The Business Magazine South West & West Midlands - Issue 34 November 2023

NOVEMBER 2023

south west and west midlands

INSIDE:

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE R.I.P LEPS – WHAT’S NEXT FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS SUPPORT 10 COOL SPIN-OUT COMPANIES NEED TO KNOW: EDGE COMPUTING HUMAN RESOURCES – THE FUTURE OF WORK Skills Career Ahead Cyber Deals Science & Technology Manufacturing

NOVEMBER | LAUNCHPAD

BUILDING THE FUTURE STARTS AT HOME Being part of a community helps us grow and flourish, being part of a business community also improves productivity and raises regional competitiveness Earlier this year the government announced that it was shutting down local enterprise partnerships (LEPS). Launched in 2011, these business-led partnerships have supported ambitious SMEs and brought together the private sector with civic and academic stakeholders to drive growth, create jobs and bring a sense of community to the region’s business environment.

By and large they were a force for good, so why close them down? The chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that the government wanted to “empower democratically elected local leaders” and so, from next year, the function of LEPs in many areas (but not all), will be delivered by local government rather than continue to operate as voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses.

Where does that leave business support for ambitious young companies? Our feature looks at what’s on offer across the region now that LEPs will soon have met the same fate as the erstwhile regional developments agencies and business links.

This issue also showcases 10 of the most exciting university spin-out companies in our Cool Spin-outs feature.

However, our main feature focuses on residential development. Britain isn’t building enough houses. It’s a political hot potato, but where do the real challenges lie? Our front cover feature considers the

Nicky Godding Print Editor

challenges faced by planners, developers and all those throughout the chain.

In this issue we also report from the front line that is Human Resources. We invited a dozen people for lunch and grilled them on the biggest issues for human resources directors. It boils down to people, policies, skills and expectations – the challenges never go away. We hear directly how they are recruiting, retaining and reskilling their staff.

Our interviews in this issue include a construction skills boss whose early experience in human resources motivated her to establish a new construction skills training centre – just as the pandemic hit.

We also meet a scientist-turned-investor who is building one of the country’s most successful science incubators in Bristol.

And we introduce you to the man who turned his back on a successful career in investment banking and returned to his mining roots in Cornwall. Jeremy Wrathall is pioneering a new lithium mining industry in a county known historically for its tin and china clay industries. We don’t usually cover Cornwall in this magazine but I’ve made an exception because lithium is so important to the country’s electric ambitions, and to the region’s automotive and aerospace sectors.

I hope you enjoy the read.

Kirsty Muir Business Manager South West & West Midlands

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS 06 IN THE HEADLINES

20 Jeremy Wrathall, Cornish Lithium  26 Nicola Bird, AccXel  32 Dr Harry Destecroix, Science Creates

23 REGIONAL FOCUS

56 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY REGIONAL FOCUS Business success stories from across 23 Gloucestershire 29 Bristol, Avon & Wiltshire 35 Worcestershire 38 Coventry & Warwickshire

PLATFORMS 41 46 50 52 56 58

Skills Career Ahead Cyber & IT Deals Science & Technology Manufacturing

NOVEMBER | CONTENTS

In the headlines

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FRONT COVER FEATURE BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

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The UK is in the midst of a housing crisis. We look at where the challenges lie

Ambitious Leader:

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Jeremy Wrathall, Cornish Lithium We meet the man pioneering a new UK lithium industry

Regional focus

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Business news from across Gloucestershire, Coventry & Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Bristol, Avon and Wiltshire

Ambitious Leader:

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Nicola Bird, AccXel has led the building and opening of the UK’s first industry-led construction training school

Ambitious Leader:

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Dr Harry Destecroix, Science Creates was able to capitalise on his scientific discovery early, now he’s helping other deep tech founders match his success

Skills:

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We meet a Crossfit gym owner and find out how he’s turning his love of fitness in to a career

Career Ahead:

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Promotions and progressions across the region

74 FEATURE 10 COOL SPIN-OUTS We meet some of the most exciting young companies Which have spun out of the region’s universities

NEED TO KNOW: Edge Computing

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Data where it matters

Cyber & IT

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Deals

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We report the latest financial deals across the region

Science and technology

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Manufacturing

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FEATURE: RIP LEPs

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Who’s going to help ambitious SMEs Now?

FEATURE: HR Directors Lunch

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10 Cool Spin-outs

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We meet some of the most exciting young companies which have spun out of the region’s universities

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IN THE HEADLINES

Gloucestershire Science & Technology Park overlooks the River Severn

FOR SALE: THE COUNTRY’S FIRST REPURPOSED NUCLEAR SITE, NOW A BUSINESS PARK South Gloucestershire and Stroud College has put its flagship Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park at Berkeley Green up for sale.

The Park is unique in that it is the first time that British nuclear facilities have been successfully ’recycled’ for an educational enterprise.

The Park was established in 2016 when South Gloucestershire and Stroud College Group (SGS) paid £3 million to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to secure the redundant Berkeley site.

Add to that a £7 milllion investment from GFirstLEP, the county’s local enterprise partnership, and SGS cracked on, saving and adapting some buildings scheduled for demolition, and building new training facilities.

This included the county’s first University Technical College (UTC), which currently has around 400 students drawn from across the county and the Bristol region.

Kevin Hamblin, chief executive of SGS, said: “Berkeley Green is a strategic asset to Gloucestershire, but as a college we

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cannot do anything novel or anything that requires us to borrow money. The site needs money put into it for development so our only option is to sell the lease to the land.”

The Berkeley site is around 45 acres with just over 50 acres of riverbed on the Severn.

Ten organisations, including the University Technical College currently occupy site.

The UTC, which will not be part of the sale offers technical education for 14-18 year olds in engineering, digital and cyber and is one of 44 such technical colleges across the UK which collectively educate around 19,000 students.

Over the last seven years SGS has successfully repurposed some of the site as Gloucestershire Science & Technology Park.

As well as being home to the UTC, the site is also home to C11 Cyber, which is equipped with a mass of technology and digital security to support the growth of specialist firms in a discreet environment, a Low Carbon Centre, Gloucestershire

Police's training centre, called the Sabrina Centre, and most recently the Active Building Centre Low Carbon training facilities, which have now closed.

Other buildings on the park are occupied by science and technology businesses.

With the region’s big green energy ambitions, It is a huge opportunity for the right buyer.

Berkeley Nuclear Power Station

In the 1960s Berkeley Centre, as it was known then, was one of the UK’s three key research centres for the nuclear power industry. About 750 staff worked at the labs including 200 scientists and engineers, supported by technicians, designers and admin staff. The power station next door employed a further 1,750 at its peak.

IN THE HEADLINES

More than 500 investors back Milbotix’s dementia-fighting SmartSocks A University of Bristol spin-out is aiming to transform care for people with dementia and non-verbal autism.

Milbotix, has attracted pledges worth more than £550,000 from around 500 investors in crowdfunding platform Crowdcube’s early access phase.

Milbotix aims to raise £200,000 to unlock £500,000 in already-secured government grants.

The company came about after Dr Zeke Steer quit his job and took up a robotics PhD. He also began volunteering in a care home to help people like his great-grandmother, who had become anxious and aggressive because of dementia.

care homes and could help people with dementia live longer in their own homes. They look and feel like normal socks, are machine washable and have received positive reviews in care home tests.

How Milbotix’ dementia socks work

The result is his SmartSocks, which track heart rate, sweat levels and motion to help monitor the wearer’s wellbeing – most importantly how distressed they are.

The AI-driven data gives carers vital early warnings before falls, allowing them to intervene before anxiety escalates.

The socks could be a game-changer in

Dr Steer said: “It’s been incredible to see so many people getting behind our mission: to improve care for the millions of people living with dementia worldwide.

“Every year 200,000 people are diagnosed with dementia in the UK alone, affecting not just them but their families and carers too.

“We are determined to bring SmartSocks to market to improve the lives of people affected by this terrible disease.”

Trial proves potential to deliver crucial medical supplies by drone Crucial medical supplies could be delivered to hospitals via drones after the success of a major trial proved their potential to save time, money and carbon emissions.

the day and in different weather conditions and cut down the delivery time to just 18 minutes compared to around 45 minutes by van across the 32km journey.

Coventry-based Skyfarer Ltd, Medical Logistics UK and drone manufacturer Phoenix Wings conducted the feasibility pilot with NHS Trust hospitals in Coventry and Rugby.

Without restrictions around flight path, it could have completed the journey in just eight minutes.

The three-month trial saw medical supplies moved between the two hospitals from a regional hub using drones, designed and manufactured in Germany

by Phoenix Wings. That was followed by a further trial with an Orca drone, which is faster and can carry a 15kg payload, compared to 500 grams.

The Medical Logistics UK corridor connected 32km of airspace between the two hospitals and saw a host of supplies moved across the skies by drone in a process managed by Skyfarer.

Flights took place at a range of times in

Overall, it led to a carbon saving of more than 85 per cent.

The trial, approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, also had the backing of mobile network providers, including BT, to ensure the drone had the strongest connectivity in flight.

Georgia Hanrahan, of Skyfarer, said: “More people have walked on the moon than been given the permissions to do the kind of trial we have carried out.

“We’ve operated in daytime, night-time and in restricted airspace around commercial and recreational flights. We’ve been tested in a lot of different areas when it comes to

Skyfarer and Medical Logistics UK see success after drone trial

using this technology for medical supplies and we have proved that the feasibility of using drones for medical supplies works.”

Elliot Parnham, of Skyfarer, added: “This aircraft really opens up the market for logistical deliveries within the NHS. “It allows us to take much larger payloads over longer distances much more reliably.

“It also gives us the opportunity to move from niche deliveries to a daily occurrence of life-saving supplies for the NHS.” Skyfarer was founded in 2017 by Elliot, an aerospace and engineering graduate from Coventry University with the aim of using drones for good in society.

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IN THE HEADLINES

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL? COVENTRY’S CREATIVE QUARTER IS THRIVING Coventry’s only music shop and a miniature garden centre are blooming into life at FarGo Village – the popular creative quarter just outside the city centre where three other businesses are also expanding.

FarGo Village opened in 2014. Costing £5 million, it was built by Complex Development Projects working with Coventry City Council. It now attracts more than 250,000 visitors per year and is well established as a venue and community space.

The village has now welcomed AM Music which sells instruments and music equipment and offers tuition on drums, piano, saxophone and guitar in a soundproofed studio.

Former secondary school music teacher Aaron Moloney set up the business after organising Jazz Jam sessions and music events at FarGo. He said: “There isn’t a music shop in Coventry city centre any more apart from

Aaron Moloney (AM Music), Kirsty Viney (Events Manager, The Box), Steve Randle (Black Flag Horticulture) and Qifen Bi (BIB Noodle Bar) at FarGo Village

a guitar shop and nowhere you can buy drums. I wanted to teach in an enjoyable environment.

the creative development of the artists as well as employing a number of freelance artists.”

Black Flag Horticulture has also opened, selling garden and horticultural products.

James King, said: “FarGo Village has friendly, creative and quirky businesses and we’re trying to encourage a more creative attitude to gardening and considering different species of plants to grow.”

Sustainable fashion skate shop Project Number 5 has moved to Container 12 and will be introducing a skateboard ramp, while BiB Noodle Bar has expanded into Unit 13D.

Art Riot Collective is also supporting three artists in their own artist studios in the market hall area of FarGo Village.

Qifen Bi, of BiB Noodle Bar, said: “We have built BiB around our customers, who in turn have become friends. FarGo has been a great help in getting the business off the ground which has been enjoyable but hard work.”

Kyla Craig, its Creative Director, said: “Art Riot Collective recently received funding from Art Council England. This will support

All these additions have been followed by Kirsty Viney joining the FarGo Village team as an Events Manager.

World-famous artist Phlegm paints Sutcliffe office Insurance brokers aren’t generatlly known for their appreciation of creativity, but Sutcliffe & Co is clearly different. It unveiled a jaw-dropping piece of artwork at its head office on Foundry Street, Worcester by the acclaimed artist Phlegm as part of this year’s Worcester Paint Festival.

Paint Festival, Duncan Sutcliffe, MD at Sutcliffe & Co Insurance Brokers said: “We eagerly awaited Phlegm’s visit and it was a pleasure to have him on site.

The London-based artist, known for his self-published comics and unique street art style, spent a week painting the wall at Sutcliffe & Co.

Kate Cox, Worcester Paint Festival Director said, “My team and I have been huge admirers of Phlegm’s work for well over a decade and we are so pleased that Duncan and the team love this new headline wall.”

A dedicated supporter of the Worcester

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“I would like to thank Worcester Paint Festival for allowing us to be part of such a special event.”

Phlegm’s mural in Worcester

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

BUILDING FUTURE The UK is in the midst of a housing crisis. Everywhere you look, housing developments are popping up, but they just aren't being built quickly enough

By Pete Davison, Deputy Editor

Britain has a severe housing crisis.

According to a recent report by the nonpartisan urban policy research unit Centre for Cities, vacancy rates are below one per cent.

The organisation's recent report, The Housebuilding Crisis, says the UK has a building backlog of a staggering 4.3 million homes. Even if the government's target to build 300,000 new homes a year is reached – which it won't be – it would take half a century to catch up.

Tackling the problem sooner, say the report's authors, would require 442,000 homes per year over the next 25 years or 654,000 per year over the next decade in England alone.

A political hot potato In the 2010s, a decade presided over by the Conservatives, 1.3 million homes were built, according to the housing charity Shelter. That sounds a lot, but by contrast, three million homes were built in the sixties. And the government's own data shows planning permission for new houses in the first three months of this year was at its lowest in 15 years, representing a fall of more than 10 per cent on last year.

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

UK planning policy has held back the economy for nearly three quarters of a century

Labour might have had 13 years of watching from the sidelines while various Conservative governments publish targets and set policy but as the Centre for Cities report suggests, Britain’s housing supply issues began not when Margaret Thatcher launched the Right to Buy in the 1980s, but way back when the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 was introduced.

Clement Attlee's Labour Party introduced legislation which established that planning permission was required for land development. Ownership alone no longer conferred the right to develop the land.

Housebuilding rates in England and Wales have dropped by more than a third after the introduction of the Act, from two per cent growth per year between 1856 and 1939 to 1.2 per cent between 1947 and 2019, according to the Centre for Cities.

The developers’ dilemma The biggest challenge that developers are having to deal with is the planning system.

Talk to pretty much any planning consultant or developer and they will say that there is a crisis in our planning system.

Local authorities are under-resourced and struggle to deal with all the applications they receive in a timely way.

On top of that, risk-averse planning officers will often ask developers for additional reports that are irrelevant to the application, say developers. This causes further delays and adds costs.

But developers say all they want to do is to build houses in the right place at the right time for the market. That’s their lifeblood.

Delays such as these mean that planning isn’t being granted in time.

And it’s these delays which are contributing to the housing shortage.

The government wants to build 300,000 new homes a year and they’ve never yet come close. That figure includes social housing – which makes up to 40 per cent of all residential housing planning permissions. If developers are not getting planning permissions, the knock-on effect is that they are not able to deliver on social housing either.

found evidence that pretty much every one had been opposed – petitions from homeowners complaining about increased traffic, a loss of public amenity, a lack of existing infrastructure.

But that’s not the only problem. Layer on top of that increased labour and materials costs and rising interest rates and the houses which are being built are taking longer to sell.

Another major obstacle to solving our housing crisis is perceived to be a lack of land suitable for housebuilding. But is that true? Perhaps in some places, but not in others.

The government needs to speed up the planning process and cut out some of the bureaucracy, say developers who don’t want to hold on to stock.

They want to build and move on to the next project – which is exactly what the government wants.

According to Ordnance Survey data, 11,000 acres of land in Greater London alone – double the footprint of the borough of Hackney where 260,000 people live – is given over to golfing, which is the world’s most space-intensive sport.

For the market to work as it should, investors and developers also need to have an appetite for land, and with interest rates the way they are, that’s not likely to happen until later 2024. It’s going to be choppy waters for the next few months.

The Land Promoters and Developers Federation says house building is a long game which is made longer when raw materials and labour are in short supply.

"We should all be striving to address the housing emergency that exists in this country to provide the opportunity for all generations to have a place that they can call home," they say.

Nimbys and golfers According to a recent survey by the Home Builders Federation, the trade association representing private sector homebuilders in England and Wales, and whose members deliver around 80 per cent of new homes built each year, 68 per cent of people agree that building more homes is vital, while 80 per cent are supportive or not averse to new homes being built in their local area.

But while researching housing developments across the South East, South West and West Midlands, we

NIMBYs (Not in My Back Yard) are renowned for launching petitions and campaigns. And local councils and members of parliament know these people are voters – they tend to get heard.

Tackling the challenge on many fronts The housing problem is multi-faceted.

The UK’s planning system is broken, the cost of land is rising, interest rates are also rising for the developers, along with the cost of labour and materials, and mortgage interest rates are rising for home-owners, so demand for new homes is dropping. If developers can’t secure planning permissions, they won’t be able to build the social housing that is so desperately needed.

Britain needs new homes, and probably the best way to begin to solve the problem is planning reform, according to Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of the Centre for Cities.

“UK planning policy has held back the economy for nearly three-quarters of a century, stifling growth and exacerbating a housing crisis that has blighted the country for decades.

“Big problems require big solutions and if the government is to clear its backlog of unbuilt homes, it must first deliver planning reform. Failure to do this will only continue to limit England’s housebuilding potential and prevent millions from getting on the property ladder.”

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS LEAD THE WAY IN PROVIDING GOOD QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HOMES Britain needs houses. But with availability scarce and prices at a premium, many households are relying on housing associations and their commercial partners to build good quality houses for sale or rent at an affordable price In September, housing association Bromford secured £100 million from investors to fund its ambitious housebuilding programme.

In the three years since Bromford last went to the market, the 46,000-home housing association, based in Gloucestershire, has delivered more than 4,700 new and retrofitted homes.

The £100 million will help fund the organisation’s ongoing development programme, which aims to complete 12,000 new homes over the next eight years.

Bromford’s director of treasury, Imran Mubeen, said: “These funds will enable us to continue to invest in the delivery of muchneeded new affordable housing across the West Midlands and West of England.

They will also fund our broad and ambitious sustainability programme which includes decarbonising more of our existing homes, improving diversity across our organisation, and coaching more of our customers into employment and training.”

Lloyds Bank acted as sole placement agent on the deal, with Newbridge Advisors LLP providing treasury advice and Trowers & Hamlins LLP legal advice to Bromford, while Addleshaw Goddard LLP acted as counsel for investors.

The £100 million private placement follows

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“These funds will enable us to continue to invest in the delivery of muchneeded new affordable housing across the West Midlands and West of England” a £75 million sustainability-linked revolving credit facility that Bromford secured with ABN AMRO in June and a £50 million sector-first innovative funding partnership with Legal and General Investment Management in August.

Bromford has consistently been one of the top 10 biggest housebuilding housing associations over the past three years and last year completed 1,265 new homes, the most it has ever built in a 12-month period. It aspires to be the top developer of affordable housing in Gloucestershire and the wider M5 corridor. The housing association recently received planning permission for its biggest development to date, of 180 new homes on the outskirts of Gloucester.

The Oakfield development, Swindon

Building society turns house builder to help with affordability crisis Building society Nationwide is better known as a mortgage lender than a housing developer, but in 2017 the mutual decided to put its (members’) money where its mouth is, and develop a community-led housing project in its home town of Swindon.

In a survey conducted that year, 80 per cent of members said they wanted the society to invest in the building of new housing.

So the society announced its intention to redevelop the Oakfield School site, a five-hectare brownfield space allocated for housing.

It’s been a long road – not helped by the pandemic, and the original construction partner going into administration – but in August this year the first of 239 homes was completed.

All the homes are fitted with solar panels, powered by air source heat pumps, and will reach an EPC efficiency rating of A. Thirty per cent have been designated ‘affordable’ through a mix of shared ownership and affordable rent.

The £50 million project’s sustainability won the inaugural Building for a Healthy Life award at the Housing Design Awards 2021.

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Quercus Road in Tetbury

Tetbury development named best in the Cotswolds White Horse Housing, contractors and representatives of the Seend community celebrate the protective covering coming off £2.8 million sustainable homes

HOUSING ASSOCIATION HOMES BUILT TO 'PASSIVHAUS' STANDARDS ARE CHEAP AND EASY TO HEAT White Horse Housing Association has lifted the lid on its ground-breaking £2.8 million low energy homes development in Wiltshire almost a year after work commenced.

Ten new sustainable homes at Hook Hollow on the site of the former Park Farm in Seend Cleeve, have been built to rigorous “passivhaus” standards – which means they will be incredibly energy efficient, resulting in relatively lower costs for the new residents in a time of high energy prices.

Construction began last August with a provisional completion date of this month.

The development has four two-bedroom, one three-bedroom and two one-bedroom homes for rent as well as two threebedroom and one two-bedroom for shared ownership sale.

Both the rental and the shared ownership homes will be occupied by families and people with a local connection.

A new housing development in Tetbury has been named the best in the Cotswolds.

Housing association Bromford’s development of 30 new homes at Quercus Road in Tetbury scooped the top Local Building Excellence Award 2023 as well as the Best Social Housing project award at Cotswold District Council’s Local Building Excellence Awards.

The development was one of hundreds of projects that were assessed by the council’s building control team during 2022. The awards are designed to recognise exemplary projects delivering high-quality housing, building and civil engineering projects in the Cotswold District.

Bromford’s Development Director, Amanda Swann, said: “The dedication and quality of work that goes into creating these houses for us at Bromford is second to none and we’re really pleased that’s been recognised by the council.”

Toffee-tin perfect for new homes in Worcestershire Bellway South Midlands is welcoming visitors to a new development on the former Blue Bird toffee factory site in Hunnington.

collection of two, three, four and fivebedroom properties on the site.

Developers secured permission to build houses on the Blue Bird Toffee site in 2021 and Bellway demolished the old factory earlier this year, but retained the listed Administration and Welfare Buildings as they are due to be converted into 22 apartments by another developer.

The former factory was built by Harry Vincent, who started the confectionery company and initially called the toffee Harvino but later changed the name to Blue Bird. The toffee became famous for its taste and its decorative tins which featured a swallow motif and are still prized by collectors today.

Bellway South Midlands is to build a

The development will be known as

Harvino to celebrate the original brand name. The factory producing the confectionery was opened in 1927 but closed its doors in 1998.

Matt Knight, Construction Director for Bellway South Midlands, said: “This project will continue the tradition of homebuilding on the site by turning this disused brownfield land into an attractive and sustainable community. Harvino has been designed to offer a wide range of properties to help meet the needs of the local housing market.”

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Brownfield urban regeneration could deliver more than 1.3 million new homes says new report

Alan Yates, chairman (left) and Mark Grady, managing director (right) of Liberty Developments on site at Wallows Road to see work get underway on 30 energy efficient homes that will be made available at affordable rents

GLASSWORKS WILL MAKE WAY FOR £5.9 MILLION 30-HOME DEVELOPMENT A former glassworks and builder’s merchants will be transformed into 30 affordable homes, thanks to a £5.9 million development.

development is a perfect example of the type of forward-looking housing scheme we want to see replicated across our region.

West Midlands social housing provider Citizen is working with Liberty Developments, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Homes England to build the housing at the former Wood & Moore Builders Merchants in Wallows Road, Brierley Hill, which was also previously used as a glassworks.

“Not only is it breathing new life into a brownfield site, helping to protect our precious green belt, it is also using advanced methods of construction. This supports the new, low carbon industries of the future now springing up across the West Midlands, creating well-paid jobs for local people.

The new homes will be built using modern methods of construction and the latest low carbon technology.

Liberty Developments will build the properties and more than 25 per cent of them will meet the WMCA advanced manufacture in construction zero carbon home requirement.

They will feature low carbon components produced off-site in a factory and will adhere to strict criteria to meet the zerocarbon target.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said: “This

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“But most importantly of all, these brownfield housing schemes are helping to keep us on track in achieving our target of building 215,000 new homes by 2031. This is crucial if we are to tackle the housing shortage that is driving up prices to such an extent that many people are struggling to afford to buy or rent a good quality home.”

The Wallows Road homes are the latest homes to be built as a direct result of a ‘brownfield first’ approach by the WMCA to invest tens of millions of pounds throughout the pandemic to unlock derelict industrial sites for new housing and commercial premises.

New research by Development Economics on behalf of developers British Land, Landsec and the Surrey-based Berkeley Group, which builds houses across the West Midlands and South of England, has highlighted the scale of the opportunity available from redeveloping urban brownfield land in the UK. The research focuses on 16 of the largest areas, where the pressure for development is the most intense.

These include the West Midlands (including Coventry and Solihull) and West of England (including Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire).

The report’s findings show a significant untapped opportunity, which could deliver more than 14 million jobs in office, industrial and logistics space located on urban brownfield sites and nearly £185 billion of additional Gross Value Added directly from business activity occurring on those sites.

Rob Perrins, Chief Executive at The Berkeley Group said: “Development within our towns and cities has gone through a steep and lasting decline as well-meaning changes to planning, tax and regulatory regimes create a rigid and complex system which blocks investment. The good news is that targeted changes can unlock brownfield regeneration very quickly and realise the hugely positive outcomes they can deliver for the communities around them.”

The report follows the government’s announcement in January that councils across England could bid for a share of £60 million to bring neglected urban areas back into use and support regeneration projects.

When looking specifically at housing development, the Berkeley Group, Landsec and British Land report said that more than 518,000 new homes could also be built on current and expected future brownfield land by 2035, in the 16 urban areas included in the study. This increases to more than one million new homes in a more ambitious scenario,

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE reflecting higher densities already being achieved in urban areas.

Where housing densities are increased in line with the government’s proposed uplift in housing targets in England’s 20 largest cities and urban areas, it would be possible to deliver over 1.3 million new homes on previously developed land in the 16 study areas, the report reveals.

Development on urban brownfield land could go a long way towards meeting the country’s urgent need to deliver more homes, particularly if delivered at higher densities, but the report recognises that increased densities may not be appropriate or desirable in every urban setting.

Developers need to consult with local authorities to identify the most appropriate balance of uses and densities in each location.

The report reiterates the wide belief across the industry that the UK’s planning system remains a significant barrier to achieving the regeneration, housing delivery and economic growth.

Local authority planning departments need more resources, tax incentives need to be created for urban regeneration along with ways of connecting communities more directly to the benefits of development. Real, measurable opportunities for communities to engage in the planning process should be explored, the report’s authors say.

The planned Novers Hill site in Bristol

Winning design revealed for Novers Hill site in Bristol Around 50 new homes are planned on the site of a former school at Knowle West, Bristol.

Bristol-based GCP Chartered Architects won a design competition launched by Goram Homes to submit imaginative and ecologically innovative proposals for the former school site at Novers Hill in Knowle West, which borders the Western Slopes.

Around 50 homes are planned for the new development, with ambitions for at least half to be affordable in

planning terms – for social rent and shared ownership. GCP’s winning design shows a mixture of one- bedroom apartments with either private or communal gardens, and two and three-bedroom houses, all with private gardens and views across the Western Slopes.

Goram Homes is now working towards a planning submission.

The design competition was supported by Bristol Housing Festival and included an anonymous first stage before deciding the shortlist.

Gloucester Cattle Market to get 300 new homes Rooftop Housing Association has inked a deal with Gloucester City Council for a new 300-home urban village.

Mark Allan, CEO at Landsec said: “This research clearly demonstrates the opportunity available through brownfield urban regeneration, an opportunity that we believe can be easily unlocked through simple changes to the planning regime, ahead of wider reform.”

The scheme, which has been backed by £2.2 million from the government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund, will see a third of the houses available for private sale and a third set aside for social rent, with the remaining portion sold under shared ownership.

Cllr Stephanie Chambers, cabinet member for Planning and Housing Strategy at Gloucester City Council, said: “The majority of this development will provide affordable homes for our community, with a mixture of social and affordable rented homes, and shared ownership homes along with some private housing. This will help to create a mixed and balanced community.

We are confident that by working with Rooftop not only will we be able to increase the supply of homes available for local people but also make sure they are of a high quality and sustainable as well.”

Simon Carter, CEO at British Land said: “Britain has a housing crisis and a productivity crisis and solving both problems is key to returning our country to sustainable, long-term growth. Unlocking urban regeneration through a series of easily deliverable measures would pay huge dividends for the nation.”

Rooftop’s Group Chief Executive, Boris Worrall said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to invest in the City of Gloucester, a city that’s thriving with the redevelopment of the Docks and the King’s Quarter. We look forward to early engagement with the local community on the design of this new development.”

MP Richard Graham, said: “This agreement between our city council and Rooftop for 300 homes at St Oswald’s is the biggest new brownfield development in Gloucester for a decade. It’s also Rooftop’s largest ever development and I congratulate them and Gloucester City Council on this partnership.”

The regeneration of brownfield land is widely recognised as the most sustainable way to tackle the deepening housing crisis, drive growth and reduce inequalities for future generations.

The homes will be built on derelict land at St Oswald’s Park, the site of the former Gloucester Cattle Market which has laid dormant for years.

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

TEN KEY HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SOUTH WEST AND WEST MIDLANDS

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M42

Nuneaton

Birmingham We look at some of the Stourbridge biggest housing developments Solihull in the South West and M5 Kidderminster West Midlands Bromsgrove

M6

Coventry

M40

Redditch

Tenbury Wells

6

Royal Leamington Spa

Sp Droitwich Spa

9

Leominster Bromyard

orcester Worcester

Stratford-upon-Avon

Evesham

Hereford M50

Tewkesbury esbury M5

Ross-on-Wye

Broadway

4

Moreton-in-Marsh Chipping Norton

1

Cheltenham Gloucester

Bourton-on-the-Water

10

Witney Stroud

Lydney

Cirencester

Chepstow M4

3 Patchway atchwayy atchwa Portishead

2

Bristol

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Malmesbury Yate M4 Chippenham Chippenha

8

Swindon

Wantage

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

The developments - many ‘mixed use’ that combine homes with employment space - will provide hundreds of new houses in the region

1

Golden Valley, Cheltenham

Cheltenham Borough Council’s Golden Valley Development will bring 3,700 new homes, 12,000 new jobs and two million sq ft of commercial space to a 200-hectare site near GCHQ. Cyber security is at the heart of the development – many of the new businesses and new residents will be part of the cyber security industry.

2

Soapworks, Bristol

Located near Temple Meads railway station in Bristol, the £215 million Soapworks development will bring 180,000 sq ft of workspace and 243 new build-to-rent homes to Gardiner Haskins’ 19th-century soap factory site.

The historic building will be sensitively redeveloped while the development will include a cultural space and biodiverse green spaces, forming a connection between the city’s commercial centre at Temple Quay and the cultural quarter at Old Market.

3

Brabazon, South Gloucestershire Located on the South Gloucestershire/North Bristol border, the Brabazon development will see the historic Filton Airfield – established in 1910 and the birthplace of supersonic Concorde – converted into a new neighbourhood of homes and workplaces.

Initially, 2,675 new homes are planned for the site, although the local plan makes provision for more than 5,000. A separate element of the masterplan for Brabazon includes an arena for live events.

4

Perrybrook, Tewkesbury

The Perrybrook development near the A417 and M5 in Gloucestershire will bring 1,500 homes to the area in seven phases.

Building is well under-way with big names including Bellway Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson and Linden Homes adding to the offering. Schools and other amenities will also be built as part of the development.

5

New Eastern Villages, Swindon Swindon has been the site of major housing development for the past half-decade – it was identified by government as an easy settlement to expand as far back as the 1960s. With its westward expansion completed in the 1980s, and 4,000 on its ‘front garden’ at Wichelstowe abutting the M4, eyes are now turning east.

New Eastern Villages will see the construction of 8,000 new homes and 40 hectares of employment land between Swindon and the Oxfordshire border. A secondary school, primary schools, retail, health, community and leisure facilities will all form part of the development.

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Yew Tree Park / Yew Tree Meadows, Nuneaton

Four hundred homes are planned on land west of Maple Park and north of Gipsy Lane in Nuneaton – a rollback on the 575 originally planned.

Bellway Homes hopes to launch its Yew Tree Park development of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes in early 2024, while Ashberry Homes will be launching its own development of two three and four-bedroom homes this month.

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Langley Sustainable Urban Extension

Langley, say developers, represents an “unparalleled opportunity to establish a new sustainable community” in the West Midlands.

As well as 5,500 new houses, the developers hope to provide six nurseries, three primary schools, a secondary school, a health centre, a sports hub, shops, restaurants and cafes, offices and community parks.

8

Rowden Gate, Chippenham Crest Nicholson acquired land for a new site, Rowden Gate, on the edge of Chippenham. As part of a wider 126-hectare garden village development, Crest Nicholson has secured 42.6 acres of land to build 453 homes. Phase one and two will consist of 152 and 64 new houses respectively. The entire development is anticipated to be complete by 2029.

9

Lowesmoor Wharf, Worcester

Lowesmoor Wharf is a planned new development centred around Worcester’s historic canals, with a mix of 238 residential units, retail, leisure and 30,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Some of the one, two and three-bedroom apartments will come with balconies, and occupants will have access to private indoor and outdoor spaces such as rooftop terraces and community areas across the six residential buildings.

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Matson, Gloucester

Although planning officers had recommended the scheme at a site in Matson between an existing development and the M5 be refused, it was publicly backed by the local MP, councillors and community groups. The 180 homes, which will be built by Bromford, will be a mixture of 77 homes for social rent, 59 shared ownership and 44 for sale.

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PROMOTIONAL BUSINESS FEATURE

TH E C ROW NIN G G LORY – A D E NTA L MAN U FACTU R ER TH AT ’S EXC EL L ING IN E XP ORT Although most of us shy away from thinking about the dentist, for one Gloucestershire manufacturer focussing on teeth has seen it claim a world, market-leading position. And, what’s more, this Quedgeley-based business has achieved notable success through international trade, making it one of the region’s largest exporters today.

POLISHED PERFORMANCE

expected to increase to more than £50m by the end of 2025.

Prima Dental Group designs and engineers precision dental instruments and products for growing healthcare and cosmetic markets around the world. It is the world’s largest dental bur (drill) manufacturer, exporting to more than 90 countries, with two joint ventures (in Brazil and Hong Kong) and two subsidiaries (in China and India).

The company also pioneered private label or OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in dental burs and is now the world’s largest supplier of OEM in its sector. This has enabled Prima Dental to achieve significant growth through wholesale and retail trade by supplying products under major retailer labels, while still achieving notable recognition with its own branded products. This category now represents 40% market share in the USA – the company’s largest market.

Although the business is a longestablished UK market leader, and enjoys significant NHS contracts and benefits from its preferred supplier status with large British healthcare providers, limited opportunities with the UK domestic market has placed a firm focus on export. Today, more than 90% of Prima Dental’s £40m turnover is generated from international trade, and this is

ROOTED IN RESEARCH The organisation’s success in export can be attributed to its ability to detect, understand and segment different markets. Detailed market research, together with insight from localised sales teams helps identify new markets and opportunities, while the business’s agile response means it can adapt its product ranges to reflect the specific and particular preferences of each territory.

It’s thanks to this insight that Prima Dental has entered into six new markets in the last three years. In 2016 the business launched its successful joint venture, Angelus Prima Dental in Brazil – the first manufacturer of dental burs in South America. This division has spearheaded growth through the Latin markets, opening new opportunities in Colombia, Chile, Peru and Costa Rica.

Through its subsidiary Wave Dental, Prima Dental has been able to extend into new markets in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Exclusive supply from local manufacturers enables the company’s dedicated sales expertise to open and expand new markets such as these, offering a value, quality product.

DRILLING DOWN ON INNOVATION Innovation runs through the core of all that Prima Dental does – and the business is leading exciting new technologies thanks to its own dedicated research and innovations department.

Here, the team continually explores new product ranges, which has included the launch of its dynamic digital division, Prima Digital. This has supported the company’s

Gloucester HQ

vision for success, alongside actionable change for dentists around the world.

This has been recognised with a SMART grant award, from Innovate UK, to develop a game changing new dental product in conjunction with King’s College London.

While further recognition was achieved this year when the company was allowed patents in the UK and USA for its unique milling tools used for dental restorations.

CAPITALISING ON DEMAND Prima Dental is uniquely placed to capitalise on growing world demand for precision dental products from the increasing and ageing global population.

The rise in middle classes in developing countries like India, Brazil and China also supports this demand. These developing markets are becoming more affluent with more money to spend on medical and dental health, which in turn is leading to an increase in the number of dental

“THE COMPANY ALSO PIONEERED PRIVATE LABEL OR OEM (ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER) IN DENTAL BURS AND IS NOW THE WORLD’S LARGEST SUPPLIER OF OEM IN ITS SECTOR” professionals and cosmetic practitioners.

As a market leader, Prima Dental is uniquely positioned to capitalise on this global growth.

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL As the organisation looks ahead to the future, it stays true to its mission – the pursuit of better – with a strategy that focusses on just that.

This includes developing its business in Brazil, India and China to service demand

at a regional level with business structures and strategies appropriate to the markets they serve. This approach enables Prima Dental to manufacture and supply highquality products at a price point that would have historically only given clinicians access to low-quality products.

And, it’s this work that helps support the company’s aim to improve accessibility and affordability of dental products in developing markets. This ultimately is about ensuring better dental care for patients worldwide. Now, there’s something we can all smile about.

TO F I N D O U T MO R E V I S I T TH E W E B S I T E W WW. P R I M A DE NTA L . C O M

AMBITIOUS LEADERS

LEADING THE CHARGE TOWARDS BRITAIN’S GREEN REVOLUTION Lithium mining could significantly boost Cornwall and the South West economy while powering our electric future. We meet Britain’s lithium pioneer

By Nicky Godding, Editor Cornish Lithium’s Trelavour Project

In the 18th century, Cornwall was the mining centre of the world. While the region had been mined for more than 2,000 years, the industrial revolution saw thousands of tonnes of tin, copper, china clay, silver, zinc – even arsenic extracted out of the ground.

But when it became cheaper to import tin and copper than dig it out of the ground, the mining industry pretty much shuddered to a halt. The last Cornish tin mine, South Crofty, finally closed 1998.

But could Cornwall and the South West be entering a glorious new mining age? Mining engineer, innovator and former investment banker Jeremy Wrathall thinks so, thanks to rising demand for critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt to power our green revolution. There is also a commitment by the region’s biggest businesses and local government to make the South West a world-leading energy cluster, and the Tata Group, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, has already committed to building a huge new Gigafactory in Somerset.

Investors are also increasingly excited by the potential of the lithium industry in the region and this summer, Cornish Lithium secured £53 million from institutional investors led by

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the UK Infrastructure Bank alongside one of the world’s biggest private equity investors, The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) and leading technology metals investor TechMet. The company also recently closed additional funding of £5.1 million via a crowdfund to existing and new retail investors, demonstrating huge positive sentiment towards the idea of building a new critical minerals industry in Cornwall.

Mining lithium responsibly is no fairy tale Lithium is an essential element in batteries for electric vehicles, but most is mined thousands of miles away in Australia, China and South America using significant amounts of water and energy, polluting the air and water with chemicals and heavy metals.

But what if lithium could be mined in this country in a way that’s really green? It’s not a fairy tale, says Jeremy, who studied at the renowned Camborne School of Mines before his banking career.

After graduating as a mining engineer, Jeremy spent four years in the South African gold mines before returning home

to become an investment banker, latterly becoming Head of Mining at Investec covering the mining and metals sector globally.

And with everyone talking about net zero, he began to wonder where all the critical minerals would come from to deliver the world’s green ambitions.

“Just a few years ago I was forecasting compound annual growth rate of around 13 per cent for minerals such as lithium. It’s now substantially more than that.”

As he walked to work one cold, wet February morning in 2016 he remembered a conversation he’d had with a friend who was trying to re-open a tin mine in Cornwall.

“He’d said to me – we’ve got everything in Cornwall – tin, copper, iridium – we’ve even got lithium.

Lithium – the element that everyone in the nascent EV industry wanted.

“That evening, I googled and found just a few historic references to lithium in Cornwall, but because I knew the region well, I could see there were records of lithium in water between South Crofty in the far west, and

AMBITIOUS LEADERS

Just a few years ago I was forecasting compound annual growth rate of around 13 per cent for minerals such as lithium. It’s now substantially more than that

United Mines much further east and that this could be something of major significance.”

He’d picked up on a geological phenomenon and after discussing it with his wife (helpfully, a mining geologist), he began researching it in more detail. It was clear they were on to something. Jeremy began securing lithium mineral rights agreements from rather bemused local landowners (who were yet to appreciate what might be under their properties).

In early 2017 he resigned from his investment banking job and set up Cornish Lithium, securing enough agreements with mineral rights owners to raise around £2 million for further exploration, including from experienced mining executives who shared his belief that lithium could be mined in Cornwall.

Bringing mining back to Cornwall Jeremy’s unique background in finance and mining, and the years spent visiting scientists and mines all over the world which produced every sort of commodity, gave him the credibility investors look

Jeremy Wrathall, CEO at Cornish Lithium

for. And when his ambitions caught the imagination of the media (“bringing mining back to Cornwall”), they attracted a number of further offers to invest – not from romantics harking back to Cornish tin mine heritage, but from experienced mining investors who know an opportunity when they see it.

By the time Cornish Lithium had successfully undertaken four rounds of crowdfunding, the business came to the attention of TechMet which, in 2021, agreed Cornish Lithium’s first substantial investment package of £18 million.

Lithium isn’t a rare element, but there are

few locations across the globe where it’s commercially exploitable. While Argentina has it in abundance, it’s located under the desert far away from power, with poor transport access and in a country which has major economic and political challenges. It’s also found in Chile, which has just nationalised the industry. There is a lot in Australia but it’s in a mineral called spodumene, from which it’s very difficult to extract, and can only be done by fossil fuel roasting, making extraction not exactly green.

Cornish Lithium is focused on innovative extraction methods to produce clean lithium, with low water and energy usage.

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS

In Cornwall, lithium can be extracted from two sources – water, which is what Jeremy’s research initially established –and rock.

Cornish Lithium is working on extracting the element from both, following a phone call from a former member of the British Geological Survey (BGS) who mentioned that there was a lithium mine during the Second World War at a place called Trelavour Downs.

And the signs are that extracting lithium from water is likely to be very commercially exploitable. “We think Cornish brine is unique in terms of its chemical composition,” said Jeremy.

“We drill a hole to a depth of about two thousand metres. Water is sucked up to the surface and put through – for want of a more scientific description – a giant water filter cartridge containing small granules which the lithium adheres to. Once that cartridge is charged up, we wash the lithium off, and as the water comes up hot – about 70-80C – the company can sell the excess heat, achieving a totally green process.”

The other bit of good news is that everything can be accomplished using renewable power given the abundant availability of wind and solar energy in Cornwall.

Repurposing an old mine means no major infrastructure works The other way of extracting lithium, from rock, is already possible using standard industry techniques combined with Lepidico’s low carbon processing technology, and Cornish Lithium has taken on a former china clay mine near St Austell to do so. This mine was the site of the former lithium mine during WW2 that was hinted at by the retired member of the BGS in 2017.

“China clay was mined down to an average depth of about 20 metres before hitting hard granite, and it’s the granite we want, ,” said Jeremy. “We are effectively repurposing a brownfield mine site and have also secured exclusive use of a brownfield former chinaclay processing site within one kilometre of the pit. This has the huge advantage of an existing railway connection together with other essential services already connected.

Renewable power is available in the area from wind and solar, together with the close proximity of Cornwall’s main grid substation.

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Core from one of Cornish Lithium’s geothermal exploration wells

“The latest £53 million investment will fund existing budgets until June 2025 and will allow us to complete the Feasibility Study which will feed into construction of the Trelavour Mine,” he added. “Our funders have committed an optional further amount of $210 million dollars, which they requested because of their confidence in the project following forensic due diligence.”

Current plans are that the lithium mine at Trelavour will be in production by late 2026 or early 2027.

“We’re all learning things we didn’t know before” Cornish Lithium currently employs more than 70 people full-time, and that number will grow..

Unlike in many other industries, Jeremy hasn’t found recruitment a big challenge.

“Around 20 per cent or so of our staff are former Camborne School of Mines geologists who otherwise may have gone abroad. And Britain produces a lot of chemical engineers who are excited to be working on a new branch of chemical engineering – getting lithium out of water.

“We love hiring young people because they’re open to new ideas. This is mining in a way I wasn’t taught. We’re all learning things we didn’t know before and it’s great.”

Jeremy is also on the Critical Minerals Committee which gives him a voice at the heart of government.

“Government has begun to recognise the importance of what we are doing, particularly after the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which risks excluding the UK and Europe from USA supply chains, because

it encourages firms to invest directly in America in order to qualify for subsidies.”

The EU has already responded with its Critical Raw Minerals Act and now the UK is finally stepping up.

“The agreement announced earlier this year between Sunak and Biden, where Britain agreed to collaborate on the IRA, was concrete evidence of the government waking up to the issue,” added Jeremy.

“The government has welcomed our latest investment which supports the UK’s domestic mining of lithium, helping our transition towards net zero and boosting local and regional economic growth.”

And the market is there. According to the government’s Advanced Propulsion Centre, the UK will need 90,000 tonnes of lithium LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent) by 2030 to meet the government’s targets for electric car adoption.

“Every tonne of lithium that we produce here is one that we don’t have to import.

We expect to be able to produce eight to 10 thousand tonnes of lithium hydroxide from our hard rock project, and possibly around the same from our brine projects.”

Does Jeremy regret leaving a comfortable investment banking career behind and heading back to the wild west?

“It has been incredibly hard,” he admits “If it was easy, everyone would do it and I’ve had many sleepless nights, especially in the last nine months, but any entrepreneur will tell you the same. All this said, it has been very much worth it as I feel we are building an exciting new industry for Cornwall and for the UK economy as a whole.”

REGIONAL FOCUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE

FORMER CITY COUNCIL OFFICES AT GLOUCESTER DOCKS TO BE SOLD Three empty Grade II listed warehouses at Gloucester Docks, previously occupied by the city council, are being sold.

The council vacated the Herbert, Kimberley and Philpotts (HKP) buildings at the Docks back in 2019 and they are finally under offer through property agents Bruton Knowles, although the potential buyer has not been revealed. Previously there were plans to turn some of the buildings into a hotel Herbert, Kimberley and Phillpotts date back from 1846 and were built to accommodate the growth of Gloucester Docks. They were named after the corn merchants that constructed them.

Gloucester Docks has seen major investment over the last few years with the majority of the other warehouses converted to either residential or commercial uses.

University gaming graduate wins national award A University of Gloucestershire graduate has won an award from the national trade association representing the UK video games industry.

Sam Carrier, who graduated with a first-class honours degree in BSc Digital Media and Web Technologies, was named Outstanding Graduate of the Year (Artist) at the TIGA Games Education Awards 2023, which promotes outstanding students, education providers and best practice.

Sam is employed in the video games industry as a junior artist with video game developer Flix Interactive based in Bromsgrove.

Gloucester Docks

Superdry sells South Asia licences to India’s biggest retailer Cheltenham-based global fashion retailer Superdry has signed a deal with India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, for its licences and brand assets in three Asian countries for £40 million.

The deal is a financial shot in the arm for the Cheltenham fashion brand which hasn’t had it easy over the last few years.

Superdry told investors it would use the expected £28.3 million net proceeds to boost its liquidity and fund its capital needs as part of a turnaround plan.

The joint venture will see Superdry invest £9.6 million for a 24 per cent stake, giving

the brand a much bigger reach in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Reliance Retail, which was established in 2006, has more than 18,000 stores selling everything from groceries to electronics.

Marks & Spencer and Pret-A- Manger are among the UK brands with which it has done deals.

Superdry said the deal “will provide the best opportunities for the future growth of the Superdry brand in territories, allowing the company to focus on growing its brand and increasing sales in its more established territories, where it has strongest expertise.”

The TIGA Education Committee’s decision to award Sam the prestigious prize was based on examination results, module grades, showreels, portfolios and project, as well as improvement made during the course.

Andre van Rooijen, Course Leader for Games Art, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled for Sam that he has been named as the Graduate of the Year (Artist) at the TIGA Games Education Awards – it’s an outstanding achievement.

“Sam has produced some outstanding artwork in his final year and we’re extremely proud so see his dedication and commitment rewarded with this excellent result in such a strong category.”

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REGIONAL FOCUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE

VINOTOPIA LAUNCHES NEW 'WINE BARN' IN COTSWOLDS Independent wine merchant Vinotopia has opened the Vinotopia Wine Barn - a first for the Cotswolds.

The Vinotopia Wine Barn in Nailsworth, which sits next to the town’s garden centre alongside the River Frome, offers more than 400 lines of wines, spirits, beers and ciders, while an artisan food hall is due to open next door this autumn.

The 'Wine Barn' marks Vinotopia's growth and quadruples the firm's retail space.

Andy Cole, managing director, said: "We wanted to launch an attractive gastrodestination that enabled people to come along to discover wines and spirits they’d likely never heard of in an environment that they could actually sit among and enjoy the fruits of their discovery.

“With our wonderful indoor cosy seating and al fresco bistro tables alongside the River Frome, we feel as though we’ve hit the nail on the head!”

"With our wonderful indoor cosy seating and al fresco bistro tables alongside the River Frome, we feel as though we’ve hit the nail on the head!"

"Our vast range truly suits all budgets – the only thing we guarantee is that you’ll be able to find drinks you simply won’t find on any supermarket shelf."

He added: "There’s a huge misconception that visiting a wine merchant means you have to have a budget to suit, and that couldn’t be further from the case.

The second phase of the barn project will see the opening of an artisan food hall, set to be stocked with fresh, local and artisanal produce, designed to pair

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perfectly with the wines and spirits next door.

The Barn will also feature regular events and pop-ups, teaming up with local and specialist wine and spirit suppliers for exclusive tasting events, as well as regular festival-style pop-up dining dates with local, artisan food trucks.

REGIONAL FOCUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Nigel Church, CEO of Emerge Digital (Left), and John Lord, CEO of DEYA Brewing Company (Right).

Greg Pilley, Stroud Brewery founder and MD

DEYA Brewing hops over to Emerge Digital to fuel ambitious growth Cheltenham independent brewery DEYA has partnered with Emerge Digital, a technology and business consultancy based in the town.

DEYA brews hoppy beers, lagers, traditional UK styles and mixed fermentation ales.

Since 2019 the brewery’s team and production volumes have both grown threefold and DEYA plans to continue to grow over the coming years towards its capacity on the Lansdown Industrial Estate site.

Emerge Digital will work with DEYA to

build on its existing IT support, reviewing its current systems and cyber security protection.

John Lord, Chief Operating Officer of DEYA Brewing Company said: “At DEYA, we've always been driven by a commitment to excellence, both in the beers we craft and the way we operate our business. Our partnership with Emerge Digital is a natural extension of that commitment.”

CEO of Emerge Digital, Nigel Church, said: “At Emerge Digital, we see immense potential in DEYA's vision and we are thrilled to be part of its growth journey.”

Cheltenham Borough Council to take back the management of its homes Cheltenham Borough Council is taking back control of its housing stock by closing Cheltenham Borough Homes, its wholly-owned arms-length management firm.

The management of housing services will move back to the responsibility of Cheltenham Borough Council after 20 years.

Councillor Rowena Hay, leader at Cheltenham Borough Council said: “Now that cabinet has agreed to the recommendations, we can start to move forward with our plans to bring the two organisations together as one.

“In doing so, I believe that we have a much better opportunity to work

directly with tenants, leaseholders and colleagues to develop best practise and shape future housing needs.”

Cllr Hay continued: “The cost of living crisis has placed significant financial pressures on the provision of services.

“This crisis has come at a time when we have set out ambitious plans to deliver more affordable homes, and to be carbon net zero by 2030.

“In order to help meet these aims, and to ensure that we continue to provide even more quality homes and invest in our communities long into the future, we have to change the way we do things.”

Stroud Brewery named Sustainable Pub of the Year at Great British Pub Awards 2023 Stroud Brewery has won the title of Sustainable Pub of the Year at the Great British Pub Awards 2023.

The awards celebrate the best of pub life and this year had a record number of entrants.

Stroud Brewery beat five other finalists, pubs from around the country, to take the title.

The brewery had already been through two tough rounds of judging, including a visit by one of the judges and an interview with the judging panel.

Founder and MD, Greg Pilley, said: "Since the early days of the brewery, we've wanted to use the way we do business as a way of doing good – not only reducing our environmental impact but going further and regenerating nature and the environment that sustains us all," said Greg.

"Up to 50 per cent more plant, insect and bird life can live on an organic farm compared to a conventional one.

"It's also a win-win for businesses – being more sustainable can reduce costs by reducing waste, reducing energy use and attracting more customers. Surveys show that more and more people want to spend their money with companies which they see are being responsible.

Sustainable Pub of the Year is the latest in a string of awards – during the summer, the brewery won 10 local and regional awards for its beer, its taproom and the way it runs the business.

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS

WHERE WILL MORE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS COME FROM? NICOLA HAS IT IN HAND Nicola Bird, joined by her sister Natalie, are the driving force behind the building and opening of the UK’s first industry-led construction training school

The AccXCel training centre

By Nicky Godding, Editor In January, the Construction Skills Network Industry Outlook revealed that the UK needs an additional 225,000 construction workers by 2027.

Another survey, published by the Federation of Master Builders in August, said that 29 per cent of its members are struggling to hire bricklayers and more than half of all members report that jobs are delayed because they are struggling to hire skilled workers.

Now, some construction companies are taking matters into their own hands, and one of them is the construction company KW Bell Group, which opened the UK’s first industry-led construction school in the Forest of Dean last year.

AccXel, which has been co-funded

by Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, welcomed its second cohort of students in September and is offering construction apprenticeships alongside more practical courses such as health and safety and others designed to help people progress though the construction industry.

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And the woman driving the whole project is AccXel’s managing director, Nicola Bird.

Nicola, 37, is third generation in the family business KW Bell Group, a £90 million turnover Forest of Dean construction company – but she didn’t expect to be working in construction, her first career choice was beauty therapy, including teaching.

However, just a year after she’d qualified, the 2006 recession put paid to her beauty salon business and with two baby daughters to look after she needed a new source of income.

“My sister Natalie and I had always been brought up to earn our own money. Natalie is more academic than me and went on to qualify as a barrister, but I’d got married and had babies early.”

However, with two toddlers, her options were limited so her dad, KW Bell managing director Pete Bell, offered her a part-time job doing training and administration at the family business.

“We had around 200 members of staff and while our training systems were fairly slick, the company didn’t have a health and safety department, we used external consultants.”

Nicola spent a year or so shadowing them.

“I wanted to know why I was putting people on courses, what were they for?”

It soon became apparent that bringing health and safety in-house would streamline the company’s training systems.

Further education leads to professional success Nicola understood something else too – that she learned more through practical learning than academic, a revelation that gave her the confidence to enrol on a Masters degree in health and safety (which she would never have considered before), at the University of South Wales.

It was tough, trying to work, look after her young family and doing evening courses

AMBITIOUS LEADERS

Natalie and Nicola

but with support from her family, Nicola graduated when she was 31 and says it has been one of her highest personal achievements. “I now believe that anyone can achieve what they want if they have the right environment and support.”

She admits that being part of a successful family business gave her a head start in the business – but points out that also brings its challenges.

“Family members are judged more than anybody in a business and I wanted to show my worth.”

“Management training gave me the confidence to be myself” Her Masters had done that, and Nicola was made a director of the business. With her new taste for education, she enrolled on further management training. “I learned so much, professionally and personally – it helped me to recognise what I can do and how I can influence people in the right way.

“I’d spent years trying to be like a man just to fit into the construction sector, but management training gave me the confidence to be myself.”

Nicola brought new ideas into the business – a new HR department, a company development team – but the biggest issue KW Bell faced was a lack of skills.

“Everyone on our sites was worried about the lack of skilled construction workers, and too few apprentices coming through. Every construction company uses a mix of full-time workers and subcontractors, but the tipping point came for us when we realised we were using as many sub-contractors as we were employed workers.

“We tried to get young people in and send them to college, but colleges weren’t accepting some of them because they didn’t have English or maths.

“This annoyed me because we can teach them that, as long as they have a good work ethic. Now AccXel is open, we just ask for good attitudes and a

willingness to work and learn.”

So KW Bell began to develop its own apprenticeships. But then Covid hit, and while the construction industry got going again pretty quickly, all the company’s training ambitions were paused.

But Nicola wasn’t prepared to abandon her ambition to build an in-house training school, which would see a small construction training centre built on land next to KW Bell’s headquarters in Cinderford. She wrote a business plan and submitted it to the Local Enterprise Partnership.

Then a plot of land came up for sale across the road. “It had been empty for more than 40 years so we decided to buy it around the time that the pandemic really hit – because land is always an asset.”

Alongside this she applied for planning permission to build a new construction training centre and commissioned architects to design it. But everything paused as the pandemic continued, with concerns about where the money would come to fund it.

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS

Boris rides to the rescue (sort of) Five months later, in an attempt to get Britain back to work, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a £900 million Getting Building Fund to invest in jobs, skills and infrastructure. Its ambition matched that of Nicola’s and encouraged by the Local Enterprise Partnership – and with their help, she rewrote and submitted her business plan.

The catch was that the government wanted only ‘shovel ready’ projects, and everything submitted in six weeks. Nicola’s preparation and foresight paid off. The government green-lit the project just a few weeks later with KW Bell agreeing to invest around £1.4 million, the government £1.96 million. But the whole project had to be complete by March 2022.

Nicola’s team didn’t waste time. “We had shovels in the ground days after we secured the funding,” she said.

With building started, ‘AccXel’ the brand was born and Nicola was joined on her mission to change construction education by her sister Natalie.

The first cohort of AccXel apprentices started in September last year. Fast forward a year and numbers have doubled, with Nicola expecting more in 2024 and apprentices travelling from as far as Birmingham to study.

AccXel is also attracting major industry supporters, including JCB which is sponsoring the plant operations programme.

There have been major challenges, Nicola acknowledges, but they have been overcome.

“One of the biggest was being accepted as an accredited apprenticeship provider,” she said. “On the one hand we had been given almost £2 million to build a new training centre by the government’s Getting Building Fund, on the other the Department of Education was very slow to provide our accreditation, which we only achieved a week before opening. We had to get our local MP to help. It certainly caused a few sleepless nights.

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Nicola Bird

“I’d spent years trying to be like a man just to fit in to the construction sector, but management training gave me the confidence to be myself”

So much so that AccXel is working towards offering degree apprenticeships, and if successful will be the first in the Forest of Dean that can award degrees.

industry innovating more than ever.

AccXel’s training courses need to reflect that in training of apprentices in new construction methods and materials.

New ideas, new ambitions and national interest in AccXel

After a roller coaster few years, Nicola has time to reflect on what she’s achieved, and appreciate the example she’s set for her own teenage daughters.

So what’s next for Nicola who’s achieved so much in a male-dominated industry?

“I have really enjoyed creating a business, and have new ideas all the time, but it’s still early days for AccXel, there’s still a lot to do to build on our early success.”

Others, however, have spotted her achievements. She and Natalie are now getting calls from across the country to ask about replicating the project elsewhere.

And, of course, with the construction

“For years young women have been at a disadvantage in the construction industry, and while I don’t mind what careers my daughters follow, whether in this industry or any other, I want them to have options.

They can see that I’m running my own business, what it took to enable me to do that and what can be achieved with the right support and belief in your own abilities.

“And that goes for every one of our apprentices too, now and in the future.”

REGIONAL FOCUS BRISTOL, AVON & WILTSHIRE

The former Aust Services on the M48

FORMER MOTORWAY SERVICES TO BECOME LEISURE CENTRE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS A multi-award-winning charity has bought a former motorway service station in South Gloucestershire to turn into a leisure centre for disabled children and young people.

Gympanzees has bought Aust Services, on the M48 close to the first Severn crossing near Bristol, thanks to a loan from Triodos Bank. The site first opened in 1966 as a service station and closed around the time that the second Severn Crossing opened in 1996. It was subsequently sold to a media production company which turned it into offices.

The charity is now launching the next part of its fundraising appeal, so it can refurbish and fit out the building with 10 different specialist exercise and activity rooms and spaces, with therapy rooms, exercise studios and a community cafe. The 'Project Home' appeal aims to raise £10.8 million.

With plans to open from 2026, the centre

will be designed to cater for children and young people with a range of needs, including those with significant physical differences who may require support for all their movements and neurodiverse children with sensory needs.

The site will be the first permanent home for Gympanzees. Until now, it has been running events in the Easter and summer holidays in special schools. These are smaller ‘pop-up’ versions of the proposed centre and have been running for five years, with more than 21,000 visitors welcomed in 130 days.

Gympanzees was founded by physiotherapist, Stephanie Wheen, when she realised that there was a lack of accessible leisure facilities for disabled children and young people. Without these spaces to exercise and socialise, disabled children are more likely to face physical and mental health problems.

Bristol Airport to invest millions in public transport hub project Bristol Airport has begun work on its largest capital project ever and is investing more than £60 million to build a public transport interchange hub and multi-storey car park.

customers. It is the largest single capital investment project since the terminal opened in 2000 and will take 18 months to complete.”

The company says the “transformational project” will enhance services and accessibility for customers whether arriving or departing from Bristol Airport.

Bristol Airport says the plan to become a 12 million passenger per year airport will create thousands of new jobs, open-up new direct air links and support inbound tourism.

The project forms part of Bristol Airport’s overall multi-million-pound development plan enabling 12 million passengers a year to use the airport.

Bristol Airport says the project is “the first of many to enhance the customer experience at Bristol Airport.”

Dave Lees, CEO of Bristol Airport, said: “This project is transformational for our

It also said the project will help its commitment to become a net zero airport operation by 2030.”

Business West calls for new mass transit system for Bristol Business West, the business support organisation that operates chambers of commerce in Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire, has called on civic leaders to press ahead with plans for a mass transit system in Bristol.

The battle for a mass transit system through or under the city has been ongoing for years.

Metro mayor Dan Norris recently told BBC Bristol that the city ‘won’t get an underground,’ but a report written by senior transport chiefs at the West of England Combined Authority – and leaked to the Bristol Post – says a system ‘that involves some underground tunnels’ is needed and achievable.

Calling the city’s transport system “one of our key regional weaknesses and the issue that businesses want to see properly addressed and delivered on, with high ambition,” and a “drag on current and future economic growth,” Phil Smith, managing director of Business West said: “We currently have some of the worst congestion in the country, meaning too many people are stuck in traffic rather than contributing to make our region stronger.

“Business needs certainty about the longterm plans for our region if we are to attract the future jobs and investment that our region needs.”

He added: “Our view is that we need a mass transit system. What it looks like at this stage is unclear, but if the region is to hope to meet its major challenges on improving transport, tackling congestion and reducing carbon emissions, it needs to do the work in planning for an ambitious integrated transport system.

The leaked document suggests the Authority is looking at four key routes from the city centre: a South West Corridor to Bristol Airport and the Bristol-Bath Corridor to Bath Spa, which could potentially be above ground, along with a North Corridor from a proposed Almondsbury Transport Hub, and an East Corridor from the Bristol & Bath Science Park which would need some or all parts to be underground.

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REGIONAL FOCUS BRISTOL, AVON & WILTSHIRE

The Strawberry Thief in North Swindon

Design award for Wiltshire brewery’s newest pub Matter, which has developed microplastic filtration technology, raised $10 million

REGION’S TECH SECTOR SAW £34M RAISED ACROSS 20 COMPANIES IN AUGUST More than £34 million was raised by 20 companies in the tech sector in August according to TechSPARK, the not-for-profit business support network focused on the west region.

The funds are part of the investment Activator Programme (IAP), run by TechSPARK and designed to support companies, which are raising equity investment in the South West.

TechSPARK outlined details of six companies which have shared news publicly and raised £24 million.

One is the start-up Phasecraft, a spin-out of University College London and the University of Bristol, which raised £13 million to develop quantum algorithms for practical real-world applications.

Another is Bristol-based sustainability organisation Matter, which brought in $10 million to allow it to scale its microplastic filtration technology and accelerate its roadmap of solutions for commercial and industrial applications.

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Oxi-Tech, a clean-in-place disinfectant technology company, received an investment from a syndicate of 14 Henley Business Angels, contributing to an overall funding round of £1 million, while Adaptavate, a Bristol-based world leader in developing and industrialising carbon negative construction materials, secured a further round of investment of £2 million.

Meanwhile, another Bristol organisation Wake The Tiger could be set to double in size after it secured a £500,000 investment.

The immersive art experience, billed as the world's first 'Amazement Park', which was founded by the organisers of music festival Boomtown Fair, opened last summer and has sold more than 190,000 tickets since.

TechSPARK also noted Curcular11, the climate tech start-up, which this year has raised £500,000 through grants and investors and established a manufacturing facility in Dorset

A pub in Swindon is raising a cheer after winning a CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) design award.

The Strawberry Thief, built by Wiltshire’s Arkell's Brewery at Tadpole Garden Village which opened in June last year, scooped the accolade in the 'new build' category.

The large, modern pub from Swindon's oldest business, was recognised for its ambitious and innovative design.

George Arkell, brewery managing director, said: "Our incredible team, including suppliers Clark & Maslin, Edmont Complete Solutions and Concorde BGW Group, have done a fantastic job helping us create a fabulous community pub.

"Wherever possible, we tried to use local suppliers on the project. Our goal from the outset was to create a contemporary pub that the local community could be proud of, with a fantastic bar at its heart serving all our beers."

Arkell’s invested more than £5 million in the pub. It has more than 400 covers inside and out, making it one of Arkell’s biggest pubs.

Natural materials have been used throughout and the venue features vaulted ceilings, open fires, panoramic views and a garden overlooking the village green.

CAMRA’s awards director Laura Emson, added: "We hope beer-lovers across the country will seek out these examples of excellence and plan visits to them whether they are local or just visiting.”

REGIONAL FOCUS BRISTOL, AVON & WILTSHIRE

Airbus’ new Wing Technology Development Centre at Filton

AIRBUS MADE £442 MILLION CONTRIBUTION TO BRISTOL ECONOMY LAST YEAR, SAYS NEW REPORT Aerospace firm Airbus made a £442 million contribution to the Bristol economy last year, according to the manufacturer’s latest Oxford Economics survey.

The firm employs more than 2,700 people at Filton, where it designs and manufactures wing technology, fuel management systems and landing gear.

Across its 25 UK sites the manufacturer which is the largest civil aerospace company in the country, the biggest civil aerospace exporter, the largest space

satellite company and the biggest supplier of large aircraft to the Royal Air Force – employs 79,000 people.

The company plans to employ a further 1,100 workers at its Filton site.

Airbus UK chairman John Harrison said: “These findings clearly show that Airbus is good for jobs, good for growth and good for the UK. “I am proud of the contribution our 11,500 UK employees make to the UK economy – a multi-billion-pound effort

from satellites to civil aerospace that helps connect people all over the world.

“Our deep roots in the UK supply chain and investment across the four nations create genuine regional and local growth – ensuring Airbus’ impact is felt at every level.

“But the work does not stop here – our continued investment in research and development, a total of £277 million in 2022, is helping to find tangible solutions to the key challenges that affect our world today, from climate change to conflict.”

Wiltshire Automotive tech firm to exceed £100 million turnover Turnover at automotive technology firm AB Dynamics is to exceed £100 million after a better-thananticipated performance in the second half of the financial year.

Bradford-on-Avon-based AB Dynamics is one of the world’s leading specialists in automotive test systems.

In 2021 it launched the world’s fastest self-propelled soft target for advanced

vehicle testing – moving dummy vehicles in front of moving production cars to evaluate their vehicle collision detection and crash mitigation systems.

The tests are designed to reproduce real-world driving scenarios on vehicle test tracks, and are essential in the development of driver assistance technology.

The firm counts the top 25 global

vehicle manufacturers and numerous government test authorities among its customers.

CEO Dr James Routh said: “The Group saw continued good performance in the track testing sector and particularly strong growth in the laboratory testing and simulation sector, which benefited from an earlier than expected delivery of a large, high margin contract.”

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS Dr Harry Destecroix at Science Creates in Bristol

S IE R E V O C IS D IC F TI N IE C S G IN B R IN G INTO THE

REAL WORLD

Dr Harry Destecroix was able to capitalise on his scientific discovery very early on, now he’s helping other deep tech founders match his success

By Nicky Godding, Editor

By the age of 31 Dr Harry Destecroix had successfully exited a company spun out from the University of Bristol which, had he been that way inclined, could have given him financial security for life.

Instead, he’s building a science ecosystem in Bristol, aiming to topple some of the major hurdles he faced early on and make it easier for other deep tech entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and raise finance.

It was one of the largest exits for spin-outs in recent years and if Ziylo’s discovery fulfils its potential to improve the lives of millions of diabetes suffers around the world, the deal could be worth upwards of $800 million.

In 2017, the year before he and his co-founders sold Ziylo, Harry opened Science Creates’ first science incubator in Bristol.

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And what motivated him to set up

Science Creates stemmed from his own experiences.

The breakthrough discovery, which led to Ziylo’s spin-out, came while doing a PhD under Professor Anthony (Tony) Davis at Bristol. Tony’s research group, of which Harry was one, discovered a way to make glucose sensors which could enable millions of diabetes sufferers around the world to manage their condition better.

AMBITIOUS LEADERS Harry explains: “Type 1 diabetics have to regularly inject the hormone insulin to maintain normal glucose levels. The major risk factor with insulin is that if you inject too much or overdose, it can be very dangerous and therefore scary for the diabetics, as it can result in low blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia) which can be life threatening. This can result in a fear of over injecting, meaning often patients will under inject, especially in social situations, to avoid the risk of hypo. This is why a lot of diabetics struggle to hit the ideal glucose levels, leading to the increase in side effects associated with the disease.

But as Ziylo established itself, Harry couldn’t find anywhere outside the university lab for it to grow, and little help available to engage with the commercial world.

“My PhD thesis was almost a business plan on how to take our lab discovery into the real world, but the problem was – at that time the university wasn’t focused on deep tech, and we didn’t know where to look for help.”

“We had nowhere to put the company, we were paying a lot for a corner of the lab, and we wondered – how do we commercialise the technology and give it back to the world?

The new company’s first investment came, therefore, not from the university, but from Tony’s brother-in-law, Keith Macdonald – a successful investment banker, who wrote the co-founders (Harry, Tony and Harry’s childhood friend Tom Smart), a cheque for £5,000. Keith became the chair when the company spun out.

“It felt like a huge amount at the time, especially when we went to pay it into Barclay’s,” said Harry.

I was 30 and learning how these things happen was an incredible experience, though I was massively out of my depth at the time

Tracking the effectiveness of government R&D investment

Even when Ziylo secured Innovate UK grants and further angel investment, it continued to operate out of a corner of Tony’s university laboratories.

“What we needed was separate lab space and to be surrounded by support from those operating between academia and the commercial world,” Harry added.

So, alongside developing Ziylo’s technology, Harry persuaded Keith to part with another £5,000 to invest in dedicated lab space outside the university.

“Most people who build incubators are universities or corporates, not the end user. We were a start-up designing our own incubator. We found a building in Bristol, hired an architect who we still work with, and designed our own research facility on Albert Road.”

Settled into its new home, Ziylo made a further breakthrough – the missing component in making smart insulin. But while the team had made the switch, they didn’t know anything about making insulin, so they began to look for commercial support.

Enter one of the world’s most successful pharmaceutical companies, Novo Nordisk, which was so impressed at Ziylo’s achievement that, after 18 months, it acquired the company.

“Selling the company was a complicated legal process,” Harry explains. “We worked with the most incredibly bright and inspirational people on all sides of the table. I was 30 and learning how these things happen was an incredible experience, though I was massively out of my depth at the time.”

It’s this experience which drove Harry to welcome more companies into his incubator space. Fast forward five years and his investment has successfully developed into a deep tech ecosystem in Bristol, based in two locations – one on Albert Road, the other at Old Market.

Together they offer 45,000 sq ft of lab, office and event space for deep tech startups, all designed and run by people who know what scientists need to take their ideas out of the labs and into the real world.

With Bristol now firmly on board, the university is rising fast up the rankings of universities spinning out the most companies. In a report commissioned

by The Royal Academy of Engineering published earlier this year, Bristol now sits at No 6, significantly higher in the ranking (topped by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge), than it was just a few years ago.

Scientists need more than lab space, they need money But lab space isn’t enough, start-ups need money. Science Creates includes a venture capital fund and network of advisers and investors. Bristol University now wants to be as friendly to deep tech start-ups as Oxford, Cambridge – even MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Stamford in the USA. While most of his time is now spent mentoring and investing, Harry hasn’t abandoned his years of chemistry knowledge. After selling Ziylo, he cofounded Carbometrics with the original Ziylo team where he remains as a director.

Dr Andy Chapman (former Ziylo CTO) is the CEO. Earlier this year he was also awarded the 2023 Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Harry’s experience over the last five years made him realise that he and his cofounders achieved the almost impossible – to spin out and sell a company for a significant sum while it was still at the research stage. “It’s not rational to set up deep tech start-ups, the odds are that it’ll fail, but those who do it are driven because we believe we can leave the world a better place, and there’s something magical about that.

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AMBITIOUS LEADERS “After the deal with Novo Nordisk, I began angel investing because I felt I had a responsibility to give others a chance, and I was incredibly grateful to those who had invested in my company. One of my best friends gave me £1,000 he’d received as an inheritance, other friends and family invested too. All I ever wanted to do was to give that money back, and to be able to do so was the best feeling in the world.”

Dr Harry Destecroix

A lot of early-stage investment doesn’t come from private equity, he explains.

“With a start-up, the business often is pre-revenue so there’s little due diligence which can be done. Investors will either act on a hunch or follow someone who they think might know better than they do.

“And the more I angel invested the more I learned, so I set up a venture capital firm in 2020. Every founder needs different advice, and they must be careful about the advice they take. We focus on university IP, usually achieved after decades of research. We work with incredibly bright technologists, insanely smart people – some have never had a job in their life but they’re geniuses. We must work out how to finance them, what the finance model should be, what talent do we need?

“Here at Science Creates we have loads of equipment, you can walk into a lab and immediately get to work. There are so many different start-ups here, and a micro-community to support newcomers.

We have digital platforms, physical events and we matchmake all the time. We have a great coffee machine which is incredibly slow and have lots of social spaces to chat while you’re waiting for it to brew. The bar is open every Thursday and we can have up to 150 people at events here.

“It’s about trying make it easy for people to connect and I spend a lot of my time here, chatting, listening and introducing people to each other.”

Thinking differently sets the world of ideas alight Harry grew up in Hampshire. He was the first (and only) child in a family of four to go to university (he studied chemistry at Plymouth), where he was formally diagnosed with dyslexia, but it was evident very early on that he approached the world differently. “I was three years old when an experiment set the bed on fire. By

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“Having finally been diagnosed at university, I worked hard on my reading and writing, and caught up. Being dyslexic taught me resilience” five I was electrocuting myself and learned to reset the electricity breakers at home.

I took everything apart because I wanted to understand how they worked. I loved biology, chemistry, physics and maths but was in learning support English classes in secondary school because of written communication. I was in the top set for triple science but in the lowest class for English. While I had a very high English comprehension, I was poor at writing and reading.”

“Having finally been diagnosed at university, I worked hard on my reading and writing and caught up. Being dyslexic taught me resilience.”

More recently he has also been diagnosed

with ADHD and is happy to talk about it openly, because he sees the huge positives in how he processes information.

“I’m in the top percentile for auditory and processing, but in the 10th percentile for short-term visual memory, which means I never know where my keys are. But I’m really good at simulating things and being creative, which is why I’m good at chemistry and the other sciences.

“For society to function, we all need to be different. In teams, everyone has a different role and when building a company, we construct teams around the founders and build complementary skills around them. It’s this approach which will help to achieve well-rounded outcomes.”

REGIONAL FOCUS WORCESTERSHIRE

Open day at the Shell Store at Skylon Park

MODERN WORKSPACE OPENS IN HONOUR OF HISTORIC MUNITIONS WORKERS

The Canary Suite opened by 100-year old Nancy Billings

Munitions workers of the past were recognised as part of a celebration of local business and modern working at the historic Shell Store in Hereford.

The Shell Store at Skylon Park officially opened its new co-working space as part of an event which welcomed more than 160 local businesses.

It has been named The Canary Suite in recognition of the thousands of munitions workers who worked at the site during both world wars. The chemicals they used, such as TNT, gave them toxic jaundice which turned their hair and skin yellow and saw them nicknamed canaries.

With the chemicals now consigned to history, the new co-working space will provide freelancers, remote workers and small teams with a place to work, without having to rent a whole office.

As well as the unveiling of the Canary Suite the event, held by Town Square Spaces Ltd, the company that operates The Shell Store on behalf of Herefordshire Council, also featured a networking and local showcase event.

Aged 100, former Canary Girl Nancy Billings attended the ceremony with Elizabeth Semper O'Keefe of Rotherwas Together, a community group dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of the area.

The Shell Store has more than 2,500 sq m of business space available to rent.

Elizabeth, said: “We’re delighted to see so many people from such interesting businesses and organisations come together and celebrate the past, present and future of a very special place. I know Nancy was proud to see the space named in honour of her and her colleagues and the work they did there more than 75 years ago.

“The Shell Store played such a significant role during the war and it’s wonderful to see the space transformed into a modern working environment, while still holding on to its historical roots.”

Carl Turner, Community Director of Town Square, said: “We were proud to have had so many people attend and grateful to have Nancy and the team at Rotherwas Together there. It really was a fantastic blend of the historic foundations with new, modern working.”

Mark Pearce, Managing Director at Hereford Enterprise Zone, said: “The chance for so many local businesses and organisations to get together at The Shell Store was a real celebration of what the area has to offer. When we started this project, we felt it was important that we have modern workspaces in Hereford, but crucial that we hold on to our history and heritage. The Shell Store does that and then some, and we’re very proud of it.”

Forest Garden awarded King’s Award for Enterprise Forest Garden, the UK’s largest manufacturer and distributor of wooden garden products, welcomed guests to its Worcestershire headquarters for the presentation of the company’s first King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

Forest Chairman Guy Grainger and CEO Sam Smith were presented with the

award which is the highest and most prestigious given to UK businesses.

The ceremony was carried out by Mrs Beatrice Grant, His Majesty’s LordLieutenant of Worcestershire.

Founded in 1974 Forest Garden, which employs more than 500 people, manufacturers and distributes wooden buildings, fencing and structures .

Guy said: “Whilst innovating the manufacture of fence panels may not seem particularly exciting, in our sector it has been nothing short of revolutionary.

“We successfully introduced a new panel suitable for automation into our market, alongside replacing a traditional manufacturing process with high-speed automation.”

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REGIONAL FOCUS WORCESTERSHIRE

Battery firm Fogstar expands for the second time in five years

CGI of the scheme under development at Hartlebury

Soaring sales have powered expansion at an online battery retailer and a move into bigger premises in Redditch.

HIGH DEMAND FOR INDUSTRIAL SPACE ENCOURAGES SPECULATIVE DEVELOPMENT AT HARTLEBURY Schroders Capital UK Real Estate Fund (SCREF) has invested in the speculative construction of a 45,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme at Hartlebury – Worcestershire’s largest commercial estate, following the success of similar projects nearby.

Hartlebury 45 will offer warehouse and office space to be delivered to net zero carbon in operation, as well as a yard area and 61 car parking spaces.

Construction began last month and the warehouse is expected to be ready for occupation by next summer.

Rob Cosslett, Fund Manager at Schroders Capital, said: “SCREF continues to see growing occupier

demand for best-in-class industrial space in key UK regions, including within the West Midlands, with strong transport connections and high ESG credentials.

We are capitalising on this demand by significantly expanding the industrial space offered at Hartlebury 45, with this newly approved development.”

Rupert Jeffries of Collingwood Rigby, asset managers for the Estate, said: “Last year we refurbished an industrial scheme to provide an additional 27,000 sq ft of commercial space across five units – all of which were swiftly let to local and regional businesses. This followed assistive devices developer ETAC taking occupation of a 30,000 sq ft built-to-suit distribution centre earlier in the year.

Fogstar’s new base is more than double the size of its old premises, but that hasn’t stopped it hanging on to its old ones on the Royal Enfield Business Park, Ben Facer, founder-director at Fogstar, said: “We’re already talking about adding a mezzanine to the new premises to give us more space. We seem to be the right business, providing the right service at the right time.

“When we moved into our old premises five years ago, we were selling smaller lithium-ion batteries used in torches, vape pens and video door bells to the public and independent retailers such as vape shops.

“Now half our sales are to businesses and half to the public. So we sell batteries to camper van owners and also supply them to the camper manufacturers.”

Fogstar’s sales rose to £18 million last year.

Ian Parker, joint managing director at John Truslove, secured a five-year lease for Fogstar on 3,820 sq ft of space at Unit 21 on Manorside Industrial Estate, Walkers Road, Redditch, at £31,515 per annum. mfg Solicitors in Bromsgrove acted for Fogstar on the leasing agreement.

Barberry acquires site for business park development A multi-million-pound new business park is set to be created in the West Midlands following the acquisition of a 15-acre development site by Barberry Developments.

The investor and developer has acquired the site at Bluebell Farm, Pershore Road, Earls Croome near Upton upon Severn in Worcestershire, for an undisclosed sum. The site will accommodate up to 225,000 sq ft of

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new warehouse, factory or office space.

Barberry Developments director Martyn Cartwright said: “Worcester is already home to many major occupiers such as Worcester Bosch, Mazak and GTech and we believe our new development will attract other significant occupiers.”

Fisher German is retained as sole agent for the scheme. Partner Richard Tomlinson said: “We are already in discussions with

a number of local, regional and national companies who are interested in the opportunities to develop buildings to their own requirements.

Barberry has a 2.4 million sq ft industrial and logistics development pipeline with a gross development value of more than £355 million. The company has 500 acres of strategic residential and employment development land across 12 sites.

REGIONAL FOCUS WORCESTERSHIRE

CHILD CAR SEATS WIN DESIGN AWARDS

“We are delighted that two of the child car seats that we designed for Mybaby have received iF Design Awards” year of achievements for the team, having already won two Red Dot Awards and International Trade Business of the Year in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.”

JMDA’s award-winning car seats

Child car seats designed by Pershorebased product design consultancy JMDA Design, have been awarded highly acclaimed iF Design Awards for the innovative design that aids useability and child safety.

Walter Mosca, Industrial Design Director at JMDA, said: “We are delighted that two

of the child car seats that we designed for Mybaby have received iF Design Awards.

The uniqueness in the way we design comes from understanding everyday challenges of consumers, striving for increased safety, and creating cutting edge designs that lead the nursery market.”

Walter added: “It has been an outstanding

The Q88 i-Size child safety car seat consists of various design features that improve the usability and discourage misuse of the product. The seat is unique in that it has a compact folding size but does not compromise on internal space and weighs just 4.5kg which also helps in the portability of the product. LED lights on the base assist in illumination during installation of the important fitting features, plus targeted ventilation to the upper body and neck area provides more effective temperature control of the child.

Technology Accelerator welcomes eight new tech businesses BetaDen, Worcestershire’s first technology accelerator, welcomed eight new early-stage businesses in September. The accelerator – named ‘Best in the UK’ by the UK Business Tech awards, is based at Malvern Hills Science Park. It has also secured a £630,000 grant from the government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to continue its work developing early-stage technology businesses in the county.

The new businesses joining the ninemonth programme are: • Anionix – a green, hydrogen energy technology company working to develop the next generation of electrolysers powered by renewable energy to enable our net-zero future.

• Care4Futures – a revolutionary technology for buckles and harnesses used by emergency services and motorsport industries

• MotoCargo – developing rapid, lowemissions goods delivery vehicles.

• Optimec – an advanced measurement and inspection technology for contact and intraocular lens manufacturers.

• Missing Link – an advanced software platform revolutionising business processes and workflow automation, promoting data-driven decisionmaking.

• Secure Elements – automotive cybersecurity management system accelerating the adoption of future mobility systems.

• Shop Our Turf – e-commerce platform bringing together independent stores with local communities.

• Treadcheck – automated, data-driven platform transforming tyre management for Heavy Goods

and Public Service vehicles.

Donston Powell, Marketing and Communications Manager at BetaDen, said: “One of the strengths of BetaDen’s offer is the diversity of the technologies it supports, which creates real opportunities for cross-sector learning and commercial development.”

Since 2018, BetaDen alumni have raised more than £7.2 million in investment and funding, supported more than 170 jobs and developed some world-first technologies.

BetaDen offers early-stage technology businesses a programme of support to develop and commercialise their ideas. The package includes access to a proof-of-concept grant, marketing funding, mentoring, co-working office space, BetaDen’s technology network, events and speaking opportunities.

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REGIONAL FOCUS COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE

New funding programme for SMEs launches in Coventry A major new funding programme has been launched to provide small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Coventry with support to reach their growth potential.

Aurrigo Auto-Cargo concept for its partnership with UPS

AURRIGO REPORTS RISING REVENUES AND NEW COLLABORATIONS It’s been a busy few months for Aurrigo, the Coventry self-driving and autonomous vehicle manufacturer.

mentioned Auto-Cargo was to be deployed by logistics firm UPS at East Midlands Airport – the UK’s second-largest cargo terminal.

In September it was granted more than £400,000 from government via Innovate UK to develop an autonomous electric baggage vehicle to move heavy cargo loads. Aurrigo's Auto-Cargo, which has been developed in concept form, is based on the company's autonomous electric baggage tractor called Auto-DollyTug, which combines the capabilities of a baggage tractor, with the ability to also carry a standard Unit Load Device baggage container.

Finally, Aurrigo announced a partnership with IAG, the owner of British Airways, to deploy a small fleet of its Auto-DollyTug baggage vehicle, the Auto-Cargo air-freight vehicle and Auto-Sim aviation operations simulation software.

In the same month, it announced it was to deploy autonomous buses to Prague in the Czech Republic as part of the EU-funded Living Lab for Autonomous Public Transport Project. The project will also be running across Brno in the Czech Republic, and in Milton Keynes.

And the good news didn’t stop there. The company then revealed that its above-

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Not surprising then that the company, which launched on the London Stock Exchange in September last year, has seen its revenues grow by 35 per cent.

David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo, said: “Interest from aviation organisations and airport groups in our solutions and the ability to showcase the capabilities of our technologies on the ground has been invaluable.

"We are now seeing an accelerated level of interest in Aurrigo's innovative aviation solutions for future deployments within Europe and North America."

Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub will be delivering the Coventry Investment Readiness Programme – a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund programme, on behalf of Business Growth West Midlands and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

The £281,533 scheme, which will run until March 2025, will help SMEs demystify the world of business finance, covering topics including debt finance, asset finance, grants, equity, crowdfunding and angel investment.

The programme is aimed at improving the opportunities of securing external investment for start-ups, high-growth businesses in their early years and to help SMEs scale-up.

Craig Humphrey, CEO of Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, said being awarded the new Investment Readiness Programme for Coventry emphasised its expertise in a critical area to help SMEs fulfil their growth plans.

“We are delighted to have been chosen as a provider of this new programme in Coventry, which will lay the foundations for SMEs to access information and advice through free workshops and mentoring support with investment specialists,” he said.

Paul Edwards, Head of Economic Development and Delivery at the West Midlands Combined Authority, added: “We know that securing external investment and capital is key to the success of businesses right across the West Midlands and that it is not always an easy thing for businesses to do, no matter how strong their growth plans are.”

REGIONAL FOCUS COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE

WARWICK ENGINEERS FLYING HIGH AS ECO-FRIENDLY PLANE BATTERY BUSINESS EXPANDS Two engineers who met at university are flying high after recent investment saw their eco-friendly battery business expand into larger premises.

Neofytos Dimitriou, 31 and Radovan Gallo, 30, both now based in Warwick, met studying engineering at the University of Southampton and launched their aerospace start-up Flux Aviation in 2021.

Flux Aviation develops and manufactures ultra-high performance electric motors and batteries to build zero emission electric powertrains for aircraft.

The current model in development is the FLUX-75 which offers 75kW of power for up to two hours of flying and is designed for light sport, kit-built and experimental aircraft.

Following a recent round of investment, the business is now expanding after

Katherine Skerry, Site Manager at AC Lloyd Space Business Centre Warwick with Radovan Gallo, co-founder of Flux Aviation

moving into a new unit at Space Business Centre Warwick, a 35,000 sq ft development, built by Warwick-based property company AC Lloyd Commercial.

Co-founder Radovan Gallo said: “We were interested in moving to Warwickshire because of its rich heritage in automotive and engineering industries.

This summer, they also welcomed three university students for work experience placements and are now looking to hire two full-time engineers to help meet demand for their services.

“Following a recent round of funding, we started looking for a new base in which we could combine our design, manufacturing and testing operations, and Space Warwick seemed perfect for our needs.”

Support for creative sector freelancers from £4.1 million Commonwealth Games legacy fund The first directory listing all of the business support and help available to the thousands of freelancers working in the region has been launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) as part of a new package of support for the £1.1 billion-ayear cultural and creative sectors.

The West Midlands Creative Freelancer Support directory, now on the WMCA website, lists more than 200 offers of support provided by 138 organisations, individuals or collectives.

among the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, with freelancers, who make up around one third of the workforce, among those most affected economically by successive lockdowns.

The WMCA’s Cultural Leadership Board commissioned the directory to provide an overall picture of the resources currently available to freelancers and to identify potential gaps or opportunities to provide even more support.

These include mentoring, training and development, seminars, information sources, networks, advocacy, workspace and equipment provision, and funding opportunities.

This support for freelancers is part of a £4.1 million package from the WMCA’s Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund that aims to aid the ongoing recovery of the region’s cultural and creative sectors.

The West Midlands’ creative and cultural sectors are a hugely important part of the region’s economy, directly employing around 25,000 people. But they were

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said: “There are many thousands of local people who as freelancers make a huge contribution

towards keeping our wonderfully rich and diverse cultural sector and creative industries going.

“They generate many benefits for our region and not just economically. Arts and culture can have an incredibly positive impact on the wellbeing of individuals and entire communities.

“This is just the beginning, and very soon we’ll be making more announcements about how £4.1 million from the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund, combined with the new partnerships we’re creating with national organisations such as Arts Council England, will deliver a significant investment into our cultural and creative organisations helping them to thrive in the months and years ahead.”

The West Midlands has one of the largest cultural and creative sectors outside of London.

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REGIONAL FOCUS COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE Aerial photograph of Sucham Park, Southam

Flooring company steps into Sucham Park A supplier and installer of raised flooring systems has become the first business to sign up at a new 42,000 sq ft industrial scheme in Southam.

RMF Installation and Services, headquartered in Leamington Spa, is a leading supplier and installer of raised access flooring for commercial office interiors, and has signed a deal on a 15,000 sq ft unit at Sucham Park.

Sucham Park will offer nine new commercial units at Holywell Business Park, which forms part of the established Kineton Road Industrial Estate in Southam.

RMF is the world's largest supplier and installer of reclaimed raised floor systems, and a 10-year lease will provide storage capacity to enable expansion of its eco range.

RMF formed in 1989 and employs 25 staff.

As a specialist sub-contractor it carrys out all works associated with raised access flooring and supports a wide range of construction projects, especially in London, working primarily in the leisure, education and commercial sectors.

Simon Middleton, Sales Director at RMF, said: “This is part of our commitment to continue to support the circular economy through increasing our storage capacity and this new unit will provide valuable space to enable us to facilitate this.

“We have seen significant growth and interest in our Eco Range offering in recent years. Clients and contractors are now forward planning more than ever and looking at how they can reuse existing raised access flooring panels.”

Sucham Park is being developed by Warwickshire Property & Development Group, with MCS Group completing the construction project and Bromwich Hardy appointed to market the units to prospective tenants.

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Alex Murphy, Risk Evolves and British Army Veteran (Intelligence Corps), Lieutenant Colonel K E Spiers OBE TD (R ANGLIAN) Head of UK Engagement Centre, Helen Barge, MD Risk Evolves, Phillip Davies, Risk Evolves & British Army Veteran (Royal Logistics Corps)

LEAMINGTON CYBER SECURITY COMPANY SUPPORTS FORMER ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL IN FINDING NEW JOBS Leamington cyber security and data risk management company, Risk Evolves has won a major award for its work in supporting armed forces personnel to find new jobs when they leave the services.

The company has been recognised by the Armed Forces Covenant, a government scheme in which businesses sign up to a commitment to support veterans and where possible, go above and beyond in helping them with employment in civilian life.

A third of Risk Evolves’ nine members of staff are ex-army personnel.

Director, Helen Barge took a personal interest in the scheme when her brother Michael, a former soldier left the army after 26 years.

She said: “The only time my brother said he was scared was when his time came to leave the army. He told me the thought of losing his army family, his friends and job and starting a new way of life was the most terrifying thing he

had ever had to do. My commitment to giving people like my brother a chance is incredibly important to me and that’s why I became involved with the scheme.”

Alex Murphy, a former corporal in the army intelligence corps is one of the veterans who now works for Risk Evolves.

He said: “Risk Evolves has the same standards and values which the armed forces hold dear in providing that helping hand and supporting people like me into the civilian workplace.”

Helen added: “A strong work ethic, adaptability and reliability are embedded in those who served in the military. These skills are highly transferrable. All we have to do is teach them the commercial side of how businesses operate.

“The veterans who work at Risk Evolves have come with a background of information security, health and safety and risk management and are a perfect fit.”

SKILLS

UCAS launches new apprenticeships service as demand hits all-time high Cheltenham-based universities admissions service, UCAS, has launched a new apprenticeships service.

Raphael Herzog, Chair of Bristol Hoteliers Association

BRISTOL HOTELIERS ‘BAFFLED’

BY GOVERNMENT DECISION Hoteliers in Bristol say they are baffled that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has not recommended any hospitality roles be added to the shortage occupation list.

Inclusion on the list makes it easier for businesses to recruit from abroad and the decision to not add any hospitality roles to the list in the latest review is seen as a blow to businesses still struggling to recover from the effects of both Brexit and the pandemic.

For several years, the sector has been hit by serious recruitment difficulties, and there had been strong calls for chefs and hotel, restaurant, bar and catering managers to be added to the shortage occupation list.

But, in MAC’s first major review since 2020, those pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Raphael Herzog, Chair of Bristol Hoteliers Association, said: “This decision really makes us wonder if the people who sit on MAC are living on a different planet. The chef shortage is a fact, not only in the UK but all around Europe.

“The hospitality sector was hit particularly

hard during the pandemic, being among the first businesses to be forced to shut down and the last to be allowed to open.

“Add to that the recruitment issues posed by the impact of Brexit, soaring energy prices, and the cost-of-living crisis and it’s easy to see why we feel so deeply disappointed by the response of the Migration Advisory Committee.

“The BHA completely agrees with the trade body UK Hospitality, whose Chief Executive Kate Nicholls OBE said MAC has shown a ‘total lack of understanding of chef roles.

“We’ve been working tirelessly to tackle our staff shortages. Only recently we held a successful ‘Have A Go At Hospitality’ event, and earlier this year we provided stateof-the-art equipment to the City of Bristol College to help inspire and train the next generation of chefs. There are still more than 700 job offers within 15 miles of Bristol for a chef role.

“But it does take time for the results of efforts like this to provide the benefits we all hope for, and while we work hard, MAC had the power to give our businesses a huge helping hand, but has decided to reject our calls for help.”

Every applicant who logs into their UCAS student account will now see the most relevant apprenticeship opportunities for them alongside degree courses.

Students will be able to search for an apprenticeship any time during the year, with vacancies updated in real time. It means applicants can now look at all options open to them in one place. And in 2024, students will be able to apply for apprenticeships within the UCAS Hub. UCAS’s new survey findings reveal unprecedented demand for apprenticeship opportunities, with nearly three in five of young people in Years 9-12 considering an apprenticeship.

Yet survey respondents said they wanted more information about how much they will earn, how to choose an apprenticeship and how the application process works.

UCAS’ interim Chief Executive Sander Kristel said: “We are giving greater visibility to apprenticeships, making it easier for all students to explore vacancies.

“As we journey towards one million undergraduate applicants, we can expect to see more applications to higher education and a more competitive landscape emerge.”

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SKILLS

WH AT A WAY TO MA KE A LIV ING We profile people who are turning their passion into a career

Ed Lucas, Owner of Golden Valley CrossFit

Ed Lucas set up Golden Valley CrossFit gym in Chalford, Gloucestershire in 2021.

It’s the 32-year-old’s first business venture and quite a leap from his previous role in digital content management for a national building society.

Why move out of his comfort zone? “My job was pretty desk-bound and during the pandemic I’d worked from home most of the time.

“I’ve always played sport but after sustaining a pretty serious neck injury in rugby a few years ago, I discovered CrossFit. What appealed to me about this form of training was that it turns fitness into sport.

“Because I couldn’t play rugby any more it scratched the same itch as playing a team sport. You meet new people, train among friends and compete if you want (but you don’t have to).”

For those who don’t know, CrossFit is a well-established branded fitness regime, born in the USA in the early 2000s which

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“The best thing about running a CrossFit gym is being able to give people an hour where they can really focus on themselves. It’s a mindful experience because there’s not a lot of time to focus on other things when you’re working through a session” has gone global. Across the UK, there are around 500 CrossFit-affiliated gyms.

It took Ed six months to recover from his injury and regular CrossFit sessions helped. “People say all the time that movement is medicine and I found that to be true.”

It was while he was still working for the building society, tapping away at HTML and coding and going to the gym regularly that opening his own began to become an ambition.

“When I was training, I thought it would be great to make a living from this, but felt it was all a bit of a pipedream.”

It was his partner, Claire, who encouraged

him to think it through. “She suggested I research how much it might cost to open a gym. The owner of the gym where I trained also gave me some advice on costs that I couldn’t estimate, such as insurance.”

It was a few months later, during the pandemic, that the owner approached Ed and asked him whether he was serious about wanting a gym.

“He was considering selling after deciding to move into another career and asked if I’d like to buy this one.”

Ed’s answer was yes, but it was going to be financially tough. “The sale came with a tight timeframe as the lease on the gym’s unit was going to expire in a couple of months.”

SKILLS

I’m fully prepared when I speak to him because I know it’s a cardinal sin to waste your mentor’s time.”

A typical day for an independent gym-owner Ed gets up at about 4am and heads to the gym. He used to live in Wiltshire and had to get up at 3.30am for the hour’s journey in, but this summer he and his partner moved much closer, so 4am seems almost a lie-in. “I’ll clean and tidy before the first session starts at 5.30.”

Two more sessions follow at 6.30am and 7.30am. “If it’s a full day’s coaching for me, I’ll stay until the lunchtime class at 12 noon, doing admin, lesson planning and general stuff around the gym, and then head home for something to eat. After that it’s back for three evening sessions from 4.30pm until 8.30pm. If one of my coaches is working that day, then I don’t

“I love doing what I’m doing and would consider expanding the gym in future years”

Pulling the funding together was also challenging, and Ed and his business partner (who has since left the partnership) had to secure investment from various sources – including family. At the same time, he had to continue with the day job.

Finally in October 2021, Golden Valley CrossFit opened and Ed gave up his job to become a full-time gym-owner and coach.

How’s it been? “It’s gone by in a flash.” But it’s also been very hard work, he admits.

Before he took on new coaches, he was working 90 hours a week. Now it’s down to a still challenging 60-70 hours.

“The best thing about running a CrossFit gym is being able to give people an hour where they can really focus on themselves.

It’s a mindful experience because there’s not a lot of time to focus on other things when you’re working through a session.”

And what about his experience of running a business? “I enjoy doing things the way I want them done. It’s completely different from the corporate way of life I followed working for the building society – great though the company was.”

have to return for the evening sessions.”

It’s a punishing regime but Ed is growing his qualified training staff who are now taking over some of the sessions.

And it’s working. Golden Valley CrossFit is probably at maximum capacity, with just over 100 members, who sign up to attend two, three or more sessions weekly.

It’s also become a bit of a family business after his father, Paul, qualified as a Level 1 CrossFit coach earlier this year and is beginning to take on some of the sessions.

“The numbers are such that I get to know everyone’s main physical strengths and weaknesses, how they move and the limitations they may have,” said Ed.

Ed has also benefited from mentoring from a good friend, a successful businessman who enjoys CrossFit himself. “I really appreciate his advice, but I make sure

And the future? “I love doing what I’m doing and would like to expand the gym.

But it’s one step at a time at the moment. I know I’ve still got a lot to learn.”

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PUTTING INNOVATION INTO PRACTICE AT THE HARTPURY TECH BOX PARK

Opening onto acres of farmland, the Hartpury Tech Box Park is the perfect place to meet, greet, and do business Providing access and nurturing growth within the agricultural industry for innovative businesses Officially opened in July 2022, Hartpury's pioneering Tech Box Park has been instrumental in facilitating the entry and growth of forward-thinking businesses within the agricultural sector.

Welcoming an ever-growing community of innovators and entrepreneurs looking to grow their SMEs in a different way, over 30 businesses have taken a deep dive into the world of agriculture with Hartpury and developed products and services for the agricultural industry.

CHAMPIONING FRESH, INNOVATIVE THINKING The Hartpury Digital Innovation Farm is a state-of-the-art complex connecting research, knowledge, data, and people in a real-world and applied setting.

Set within the stunning Hartpury University and Hartpury College campus, it provides industry-led services for the advancement of agricultural technologies, delivering proven solutions and services to farms and suppliers locally and across the UK. Introduced as part of Hartpury’s Digital Innovation Farm strategy and located next to the state-of-the-art Agri-Tech Centre, the Tech Box Park is a thriving workspace hub made up of thriving start-ups, creative entrepreneurs, and SMEs. A key focus of its operations at Hartpury is to maximise the value of digital technology and innovation for farmers, suppliers, and wider professional support services.

Five high tech, repurposed shipping containers clad in cedar wood overlook the stunning Malvern Hills, just five miles from Gloucester. These self-contained workspaces and hotdesking facilities are complemented by free onsite parking, business support, student engagement and access to Hartpury University’s research academics, business networks, cafes and facilities.

There are meeting rooms for hire and breakout spaces for product launches, and the Tech Box Park arranges and hosts regular events to bring the business community together and nurture connections that innovate.

The facility empowers businesses to find solutions to real-world challenges in the agricultural and land-based industries. Its suite of membership options and services not only includes workspace, but also offers access to Hartpury’s neighbouring commercial farm. This allows for unrivalled real-world consultation.

Gareth Whatmore, Tech Box Member, Founder & CEO of Drone Prep/ Sky-Highways

To date, the facility has welcomed and supported entrepreneurs, ambitious start-ups, and established companies. With members leveraging their diverse expertise in smart technology, cybersecurity, pharmaceutical, energy, defence, manufacturing, and transport sectors to better understand the needs of the farming community and seek out smart, profitable, and sustainable solutions for businesses working across the agricultural sector.

Providing businesses with the ultimate field station and environment for full immersion into the UK agri-food industry From enabling a social enterprise to create a test bed for trialling hemp derivatives in animal bedding, to showcasing the world’s most innovative anti-theft solution for agricultural machinery and testing 100% plant based compostable packaging on hay bales – the Tech Box Park has already provided an invaluable space and place for innovative thinking.

PROMOTIONAL BUSINESS FEATURE

Bruce Bodio, CEO, BioViron International and Tech Box Member said:

Catherine Briggs, Tech Box Park Centre Manager said”

“WITH THE LARGEST AND FASTEST GROWING NETWORK OF AGRI-TECH SMES TO WORK WITH, IT’S AN EXCITING TIME TO BE WORKING IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE.”

“THE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP SOMETHING GROUND-BREAKING HERE IS REAL.”

Tech Box Park businesses have placed themselves in the heart of Gloucestershire, the 5th largest county in the South West, rich in agricultural heritage. With 74% of the regions land area used for primary food production, Tech Box Park members are well placed to develop their products and extend their operations for the land-based sector.

WHY NOT GIVE US A CALL OR COME AND TOUR THE DIGITAL INNOVATION FARM IN PERSON? THERE’S NO BETTER WAY TO SEE OUR UNIQUE FACILITIES. MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS Day Member - £20 per day* Your desk for the day Virtual Membership - £72 per month* Be part of the virtual community with exclusive event invites and access to the members portal.

Associate Membership - £150 per month* A comprehensive support package, exclusive event invites, access to the members only portal but with limited access to facilities.

Full Membership - £350 per month* A comprehensive support package, discounted use of facilities, dedicated workspace, access to members only portal, innovation expertise and exclusive event invites.

Residential Membership – Enquire* Dedicated unit for your team, a comprehensive support package, access to the members only portal and exclusive event invites.

Residential Membership Plus – Enquire* Dedicated unit for your team, a comprehensive support package, access to the members only portal, exclusive event invites plus access to the Agri-Tech Centre benefits.

Neil Cooper, Tech Box Member, from Yagro, in the Tech Box

*including VAT

Sign up for your FREE WORKSPACE TRIAL DAY! Email us: techboxpark@hartpury.ac.uk Call us: 01452 702546 Visit: Hartpury.ac.uk/techboxpark

@HartpuryDigitalInnovationFarm

CAREER AHEAD

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Professor takes up Deputy Rector role at Tashkent agricultural university

A senior agriculture professor at the Royal Agricultural University is headed to Uzbekistan to help develop the newly established International Agriculture University in the country’s capital Tashkent.

Professor of Agriculture Nicola Cannon, who has worked at the Cirencester university for more than 20 years and was part of the team which worked to set up the new university in Uzbekistan last year, took up her new secondment in September.

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New Ops Director for Coventry Building Society Arena Claire Harkness has been appointed Operations Director at Coventry Building Society Arena. Over the course of her 28year career, Claire has held a wide range of roles in event management, venue operations and event safety – working with organisations including MTV, BBC, the Scottish Government, UEFA, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

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New Group Chief Executive for automotive consultancy

Global design and engineering consultancy Contechs has appointed Peter Jarvis as Group Chief Executive to lead the company’s rapid international expansion. Previously the managing director of Contechs, Peter now takes over as Group Chief Executive Officer of Contechs Group Holdings.

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Tewkesbury Park Hotel appoints new hotel manager

Tewkesbury Park has promoted Samantha Birch to Hotel Manager. With an extensive background in business and operational management, Sam has been an integral part of the hotel since its pivotal turnaround in 2014 under the new ownership of the McIntosh family.

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Man from the Pru to take over at St James’s Place next month

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Bristol Brand agency Mr B & Friends has promoted Kate Gorringe and Adam Partridge to its senior leadership team. Kate will become Executive Creative Director, and Adam Partridge will step up to become Executive Strategy Director. As Creative Director Kate has led projects for Principality Building Society, Persimmon and Canada Life.

Adam counts Bristol Bears, Bristol City Football Club and Hoare Lea among his successes.

Mark FitzPatrick will take over as CEO at St James’s Place. He succeeds Andrew Croft, who has been with St James’s Place since 1993, serving as Chief Executive Officer since 2018.

Mark was interim Group Chief Executive Officer of Prudential until February. Prior to this, he was its Chief Financial Officer from 2017 to 2022, becoming Chief Operating Officer also in July 2019.

Mr B has new friends at the top

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CAREER AHEAD

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Former player appointed CEO at Gloucester Rugby

Gloucester Rugby has appointed Alex Brown as Chief Executive Officer following an interim period in the role.

The former lock made 235 appearances for the Cherry & Whites before retiring as a player in 2013. With three England caps to his name, the 44-year-old has spent more than 10 years in the off-field management of the club, most recently as Chief Operating Officer.

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Bristol jet manufacturer appoints AirTanker founder as chair

The Bristol-based light jet manufacturer Aeralis has appointed Robin Southwell as chair.

Robin’s extensive career has included roles at BAE Systems, EADS and Airbus.

He was also the founder of AirTanker, the organisation behind the innovative commercial model for running and operating the UK’s Voyager tanker fleet.

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BDO names new Head of Manufacturing in the Midlands

Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO has named partner, Jonathan Lanes, as its new Head of Manufacturing in the Midlands. Having successfully led BDO’s Digital and Risk Advisory Services (DRAS) team in the Midlands since January 2022, Jonathan takes over the role from Jon Gilpin, who was appointed as Head of Audit at BDO in the Midlands last year.

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Four advisers join SETsquared Bristol

SETsquared Bristol, the University of Bristol’s tech incubator, has appointed four new experts in their fields.

The advisers join an existing community of 15 advisers-in-residence who provide pro-bono advice to its 80 member companies. The new advisers are (from left to right) Caroline Clark (COO-in -residence), Ed Daniels (AI-in-residence), Jess Saumarez (Marketer-in-residence) and Mike Paton (COO-in-residence).

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Grant Thornton boosts corporate finance team with new director

Business and financial advisory firm Grant Thornton UK has promoted Adam Hughes to Debt Advisory Director in its national corporate finance team.

Adam will be based at Grant Thornton’s Bristol office. The team works with private businesses and financial sponsors on raising and refinancing debt to help firms find the right lender and debt products.

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Richborough Commercial announces two hires

Richborough Commercial, the rapidly growing commercial strategic land promotion company launched earlier this year, has made two new hires.

Alex Mortimore (left) and Henry Wells (right) have joined as Commercial Land Manager and Assistant Land & Planning Manager respectively. Also in the photograph (centre) is Group Director Nick Jones.

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NEED TO KNOW

Edge computing, what is it and why do I need it in my business?

By Nicky Godding, Editor In the early days of computing, most growing businesses would have their own computer servers based in a special, often airconditioned, server room where no-one but a specially trained computer engineer would be allowed to enter.

That meant every company would need to spend major sums on computer equipment, which would need regular reinvestment to keep up to date – and an experienced IT technician who could be difficult to recruit and expensive to employ.

Then came cloud computing and businesses no longer needed to invest in and maintain expensive servers. Cloud computing is provided in huge data centres, sometimes located hundreds of miles away from the company, holding racks and racks of servers in highly secure facilities, which can store every bit of data sent to them by companies via expensive leased lines.

You don’t need a powerful computer server located on company premises if all your data is processed and stored somewhere offsite which is completely secure.

Except that you do.

What became clear a few years ago was that some data needs to be processed closer to where it’s being generated, especially now that more devices that keep us connected are time-sensitive.

Welcome edge computing – the capability to process some data closer to the user.

Edge computing improves latency – the often infinitesimally small but absolutely critical delay before a transfer of data begins following a user instruction.

Fast data processing done close to the source Edge computing means processing data closer to the source, rather than sending it to a centralised data centre or cloud for processing.

Phil LeBlond is Commercial Director at Westcoast Technology Solutions, one of the UK’s most successful IT companies, and an expert in edge computing. “Over the last few years, companies have increasingly been encouraged to move everything to the cloud, but that introduces latency, and we’re trying to connect and manage devices that are that much more powerful than before.

“For instance, the latest smartphones are 100,000 times more powerful than all the NASA computers that sent men to the moon in 1969.”

A real-world example of where edge computing is necessary, is the autonomous car.

Phil explains: “Autonomous vehicles have an onboard computer which can make decisions fast. For instance, if a child runs out in front of the vehicle, it needs to make an instant decision to apply the brakes rather than going back to a centralised computer to ask the question ‘should I apply the brakes?’

“That’s edge computing – computer power where it’s needed, when it’s needed.

Anything near the user generating and processing data is classed as an edge device.

“When the vehicle is plugged in at the end

of the day, the data it has generated from its cameras and sensors is uploaded back to the manufacturer’s data centre. They run it through machine learning and artificial intelligence platforms, and send all those learnings back to the car for the next time it’s driven.”

Another good example of effective edge computing is in retail. “A retail chain with many stores around the country can put edge servers in each one capable of handling local store transactions,” Phil added.

“At the end of the day, all those transactions will be sent back, in bulk, to the core or to the cloud to be processed, rather than every transaction being sent back in real time, slowing the process.”

It’s not always efficient to put all data in the cloud Autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, healthcare, banking are all examples of where edge computing is becoming essential.

“Edge computing can be used anywhere, geographically dispersed, where it’s not efficient or cost-effective to send everything back to the cloud or to the core datacentre,” Phil added.

The Internet of Things (which we covered in The Business Magazine’s September issue), is made up globally of more than 15 billion physical devices, vehicles, domestic appliances, manufacturing equipment and in fact everything that has a sensor or software embedded into it which will allow it to collect and exchange data over the internet.

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NEED TO KNOW

EDGE COMPUTING Many of the devices won’t need local processing power, but others will.

So today, depending on what your company does and how it needs to access and process data, it may require that data to be stored in your own datacentre, in the cloud, or at the edge – on the device itself.

In this more complicated, albeit bespoke data landscape, there are other things that need to be considered too, Phil points out.

“Companies need to decide how that data should be managed, how do they connect and secure it? When data is decentralised, it could become easier for hackers to access it, so businesses need to have a robust cyber security strategy which takes that into account.”

Several networking considerations also need to be made, specifically edge-tocloud communication. Companies need to ensure that the network can support this communication securely and efficiently.

Hybrid network architectures that combine edge and cloud resources effectively are required.

Despite this, edge computing brings many benefits for companies which have locations across the globe.

Westcoast has a big team which provides solutions from core to cloud to edge for their customers, and they are seeing a massive uptick in customer spending on edge technology.

For Phil, it’s the future: “Edge computing is here to stay.”

Edge computing is clearly the future, the ability to seamlessly manage data and use the insight to make real-time decisions is a game changer for most organisations. Every business uses data in one form or another and will collect far more than it ever uses. Edge computing allows companies to use data from smartphones, sensors, and other “Internet of Things” devices and make real time changes, which would not be possible if all data had to be sent to the cloud or on prem servers before being used in decision making.

But what implications does this hold for businesses? As Phil Le Blond mentions in the article, it is going to be really important for businesses to think critically about data management and security.

The very nature of edge computing means that all data is not immediately being sent and held securely in the cloud, but could be on a variety of different devices, thus potentially increasing the opportunity for data breaches and access by unauthorised parties who may aim to strike at weak points in the infrastructure. It will be more important than ever to protect your IP, and ensure that you are meeting your regulatory requirements, particularly around sensitive personal data (in healthcare, for example).

Christine Jackson, BPE’s Head of Commercial, said: “Edge computing’s decentralised data management raises concerns about security and legal complexities. Our team of legal experts are well-versed in the intricacies of safeguarding your intellectual property,

“Edge computing’s decentralised data management raises concerns about security and legal complexities” ensuring that your innovations and creations are shielded from potential threats”.

If you are interested in exploring edge computing, BPE Solicitors have experts who can advise you in all manner of GDPR and regulatory requirements, as well as helping you to protect your valuable IP. Our commercial teams will ensure that your contracts protect you from liability for unauthorised breaches and advise you on how to spread risk.

To find out more call us on 01242 224433 or visit www.bpe.co.uk

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CYBER & IT Artist’s impression of Cheltenham’s cyber innovation hub

Healthcare IoT cybersecurity specialist signs three-year deal with NHS Trust

FUNDING AGREED FOR CHELTENHAM'S NATIONAL CYBER INNOVATION CENTRE Cheltenham Borough Council has agreed a funding package to secure construction of the National Cyber Innovation Centre.

The agreement secures the delivery of two key buildings namely the National Cyber Innovation Centre and Mobility Hub. The £95 million project will be funded from borrowing and the sale of council assets.

The centre will be built on land at the Golden Valley Development which aims to develop 200-hectares of land beside GCHQ in West Cheltenham into a garden community integrating hi-tech business, residential and leisure uses.

Last year the council appointed HBD X Factory as the development partner to

help deliver the first phase of the £1 billion development.

Councillor Mike Collins, cabinet member for cyber, regeneration and commercial income at Cheltenham Borough Council said: ‘’I am pleased that we have taken a huge step forward in the delivery of our Golden Valley ambitions and now have a development funding agreement to enable us to move forward with this first phase.

“This is significant and will give us assurance on a number of levels.

“Funding a project of this scale comes with associated risk but this agreement provides us with a number of protections through a variety of clauses and conditions that must be satisfied before any funding is provided.’’

New network launches for women in tech and cyber A network for women working in tech and the cyber security industry is branching out from its Cheltenham base and has launched in Bristol.

The Bristol branch of Women in Tech & Cyber Hub launched at Immersive Labs in Bristol.

The organisation believes that empowering women in tech and cyber security is the key to unlocking a future where women are at the forefront of innovation, and where they are empowered to unleash their full potential.

The inaugural meeting was addressed by WiTCH founder Illyana Mullins, who was previously the manager of Cheltenham Growth Hub.

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Cheltenham-based cyber security company Cylera has signed a three-year agreement with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, one of the largest hospital trusts in North Kent.

The NHS remains a key target for malicious activity from cyber criminals around the world focused on national infrastructure systems and on disrupting essential services.

Recently, two NHS Ambulance Trusts, the South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust, and the South Central Ambulance Service Trust, reported breaches which affected NHS workers’ access to patient records.

According to reports, attacks on the healthcare sector globally are on the rise, increasing 60 per cent in 2022 compared to the year before.

The Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is home to more than 11,000 connected medical and IoT devices and other equipment used for patient care and building management operations.

Gary Hickinson, Head of IT at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, said: “Over the next few years our digital landscape will continue to develop, with new medical devices and systems coming online. Solutions such as Cylera enable the trust to have full visibility into all connected medical devices, IoT, and other systems on the network.

"The solution provides full, accurate, and live profiles of each and every device, allowing the team to better manage the maintenance of this equipment and assess any potential risks.

"Cylera’s mission is to ensure these digital environments are secure, patients can receive the care they need and NHS staff have a safe work environment.”

PROMOTIONAL BUSINESS FEATURE

CHRISTMAS PARTIES DON’T HAVE TO BE TAXING The traditional office Christmas party is a wonderful time to celebrate, and the good news is that HMRC is happy to help everyone enjoy themselves, but there are limits!

Following the restrictions of COVID there has never been a better time to hold a staff Christmas party. It is a great way of rewarding employees and, with so much virtual working these days, allows them to socialise which is fantastic for morale.

HMRC is also generous when it comes to work parties as long as the event is open to all employees, held annually, and costs less than £150 per person.

This rule even applies to multiple events at one location such as inter-departmental celebrations along with parties at different sites, including virtual events. Additionally, the exemption can apply to events at other times of the year if they do not add up to more than £150 a head including VAT. Jonathan Walton said: “Company directors would have to be very generous to exceed £150 a head on the Christmas party and it would still be relatively easy to hold a summer event too without incurring tax.

“The golden rule to remember is that the £150 figure is an exemption and not an allowance.

“For example, if a company holds an annual summer staff barbeque costing £60 a head and a Christmas party for £100 per person, then the exemption should be applied to the festive event and tax paid on staff attending the barbeque.”

Employers should bear in mind that such

Jonathan Walton, Director at Whitley Stimpson

“The golden rule to remember is that the £150 figure is an exemption and not an allowance”

events should be open to all staff. If it is decided to hold a directors’ party only then it is not covered by the exemption.

If the costs, including transport and accommodation, exceed £150 then the whole amount is taxable as a benefit on the employee – not just the excess and needs to be reported on employees’ P11D forms.

This situation could lead to individuals being liable for income tax and National Insurance (NI) on the party expenses, potentially causing dissatisfaction.

Alternatively, employers have the option to manage taxable staff entertainment expenses by utilising a PAYE Settlement Agreement, which enables them to inform HMRC about the event and settle the corresponding tax and NI on a grossed-up basis.

Along with parties, it is possible to play Santa Claus with staff by handing out small gifts which may be covered by the trivial benefits rule.

A trivial benefit is defined as an expense

of £50 or less per person, including VAT, and should not relate to services rendered.

The annual limit for directors, officeholders, and their families is set at £300, making it an excellent method for appreciating staff and steering clear of any Scrooge-like associations.

Also, business gifts to clients are not normally allowed as a deduction against profits but there are exceptions. For example, free samples of your products are 100 per cent deductible while gifts advertising the business such as diaries, pens or Christmas cards are tax deductible up to £50 per person per annum. These are traditionally well received and can keep your business in mind over the coming year.

It is worth noting that whilst VAT on client entertaining is not recoverable, it can be for employees, although not their partners.

Jonathan added: “With thoughtful planning, a good celebration is perfectly possible without tax concerns, ultimately leading to a Merry Christmas!”

For more information about how Whitley Stimpson can support your business visit www.whitleystimpson.co.uk Banbury | Bicester | High Wycombe | Witney

LATEST DEAL ACTIVITY

THE LATEST DEAL ACTIVITY ACROSS THE REGION SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

AUGUST 2023 | £Undisclosed

AUGUST 2023 | £8.4M

Medical equipment supplier Lifecast Body Simulation Limited (London)

Software company Amdaris (Bristol)

Edible oil manufacturer KTC Edibles (West Midlands)

has been acquired by

has been acquired by

has been acquired by

Skills training firm 3B Scientific (Somerset)

IT firm Insight Enterprises (United States)

Vegetable oil distributor Trilby Trading (Republic of Ireland)

Advisers: IBB Law, Quantuma

Advisers: TLT, KPMG, Teasdale LLP

Advisers: Eversheds Sutherland LLP,

and PCB Partners

Interpath Advisory LLP, KPMG, PwC, Arthur Cox LLP

AUGUST 2023 | £800M

JULY 2023 | £80M

AUGUST 2023 | £Undisclosed

Fintech start-up Pismo (Bristol)

Cybersecurity firm Netcraft (Somerset)

Intellectual property group JDIP Ltd (Bristol)

has been acquired by

has received an investment from

has had its client portfolio acquired by

Credit card giant Visa (United States)

Patent and trade mark firm Albright IP (Gloucestershire)

SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

Longhill Accounting (Somerset)

The Bath Pub Company (Somerset)

Marketing agency Proctor + Stevenson (Bristol)

has been acquired by

Minerva Accountants (Bristol)

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Spectrum Equity Management (United States)

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has been acquired by

St Austell Brewery (Cornwall)

has undergone a management buyout

LATEST DEAL ACTIVITY

SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

AUGUST 2023 | £130M

SEPTEMBER 2023 | £Undisclosed

Data centre group Proximity (Bristol)

Gloucester City Homes

Powderham Farm Shop & Bistro (Exeter)

has been acquired by

Data centre solutions firm nLighten (Germany)

has agreed a funding package with

has been acquired by

NatWest

Restaurant and farm shop Otterton Mill (Devon)

Advisers: Savills Financial

Advisers: Trowers & Hamlins

Consultants

Interest rates and inflation dampen deal volumes yet demand undercurrent remains Overall mergers and acquisition (M&A) deal activity in the South West has been down with the market being more subdued and cautious than prior years, says Will Daniels, Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at BDO. Data from Experian Markets IQ shows that the number of deals fell by around 50 per cent this year when compared to last year in the region. This fall was admittedly off a high base, with 2021 and 2022 being record years.

However, it is clear that the high interest rate and high inflation environment has had a subsequent impact on the number of deals taking place, with investors being more cautious.

Investors are looking for high growth, high margin businesses with great cash generation. Sectors such as software, communications and healthcare are all seeing continued strong valuations and a high level of interest from potential buyers.

This coincides with an increased focus on due diligence, with more time and energy being spent by interested buyers interrogating potential acquisitions and ensuring that there are no hidden issues.

Therefore, it has become increasingly important that potential vendors are sufficiently prepared before going to market. Failure to do so can lead to either value loss due to a reduced offer, or a failed sales process.

This hides the fact that there is still huge demand from potential investors to acquire and support good quality businesses in the region.

Businesses and their advisers need time to understand the business background and implement any changes needed to ensure that all potential diligence issues are addressed.

There are limited opportunities available and when these businesses are brought to market there is still frenzied activity from investors (trade and private equity) to invest in them.

Overall, while activity is down, mergers and acquisition activity will always remain, and look set to improve as both buyers and sellers get used to the new market environment.”

Will Daniels, Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at BDO

“Investors are increasingly looking for high growth, high margin business with great cash generation”

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PROMOTIONAL BUSINESS FEATURE

SMES NEED TO ACT NOW TO FUTURE PROOF THEIR BUSINESS Julie Palmer, Regional Managing Partner at Begbies Traynor Group, says strong management is needed to deal with economic downturn

and only surviving on loans before interest rate rises made this untenable.

It is therefore unsurprising that insolvencies climbed 17 per cent on last year in September.

Julie Palmer

These are uncertain times for owners of small and medium-sized companies, with high interest rates and low consumer confidence already making things challenging.

Interest rates, currently at 5.25 per cent, are expected to remain stubbornly high for the next five years and while it is widely accepted that they have reached their peak, the days of ultra-low borrowing costs are unlikely to return soon.

High interest rates have a knock-on effect on SME borrowing, already limited in its options, and this impact is being seen through the drop in job vacancies.

Persistently high interest rates are also affecting many so-called Zombie companies that weren’t investing in growth

But Julie Palmer says SMEs facing up to fiscal reality can prepare themselves for the turbulent economic journey ahead.

“Companies which have good, strong management across any sector will do well.

I think any business that’s well managed, is keeping a really close eye on its margins and is not being a busy fool by doing turnover at low margins and can pivot when things change.”

“It is also vital to look at proper financial information and robustly assess how accurate your forecasts are and if you need to adjust the business to fit the shape of those forecasts.”

Early vigilance on potential bad debts will pay off Good financial data and intelligence should also be applied to spot bad debtors and ensure cash flow is not hit by late payments.

Julie said: “Bad debts are always a hit

For more information visit www.begbies-traynorgroup.com or email Julie Palmer on julie.palmer@btguk.com.

to a business. You need to use all the information that is publicly available to monitor your exposure. You should be carrying out all of the proper checks to ensure that they can pay.”

Negotiating contracts that are favourable to your business is also valuable when margins are tight, according to Julie, who said that companies should be mindful of any mismatch in payment terms between suppliers and customers.

She said: “You should always be front loading the contract in your own favour so that the risk is always with somebody else and not you. This will ensure you’re being paid in advance rather than not being paid and having your margins wiped out.

“Also, consider if you have the best possible payment terms and try to match that with your debtors. If your debtors are paying you in 90 days and your suppliers expect payment in 30 days then you have a mismatch that needs to be funded somewhere.”

Reach out early for help Reaching out for help early is also crucial for SMEs who can see financial trouble on the

There are a number of sources of free help available to companies who are heading towards difficulty

Investors remain hungry to put money into solid businesses

horizon. There are a number of sources of free help available to companies who are heading towards difficulty.

Julie said: “Even if you’re not far enough on the decline curve to want, or need, to speak to insolvency experts like ourselves, there is help and advice out there. Some of it is free – and sometimes just having a conversation can help an SME see things more clearly.”

Keeping a close eye on competitors is also essential, she adds, and Julie advises monitoring opposition activity, how it is impacting on your own business and then ensuring that a plan is in place.

Julie said: “What is the competition doing?

Are they offering something that’s better and more attractive than what you’re doing?

“If you’re not keeping pace with change, somebody else will occupy that space and do it much better. We have seen this with some of the large retail behemoths that have failed over the last five years.”

Making sure you have financial packages in place to cover the cash flow issues is also vital to ensuring business survival.

She said: “Do you have the best financial

packages available to your business?

“Traditional bank-led overdraft lending is pretty scarce now so in their absence; you are going to need something like an invoice discounting or factoring product. This will help smooth out the peaks and troughs in your business.”

With traditional routes to finances becoming scarcer and more expensive for SME owners, many businesses have been delaying paying funds owed to HMRC, with the government’s revenue body probably underpolitical pressure not to push through winding-up petitions.

Julie said: “We are moving into an election period and seeing an increase in company failure rates would not be a good look for the government in power. They may be waiting for the economy to pick back up again before these debts are recovered.

“The thing I always say about HMRC is, they’re a little bit like a big grey elephant.

They move pretty slowly in one direction, but then it takes quite a while for them to reverse and change direction. But when they’re moving, they tend to keep on moving quite remorselessly, so any change of tack there is worth watching.”

Despite traditional routes to finance being constrained, investors remain hungry to put money into solid businesses with strong cash flows and a positive outlook.

Julie said: “Money is in reasonably short supply in the traditional marketplace. There is however a real appetite for investment at the moment for the right businesses and there is quite a bit of money that is still not finding the right home.

“Overseas investors are also increasingly looking to the UK for investments. They look at the UK markets and think that they are pretty undervalued in terms of equities at the moment.”

The SME market is also seeing a growth in director fatigue, according to Julie, where having come through Covid lockdowns only to be met with high inflation and supply chain issues, many are choosing to leave their directorships.

She said: “There has been a growth in director fatigue in that people feel as if they have had enough and want to exit their directorship.

“They may feel that the compliance and regulatory and financial burdens on being a small business owner such that they decide they are just going to make it someone else’s problem and go and work for someone else instead.”

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

CARSTEN ASTHEIMER LAUNCHES SO1O BIKE AT NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

A CGI of the S010 bike

Industrial design firm Carsten Astheimer and advanced engineering group Prodrive have launched the SO1O bike – a unique pedal assist, zero-emission electric vehicle that’s been designed to bridge the gap between bicycles and car.

The bike concept was launched at this year’s Cenex LCV, the national event showcasing excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies and connected automated mobility.

The vehicle promotes active travel by providing a year-round solution for personal transport within urban environments

Warwick-based Carsten Astheimer worked with Banbury-based SO1O Bikes founder Jamie Richards on the design of the interior and exterior, and built the prototype. The chassis and drive train was engineered by Banbury-based Prodrive.

has driving aids like GPS, front and rear lights, indicators, and brake lights - as well as a phone charger.

The 'urban transport module' comes with an electric motor to assist pedalling, and

With e-bike and scooters predominantly used by men 18-35 years old, the four-

wheeled SO1O was designed to appeal to other groups. Behind the single driver's seat is a bench seat for children, pets, belongings or shopping.

Jamie said: “The SO1O bike is a proof of concept that’s been designed for inclusive urban transport, bridging the gap between bicycles and cars. The vehicle promotes active travel by providing a year-round solution for personal transport within urban environments and showcases the best of British Engineering.”

Coventry University students test gaming experience on superfast 5G network slicing Students and staff have helped Vodafone and Ericsson complete an innovative live network trial at Coventry University to demonstrate how network slicing can enhance the mobile cloud gaming experience.

Using optimised 5G Standalone network slicing, a new technology that would allow Vodafone to customise connectivity services for specific customers and use cases, trial participants – including students from across Coventry University’s College of the Arts and Society – were

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able to experience more consistent gaming connectivity.

broadcast enabled by a public 5G SA network.

The trial was part of the ground-breaking 5G Standalone (5G SA) Media Innovation Lab and used the 5G network from the university’s Alison Gingell building, which offers lightning-fast download speeds, near-real time latency capabilities and network slicing.

Andrea Done, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone UK, said: “5G Standalone is not an upgrade on 4G, but an entirely new type of technology. Through this trial, we provided a slice of connectivity, customised specifically for gaming, to provide a full fibre-like experience over the airwaves. This is the value of network slicing – a more personalised connectivity service to make digital more in-tune with each customer.”

The lab also supported testing for ITN's coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III, which became the first UK

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

South West hydrogen supercluster programme to launch following £2.5 million investment Academic, civic and industry partners are to work together to unlock the huge potential of the South West's hydrogen ecosystem, as part of a new supercluster.

The initiative will provide solutions for storage and distribution, transport and the energy sector supporting up to 100,000 jobs by 2050, it is predicted.

GW-SHIFT: Great Western Supercluster of Hydrogen Impact for Future Technologies led by the universities of Bath and Exeter has secured £2.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Researchers from across the GW4 Alliance of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities alongside Swansea, South Wales, and Plymouth will work with 25 civic and industry partners, contributing more than £1.5 million in additional funds and in-kind support, to maximise the enormous potential of the South West and South Wales hydrogen ecosystem.

The initiative is supported by the Western Gateway, Great South West, West of England Combined Authority, Hydrogen South West and SETsquared, the partnership between the six leading research-led UK universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey.

New robot could help diagnose breast cancer early Clinical breast examinations could be carried out in the future by robotics.

The South West is posed to unlock the huge potential of hydrogen

Hydrogen technologies will play an important role in decarbonising transport and energy to meet the UK government’s 2050 Net Zero target.

The Western Gateway, a pan-regional partnership bringing together leaders from the South West and South Wales, calculates that investing in hydrogen infrastructure within the area could create up to new 40,000 new jobs and safeguard a further 60,000 existing jobs.

Professor Tim Mays, GW-SHIFT principal investigator and co-director and GW4 net zero ambassador, from the University of Bath's Department of Chemical Engineering, said: “GW-SHIFT will develop as a place based supercluster to accelerate the impact of research and innovation in sustainable hydrogen technologies in the South West of England and South Wales to secure the UK’s net zero carbon emissions target for 2050."

Government launches £60 million Regional Innovation Fund to boost research and development The government has announced a £60 million Regional Innovation Fund to boost support for universities in areas with lower levels of research and development investment.

The fund – relative to the size of each UK nation – will see £48.8 million go towards 110 universities across England and will be delivered by Research England.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan unveiled the scheme alongside a further £8 million towards artificial intelligence scholarships to fund 800 more people to train in AI.

A further £5.8 million for Scotland, £3.4 million for Wales and £2 million for Northern Ireland will be allocated to devolved administrations to support local and regional economies.

The manipulator, designed by a team at the University of Bristol and based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, is able to apply very specific forces over a range similar to forces used by human examiners and can detect lumps using sensor technology at larger depths than before.

This could revolutionise how women monitor their breast health by giving them access to safe electronic clinical breast examinations, located in easily accessible places, such as pharmacies and health centres, which provide accurate results.

The research team included postgraduate and undergraduate researchers, supervised by Dr Antonia Tzemanaki from Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Lead author George Jenkinson explained: “There have been attempts in the past to use technology to improve the standard to which healthcare professionals can perform a clinical breast examination by having a robot or electronic device physically palpate breast tissue. But the last decade or so of technological advances in manipulation and sensor technology mean that we are now in a better position to do this.”

The ultimate goal is that the device and sensors will have the capability to detect lumps more accurately and deeper than it is possible only from applying human touch. It could also be combined with other existing techniques, such as ultrasound examination.

“So far we have laid all of the groundwork,” said George. “We have shown that our robotic system has the dexterity necessary to carry out a clinical breast examination – we hope that in the future this could be a real help in diagnosing cancers early.”

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MANUFACTURING

Trio of Bristol firms receive government funding for autonomous vehicle technology

Dr Milan Nedeljković, The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP and Dr Markus Grüneisl

BMW GROUP TO INVEST MORE THAN £600 MILLION IN MINI FACTORIES AT SWINDON AND OXFORD BMW Group is to invest more than £600 million in the MINI factories at Oxford and Swindon.

The Cowley, Oxford plant is gearing-up to build two new all-electric MINI models from 2026. By 2030 production volume will be exclusively electric and the BMW Group will have spent more than £3 billion on its Swindon, Hams Hall (north of Coventry) and Oxford plants since 2000.

The UK investment will be backed by funding from the government's Automotive Transformation Fund – understood to be worth £75 million. It will help to secure jobs at the Oxford manufacturing plant and at the bodypressing facility in Swindon.

When the announcement was made in September, Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for production, said: “We will develop the Oxford plant for production of the new generation of electric MINIs and set the path for purely electric car manufacturing in the future.”

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “This decision is a big vote of confidence in the UK economy.

We are proud to be able to support BMW Group’s investment, which will strengthen our supply chains and boost Britain’s economic growth.”

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This decision is a big vote of confidence in the UK economy

The Oxford plant at Cowley celebrated its 110th anniversary this year.

The MINI Plant Oxford currently produces the MINI 3-door and 5-door as well as the Clubman and the MINI Electric. From 2024 the plant will start producing the next generation MINI 3-door and MINI 5-door with combustion engines, as well as the new MINI Convertible, before they are joined by the new all-electric vehicles in 2026 – the MINI Cooper 3-door and the MINI Aceman.

The factory will reach a production capacity of around 200,000 cars per year in the medium term, with internal combustion engine and battery electric vehicles initially being built on the same production line. From 2030, the Oxford Plant will only produce all-electric MINI models.

Three Bristol-based autonomous vehicle projects have received government funding to help them develop systems to improve the performance, security and reliability of this new technology Three projects involving Calyo, Aptcore and Zero Point Motion – as well as the University of West England – have all secured the funding from the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV).

Aptcore, based at The Passenger Shed in Bristol, is leading a £1.8 million project to develop a high-performance imaging radar product specifically designed for autonomous vehicles.

It is hoped that its High-Performance Imaging Radar will enable more robust and cost-effective systems that can operate in a wider range of weather conditions while reducing reliance on Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure range.)

The second project is being led by Zero Point Motion, which is based at the Bristol University Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre, in partnership with the University of the West of England. Zero Point Motion is developing inertial sensors to enable high-precision positioning and navigation.

Its £1.4 million project, Photonic Inertial Sensors for Automotive, aims to develop advanced position and navigation sensors that work reliably in various environments.

The final successful project from the region is Driven by Sound, which is being led by Cavlo and based at Future Space at the University of the West of England.

The project has won £910,000 to create an affordable, robust navigation system for automated vehicles, with a particular emphasis on adverse weather handling.

MANUFACTURING

Solid State signs Saab deal Solid State, the Redditch-based specialist component supplier and manufacturer of computing, power and communications products, has entered into a multi-million-pound agreement to work with Saab AB Surveillance in Sweden, on a naval antenna system.

Saab and Solid State’s systems division, Steatite, have signed an agreement to design, test and deliver high-quality RF and wireless communication equipment.

The company will supply elements from its antenna design and other components from its manufacturing facility.

“We look forward to working with such an innovative and reputable solutions provider.”

Matthew Richards, managing director of Steatite, said: “We’re very pleased to have entered into this agreement with Saab.

Magnus Bäckström, Vice-President and head of Saab´s business unit Electronic Warfare and Aircraft Systems, added: “This agreement is an important part of our delivery to our customers.

“It’s a strong testament to the extensive capabilities we have now that the Solid State group has grown over the last few years.

“Close co-operation is crucial in complex development processes.

We look forward to continuing our cooperation with Steatite.”

CHILLED COLLABORATION AIMS TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF ICE PACKS A collaboration between Worcestershirebased supply chain specialist Oakland International and Europe’s leading supplier of chilled packaging solutions, Coolways, aims to reduce the carbon footprint of ice packs.

Netherlands-based Coolways will open its first UK manufacturing facility at Oakland International’s Redditch facility.

The agreement between Coolways and Oakland International will incorporate energy-efficient processing techniques, modern water treatment methods and use an on-site, dedicated bore hole water supply, with Coolways producing, packing and freezing ice and gel packs for immediate use by on-site operators within the Oakland business portfolio. This includes British meal kit retailer Mindful Chef, delivering an initial capacity of up to 20,000 tonnes per year.

Coolways co-founder Mike Mol said: “Initial talks in 2020 resulted in the construction of a state-of-the-art production facility where Coolways, supported by an army of Oakland International professionals are operating several production lines.

Oakland International Sustainability Manager, Vera Bruntink, said: “Oakland International’s ability to draw water from

“We estimate that when we reach full capacity annually, we will be taking around 800 truck movements off the roads and delivering a saving of some 160,000 road miles ...”

The new Coolways facility at Oakland International

our own water source at a constant 12C means we have a far lower energy requirement for on-site freeze down compared to current operations where supplied ambient gel packs are around 20C. “The other significant environmental

impact by having on-site production is zero road miles.

“We estimate when we reach full capacity annually, we will be taking around 800 truck movements off the roads and delivering a saving of some 160,000 road miles – the equivalent of 12,500 trees.”

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RIP LEPs

RIP LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPS – BUT WHAT’S NEXT? As the government axes regional support, who’s there for businesses across the region now?

by Daniel Face, The Business Magazine reporter If your business has sought support in the form of mentoring, skills development or grant funding, there’s a good chance that one of the country’s 38 local enterprise partnerships, or LEPs, played some part in its delivery.

Since their inception, these business-led partnerships have provided day-to-day services for SMEs alongside a broader role in bringing together private sector, civic and academic stakeholders to drive growth and create jobs – all up to now with the financial backing of central government.

In that respect they’ve performed a similar role on a more local basis to the nine former regional development agencies (RDAs) set up by New Labour in 1998, only to be ‘replaced’ by LEPs in 2011.

Each LEP began life as a company limited by guarantee, run by volunteers and with essentially no public funding, sparking plenty of questions as to what these bodies would actually do and how they would differ in substance from their predecessors.

It wasn’t long, though, before the UK government stepped in with local growth deals and a share of the £5 billion European Structural and Investment Funds.

In their heyday, LEPs were the driving force behind all manner of flagship infrastructure projects and initiatives.

But with purse strings tightening, the writing has been on the wall for a while.

Despite a string of reports on the positive economic impact of LEPs and their national network of growth hubs, this March the

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Our meetings have revealed the full scale of the challenge and complexity facing officials ...

Chancellor announced that he was minded to withdraw government funding from April 2024. That decision was confirmed in August.

Clarity after years of rumours, but not everyone’s happy Here was finally some clarity after years of rumours – though not the kind many were hoping for. Mark Bretton, Chair of the LEP Network representing the 38 partnerships across the country, was particularly scathing: “To say we remain puzzled as to why government wants to put at risk a growth engine that has worked so well for them is an understatement.

“But if that is what they want let’s get this done professionally, in a timely fashion and with respect.”

Just what “getting this done” means in practice is, for a number of LEPs, still the subject of many a meeting with local representatives and national policymakers.

There’s no one size fits all solution and it can’t be overstated how much one LEP can differ from the next in both scale and approach.

Some span multiple local authorities, making for awkward compromises and

splitting up services which previously stretched across county borders. And in 2020, a report from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that the number of full-time staff at LEPs ranged from zero all the way up to 520, with a median of 16.

Mark Bretton added: “Our meetings have revealed the full scale of the challenge and complexity facing officials – most LEPs are incorporated companies, a structure insisted upon by government.

“Unravelling this with the trailing liabilities and accountability for significant sums of money will not be simple, yet we need to do all of this while continuing to deliver for our local communities.”

However, the Chancellor’s announcement hasn’t been met with universal derision.

Many councillors have long criticised the input of LEP boards – some but not all of which are dominated by unelected private sector appointees – in local decisionmaking.

Others have taken a more measured approach, particularly in instances where the LEP already worked closely alongside local government or incorporated public representatives into its committees.

Speaking with Ian Mean, Vice-Chair of

RIP LEPs

No local LEP involvement at Brabazon Park. This is a new urban community for Bristol being developed by YTL Developments - part of the YTL Corporation which is an international infrastructure business operating principally in Malaysia and the Far East

“I think what you’ll end up seeing is a balance between the demands and needs of the county council from a growth perspective and the demands and views of businesses”

Coventry Railway Station underwent a £82 million transformation thanks to the Coventry & Warwickshire LEP, which has now closed. Pictured at last year’s opening: Maria McCarron (Station Manager), Malcolm Holmes (Transport for West Midlands) Tony Minhas (CWLEP board director) and Cllr Jim O’Boyle (Coventry City Council)

GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire County Council Leader Cllr Mark Hawthorne laid out a model for the future: “I think what you’ll end up seeing is a balance between the demands and needs of the county council from a growth perspective and the demands and views of businesses.

“That’s how it’s worked in the past and I don’t think the council hasn’t had a voice during the period that the LEP was responsible for economic growth. What this enables us to do is integrate it far deeper than it was before.”

Ruth Dooley - chair of GFirst LEP announcing plans for a new Innovation Village in Cirencester earlier this year

Business advisory boards under local authority control One popular solution has been for LEPs and their staff to form a new business advisory board within the local authority.

Whether they’ll be able to maintain the same level of responsibility and continue to direct funds towards business in this evolved form, time will tell.

Swindon & Wiltshire LEP led a £15 Million project to develop Wiltshire College’s new campus

Others are opting to return to their roots as private companies, looking beyond national and sometimes even local government for other sources of funding.

Stuck in the middle of this messy divorce are the SMEs, the start-ups and the budding entrepreneurs looking to launch their business – each with their own needs for support which up to now has been delivered in large part by LEPs.

Worcestershire LEP’s award-winning technology accerator Betaden

So, who’s there for businesses across the region now? As it turns out, the death of LEPs may not spell the end for many of the core services they once provided – and even in those rare cases, there’ll always be an alternative.

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RIP LEPs During the LEPs’ 13-year lifespan, Phil has been happy to defer to them on matters of strategic government planning and the delivery of government programmes – some of which Business West has promoted or even run on the LEPs’ behalf.

Business West MD Phil Smith has been around for the rise and fall of LEPs

Business West – some reassuring constancy?

With the demise of regional development agencies in 2012 and now LEPs in 2024, another business support network has remained constant throughout – the British Chambers of Commerce.

Since the 1800s they’ve overseen a network of independent, non-profit Chambers across the country, delivering start-up programmes, lobbying on behalf of members and driving international trade.

In the West of England that responsibility falls largely to Business West, which comprises the Chambers of Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire – all under the leadership of Managing Director Phil Smith.

Phil has been in the job for 20 years, and having seen various governments come and go with new ideas for local business, he can’t help but sense a missed opportunity as LEPs join the policy graveyard.

“Growth hubs have always provided extra help and support, which I welcome for our members and businesses”, said Phil. “And we would definitely point members towards the LEPs when they had grants and other services.

“With them disappearing, in some respects, I sense we’ll lose some product. But it will also reduce some of the confusion there was as to what these bodies do and where people can receive support.”

So, why should people turn to Business West?

“Our aim in life is to make our region the best part of the UK to start, grow and run a business and a great place to live, work and learn,” Phil explained.

“We’re partly a lobby body, partly a membership body, and partly a private sector service delivery body. Companies who want to grow will find lots of help in terms of export or innovation or skills.

“We offer a combination of private sector services – export documentation, which has certainly been interesting post-Brexit, and we bid for public contracts to deliver things like Innovate UK.” Business West also provides the typical services offered by growth hubs and other private sector support networks, including early-stage business planning, one-to-one mentoring and leadership coaching.

“I don’t particularly mourn their loss.

We’ve always felt that we had a better grip on the business voice than the LEPs. We touch base with far more companies.

As for grants and loans, they can point start-ups and SMEs in the direction of delivery partners like SWIG Finance.

“I do worry about business support being fragmented and overlapping.

Why does government insist on creating these bodies, be they LEPs, regional development agencies or Business Links, when something like the Chambers of Commerce is already in place?

While the loss of LEPs might prove a blow to some businesses – particularly those in regions which have grown reliant on them in the absence of an alternative – Business West and organisations like it prove that similar services and funds are still out there.

“They and our local authorities have been the two constants over the past 200 years.

Why not build on that existing network?”

“There’ll always be some level of business support”, said Phil. “It might not be as rich, but it might be clearer as to where to go.”

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David Owen, CEO at GFirst LEP

GFirst LEP – Gloucestershire LEP ‘Not the end, but a new beginning…’

It’s curtains too for GFirst LEP as it works with Gloucestershire County Council to lay out a new economic strategy for the county before operations cease in April 2024.

Chief Executive David Owen hailed ‘the start of a new chapter’ for the LEP, saying: “This is not the end, but just a new beginning for economic development and growth that will remain routed in partnership and with a strong voice for business.”

Over the years GFirst LEP has put key funds towards Gloucestershire Airport, the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester and Hartpury University and College.

It was also instrumental in the launch of Cinderford’s AccXel Construction School last year and Gloucestershire Transport Hub back in 2018.

While Gloucester’s growth hub is backed by the LEP, it’s financed separately and has secured funding commitments from all six local districts through to at least 2025. Unlike some other growth hubs, it primarily supports established and high-growth firms.

Pre-start and early-stage ventures can instead turn to Start and Grow Enterprise, which shares the same building, for workshops and coaching.

Region-specific options beyond GFirst LEP and The Growth Hub are limited, though South Gloucestershire businesses may benefit from some of the services and organisations operating in the West of England LEP area, as well as broader initiatives for the South West.

RIP LEPs

Financial support is still available As the funding arm of South West Investment Group, SWIG Finance is a not-for-profit company offering financial support to SMEs across the South West – that includes areas covered by GFirst LEP, SWLEP and the West of England LEP. Group CEO Chris Butters had plenty of praise for LEPs in their final hour, hailing them a “proactive source of support for the start-up and SME ecosystem”.

He added: “The provision of training and venues, convening of events and knowledge co-ordination has been invaluable.

The Workshed, an initiative from Swindon Borough Council

SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE LEP – STILL LOOKING FORWARD Swindon and Wiltshire LEP (SWLEP) has been moving towards commercial independence since the government’s 2017-18 LEP review, when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit limited company.

For several years now it’s delivered commercial services for Swindon and Wiltshire over and above publicly funded activity and looks to be continuing on that trajectory as neighbouring LEPs close their doors.

One new source of funding for the LEP is an £18 monthly subscription for Growth Hub Plus, which builds upon the free services still offered by the growth hub – mostly online events and webinars – with additional in-person masterclasses and event concessions, as well as discounts on workspace facilities.

Alternatives include The Enterprise Network (TEN) from Wiltshire Council, which operates six satellite centres

across the county offering flexible and affordable workspace alongside free business training and regular networking events.

TEN has locations in Corsham, Ludgershall, Trowbridge, Salisbury, Tisbury and Porton Science Park.

The council will also soon offer support via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to help SMEs go digital or develop leadership and management skills.

Although SWLEP and a handful of public sector schemes may be sticking around, Swindon lost its small business accelerator The Foundry this summer, dealing a blow to the town’s local support offering without any clear alternative.

Thankfully it’s still home to The Workshed, an initiative from Swindon Borough Council to provide co-working and office space “for entrepreneurs, pioneers and creative thinkers”.

“We hope these important functions will continue, in some manner, into the future as the South West has a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit that welcomes support and nurture.”

SWIG Finance offers start-up loans from £500 to £25,000 over a one to five-year term at a fixed annual rate of six per cent.

Established SMEs – typically trading for longer than two years – can receive loans starting at £25,001 up to the maximum £250,000.

The company also provides loans specifically for buying a business, procuring equipment or working towards net zero goals, as well as for female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses.

Another new initiative this year is the South West Investment Fund. SWIF represents a £200 million funding commitment from the government-owned British Business Bank to support innovation and create opportunities for new and growing businesses in the GFirst LEP, SWLEP and West of England LEP coverage areas.

The fund launched in Bristol in July as the first in a series of six Nations and Regions Investment Funds across the country.

Loans are available from £25,000 to £100,000; debt finance from £100,000 to £2 million; and equity finance up to £5 million, allowing SMEs to expand, develop new products and services, or build skills.

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Gary Woodman, Worcestershire LEP’s CEO

Worcestershire LEP’s work will continue, vows Chief Executive BrisBES offers an inclusive programme for SMEs and social enterprises

WEST OF ENGLAND LEP BRISTOL AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE As longtime close partners of the combined authority, West of England LEP is transitioning to a new Business Advisory Board for local government – a model adopted by several other mayoral combined authorities further north.

The move spells good news for the West of England Growth Hub, which delivers schemes like the Create Growth Programme – a package including eight monthly training sessions, a dedicated peer support programme and a £2,500 grant for businesses in the creative industries.

Or there’s Made Smarter West of England, an initiative helping SME manufacturers overcome production challenges through digitisation. It offers one-to-one sessions delivered by the National Composites Centre, as well as grants up to £20,000 for investment in digital technologies.

The growth hub also provides leadership and management training through peer-topeer learning, mentoring and training and development courses.

Beyond that, YTKO West of England delivers the combined authority funded BrisBES (Bristol Inclusive & Sustainable

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“BrisBES includes one-to-one coaching, training workshops, e-learning, networking events and grants for any Bristol residents”

Business and Enterprise Support) programme for pre-start, start-up and scale-up businesses and social enterprises.

BrisBES includes one-to-one coaching, training workshops, e-learning, networking events and grants for any Bristol residents.

As for South Gloucestershire, Cool Ventures can offer up to 12 hours of publicly funded business support through webinars and a one-to-one business advice meeting, as well as up to three hours of coaching for high growth businesses.

While the specifics are as yet unclear, Worcestershire LEP’s Chief Executive Gary Woodman assured businesses in August that “our view is very much that the LEP’s work will continue over the next two to three years with Paul Walker as the chair and at the helm”.

Paul added: “Here in Worcestershire we have a robust support base from partners including the county council, all district councils, the business community and education sector” and that the LEP would continue to deliver on its 20-year Plan for Growth.

Central to that vision is the LEP-run growth hub, whose Enterprising programme offers 12 hours of fully funded Start-it masterclasses, as well as coaching and grants ranging from £1,000 to £5,000 for fledgling businesses outside the city of Worcester.

Established SMEs beyond the three-year mark can instead make use of the Elevate programme, which provides more substantial grants starting at £2,500 through to £10,000.

The growth hub is also soon to reveal details on the Innovation Worcestershire scheme, funded in part by national government to help SMEs develop innovative new processes, technologies, products and services.

Alternatively, the county council runs The Hive in Worcester, home to the Business & IP Centre – a hub for business support including online and in-person mentoring from trained library staff and networking events.

There’s also FindItInWorcestershire, an online community of SMEs, social enterprises and volunteer organisations which signposts business opportunities and helps members pitch for and win contracts.

RIP LEPs

COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE LEP CLOSES, BUT GROWTH HUB CONTINUES

CW Growth Hub CEO Craig Humphrey

Although Coventry and Warwickshire’s LEP closed in March, the region’s successful growth hub, launched by the LEP, has already made the transition to form a stand-alone organisation after receiving almost triple the national average engagement from small businesses.

Going forward, CW Growth Hub CEO Craig Humphrey said: “The ecosystem of support is well-established across Coventry and Warwickshire and it works well.

“We’ll continue to be the front door to business support and to provide oneto-one advice. We can now reach close to 10,000 companies in the area, and regionally, through collaboration, the number rises to more than 110,000 firms.”

The growth hub offers free, independent advice, mentoring and growth planning to local businesses and delivers the Skills

“We can now reach close to 10,000 companies in the area, and regionally, through collaboration, the number rises to more than 110,000 firms” 4 Growth programme with Coventry City Council, covering 50 per cent of the costs of skills training for manufacturing and engineering SMEs. This September it also began delivering the Coventry Investment Readiness Programme – a £281,000 scheme to guide growing businesses on matters of debt finance, asset finance, grants, equity, crowdfunding and angel investment.

Beyond the CW Growth Hub, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce runs the free, fully-funded Start-Up Programme, featuring one-to-one business coaching, workshops and masterclasses covering

topics such as social media, branding and networking.

Warwick District Council has its own resident enterprise team to offer help and advice for fledgling businesses. They’re based at Althorpe Enterprise Hub, which provides serviced offices and hot-desking options.

Over at the University of Warwick Science Park there’s The Venture Centre, home to office space and meeting rooms on short-term lease for start-ups and scaleups. The university also delivers the Ignite incubator programmes to help early-stage companies develop their business models.

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HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH

HR ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE….

AND THAT’S A GOOD THING People, policies, skills and expectations – four key things that a company’s HR team have to juggle. We talk to some of the region’s most experienced HR professionals about the issues

By Nicky Godding, Editor

How a company manages its employees has changed more than probably any other aspect of running a company.

Now an HR team must continually invest in talent acquisition and retention, employee development, training and wellbeing.

This is a good thing – a business may offer amazing products, but if the people behind it haven’t got the right skills or feel unmotivated, it won’t succeed.

But as a consequence, the HR burden has increased. We invited HR professionals to discuss some of the issues. How do they cultivate the right vision and company culture to become a great place to work?

How can they help employees gain the skills they need to benefit them and their company? And how are they implementing wellbeing strategies to improve their employees’ health, performance and the company’s bottom line?

Steve Conlay is a Senior Associate in the Employment Team at BPE Solicitors in Cheltenham. He said: “In the 20 or so years I’ve worked in employment law, one of the biggest changes is the expectations of those who are at the beginning of their working lives. They expect a lot more from their employers than before. And that puts

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the pressure on all companies to be the best business we can be for the individuals we hire. As a result, our law firm, and some companies I work with, are implementing policies now that we’ve never really considered doing before.

Julie O’Kelly is Finance Contracts Manager at Spectrum Medical. The Gloucesterbased business develops high performance technologies to improve patient outcomes and employs around 97 people in the UK and 350 worldwide.

Spectrum Medical has recently seen major growth and as a result, Julie has recently taken on the responsibilities of HR.

Julie O’Kelly, Spectrum Medical

“Spectrum has always felt like a family business, and while we have always had efficient HR policies, they were fairly informal. But as we’ve grown, we need to recognise the greater responsibilities that come with a larger company so we have been rewriting our policies, with the help of Sarah Lee at BPE, and sharing them widely across the business.”

Steve Conlay, BPE Solicitors

“And because we have a more robust HR process, we can spot where there might be issues earlier. We have designed the policies to help managers, where they have recognised a staff member may be

HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH struggling with their job role, or if they have other issues that may be affecting them. By becoming more aware, we can sit down with them and begin to understand what they’re going through.”

Is there policy overload?

Is there policy overload though? In the headlines most recently there has been a call for companies to have a menopause policy (thanks to a high-profile campaign led by TV personality Davina McColl). Does every business need a paternity or cancer policy? Is it necessary to define them all or can businesses just rely on common sense?

Some policies are key, according to Sarah Lee, Head of the Employment Team at BPE. She said: “While companies, especially small ones, shouldn’t be overburdened with policies, key policies, such as Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity can protect them if an issue becomes so serious that a member of staff decides to take legal action which could bankrupt the business.

Policies can also act as a useful toolkit or guidance for managers dealing with staffrelated issues.”

Peter Bell is Managing Director at Gloucestershire construction company KW Bell Group. He added: “If you want a good workplace, you just treat people very, very well and give them the respect they deserve.”

Giving people new opportunities Companies are increasingly worried about recruitment. A British Chambers of Commerce report published earlier this year revealed that one in eight organisations reported recruitment difficulties. Firms in the hospitality sector were most likely to face challenges when recruiting, closely followed by manufacturing, construction, professional services and the public, education and health sectors all on 83 per cent.

But good things can happen if you offer upskilling opportunities to existing employees and look beyond the usual pool of workers when recruiting new employees.

“For me it’s about common sense. If you want your valued staff to stay, you treat them fairly and I feel our HR policies reflect that”

Louise Woodward, Cotteswold Dairy

Louise Woodward is HR Director at Cotteswold Dairy, one of the largest independent family dairies in the country.

From its main production site at Tewkesbury, the dairy processes, packs and delivers to doorsteps and businesses across England and Wales from one of its four depots in Cheltenham, Shropshire, North Wales and Herefordshire.

She said: “We have a whole variety of roles across the business, and we know that we must plan for the future, and that means getting the right people in the right roles. A recent initiative is our own academy which we set up to offer in-house training. Our staff can apply for the academy where they will learn about all aspects of the business.

We are now on our second cohort. In-house staff lead the training, although we bring in external trainers to teach continuous improvement and lean operations, following which we ask each student to pick their own project linked to this module to research and present at the end of the training."

Sarah Lee, BPE Solicitors

Jonathan Dunley, Finance and HR Director at commercial development company Robert Hitchins, said: “We are a family firm and we treat our staff well. For me it’s about common sense. If you want your valued staff to stay, you treat them fairly and I feel our HR policies reflect that.”

“Our first cohort did some fantastic presentations on how they felt their departments could change the way they did things for the benefit of the business and I think it’s helped with staff retention because they know their voice is being heard.”

Jonathan Dunley, Robert Hitchins

The company has also been working with a local prison on prisoner rehabilitation.

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HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH “This is a really interesting project. We send our job descriptions to Leyhill, an open prison in South Gloucestershire, and then visit to interview applicants. It’s not guaranteed that they will get a job, but what’s been really interesting is how our staff have welcomed and worked with them.

It’s another initiative which has improved employee engagement – our staff really want them to do well and the buddy system has kicked in. It’s been really successful.”

The Cotteswold Dairy initiative began thanks to a member of staff in its chilled warehouse who needed staff 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 affected 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.”

Skills shortages across the board The security industry is also experiencing a skills shortage, and while technology can help, it’s still a people-based profession.

Jenni Jetzer is Group People Director at Lodge Security. Based in Cirencester, the family-owned company employs hundreds of staff across the UK and further afield.

She said: “There’s a lot going on in the security industry with technology, but there is still a real need for people. While licensing for security professionals came in more than 20 years ago, there is still work to do to persuade people to see the professionalism and value of what they do as a career.

“You're not simply a security guard any more. The role is much more about delivering customer service, looking after the public and giving back to communities.

We work with colleagues across the security sector on various issues such as equity, diversity and inclusivity to help challenge perceptions and show that the sector is welcoming to everyone.

Nicola Bird, AccXel

Jenni Jetzer, Lodge Security

“To build a successful career in the industry you don't have to be six foot tall and as wide ...”

“To build a successful career in the industry you don't have to be six foot tall and as wide, you can be five foot two and be fantastic in the role.

“A lot of my role is about trying to change perceptions, because security is very male.

Currently under 11 per cent of Security Industrty Association (SIA) licenses are issued to women, so while it is improving, the industry still has work to do in this area.”

The construction sector is well-known for its lack of female role-models. One woman who is successfully challenging this stereotype is Nicola Bird, founder and Managing Director of AccXel, the new construction school which opened last year in the Forest of Dean. It welcomed its second cohort of students in September.

She says that to encourage young women into construction, companies need to start early – very early.

“By the time a young girl has got to careerdeciding age, we’ve lost most of them to preconceived perceptions and confidence ...”

“By the time a young girl has got to careerdeciding age, we’ve lost most of them to preconceived perceptions and confidence, so we try to get into the primary schools and talk to the children. We say – you can do whatever you want, and here's a great example of this.”

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Peter Bell, KW Bell

Peter Bell, Managing Director at construction company KW Bell, and Nicola’s father, added: “A good part of the problem is how the construction sector is portrayed. It’s often a man with a digger and a shovel in hand. One of the things that Nicola has also introduced into our business, as well as her new construction training company, is giving people within the business the softer skills and the managerial skills that we were never taught.

“As a result, construction sites are run more productively. Offering our staff training has also shown them that the business has faith in them – it can be as good as a pay rise sometimes. And people will rise to that challenge.”

Looking after employee’s mental health Ultimately, what contributes to a best-inclass workplace is opportunity, learning new skills, and supporting employee’s mental health.

According to Mates in Mind, a support organisation for those working in the construction sector, in construction – a male-dominated industry – men are three times more likely to die by suicide than the national average for men.

This is a shocking statistic.

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Sharon Smith, UK Power Solutions

“We aim to teach people how to pick up the signs that their fellow workers might be struggling with mental health”

Construction work has a variety of pressures from tight contracts to long hours, time away from loved-ones and managing budgets, not to mention the added stresses of the pandemic and now the rising costs of supplies. Additionally, within construction lies a "macho" culture which prevents many workers from seeking support and help when they may need it, putting further stress on their own mental health and wellbeing.

Sharon Smith, HR Manager at Stonehouse-based UK Power Solutions, a multi-utility connections provider for new build residential, industrial and commercial projects, agrees. “We aim to teach people how to pick up the signs that their fellow workers might be struggling with mental health. We're partnering with Mates in Mind to really drive that conversation and make it easier for all our staff to reach out and get that help.

“We also have an employment assistance

programme, which has a counselling service as part of that.”

But all the guests said that providing the service isn’t always enough.

They have to embed a culture where employees are confident enough to ask for help.

Jenni at Lodge Security said: “While the younger generation are better at being able to do so, we encourage all our employees to take advantage of what we offer. We know that it’s not often a single incident that will cause them distress, but the cumulative effect of a number of incidents, so we try to watch for that.”

Nicola at AxxCel added: “We have a daily check-in on Teams for all of our apprentices.

We ask them how they feel every day and they click on an emoji that represents their mood. We get weekly reports but it flags up instantly so we can deal with an issue more quickly if necessary.”

HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH

The challenges continue for HR professionals It’s not just skills, training and mental health, which daily challenge our HR professionals.

Jonathan Dunley, at Robert Hitchins, said: “We must also show that we are ethical in everything we do, not just in how we construct a building. When we tender, we often have to produce our environmental, social and governmental policies, often our equity, diversity and inclusivity policy too.

But we don’t want to just tick boxes, we want to do the right thing for our people.”

Jenni added: “For us it’s about correctly identifying the skills our business will need.

Will artificial intelligence (AI) help us? We can have CCTVs everywhere and AI will probably be far more effective at monitoring and highlighting issues, when a person happens to look away or blink at the wrong moment.

“But you can't send a hologram to go and help somebody leave a building. We need people, and the skills they have in helping to defuse a situation.”

Nicola agrees: “For us it’s about teaching our young people how to interact – how to hold a conversation for longer than five minutes, because talking and having those conversations improves the culture of a business and improve people's mental and physical state.”

Sharon added: “For us it’s the challenge of flexible working. How do we get the resources we need while meeting employee requests for flexibility. We've already introduced quite a lot of flexibility in our workforce, but in our employee survey, it comes up every time. And we ask ourselves – how much can we offer and still be effective? How do we manage and monitor it?”

in construction skills, but then they have given most of the money to further education colleges rather than the training providers who have the right equipment, tutors and environment to provide them with the practical education they most benefit from.

I am currently gathering evidence to lobby government to show them this is not the best use of the £80 million pot of money they have allocated.”

Steve Conlay at BPE said: “This topic is raised with us regularly. We now have unwritten guidance that we work for three days in the office. Some international companies are telling their staff to be back in the office all the time. But if a company wants them to stay, there must be flexibility.”

Peter added: “The construction sector needs more skilled young workers. For me it’s simple, the government should tell the top 10 housebuilders that every contractor that wins a job over a certain value must employ an apprentice. That would revolutionise my industry. Everybody wins.”

And of course, many young people do want to return to the office, as they crave social interaction and the opportunity to learn from others. They also realise that being absent may harm their career prospects.

Jenni said: “Apprenticeships add a lot of value and they do have a place within the security sector, but unfortunately we find the apprenticeship levy is restrictive for our industry.

Steve said: “A lot of my clients have what we call anchor days, where they say that on Wednesdays everybody must be in the office and try and have meetings on that day.”

“Due to the way we operate, paid time off for training is difficult to support for the duration of an apprenticeship where individuals are already licensed to perform their role. In particular we find that security officers are really keen to do training, but they prefer short courses, face-to-face and practical training. They don’t want to commit to a course with a lot of academic work or eLearning over a 12-month period, particularly where turnover between companies is so high and affects the numbers of individuals successfully completing the courses.”

What could the government do to help HR professionals and their teams?

Nicola said: “The government has accepted that they need to train more young people

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HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH

BPE hosts HR Directors’ Lunch at Tewkesbury Park Hotel HR Professionals came together over a delicious lunch at the Tewkesbury Park Hotel.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Rob Lacey www.roblaceyphotographer.co.uk Tewkesbury Park Hotel’s Cotswold Suite

Alexandra Scrivener (The Business Magazine) with Jenni Jetzer (Lodge Service International)

Louise Woodward (Cotteswold Dairy)

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Steve Conlay (BPE) with Peter Bell (KW Bell)

Serving the starters at Tewkesbury Park Hotel

HR DIRECTORS’ LUNCH

Sharon Smith (UK Power Solutions) Louise Woodward (Cotteswold Dairy)

Steve Conlay (BPE) and Jenni Jetzer (Lodge Service International)

Nicky Godding (The Business Magazine) with Victoria Lowe (BPE)

Sarah Lee (BPE) and Julie O’Kelly (Spectrum Medical)

Tewkesbury Park Hotel entrance

Discussing the issues over lunch

Jonathan Dunley (Robert Hitchins) with Victoria Lowe (BPE)

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

S T U O N I P S L O O C 10 Academic spin-outs commercialise the intellectual property from research carried out by academics and students at our universities across the UK

By Nicky Godding, Editor

The UK is internationally competitive at establishing and nurturing university spin-outs, but it’s widely acknowledged that there is a lack of scale-up capital to help carry young deep tech businesses across what’s known as “the valley of death”. This is when they’re reliant on research and development funding before commercialisation.

But a report commissioned by investors Parkwall and published by research company Beauhurst this year reveals that while total investment fell year-on-year, 2022 set a new record for the number of spin-out deals.

We look at some of the most exciting university spin-outs from across the region.

One of the fundamental limits of technology is how humans interact with it – how easily, how naturally, how safely. University of Bristol spinout Ultraleap’s technologies – hand tracking and mid-air haptics – break down those limits by enabling entirely new user interfaces and experiences, making it possible for people to interact directly with the digital world, using only their hands.

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

The universities of Bristol and Southampton spin-out Metasonixx engineers silence, using acoustic metamaterials. It assembles its quanta of sound in the shape of pre-made bricks to make noise-cancelling panels that are easy to move around and can let light through. They work like noisecancelling headphones, but without

electronics and on the scale of a room.

Some designs are as effective as double glazing for noise, but let air through.

Others are cylindrical to go into pipes, cancelling the low frequencies of the fan that traditional solutions cannot kill without a lot of space. Perfect for managing noise and ventilation in hybrid offices, hospitals and factories.

For their degree at the University of Bristol, Hazel McShane and Amber Probyn were tasked with coming up with a solution to a real-world problem. They came up with the idea of a portable women's urinal based on their experience in long queues at music festivals. Peequal gets women and gender non-conforming people out of long toilet queues with a squat and go urinal design that is quick, safe and sustainable.

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

Perceptual Robotics emerged from the University of Bristol in 2016 and incubated its technologies at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

Robotic systems are ideally suited for repetitive dangerous tasks that, until now, have put engineers at risk.

Perceptual Robotics’ engineering makes the entire inspection process reliable and cost-effective with bespoke software and hardware optimised for the application.

Medherant is a Coventry-based clinicalstage company developing innovative treatments using its novel transdermal drug delivery technology, the TEPI Patch. The company's lead project is a testosterone patch for women. Patches are also a more convenient way to deliver drugs through the skin than gels and creams and provide better dose control. The company was founded by Professor David Haddleton and the University of Warwick, using their world-leading expertise in bioadhesives and polymer chemistry.

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

Dr Sian Fussell, Chief Technology Officer at Albotherm, with Molly Allington, CEO

Albotherm is developing glass coatings that reversibly transition from transparent to white to reduce solar gain in hot weather, allowing buildings and greenhouses to regulate their own temperature without electrical input.

Temperature regulation is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions with air conditioning alone accounting for

20 per cent of electricity usage from buildings and 10 per cent of total global electricity usage, says the company.

Glass buildings particularly have problems with overheating as they trap solar radiation. This technology has been developed at the University of Bristol and is being continued at Bristolbased Albotherm by Dr Sian Fussell and Scientific Adviser Professor Paddy Royall.

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

CryoLogyx, a spin-out from the University of Warwick, was founded

by Dr Tom Congdon and Professor Matt Gibson driven by their research in cryopreservation. They discovered a novel approach to freezing cells, significantly reducing post-thaw damage and enabling direct use from the freezer. This breakthrough not only shortened testing time but also empowered scientists to conduct research more efficiently.

CryoLogyx uses a range of proprietary cryoprotectants, developed over several years at the University of Warwick, to achieve unique cryopreservation outcomes and make new frozen products and services. (illustrative image only).

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

University of Bath spin-out Kelpi secured £3 million seed funding earlier this year to advance its pioneering technology creating biomaterial coatings from seaweed.

Seaweed provides a particularly valuable source of carbohydrates for biomaterials. It grows prolifically without need for fertilisers, nor land nor fresh water – offering benefits over alternative plants from which bioplastics can be made. It soaks up carbon as it grows, de-acidifying and re-oxygenating the ocean.

Dr Stefanie Federle, Chief Scientific Officer at Kelpi

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COOL SPIN-OUTS

University 0f Bath spin-out Transdermal Diagnostics is pioneering the development of a wearable device to enhance the prevention, diagnosis and management of chronic conditions, with diabetes as its initial target. The technology guarantees non-invasive and real-time monitoring of health

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biomarkers including, of course, glucose. The wearable platform will enable biological insights to empower users to make lifestyle adjustments, to optimise and complement therapeutic interventions and to significantly improve quality of life. (illustrative image only).

COOL SPIN-OUTS

Scarlet Therapeutics is developing a pioneering platform that generates novel red blood-cell based therapeutics to potentially treat a wide range of diseases.

The Bristol company was founded by renowned blood scientists Professors Ash Toye and Jan Frayne at the University of Bristol following decades of research in the field. Therapeutic red blood cells are very similar to standard red blood cells but carry additional proteins to provide a therapeutic benefit. (illustrative image only).

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ISSN 2516 – 0389 (Print) ISSN 2753 – 4561 (Online)