in mindset, where employers are starting to realise they need to play the long game and invest for the future.

“Skills gaps and talent shortages aren’t new across many sectors. Historically, the approach to hiring has been

“Candidates are looking for greater flexibility now, but this should be considered on a case-by-case basis, to accommodate individual needs without compromising the function the role is there to perform.

“For the long-term, we need to be pipelining the talent of tomorrow. That means identifying what attracted candidates to a job or sector in the first place and using today’s talent pool to inspire the next generation. It means removing as many barriers as possible in terms of entry routes.

“Forging strong partnerships between academia and industry is a crucial step to build an e ective skills ecosystem, that signposts and supports candidates through their education journey to produce the right emerging workforce for tomorrow’s world.”

Shelley added: “It’s no longer simply about the job, pay and holiday entitlement,” It’s about a company’s true values. And

Shelley Poole, founder and director of HR Consultancy Wellington HR

by that I don’t mean a few motivational sentences painted in the company’s reception area or restaurant.

“I mean what does day-to-day working in your organisation really look like? What makes your business special? How much autonomy do you give your sta and is there an obvious progression ladder? Is there unconscious bias? What does your business look like from the outside?”

One obvious solution is for companies to widen their search for talent, engaging with those transitioning out of the military, people who have taken a career break, exo enders, or those from overseas looking to work here.

Rachel Roberts, Partner, Deputy Head of Employment and Immigration at HCR, said: “There are various options available to assist with the recruitment of non-UK nationals. It’s important to get sound advice before starting visa or sponsor licence processes”.

For those taking a career break, there has long been bias in the recruitment process which prevented STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals returning to employment. This are improving however for this segment of the workforce, as businesses wise up to the valuable pool of skilled, experienced older people who are starting to put themselves forward again after taking a career break.

CHALLENGES SKILLS THE

EDF launches second returner programme to help STEM professionals back to work

EDF has launched a new returner programme across its Nuclear business to help candidates with a background in STEM return to work after a career break.

The new programme, held in partnership with STEM Returners, follows a successful scheme within EDF’s Renewables business last year.

EDF is building the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, with plans advancing for a new station, Sizewell C, in Su olk. Together, Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14 per cent of UK demand, and power around 12 million homes.

The new programme will initially include roles at Hinkley Point C, with jobs across other teams within the EDF Nuclear Family to follow. Initially 10 roles will be available and will include positions such as business

STEM Returners will source candidates for the programme, supporting experienced engineers back into industry following a career break.

Natalie Desty, Director of STEM Returners said: “There is a well-known skills shortage in the UK engineering industry, but despite a clear need for people, professionals who have had a career break are often overlooked. Only by partnering with industry leaders like EDF, will we make vital changes in STEM recruitment practices, to help those who are finding it challenging to return to the sector and bridge the skills gap.”

Since STEM Returners launched in 2017, it has helped more than 400 candidates join programmes across the UK.

architect, cost engineer, project quality engineer and in project management.

Engineer inspecting one of the new tunnels at Hinkley Point C

Cat Brown, Director at Pertemps Network Group

LEWIS AIMS HIGH WITH HIS CAREER IN AVIATION

Skyborne pilot training academy spots potential in 14-year-old student on school visit to flying charity

At 14 years old, Severn Vale student Lewis O’Brien went on a school trip to visit Fly2Help, a charity based at Gloucestershire Airport which aims to encourage young people into careers in aviation and aerospace.

His interest and enthusiasm were spotted by Vicky Harriss, Head of Operations at Skyborne, the UK’s fastest-growing pilot training academy, which trains hundreds of pilots every year at its headquarters on the airfield, and at a second academy it owns in Florida, USA.

“Some of the students didn’t lift their eyes from their mobile phones for much of the visit, but Lewis asked question after question. I didn’t forget him,” said Vicky.

It perhaps helped that Lewis’s dad and his grandfather were engineers (his dad for a Formula One team and his grandad for the Royal Navy Falcons) and he wanted to be an engineer himself.

Fast forward four years and when he was in his third year as an engineering apprentice for a manufacturing company in Stroud, Vicky got in touch with him via LinkedIn.

“First impressions stick and we were looking for a young engineer to train and nurture,” said Vicky. “I remembered Lewis, and by that time it turned out he had

developed some of the skills we needed to help him focus his career in general aviation maintenance.”

For Lewis, moving from a traditional manufacturing company as a CNC machine apprentice to working on light aircraft was a no-brainer.

“I knew I'd learn more and become a better engineer at Skyborne, so I went for it.”

Eighteen months into his training, Lewis is working towards his B1 aircraft engineering licence. This will qualify him to carry out and certify all maintenance work in an aircraft related to its structure, electrical and mechanical systems. When he has achieved this (he hopes within 18 months), he will begin to study for his B2 licence. This will enable him to provide a Certificate of Release of Service of aircraft following a complete service or overhaul.

CHALLENGES SKILLS THE

“The studying is quite intense, alongside the job itself, but it will be worth it.”

Skyborne operates a fleet of Piper single and multi-engine aircraft for the pilots to train on, every one maintained by the academy’s team of engineers, including Lewis.

“I work on the whole aircraft – engines, airframe, undercarriage, wheels – the lot. At a big airline, I could be put to work in a wheel bay only for six months.

“Everyone takes responsibility for their own roles, but readily o ers support where needed. Safety is number one with planes, because unlike a car you can’t just pull over, so we check everything all the time.”

Lewis has been up in the planes he helps to maintain. “It gives me the chance to ask the pilot how a plane feels to fly, if there’s a judder – is that their flying, or the engine?

Lewis O’Brien, trainee aircraft engineer at Skyborne in Gloucester

“I work on the whole aircraft –engines, airframe, undercarriage, wheels – the lot. At a big airline, I could be put to work in a wheel bay only for six months”

Everything builds on my knowledge.”

What’s the pay like? “I’m not on a million bucks, but I’m not paying for my training and I’m not really driven by money anyway. For me it’s more about where I work and the people I work with, and I couldn’t ask for nicer workmates.

“I like working for Skyborne and as it’s quite a new company I’m interested to see how it develops, and how I can develop with it. I’ve only been here 18 months or so but I’ve seen massive positive changes already.”

Skyborne trains hundreds of pilots every year. It is also the o cial training partner for the British Airways Speedbird Academy, a fully-funded scheme training up to 60 pilots a year.

Vicky is absolutely delighted with her protégé. “I could tell when he was 14 that he was truly interested in aviation. Lewis is a great ambassador for aviation engineering.”

Last year the government announced yet another new approach to try and tackle the skills crisis – Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPS). Will they work?

Who can solve the perennial challenge of getting enough of the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills at the right time to fill the jobs which will drive Britain’s economy?

Is it schools? Training providers? Colleges? Universities? Councils?

The government has long thought it’s employers. But many smaller companies need skilled workers now – and say they don’t have the time, headspace or money, to plan for the longer term.

However, many larger employers are willing to invest in planning because they often have deeper pockets, clearer strategies for growth and want to do the right thing in their sectors and local communities.

The government knows it needs to help, so in 2022 it designated employer representative bodies, such as Chambers of Commerce, to develop local skills improvement plans (LSIPS) which best fit their region.

Those with long memories could say that this was supposed to be one of the jobs of Local Enterprise Partnerships (launched more than a decade ago but abolished this year after the government reallocated funding mostly to local and combined authorities).

The objective of LSIPs is to create a post-16 technical education and training system in each region that puts businesses at the start of the skills planning process.

Last month, the British Chambers of Commerce drew together the regional LSIP reports from across the country to pull together a 10-point plan to boost workforce skills.

It said that businesses need an industrial strategy from the government and that short-term policies from a national level are holding all UK regions back.

It calls for reform of the inflexible apprenticeship levy and also says that to support businesses and economic growth when employers have done all they can to recruit and train locally, an e ective immigration system is needed while addressing systemic skills shortages across the domestic labour market.

GOOD THINGS CAN HAPPEN IF EMPLOYERS LOOK BEYOND THE

Struggling to find workers? Perhaps it’s time to look beyond your usual recruitment strategies.

In a survey published in December last year, Michael Stull, UK director at global recruiter Manpower Group, said: “The persistent mismatch between the skills employers are looking for and the abilities candidates have – for specialist positions, in particular – presents employers across Britain with a stark choice: either continue fishing in the same pond in the same way for skills that are scarce or try a new approach by adopting skills-based hiring. The former keeps us on a continued path towards economic stagnation in 2024, whilst the latter has potential to alleviate talent shortages, drive innovation and create more diverse workforces – even in the face of sti ening economic headwinds.”

So where can employers look? The armed forces, those who have taken earlier retirement and even former o enders are all pools in which the enlightened employers are looking into.

More than 14,000 service leavers come on to the civilian job market through the Ministry of Defence’s Career Transition Partnership every year. They include engineers, technicians, chefs, nurses, pilots, operations managers, facilities and project managers – in fact pretty much any role you can think of.

The government’s Career Transition Partnership has been run by Right Management Ltd, part of Manpower Group, for more than two decades. It has helped more than 300,000 service leavers move successfully into civilian jobs.

Its success has partly been down to encouraging employers to focus on skills and potential rather than traditional hiring practices based on job titles and formal qualifications.

USUAL POOL OF WORKERS

Another route for businesses to help fill key gaps in its sta ng is through encouraging recent retirees back into work. A report published by cross-party think-tank Demos late last year revealed that the number of UK workers aged 50-64 has fallen by 182,000 since 2019. According to the report, The Platinum Pound, 330,000 retirees stopped working because they couldn’t access flexible working – and more than one million older people have experienced age discrimination at work.

Last year the automotive retailer Halfords, which has its headquarters in Redditch, Worcestershire, announced the launch of later life apprenticeships, to help attract returning retirees. But it has reportedly struggled to attract the hoped for numbers, and little has been heard about the strategy since its launch last year.

So what’s stopping them? According to Swindon-headquartered insurance giant Zurich, one in five adults over 50 avoid new job opportunities due to a lack of flexible working – a third would remain part of the workforce if this was available.

Steve Collinson, Chief HR O cer, Zurich UK said: “More than one in four of our UK employees is over 50. We’ve been a flexible working employer for over a decade and all new roles are advertised as being available on a part-time or jobshare basis.

“The feedback we hear is that people want to carry on working, but in a di erent way. Our people tell us that they have other needs such as caring responsibilities, but they also want balance and time o for hobbies, volunteering or travel. Our policies factor this in.”

Other companies are looking at employing ex-o enders. One of the UK’s largest independent family dairies has engaged

with a local prison to support those who are close to the end of their sentence through prison rehabilitation.

Cotteswold Dairy HR Director, Louise Woodwood, explains. “We have a whole variety of roles across the business, and we know we must plan for the future, and that means getting the right people in the right roles. One recent initiative is our own academy which we set up to o er inhouse training. Our sta can apply for the academy and develop their careers within the company.

“However, another initiative involved working with a local prison. We send our job descriptions to Leyhill, an open prison in South Gloucestershire, and visit to interview applicants. It’s not guaranteed that they will get a job, but what’s been really interesting is how our sta have welcomed and worked with them. It’s another initiative which has improved employee engagement – our sta really want them to do well and the buddy system has kicked in.”

The Cotteswold Dairy initiative began thanks to a member of sta in its chilled warehouse who needed sta and had experience of prisoner rehabilitation in a previous role.

“It took time to work out how to do it,” said Louise. “A prisoner will work for us on day-release as they come to the end of the sentence, but at the same time they’re not employees in the usual sense. We needed to understand how that a ected their workplace benefits and rights. We decided to pay them in line with our other employees, but part of their pay goes towards victim charities as well, so they get a percentage of what they earn.

“And it has solved some of our employment issues. It’s a win-win.”

Businesses should tap into the huge resource of former military personnel to fill vacancies

Around 16,000 men and women leave the British armed forces each year, many of them looking to build a new career in civilian life.

From a business point of view, the benefits of employing former military professionals are obvious – from a strong work ethic and experience of teamwork to decisionmaking and accepting accountability, all key qualities which employers in every sector are crying out for.

Tom Kidwell, 42, co-founder of Cheltenham-based technology company Ecliptic Dynamics enjoyed a successful career in the British Army. After a sevenyear career he moved into the civil service which, he says, was a soft landing rather than launching himself straight into corporate life.

“It was di cult to come out of the military, but I was lucky enough to go from a structured environment into one which also had a framework, albeit not as rigid.”

But he still had to make readjustments.

“The thing about the military is that you’ve always got people around you – that’s not always the case in civilian life and it was quite an invigorating experience giving up

my pass and driving out of the camp for the last time realising I would never go back.”

This is one of the reasons that some former veterans struggle, from having every day organised, to having to take responsibility for yourself.

Tom agrees with this. “I was used to quite high tempo working, and it was initially di cult to slow down, but the world doesn’t work like that, and I did adapt.”

There is a lot of support for military veterans transitioning out of the services for those who want to take advantage of it, all geared to di erent disciplines.

Tom’s area of expertise in the military was technology and he was introduced to TechVets, a charity set up by four former service personnel who wanted to help service leaders redeploy their often considerable digital and technology expertise gained in the military into new and sustainable careers in information technology.

The charity has been so successful that it is now part of the Forces Employment Charity, which o ers life-long support and training to all services leavers and their families in all employment sectors.

I was used to quite high tempo working, and it was initially difficult to slow down, but the world doesn’t work like that, and I did adapt

After leaving the military, Tom worked in the civil service for a few years before joining a civilian cyber security company as a trainer. After a few years he spotted a gap in the market and in 2019 he cofounded Ecliptic Dynamics in Cheltenham.

The company supports people and businesses to access web services securely. It protects clients’ online identities and activities to vastly reduce the cyber risk to their equipment, data, sta and reputations, Tom says.

Fast forward almost five years and Ecliptic Dynamics is growing fast and employs six people full-time, with a roster of contractors when the business needs more specialist skills.

Tom said: “All my experience, from my military training to the civil service and corporate life has given me the knowledge and experience to establish and grow the business.

“I would urge anyone about to leave the military to take advantage of the support out there, and for companies to realise how beneficial it would be for them to tap into the huge, untapped resource that former military personnel represent.”

50/50 INITIATIVE LAUNCHED TO GET OLDER PEOPLE BACK INTO THE WORKPLACE

By Ian Mean Ian Mean

Ian Mean MBE is Gloucestershire director of Business West and vice-chair of GFirstLEP. He is a former editor of the Western Daily Press and was editor in chief of Gloucestershire Media

Over the last few months, an innovative idea to attracting people over 50 back into the workplace, has been developing in Gloucestershire.

And it’s really very simple.

The 50/50 initiative has been designed to give people over 50 the same number of hours –50 – as a free work placement so they can get the feel of working again.

We hatched the 50/50 idea at a business sector group of our local enterprise partnership-GFirstLEP.

As an editor of a daily newspaper in Gloucestershire 15 years ago, I launched a similar idea to get firms to take on apprentices.

We called it 100 in 100 Days, and it was so successful that we ran it twice in a year.

Gloucestershire County Council’s Employment and Skills Hub have taken up the challenge of making this new 50/50 initiative work with real enthusiasm, and as I write 41 employers in the county have signed a pledge to become involved.

Five of these employers have already hosted a placement. These are not big numbers at the moment, but there is a growing interest from companies and organisations such as councils—not just here but in other parts of the country.

The importance of the Over 50s returning to work is I believe an important factor in the challenge of raising productivity and economic growth.

There are some worrying estimates for Gloucestershire from the Annual Population Survey.

They suggest that somewhere in the region of 16 per cent of the working population aged 16-64 were “economically inactive” in the county during October 2022-September 2023.

Economic inactivity is defined as “people not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or unable to start work within the next two weeks”.

This high level of economic inactivity is a big challenge to growth, productivity and

CHALLENGES SKILLS THE

the potential shortage of skills in some industries.

Covid and its aftermath have had a devastating e ect on our over-50s with many deciding not to continue to work.

Vikki Walters, who leads Gloucestershire County Council’s Employment and Skills Hub, tells me: “During the Covid pandemic many people over 50 made a life choice to potentially leave work. But then, other factors like the cost of living, have got them considering a return to work.

“However, they may not want to do the same job they have done in the past and their health may not allow them to do that anyway.”

Confidence to change is a big problem too with these returners, as many may have been in the same job for 25-30 years.

“We aim to help employers see that these over-50s have incredible skills and talents they can bring to their workplace,”

“This is a commendable initiative managed by a team who really care,” added Vikki.

GEN Z OFFERED DOUBLED SALARY PROSPECTS THROUGH NO-SKILLSREQUIRED TECH BOOTCAMPS

Skills o ered by free government-backed bootcamps can lead to average salaries exceeding £70,000, two and half times the UK average, new research has revealed. The findings from research company Beauhurst also reveal that roles in technology overall pay an average of 55 per cent more.

Now the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has launched a drive to get more people to sign up to digital skills bootcamps in cloud computing, cybersecurity, software development and more.

The research, published by Barclays Eagle Labs and Beauhurst, and funded by DSIT’s Digital Growth Grant, shows that demand for technology talent surged in 2022 after a slump through the pandemic.

While tech job advertisements decreased last year, demand for junior and entry-level roles persisted as technology companies struggled to recruit the early career talent they needed to match their growth ambitions.

Each digital skills bootcamp will see people take part in a 16-week course, with each guaranteed an interview on completion. No technical knowledge or educational qualifications are required to secure a place.

Adie Nunn completed a web development

bootcamp with School of Code, which was funded by the government, and now works at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence.

School of Code o ers a free 16-week remote intensive web development course open to applicants of all backgrounds. By the end of the course, students will have learned the fundamentals of programming, how to work in a tech team, and be specialised in full-stack JavaScript development.

Before finding the bootcamp, Adie hopped between jobs through what she describes as a “spotty” career. This included working as an event promoter for a pub company and later as front of house for pop-up events.

She said: “I was interested in computers and tech from a young age. But, without a computer science degree – and having failed my highers in maths and computing at school – I never thought a career in tech would be possible.

“After being made redundant in the pandemic, I gave the School of Code bootcamp a go and have never looked back. The technical and soft skills I developed on the course were crucial in securing my current role as a software engineer at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence where I get to work on fascinating, challenging projects.”

South West security firm guarantees interviews for exmilitary applicants

A fast-growing South West security firm is o ering a guaranteed job interview to any former service personnel as part of its ongoing commitment to the military community.

Avonmouth-based Security 2000 signed the Armed Forces Covenant last year and is opening its doors to any veterans in the Bristol and Bath area for interviews and paid-for Security Industry Authority (SIA) licenses.

Security 2000 business unit director, Richard Gabriel, said: “Service leavers are disciplined, professional, reliable and excellent under pressure – exactly the sort of people we want working for our company.”

In a bid to attract the best sta , Security 2000 has increased pay to well over the real living wage and introduced a technology to best protect its sta .

“We are a real living wage employer because we believe it’s very important to show how serious we are about the welfare of our sta .”

PEOPLE - THE BEATING HEART OF A BUSINESS

By Cat Brown, Director, Pertemps Network Group

People are the beating heart of any business. The best talent needs to be the right fit for your organisation’s culture and have the right skills to help it grow, flourish and meet the needs of your customers.

A 2023 World Economic Forum Report predicts that 133 million new jobs will be created in the run-up to 2025, with 75 million jobs being displaced, and will require 54 per cent of sta to be re-skilled or upskilled for the jobs of the future.

The theme continues in the report:

“Organisations identify skills gaps and an inability to attract talent as the key barriers preventing industry transformation, with 60 per cent of surveyed companies highlighting the di culty in bridging skills gaps locally and 53 per cent identifying their inability to attract talent as the main barriers to transforming their business.”

The skills gap is a very real challenge

Industry is changing, technology advances never slow down and traditional industries are being replaced by new ones, with roles we would never have dreamed of 10 years ago.

Organisations identify skills gaps and an inability to attract talent as the key barriers preventing industry transformation ...

Skills should be an end-to-end journey. We need to look at where we are, where we are going and what we might need along the way. Predicting the future can often appear nigh-on impossible, but looking ahead will enable us to equip newcomers with the right skills for what industry needs and support learning programmes to upskill the talent we have.

Most industries, in my opinion, are solutions-driven. We deal with the immediate issues, reacting to the challenge of the day, but we don’t spend enough time looking at root cause and long-term solutions. This means we’ll still be reacting in 10 years’ time.

Businesses must form long-term, strategic partnerships with recruitment specialists to futureproof talent pipelines, rather than simply filling vacancies as they arise.

Typically, an organisation will budget a year ahead, not 10 years ahead. But the only way we will make a serious impact in addressing the skills gap is by taking a longer-term view.

This involves a significant change in perspective and approach from educators, employers and government.

CHALLENGES SKILLS THE

Everyone must work together more collaboratively.

We need to think about career journeys for people. A start would be asking organisations to report statistics on job roles, vacancies and skills needed. We can then build up a picture of what skills are in demand, how they’re evolving and tailor education and training accordingly. It is not about schools, colleges and universities putting on courses that people want. It is about what industry needs.

This is a two-way street; a complete skills, training, education and employment ecosystem needs all elements collaborating and complementing the work of the other.

It requires significant input from businesses to help the educational establishments create tailored courses. The return on investment for both includes increased awareness of local career opportunities and improving business productivity.

There also needs to be a focus on encouraging and incentivising employers to sponsor individuals to develop themselves, with the reassurance that their needs have been considered in terms of managing remaining gaps.

The end-to-end life cycle must be prioritised and, therefore, one skills journey may have to include several participants so that one sector is not neglected to allow another to flourish.

From school leavers to current workforces, developing people today must be an organisational priority to ensure we have a future workforce with skills fit for purpose for the roles that businesses will need tomorrow.

It took an American to build the first whisky distillery in the Cotswolds, inspired by a barley crop in the field beyond his garden

By Nicky Godding, Editor

Dan Szor at Cotswolds Distillery

Daniel Szor’s idea to build a whisky distillery in the Cotswolds was born on Islay in 2013, at the Fèis Ìle, the Hebridean Island’s annual whisky gathering – 500 miles away from his home near Shipstonon-Stour. And was nurtured by the barley growing in fields around his home.

More than a decade later and the dream of this delightful, unassuming American who has made his home in England has become a glorious reality. Cotswolds Distillery, the first full-scale distillery in the Cotswolds, is now producing hundreds of thousands of bottles of whisky and gin a year and selling them across the UK and into Europe.

The distillery itself o ers tours and tastings, a beautiful visitors centre and café (which opened in 2019, just before Covid), and

is developing a further six acres of field into a wetland landscape to manage the distillery’s e uent naturally.

Dan explains his latest initiative as he takes me on a tour: “We had been sending our waste from the distillery to anaerobic digestion, but it’s never good to have lorries going backwards and forwards along Cotswolds lanes. We worked with scientists who specialise in the creation of wetlands ecological treatments and a wellknown local landscape architect to create something that will be as beautiful as it will be sustainable.

“Now we have ponds which take the e uent and distribute it through a process of evapotranspiration. We’ve planted more than 14,000 plants across the wetlands and built boardwalks around them for visitors.

We have also planted 1,800 willow trees below the ponds which soak up all the liquid.”

He's looking forward to this summer when it will be debuted to distillery visitors in all its new glory.

Cotswolds Distillery is a big success. Producing hundreds of thousands of bottles of whisky and gin a year, its annual turnover is around £7.5 million and it employs around 50 people.

This number includes 23-year-old distillery manager Alice Pearson who came to work for the business when she was 19 and discovered she had an amazing palette for whisky blending. When he opened a second distillery on site last year, Daniel o ered her the job of running it.

I am absolutely delighted to be working with Berry Bros. It’s still a family business after more than 300 years and they do so much right ...

“I thought if it doesn’t work out after three months, I’ll go and study for a Masters at New York University.”

He didn’t need to, he spent the next 26 years helping the start-up grow, first in New York, then in Paris where he set up a European o ce, doing the same 13 years later in London.

“I lived in Paris with my family for 11 years and we loved it – we had a weekend shack in Normandy and enjoyed the food and drink culture – there are now 100 whisky distilleries in France and the French drink more whisky per capita than any other nationality in the world.”

home at a glorious field of barley, and a new idea took hold. If he could use that barley to make his own whisky, perhaps he could leave the hedge fund career behind and reinvent himself as a distiller.

With his life savings (and some of his wife’s), he bought the site where Cotswold Distillery now sits and in 2014, began distilling.

Gin distilling paves the way for whisky

From Mantatten to Paris to London

Daniel Szor grew up in Manhatten. He began his working life as a foreign exchange trader and after a few years he got o ered a similar job with a start-up –on a much higher salary. He said: “I was only 25 years old and these guys were o ering me double my salary.

When Dan and his family decamped to London, they wanted the same weekend getaway lifestyle they’d enjoyed in France. They found a perfect home near Shipston-on-Stour and their Cotswold weekends idyll began. “It was so beautiful here we found ourselves getting increasingly depressed about Sunday nights and returning to London.”

One late summer weekend, Dan looked over the fence of his Cotswold

But the problem with making single malt whisky is that it’s not very good for cashflow. The whisky must mature in casks for at least three years before drinking – that’s a lot of money to be tied up without being able to realise the investment.

Luckily gin, also made from grain, doesn’t need to mature, so Dan began by making his distinctive gin to sell immediately.

By 2017, three years later, partly financed through his Cotswold Gin, which was (and still is) a

But back to Dan. How did this native New Yorker end up in the deepest Cotswolds?

huge success, he successfully launched Cotswolds Distillery’s first single malt whisky. In fact to meet demand he had to build a new bottling hall, and when his first small visitor centre in the original barn began attracting more people than it could accommodate, he decided to build a bigger one.

By 2019, just before Covid, the distillery had a new bottling hall and beautiful visitor centre, financed through £1.5 million in crowdfunding. Desipte a Covid delay, It’s boosted the number of whisky tours and tastings and has become a must-visit meeting place for locals, and a destination in the heart of the Cotswolds for visitors, o ering tours, tastings, co ee and lunches.

Last year Dan opened his second distillery on site to meet the growing demand for his single malt. The £5 million investment should see the distillery’s alcohol production go up to around 500,000 litres annually.

With all this investment, the business (which by this time had attracted seasoned industry professional Jeremy Parsons as its CEO), needed to ramp up its customer base.

“Our lovely visitor centre adds to the romance of the whole experience, which is what I wanted to create, but we need to create volume sales through the pub, bar and hospitality sector, national supermarket chains, airports and overseas distributors,” said Dan.

Distribution deal should boost sales at home and abroad

To achieve this, Cotswolds Distillery has signed a distribution deal with Disaronno UK which distributes the famous Italian liqueur along with Tia Maria Co ee Liqueur among its brands.

“It’s early days but we hope that this deal will speed up our expansion across the UK and further afield,” said Dan.

Another big development last year was Britain’s oldest wine and spirits merchant, Berry Bros & Rudd, becoming a minority investor in the business.

“I am absolutely delighted to be working

with Berry Bros. It’s still a family business after more than 300 years and they do so much right,” said Dan. “How they treat their suppliers, their sta and their customers, and their current focus on sustainability which is why we have been able to plough ahead with our new wetlands.”

The market for whisky is growing. According to Vantage Market Research, the global flavoured whisky market is currently valued at around $28 billion and is expected to hit a phenomenal $128 billion by 2028.

Where will the growth come from? “There’s a lot of good whisky coming out of Japan, and the demand for whisky in countries such as India is huge,” said Dan. “But there is growing demand from practically all over the world. While 80 per cent of our sales are currently in the UK, there is huge opportunity for growth further afield, which is another reason why we are now working with Illva Saronno internationally.”

If you don’t act on your ideas, you could regret it

You could describe Dan as impulsive, but in his view not enough people act on their ideas. “More people should do it – few regret it. It doesn’t make for an easy life all the time, but it’s a lot more fun.

“My first reinvention was persuading the hedge fund company I worked for to allow me to move to France and then to London,

and our decision to buy a house in the Cotswolds was made largely because my wife needed to recuperate after a series of operations, and that led me to this.”

The whisky business is as di erent from hedge fund management as chalk and cheese (perhaps a stilton or camembert with Cotswolds Distillery’s single malt).

“My first big angel investor was a remarkable Australian guy who I met by chance at the annual Moreton-in-Marsh Show. We started chatting and we hit it o , so I invited him here for a tour. He was looking for investment opportunities and wanted to be involved and active.

“The thing about the drinks business is that everyone’s amazingly nice. The convivial dinners, competitors helping each other, the whole livery thing. Even though I was a complete newcomer, they adopted me and I’m now Middle Warden and sit on the court of the Worshipful Company of Distillers. There’s an inclusivity you just don’t get on Wall Street.”

As the founder of one of the most exciting new distilleries in England, Dan says the industry still thrills and fascinates him.

“I’ve got a great team behind me so that I can enjoy being the face of Cotswolds Distillery, talking to people or even handselling bottles at Birmingham Airport, which I did recently. Watching shoppers wander over and being able to strike up a conversation with them is a joy.”

Dan in front of the distillery’s huge new whisky stills (photography Steve Jenkins)

Trusted Recruitment within the Three Counties

By Ian Mean, Business West Gloucestershire Director

“We aim to be the most trusted recruitment agency in the Three Counties”, says Ben Mannion, joint owner and Director of Hewett Recruitment with Laura Hewett. That’s quite a goal to achieve for Ben and Laura with the company first established by Laura’s mother, Louise Hewett, 43 years ago at Kidderminster in Worcestershire.

The firm was established in 1980 and covers the Industrial, Engineering, IT, Commercial and Finance sectors across Temp, Contract and Perm recruitment. Having developed an excellent reputation across Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Hewett has already established a strong base of Gloucestershire based clients in recent years. Looking ahead, Ben and Laura want to further establish the firm as part of the local business community, with an expanded team of consultants on the ground in the county.

Ben Mannion is clear about the company’s immediate goal: “Our vision is to replicate how we have grown our business in Worcestershire and Herefordshire right down the M5 corridor into Gloucestershire and Bristol. We want to link into the wider business network and we look forward to hosting and attending events and getting involved in giving back, in line with our values as a B Corp business”.

Hewett are a certified B Corp company and Laura tells me: “We have already helped to create the Three Counties B Corp group and firmly believe in the principle of doing business for good. B Corp had been a brilliant tool to formalise and certify all the community work that we already do as well as support our drive to become a more sustainable and environmentally aware business. It is great to be able to share our knowledge of the process and highlight the benefits it brings to businesses regarding recruitment and retention”.

I find Ben and Laura’s enthusiasm infectious. As ever, when you hire a specialist company like a recruitment agency, you always look for the di erentiation factor-what makes them di erent from the rest?

*Hewett Recruitment will be talking about their journey to achieve B Corp on March 14 at a Business West event at Stroud Breweryalso a B Corp. Invitation details are on Eventbrite and companies looking to take the B Corp route are encouraged to attend.

“I believe Hewett’s core values are their di erentiation factor. They are simple but thought provoking:

• Never stop learning

• Love what we do

• Have grit

• Act with integrity

• Create value

I particularly like their grit factor - “We combine e ort and perseverance with passion to deliver” – that’s a good business mantra.

Laura says: “Ben’s and my personal values are very much the same, and we also want similar things out of life. I believe these core business values do really di erentiate us – particularly the integrity piece.

“We appreciate that people’s careers are a huge part of their lives and our role in recruitment, is to respect and support that. Our team go out to bring about proper working relationships with businessnot just one-o business transactions. Ben and I want our clients to see recruitment as an opportunity, and to share our business values with them.”

hewett-recruitment.co.uk

Directors Laura Hewett and Ben Mannion – Hewett Recruitment

HERCULES CONSTRUCTION SEES TURNOVER TOP £80 m

Labour supply firm Hercules Construction, which has its headquarters at South Cerney near Cirencester, has reported a record turnover with revenues increasing an incredible 71 per cent to £84.7 million. Gross profit increased 67 per cent to £16.3 million.

The company also reported that its number of workers increased to more than 1,000, as it supplied more than 400 to HS2 in Birmingham and won a number of new clients, including Balfour Beatty Rail, Galliford Try PSL and Octavius.

Other contract wins included Thames and Anglian Water.

Hercules Construction was founded in 2008 by Brusk Korkmaz. Brusk, who hails from Turkey and arrived in Gloucestershire via a degree in civil engineering at University College London, set up Hercules Site Services after spending years working for construction and civil engineering companies such as MJ Gleeson, Hochtief and Black and Veatch.

He saw that they often drew from the same pool of skilled workers which was getting smaller as long-standing craftsmen retired or left for other reasons.

“I saw a gap in the market for the supply of a quality, qualified workforce,” he said.

Last December, the company acquired 60 per cent of Brighton-based Future

Build Recruitment for £1.251 million, in a deal which exposes the labour supply group to the construction sector's whitecollar recruitment market. And in January Hercules opened a new training academy in the Midlands.

Brusk said: "Last year was a truly transformative year for Hercules. We saw significant growth across all areas and we are delighted to have exceeded market expectations.

"As the infrastructure and construction sectors continued to face labour supply and skills shortages, we were able to deliver for clients including Galliford Try, Balfour Beatty, Costain and Vinci. During the year, we also agreed a five-year contract with Balfour Beatty alongside numerous new contracts with both Thames and Anglian Water. The addition of these new contracts has further accelerated growth within both our Labour Supply and Construction Services divisions.

"With our digital edge (total app downloads have now reached 12,000), our new training academy and our recent acquisition of Future Build, Hercules is increasingly well prepared for the future and continues to ingrain itself into the heart of the UK infrastructure and construction market."

You can read about Hercules Construction’s new academy on our Coventry and Warwickshire pages.

Gloucester’s CKF Systems continues growth after 35 years in business

Gloucester-based robotics and automation business CKF Systems has celebrated its 35th year in business and a record order intake.

The company, which has its roots in manufacturing for the food industry, said the anniversary had also been marked by receiving two large central palletising systems orders.

Highlights of the last 35 years include the launch of CKF Systems Limited in 1988, following the founding of its engineering predecessor in 1973.

The new company expanded into conveyor systems, mainly in the demanding food and beverage manufacturing sector, and as its reputation spread, so too did successful projects across continental Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Far East and the Americas.

In 2013, CKF Systems was one of the first three companies in the UK to be awarded ABB value provider status and in 2014, a new 2,200 sq m factory, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for CKF’s engineering team, was purchased.

2020 saw a management buy-out take place and a new board of directors appointed.

Acclaimed actor becomes inaugural Chancellor at Hartpury

Hartpury University and Hartpury College have appointed actor Martin Clunes as inaugural Chancellor. Martin will represent Hartpury in an ambassadorial capacity.

The appointment marks an important milestone for the university and college which o ers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and diplomas in agriculture, animal, business, equine, sport and veterinary nursing, as well as A-levels and T-Levels.

One of Britain’s best-loved actors, Martin has starred in many series and films including Doc Martin, Shakespeare in Love and Men Behaving Badly – for which he won a Bafta. He was awarded an OBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset in 2019.

Martin and his family run a 130-acre farm which is home to horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and cats, making him well-suited to the role of Chancellor at Hartpury. He is an advocate for

animal welfare and shares Hartpury’s focus on driving positive change in animal and equine wellbeing.

As well as presenting documentaries on animals, conservation and the relationships between humans and animals, Martin is President of the British Horse Society and a patron of the Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre.

Martin said: “I’m deeply honoured to be appointed as the inaugural Chancellor of Hartpury University and Hartpury College.

“I look forward to sharing many of my passions and interests with likeminded students, sta , governors and alumni and am excited to share in their numerous success stories.”

House of Fraser calls time on Cavendish House, on the Cheltenham department store’s 200th year

Fraser Group has taken the axe to another beloved department store after closing the iconic Cavendish House on the Promenade in Cheltenham.

The department store would have celebrated its 200th anniversary this year.

In a statement, the company said: “It is with regret that we announce House of Fraser Cheltenham will be closing in spring. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sta for their hard work and dedication. Where possible, we are committed to finding new roles within the group for sta .”

But we were not surprised at the news. Customers visiting the faded Cavendish House last Christmas could not have failed to notice the empty spaces, threadbare carpets stuck down with ga er tape and the air of defeat floating through the aisles.

This was in contrast to the bustling new John Lewis department store further down the town’s high street – which was full to bursting over the seasonal period.

Heath Gunter, Cheltenham BID’s Chief Executive, said: “The closure of House of Fraser in Cheltenham is regrettable, and my condolences go out to the dedicated sta .

“Notwithstanding this setback, it is imperative to recognise that town centres are in a constant state of evolution. While the closure of a major store represents a loss, it simultaneously presents opportunities for alternative uses of the space, injecting new vitality into the Promenade.

“Cheltenham’s town centre demonstrates resilience, and this transformative moment o ers a chance for local businesses to

thrive. We are actively supporting the arrival of new businesses into the town, and soon, several other vacant units will be occupied by a diverse array of exciting establishments.”

Cavendish House opened in 1823. The store became part of the House of Fraser group in 1970.

What could the future be for this huge building? In Gloucester, the city’s former Debenham’s department store is being transformed into a university campus.

Historic England has commissioned a new research project on department stores. The project aims to provide a detailed understanding of the history, use and architecture of purpose-built department stores in England to inform their protection, conservation, adaptation and reuse.

Martin Clunes

Few survive, or indeed prosper, as long as us, and perhaps that’s thanks to the robust nature of previous generations

SIX GENERATIONS AND COUNTING, BENCE IS STILL BUILDING ITS FUTURE

From the first George Bence delivering building materials on a horse

and cart in the 1850s,

to

£40 million turnover today, and still a family business

By Nicky Godding, Editor

Few businesses see 30 years, never mind 170, as builders merchant Bence is doing this year (the average age for a UK business is less than 10 years).

And Bence is celebrating. Managing director Paul Bence (sixth generation), has uncovered more family history than he expected – including local newspaper reports of previous generations causing ructions, including taking each other to court in the early 1900s over ownership of the business.

Paul plans to tell the story of his feisty family in a short commorative video, which he’s asked his young daughter to narrate, and will air at a big sta and client celebration later this year.

Bence was established in 1854 as a builders’ merchants on Fairview Road, Cheltenham – a site it still occupies.

It’s since become Gloucestershire’s leading independent builders’ merchant and has opened additional businesses including Bence Online, Bence Eco (selling sustainable construction products), Bence Windows & Doors and Obsidian, which supplies bespoke kitchens and bathrooms. The business also has branches in Ledbury and Bourton-on-the-Water.

All these initiations have been pioneered by Paul, 44, the eldest of three boys who joined the family business 20 years ago. His father, Chris, remains chairman but leaves the day-to-day running of the business to his son.

“I’m really proud of the company,” said Paul “Few survive, or indeed prosper, as long as us and perhaps that’s thanks to the robust nature of previous generations.

“The second George Bence was a town councillor. He was a controversial character and always in the local news.”

In the early 1900s, the local paper reported his impeachment by the local council (for reasons not given) – but staunchly defended him. It wrote: “Whatever view be taken of his part in the recent public controversy, he has defended himself with success. Mr Bence has many opponents, and not a few sympathisers, and in private and social life he is generally popular on account of his hearty and genial manner.”

The latter could be said for Paul too, who knows the names of all 150 employees, the family circumstances of many, is a long-term sponsor (and Vice-Chair) of Cheltenham Football Club, and coaches a young football team.

From second gear to overdrive

While he didn’t have any clear career plans, there wasn’t any pressure for Paul to join the family business. In fact, he wanted to be a footballer, or join a boy band – the usual teenage stu . But he couldn’t sing and couldn’t play football well enough to be professional (though he tried hard enough – when we meet he’s recovering from a seventh knee operation thanks to too much football when he was young).

After gaining a degree at Bristol University he joined a graduate management trainee programme for construction company Aggregate Industries. “I spent a year working in Pennsylvania and Washington DC. It was a great, I was a young Brit in the USA – they loved my accent. Seriously though, it was character-building and gave me a wider world perspective.”

Returning to the UK, he was about to take a job on the Isle of Wight as a Sales Manager for the company when his parents (not wanting to see him head o again so soon after 12 months across the Pond), suggested he might like to work for the family business.

“I’d always worked in the yards and the trade shop during summer holidays, but I wasn’t sure about working here full-time. Just because my family name was above the door, it didn’t mean I had an automatic pass to a successful career. I knew I’d need to earn respect – in fact probably three times over than in a normal job – because of who I was.”

But he took the job to see where it led, and for the first five years learned the business from the ground up. “I worked in operations, human resources and just mucked in. There was no set plan for me, so I worked my hours and enjoyed a healthy life balance with little stress and pressure. Looking back, I was just in second or third gear.”

What changed? “In 2010 our managing director, and my father’s best friend, retired, and I was told that I was now managing director – the same year as my wife and I had our first child and I had just turned 30.

“Did I deserve it? I don’t know. I did beat myself up a bit – and soon found out how lonely it can be at the top table when you’ve not got many good people around you at that level.”

But it was the push Paul needed, and within months he was setting his own agenda. “I enrolled on a high performance and management training course.

“My business coach was inspirational. I learned so much from him and others on the course – many fellow Gloucestershire business owners.

“When we had group meetings, I thought I'm not worthy to be here, but I quickly realised that everyone has similar issues, just in di erent industries.”

Over the last 10 years, Bence has gone from one branch to eight, and from a £13 million turnover to close to £40 million.

Making time for the family

“Running a family business now is very di erent from a couple of decades ago,” Paul says. “There are more regulations, from health and safety to financial – all of which I learned on the job. My first few years were spent understanding how to run the business and getting under its skin.”

Paul could have put in years of 12-hour days (and was prepared to), but if he was going to lead the business long-term, he needed a work/life balance.

“I want to be able to pick the kids up from school sometimes, or help them with their homework. To do that I needed good people around me. So that’s what I did. I really appreciate everyone who works with me. If I’m not here, I know the place won’t fall down.”

And while he’s mindful of the current cost of living crisis, and the tough time the construction industry is having, Paul says now is the time to drive the business forward even more.

“We started Bence Doors and Windows last year and it’s gone amazingly well. We’re also investing half a million pounds in our Obsidian kitchen and bathroom business.

“It’s all about customer service. If you

haven't mastered that then what have you got as a business? There will always be issues, and in the construction industry in particular you need a thick skin, but I make sure I’m available to all sta and clients on my mobile. I would rather get involved in any issue before it gets too big.

“Most people appreciate that we're an independent business and all our sta are local people with local families. I think that means a bit more to customers than dealing with the nationals.”

But Bence and other independent builders’ merchants across the UK are not complacent. Paul became a director of the Fortis Merchant Network, an independent building merchant purchasing group established in 2013. It is made up of around 40 companies with combined annual revenues of more than £2 billion. He’s also a non-executive director of the National Merchant Buying Society, whose members have a combined turnover of more than £2.2 billion.

“This is how we compete with the national merchants, building fantastic and loyal relationships with our suppliers” he says.

Doing business the traditional way

Bence certainly looks after its sta and customers, taking them to watch Cheltenham Town football games, rugby at

Gloucester, the Cheltenham Jazz festival or golf days – even holidays overseas.

“We’re old school and believe in faceto-face communication in as many ways as we can. We don’t just talk work either when we’re out and about. For us the traditional ways are the most enjoyable and productive ways to do business. The emotional commitment this brings us from our sta and clients is rewarding.”

What about the next 170 years? Paul has two young children, one of his other brothers has children too, and more may come along. If they want to come into the business, they will be welcomed he says.

“I want to make sure that the business builds on its solid foundations. Our main site is right in the heart of Cheltenham, prime for building development, but it’s a great place to be – for our sta and our customers.”

Would Paul ever sell the business? “It’s not mine to sell.” he says. “It is just my turn to wear the watch. Currently the economy isn’t very buoyant, but we’ve weathered worse storms before – in fact two world wars, seven pandemics and 13 recessions. We will turn the current situation into an opportunity and have further plans to grow. I couldn’t live with myself if, after 170 years, I was the one to give it all up. I am just here to put it in a great place for the next generation.”

Managing Director Paul Bence in his Cheltenham showroom

Bristol Uni AI biotech spin-out raises £7.6m

An AI-first biotechnology spin-out from the University of Bristol which is accelerating the development of novel cell therapies, has announced a £7.6 million investment.

Led by Octopus Ventures this funding marks the first stage in commercialising CellVoyant’s AI and imaging platforms.

CellVoyant is pioneering novel platform technologies to manufacture stemcell based therapies. The company describes the current approach to stem cell di erentiation as “artisanal, slow and ine cient”.

With hundreds of clinical trials in play, CellVoyant says a better way is needed to deliver e ective life-changing therapies to patients.

It is combining large-scale cell culture and live cell imaging with data-driven computer vision to predict and optimise cell fate decisions in real-time. This approach allows it to uncover routes for programming stem cells into any desired adult cell type.

Stem cells unlock a range of treatment possibilities that have not previously been available to patients. Current treatment options act on the body’s existing cells, while stem cells can develop into many di erent cell types in the body – regenerating damaged tissues and organs or replacing dysfunctional and dead cells.

Rafael E Carazo Salas, CEO and founder of CellVoyant said: “Cell therapies have the potential to revolutionise the way we treat diseases that a ect millions. By combining the latest advances in AI and live cell imaging, we can help bring these transformative treatments to the market quickly, reliably, and cost-e ectively.”

The proceeds from this funding round will be used to significantly increase headcount, expand laboratory and experimental infrastructure, and support research and development.

Founded in 2021, CellVoyant secured a £2.2 million pre-seed round the same year.

PRICKLY PEAR DRINKS BRAND SECURES £15K GRANT FROM UNI OF WEST OF ENGLAND

Natural prickly pear drinks company Cacto has secured £15,000 funding from the University of The West of England. The funding, part of the university’s Entrepreneurial Futures Award, is awarded to businesses which show exceptional potential and traction with their ventures.

The existing range of products, including three sparkling prickly pear drinks, and others set to be released this year are made from Sicilian prickly pear fruit and are all low sugar, low calorie and high electrolytes, particularly magnesium and potassium. Prickly pears are a great source of electrolytes, vitamins, calcium and antioxidants such as phenolic acid and Cacto drinks are made using UV, carbon and ceramic filtered water.

Cacto was founded by Sam Jukes, whose background in cricket, sport science and nutrition, helped him understand the holistic health benefits of prickly pear fruit and later develop the brand.

Sam said: “We are delighted to receive the funding from the University of The West of England’s Entrepreneurial Futures Award. As a young business, the funding is extremely valuable to the

... the funding is extremely valuable to the brand, allowing us to expand our range of drinks to offer further products that give consumers the opportunity to enjoy a health drink with a difference

brand, allowing us to expand our range of drinks to o er further products that give consumers the opportunity to enjoy a health drink with a di erence. Prickly pear fruit is not only delicious, but its immense health benefits extend beyond human health.

"With water deprivation being a growing environmental concern, prickly pears require hardly any water to grow. We aim to donate a portion of our net profits to Water.org to contribute to those in need of clean drinking water.”

COULD THE WEST’S MINES HEAT LOCAL HOMES?

A £1.6 million study backed by the Coal Authority and Historic England could help establish whether once thriving coal mines, which are now flooded with water, could help heat thousands of homes through renewable energy.

Using heat pumps, the water – which is naturally warmed by the earth – could heat homes across the region.

There is the potential to heat 100,000plus homes in the South West as well as other buildings like schools, hospitals and o ces, through regional heat networks.

The study will now map the mine areas, include former mines in South Gloucestershire, which have the greatest potential heat resource leading to detailed ground investigation works.

South Gloucestershire has an extensive mining heritage as revealed by old maps of the area and local place names such as Coalpit Heath. Under Mangotsfield, Westerleigh and Kingswood alone there are 42 coal seams and more than a 1,000 mine entrances. Most of these were worked in the 19th century but a few remained in use up to the 1920s.

Gareth Farr, Head of Heat at the Coal

Authority, said: “The Coal Authority is committed to facilitating mine water heat networks across Great Britain. We hope that the industrial heritage of coal mining in the West of England will also be able to support mine water heat networks in the future.”

How mine water heating works

Mine water heat works by pumping water from flooded mine workings up to the surface. This water is already warm because it has been heated by geothermal energy. Heat exchangers and heat pumps on the surface recover this heat and boost the temperature to heat a separate, clean loop of water, transferring this heat into buildings for everyday use.

Heat pumps are paramount to taking advantage of mine water heat, as their e ciency means for every unit of electricity used to recover the heat from the mine water, they output anywhere from three to five times as much heat.

The cooler mine water is returned back underground, and the water slowly filters back through the flooded mine system and warms back up ready to be used again.

Bristol’s FanHub raises $3m to build ‘Strava for sports fans’

Bristol-based sport tech start-up FanHub, has raised $3 million of investment to build a ‘Strava for sports fans’.

The company was founded by two football fans frustrated by what they felt was an open goal being missed by clubs to recognise and capture fans loyalty.

FanHub has pioneered the concept of “loyalty as an asset”.

Fans follow their favourite teams via the FanHub app, creating a record of matches they’ve attended, statistics of games and miles travelled. The data is converted into insights for brands and teams, as well as economic value for fans. Since FanHub’s launch in 2021, UK sports fans have received more than 50,000 pints of beer, 3,500 tickets and nearly 2,500 items of FanHub merchandise.

Co-founder Gareth Lippiatt, said: “Fans love statistics but all other apps seem to focus on the performance of clubs and players so we thought – what about an app that collates the data of the fans themselves?”

Launched in February 2021, FanHub has seen more than 100,000 downloads, and a 41.4 per cent 90-day retention rate. That progress attracted the investment from American fund Blockchange Ventures.

“Combining the passion of fandom with the power of digital marketing feels so obvious once you see it,” said Ken Sei , Managing Partner of Blockchange Ventures. “We love how FanHub moves the ball forward into the modern era of marketing and provides real value to fans.”

The former Frog Lane Colliery (photo credit Anne Matson)

DRPG EXPANDS GLOBALLY WITH TWO ACQUISITIONS

A Kidderminster communications agency has acquired two companies as it targets further expansion both in the UK and overseas.

DRPG said this move aims to reinforce its position as a leader in the global communication and creative industries.

Dale Parmenter, CEO, said: "These acquisitions mark a pivotal moment for DRPG in both local and global expansion. We are excited to welcome OWB and TSEC to the DRPG family, and we believe their expertise will play a crucial role in advancing our capabilities and o ering unparalleled value to our clients."

The acquisition of OWB, a marketing agency based in Birmingham, signifies a strengthening of its presence in the Midlands. With its studio complex near Kidderminster in Worcestershire, DRPG wants to accelerate its growth in the West Midlands, particularly in Birmingham, following its sponsorship of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Founder and Managing Director of OWB, Andy Wilkinson, said: "This is an exciting chapter for OWB. Joining forces with DRPG provides us with an incredible opportunity

Joining forces with DRPG provides us with an incredible opportunity to expand our reach and capabilities

Goold Estates acquires Co-op store in Stourport-onSevern

West Midlands property investment and development company, Goold Estates, has acquired a Midcounties Cooperative store in the centre of Stourport.

The company has purchased the 29,000 sq ft retail unit with adjoining car park on a prominent 2.1-acre site cornering Tan Lane and Lombard Street.

Goold Estates is planning to remarket the property as Tannery Retail Park, following the closure of the existing Co-op outlet later this year.

The site was originally home to Stourport tannery, built in the early 1700s and was operational for more than 260 years. It was acquired by the Beakbane family in 1880 and later supplied sheepskin leather to the Worcester glove trade before its eventual closure in the 1960s due to fire damage.

to expand our reach and capabilities. We are eager to contribute our creative energy and expertise, and we believe that together, we can accomplish remarkable things for our clients."

Across the Atlantic, DRPG also intends to boost its footprint in North America, after it acquired The Special Event Company, a live and virtual event planning agency based in Raleigh, North Carolina. DRPG North America and The Special Event Company will continue to operate as two separate trading companies but with plans for collaboration.

Anthony Williams, director at Goold Estates, said that the acquisition would complement the company’s existing commercial property portfolio and was of personal significance being local to the area.

He said: “My father attended the primary school in Tan Lane and remembers both the Tannery and the devastating fire in 1964. I was disappointed to learn of the store’s closure but we are delighted to have acquired the site and will shortly be marketing the property to let as a whole or subdivided to provide a new multi-let retail park.”

Dale Parmenter, CEO at DRPG, Sara Lyddy, Director of Comms at DRPG, with Andy Wilkinson and Shari Bryan of OWB

Wulff Capital Holdings acquires Redditch base of garden furniture group

Property company Wul Capital Holdings has bought a 23,517 sq ft warehouse unit on North Moons Moat industrial estate in Redditch from a London-based investor.

Commercial property agency John Truslove sealed the £2.2 million deal for the distribution centre of a leading garden furniture company in Redditch.

Kettler UK distributes outdoor equipment from garden furniture and toys to gym equipment. The unit on Merse Road trebled the size of Kettler’s previous warehouse next door, accommodating up to 5,500 pallets at a time.

The company employs more than 60 sta at the site.

Wul Capital Holdings director Ben Cowles said the warehouse was a good fit with his firm’s growing portfolio of properties across the Midlands.

He said: “In real estate terms, Redditch is an exciting town to be investing in, and there is an excellent market for industrial and warehouse property at the moment.”

Solicitors from Harrison Clark Rickerbys in Redditch acted for Wul Capital Holdings on the acquisition.

Plans for Worcester’s Scala arts venue revealed

Visuals for the Scala’s studio layout, designed by architects Burrell Foley Fischer, have been released, giving a glimpse of what the new Worcester arts venue will o er, subject to planning permission being granted.

The designs show three multi-use studios currently named The Stage, The Screen, and The Box, as well as a café that can provide additional performance space, and foyer and reception areas.

The city council has worked with six local arts organisations to prepare the plans.

Paul Sutton, from theatre practitioners C&T, said: “Myself and the other arts

leaders and organisations have helped shape these plans alongside the city council.

“Our collective vision is that the Scala will be a welcoming hub in the heart of the city where people can come together to enjoy, imagine and cultivate a more creative future for Worcester.”

The revised scheme to revive the historic Scala and Corn Exchange buildings in Angel Street, was drawn up following extensive consultation with stakeholders in Worcester’s arts and creative communities.

The project is being funded with part of the city’s £17.9 million share of the Government’s Future High Streets Fund.

Historic Herefordshire estate teams up with leading management group

Leading UK wedding venue management group Artemis has added an historic estate in Herefordshire to its portfolio. The wedding and events specialist has signed a long-term lease on Crumplebury, an exclusive-use property on the Whitbourne Estate near Bromyard.

The partnership takes the growing Artemis portfolio to 14, making it the largest exclusive-use wedding and events venue management group in the UK.

Crumplebury launched in November 2019

following a £3 million design-and-build project by the Evans family, which has owned the 1,500-acre estate since the 1800s.

For the past five years, Crumplebury has hosted weddings, car launches and exclusive events alongside its fine dining restaurant.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have entered into this partnership with Crumplebury,” said Artemis Managing Director Stuart Owens. “It’s a truly

spectacular property, one of the most exceptional and well-known wedding and events venues in the region.”

Joe Evans, owner of the Whitbourne Estate and Crumplebury’s founder, said: “Having been approached by several operators in the past, we chose to partner with Artemis because they saw genuine value in the work that we had already done to create a strong brand, and whilst clearly the working practices will evolve, it’s comforting to know that founding values will remain.”

CGI image of the proposed scheme

DRILLING DOWN TO THE SUCCESS OF A TRUE CONSTRUCTION ENTREPRENEUR

By Nicky Godding, Editor

From land to sea and back again, Julie White is one of the construction industry’s most inspiring entrepreneurs

Julie White is one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs. She established a business in a niche area of construction and turned it into a multimillion-pound turnover company and then took on the 50-year-old family business, shaping it for the 21st century.

She’s also an active spokeswoman and enabler for the wider building sector (particularly on the big issue of skills) and accepted an 18-month commitment to sit on the government’s business council in 2022, alongside other successful and vocal entrepreneurs such as Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy and Dr Gordon Sanghera, cofounder at DNA sequencing company, Oxford Nanopore.

She’s chair of Build UK, the leading representative organisation for the UK construction industry, a past president of the International Association of

Concrete Drillers and Sawers, won a Businesswomen of the Year award in 2011 and has appeared on the BBC’s Question Time.

And all that was after spending 11 years crewing racing yachts around the world. Phew.

Julie, 56, grew up in Coventry – the daughter of Peter White, who founded specialist drilling and sawing company D-Drill in 1967. This high-skilled but underrecognised construction specialism is used by every construction company renovating large buildings, and sometimes on new buildings when specifications change during construction.

It can be high-risk, so health and safety considerations are paramount. Imagine being contracted to drill a large hole in an existing building, where you can’t always be sure of the construction methods and

materials, or what’s running underneath the stonework or concrete. Get it wrong and the whole building could collapse around your workers, unleash an explosion or flood.

Get it right, as D-Drill and others in the industry do all the time, and you’ll never hear anything about them.

At school, Julie was a bright student regularly coming top in class, but not in exams. Surprisingly, meeting her in adulthood (where she’s full of exuberance), she says she was a quiet and sometimes anxious child.

“As a result of not being able to take exams, I left school at 16 with one GCSE in religious studies and faced limited opportunities. Should I go into the family business? But then I’d always be Peter’s daughter, so I took general jobs in construction.”

“D-Drill is in a good place, and it means I can go and represent the industry nationally, because the business operates well without me”

“I couldn’t cook then, and I can’t cook now, but the opportunity was too good to miss, so I said I could, and they took me on.”

She then began taking on and improve poorly performing yachts and crews, often turning them into successful charter businesses.

But by her early 30s, she was looking for a new challenge. “Having moved out of ocean yacht racing and into management, I found I enjoyed the business side more.”

Building a new career from the floor up

Returning home to the UK for a visit, she filled in time helping out at D-Drill. One day a new concrete grinder machine arrived for demonstration from Sweden.

It was capable of lifting the really sticky black bitumen o existing floors during renovation, a horrible job for which there was no good solution at the time.

“D-Drill didn’t do that sort of work, but the salesman asked to leave the machine, which was very big and heavy, until the company could arrange collection.”

Fate stepped in again for Julie, and some months later she got a call from one of D-Drill’s managers saying that the company had been asked to quote on stripping a floor.

“We took the job and the machine worked well. Then we took on another, much bigger job and that went well too. So I said to my dad, I’d like to start my own company using the machine.”

After four years, Julie left the UK to go travelling, starting by visiting a long-term pen pal in Arizona. “I bought a car and spent the next 11 months driving 27,000 miles around the United States.”

A life on the ocean wave

Arriving back in San Diego, Julie was wandering around the city docks and got chatting to the crew of a racing yacht. They were about to race from Los Angeles to Hawaii but needed a cook. Her next career move had revealed itself.

They should have checked – she was soon rumbled. “After two days sweating in the kitchen and food everywhere, the crew gave me a couple of options, either they could throw me overboard (they were joking), or put me on the crew list, and they’d all take turns to cook.”

Julie chose option two, and over the next decade crewed in three round-theworld yacht races. “My parents thought I wouldn’t last three months. After three years my dad said – you win. But by that time I was getting paid well and seeing the world.

“I’d also moved into management. I was employing crew, finding yachts for them to race, recruiting sponsors and syndicates. It was an absolutely great time.”

Her father lent her money and sta , and within a few months Julie’s new company – Superfloor – was stripping old flooring at 50 sites for the big DIY retail chain Wickes, which had taken over Focus Do It All.

The contract was worth around £3 million.

By the time Superfloor was turning over around £7 million annually, her father had seen she was a chip o the old block, and suggested she take over the family business.

But if she was going to take D-Drill on, she wanted autonomy. It took her three years to buy out all the family shareholders.

The year she took full ownership of D-Drill was 2008, just before the global bank crisis. “We had five months of good trading then in November, the crisis kicked in and within a few months we’d lost 40 per cent turnover.”

Averting disaster after the 2008 financial crisis

Anything that happens to the economy hits construction first and hard. Investors stop investing or kick the can down the road.

Julie had to be decisive. “We closed two of our eight branches and made redundancies. My bank – Handelsbanken – was amazing. My manager came in every week, and I told her what was happening and what I was doing about it.

“I had to pay a huge redundancy bill, but also invested in the business, installing new IT systems and processes – I was spending huge sums. Then I looked at the debtors list and there was £1.5 million in historic debt owing.”

Julie successfully tackled her debtors problem, ploughing the money back into the company, and then found someone to help her carry the load to rebuild the business.

“Between us, we slowly got the company back into shape. I visited all our branches and spoke with sta face to face. I told them what we needed from them to ensure the business continued, because without everyone pulling together, we wouldn’t have a business at all.”

It was then that her interest in skills grew. “My dad had always championed apprenticeships, but it was clear that we didn’t have enough young, experienced people coming through the business to replace the people we had to make redundant in 2008.

“But there weren’t apprenticeships for drilling. They didn’t fit into any apprentice box – they’re not electricians or bricklayers – the skills we want are in concrete cutting.

Over the last few years Julie has been putting that right. “My father had started the Drilling and Sawing Association which had championed training for years. I’ve continued that.”

Julie encouraged the Association, of which she is now Chair, to develop appropriate training for the industry and she began to engage with government through the Construction Industry Training Board.

Encouraging the next generation into drilling and sawing

Despite her full-time job running D-Drill, Julie’s passion to encourage young people to enter construction has seen her become Chair of Build UK, formed after the 2015 merger of the UK Contractors Group and National Specialist Contractors Council. Build UK’s priorities are to boost the image of construction, address its extensive skills needs and drive up industry standards.

“Specialist construction companies such as us and others need the strong support of a membership organisation,” she says. “Build UK helps the whole industry and many of the members are our customers anyway, so it makes sense for us all.

“It’s an honour to represent my industry at the highest level. When I was on the government’s Business Council in 2022. I

could talk directly to government which is making a di erence.”

One of Build UK’s established initiatives is its Open Doors programme. This takes visitors behind the scenes in construction to showcase the wide range of careers on o er.

This year, the programme takes place from March 18-23 at hundreds of locations across the UK – from houses to skyscrapers, manufacturing and training facilities, alongside virtual and online events.

Meanwhile Julie continues to build D-Drill, travelling overseas to keep up to date with new technologies. After this interview she’s heading to the World of Concrete event in Las Vegas.

“We recovered well from the recession and employ around 200 people at D-Drill across eight branches nationally.

“I love what I do, the new technology, and the people in the industry. I love the marketing and making a di erence on the training side. Every extra service we can provide to customers means a growth in business. It’s not always about the cheapest price, but about the quality of service, especially in such a high-risk specialist sector as ours.

“D-Drill is in a good place, and it means I can go and represent the industry nationally, because the business operates well without me.”

Julie is married, but has no children, so she’s made the business into an Employees Ownership Trust. “This way we can keep our people, give them support, training and opportunities, and perhaps in time there will be another management buyout as I did with my father.”

And has she left her previous nautical career? “I've finally found a great work/life balance and a great life with my husband. I windsurf, kitesurf and wakeboard.”

But don’t expect to see Julie bow out of the construction industry. “I’d like to continue my work in building bridge between politics and industry, and to o er support in a nonexecutive role where I can help others.”

HERCULES SITE SERVICES LAUNCHES NEW CONSTRUCTION ACADEMY

Hercules Site Services, a leading labour supply company for the UK infrastructure and construction sectors, has opened the Hercules Construction Academy.

The Nuneaton-based academy plans to train up to 400 new entrants in its first year. Qualifications, which will be accredited by The Construction Industry Training Board, include health and safety, NVQs, T-levels and degree-level apprenticeships, as well as specialist courses in utility detection, working at height, overhead powerline awareness, highways and other bespoke industry courses.

The initiative is aimed at addressing severe skills shortages across the construction sector (read our front cover feature The Skills Crisis), easing the challenges faced by those building some of the UK’s biggest infrastructure projects, including the likes of HS2, the planned AMP8 water sector infrastructure works, Highways England projects and proposed mega-projects like the Lower Thames Crossing as well as renewable energy and nuclear energy infrastructure.

Brusk Korkmaz, founder and CEO of Hercules Site Services, said: "This

landmark launch represents an incredibly exciting time for Hercules and the wider industry. We recognise the rapidly changing training and skills landscape and we believe we can deliver the very best in construction training throughout the UK.

"Hercules takes an innovative approach to providing labour and support services to the infrastructure and construction industries, something which we have been doing since 2008.

“I am proud to support the next generation of learners into our academy and beyond, where we plan to recruit some of the learners into our Labour Supply and Construction Services divisions.

"Our location and connections throughout the sector mean learners will be extremely well placed to secure employment and others will return to their employers with enhanced skill sets."

Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon said:

"It's fantastic to see key employers like Hercules o ering gold standard T-Levels, alongside high-quality apprenticeships, and other qualifications.

Nearly 500 jobs to be based at new Coventry business park following £24m investment

The transformation of the former Meggitt aerospace site in Coventry into a new business park featuring hundreds of jobs has been completed thanks to a multi-million-pound investment by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The WMCA has invested nearly £24 million into the regeneration of the derelict site o Holbrook Lane, alongside property developer Chancerygate.

Holbrook Park now has 31 industrial and warehouse units spread over 12 acres of the former aerospace manufacturing site. Some of the units are already occupied and once fully let, the business park is expected to be home to nearly 500 jobs.

The site has stood mostly empty since Meggitt, whose customers include aviation giants Airbus, BAE Systems and Boeing, moved the majority of its operations and sta to new headquarters in Ansty four years ago.

Although the new business park occupies just one section of the 65-acre former site, planning permission has already been granted for 500 new homes on another part of the land.

Meggitt’s former company playing fields, which occupy another part of the site, are being kept as open space for the local community with another plot retained by Meggitt as a carbon brake facility.

The team at Hercules Construction Academy

Purity Brewing

sold to private equity firm

Purity Brewing has been sold to private equity company Breal Group adding the Warwickshire brewery to its growth stable of breweries, including Black Sheep Brewing, Brew By Numbers and Brick Brewery, all of which it acquired last year.

It is reported that Alcester-based Purity ran into financial di culty amid rising operational and raw material costs.

Breal said Purity had been a target since early 2023.

It added that the deal “further strengthens our growing portfolio of investments in the brewing and hospitality sectors and underlines our commitment to the industry as a whole”.

Purity Brewing’s managing director, John Hunt, said: “We’re very much looking forward to continuing to brew our much-loved, award-winning beers and delighting drinkers in the Midlands, London and beyond,” he added.

Purity, which brews beers including Mad Goose IPA, Longhorn IPA and Lawless Lager, was established in 2005 by Paul Halsey and Jim Minkin. It brews on a farm-based facility in Warwickshire and operates a taproom and kitchen in central Birmingham.

In 2018, Purity secured £7.5 million from the UK’s Business Growth Fund BGF to support its organic growth strategy.

Online roofing supplier moves to employee ownership

Coventry-based Optagon Group, which owns Rubber4Roofs, a specialist in flat roofing materials, has become an Employee Ownership Trust for its 50-strong workforce, which now owns the majority of the company.

First established in 2010 and based in Swallowgate Business Park, Coventry, Optagon owns and operates a family of brands. These include Rubber4roofs, Roof Depot, SkyGuard and Kitbuildr.

The move to employee ownership was motivated by an o er from a larger organisation to buy the business. However founders Tom and Tina Cullingford turned it down to let the sta be in charge of the company’s destiny.

Tom said: “We were approached earlier in the year by a large organisation that wanted to buy the business, which got us thinking. It was an amazing o er, but we turned it down because we wanted this company to control its destiny.

“We believe the best way to achieve

that is to involve every member of sta in how it is run. This is a terrific business – 2023 has been our bestever year– and we wanted all sta to benefit from that success as we continue to grow. We’re incredibly excited at the huge opportunity this represents. This is going to be business as usual, only better.”

Tom will stay on as managing director as part of a senior leadership team running the company day-to-day. He will be joined on the board of the business by two newly-appointed legal directors, general manager Antony Murray and finance director Zoe George.

Antony said: “We were surprised and excited when Tom and Tina first mentioned the idea of transferring ownership of the business to the whole team. It’s a huge compliment to us all here and the business we have built together.

“It will be a steep learning curve but we feel lucky to be part of such a forwardthinking, innovative organisation.”

Leamington business wins international design award

Leamington Spa company Hiplok has won a 2024 Design & Innovation Award for its range of anti-angle grinder locks and anchors. The awards celebrate products that showcase advancements in the cycling industry, and the judges commended Hiplok’s 1000 Series for “setting a new gold standard in bike theft prevention”.

The 1000 Series features the world’s first anti-angle grinder anchors and a lock designed specifically for motorcycles, e-bikes and cycles. Developed for urban riders, these products protect against all forms of attack.

Hiplok co-founder, Ben Smith, said: “Winning an international award recognising our commitment to innovation is a great way to start the year.”

Ben and his other co-founder, John Abrahams, are product designers by trade and cyclists by heart. They set out to protect what they love by bringing their design expertise and rider experience to design and manufacture quality bicycle locks.

Purity Brewing’s latest English Heritage beer

GOVERNMENT GREEN LIGHTS SIR JAMES DYSON’S £6 MILLION DONATION TO LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOL

A £6 million donation to build a first-class science, technology, engineering, art and maths (STEAM) centre in Wiltshire has finally received the green light from Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

Ministers at the Department for Education have approved the expansion of Malmesbury Primary School for the new centre which was a condition of the donation from the Dyson Foundation, based at Dyson’s major campus just outside the town.

Last year the proposed donation was put in doubt after Wiltshire Council expressed concern about how the expansion might impact other local schools.

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children's Services said: "We have an important responsibility to ensure all our school pupils can access opportunities that inspire them and help them achieve their potential.

"Our strategy shows we have su cient places in the three local schools to cater for expected demand and we have expressed concern about the impact that adding 210 additional places at Malmesbury Primary School could have on neighbouring schools. However, we now have the government's final decision, and we will work with everyone involved to ensure we achieve the best outcomes for all our pupils."

The James Dyson Foundation has worked with Malmesbury Primary School and others for years to improve STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) provision in schools and encourage students to go on to study these subjects post-16. Most of the focus of the Foundation’s previous support has been on secondary schools but it has realised the need to improve teaching and learning for primary age children through supporting Malmesbury Primary School with this expansion.

Generally, the teaching of STEAM is separated in school.

A STEAM centre encourages the arts and sciences to be taught side-by-side so pupils can see how the knowledge gained from one discipline can be used in a creative way in another – an approach Sir James Dyson believes will lead to more children choosing to follow careers in engineering and science.

The expansion, which will also need to go through the usual planning process, will see purpose-built rooms equipped for design, technology, art, science and mathematics-based activities as well as additional classrooms. If planning permission is approved, it is expected to be open to pupils from September 2027.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: "I welcome this generous donation from the Dyson Foundation which will support cutting edge education for local pupils, helping to develop the scientists and engineers of the future.

"This new centre will provide world-class facilities for pupils in Malmesbury and the surrounding areas to inspire them and develop the skills we need to compete on the world stage.

When the project was announced last year, Sir James Dyson said: "Dyson has grown in Malmesbury for the past 30 years and many of our engineers either studied at Malmesbury school themselves or have their own children there now. We have long supported the school and simultaneously been on a mission to inspire more engineers all around the world. The creation of a new STEAM centre, right here in Malmesbury, will enable the school to be a pioneer for this age range, encouraging problem-solving and hopefully long lives as engineers.”

Sir James Dyson

Wincanton, the Chippenham based logistics company, is set to be acquired by French multi-national CEVA Logistics in a deal worth almost £567 million.

Directors at Wincanton hailed the industry expertise and balance sheet capability o ered by CEVA, part of the CMA CGM group, which serves more than 420 ports globally with revenues of around £12.6 billion.

James Wroath, CEO of Wincanton, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made at Wincanton over the last four years, thanks to our great people and customers.

“We’ve strengthened our business and

ensured that we’re at the forefront of logistics innovation.

“This o er will enable Wincanton to continue and accelerate the progress that has been made, providing an excellent partner with the balance sheet strength that will allow the pursuit of both existing and new growth opportunities.”

Rodolphe Saadé, chairman of CMA CGM, added: “Wincanton’s renowned expertise in designing supply chain solutions for customers in the retail, grocery, eCommerce, construction, infrastructure, energy and defence sectors would enable CEVA to further diversify its contract logistics customer base.”

Melksham's Avon Protection wins $14m USA defence order

Avon Protection, the personal protection company which manufactures defence equipment in Melksham, has received an additional order worth $14.2 million from the US Defense Logistics Agency under the second-generation Advanced Combat Helmet framework contract announced in February 2022.

This latest announcement follows another one this year when the company confirmed that it had been selected by the German Navy to supply its Multi-Role Rebreather for military diving operations.

The multi-million Euro order includes the supply of Avon’s market-leading rebreather and ongoing technical support.

Jos Sclater, Chief Executive O cer at Avon Protection plc, said: “The selection of our rebreather by the German Navy is a significant award for Avon Protection and the military diving personnel who will benefit from the cutting-edge technologies and enhanced operability it will bring them.”

Expansion plans for Swindon’s Wichelstowe revealed

Plans for a future district centre in one of Swindon’s newest housing developments have been submitted.

Swindon Borough Council has put forward designs for the remainder of the Wichelstowe District Centre either side of the canal which forms the centrepiece of the flagship housing development.

The mixed-use scheme, designed by multidisciplinary practice BDP, will be located just south of the existing Waitrose supermarket and Hall and Woodhouse pub.

Proposals for Canalside West include a public square, apartments, health centre, pharmacy, community centre and space for o ces. There could also be more retail and restaurant units with flats above.

Although the development of Canalside West is still some years away, the designs have been submitted to comply with deadlines set out in the Wichelstowe outline planning consent and in order to gain consent for the layout and uses of the site.

If the plans are approved, developers will be sought to bring forward the site.

The thousands of new homes at Wichelstowe are being built by Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes in partnership with Swindon Borough Council.

It is one of the largest local authority joint venture agreements in the country which will deliver 3,000 new homes over the next 20 years, along with new schools and community facilities.

The 250-hectare site on the southern edge of Swindon will include open spaces, nature conservation areas, playing pitches and allotments.

Gordon Muvuti, Director of Place – Swindon, at Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said: “Planning for the future health needs of residents coming to live in Wichelstowe is an important priority for the ICB, and we are continuing to work with Swindon Borough Council, as well as local GP practices, as part of the early stages of this process.”

PURSUING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR SUCCESS

The ‘pursuit of better’ has been key to one of Gloucestershire’s largest exporters, driving its success and world leading status. And it’s this mission that encapsulates the businesses’ sustainability focus too.

Prima Dental Group has already made significant impacts on improving its sustainable performance, from reducing landfill disposal to zero, and improving its energy consumption through renewable energy sources, but is striving to do more.

FORWARD LOOKING FOCUS

Founded some 150 years ago, Prima designs and engineers precision dental instruments and products for the growing healthcare and cosmetic markets around the world. It has become the world’s largest dental bur (drill) manufacturers.

Over the years the company has focussed on innovation, recognised in the last decade with two Queen’s Awards, alongside a SMART grant award from Innovate UK to develop a game changing new dental product. Today, this forwardlooking approach still rings true and is reflected in the company’s mission to improve its sustainability.

COMMITMENT TO THE PLANET

Prima takes its impact on the environment seriously, working to identify and improve in all areas of its operations. This is no mean feat when you take into account that the business exports to more than 90 countries, with two joint ventures (in Brazil and Hong Kong) and two subsidiaries (in China and India).

Commitment to improving its energy management system is evidenced through the company’s ISO 14001 accreditation – the global standard for environmental management. While the organisation’s ISO 50001 certification highlights the work being done to optimise energy e ciency –with a robust framework in place to ensure continual improvement in this area.

SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES

The company’s main production facilities and head o ces are based on the Waterwells Business Park in Quedgeley. Here, a number of sustainable strategies have been put in place, with the most

recent being the installation of solar panels, completed at the start of this year. This investment will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90 tonnes per year and by 2,270 tonnes over the lifespan of the panels.

Intelligent lighting, along with maximum insulation and air source heat pumps o er sustainable energy solutions for the site. While impact on local neighbours, in terms of noise pollution from the air source heat pumps, is monitored to ensure minimum disruption. The business has also made adaptations to its compressed air system, reducing energy and saving some £68k a year.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES

Prima’s environmental policy shapes its practices, with detailed recycling and waste management initiatives. This includes the recycling of by-products from its manufacturing process. Recycling initiatives are also included in all product packaging, brochures and company publications which all use recycled paper. End-user packaging, where possible, is also recyclable.

Contracts with waste management services and suppliers are continually reviewed to ensure optimum recycling levels, alongside the review of the organisation’s own practices. This has led to a huge reduction in the business’s landfill disposal, going from 70 per cent to zero in 2023.

The business is committed to minimising its consumption of natural resources,

“RECYCLING INITIATIVES ARE ALSO INCLUDED IN ALL PRODUCT PACKAGING, BROCHURES AND COMPANY PUBLICATIONS WHICH ALL USE RECYCLED PAPER”

OVERSEAS ACTIONS

To help reduce its carbon footprint, Prima has introduced several measures. Global travel has been significantly reduced thanks to the introduction of localised sales teams, alongside an increased use of technology for virtual meetings.

The team coordinates and shifts its UK working hours to suit di erent time zones so that employees can build e ective oneto-one relationships without unnecessary travel. And, when it comes to sourcing suppliers the business retains local services, where possible.

WORK IN PROGRESS

educating its employees to be more responsible in this area. For example all single-use plastic cups across the business have been removed, eliminating the disposal of some 330,000 plastic cups a year which has meant a saving of 9.9 tonnes of CO2e. While the installation of waterless urinals has saved an astonishing 1,576,800 litres of water a year and 1,658.79kg of CO2e.

Never one to sit on its laurels, Prima is committed in its journey to improve its impact on the planet and has set sustainable targets to ensure they are attained.

A dedicated team is closely monitoring and evaluating the organisation’s performance, measuring against benchmarks, consistent in the pursuit of better, and in a better future for all.

01

01

Maven expands to support South West Investment Fund delivery

Maven has appointed Rafi Khan as Investment Manager to support the South West Investment Fund, of which Maven manages the £38 million SWIF Maven Equity Finance fund.

Rafi (pictured with Maven partner Melanie Goward) joins from Deloitte where he worked as an Associate Director within its Corporate Finance Advisory.

02

Hazlewoods welcomes third insolvency practitioner

Gloucestershire accountants and business advisers Hazlewood has appointed Nick Cusack in their Business Recovery and Insolvency team, making him the third licensed insolvency practitioner at the firm. He has more than 18 years’ experience advising on several distressed situations and assisting with the return of maximum value for directors, owners and creditors alike, encompassing the entire suite of formal and non-formal solutions available.

03 Bristol tech incubator appoints Entrepreneur in Residence

SETsquared Bristol, the University of Bristol tech incubator, has appointed Kevin Simmons to join its Entrepreneur in Residence team. Kevin is a General Partner of a $50 million pan-African VC technology fund and has helped launch several successful angel networks, and invested in more than 150 technology companies, including three of Africa’s eight unicorns.

03

04 Cheltenham solicitors Sherbornes expands team

Cheltenham law firm Sherbornes, has appointed two new solicitors and promoted an existing member of sta to Trainee Solicitor.

The two new solicitors are Natasha Thomas (right) and Kieren Mulvey Abi Partridge (left) joined the firm as a Paralegal in 2018 and has been promoted to Trainee Solicitor. She hopes to qualify next year.

05

05

New appointments at Evelyn Partners ahead of relocation in Bristol

Evelyn Partners, a wealth management and professional services group, has appointed Helen Bassett as professional services Managing Partner of its Bristol o ce. The group also announced that it has appointed Chris Marsden as a Partner in the Bristol Restructuring & Recovery team.

Both appointments come as Evelyn Partners prepares to relocate later this year from its current Bristol premises at Portwall Place to the new EQ development next door.

04

06TLT expands energy team with appointment of regulatory expert

Law firm TLT has appointed Juliet Stradling as partner in its future energy team.

Juliet has joined TLT from CMS UK, where she provided regulatory and commercial advice to clients operating in the future energy sector.

02

06

07

07

Warwick

Audio technology firm Warwick Acoustics has appointed Ian Harnett as chairman, 12 months after he became a non-executive director, and as the company gears up for its first production contract with a luxury global automotive manufacturer.

Ian’s automotive career spans nearly 40 years and he was formerly a main board director at Jaguar Land Rover.

09Appointment to deliver growth for pallet pooler

One of Europe’s leading pallet poolers has invested in its UK senior management team as it prepares for growth.

Coventry-based IPP, which is a pooler of sustainable wooden pallets, has appointed Paul Timbrell to the role of head of commercial accounts.

11 Mears Group welcomes new CEO

08

08 Spicy CEO appointment for premium ingredients manufacturer Barts

Bristol-based herbs, spices and ingredients manufacturer Bart Ingredients, has announced the appointment of its Chief Commercial O cer, Adam Sims (above right) as its new Chief Executive O cer e ective April 1.

After 12 years at the helm, CEO David Collard (above left) will be handing over the baton to take up the role of Non-Executive Chairman and begin his transition to retirement.

09

10 Bristol Beacon CEO to step down this year, but a Dimbleby steps up

Following a successful reopening of Bristol Beacon last November, the music charity is changing its leadership.

Louise Mitchell CBE, Bristol Beacon’s current chief executive who led the organisation through transformation, will step down in July 2024, paving the way for a new leader to take the organisation forward.

But that’s not the only change. The new chair, who will be taking over from incumbent Simon Chapman (left in picture) is the renowned broadcaster, writer and historian, Jonathan Dimbleby.

Mears Group, the listed Gloucesterheadquartered supplier of services to the a ordable housing sector, has appointed Lucas Critchley as its new CEO. Lucas, who went to school in Cheltenham has been with Mears for more than 19 years, joining the company as a business apprentice in 2004.

12 Newbury Racecourse new CEO to take up post in June

Shaun Hinds, Newbury Racecourse’s Chief Executive designate will join the Company and its board of directors in June. Shaun is currently CEO at Manchester Central, an award-winning venue in the city. Shaun previously led international operations at BridgeStreet Global Hospitality and has more than 25 years’ experience working across hospitality, property and business services.

Acoustics names automotive industry veteran as chairman

THE LATEST DEAL ACTIVITY ACROSS THE REGION

Retail software firm Flooid (Warwickshire)

has been acquired by Transaction specialist Glory Global Solutions (Hampshire)

Heat Recruitment (Bristol)

has been acquired by Smart Solutions Group (Glamorgan)

Software provider Sennen (Bristol)

has been acquired by Kraken Technologies, part of Otopus Energy (London)

Advisers:

Milkins

Paramount Labels & Tags (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Industrial label printer Customark (West Midlands)

Forward Glass (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Cornwall Group (Cornwall)

Bamboo

Group (Gloucestershire)

has been acquired by Cloud software firm CloudClevr (Warwickshire)

Training course provider AT&F Solutions (Worcestershire)

has been acquired by Online course provider learndirect (Dorset)

Steel supplier Capital Steel (United States)

has merged with Transport infrastructure firm Hill & Smith (West Midlands)

(Worcestershire)

has been acquired by Talbots Law (West Midlands)

has been acquired by Managed service provider Wavenet (West Midlands)

Advisers:

EMC Corporate Finance (Corporate Finance)

has merged with Airline software company Comply365 (USA)

has been acquired by Insurance provider ARAG Group

PRESSURE TO INVEST WILL TURN ON DEAL FLOW TAPS

Mergers and acquisitions in the UK appear poised for opportunities.

The reversal of 2023's inflationary pressures, rising interest rates and falling consumer confidence is being replaced by wage growth catching up with price increases, lowering of interest rates and increasing business, if not consumer, confidence. All this is expected to bring about a resurgence of deal activity in 2024.

To understand this resurgence, particularly from a seller’s perspective, consider the impact that the macro-economic impacts had on deal activity during 2023.

Deals were down by more than 30 per cent from 2022's high of almost 8,000 for UK targets being acquired.

According to Experian's Market IQ, 2023 saw just over 5,500 deals completed in 2023. Comparing this to 2022 and the 10-year average of 7,500 deals being completed, it is clear that 2023's slowdown will have built a backlog of sellers wanting to exit.

Equally buyers, particularly private equity, need to deploy capital.

For private equity, even though 2023 was shaping up to be a lower call on funds than in 2022, they still spent less than they have.

PE funds are rewarded on investing and penalised for not doing so.

So 2024 will mean there is additional pressure to invest – and they have a lot of money to do that.

The last estimate of undeployed private equity firepower was more than $2 trillion, according to the consultancy Baird.

Similarly, for corporates who have built up cash reserves, the need to grow in low growth economies will create a resurgence of activity, along with confidence that consumer confidence should improve.

As the cost of capital falls with falling interest rates easing financial burdens on acquiring entities, this will catalyse an upswing in deal activity as companies find it more appealing to engage in strategic acquisitions.

But challenges emerge. Geopolitical uncertainties, with not one but four elections in the G20 nations predicted to happen this year, including the UK and US, regulatory changes and global economic fluctuations continue to cast shadows over M&A.

Those contemplating deals must carefully navigate this intricate landscape, conducting thorough due diligence to mitigate potential risks.

Cybersecurity firm Falanx Cyber (Berkshire)

Aviation tech company Vistair (Bristol)

Insurance provider DAS UK

Michael Pay, Director of EMC Corporate Finance

TOMORROW’S TECH WINNERS. OUR EXPERTS REVEAL THEIR PICKS

This month’s pick of up and coming tech companies include pioneers of 3D printed concrete, manufacturing in low earth orbit and supporting measures against horse-doping

Expert: Dan Corcoran, CEO of Reedmace Talent

i6 Group is a fast-growing software business solving a critical problem for the aviation industry. Since 2013 it has been building products that digitise the entire aviation fuel supply chain to maximise operational e ciencies and reduce CO2 emissions. i6 Group is trusted by industry leaders, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, World Kinect, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Menzies Aviation. With more than 150 global airports benefiting from their solutions and rapid growth on the horizon, this company is one to watch.

Since 2019, Bellwether Industries have been making science-fiction a reality by designing urban air mobility vehicles or Volars, which look like futuristic flying cars that will allow anyone to fly anywhere, at any time.

With a team of 20 operating in Taiwan and the UK, Bellwether Industries has built working prototypes, attracting media attention and angel investment. It is currently raising Series A investment to lead the transport revolution into the future – which could be closer than you may think. Currently the company is on target to supply Volars to the

Worcestershire-based Changemaker3D has been leading the way in 3D printed construction since 2017, creating an entirely new market in the process

motorsports industry in 2025 and the public are expected to be able to buy or hire Volars within the next five years.

Worcestershire-based Changemaker3D has been leading the way in 3D printed construction since 2017, creating an entirely new market in the process.

Its ground-breaking approach is paving the way for sustainable construction projects, with concrete structures printed on-site using low carbon concrete. The team is working

on numerous innovative projects including the Clean Futures Accelerator, delivering the UK’s first 3D Printer Toilet Pod and has even designed, printed and installed a water chamber for United Utilities in a year-long test project.

With headcount tripling this year, and investment currently being raised to unlock its first Printfrastructure Hub in the West Midlands, Changemaker3D is putting sustainability front and centre. They say: “Printing like the planet depends on it”.

Expert: Nick Sherrard, mentoring and advice company Label Sessions

The technology press often seems to write about Emm, based out of Bristol with the benefit of a $1m seed round, as a smart menstrual cup company. Really though, the proposition is both simpler and more powerful. That is, helping women understand and track their body and their health simply and on their terms.

Emm is one of those companies with the potential to be hugely successful, hugely good for the world, and pioneer a new kind of healthcare industry at the same time.

We work a lot in the sustainability space and the drinks industry at Label Sessions, so I can see how big the opportunity is for new brands that understand where those two things overlap.

Renais uses French upcycled grape skins as the base spirit to make gin in England. Good for the planet and the palette and, in commercial terms, more importantly building a brand that speaks to both the premium wine and gin drinker markets. This is as clever a brand

idea as it is sustainable. Given how well the team have built the business and story so far, you can see this is one to watch.

How many companies started in a Bristol garage end up in space? Microgravityas-a-service is a concept bold enough that we almost expect to hear Californian accents behind it.

Some processes that matter to industries like pharma and electronics are di cult to manage in gravity-bound Earth. Space Forge wants to pioneer manufacturing in low earth orbit as a result.

Sometimes critics worry about how much 21st century innovation is about pixels and social media. This is a real attempt at a new industrial revolution that we should celebrate.

Expert: Steve Thomas, Partner, Commercial team, Harrison Clark Rickerbys

EventLog Equine is based in Cheltenham, designing, building and deploying apps and tech solutions across the equine industry. The company supports the modernisation of the equine industry through forwardlooking anti-doping solutions, working with racing administrators, bloodstock auctioneers, trainers, owners, vets and equine welfare bodies across the world.

ES Profiler, the cloud and hybridon-premise solution provider, helps enterprising businesses prioritise strategy threats, break down security silos and maximise return on investment. Its holistic approach to security means all members of the team are supported throughout – from procurement to project delivery.

Not only does the platform highlight gaps in security, it also identifies where costs could be saved – for example where products have been left to one side with unrealised security capability. Alongside this, the company identifies poorly deployed and configured products which result in

reduced visibility and security capability. In a world facing a variety of threats, ES Profiler’s commitment to security is timely.

Plexal is an innovation company helping to solve society’s challenges through collaboration with government, start-ups and industry. Its mission is to close the gap between organisations – small and large, local and global, private and public – and work towards a common goal: using science and technology to deliver national security and prosperity.

As the innovation partner to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in Cheltenham, Plexal operates the prestigious “NCSC For Start-ups programme”.

Harrison Clark Rickerbys regularly delivers training and other support for the programme, and is committed to supporting technology entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups in all sectors across the country, but particularly within the cyber ecosystem.

HOW MUCH LIFE HAS YOUR EV BATTERY GOT LEFT?

Eatron Technologies and WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) at the University of Warwick say they can now accurately estimate an electric vehicle battery’s remaining useful life, helping to unlock additional performance, greater range and increased levels of safety.

Developed with funding from the Faraday Institution, the collaborative project (known as VIPER – validated and integrated platform for battery remaining useful life) has combined WMG’s advanced electrochemical models with Eatron’s cloud battery management and integration expertise to deliver Remaining Useful Life (RUL) estimates that they say are more than 90 per cent accurate.

Traditional RUL estimates often rely on simple voltage-based analytics that may miss complex failure conditions, potentially risking the safety of consumers, while others that err on the side of caution may result in perfectly healthy battery packs being unnecessarily rendered unusable.

By accurately predicting a battery’s RUL, it becomes possible to extract the maximum

Unlocking the

hidden capacity of

a

battery has the potential to increase an EV’s usable range and extend its lifetime

performance and longevity from it, without compromising safety.

The solution developed by Eatron and WMG can be embedded in an automotivegrade battery management system or deployed across a cloud-based platform, a concept that is particularly appealing for fleet applications.

When an automotive battery is eventually redeployed into its second life, it can be accompanied by an accurate picture of its health in the form of a battery passport that negates the need for expensive testing and increases the breadth of its operating window.

“Unlocking the hidden capacity of a

battery has the potential to increase an EV’s usable range and extend its lifetime,” said Dr Umut Genc, CEO of Eatron. “There are benefits for the used EV market too as a result of these highly accurate RUL estimates. Buyers could have confidence in the condition of a vehicle’s battery and be reassured about its ability to perform for many years to come.”

Dhammika Widanage, Associate Professor, WMG, University of Warwick, added: “The funding from the Faraday Institution has allowed us to bring the project forward by at least a year, and with innovative approaches such as this now in high demand, particularly among automotive manufacturers, we’re delighted to be a part of bringing this technology to the market.”

Eatron Technoloiess and WMG, University of Warwick deliver ground-breaking battery health algorithms

South Gloucestershire's Severn Edge site in line for next generation nuclear tech

Land near Oldbury Power Station in South Gloucestershire could play a significant role in the UK’s ambitions for new nuclear energy as set out in the new Civil Nuclear Roadmap unveiled by the UK Government in January.

The roadmap sets out how the UK will increase nuclear generation by up to four times, to 24GW by 2050 which the government has described as “the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years”.

It also marks the next step in the process to find the best location to set up new technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMR) reactors which have the potential to power up to one million homes with low carbon electricity.

Oldbury represents a prime site for new nuclear to develop a low carbon energy park creating green jobs and clean energy for the area in partnership with local authorities, landowners and local colleges.

The project is being driven by Western Gateway, the UK’s first pan-regional

Oldbury Power Station

partnership to bring together local leaders from two countries. Stretching across South Wales and Western England, the organisation wants to be in the driving seat of the UK’s e orts to reach net zero while also providing opportunities to those at risk of being left behind.

Also included in the Severn Edge project is Berkeley technology park, currently being sold by current owner SGS College, which could play a pivotal role in addressing the need for future nuclear skills.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Vice-chair at the Western Gateway and Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “It is no surprise to see our Severn Edge

sites getting recognition in this latest announcement for the development of the next generation of nuclear technology in the UK. Our sites in Oldbury and Berkeley provide a unique opportunity for speedy delivery, access to top quality expertise and supportive communities.”

Cllr Claire Young, Western Gateway Board Member and Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said: “It’s great to see Oldbury is still a serious contender in the government’s plans for future energy infrastructure. We want to ensure the best outcome for both these sites to bring in new investment which can lead to exciting new jobs, learning and low carbon energy.”

Clue Software raises £4m to detect, investigate and prevent worldwide threats

Bristol-based Clue Software, a leading provider of software for investigations and intelligence management, has secured £4 million funding in a round led by Frog Capital, with £1 million from angel investors and employees, supported by investment adviser ScaleUp Group.

Founded by Clare Elford (CEO), and Thomas Drohan (CCO), the tech-for-good platform has grown fast despite challenging market conditions for tech investment.

Frog Capital first invested in Clue in 2021. The angels backing Clue include Martin Leuw (former IRIS CEO), Lisa Powis (former Fresh Insurance CEO), and Alastair Bathgate (former CEO of Blue Prism).

The funding follows an impressive year for the Bristol company, which grew its annual recurring revenue by 60 per cent. Clue also

increased its headcount from 45 to 70 last year, with this number likely to increase to more than 100 this year.

Clue's international customer base has expanded significantly over the past 12 months, with more than 5,000 users representing investigations and intelligence teams.

Following a huge growth in public sector fraud last year, particularly across healthcare and central government, three police forces and a national government agency are now using Clue for anti-corruption work.

The software company's software platform tackling integrity in sport is also gaining customers. It is now used by six governing bodies across Europe and Oceania. Clue is also helping more UK healthcare organisations tackle economic crime

and corruption, including NHS Scotland Fraud Services. Another major healthcare regulatory agency has joined the NHS Counter Fraud Authority as long-term users of the Clue platform.

Serial entrepreneur Martin Leuw, said: “I backed Clue because they have an unusual combination: intelligent software addressing growing societal risks, a community-based approach, a talented leadership team and board members and investors that I trust.”

Clue CEO Clare Elford added: “Our mission to protect society goes beyond developing intelligence and investigation software.

"We are building a network of investigation professionals worldwide to explore common challenges and share best practices.”

INVESTMENT ZONES WILL WORK FOR MANUFACTURERS, SAYS MAKE UK

But more small and medium-sized companies need to know about them

Britain’s manufacturers are set to unlock tax and grant incentives if they embrace Investment Zones, the government’s place-based policy aimed at driving growth, innovation and the creation of high-quality new jobs.

According to Investment Zones: Unlocking Growth in the UK, a new report published by the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK and Barclays Corporate Banking, twothirds of the manufacturing sector back the Chancellor’s decision to extend the fiscal benefits of Investment Zones from five to 10 years, saying that it makes the scheme much more attractive for UK companies.

There is however a strong case for increasing businesses’ awareness of Investment Zones with only two-thirds of those surveyed currently aware of the policy and its benefits, while a quarter are unclear whether they meet the definition of Advanced Manufacturing – a key focus sector for the zones.

Eight areas were identified as investment zones in last year’s Spring budget. All were in the north of England, with just the East and West Midlands as the furthest south. A further eight were announced as

freeports (which also include streamlined customs procedures), including the Solent and Thames, but not Bristol which missed out on securing freeport status, bitterly disappointing West of England leaders.

Little more than half of small and medium sized businesses are currently aware of Investment Zones, compared to 85 per cent of large firms, says the report.

So what are Investment Zones?

They deliver a raft of benefits, including 100 per cent business rates relief, enhanced capital allowances, zero rate national insurance contributions and grants for research and innovation. The scheme also allows for grants towards skills training, local infrastructure improvement, local business support and can provide the funding to recruit a dedicated planning team for the zone.

Three-quarters of businesses reported that they would invest more in plant and machinery if they could get business rates relief, while zero rate national insurance contributions would encourage 60 per cent of firms to increase wages to become more competitive.

Investment Zones have the potential to support growth in both economic output and employment across the manufacturing sector

Make UK says that to ensure maximum benefit, Investment Zones need to form part of an over-arching long-term Industrial Strategy which is enshrined in statute so it’s not vulnerable to change with the political cycles.

Stephen Phipson CEO at Make UK said: “Investment Zones have the potential to support economic growth and employment across the manufacturing sector. This can only be enhanced by raising awareness among manufacturers.

Equally, policymakers also have a role to play in promoting their benefits and ensure they are maximised.”

The MTC (Maufacturing Technology Centre) at Anstey Park, Coventry

SUCCESS OF MADE SMARTER SCHEME SHOWCASED TO GOVERNMENT

A group of Department for Business and Trade o cials has visited two West Midlands manufacturing businesses to see for themselves the impact of a major scheme which has been helping manufacturing and engineering firms adopt digital technology and drive growth.

Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub has led the Made Smarter West Midlands scheme since it was established as a pilot programme in 2021.

Made Smarter West Midlands helps manufacturing and engineering SMEs to access match-funded grant funding and expert advice from WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group), at the University of Warwick, and the MTC (Manufacturing Technology Centre based in Coventry), to help digitise their work, improve employees’ skills and ultimately become more productive.

The programme received 560 registrations from businesses across the West Midlands between April 2021 and November 2023 with 115 grants being awarded valued at a total of £1.94 million.

AB Dynamics reveals record revenues and profits

AB Dynamics, which manufactures advanced testing, simulation and measurement products for the global transport market, has reported record revenues and operating profits.

A senior policy team from the Department for Business and Trade led by Deputy Director of Advanced Manufacturing, Michael Clark, saw the impact which Made Smarter West Midlands has had.

The team visited Impression Technologies in Coventry and Brandauer in Birmingham which both received grants and expert advice from Made Smarter West Midlands.

Impression Technologies, an advanced aluminium light weighting technology business, invested the grant in a system to improve data analysis.

Brandauer, which provides precisionstamped components and high-speed progression tooling, used the grant to build an operational data system.

Michael said: “Last November, the government announced that the Made Smarter programme was to be expanded across the UK.

“This expansion will enable additional engagement with more than 2,500 more SMEs each year across all of the UK.”

The Bradford-on-Avon company reported revenues increasing by 21 per cent, of which seven per cent was organic growth.

Revenues were just over £100 million, up from just over £83 million in 2022.

Track testing revenue grew by six per cent reflecting increases in robots and Advanced Driver Assistance platforms,

Gloucestershire ladder manufacturer merges with South Wales counterpart

A Newent ladder manufacturer has merged with Lyte, a Swansea company which makes ladders and other access equipment.

Asset-based lender, Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, provided a £6.5 million facility to Lyte to support the merger.

Swansea-based Lyte specialises in premium-grade aluminium and glass fibre ladders, and other access equipment and has more than 75 years of experience in the industry. In 2019 it secured a £5 million facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance to support an investment by private equity house Breal Capital, which allowed it to overcome trading challenges.

Newent-based LFI produces aluminium, steel, timber and fibreglass access equipment for businesses. It primarily operates in the UK but is a supplier for industries in Europe and beyond.

Combining two of the market’s biggest players, the merger is a significant event for the access equipment industry, helping both businesses benefit from increased economies of scale.

In the short-term both businesses will continue to operate independently with a medium-term plan to integrate the two companies.

and laboratory testing and simulation saw growth of 10 per cent.

Dr James Routh, Chief Executive O cer said: “We see significant opportunity in our core markets in automotive, and continue to invest in new product development and technology. We are also investing in new technologies to diversify the business into adjacent markets through ABD Solutions.”

THE LONG ROAD AHEAD

The clock is ticking... can the UK meet its emissions targets, and what role does business have to play?

By Daniel Face, reporter

Net zero – they’re the words on everybody’s lips, from small businesses to multi-national corporations, local councils to national governments.

It means switching to electric vehicles; it means shutting down old power plants; and at the risk of stating the obvious, it means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to a level which can be naturally reabsorbed from the atmosphere.

Last December, leaders from around the world gathered once again for the annual COP climate conference, this time hosted by a proud petrostate. A commitment was reached in the dying hours and everyone seemed to agree it marked ‘the beginning of the end’.

UN executive secretary Simon Stiell was referring here to the end of the fossil fuel era, but for many watching on, the compromise to ‘transition away from’ rather

than ‘phase out’ fossil fuels gave the line a more foreboding edge.

PMs come and go, but net zero stays

International sentiment notwithstanding, back home the UK government has its own various commitments to decarbonisation.

In June 2019, Theresa May set in law that the UK must hit net zero by 2050. Two years later under Boris Johnson’s government came an additional requirement for a 78 per cent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2035.

Even Shell alumi and anti-renewable firebrand Liz Truss confirmed that net zero would remain a legislative commitment for all of 50 days before it was over to Mr Sunak to steer the country’s green agenda.

He picked up Johnson’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, which involves quadrupling o shore wind capacity to 40GW and generating 5GW of clean hydrogen by 2030, as well as developing the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Among the other priorities were public transport, aviation and maritime, carbon capture, energy-e cient homes and environmental protections – supporting a combined 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs.

And considering that transport accounts for around a quarter of the UK’s total emissions, the plan also placed heavy emphasis on the transition to electric vehicles.

With it came £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of EV charging points on streets and motorways across the country,

Last year’s COP28 was held in Dubai

£582 million in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles, and almost £500 million over four years to scale up production of EV car batteries.

A change of plan delays ambitions

Last year’s autumn statement built on those investments with the announcement of a new Advanced Manufacturing Plan backed by £4.5 billion – almost half of that reserved for the automotive industry, alongside funding for aerospace, clean energy and life sciences.

That same day, the government launched its Battery Strategy and pledged a £50 million investment in the sector, which ministers say could create 100,000 highly paid and skilled jobs across the UK.

It also assembled a hydrogen taskforce to drive British manufacturing of hydrogen propulsion systems, doubling the previous target with a renewed aim to reach 10GW capacity for hydrogen production by 2030.

All this has been great news for the region’s green ambitions – but headlines in recent months have brought into question the true commitment of Sunak’s government to net zero.

... headlines in recent months have brought into question the true commitment of Sunak’s government to net zero

But what about the businesses whose business it is to help everybody else reach their targets? That’s our focus in this feature – the energy producers, fuel refiners and green innovators.

We take a look at companies across the region driving their industries towards net zero, from maritime to nuclear fusion.

Challenge or opportunity?

Manufacturers are split

Last year’s Manufacturing Barometer from the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS) shone a spotlight on net zero, revealing some trepidation among leaders in the sector.

They found that while just over half of respondents saw the government target to achieve net zero by 2050 as a positive for UK manufacturing, only 42 per cent were confident that it would be beneficial for their individual business.

Last September the prime minister confirmed his decision to delay the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, pushing it back to 2035.

He also opted for a more ‘pragmatic and realistic approach to net zero’ by scrapping a ban on gas boilers and extending the deadline to phase out oil-fuelled heating by another nine years. They would have been gone by 2026.

That’s not to mention plans to grant a flurry of new North Sea oil and gas licences, which King Charles paradoxically announced in November would “help the country to transition to net zero by 2050” – the idea being that it would ease the burden on households.

Getting down to business

Amid shifting government policy and an upcoming general election, businesses throughout the South West have been busy implementing their own decarbonisation strategies and roadmaps.

Many have signed up to the SME Climate Commitment, which aligns them with national targets to achieve net zero by 2050 and halve greenhouse gas emissions before 2030.

Fewer still (29 per cent) saw net zero as a current priority for their company, with just 37 per cent having pledged to achieve that goal by 2050 at the latest.

The majority of respondents operated in the materials and engineering, construction and automotive sectors, all of which stand to gain enormously as the UK ramps up production of the technology and infrastructure needed on the road to net zero.

This could point to a communication problem, and one which Rishi Sunak’s government stands to worsen if green policies are repeatedly watered down.

“Reaching our net zero targets won’t be easy in the short term”, said Christopher Knibb, Director of Policy at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, “but the transformation of our energy system to one that is sustainable and resilient will do more than just tackle climate change – it’s a whole transformation that will deliver benefits to people both locally and nationally, creating skilled jobs across generations.

“We need to stop seeing the targets as a burden and start seeing the opportunity for society and the economy.”

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has wavered on net zero

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES – GETTING THE SOUTH WEST MOVING

It’s o cial – HS2, as originally conceived by the Labour government in 2010, is a shadow of its original ambitions. Last October the government confirmed that the high-speed rail would run only from London to the West Midlands, with routes to Crewe, Manchester, Leeds and York now cancelled.

There have been various reasons given for the truncating of such an ambitious project: over-engineering is one, over-budget is certainly another.

The silver lining, if any, is the government’s promise to divert £36 billion towards alternative transport infrastructure –delivering more buses, reopening old train stations and funding new and improved roads.

Much of that will be focused on the areas north of Birmingham which lost out on HS2, but the South West has also secured a slice of the pie. Bristol has been given £100 million for a mass transit system and £800 million from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements allocated in last year’s Spring Budget.

That’s certainly good news, but it’s far from the full story. Businesses and organisations across the South West are already

hard at work transforming the region’s infrastructure – and not just for the sake of its own residents. The green transport technologies being developed and trialled here will provide a blueprint for the whole of the UK in decades to come.

At the forefront of this movement is the West of England, which received £540 million from the government in April 2022 to improve sustainable transport provision throughout North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

It’s already gone to good use on the new £70 million IAAPS research lab at Bristol and Bath Science Park, where experts will research pioneering tech to help clean up the automotive and other di cult-toelectrify sectors.

Dan Norris, metro mayor for the West of England, said: “We have a unique opportunity to further enhance our productive economy, ensuring everyone across society reaps the benefits and does so sustainably. I see transport as being integral to capitalising on that opportunity.”

For the South West, the journey to net zero is a road, track and flight path – driven by green innovation in planes, trains and automobiles.

Full speed ahead for

Coventry

Mere months ago, the first batterypowered vehicle successfully made its way around a test track at the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre in Dudley.

It was an important milestone for the Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) project, which is looking to install a zero-emission rapid passenger tram system in the city centre.

The key is in the track. It’s much thinner than those used in existing light rail and tram networks, meaning it can be laid just 30cm deep into the road surface. No more delicate (and expensive) dancing to avoid underground pipes and cables.

To really put the vehicle through its paces, the test circuit – which was laid in a matter of weeks – even included a tight curve and 250 metre vertical hump. These major obstacles for traditional light rail designs were both navigated with ease.

The project has £40 million behind it and represents a collaboration between Coventry City Council, Transport for West Midlands, the University of Warwick and the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation.

With further development, similar systems could be deployed in cities across the UK.

“This is Coventry doing what it does best”, said Coventry City Councillor Jim O’Boyle.

“CVLR has the potential to create new jobs and tackle climate change by providing people with a zero-emission mode of travel.

“We led the industrial revolution here in Coventry, and now, with fantastic projects like this, we’re leading the green industrial revolution too.”

The new £70m IAAPS research lab will help decarbonise transport

The Coventry Very Light Rail project has £40 million behind it

GREEN SKIES IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE

He may be Norfolk born, but these days ecopreneur Dale Vince lives on a boat in Tewkesbury. He founded Stroud-based energy firm Ecotricity in 1996 and in 2010 became a major shareholder, and is now Chairman of what has since become the “world’s greenest football club” Forest Green Rovers, based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire,

Then last June came the announcement of Dale’s latest project – the world’s first electric airline, powered entirely by renewables.

That’s the plan, anyway. He plans for the first Ecojet planes to take o from Southampton this year, but they will be burning carbon-heavy kerosene. It’s the price they’ll have to pay for such a rapid launch.

In the meantime, the airline has signed a deal with fellow Cotswolds firm ZeroAvia, which is set to supply up to 70 hydrogenfuelled, zero-emission engines.

It will then begin retrofitting existing

“Ecojet is by far the most significant step towards a solution to date”

turboprop planes like the ATR72 and Dash 8 400, each seating around 70 passengers and already popular on regional routes across the world. After all, building models from scratch would produce an extra 90,000 tonnes of carbon a year.

“The question of how to create sustainable air travel has plagued the green movement for decades,” said Dale. “Ecojet is by far the most significant step towards a solution to date.”

That’s a title he may have to contest with Bristol’s Vertical Aerospace, founded in 2016 by OVO Group founder Stephen Fitzpatrick.

Over the past eight years he’s assembled a team of specialists from the electric

vertical take-o and landing (eVTOL) sector to lead ‘a quiet evolution in urban mobility’ – though on a smaller scale.

Vertical’s prototype VX4 aircraft seats four passengers and a pilot with a range of up to 100 miles, travelling at a cruise speed of 150 miles.

The company secured its permit to fly from the Civil Aviation Authority in September 2022 and has since conducted successful test flights at Cotswold Airport near Cirencester.

By then it had already signed on with global infrastructure firm Ferrovial to build a network of 25 ‘vertiports’ across the UK, specially tailored to accommodate the landing and recharging of eVTOL aircraft.

Dale Vince’s Ecojet is set to fly hydrogen-fuelled turboprop planes

NORTH SOMERSET TO CHARGE THE EV REVOLUTION

Reports have come thick and fast over recent years with a clear message – the South West is in pole position to capitalise on the electric vehicle revolution.

Midlands Connect researches and drives transport projects which it believes will provide the biggest possible social, economic and environmental benefits for the Midlands. It found that the region could see £8.7 billion in economic benefits provided EV uptake improves, as cleaner air and a healthier population help to alleviate the burden on services like the NHS.

Meanwhile, their neighbours in Coventry and Warwickshire identified a competitive advantage for themselves over other regions in the race to net zero, citing a range of pioneering infrastructure projects.

Coventry now boasts 958 EV charging points and is well on its way to becoming the UK’s first all-electric bus city. And

Warwickshire is home to the largest smart charging facility for EVs in the country, located at Jaguar Land Rover’s £600 million Gaydon engineering centre near Warwick.

But it was Tata Group which really hogged the headlines last year with the announcement of a new multibillion-pound gigafactory – its first outside India – to be built on the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory in Somerset.

What will it be making? Electric car batteries – enough, says the respected research body, the Faraday Institution, to fulfil almost half the country’s EV battery needs by 2030.

Along with the factory comes a new business park set to create up to 4,000 highly skilled jobs for the region, as well as thousands more across the supply chain for raw minerals and battery materials.

Nuclear is back... just give it some time

Oldbury and Berkeley nuclear power stations may be long closed, but third time’s a charm for a certain Somerset plant. It’s been seven years now since construction began on Hinkley Point C – a two-unit, 3,200 MWe nuclear facility which, if all goes to plan, should be complete later this decade, despite significant cost over-runs.

That was the revised estimate from EDF this January, along with a new price tag of £46 billion. When the project got the green light back in 2016, they were hoping for closer to £18 billion.

Nonetheless, there’s plenty to get excited about. Hinkley Point C is the UK’s first new nuclear power station in more than 20 years and is set to provide low-carbon electricity (lower than both wind and solar, says EDF Energy which is building it) for six million homes. It’s a nationally significant project with serious local impact.

The past few years have brought a multimillion-pound investment in new training facilities and 25,000 local employment opportunities in the construction phase alone. And for every pound invested in the project, says Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, the region is set to gain 2.5 times the value.

Despite mounting costs at Hinkley Point, EDF has found enough room in the budget to pump another £1.3 billion into its five generating nuclear plants between now and 2026, creating plenty more work for its nuclear technical skills base in Gloucester.

Nuclear in a nutshell – small modular reactors

The UK government kicked o the year with the publication of its Civil Nuclear Roadmap, laying out national targets to generate up to 24GW of nuclear power by 2050.

Among the new technologies it’s looking to trial in pursuit of that goal are small modular reactors (SMRs) – each around the size of three football pitches and with the potential to power a million homes.

Government-owned Great British Nuclear has been tasked with doling out contracts for these mini reactors, with six companies emerging last autumn as key players in the race.

But where will they go? Ian Mean, director of Business West Gloucestershire is looking close to home.

“The Western Gateway Severn Edge team put together a bid to build a £220 million prototype fusion plant here”, he said.

“We lost out to Nottinghamshire on that project. But now, I believe that same Western Gateway team can land one of the big SMR sites for Gloucestershire.

“We have a brilliant heritage of nuclear skills, going back to the early days of

nuclear through the expertise of the old Berkeley Laboratory employees.

“So nuclear is in the DNA of our county, with those skills being passed down through generations and companies like EDF.”

Ian is pinning his hopes on Rolls-Royce, one of the six firms shortlisted for the government contract.

As of October 2023, it boasted the only SMR technology currently undergoing European regulatory approval, which CEO Chris Cholerton claims puts the project two years ahead of its rivals.

FUSION FUTURE PUTS LITHIUM IN HIGH DEMAND

Today’s power stations generate power through fission, whereby an atomic nucleus splits apart into smaller nuclei and releases a burst of energy.

But there’s a new kid on the nuclear block, and it’s fusion – once a sci-fi pipe dream, now a multibillion-pound global industry. Fusion works in reverse, having smaller nuclei collide with each other to form a larger nucleus and produce even more energy in the process.

While much of the innovative work in the field right now is centred around Oxfordshire, the University of Bristol has just secured around £3.5 million from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to drive three projects which could prove vital to getting fusion out of the labs and into the real world.

What do they all have in common? Lithium. And catchy acronyms.

First up is CENTRAL, which will see existing centrifugation technologies modified and adapted for the isotopic enrichment of lithium. Buckinghamshire-base nuclear fuel firm Urenco is also set to lend its expertise.

Then comes LIBRA, a project to examine the feasibility of lithium-6 deuteride in the fusion process. This stable isotope of lithium undergoes fission to become tritium, a key fuel for fusion.

Also receiving funding is LEPDOS, an

initiative with Frazer-Nash Consultancy to find innovative plasma-based technologies which could help meet growing demand from nuclear pilot plants for enriched lithium.

Tom Scott, professor of materials at the university’s School of Physics, hailed this as a “superb innovation opportunity for the UK”.

“If we have substantial control over the fuel cycle then our country will stand to benefit substantially from high value jobs and exports,” he said.

The University of Bristol has received £3.5m from the UKAEA

Rolls-Royce SMR could be deployed in Gloucestershire

LANDLORDS SHOULD ACT NOW TO REDUCE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT

The problem that won’t go away – how to get your property portfolio to comply with net zero goals. Landlords can’t do nothing, because change is coming

Commercial buildings represent 23 per cent of the UK’s built environment carbon emissions. All those 1970s, 80s and 90s o ce buildings, historic properties refurbished as o ce space or private retirement homes contribute to that.

But the government is clamping down. Since last April all new and existing commercial lettings must have an EPC rating of E or above unless a valid exemption applies.

So all landlords need to do is invest in upgrading their real estate. Simple. Not simple at all, says Nazar Soofi, Head of Sustainability at leading chartered surveyors Eddisons. This is going to require significant investment, but unless landlords put their hands in their pockets, they will find themselves with a big, empty white elephant building which they can’t easily let or sell.

And cost is not the only factor. There is much frustration across the industry that the government is still drafting these policies, and the delay in introducing clear regulations is already causing uncertainty for commercial landlords.

“Landlords will not be able to continue with an existing tenancy if the EPC is below an E ranking,” Nazar said. “It is currently expected that for commercial property a C rating will be needed by 2027 and B will be the minimum from 2030.

We need a whole new set of people trained in maintaining new green technology such as heat pumps

“But we don’t know for sure, and this lack of clarity from government is adversely a ecting the industry, leaving investors and landlords in a state of hesitation,” he added.

“Upgrading EPCs comes at a cost and the magnitude of the investment needed to push ratings up to B means some landlords are delaying the work.”

But change will come, and Eddisons are advising landlords to start their strategy of investment now, so they won’t face a huge bill in six years’ time.

“Even though the private sector can’t access government funding allocated to public sector buildings, they can obviously o set costs incurred in improving their energy performance rating against tax, because it’s an investment,” said Nazar.

And there are more practical reasons why landlords should begin their investment sooner rather than later: because those who leave it until the last minute could find that increased demand leads to shortages in firms able to carry out the work needed. And if the landlord wants to sell the property without upgrading it, any potential buyer may not be able to get a mortgage on it.

Nazar added: “Eddisons can help landlords develop a practical roadmap to improve their EPC rating. We suggest doing a survey, looking at the options, undertaking the work and finish with seeking an appraisal which should improve your EPC.”

What is happening in the public sector?

The legislation for public sector buildings (such as schools and hospitals) is di erent. They do not require EPCs unless they are to be let commercially. The government has a di erent scheme for them – the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) which supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent by 2037, but there is financial help available for this sector. In 2020 the government set up Salix Finance Ltd. This is a non-departmental public body which will, over the next few years, provide more than £2 billion in grant funding to pay for heat decarbonisation and energy e cient measures.

In some cases, public institutes can also tap into other grants for building improvements such as the lottery or heritage funds. However, these funding pots can be prescriptive on how the money can be used, which can limit how much the EPC rating will improve, said Nazar.

“The Salix PSDS funding is a huge enabler for driving forward the UK’s net zero ambitions, and in the last three years I have help support the delivery of more than £40 million of funded decarbonisation schemes across Leeds City Council’s estate,” he added.

Fabric first approach to reduce energy bills

The golden rule is fabric first to reduce energy bills. “Improving the thermal e ciency of a building reduces its energy demands and therefore the bills,” said Nazar. “But each building should be assessed individually, because while fabric improvements yield the best thermal e ciency and bring down energy demands, they can be costly – and may not necessarily improve the EPC rating.

“Replacing a window in a listed heritage property is much more expensive than that of a standard building. Similarly, improvements in roof insulation can have a significant impact on a building’s e ciency but the work is intrusive and costly.” The big-ticket item to improve an EPC rating will generally be the replacement of fossil fuel with electrified heat, which usually means the building will need a greater electricity supply.

This can come with its own challenges. For example, in an urban area, a property owner can tap into an electricity supply easily, but in a rural area, where the closest supply is further away, this is going to cost significantly more.

If a landlord has invested in making their building more thermally e cient, they will need a smaller heat pump, which is less expensive to run than a larger one. And if a landlord can install solar panels, they will help o set the cost of the heat pump installation and operation.

It’s not just installing environmentallyfriendly technology, it’s servicing and maintaining it too. “We need a whole new set of people trained in maintaining new green technology such as heat pumps,” added Nazar.

For larger commercial buildings, landlords may also need full planning permission. “And on a heritage building that can be di cult, time-consuming and expensive,” he said.

The issue is not going away, so prepare yourself now

“At Eddisons, we’re advising our clients to prepare themselves now. It’s going to be tough, if not impossible for the UK to reach net zero in 2030, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything we can to get there.”

Nazar likens this new commitment to sustainability to the drive for health and safety at the end of the 20th century.

“A culture for sustainability-first needs to develop, just with our now well-established health and safety culture. In the 1980s, the construction industry didn’t have a health and safety culture, but the government legislated, and health and safety in the workplace became the responsibility of senior executives.

“As a result, the number of accidents in the workplace dropped significantly. The industry knows how to handle them, risk assessments are standard – everyone has them. This should be the same for reducing a building’s carbon footprint.

“The responsibility for achieving net zero in a property portfolio must sit at the top of a company,” said Nazar. “Then driving down carbon emissions will become second nature and the cost of sustainability will be factored into day-to-day operations. That’s not happening at the moment.

“Many companies are already investing huge sums, but the steps to get to net zero aren’t always obvious, and for some companies operating in our tough economic climate, it’s easy to drop the issue into the “too hard” basket.

“We are urging them to think strategically, because that’s the only way that they can plan for and structure the financial investment they will need to make.

“The government can help by implementing relatively simple measures such as lifting VAT on refurbishment costs, which will incentivise property owners and drive the right behaviour. It also needs to provide clarity to the industry and a simplified road map to improve EPCs, and ultimately make a dent on the UK’s net zero goals.”

Nazar Soofi, Head of Sustainability at Eddisons

LEGAL FIRM CHECKS INTO BRISTOL’S WELCOME BUILDING

Welcome Building, a new workspace in Bristol being developed in a joint venture between Tristan Capital Partners, and Trammell Crow Company, has leased 44,196 sq ft to international law firm DAC Beachcroft.

The company is taking levels six and seven of the new building which is set to be completed this year.

DAC Beachcroft, one of the largest legal employers in the South West with more than 800 lawyers and sta working in the region, will be moving its Bristol sta to Welcome Building from its current location in Portwall Place.

Toby Pentecost, Senior Vice-President and head of UK o ces at Trammell Crow Company said: “Having recently celebrated the topping out of the site, we are incredibly proud to announce the arrival of DAC Beachcroft. This is a great result underlining the amazing space and amenities Welcome Building has to o er.

“We are in discussions with several other occupiers as we head towards completion.”

James Brodie, Managing Director, at Tristan Capital Partners, added: “Welcome Building is an exemplar development providing highquality ESG-certified workspace.

“Companies are continuing to seek premises which combine best-in-class workspace, modern amenities, ESG

credentials and a great location, all of which Welcome Building o ers.”

Ben Daniels, Bristol Location Head at DAC Beachcroft, added: “Providing our colleagues with a high quality working environment that supports flexible working and collaboration is a priority for us.

“Welcome Building is ideally located in the centre of Bristol with great travel links and adaptable working spaces. We were also impressed by the building's excellent sustainability credentials and its emphasis on creating a local community."

The 207,000 sq ft landmark in the city centre will targeting optimal energy e ciency along with a commitment to create a healthy environment for workers.

A “street” on the ground floor will be able to host events with an open café bar and specially commissioned public art, to foster a collaborative business community. Welcome Building o ers the largest available floorplates in the city ranging from 22,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft.

The building is also connected to the Bristol Heat Network, from which it will extract all of its heat load. This naturally-sourced heat is drawn from the zero-carbon water source heat pump at Castle Park energy centre resulting in no polluting combustion on site.

The Welcombe Building leasing agents are Knight Frank and Alder King.

Rainier to bring forward major Coventry regeneration

A private developer is to bring forward a major regeneration opportunity in Coventry.

Warwickshire-based Rainier Developments is working on new proposals for Sandy Lane Business Park and Sandy Lane Industrial Estate, north of the Coventry Canal Basin.

The former Daimler car factory site has been owned by The Wigley Group since 2006 and has been earmarked for regeneration by Coventry City Council.

The Wigley Group has already transformed the site’s derelict Daimler Powerhouse to create a £2.4 million creative hub which will be retained in any future proposals.

New proposals are likely to include a mix of uses, including new homes, and commercial space in a canal-side location.

Richard Mees, Chief Executive at Rainier Developments Limited, said: “Sandy Lane is one of Coventry’s most exciting regeneration opportunities. We will bring forward proposals which will enhance the local economy and provide value for the city and community.

“The Wigley Group has made significant progress promoting the site for regeneration. Not least bringing Daimler Powerhouse into use as a creative hub. We will build on this legacy as we review the vision for the site.”

CGI of the Welcome Building in Bristol

Former Woolworths building in Hereford wins award for student accommodation

The former Woolworths building in Hereford, which underwent major refurbishment to create modern student accommodation and education premises for engineering and technology students, at the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) has won a national award.

Eign Gate won the Best Purpose-Built Accommodation at the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Awards.

Converting the building to en-suite student accommodation comprising 71 units was complex due to the historic nature of the building, its age and central city location.

Lorna Stimpson, LABC Chief Executive said: “I firmly believe that one of the best ways to see more good work is to praise building excellence and publicly acknowledge companies, designers, site managers and tradespeople who go that extra mile.”

Land deal paves way for 180 new homes in Cheltenham

Tewkesbury-based housing association Bromford has bought two parcels of land owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire County Council on Old Gloucester Road in Cheltenham. The housing association plans to build 180 homes on the combined 16-acre site.

The two pieces of land are next to an existing development, where Bromford is currently building 85 a ordable new homes, which will provide access to the new sites. Bromford started work on this site last year and is due to complete next year.

Bromford’s head of land, Lyndon Parkes, said: “We’ll be using Homes England grant

funding to finance the development as we look to deliver a mix of tenures to meet local demand. We’re already working on the plans for the land and subject to receiving planning permission would hope to start work later this year.

“Having already acquired and started work on the first parcel of land at Old Gloucester Road, buying these two adjoining pieces of land is an ideal opportunity for us to create a joined-up vision for the whole site and to create an attractive and flourishing new neighbourhood. It fits perfectly with our new strategy to acquire and develop larger pieces of land ourselves so we can maximise our impact in an area and really help a place to thrive.”

Plans to revive Mechanics Institute to be put before council

A roadmap which sets out how one of Swindon’s most famous buildings could be brought back into use is back on the agenda of Swindon Borough Council.

The Mechanics Institute, which has never been owned by the council, was built as a social and community centre for Swindon’s Victorian railway workers.

But following the closure of the town’s railway works it has sat empty since 1986 and is currently classed as ‘at risk’.

The building has a complicated ownership history but is currently owned by Forefront Estates. According to reports its only director listed on Companies House, Sarabjit Singh Dhanoa, has no interest in the building and the dereliction is now extreme. It is likely to need tens of millions of pounds to restore it.

The plan asks for £110,000 to progress the project. The council will also work with the Swindon Heritage Preservation Trust (formerly the Mechanics Institution Trust) and Historic England on the future of the building.

Bob Wright, chairman of the Swindon Heritage Preservation Trust, said: “We believe the cabinet paper proposals are the best chance that Swindon has had to deliver a restored Mechanics since the formation of the Trust.”

Let’s talk Scope 3 emissions

Why Scope 3 carbon is important

Like many businesses in recent years, Morgan Lovell has been diligently reporting our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. These are published in our parent company’s carbon reports and, for the most part, they’re straightforward. But, as we now know, Scope 1 and 2 tell only a fraction of the story.

So, we’ve turned our attention to Scope 3 emissions and we’ve learned just how huge and complex these carbon sources are, and how much more work we need to do. We’re the first fit out contractor to publish a report on our Scope 3 emissions.

Our findings are by no means perfect, but we have been as honest and transparent as this challenging exercise demands. We don’t cover every last molecule of carbon dioxide.

This, we’ve discovered, is the nature of the beast. But we’re keen to share where our true carbon impacts are, and to use this report to help improve our working practices, along with our supply chain partners. We’re confident that, in time, we’ll also improve our Scope 3 reporting as our processes generate more accurate results.

Broadly, what are they?

Scope 1

These are emissions that a company makes directly, for example by burning fuel for the vehicles and boilers that it owns and runs itself.

Scope 2

These are emissions that a company makes indirectly, such as the electricity and energy it buys for heating and cooling buildings.

Scope 3

These are all the emissions for which a company is indirectly responsible up and down its value chain. They include emissions related to a company’s purchase, transportation and distribution of goods and services, as well as their customers’ use of sold products. They also account for business-generated waste, end-of-life product disposal and employee commuting and business travel.

Our methodology

How we measured our data (and kept perspective on the minutiae)

In tackling the challenge of measuring our Scope 3 emissions, we followed GHG Protocol guidelines and conducted supplementary research. We encountered obstacles, including difficulties accessing

certain data and methodologies. Focusing on areas less likely to be addressed elsewhere, such as embodied carbon of materials, we prioritised meaningful data over excessive detail. Our emphasis remained on using findings to inform actionable strategies for emission reduction.

Results

Here are the findings for our Scope 1, 2 and most importantly, Scope 3 emissions.

Note: tCO2e stands for tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (e).

Morgan Lovell 2022

Total emissions

63,983 tCO2e

Scope 1 emissions

0.86 tCO2e

Scope 2 emissions

159 tCO2e

Scope 3 emissions

63,823 tCO2e

Breakdown:

Purchased goods and services: 26,948 tCO2e

Fuel and energy related activities: 41 tCO2e

Upstream transportation and distribution: 250 tCO2e

Waste generated: 22 tCO2e

Business travel: 109 tCO2e

Employee commuting: 218 tCO2e

Use of sold products: 34,067 tCO2e

End of life treatment of sold products: 2,168 tCO2e

Other categories, such as capital goods, downstream transportation, and investments, were not applicable.

Conclusions

The unsurprising, the shocking and the scary

• Scope 3 accounts for 99.75% of our carbon emissions.

• Fit out has a problem. While there are achievable wins in terms of designing out materials and reducing wastage, to lower our carbon impact, it is largely down to manufacturers producing much lower carbon products and the industry driving much greater reuse.

• We must ensure that we are alert to the lower embodied carbon products that are available, and that our designers understand the carbon impact of their design decisions.

• Some manufacturers are doing good things, but we need the leaders to keep driving down embodied carbon – and the

followers to catch up fast.

• Focus efforts where carbon is highest; transportation’s impact is minimal compared to extraction and production emissions for high-carbon products.

• The same goes for commuting and business travel, for which combined carbon impact is around 1% of our Scope 3 emissions. It’s not nothing, but it’s tiny compared to that of all the products we specify and install through our supply chain, and their use in our design and build projects, which account for 95%.

• ‘Use of sold products’ is significant for us. We’re progressing by improving design efficiency, embracing energysaving technologies like lowenergy lighting, and reducing energy use intensity. However, we must bridge the performance gap by collaborating with clients and occupants to ensure efficient use of our fit outs.

• Reuse, reuse, reuse. We knew this already but, with the limitations on reducing embodied carbon in new products, we must overcome barriers to reusing and repurposing products. As a sector, this should be a common goal.

The way forward

How we must now tackle Scope 3 –all of us together

The more of us in the fit out industry who put pressure on reducing our Scope 3 emissions, the better a market we’ll create for lower carbon products, lower carbon design and greater reuse.

At some point, we’ll reach a critical mass where clients, designers, services engineers and site delivery teams, without even trying particularly hard to reduce their carbon impact, will deliver low carbon spaces due to the low carbon nature of the now-standard methods and products.

But we can’t just wait for the sector to get there organically. We need everyone to understand that Scope 3 is where all the carbon is – and how every decision we make will impact our carbon output.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint what constitutes net zero ambition, one thing’s for certain: we need to start as a sector by admitting we have a carbon problem. We must adopt –and commit to – radical changes in how projects are briefed, designed, procured and delivered. Only then can we make the carbon reductions required so the sector can do its bit in helping the UK and wider global community reach net zero targets.

To delve deeper into our Scope 3 emissions journey, including insights into how we calculated our figures, read the full report by scanning the QR code.

Hybrid working means we can all pretty much live anywhere. So where would you like to live? We look at some of the most attractive, well-connected towns and cities across the region

By Nicky Godding, Editor

AND CITIES COOL TOWNS

Bath

Home to the British bobsleigh and skeleton teams (at the university), Bath is more widely known as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Roman Baths which house the city’s hot springs, and its beautiful Georgian architecture. In fact the city attracts more than six million visitors a year.

Like Bristol (just 12 miles down the road), Bath is a hub for the creative industries and – like its near neighbour – has two universities.

Bristol

The city most recently made headlines in 2020 when a statue of 17th century Bristol slave trader Edward Colston was hurled into the harbour. But despite its lessthan-salubrious history (which, let’s face it, is shared by many other cities), Bristol is full of fabulous small shopping streets alongside major shopping areas such as Cabot Circus. Its universities are thriving, and the city is a hub for life sciences, aerospace engineering and the creative industries in particular.

Cheltenham

The town with a surfeit of international festivals – racing, jazz, classical, literary, science, food and drink. It’s also home to the government’s listening station, GCHQ, one of the town’s biggest employers which has spawned a thriving cyber security industry around it.

It’s been a spa town since 1716, but sadly, in 2021 the waters at the town’s Pittville Pump Rooms were declared unfit for human consumpton due to bacteria.

Cheltenham Gold Cup is an annual draw for tens of thousands of racegoers

Cirencester

Known as The Capital of the Cotswolds, it’s home to the world’s tallest yew hedge, which wraps around the stately Cirencester Park. There’s one of the country’s oldest outdoor swimming pools, and the small, perfectly formed and award-winning Barn Theatre. It’s also home to the mighty wealth management company St James’s Place, and other notable businesses.

Chippenham

Another town which can trace its heritage back to Saxon and Viking times, Chippenham sits on the River Avon in what could be considered a most enviable location – close to the M4, with its own train station connecting directly to London.

Call Chippenham a commuter town if you wish, but it’s probably one of the only a ordable towns along the whole of the M4 for those wishing to jump on the housing ladder – and has a thriving industrial sector.

Clevedon

Here’s a left-field suggestion: a small seaside town close to Bristol which grew in the 1850s when wealthy businessmen decided to build homes away from city smog. More recently property agents have highlighted the city’s charms, including the UK’s oldest public outdoor swimming pool (built in 1815 and recently fully restored), and a Grade 1 listed pier. There aren’t many big companies here, but if you want seaside cool, Clevedon is a serious contender.

Coventry

As the UK’s 2021 City of Culture, Coventry attracted more than eight million visitors celebrating its industrial heritage and its beautiful 20th century cathedral, built next to the one bombed during the Second World War.

This year the city is hosting a Godiva Festival, celebrating the 13th century noblewoman who rode naked through the streets of Coventry to campaign against her husband’s excessive taxation.

Another city founded by the Romans. Economic growth arrived during the 19th century when a canal was built giving Gloucester access to the open sea. The UK’s most inland port was built to facilitate global trade.

It was also where the first jet aircraft were built during the Second World War and many successful global companies (which still call the city home today) grew out of the Gloucester Aircraft Company.

Gloucester

Gloucester Docks

Worcester

The final battle of the English Civil War took place in Worcester in 1651, where Oliver Cromwell’s army defeated King Charles II’s Royalists.

The city is also home to a beautiful cathedral, and the famous Worcestershire Sauce – developed by chemists Mr Lee and Mr Perrins in the 1830s.

More recently, it was the birthplace of the Worcester domestic heating boiler, established by engineer Cecil Duckworth in 1962 and bought by the German manufacturer Bosch in 1992. Worcester Bosch is still one of the city’s most successful businesses.

Leamington Spa

Leamington Spa is known for its Regency architecture, broad boulevards and the Royal Pump Rooms, now home to Leamington Spa’s art gallery and museum.

But surprisingly the town is also a hotspot for the gaming industry. Huge industry names, including Codemasters, Ubisoft, Playground and Sega Hardlight, call Leamington Spa home.

South West & West Midlands edition: Bristol & Bath, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire & Hereford, Coventry & Warwickshire, Swindon & North Wiltshire

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