The Business Magazine - Issue 01 November 2022

LAUNCHPAD

People and pride of place are themes that are threaded through the pages of this edition of The Business Magazine which is fitting as we as a publisher return to a tangible printed product and celebrate the achievements of individuals and companies across the rich economic fabric of the South East.

This edition is deeply rooted in the business communities of the Thames Valley, Solent alongside Surrey, Kent and Sussex and our teams have spent months researching company backgrounds and speaking to those who are driving forward the economy and creating opportunity in industries where they live and further afield.

The result is a magazine which explores key economic topics in depth and features a broad breadth of voices while exploring the opportunities and challenges that they face.

We took the decision to pause the printed product in November last year to take time to listen to our readers and advertisers, invest in our content, digital products and have seen triple digit website traffic growth year-on-year across our websites which reach an audience of over 40,000 people a month.

We have carefully built an audience of business leaders who own their own businesses or hold senior positions while our LinkedIn pages sit close to 15,000 followers which is unparalleled for a regional business news publication in the UK.

Black Ox, the owners of The Business Magazine, has also been on a journey since acquiring the business in February last year with 2022 seeing the acquisition of Surrey video production company Sightline in March and Gloucester-based Business & Innovation Magazine joining the group in May.

Both acquisitions mean Black Ox now has a sizeable footprint on the South East and South West with journalists, video specialists and sales people embedded in the communities they serve and striving to be the ‘Face of Regional Business’ news.

A constant thread of feedback from our readers and advertisers was to see a

return of a printed product which they could use as a valuable reference point and barometer for economic activity in the South East. Our design and content reflect these needs while also including articles which inspire and promote new ideas and thinking.

This is your magazine and we want you to help us build it into a publication that business communities across the South East can feel part of and be proud of. We are here to inform, promote and connect so please get in touch with any news or just to say hello.

BECKHAM BACKS A WINNER IN LUNAZ

Funding from David Beckham and the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (and you don’t often get to put those in the same sentence), is driving forward a firm specialising in restoring and re-engineering classic cars and refuse trucks with electric technology.

Since launching in 2019, Lunaz has grown to reach a valuation of £158 million in February this year following a private capital raise. The firm currently employs 130 staff, with ambitions to expand to 350 by 2024.

Along with David Beckham and the LEP, the firm has also received investment from the Barclays and Reuben families.

When it began operating from an 8,000 sq ft unit at Silverstone Park, the business, which specialises in converting classic cars such as Rolls Royces and Aston Martins as well as refuse trucks, was helped by the Buckinghamshire Enterprise Zone rates relief.

This relief will see a total of £240,508 reinvested into the business.

Despite moving to larger, 44,000 sq ft premises and splitting into three divisions focused on passenger, commercial and industrial vehicles - Lunaz Applied Technologies, Lunaz Design and Lunaz

Powertrain – the firm’s classic cars have a two-year waiting list.

The firm is now preparing to open another 110,000 sq ft unit at Silverstone Park, which is expected to be operational by the end of the year. This will make Lunaz the largest business of its kind in Europe. With governments across the globe announcing bans on the sale of Internal Combustion Engine vehicles by 2030, Lunaz expecs growth to continue.

David Lorenz, CEO, said: “We are proud to be in Silverstone, a global centre of excellence in manufacturing, engineering and technology and motorsport and have felt very well supported in Buckinghamshire.

“Rates relief and other support is directly reinvested back into the expansion of our facilities, creates jobs and has a greater economic impact in the area. The support provided by the Bucks LEP Enterprise Zones as we built the foundations of our business has been absolutely invaluable.”

Along with arranging funding, the Buckinghamshire LEP is planning to support the firm's aim to recruit apprentices and young designers through the Buckinghamshire Skills Hub.

Richard Harrington, Chief Executive of

the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership said: “We are proud to have provided rates relief financial support and Getting Building Funding to help establish and grow the Lunaz business.

“This investment links closely with our strategy to create more opportunity, stimulate additional employment opportunities and generate further productivity in Buckinghamshire.

“The work Lunaz is doing, which not only extends the life of vehicles that would otherwise be scrapped, but also electrifies vehicles avoiding millions of tonnes of carbon going into the atmosphere is ground-breaking.

“We are delighted to be supporting this cutting-edge innovation which tackles the climate crisis head on.”

“The work Lunaz is doing, which not only extends the life of vehicles that would otherwise be scrapped, but also electrifies vehicles avoiding millions of tonnes of carbon going into the atmosphere is ground-breaking”

GATWICK

RETURNS

Gatwick Airport is revising its 2022 traffic forecast to 32.8 million passengers following a better than expected first half of the year.

Despite encouraging signs, the airport notes that current macro-economic uncertainty such as inflation could yet impact these forecasts.

Passenger demand for the second quarter of this year, following the removal of all UK travel restrictions, was almost 75 per cent of prepandemic, 2019 levels, while for the half year it was just over 59 per cent.

In total, 131 million passengers passed through the airport during the first six months of 2022, generating a revenue of £291.5 million for the six months ending June 30.

This has seen the airport return to profitability for the first time since the pandemic, with a profit after tax of £50.6 million.

The airport has also completed the resurfacing of its main runway, and wider developments at the airport are on track to be completed in 2023. In March, the South Terminal opened

for the first time since June 2020, an operation likened to opening a medium-sized airport overnight.

While chaotic scenes have been observed at a number of UK airports, Gatwick avoided many of these issues by gradually increasing its declared capacity and hiring more than 400 new security staff.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, Gatwick Airport said: “We still have some way to go, but strong demand has fast-tracked Gatwick’s recovery from the pandemic.”

A Reading company is hoping to raise £20 million when it lists on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market.

Sondrel is a global designer and supplier of semiconductors.

Its higher-spec chips are built using some of the most advanced superconducter technologies, and

are sold into high-growth markets including computing, automotive, artificial intelligence, VR/AR, video analytics, image processing, mobile networking and data centres. It is one of only a handful of non-Asian companies capable of doing so.

Graham Curren, Sondrel’s Founder and CEO, said: “This float will be the perfect way to celebrate Sondrel’s

20th birthday. Admission to AIM will help us expand our global operations with more engineers and sales staff to ensure that we maintain our high levels of customer satisfaction.

“The majority of business over the past 10 years is from existing customers which is a great validation of our customer care in delivering exactly what they want.”

LARGEST EVER SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW DRAWS CROWDS

The biggest ever Southampton International Boat Show saw a record number of participants take part in the showpiece event.

The event, now in its 53rd year, hosted more exhibitors and boats than ever before with a total of 685 individual stands and berths covering the show’s 70,000 plus sq m footprint. More than 650 craft were on display across the show, with some 300 boats berthed in the marina alone.

Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, said: “There was a fabulous atmosphere at this year’s show and the feedback we’ve received from exhibitors from across the industry has been exceptional, with many indicating very strong sales.

“The show has put a real smile on everyone’s face with a fantastic mix of products, talks, entertainment and refreshments, plus our stunning new VIP experience.

“We’ve welcomed everyone from boating newbies to seasoned sailors and watersports enthusiasts and the wide choice of sailing yachts, motorboats, accessories, paddle boards, kayaks and services has been incredibly wellreceived.”

The event welcomed more than 83,000 people over nine days with a one day pause due to the Queen's death.

Lesley added: “Despite the sad circumstances of recent weeks, we are delighted to have welcomed so many people to the show and it is apparent that there continues to be a real appetite for all things marine and people looking to find different ways to get out on the water."

Alongside craft of all shapes and sizes, from paddleboards and kayaks to

towering superyachts, plus products and services from engines and life rafts to clothing and rigging, the show encouraged event attendees to take part in practical activities.

“Through our Get Afloat, Try-A-Boat and Try-A-Boat+ experiences we’ve hosted more than 14,000 visitors on the water, trying everything from dinghy sailing, paddleboarding and kayaking to RIB rides, yacht cruising and motorboating.

“Visitors have also been able to get out on the water onboard a selection of fascinating and historic craft including the Morgenter tall ship, F8 landing craft, motor gun boat 81 and the high-speed launch 102,” said Lesley.

A new addition to this year’s show was the Quayside Club VIP experience which, proved popular with those who attended the event.

“We have been delighted with how well the new VIP experience was received at the show”, said Lesley.

“The food, atmosphere and hosting staff has been exceptional, and we hope that in future years even more visitors will take advantage of it and add a real touch of luxury to their visit.”

“I would like to offer my thanks to Rockley Waterports, Flexisail and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for making the water experiences such a huge success.”

“ ...it is apparent that there continues to be is a real appetite for all things marine and people looking to find different ways to get out on the water”

LIONEL HITCHEN DEVELOPS THE GREEN PATHWAY TO OFFER NATURAL FLAVOURS ON

SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

As a family-owned company with manufacturing and warehousing sites in Hampshire, one in Barton Stacey and another in Andover, Lionel Hitchen fully appreciates the impact its business potentially has on people and the environment. Its underlying values are to operate with respect and integrity with its employees, local communities and throughout its supply chain.

This has since been recognised at The Solent 250 awards by winning the ‘Business Culture 2022’ and ‘Employee Engagement & Wellbeing 2021’ awards.

HISTORY

Founded in 1965, Lionel Hitchen’s success has seen the business grow over the years, laying down robust roots with global suppliers and working closely with customers.

As a company committed to sustainable development and the continuous improvement of its processes and solutions, it embraces the opportunity to be audited by EcoVadis.

SUSTAINABILITY – THE GREEN PATHWAY

This year the company published its first sustainability report, in conjunction with the Southampton Business School (SBS). “Sustainability has been on our minds for many years, but this is the first time that we are reporting on our activities and commitments.

It is a subject that we have been growing increasingly passionate about and it is now at the forefront of everything we do, our values and our decisions. We are a family-owned business, and we want to ensure we will be securing a sustainable business for all future generations of the Hitchen family,” said Eva Agnew, CEO at Lionel Hitchen.

journey and several employees have shown their enthusiasm by forming an independent, cross-functional group to support the development of Lionel Hitchen’s Green Pathway. These individuals have called themselves the ‘Green Dream Team’. The Green Dream Team hold regular meetings to discuss various topics and what activities the company can initiate to improve the company’s sustainability.

Flavour innovation is about turning ideas into reality. Lionel Hitchen’s experienced team know just how to do that to manufacture products most likely to deliver commercial success for its customers in the food and beverage industries. Its flexibility in manufacturing facilitates low start-up volumes.

Throughout the years it has established a reputation for developing and supplying unique and natural products of the highest quality. It provides a world-class service to valued customers through the application of its technical expertise, flexibility and tailored and bespoke product development.

DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT

Lionel Hitchen has implemented a World Class Manufacturing (WCM) programme that ensures continuous improvement based on how it operates in all aspects throughout the business. Each and every effort is valued, so that individuals can proudly contribute to the growth and success of their company.

In 2021 Lionel Hitchen achieved its first silver in the Ecovadis Sustainability Audit and retained this in 2022, improving the score to reach close to the top of the silver medal banding.

It has been essential for Lionel Hitchen to involve its employees in their sustainability

So, whether your development project is large or small, Lionel Hitchen would be delighted to assist. Just get in touch! info@lionelhitchen.com

ITS

huge

Fewer than 10 per cent of UK businesses currently export.

That’s according to the CBI, but companies that trade internationally open up new markets for themselves, are more productive, more innovative and diversify their risk profile.

With tough economic challenges ahead for us all, why wouldn’t a business look overseas for expansion?

The CBI has called on the government to work with business. Ensuring companies of all sizes seize global trade opportunities will be crucial for growth and resilience, it said.

Will McGarrigle, Head of Global Trade, CBI, said: “The UK’s innovation, creativity and outstanding goods and services have never been more relevant to a changing world.

Whether it’s leadership in environmental services or expertise in advanced manufacturing, the UK is home to products in demand overseas.”

Exporting for the first time? It's complicated

Selling in the UK is relatively easy. The culture and geography is familiar, the legal framework understandable and it’s easier to chase payment if the purchaser uses the same time zone and language.

None of that is true if you want to enter new markets overseas.

Exporting is complicated, but the benefits can be

Companies new to exporting need to understand the potential new markets and how to reach them – both selling to them and then shipping the goods (no mean feat if you want to sell to the European Union now that the UK has Brexited).

You also need to understand the culture of the new market, trade terms the UK government has agreed with that country, its local customs and regulations, and then set up a fail-safe method of getting paid.

One Oxfordshire company opened its first overseas factory in 2015. Despite investing heavily in consultants, the process was initially fraught with problems, but persistence prevailed and med-tech company Owen Mumford has since become a highly successful exporter.

Jarl Severn, the company’s Managing Director, said: “One of the challenges in setting up abroad is that you don’t know what you don’t know – and nor does anyone else. You can’t totally rely on consultants, however expert they appear to be.

“You must visit the countries, be prepared for unknown factors and have enough buffer in your plans.”

consider a number of different factors, especially if you are a business who is looking to begin their exporting journey,” she said.

“Information can come from a number of different sources, so it’s important that the guidance received is clear and concise and businesses are able to apply this to their own operations and internal plans.

“Brexit heralded a new age for exporters, with changes to rules and regulations and new processes across the globe.

“It is about managing supply and demand and also taking into account reputational damage to the business if fulfilment cannot be secured.

“Planning also plays a key role. Moving those goods, whether within the EU or globally, means making important logistical decisions.

‘How the goods will travel needs to be clear as well as ensuring you have the correct documentation in place, in order to not further delay the movement of the goods, which in turn affects the bottom line.

“Know your digital presence. Over the past few years, the way we do business has changed significantly.

“By embracing digital tools and building a strong online presence, companies are more likely to stay in business longer and achieve growth rates not achievable by working solely offline.

“When looking to increase export revenue a well-constructed and internationalised site is fundamental to build relationships with both potential clients and online search engines.

“Choose the right markets. While some believe in the benefits of localisation, others feel that market diversification is the best route to success.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the field of international trade in both the private and public sector, Anne White is Head of International Trade and Compliance at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce. She is responsible for the development and delivery of The Chamber’s extensive portfolio of International Trade Services.

The Chamber of Commerce is the first point of contact for many businesses within the Thames Valley and beyond.

The team have extensive knowledge across a wide range of products and services, including giving expert advice and guidance to those new to exporting and organisations looking for the latest information.

“In terms of exporting, it is important to

Businesses found themselves dealing with individual countries within the EU and with that, an increase in paperwork.

“A survey conducted by the Chamber found that 80 per cent of those questioned said that additional paperwork was having an impact on their business, with 57 per cent saying that the time taken for border checks was also impacting day-to-day operations.”

“Experts are warning that limiting your market to one country or region may reduce your sales, especially if your base market is a small portion of the global market.

“To ensure a successful export strategy it is imperative that you export to the ‘right’ locations and international market research is crucial in driving your overseas market selection and decision making.

“Ultimately selling to a new market without the right information can cost time and money.”

Over the next four pages we list and celebrate 100 successful exporters from across the region.

“Understand the process. It may sound simple, but it is important that businesses understand the full export process, from sales through to contract and fulfilment,” Anne continued.

They’re not selling ice to eskimos, but they are selling valuable British-developed innovations, technology and a host of other services to countries around the world.

Understand the process, choose the right markets and plan, plan, plan

“The UK’s innovation, creativity and outstanding goods and services have never been more relevant to a changing world”

Will McGarrigle, Head of Global Trade, CBI.

Brexit heralded a new age for exporters… and far more paperwork

Company Name Location Company Description

Alpha Laboratories Eastleigh

Medical equipment manufacturer

Arksen Southampton Adventure boat specialist

Aspen Pumps Eastleigh

A world leader in pump manufacturing and the leading pump rental solutions company in the UK

Auto Integrate Portsmouth Specialises in Software as a Service solutions to facilitate vehicle maintenance requests and authorisation, operating throughout the United States of America and Canadian fleet sectors

Aviation & Defence Spares Poole

Bowman Power Group Ltd Southampton

Aviation and aerospace component manufacturing

A leader in energy recovery and engine boosting technologies, supporting clients worldwide

Breedr Southampton Farm management software and livestock trading

Covec Limited Southampton

Covec sell their innovative technical textile Covec – used in sportswear, military clothing and personal protective gear – in 14 different countries

DD-Scientific Limited Portchester Design and manufacture high-performance electrochemical gas sensors for the detection of potentially hazardous environments for markets around the world

Driven International Ltd Hook

Exclaimer Limited Farnborough

Uses modern technology to help in the design process in the international motorsport community. Overseas sales represent 90 per cent of turnover

Provides email signature management solutions for Microsoft and Google email services. Its products are now used by 75 million customers in over 150 countries worldwide

GRP Solutions Portsmouth Chemical manufacturing

Harwin Portsmouth

InSync Technology Ltd Petersfield

Kwikbolt Eastleigh

Lush Retail Ltd Poole

Design and manufacture of electrical components

Designs, develops and produces hardware and software standards converters for international TV distribution, with customers in Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland and the USA

Makes single sided temporary fasteners and associated tooling for the aerospace industry

Platinum

Redwood

Retail

REIDsteel

Company Name Location Company Description

Sunseeker International Poole

Luxury performance motor yacht brand

Supreme Freight Services Ltd Southampton Independent freight forwarder with a global network of agents at ports and airports worldwide

Sychem ltd Eastleigh

The Renewables Consulting Group Romsey

The main supplier of decontamination equipment, infection control consumables, chemicals and equipment – including servicing, validation and testing to the healthcare, laboratory and research sectors

An integrated market intelligence, management consulting and technical advisory firm with regional offices in London, New York, Tokyo, and local offices in Barcelona, Glasgow, Oslo, Southampton, Taipei, and Vancouver

The West Group Waterlooville Medical equipment manufacturing

Wight Shipyard Company Limited East Cowes

Allmakes 4x4 Abingdon

Aurora Energy Research Oxford

CitNOW Wokingham

Circassia Oxford

Clarendon Specialty Fasteners Swindon

Specialist manufacturer of aluminium marine craft up to 50 metres in length, with sales to Austria, Mexico, and Malta

Allmakes 4×4 has been supplying high quality Land Rover parts and accessories to parts businesses, workshops, governments, charities and NGO’s across the world for more than 40 years

The largest dedicated power analytics provider in Europe, producing critical analytics to almost all major market participants in Europe and Australia

Produces video software designed to make the process of buying, selling or fixing a car more efficient

Diagnostics and management company focused on asthma. Its market-leading NIOX® products are used by physicians around the world to help improve asthma diagnosis and management

Distributor of aerospace and commercial fasteners, hardware, and associated products world- wide. The business has locations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Thailand, Mexico and the United States

Duralock Chipping Norton Global supplier of high quality PVCu horse and camel racing fencing. Has offices in Germany, France and North America

Eden Research Oxford Develops sustainable biopesticides and plastic-free tech for use in global crop protection, animal health and consumer products

EP Barrus Bicester

One of the UK's leading importers and distributors of engines, engine-powered equipment, garden tools and accessories

European Electronique Witney Leading technology solutions providers, offer everything from hardware and software through IT consultancy

Focusrite High Wycombe Global music and audio products group which markets proprietary hardware and software products

G&L Scientific Limited Marlow

Invenio Business Solutions Reading

Provides expert scientific regulatory affairs and quality assurance consultancy services and support to Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) companies around the world

The world’s largest independent SAP consultancy and implementation partner for the public sector

Kerridge Commercial Systems Ltd Hungerford Specialist software and services to integrate trading and business management solutions to customers across the world

Livingstone Technologies Ltd Reading

Meech International Witney

Provides large organisations including Nissan, BT and UBS, with software licences from companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and IBM

One of the world’s leading manufacturers of static control, web cleaning and compressed air technology. With seven offices across the globe

Norbar Torque Tools Ltd Banbury Design and manufacturing of torque control equipment. Sells into global markets

OrganOx Oxford

Transforming liver transplantation, enabling functional assessment of donor organs prior to transplantation. Expanding into the USA and Europe

Owen Mumford Oxford Develops pioneering products under its own brands as well as custom devices for the world’s leading pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies

Oxford Biomedica plc Oxford

Leading gene and cell therapy group. Manuafacturer of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine

Company Name Location Company Description

Oxford Products Ltd Oxford

Oxford Instruments Oxford

Oxford Metrics plc UK Oxford

Oxford Technical Solutions Oxford

P2i Ltd Abingdon

Global supplier of motorcycle and bicycle aftermarket products

Provider of high technology products and services to the world's leading industrial companies and scientific research communities

Enabling the interface between the real world and its virtual twin, introducing the Vicon motion capture system. Now around 10,000 active customers in more than 70 countries including some of the biggest names in healthcare, research, sports, engineering and entertainment

The design and manufacture of high precision satellite-aided inertial navigation measurement systems for automotive and surveying. Exporting to more than 30 countries across six continents

Expert in liquid repellent nanotechnology. Works with original equipment manufacturers to enhance devices by enabling them to survive liquid exposure from everyday accidents and environmental conditions. HQs in UK and China

Penlon Oxford Medical device company. Key areas of business include anaesthesia delivery, airway management, suctrion control and oxygen therapy.

Redwood Technologies Group Ltd Bracknall

Rotech (Swindon) Ltd Swindon

Sense Biodetection Abingdon

Spirac Banbury

Providing communications technology and services to hundreds of the world’s largest organisations

Technology for kegging breweries worldwide for hygiene and product quality. Has installations with most major brewing groups worldwide, including Carlton & United, MolsonCoors, SAB-Miller, Heineken, AB-InBev, Carlsberg and many smaller groups and independents

Molecular diagnostics business. Its Veros Covid-19 test delivers fast, accurate and instrument-free testing. With offices in the USA

Solids handling for municipal, wastewater and industrial applications. Has sales and manufacturing facilities in the UK, Australia, the USA the Netherlands and Sweden

Teneo UK Reading Specialist integrator of next generation technology

The Little Car Company Bicester

Builds junior cars in partnership with elite car manufacturers. Vehicles are built in the UK, and each one is an official licensed product of the brand

Tower Cold Chain Theale Temperature-controlled container specialist

Turville Valley Wines Haddenham, Buckinghamshire Supplies fine wines across the globe

Wasdell Group  Swindon

Wireless Logic Group Ltd Maidenhead

ACC Aviation Ltd Reigate

ADF Milking Limited Slindon

Contract service business enabling the supply of critical medicines. Operating across multiple sites in Europe and shipping to more than 47 countries.

Technology to connect and control the wireless transmission of data via the Internet of Things for vehicle trackers, card payment systems and CCTV cameras etc

Global aviation service provider for the aviation consulting, wet leasing and aircraft charter sectors

Designed and manufactured an innovative product that helps reduce mastitis in dairy cows. Overseas sales represent three quarters of its business

Aspen Pumps Ltd Hailsham Trading in more than 100 countries worldwide, Aspen is the market leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of condensate removal pumps used in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration

Atom Brands

Avida

Ceres Power Holdings plc

Producer and exporter of gin, Scotch whisky and rum, exporting to more than 40 different markets

Producer of sustainably produced, high-quality medicinal cannabis oils for the global medical, well-being, and cosmeceutical markets

A world-leading developer of next generation solid oxide fuel cell and electrochemical technology trading in Europe, Asia and the USA

A global technology solutions provider. Its top five markets are USA, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Israel Folkestone

Diversified Ltd

Company Name Location Company Description

Haybury Ltd Brighton

A specialist executive search firm for the life science market. Clients include pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies in 50 markets worldwide

HH Global Leatherhead Marketing services provider trading in 50 countries and clients include Google, Samsung and Uber

Hummingbird Sensing Technology Crowborough Manufacturer of gas sensors for medical and industrial applications

Identity Eastbourne

Inspiration Healthcare Crawley

Provides organisations and governmental departments with a live event services including exhibition stands, conferences and experiential events. Offices in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Shanghai

A global supplier of medical equipment used in neonatal intensive care, operating theatres and home healthcare, with clients in 50 countries worldwide

KIRK Process Solutions Walton-on-Thames Designs and manufactures products for separating and cleaning natural gas and crude oil, with customers in Russia, Switzerland, Nigeria, UAE and Denmark

nDreams Farnborough The world's most experienced VR game developer, committed to empowering players across genres and building the future of VR

Only Natural Products Thakeham Produces fruit and herbal teas made from 100 per cent organic and natural ingredients and literally sells tea to China

Play.Works Haywards Heath Develops and publishes games across a network of more than 200 million televisions via its proprietary technology platform

PrimeVigilance Guildford

SURREY SUSSEX & KENT

A pharmacovigilance service provider with pharmaceutical, generic and biotech clients in more than 100 countries

Proper Music Distribution Ltd Dartford Distributes for more than 1,000 independent record labels and music services companies to Europe, the US, australia and Japan

Semmco Limited Woking Designs innovative solutions creating a safe and efficient working environment for aviation, helicopter and rail customers with customers across Europe, the Middle East, Australasia and South America

Spambrella Ltd West Malling

Security-as-a-service provider focused on cloud-based technology solutions for email threat protection, compliance, archiving and governance. Overseas sales account for more than 75 per cent of total earnings

Specialist Insight Reigate Produces email newsletters, online magazines, training courses, conferences and events for clients involved in business jets, super yachts, helicopters and flying cars in 48 markets worldwide

SIAN Wholesale Crawley Exports health and beauty products worldwide

Silent Pool Distillers Albury Distills and exports British gin to the USA, Canada and Australia

Smith Institute Camberley Designs bespoke mathematical solutions for the complex challenges of business and government, with customers in the United States, Canada, Ireland and Austria

Stanhope-Seta Ltd Chertsey

Offers a unique and innovative range of advanced instruments providing solutions for quality control and testing applications across a diverse range of products from fuel to lipstick

Swan Mill Holdings Swanley Manufactures and distributes around five billion paper napkins a year for hospitals, shops and restaurants

Synchro Arts Limited Epsom Develops and sells innovative audio processing software products to the international film, broadcast and music industries

Systems Interface Cranleigh A leading air traffic control systems integrator, design consultant, project management specialist and airport technology partner delivering turnkey aviation engineering projects to civil and defence airports worldwide

TensCare Ltd Epsom

Manufactures devices to treat ailments such as arthritic pain and pain relief during childbirth. The firm trades in 65 countries

Totally Natural Solutions Ltd Paddock Wood A provider of natural hop oil extracts to the brewing industry, exporting to the USA, Europe, South-East Asia and Australia

World of Books Group Goring by Sea Online retailer of used books sourced from UK charities with shop operations

Ready to accelerate your business growth? Reach new heights with free business support from Enterprise M3 LEP Growth Hub’s expert advisors and mentors.

Times are tough – and businesses are facing an increasing number of challenges in Britain’s current economic climate. Fortunately help is at hand from the EM3 LEP Growth Hub’s team of business advisors – they’re on standby to give expert insight to businesses in the M3 corridor to accelerate future success.

The EM3 LEP Growth Hub’s dedicated free business support for Limited companies, which includes a referrals service to external training providers, will enable businesses to:

• Accelerate their growth

• Become more sustainable

• Fund projects

• Train staff

• Export goods

The EM3 LEP Champions have all started and grown successful businesses and, as a result, can provide impartial advice on growing businesses, covering subjects that include procurement, premises, marketing, finance, bid writing, exports and investments.

The advisors will work with individual business owners and managers from sectors as diverse as aerospace and engineering, to gaming, and everything in between, to focus on their unique requirements.

The business experts and mentors, from a network of experienced professionals, will provide valuable insights and guidance to help all types of businesses to quickly achieve the results they need.

The EM3 LEP Growth Hub offers a wide variety of services and programmes to suit the varying needs of businesses from helping them to grow and find funding, to

assisting with digital acceleration, staffing and training.

It provides access to:

• A dedicated Growth Champion to support your individual business’s growth plans

• A bespoke growth plan, developed with each business’s unique requirements and circumstances

• A trusted expert services network; made up of experts with a proven track record of delivering growth results

• An impact assessment; tracking your progress every step of the way.

Jeannie Satchell Head of EM3 LEP Growth Hub explains: “The economic climate in Britain and ongoing global uncertainty makes it more vital than ever that businesses should be given every chance to thrive. We are pleased to be able to step forward and offer the unique services of the EM3 LEP Growth Hub to provide free support by our business experts and mentors, who will focus on supporting individual business growth plans.

“We can also help with bespoke growth plans developed with businesses based on their circumstances. We will guide each and every business to take the best options and decisions for growth.

“The Growth Hub has been developed by business for business, so we can ensure we’re offering the best possible support in the EM3 area. Don’t miss out on your chance to find the answers to grow your business, make your goals a reality and find out what heights your business can reach when it’s supported by a team of experts – get in touch and tell us how we can help your business to grow.”

Find out more and contact the EM3 business experts online here: or call 01483 478098 for a chat.

Cars being tested on the digital streets of Tokyo

EXPORTING DRIVE

A company started by accident when founder Chris Hoyle’s hobby turned into a commercial enterprise is now exporting its expertise all over the world.

rFpro is a computer software business focused on driving simulation providing a software framework that allows simulated models of cars to be run inside 3D digital models of the real world which might be test tracks, vehicle proving grounds, motorracing circuits or public roads, such as highways and urban city centres.

It is used to accelerate the development of vehicles by enabling more testing to be done in the virtual world. The weather, time of day and level of traffic can all be changed instantaneously. It is increasingly being used to train and develop AI (Artificial Intelligence) for use in

Customers around the world sign up for Exclaimer’s

Exclaimer is a global leader in email signature management solutions for Microsoft and Google email services.

Its software allows companies to create attractive, secure email signatures which can be tailored to contain the

autonomous vehicles, subjecting the vehicle to hundreds of thousands of driving scenarios in a safe environment.

Based in Romsey, Hampshire it started in 2007 and now exports to USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, China and Switzerland. rFpro is used by the majority of teams on the Formula 1, Formula E, World Endurance Championship and NASCAR grids.

In 2022 rFpro opened a facility in Yokohama, Japan with a nativespeaking engineering team providing technical support for customers in the Asia Pacific region.

In 2019 the company was awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade and the Queen’s Award for Innovation – a double-win that put them in the top two per cent of all recipients.

Wight Shipyard Company is shipping boats worldwide

A company at the vanguard of the British shipbuilding industry revival has been celebrating big orders in the UK and abroad.

Wight Shipyard Company, based at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, builds high speed passenger ferries, tourist boats and commercial vessels for the wind farm support market.

The company was formed in 2016 and lost no time in landing big orders. The owners of ferry company Red Funnel were first in the queue, with an order for fast catamarans servicing the Isle of Wight.

The company’s boats can also be seen on the River Thames in London, where commuters and sightseers can hop on an Uber Boat operated by by Thames Clippers. The vessels operate solely on battery power to transport passengers along the Thames throughout the Capital’s central zone between the Tower Bridge and Battersea Power Station piers.

But the big success has been in effectively competing internationally with overseas yards. Exports to date include two 450 pax ferries for Mexico, a 40-metre vessel for Austria and four vessels for Malta with 50 per cent of Wight Shipyard Co revenue coming from export over the last five years.

In 2021 the company received a Queens Award for for Enterprise for International Trade.

Peter Morton, Chief Executive, said: “The skills we are fostering mean that we can compete on the international stage as well as domestically.”

personal details of individual members of staff – bringing brand consistency to a company’s email output.

Based in Farnborough, the company has 75 million customers in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Exclaimer won the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2016, and after overseas sales grew by 158 per cent over three years it won the accolade again in 2020.

In 2022 the company launched Exclaimer Signature Marketing Cloud, which equips customers to exploit the marketing potential of its email signatures.

In a global first, the product allows customers to quantify the monetary value of email signature campaigns using the new Equivalent Advertising Value metric.

The company’s top five markets are USA, Australia, Netherlands, Germany and Canada.

Every year’s a record year for vinyl distributor

A Kent company at the forefront of the ‘vinyl revival’ has been getting records and CDs to music lovers since 1993, when Meat Loaf conquered the charts with I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) and Mr Blobby secured the coveted Christmas number 1 slot.

Today, Dartford-based Proper Music Distribution Ltd, is a distributor for more than 1,000 independent record labels and music services companies.

The company handles more than a million music titles and is renowned for its specialist knowledge as well as playing a leading role in encouraging physical music formats to thrive in the digital age.

The business is spread across the world with its main markets being France, US, Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Over the last three years the firm has established Australia, Japan and Sweden as new overseas markets, which have grown steadily year on year.

Overseas sales have grown by 85 per cent and the percentage exported has risen from 17 to 23 per cent.

New clients include Chrysalis, who are capitalising on the collectors’ market with deluxe re-releases of classics by Midge Ure, Debbie Harry, and Go West, and hip hop pioneers Tommy Boy Records.

Earlier this year the company was awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade.

Managing Director Drew Hill said: “In the face of both Brexit and the pandemic, the team at Proper have worked incredibly hard to adapt to every challenge in building our international trade.”

SILENT POOL SELLS GIN ACROSS THE POND

They say the best plans are hatched in a pub, and that’s particularly true of Silent Pool Distillers, conceived by Ian McCulloch and James Shelbourne in their local.

The Albury, Surrey-based firm distills a range of premium gins and liqueurs, using only local fruit, almost exclusively from across the border in Kent.

Taking advantage of the UK’s gin revival, the company has also broadened into fast-growth gin markets such as the US, Canada and Australia.

Silent Pool Gin and its variants are

exported to more than 35 countries worldwide.

The company demonstrated agility in response to the challenges presented by Covid, focusing more on the retail side of its business and less on hospitality.

Overseas sales grew 53 per cent over the three-year application period and the proportion of sales exported has increased to 18 per cent of total sales.

The company’s exporting success was recognised this year with a Queen’s Award for International Trade.

Now in its 20th year, World of Books has grown into a global company driving the circular economy, selling over 12 million used books per year to customers in over 175 countries.

World of Books is a company really living up to its name – its ambition is to be the leading seller of used books globally.

The Worthing second-hand book retailer – reputedly already the UK’s largest –buys used books mostly from UK charity shops. The books are then resold either to consumers through the company’s website, or wholesale to recyclers.

Employing 720 people, World of Books Group was set up in 2002 when a group of book-loving entrepreneurs rescued a bag of books from a charity shop bin destined for landfill and sold them secondhand.

Overseas sales have grown over three years by 56 per cent and the company has online storefronts in USA, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, France and Ireland and its products are sold on 16 further international online platforms.

In 2020-2021 the business exceeded £100 million sales for the first time while contributing to the equivalent of saving more than 26,000 tonnes of new paper estimated as being just short of 450,000 trees.

The company received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2017, achieved B Corporation status in 2019, and this year was the recipient of two Queen’s Awards: for International Trade and Sustainable Development.

World of Books lives up to its name, shipping its products globally

FOCUSRITE IN TUNE WITH DEMAND

Audio equipment developer Focusrite is, as the name of our feature suggests, rocking all over the world – and is helping musicians to do the same.

Founded in 1989, the High Wycombebased company produces audio interfaces which allow a user to connect microphones, guitars and other instruments into a computer to capture and play back audio in extremely high quality.

Its devices enable musicians, podcasters, streamers and other content creators to produce professional sounding recordings anywhere, with demand growing during the pandemic.

All products are developed in the UK and manufacturing is outsourced to three contract manufacturing partners in China and one in Malaysia.

Over a six-year period to 2022 overseas sales grew by 145 per cent with top markets including North America, Germany, Austria, France, Benelux, Australia and South Korea.

The company won the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2018 and International Trade in 2012 and 2016, and its continuous growth in overseas trade saw it awarded another Queen’s Award for International Trade this year.

Raise a glass to export champion Turville Valley Wines

Turville Valley Wines began in 1979 in the picturesque Buckinghamshire village of Turville and originally supplied a close-knit network of UK collectors with the finest wines at trade prices.

As demand for the world’s greatest wines grew so did its reach and the business now supplies customers across the world

The small team inspects every bottle

they sell before it is shipped to customers in the UK and abroad.

Overseas sales have doubled in three years into its markets of the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, the EU and Japan and achieved considerable overall commercial success.

A 2022 Queen’s Award for International Trade now sits in price of place on the company’s mantlepiece.

Tower Cold Chain Solutions was a pandemic lifesaver

A Berkshire company established to reduce packaging waste in the pharmaceuticals sector has became a major element of the global effort to fight the spread of coronavirus.

When John Pring filed his first patent for a reusable pharmaceuticals container in 2000 he anticipated a growing need for containers for biologic drugs, which require temperature control.

In 2007 Tower (The One-Way Easy Rental) was launched by Tower Cold Chain Solutions, with the aim of keeping temperature-sensitive drugs safe for up to 120 hours.

When a vaccine for Covid-19 was developed, Tower Cold Chain Solutions became a major asset in the distribution of temperaturesensitive vaccines both in the UK and across the globe.

In the past two years Tower has increased its fleet of rental containers from 300 to nearly 3,000. Overseas sales have grown by 250 per cent in the last three years and the proportion of total sales exported grew from 59 per cent to 80 per cent using sales and operational teams in the USA, Europe, APAC and South Africa.

Its top markets are the USA, Germany, Belgium, South Africa and China and strategic hubs are located in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brussels, Frankfurt, Manchester, Singapore, Shanghai, Melbourne, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

This year it was awarded a a Queen’s Award for International Trade. Alok Sharma, MP for Reading West, opened the company’s new 26,000 sq ft facility in Theale.

BDO REPORTS MID-MARKET POSITIVITY DESPITE UNCERTAINTY

The latest in BDO’s regular survey series shows the Central South mid-market is still proving to be very resilient. Businesses are investing in growth and innovation. In the Central South there is a glass-half-full attitude and this positivity makes the region stand out.

BDO’s Central South extends from Weymouth to Chichester and includes south Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. Mid-market businesses have turnover from £10 million to around £300 million and are usually privately owned or private equity backed. We see the mid-market sector as the UK’s economic engine, so our survey is a very informative barometer of the current mood and level of business activity.

Expansion and innovation focus

In general, companies that performed well during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the uncertain times that have followed had the nerve to continue to invest in their core activities.

We see two main drivers of growth: international expansion and innovation. A quarter of companies surveyed said international expansion was a priority. An appetite for international growth has always been at the forefront of the Central South economy, especially the post-Brexit search for new markets. Fareham-based Just

Develop It’s subsidiary Protected.net is a good example, having expanded in the US with a New York Stock Exchange listing. Companies are also driving expansion through continued investment in research and development.

Navigating a perfect storm

In many ways, the Covid-19 pandemic is hopefully disappearing in the rear-view mirror. The question we now ask is ‘What is normal?’. We face huge global economic upheaval – a perfect storm of uncertainty. Our survey identified the main challenges mid-market businesses say they are facing.

Supply chain issues

Nearly half of the respondents cited supply chain disruption as their biggest challenge for this autumn and winter, particularly raw material shortages and logistics bottlenecks. Entering new markets requires robust supply chains.

Many businesses that hung on during the pandemic must now tackle the knock-on effect of prolonged supply chain disruption and inflation by re-assessing their cost base and capacity for future growth. Supply chain disruptions from the Far East, particularly China, mean we are seeing alternative markets, like India, gaining in popularity. A trade deal between the UK and India could have a very positive impact on inward

investment in the Central South region and the rest of the UK.

While ensuring supply chain resilience and managing overseas workforces were important, only 16% of survey participants thought geopolitical instability was their biggest challenge.

Green priorities

The survey found that some 42% of companies are looking to invest in greener technologies, with 68% speeding up their investment in this area to manage costs and address climate change issues.

The focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting by large organisations is filtering down to mid-market companies, especially those with largesized customers who are scrutinising green credentials across their entire supply chains.

Funding concerns

The availability of capital to fund growth is another headache for mid-market companies. Over 80% of those who responded to the survey said they have changed their approach to funding in the last three to six months. Nearly one quarter are looking for funding earlier than planned to ease inflationary and other pressures. In contrast, a similar proportion are delaying funding because they are failing to hit their growth targets.

BDO’s latest Rethinking the Economy survey of mid-market businesses in the Central South region shows a generally pragmatic response to seemingly relentless economic uncertainty. Arbinder Chatwal, Partner at BDO’s Southampton office, summarises the mood and outlook.

With rising interest rates, traditional borrowing from banks may no longer be economical. Instead, we are seeing different forms of lending, including Venture Capital Trusts and private equity investment. That said, banks are also becoming more innovative in what they offer, such as funding against future R&D tax credit claims.

Labour market squeeze

It’s not just financial capital that is in short supply – human capital is also lacking. Asked what priorities they’d like to see in terms of Government intervention, around one-third of businesses in the survey put access to labour at the top of their list. A similar proportion were looking for a reduction in business rates. But what businesses want right now is stable government. As things stand, we expect the labour market situation will probably worsen. Changes in post-pandemic working and difficulties in attracting skilled staff have left their mark. The Central South must also deal with the perennial problem of the brain drain to London.

All of the companies surveyed said they would consider candidates working remotely outside of countries where they are located, although 40% would only consider this if they had a strong client base there.

One area that could make a positive difference to the current labour shortage is apprenticeships, but we see a disconnect here. Local colleges are looking for placements but local employers say they

can’t afford them. It’s an area where more Government support is needed.

Stronger voice needed

A conduit between central Government and business at a regional level is through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) and Chambers of Commerce. But can they do more to support the growth ambitions of Central South companies, particularly internationally?

Businesses need to lobby their LEPs and Chambers of Commerce and challenge them to do more. However, one of the problems the region faces is that it tends

to be disjointed and disparate in terms of attracting government support. It lacks the strong focus and coordinated approach you see in regions like the Northern Powerhouse.

Resilient outlook

Despite current economic uncertainty, mid-market businesses in the Central South region remain broadly positive, with 51% believing that inflationary pressures will ease in the first half of 2023. For now, it is definitely a glass-half-full view in Central South but with so much volatility who knows how long this will last.

The survey found that some 42% of companies are looking to invest in greener technologies, with 68% speeding up their investment in this area to manage costs and address climate change issues.

Key role for HR Wallingford in Celtic Sea wind farm development

Oxfordshire-based HR Wallingford is to help identify offshore storage areas for floating wind turbines awaiting installation.

The engineering and environmental hydraulics company will play a pivotal role in the TS-Flow JIP partnership alongside London-based Offshore Solutions Group in a bid to keep supply chains moving by freeing up space on quaysides and inner-harbours

BULLITT TO LAUNCH SATELLITE CONNECTED SMARTPHONE

Reading-based mobile phone maker Bullitt Group is planning to launch a satelliteconnected smartphone.

The firm is working with a chipset manufacturer and a satellite network to develop a messaging service for their devices capable of seamlessly switching between WiFi, cellular and satellite networks with a view to launching early next year.

Bullitt have been developing a customised chipset, application and core network.

The company is known for creating hardwearing phones sold through the Motorola and Cat brands and sees the move into satellite phones as extending the reliability of its handsets.

The satellite messaging service will be available to anyone using a Bullitt phone,

regardless of their network operator, as long as they are signed up to the satellite service plan.

Richard Wharton, Bullitt’s co-founder, said: “What we’ve got is a smartphone launching in February that will be capable of two-way messaging, via satellite, with global coverage.”

Bullitt’s announcement comes at a time when satellite capability is at the forefront of tech news with Apple’s upcoming iPhone 14 providing the ability to contact emergency services via text message when users are out of coverage.

Richard added: “We want to work with [network operators] because there are challenges providing cellular coverage to 100 per cent geography of a country. What we are offering is that infill where there are coverage black spots.”

for assembling turbines in the Celtic Sea.

The UK government is targeting 5GW of energy generation from floating wind by 2030.

Mike Case, Business Development Manager for Clean Energy at HR Wallingford, said: “Keeping operations moving is a critical issue for the floating wind industry, and our team is excited to apply our site selection expertise to the challenge.”

Bringing together developers, port authorities, installers and other parties working in the Celtic Sea for the first time, the first phase will be a technical assessment.

It will identify potential locations, an outline of the required permitting framework, technical constraints and practical considerations. Subsequent phases will explore how to transform potential sites into usable locations.

“Keeping operations moving is a critical issue for the floating wind industry”

PRODRIVE TAKES ON BAHRAINI INTERNS

Prodrive’s design hub and factory in Banbury has taken on six student interns from three Bahraini universities.

The internships have seen them play a part in the design, construction and everyday operations of the World Rally Championship-leading Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) Hunter cars.

Along with designing parts to be used in BRX cars competing in the championship, the six interns have also been given hands-on experience in the factory building new chassis that will be used in rallies this year in Morocco and Spain.

David Richards, Chairman of Prodrive, said: “It’s great for Prodrive to be able to

offer these Bahraini engineering students the opportunity to have an insight into all the technology behind the Bahrain Raid Extreme Team.

“During their time with us they have learnt how we design, manufacture and run the BRX Hunter on the world’s toughest motorsport event, the Dakar.

“We have also confirmed that when they finish their studies at university, we will consider those who are interested for a full-time role within the team.”

The internship was facilitated by the new electronic visa waiver system which allows Bahraini and Saudi travellers to visit the UK for six months.

Eden Research boost as US approves biopesticide products

Oxford-based Eden Research has been granted regulatory approval from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The sustainable biopesticide company is developing plasticfree technology for use in crop protection, animal health and consumer products.

Regulatory approval covers three active ingredients, eugenol, geraniol and thymol and two formulated products Mevalone and Cedroz.

The company’s two products have a market potential of approximately €94 million for Mevalone and €189 million for Cedroz and will open up significant revenue opportunities.

Approval of the ingredients is expected to accelerate the registration of Eden’s developmental insecticide. If field trials for this product go as hoped, Eden will pursue the registration of this product which has a total market potential of €237 million.

Residential development plan for The Oracle

Oracle Shopping Centre owner Hammerson is undertaking a consultation process before submitting a planning application to Reading Borough Council.

Details of the mixed-use conversion project, including the apartments, architectural design, riverfront public realm spaces, sustainability strategy, leisure and retail proposals have been released online.

The development also includes a

remodelling of the Vue Cinema and flexible working spaces.

The Oracle opened in 1999 and has an annual footfall of 15 million shoppers who stay for an average of 65 minutes with an average spend of £64.

Pending approval, the apartments will be managed by Packaged Living which specialises in developing build-to-rent projects.

REVENUES DOUBLE AT OXFORD NANOPORE

Revenues

at gene sequencing company

Oxford Nanopore Technologies have more than doubled.

Revenue for the group grew from £59 million to £122.3 million in the six months to June 30, while pretax losses narrowed to £27.6 million from £44.4 million a year prior according to interim results published in quarter three.

Revenues from Covid testing grew yearon-year from £6.4 million to £51.8 million –an increase of over 700 per cent – while revenue from its Life Science Research Tools increased from £52.6 million to £70.6 million.

Looking ahead, the company said it anticipates revenue for its Life Science Research Tools to be between £145 million and £160 million in 2022 – an increase of at least 14 per cent on the previous year.

CEO Gordon Sanghera said: “Oxford Nanopore continues to make significant progress, with another period of strong growth in core revenue.

“We are seeing increasing demand around the world for our unique offering and are hugely proud of the new ground that our customers are breaking with the aid of our technology, in areas spanning population genomics, viral surveillance, neurological disorders, cancer and environmental conservation.

“This breadth underlines the scale of the opportunity we see ahead, as we seek to enable the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere.

“We have a clear strategy to achieve this mission and I’m delighted with what we’ve achieved over the last six months. We have continued to invest in innovation, further enhancing the performance and accessibility of our technology. We have further scaled our commercial team and manufacturing processes to meet growing demand and are pleased to see our focus on innovative and sustainable manufacturing driving increasing margins.

“While we remain mindful of the macroeconomic environment, this progress, coupled with our strong balance sheet, gives us confidence as we look ahead.”

MedTech firm Occuity gains funding for international expansion

Reading-based medical equipment manufacturer Occuity has secured an internationalisation grant from the Department for International Trade.

The grant, which is match-funded, will be used to help the medical screening firm connect with end users and distributors in advance of the firm’s PM1 Pachymeter launch in international markets in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Occuity’s CEO Dan Daly said: “It’s great that Occuity has been recognised as a company with significant potential to achieve international sales and grow exports from the UK across the globe.”

The grant will also provide funding for an FDA consultant to help the firm achieve regulatory approval for the PM1 ahead of a market launch in the US, which represents half the market opportunity for Occuity’s products.

This would also pave the way for potential future sales in Central and South America.

Mike Riley, Occuity’s Director of International Sales, said: “Occuity’s ophthalmic products have great market potential, so I’m looking forward to getting our products in front of key opinion leaders and continuing conversations with distributors.”

REACTION ENGINES SIGNS DEAL WITH HONEYWELL

Oxfordshire-based aerospace manufacturer

Reaction Engines has signed a memorandum of understanding with American conglomerate Honeywell International.

The agreement will see the two firms collaborating on the development of advanced thermal management technologies which will lower fuel consumption and reduce aircraft emissions regardless of fuel type.

Together, they will adapt Reaction Engines’ microtube heat exchanger technology to work across a broad range of Honeywell’s sustainable aviation thermal management solutions systems.

Reaction Engines’ heat exchange technology can reduce an aircraft’s weight by more than 30 per cent, meaning less fuel consumption and either longer range or higher capacity.

Tom

Applied Technologies

Engines, said: “Our transformative thermal management technology provides a step change in performance, efficiency and sustainability and is a genuine enabler of zero-emissions aerospace.

“Decarbonizing the aerospace industry is one of the most significant challenges facing humankind today, and we are committed to creating solutions that promote sustainability and clean aviation.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Honeywell on ground-breaking projects that will accelerate the road map to net-zero aviation.”

Future generations of aircraft powered by sustainable fuels will require much more efficient and lightweight thermal management than what is available today.

Reebok founder in funding drive to help Berkshire state schools

The founder of sportswear giant Reebok has launched a campaign in Berkshire to raise money for state schools.

Joe Foster, Chairperson of Wokinghambased digital and social innovation platform LetsLocalise, has launched the #RaisingAMillion campaign.

He is asking individuals, communities and businesses to help state schools meet their resourcing needs this year.

Having already supported 20 schools

across Berkshire, such as Theale Green, The Forest School, John Madjeski Academy and Thameside Primary School, Letslocalise hope this new campaign will help it continue to provide vital resources.

Funds raised from #RaisingAMillion will go straight towards state schools in the LetsLocalise network including the 20 it has already supported in Berkshire.

The funds will focus on five categories namely school meals, literacy, STEM education, music and sports.

Vertical farming

firm’s bid to tackle world

hunger

Bracknell-based agricultural technology company Innovation Agri-Tech Group has unveiled an innovative new vertical farming solution.

IAG’s patented GrowFrame has been proven to produce a healthier root system alongside superior crop growth and yield than other vertical farming systems through a series a projects and trials.

The firm is working with charities and is aiming to become the first vertical farm to take a major step toward ending world hunger and malnutrition.

GrowFrame does not require sunlight, nor is it dependent on weather or the seasons, allowing crops to be grown year-round worldwide.

The technology also accelerates crop growth up to a potential 15 harvest cycles per year, whereas traditional farming may go through three to four.

How can you achieve the best possible outcome in your dispute?

If you are involved in a dispute, don’t despair. Matthew Brandis from B P Collins explores the steps you can take to secure the best possible outcome.

Firstly, it is vital to have an initial call with an experienced dispute resolution lawyer to help identify whether you are going down the wrong path with your dispute, if it should be pursued at all, or, whether it would be beneficial to involve a lawyer in the process.

A large proportion of cases settle well before reaching the courts. This is primarily because there is no such thing as a deadcert case for either party – therefore, settlement is usually the best solution. How that settlement concludes is down to a combination of factors.

Your lawyer should write a strong opening letter. This could be a letter before action or a response to such a letter, explaining your side of things. Including evidence is key, so ensure that you pass all the relevant information to your lawyer – only then will they know what they are working with and also avoid any lastminute surprises.

If the claim is above £10,000, your lawyer can write a “Part 36” letter. The rules around such letters are complicated but in summary they are settlement letters sent to the other party. The key point to note is that if a Part 36 offer is not accepted, and the party (the claimant) who made the offer gets more at court than they offered to accept in the letter, then the other party risks having to pay more in costs, interest and damages at the end of the case. A well-positioned Part 36 settlement offer can therefore conclude a case at an early stage because the other party may not want to risk such adverse consequences arising.

It is important that you do not post anything on social media or contact the other party or their associates about the dispute, as it may undermine the strength of your case.

It is worth considering mediation as soon as both parties have laid their cards on the table as it can be a powerful way to resolve disputes. Why? Firstly, it speeds up the whole settlement process because everyone is in the same (virtual or real) room, which usually encourages a swifter outcome (and therefore saves money and reduces stress). Secondly, there is often a large measure of bad blood between the parties, and it can be cathartic for each party to explain how they have been emotionally hurt by the other. Once explained, it is easier for both parties to look at a dispute more rationally.

If you’re involved in a dispute, B P Collins provides free initial advice by telephone to help identify the best path to take. It also runs www.settlemydispute.co.uk, which only handles mediation, and is operated by Matthew Brandis and Craig Williams, B P Collins’ dispute resolution partners and trained mediators.

LOGISTIC DRONE TRIALS

HELD AT MILTON PARK

Oxfordshire’s science and technology hub Milton Park hosted a series of drone and electric van trials probing the next generation of logistics.

The trials, which took place in August, are part of the HARMONY project which is an initiative that tests low-carbon transportation and its integration into existing systems.

Oxfordshire County Council planned and oversaw the demonstrations, with support from HARMONY’s academic partner, University College London, and from the initiative’s consortium including RUAS, who provided and flew the drones, and Airbus, through its Unmanned Traffic Management platform.

The project’s aim is to demonstrate the

technology in real-world conditions and to better understand the challenges and requirements of integrating it.

The trials at Milton Park, which included the delivery of a defibrillator, showed the increased efficiency and speed of automated freight delivery, with the use of an electric van highlighting the sustainability potential.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change Delivery and Environment, said: “Innovative zerocarbon-ready transport is set to make a huge impact, it just needs us to demonstrate how. Hence this trial, which is another example of our close working with our world-leading universities, of which we are extremely proud.”

Berkshire LEP’s funding boost for high growth firms

Businesses in Berkshire were boosted this year by a £200,000 funding package distributed by the Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership from its Getting Building Fund allocation.

The Berkshire Business Capital Grant Fund was set up to target businesses in the county which were identified as either high growth or potential high growth (scale-up) enterprises. From a total fund of £211,196, six Berkshire

businesses received grants of between £25,000 to £50,000. These grants were matched by recipients, meaning a total of £439,998 invested in Berkshire.

The fund’s goal was to provide funding to support investment projects which would enable the scale-up businesses to make the most of expansion opportunities or counteract barriers to their growth.

Satellite servicing firm Astroscale lands at Harwell

Astroscale has opened its new satellite manufacturing and operations facilities at the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire

This new facility will enable Astroscale to build satellite debris removal servicer satellites, and rapidly develop their commercial offering in the coming years, helping to further contribute to the growth, innovation, and manufacturing potential of the UK space sector.

The move from Astroscale’s previous premises to the new facility, called Zeus, marks a 900 per cent increase in space, covering approximately 20,000 square feet to accommodate a high specification satellite manufacturing facility, a satellite operations centre, and offices for 120 staff.

“I am delighted to open our new state-of-the-art UK premises at the Harwell Science Campus today,” said Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale. “This facility will support our ambitious growth plans for the UK business, allowing us to work with our partners to drive forward the development of the in-orbit servicing commercial market in the UK. If we act now, we will ensure a sustainable space economy for future generations.”

HIGH GROWTH THAMES VALLEY SMES REVEALED

The 2022 Thames Valley SME Growth 100 Index includes a wealth of new entrants

The annual Thames Valley SME Growth 100 Index recognises the region’s high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises. They are ranked based on year-on-year revenue growth.

To be included in the listing, businesses must be based in the Thames Valley and have grown turnover significantly in the past year.

The listing only includes independent, privately-owned companies, headquartered in the region, with a turnover of no more than £20 million.

This year, more than half of the listing’s top 100 companies are newcomers, demonstrating the impressive growth that so many businesses have managed to achieve.

The 2022 edition of the Thames Valley SME Growth 100 Index is sponsored by law firm

Herrington Carmichael, commercial property consultants Hicks Baker and audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe UK.

Top of the index this year is Abingdon-based Oxford BioTherapeutics with a substantial growth of 155 per cent. This clinical stage oncology company has made great progress in the development of immunotherapies for cancer.

New to the listing, Windsor-based Porthaven Group, takes second place. This independent group specialises in building and operating ‘market leading care homes’.

In third place is the Winnersh-based FullCircl, appearing in previous years’ indexes as Artisian Solutions, which supports businesses with customer lifecycle intelligence to help engage customers and keep them on board for life.

Despite being another newcomer, UK Land Group takes fourth place and exhibits the highest turnover statistics in the listing’s top five. Based in Hungerford, it owns properties throughout the UK and specialises in the acquisition of privately and publicly owned property companies.

Fifth place is filled by yet another newcomer. Hartley Wintney-based IMSL (Industrial Microbiological Services) provides testing and consultancy services.

A private drinks reception and awards ceremony for the Thames Valley SME Growth 100 index will be held at Bremont Watches Henley-on-Thames headquarters in February next year.

View all of our listings at https://businessmag. co.uk/listings

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS AS VENTUREFEST SOUTH RETURNS

Venturefest South is set to return to Southampton and will again plug into Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The event, taking place on November 17, will be held all day at The Ageas Bowl and will celebrate the south’s economy alongside linking up with 200 countries hosting similar showcases around the world.

The interactive one-day conference will bring a mix of speakers, workshops, seminars and investor pitching opportunities.

The Festival of Innovation, now in its sixth year, is a gathering place for the region’s brightest minds and enthusiastic entrepreneurs and is a space to share invaluable experiences, insights and information.

This year, Venturefest South will debate, investigate and share ideas on some of the most pressing issues affecting innovation, entrepreneurship and business success.

The Battle of the Pitches competition, new to the event this year, will pit the south’s most innovative businesses against each other for the chance to win £10,000 from the event’s main sponsor, tax relief specialists and event sponsors Catax.

Venturefest South’s partners seed fund the programme and then seek additional partners, sponsors and exhibitors to provide the remaining funding.

All funds invested in Venturefest South are used to execute the programme and its main showcase event. This then provides a zero-cost chance for the south’s creative inventors and entrepreneurs to promote their ideas, seek funding and help stimulate the local economy.

If you’re interested in attending, search “#VFS22: Festival of Innovation” online for tickets. The Business Magazine readers can enter the discount code BIZMAG50 to receive 50 per cent off the entrance fee.

BAE Systems to launch earth observation satellite cluster

Farnborough-based BAE Systems is planning to launch its first multi-sensor satellite cluster in 2024.

The satellite cluster, known as Azalea, will fly in low earth orbit and provide secure, high-quality information and intelligence to military customers in real time.

Using a range of sensors, Azalea will collect visual, radar and radio frequency (RF) data, analyse that data using onboard machine learning, then deliver it securely to anywhere in the world while remaining in orbit.

The Azalea project was boosted by BAE’s acquisition of Hampshire-based In-Space Missions last year, which made BAE one of only a select number of British companies capable of building, designing, launching and operating satellites.

Doug Liddle, Chief Executive and cofounder of In-Space Missions, said: “We’re working together to create a step-change in military intelligence and capabilities. Our technology will monitor adversaries, but will also provide substantial civil benefits by helping humanitarian response missions.”

savvy navvy links up with boat rental platform

Marine GPS company savvy navvy has announced a partnership with boat rental platform Zizoo.

The link-up will see Zizoo integrating Bournemouth-based savvy navvy’s technology into its own platforms which offer more than 44,000 boats in 500 locations across the globe.

Jelte Liebrand, founder and CEO of savvy navvy, said: “Our vision from the outset has been for savvy navvy to be in every boater’s pocket, supporting both new and experienced boaters.

“With boating holidays on the rise across the world, we are delighted to work with Zizoo to support responsible and sustainable marine tourism.

“savvy navvy continues to grow across the globe and partnering with a leading boat charter company, means we can give simplified navigation access to the thousands of people chartering boats and enhancing their sailing experience adding value to us and them.”

savvy navvy’s tech, which has been called ‘Google Maps for boats’ , promises to simplify navigation for customers using the Zizoo platform which allows them to hire either solely a boat, or a boat with a captain and crew.

A BAE graphic model of how the cluster would work

Azalea will improve the UK’s ability to understand the threats and hazards in, from and through space.

The programme supports the recently published UK Government Defence Space Strategy, which named Earth observation as a key area to help protect and defend UK interests.

Dorset LEP supports scaleup programme

A scheme aimed at enabling Dorset businesses starting or scaling up has been launched by business support agency WSX Enterprise.

The Transformational Business Support (TBS) scheme is free for the first 300 subscribers and is supported by Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership. Additional subscribers will be able to participate by paying an annual subscription.

Participating businesses will be able to access 200 professional tutorial and training videos, drop-in sessions and one-to-one expert guidance.

Peter Grant, WSX Enterprise Chief Executive, said: “TBS is designed to offer essential help for sole traders and small companies.

“They might be hairdressers, plumbers, builders, therapists, food and drink producers, crafts people, tattooists, mechanics, painters and decorators, and so on.

“The scheme is open to students with a business idea alongside their courses, unemployed workers seeking to invest their redundancy settlements in new careers, would-be influencers ready to monetise their YouTube channels and business hobbyists keen to supplement their main income to cope with the cost-of-living crisis.”

Subjects covered in the online tutorials include marketing, time management, financial planning, website design, cyber security, social media and how to build a personal brand.

Southampton Port to receive £17.5m investment

The Port of Southampton is to receive a £17.5 million joint investment from Associated British Ports (ABP) and port operator Solent Stevedores.

It will fund a new container offering for deep sea shipping lines at the port.

The cash injection will create an 18-acre facility to connect the existing intermodal rail transport site with the empty container processing facility within a single boundary.

The project is expected to be finished late next year.

By strengthening the rail offering at the Port of Southampton, ABP says it will give customers greater choice over container placement and storage.

Alastair Welch, Regional Director at the Port of Southampton, said: “This investment not only enhances our containers customer offer, it is also part of the Port of Southampton’s multimodal strategy into the future and our commitment to help improve air quality in the local area.”

The project will introduce 84 reefer plug points to assist with the transport of perishable goods and a new track design enabling trains to arrive and depart at the terminal independently on any of the three lines.

To allow the rail terminal to remain in operation, the work will take place in three stages, eventually increasing capacity for cargo to enter and leave the port.

Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal thanked the attendees of the South Coast Property Awards after £7,592 was raised at the event.

Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal provides respite services for children suffering from cancer and life-limiting illnesses and their families.

Children suffering from these illnesses are often in and out of hospital for treatment.

Hannah’s Appeal provides holiday accommodation for families, allowing them to make memories outside of the hospital visits, which help prepare them for the journey ahead.

A statement from the charity says: “The generosity of EVERYONE! attending really was so overwhelming. Raising £7592.49, I really find it impossible to find the words to express how grateful we are for the generosity everyone showed that night.

Property Awards raise more than £7,000 for Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal

IXBRL - WHY THIS CODING IS REQUIRED

Government legislation means that it is compulsory for most companies to send their company tax returns online using iXBRL for accounts and computations.

It allows businesses to provide high-quality analysis of business information in an efficient way.

It is no longer acceptable for most companies to send either the accounts or computations on paper or as a PDF attachment to an online return.

HMRC says unincorporated charities, clubs and societies may use either iXBRL or PDF for their accounts, but any computations must be in iXBRL format. What is iXBRL?

iXBRL (inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an open standard that enables a single document to provide both human-readable and structured, machine-readable data.

How it works

It is used by millions of companies around the world to prepare financial statements in a format that provides the structured data that regulators and analysts require, whilst allowing preparers to retain full control over the layout and presentation of their report.

It means the application of computer-readable tags to business data. iXBRL takes those tags and puts it in a format that is more readable and easier to understand for the user, allowing businesses to prepare for HMRC tax returns and financial reports.

The benefits

HMRC benefits from much more effective analysis,

cutting out unnecessary queries and helping to deliver better automated risk assessment so they can focus resources on businesses where the compliance risks are greatest.

In addition HMRC and Companies House can achieve major improvements in the speed and efficiency with which they handle business data. Both will cut out manual processes and handling of paper.

Company statements are converted into an iXBRL-tagged file. Once the accounts have been converted and the reports have been validated, it can be submitted to HMRC.

Happy to help

As part of HWB’s iXBRL service, we can take this task away from you and our iXBRL reporting services comply with HMRC. We review and validate checks on each tag or edit.

iXBRL files need to be submitted at the same time as the CT600. Companies must file a return within 12 months of the end of the accounting period the return covers.

A CT600 is the company tax return form that needs to be filed with HMRC after the end of the accounting period. The CT600 and other supporting documents are used to calculate the corporation tax owed.

iXBRL requirements.

Nominations

To enter go to: dealsawards.co.uk

The major South Coast corporate finance event of the year is back

now open

Tech

Solent Local Enterprise Partnership is to launch a Tech Growth Programme in partnership with TechSolent.

The mentor-led scheme will connect early-stage Solent-based tech businesses with the sector’s business leaders, who will provide their varied experience in growing, supporting and leading high performing tech firms.

The programme will focus on overcoming barriers to growth, launching new products, leading successful teams and creating strategies to enter new markets

The mentors are all volunteers from the TechSolent network and include former divisional director of Oracle Andrew King, CEO of Get PiPxr Mark Nicholl and Curatrix Technologies founder Nicholas DaCosta-Greene.

Anne-Marie Mountifield, Solent LEP Chief Executive, said: “It provides a unique opportunity for Solent tech businesses, at any stage in their development, to gain valuable support, advice and insight from experienced mentors who have led a successful business and are passionate about supporting the region’s tech sector and seeing it thrive.”

KEY SOLAR MILESTONE FOR PORTSMOUTH PORT

A new solar and battery system at Portsmouth International Port is ready to enter its next phase of construction following the installation of 2,660 solar panels.

Once complete, it will be the first port in the UK to have solar canopies and will include a battery with one and a half megawatt hours of capacity, enough to power a standard home for four months.

It will also be the largest solar and battery installation in the council’s portfolio to date.

Cabinet member for Climate Change and Environment at Portsmouth City Council, Councilor Kimberly Barrett, said: “It is the council’s priority to support clean growth. This major milestone on this innovative project means that the project is on-track to begin generating clean energy later this year. When operational, it will reduce annual emissions by 239 tonnes at this busy site.

“We’re committed to take positive action to tackle climate change, and this cut in emissions will boost our ambitions to to reduce carbon emissions across the city to net zero by 2030.”

The power produced by the panels will eventually contribute around 35 per cent of the total site output and will feed into Portsmouth’s aim to be the UK’s first net zero carbon port.

Jerry Clarke, Pilot and Senior Project Manager at Portsmouth International Port added: “The port is owned by the people of Portsmouth, so we have an obligation to reduce the impact of our operations on the environment, while reaching the ambitions set out in our 20-year masterplan.

“Combined with other sustainability initiatives, it will help us achieve our ambition of reaching net zero carbon by 2030, and becoming one of the UK’s first zero emission ports by 2050”.

High Street pioneer Sook opens in Southampton

Retail space operator innovator Sook has opened in Southampton.

Sook rents out retail space for as little as a day, providing tech and logistical support to help businesses set up pop-up retail stores. It opened in Westquay in September.

Sook’s founder, John Hoyle, said: “We are excited to launch Sook in Southampton

and to bring our flexible retail space to Westquay.

“There has been a boom in online-only sellers in recent years – but many are now looking for ‘real life’ opportunities where they can open a short-term physical store to help grow their business and meet customers without the expensive overheads.

“Our spaces offer everything these online retailers need and more, including modular furniture, digital screens and adjustable window displays to fully brand the space, so businesses can take over a space for a few hours, days, or weeks to suit their needs – and all they need to do is turn up with their products.”

RECORD TURNOUT FOR BUSINESS INNOVATION SOUTH

Business Innovation South welcomed a record number of attendees to its event, held at Portsmouth’s Lakeside North Harbour.

It gave companies and organisations an opportunity to network, make connections and raise their profile.

The event saw 66 exhibitors from 40 sectors with innovations on display including drone services, electric vehicles, jetpacks, cloud-based information management, telecoms, data protection, cyber resilience and artificial intelligence and sensor technology.

Attendees were also able to join four speaker sessions and participate in five workshops which considered a number of important business themes.

Among these were subjects such as business resilience and sustainability.

Organiser Lara Bull said: “It was a huge success that topped our previous expos in every way, including the reach of the speakers and sponsors, the number and quality of exhibitors, the range of sectors covered and the visitor numbers.

“People are already talking about #BIS2023 and expressing interest in being sponsors, exhibitors and presenters, so there is every chance we can build on this year’s success and do even better next year.”

The universities of Surrey, Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth were all among the institutions discussing how their research activities may be commercialised.

Shaping Portsmouth announces 2023 conference

details

Not-for-profit Shaping Portsmouth will hold its annual conference on 27 January at Portsmouth Guildhall.

Featuring speakers and updates from around the city, the theme will be Transforming Portsmouth Together. High on the agenda are the past, present and future of transformations in the city, how people can get involved, and what Shaping Portsmouth is doing to support the vision.

Andrew Cullen, Portsmouth Football Club’s CEO, Police Superintendent Claire Jenkins of Hampshire constabulary and Hannah Prowse, CEO of The Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, will speak, while Portsmouth City Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson will give a council update.

Shaping Portsmouth’s CEO, Stef Nienaltowski will lead a session on the organisation’s three main pillars: Business, Education and Community.

This Shaping Portsmouth Awards. will include the Inspire Portsmouth award, presented on behalf of Imagine Portsmouth, and the Armed Forces Covenant award.

Hampshire’s Sonardyne opens new Singapore headquarters

Yateley-based underwater technology and engineering specialist Sonardyne has opened a new headquarters in Singapore.

Situated at the Loyang Offshore Supply Base, the new three-storey facility has been entirely refurbished.

Along with office and warehouse space, a workshop and a test tank,

the premises includes visitor, break out and recreation areas, as well as providing office and test facilities for EIVA, Sonardyne’s sister company.

Director of Operations, Hwee Chin Cheng, Head of Sales Jose Puig and Sales Director Steve Martin led the facility’s opening ceremony.

In a social media post announcing the

move to a new premises, Jose Puig said: “This investment couldn’t come at a better time. Singapore came out of lock down in April and we’re seeing similar across the region.

“That means everyone is able to start doing more business again and projects that were delayed are now being switched back on. One market is particularly standout: offshore wind.”

ORDNANCE SURVEY VOLUNTEER AT CALSHOT RNLI

Five staff members from Southamptonbased Ordnance Survey have spent a day volunteering at the Calshot Royal National Lifeboat Institute.

As part of their terms of employment, Ordnance Survey offer their staff time off to volunteer in their local communities. Following an approach from staff member Laura Masterson, it was agreed that five of their staff members would spend a day with the RNLI.

Laura said: “Ordnance Survey offers us a day per year to go and give something back to the community. Some of our colleagues had volunteered at Poole previously, so we decided to support Calshot as our local station due to the amazing lifesaving work that the RNLI performs. We’ve had a great day and it’s been an amazing experience.”

Following a guided tour of the station, the volunteers spent the morning cleaning the D Class Lifeboat ‘Willet’, continuing on to the D Class shed, the crew changing areas and the rest of the station.

Biome Technologies, a Southampton-based bioplastics developer, has received funding from Innovate UK.

The funding, totalling £244,000, has been awarded to enhance the development of bioplastic food packaging in a collaborative project with ANOPLY, a South Korean Pohang University of Science and Technology spin-out.

ANOPLY uses advanced technology to create tailored cellulose nano-fibre (CNF). CNF is a material made of miniscule cellulose fibrils with a high length to width ratio. It has a number of potential applications ranging from paper to food.

The project, which is aiming to improve the longevity performance of Biome’s bioplastic food packaging, has raised £794,000 in total so far and is expected to run for two years.

Biome Technologies Chief Executive Paul Mines said: “This latest development project is an important enabling step in understanding the functionality of a combination of Biome’s most exciting products with cutting edge additive and

technologies coming through from ANPOLY.”

Bioplastics are plastics made wholly or partly from materials derived from biological sources like sugarcane, potato starch or cellulose from trees and straw.

New Paris Smith Managing Partner confirms commitment to clients, staff and community

Huw Miles describes law firm Paris Smith’s relationships with clients and the community it serves around Southampton as a privilege.

is one of the UK’s longest-running arts sponsorships. Miles chairs the Winchester BID (Business Improvement District).

Miles has been steering a steady course out of Covid-19 uncertainty based on that philosophy since his promotion in January 2022, when he succeeded Peter Taylor as Managing Partner. Taylor is now the firm’s Senior Partner.

“We have recently reviewed our strategy and made some tweaks but believe it continues to be highly appropriate for the next five years,” said Miles.

The strategy focuses on maximising the firm’s contribution to the central south area. “Our over-arching purpose is to ensure our clients, staff and communities thrive through their engagement with Paris Smith,” he said.

Paris Smith is a keen supporter of many local business and charitable groups, including the Mayflower Theatre, in what

His progress at Paris Smith is the reward for a commitment to welcome and accept responsibility. “When you reflect on your career, it is always going to be the things that you didn’t do or the opportunities you didn’t take that you will regret the most,” he observed. “I embrace responsibility and hope to learn and develop from it, with support from my colleagues.”

Driven

A Welshman with a passion for rugby and cricket (his father Dewi set up a local cricket club in Laleston near Bridgend where he played in his teens), Miles has been happily settled in the Solent region since studying law at the University of Southampton. He joined Paris Smith 27 years ago.

At just 31, he was chosen to head the firm’s Family department, which he ran for 11 years. He headed up the firm’s Winchester office when it opened in 2015.

Emphasising his point about responsibility, Miles commented: “I see change and challenges as a positive means to test myself and to continue to develop. I was hugely excited by the expansion of our services in Hampshire, including the highly successful growth of our Winchester office.”

As well as his leadership commitments, Miles continues to undertake client work.

“I became a lawyer to work with clients; it’s an essential part of who I am and I won’t ever let go of that side of my work,” he emphasised.

Sensitive negotiator

He chose family law because “you are doing something different every day and it tests you in all sorts of ways.”

That includes “managing yourself, clients and cases, handling court work and highconflict situations that require self-control and calmness.”

One of his strengths is being able to ‘neutralise’ tricky divorce cases, as he explains: “When I started in this line of work, the legal profession’s approach was very attritional and adversarial – you had to fight for your clients, often too robustly

against other parties. I thought that this wasn’t doing anyone any favours and was a horrible way to work.”

He continued: “In emotional situations, instead of calming things down, lawyers were often fanning the flames, in many cases due to the system and culture and often without meaning to do so. Many cases required court intervention. Fortunately, lawyers take a much more collaborative approach today and I have tried to make a contribution to that.”

Technology – but with limits

Like most businesses, Paris Smith is leveraging technology to introduce better ways of working. During the pandemic, the firm recruited a

business development director and a digital marketing manager, as well as relaunching its website.

“Digital as a shop window for our services is enormously important,” said Miles. “Many clients find online contact more convenient and less stressful. And it’s rare nowadays to send hard copy documents in the post to be signed.”

But he is adamant that the postCovid rush to greater digitalisation and remote contact will never fully replace the personal touch. “We retain all of the traditional people-focused and community-based values that have served us so well for more than 200 years,” he said.

“If clients prefer to deal with us face to face, they can. If colleagues prefer to spend the majority of their time together in the offices, then they can, although, of course, we offer and encourage flexibility. The relationships that we have with clients and colleagues are a huge part of the enjoyment of working in the law.”

Family ambition

Miles’ personal drive is not just the result of the nurturing effects of a career spent with Paris Smith. He also puts his desire to set new challenges down to the influence of his wife, Jennifer, a former family lawyer and now a mediator. “Jennifer is constantly driven to learn new skills to develop herself and her career and that is bound to have a positive impact on me. I can’t be left behind,” he said.

Very much a family man, Miles lives near the New Forest where he spends his free time cycling and running. With one son having flown the nest and another soon to do so, he and his wife will have more time for the trail running they both enjoy so much – an endeavour where he readily admits she usually enjoys the upper hand.

”For us, it’s more than just selling a service. We’ve been doing business in Hampshire for 204 years and you don’t earn that privilege without reciprocity – you have to give back to your clients and community.”

SOLENT 250 RECOGNISES REGION’S TOP COMPANIES

The listing celebrates firms in the Solent with the highest turnover

The Solent 250 is an annual listing of the top privately-owned businesses in the region which recognises the best performing companies by annual sales turnover.

Qualifying companies must be privatelyowned and headquartered in the Solent which is defined as Hampshire (south of Basingstoke), parts of Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex.

The 2022 listing was compiled by The Business Magazine and sponsored by HSBC UK, law firm Irwin Mitchell, audit, tax and consulting firm RSM, specialist recruiter CMA Recruitment Group, property

experts Vail Williams and the University of Southampton Business School.

Top of the listing this year is electricity and gas provider Utilita who have made great strides in combining technology with energy provision to the benefit of the consumer and the environment. Hendy Group takes second place with the familyrun car dealership, which dates back to 1859, going from strength-to-strength and now has locations across the south coast.

Telecommunications specialist Arqiva has developed a formidable reputation in the field of communications infrastructure with substantial market share in the broadcast

industry and utilities sector. Housing provider Abri is a new entry to the top five of the Solent 250 listing and specialises in providing affordable accommodation with 35,000 homes on its books across the south coast.

Fifth place is Portsmouth-based Southern Co-op which provides convenience food stores, funeral homes, crematoria and natural burial grounds across the Solent. An awards ceremony to celebrate the companies on this year’s Solent 250 will be held in the first half of next year.

View all our listings at businessmag.co.uk/ listings.

NEW BID TO CREATE FRIARY QUARTER

A new planning application has been submitted to rejuvenate a large brownfield site in Guildford.

The bid is being made by St Edward, a joint venture between The Berkeley Group and M&G Real Estate, for the land on North Street and is the latest attempt to gain approval after decades of failed attempts to build on the site.

Guildford Borough Council and St Edward exchanged contracts to develop the site in March this year.

The application for The Friary Quarter development would see 473 homes constructed in buildings ranging from four to 14 floors.

The ground floors would feature a mix of commercial and community spaces including a medical centre.

Sustainability would be a key focus of

the new development with electric vehicle charging points and an electric car club.

The designs also designate four landscaped public areas and include a new town square.

North Street would be pedestrianised as part of the scheme, removing more than 300 vehicles per peak hour.

Jack Nicholson, Land and Development Director at St Edward, said: “After nearly three years of design development, and extensive stakeholder and community engagement, St Edward is extremely proud of the final scheme which will transform this long derelict site into a contemporary new neighbourhood.”

Guildford Borough Council is expected to consider the plans this month and if approved construction could begin in the next summer.

Manston Airport redevelopment gets green light

Plans to build a carbon net zero freight and passenger hub at the former Manston Airport in Kent have taken a step forward.

A Development Consent Order granted by the Secretary of State was signed in August giving the green light for RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP), who are overseeing and funding the development, to move ahead with the £500 million investment.

Along with new cargo facilities and an updated passenger terminal, the redevelopment will see access to the site improved as well as funding for the Hurricane and Spitfire museums located at the airfield.

It is expected the revamped airport will open in early 2025.

Since closing in 2014, the airport has served as a lorry park during disruption at ports in Kent, including Operation Brock following Brexit-related delays.

The project also represents economic opportunities for the region, creating 23,000 jobs across East Kent and the UK within 20 years of operation.

US military boost for Advanced Material Development

An ongoing collaboration between Guildford-based nanotechnology specialist Advanced Material Development and the US Army has been extended with the help of funding from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).

Funding from the OSD derives from the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) programme, a US-governmental scheme aiming to find, assess and field innovative products with a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

It enables the US Department of Defense to bypass the capability development cycle by enabling the test and evaluation of mature foreign developed technology to determine procurement alternatives for existing or emerging requirements.

LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP FROM A SEARCH AND RESCUE SPECIALIST

Peter Faulding has worked on some of the UK’s highest profile criminal cases. He discussed how his experiences have shaped him

It was during the anti-roads protests of the Nineties that Peter Faulding, CEO of Specialist Group International (SGI), forged his reputation as the go-to person to safely remove environmental protesters from dangerous positions they put themselves in, perched high in trees and entombed into deep man-made tunnels.

The qualities that he showed during these times – calmness, empathy, problemsolving, mental sharpness and unwavering professionalism – have become the cornerstones of his Dorking-based business and offer lessons when it comes to leading in today’s business world.

Peter said: “If you smile at someone and call them by their name it is much easier to get their co-operation.

“Protesters know they are going to be removed and all they want is to be heard and treated with respect and dignity.”

Digging Swampy out of an underground tunnel

Peter successfully dug the infamous Swampy out of an underground network of tunnels at the Honiton bypass protests in 1996, and the two keep in touch to this day.

He said: “I spent nine days underground with Swampy and built a rapport with him by being calm and passing him cups of tea while I worked with my team to remove him and the other protesters.”

When Peter started his rescue company in 1995, the business initially struggled to gain traction.

However, his work at the Newbury bypass in 1996 and then with Swampy and his fellow protesters a year later gave him a direct link to the UK government, and he became a key adviser on how protests should be managed. Today he leads in this specialist field.

“If you smile at someone and call them by their name it is much easier to get their co-operation”

Peter now lives on a remote farm in West Sussex with his wife and daughter along with his pet sheep, alpacas, lamas, ducks, chickens, pigs, emus and dogs.

He said: “From the age of five, I grew up exploring the disused mines under Merstham with my dad John. Later on, the fire departments would call on my expertise and local knowledge to assist in the rescue of lost persons in the mines and eventually I was able to turn my childhood pastime into a business.

“I remember going to the bank for a £1,500 overdraft and being told: you are never going to get anywhere doing this sort of business – rescuing people. Within a year, our turnover went up to £1.9 million.”

The business has grown exponentially over the past 27 years. It now has a vast array of equipment, vehicles, boats and even a helicopter.

SGI expands into forensic and specialist underwater search

The base has expanded to six industrial units and employs more than 50 people. SGI long ago expanded beyond protester removal to providing forensic search and specialist underwater search capability, recovering drowning victims and collecting evidence for police forces around the UK.

Peter has become a leading forensic search specialist working on some of Britain’s biggest missing person cases, recovering evidence and human remains from remote locations that have gone undetected for years.

He has been a guest of the US Secret Service and advised the FBI in Qauntico, Virginia, along with other overseas police forces.

He puts remaining calm under pressure and problem-solving as the most important skills to have when working in his line of work.

The keen helicopter pilot said: “My strengths aren’t in writing business plans or reports, but when we are beside a river which might have a car in it with a person inside it, I can quickly form a plan.”

Peter’s professionalism and passion for adventure was instilled in him from an early age from his upbringing and a six-year spell in the Parachute Regiment reserve.

“My dad taught me the value of hard work, perseverance and never giving up. That discipline has followed me in business, and my experience with the Parachute Regiment taught me never to give up whatever is thrown at you.”

Building a tight team in any business environment is tough, however building one which will be put under acute pressure is an even tougher task.

Word of mouth is key to Peter’s recruitment strategy with many staff members recruited from the armed forces, police or fire service.

He said: “We look for people who are team players with a varied skill set, with a sense of calmness, empathy, loyalty, as well as mental and physical fitness to get on with the job and the resilience you need when it gets tough or emotional.”

With a high-functioning team in place and on-call 24/7 to respond to incidents around the country, how is focus and team spirit maintained?

Continuous training and team spirit keeps skills sharp

Peter says that his close-knit team continually trains to keep their skills sharp.

“Anyone who doesn’t genuinely enjoy the work or want to be a part of a close team doesn’t last long. There is a strong culture of positivity and the team all support each other at work and in their personal lives.”

Growing positives from tragedy is how the team deals with traumatic events and he set up the Lucas Dobson Water Safety Campaign, which raises awareness of the dangers of swimming and water and making it easier for children to play safely near or on water.

Peter delivers free life jackets via his own helicopter, at his own expense, to schools – and gives water safety talks.

The project was set up following the death of six-year-old Lucas when he fell into the River Kent while out fishing with his father. He was not wearing a lifejacket and quickly went under the surface.

Peter said: “By providing free life jackets and promoting water safety awareness to school kids, we hope to make a real difference. I am also developing a water safety video aimed at 15-16-year-olds as the average age of drowning is 15 or 16. They are the ones who are most likely to jump in rivers.”

Peter’s book “What Lies Beneath”, is a gripping account of his life and details the harrowing work that he undertakes. Published by Pan McMillian in February.

01 Hampshire and Isle of Wight IoD appoints new Chair

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight branch of the Institute of Directors (IoD) has appointed Matthew Wallis as its new branch Chair. Matthew succeeds Aileen Ryan, who stepped down earlier this year, and is the founder and owner of business transformation consultancy Malukis International.

02 New CIO for Luminous Energy

Wiltshire-based solar energy and battery storage developer Luminous Energy has appointed Guy Lavarack to the role of Chief Investment Officer (CIO). He joins Luminous Energy from Blackfinch Investments, a fund manager with over £700 million of assets under management, where he was Head of Energy.

03

BDO appoints new Head of Tax for Central South

Jon Hickman has been appointed BDO’s Head of Tax for the Central South region and will oversee the team’s activity and future expansion from his home base in Southampton. He has worked for BDO in London for 25 years, the past 16 of those as a Partner, and has extensive expertise working with large corporations as well as privately held and owner-managed businesses.

04 Xtrac makes key HR appointment

Motorsport engineering firm Xtrac, based in Thatcham, has appointed Kirsty Knight as Head of Human Resources. Her previous role was at the Nationwide Building Society as Head of People Services Transformation where she served six years and delivered innovative employee transformation programmes.

05

Williams bolsters PAM team

Vail Williams has strengthened its Property Asset Management (PAM) team in the Thames Valley with two strategic hires. Faryal Sheikh Talib has been appointed as Associate in the Reading office and arrives from Burley Browne Chartered Surveyors. Senior Surveyor Tom Horton has re-joined from Knight Frank in London.

06 Blenheim Estate appoints community outreach lead

Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire has appointed Merilyn Davies as its new Community Officer with a remit of forging links with surrounding communities. Merilyn is the former Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities at West Oxfordshire District Council.

07 Key appointment for Grant Thornton in Thames Valley and Southampton

Grant Thornton has named Norman Armstrong as its new Thames Valley and Southampton Practice Leader. Norman has more than 25 years’ experience as an Audit Partner for Grant Thornton and in that time has supported a variety of business types in a range of sectors across the South East.

10 Gateley Legal makes senior Guildford appointment

Keith Lancaster has been appointed Legal Director at Gateley Legal’s Guildford office. Keith brings more than 20 years’ experience to the team in advising residential developers, landowners and public sector bodies on planning, environmental and compulsory purchase issues.

08 New CTO for In-Space Missions

Matthew Angling has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Hampshire-based In-Space Missions. Matthew will lead the use of new technologies and processes along with developing new space products. Matthew’s previous role was Director of Space Weather at Spire Global.

09 New Office Managing Partner for EY Reading

EY has appointed Gareth Anderson to Office Managing Partner in Reading. Gareth joined EY in 2009 and has led the tax practice in the Thames Valley since 2014. He also leads EY’s private growth strategy in the South East. He has 27 years’ experience advising companies.

Workplace visual communications and safety specialist Beaverswood has appointed Lizzie Allen as Marketing Manager to oversee brand development and product marketing. Bringing more than six years’ experience and expertise in the industrial safety products sector to the role, she will also be involved in developing Beaverswood’s profile and reach across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

12 New Payroll Manager for HWB

Southampton accountancy firm HWB has appointed Amanda Cooley as its new payroll manager in what is a promotion from her previous position as payroll Technical Manager. Amanda joined HWB in 2021 after 10 years as systems manager at the head office of international textile hygiene and facility services business Elis in Basingstoke where she specialised in bridging payroll, IT and HR.

11 Beaverswood takes on Marketing Manager for expansion

SALES BOOTCAMP OFFERS EMPLOYERS TALENT PIPELINE

The Sales Bootcamp builds on The Curious Lounge’s Digital Gum programme which has trained more than 160 people in digital skills, across all age groups, who have felt digitally excluded, are at the start of their career journeys or have career gaps.

Storytelling, digital lead generation, team building, empathy and, crucially, confidence are all part of the training mix with Louize and the team having a novel approach to building confidence.

Finding good sales people is hard but finding young and hungry talent is an even tougher task, which is why The Curious Lounge has launched a Sales Bootcamp to equip the next generation of salespeople with the skills needed to gain a top class job and a route to a better life.

The four-week rolling course was launched in July by owners of the Reading-based co-working space, Louize Clarke and her partner Matt Bovey, with the aim of equipping people under the age of 30 with the confidence and skills to thrive.

The course, based in the town’s Pinnacle building, is part funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the European Social Fund with plans for the scheme to eventually be supported by commercial partners looking to hire young sales talent which has fallen through the cracks of the traditional educational system.

The current sales training pathway for youngsters is limited with many apprenticeships tied to exam results. However, Louize believes employers are missing out.

She said: “A normal application process will involve an interview or assessment which can last up to a day. Anyone, however, can perform for a day.

“We have our students for four weeks, get to know them, see them when they are having good and bad days and see how they develop. We then have a proper assessment so we are, in effect, de-risking the hire for companies that employ them at the end of their course.”

She explains: “One of the tasks that we ask students to perform is to go out to Reading train station, next to our offices, and get them to gather information from 10 strangers.

“Seeing people’s confidence grow is massive for us, as is seeing people who have really worked hard, put their all into it and then land a job at the end of it.”

Louize and Matt, who both honed their sales skills in the telecoms industry, say the selling landscape has changed beyond recognition in the past decade with data and digital marketing driving the shift.

She said: “Sales people need to have empathy with their customers and they need to understand sales storytelling. It is completely different now compared to the past where people would just pick up the phone and start bashing.

“We do a lot around team building as companies now say they don’t just want someone who stands on someone else’s head to get to the top – they want a salesperson to perform as part of a team.”

“Sales people need to have empathy with their customers and they need to understand sales storytelling.

STRONG PLAYBOOK DOWNTURN KEY AHEAD OF

IRIS Software Group’s Chief People Officer, Stephanie Kelly, explains why having a robust HR strategy is essential

People can make or break a business which is why, as we move into turbulent economic times, having a robust human resources playbook is more important than ever.

That is the message from Stephanie Kelly, Chief People Officer at IRIS Software Group, whose career so far has seen her serve as global head of HR for three international firms.

Stephanie began her career at an NHS Trust in the payroll department and worked her

way up through the organisation before going on to work for private equity-backed software companies focused on creating enterprise value businesses.

She said: “I think there is definitely something in the phrase don’t waste a good crisis as we go into tough economic times.

“If you hire the right people into the right jobs and have got the best people for your budget then you will have the best people around you to help you make decisions.

“There has to be really tight alignment in the organisation around the three or four things that are going to make the most difference to your business.”

IRIS Software Group, based in Slough, was established in 1978 and provides business software services to accountancy practices and educational organisations, as well as payroll, HR and financial management software to SMEs.

Its turnover has grown from £5 million in 2002 to £258 million in 2022 with this growth achieved through organic growth and acquisitions.

the company so that we don’t make any missteps when we acquire that company.

“We then get our arms around the management and as many employees as we can and make them feel part of IRIS.

“The big learnings for us in terms of HR and acquisitions have been about the importance of over communicating especially in the early days.”

Stephanie says attitude, drive and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances are the key soft skills that differentiate candidates that both she and her team interviews.

“We are looking for people who care, want to come to work and give their discretionary effort,” she said.

Stephanie has worked with the IRIS executive team on 10 acquisitions since she joined the company in 2018 and says that having a clear plan following a company buy-out is essential.

She said: “We work on our integration plan before the business is even ours by getting as much information as we can about

“Conscientiousness is key as is inquisitiveness and the ability to be agile or learn agility.

“We need people who can help us predict the future and they must be able to adapt to the future as we move along.”

“There has to be really tight alignment in the organisation around the three or four things that are going to make the most difference to your business”

Onboarding staff after an acquisition

Getting genuine and insightful feedback from employees is no easy task.

Stephanie, however, has implemented a tech-based HR feedback system which collects the views of employees and reveals where morale issues and pressure points exist in the organisation.

The company carries out monthly surveys of employees with feedback delivered back to employees anonymously.

Collecting accurate feedback from staff

She said: “We use the full power of technology to collect feedback from employees.

“This gives brilliant analytics across the business so the executive team can look at a heat map by manager, department or function to see how people are doing.

“They can then use this information to really support managers in providing the best working environment that they possibly can.”

Many executive teams struggle to get the balance of their employee incentive structure right which can lead staff towards a pattern of behaviors at odds with the company’s objectives.

Stephanie says IRIS rewards employees based on performance and how much value they deliver to the company with incentives structured around getting people to buy into the company’s success.

“Incentives based around how much people do each day is a variable that employees can control quite easily, she added.

“We also look at rewarding people when the times are good and reducing this when the times are not so good.

“An incentive scheme with some type of profit sharing which is calibrated around performance is the model that we work towards.”

How and where we work has changed rapidly since the pandemic with hybrid and home working models of working now the norm.

Stephanie played a lead role in developing IRIS’ hybrid working policy, “Come Back Into the Office for a BIT”, where employees come in at designated times each week with the B standing for belonging, the I for innovation and the T for teamwork.

Stephanie said: “Anyone who wants employees to come back to the office 9am to 5pm needs to have a really good

reason for doing so because that is not the way that quite a few people want to work now.

“You have to be really practical and pragmatic about why you want people to come back into the office in the first place.”

Stephanie is a big believer in developing young talent, having been given her own big break at the age of 29 when she told a visiting CEO what was right and wrong with his company.

Creating an effective incentive structure

She was then promoted to global head of HR with responsibility for operations in 31 countries.

She said: “We make sure those with talent are fast-tracked through their careers.

“The first step is to make sure they have a great line manager so they can benefit from their wisdom and they will be there to guide and support them.

“We also focus on building their confidence by letting them know what they are bringing to the organisation in terms of tech skills and new perspectives is going to benefit the business.”

CV-LIBRARY ACQUIRES RIVAL

Fleet-based job site CV-Library has acquired rival Brilliant Jobs, a platform that connects applicants with employers using cutting-edge AI and programmatic technologies.

CV-Library has set aside more than £8 million for acquisitions and platform changes over the next few years, with the first step – integrating Brilliant Jobs – set to be completed and accessible to the market by this month.

The move is part of CV-Library's larger aims to provide a worldwide programmatic job advertising solution across existing and new countries and territories.

Andrea Olivari, Global Partnerships Director at CV-Library, said: "We're thrilled to welcome the Brilliant Jobs team to the CV-Library Group. Their

insight on this platform and support of our acquisition plans have proved pivotal and, together, we will continue to develop our programmatic offering in our existing markets and beyond."

Chee Ho Wan, Founder at Brilliant Jobs, said the merger was a good fit for both parties.

"We were impressed by the experience and ambition of the CV-Library team and their drive to expand internationally,” he said.

“Our programmatic technology is an excellent complement to the knowledge and skills that CV-library and ResumeLibrary have accrued, and we'll be bringing unique and competitive offerings in terms of both performance and scale to the recruitment space."

Dow Schofield Watts advises on £50m total deals in first year

Dow Schofield Watts’ Reading office has advised on deals valued at £50 million in what it described as a “buoyant” first year.

Steve Holmes, who leads the financial diligence service in Reading, said the performance had surpassed all expectations.

“Reading has always been seen as a gateway between London, the Midlands, Wales and the West Country, he said.

“The launch of the Elizabeth line, connecting Reading directly with Heathrow Airport, the City of London and Canary Wharf, is making a big difference.

“The Reading skyline is testament to the investment pouring in, and we see increasing commitment from private equity and venture capital firms as well as banks.”

Online security firm Authlogics acquired by Intercede in £5m deal

Bracknell-based Authlogics has been acquired by Intercede in a deal worth more than £5 million.

Authlogics is a multi-factor authentication and security software provider with clients including government organisations.

Under the terms of the acquisition, cyber security firm Intercede, based in Leicestershire, confirmed an initial consideration of £2.5 million plus a further deferred conditional and staged earnout payment of up to £3 million.

Klaas van der Leest, CEO of Intercede

Group, said: “We believe that the addition of the Authlogics products will allow us to support our customers and prospects wherever they are in their authentication journey.

“The deal also increases our recurring revenue base.”

Onecom say the acquisition is a “perfect fit”

DEAL EXPANDS ONECOM FOOTPRINT

Hampshire-based cloud specialist Onecom has gone on the acquisition trail again, this time buying telecomms contractor Solution IP.

The deal is Onecom’s second acquisition of the year and will see the Bristol-based firm’s teams and customers come into the Onecom fold.

Martin Flick, Onecom Group CEO, said: “As we continue to grow, supported by LDC, we are delighted to welcome the Solution IP team and customers to support our mission to extend our geographic presence by acquiring strong businesses that share our culture, values and ethos.

“Solution IP has demonstrable strength in serving both enterprise and SME customers with leading communication

solutions and their established customer base is a perfect fit.

Since its establishment in 2002, the Whiteley-headquartered Onecom has grown to employ more than 600 people in offices across the UK.

Among its strategic partners are Vodafone, Mitel, Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Gamma and Five9.

Last year Onecom acquired its closest rival, High Wycombe-based Olive Communications. That was followed two months later by the purchaes of Gloucestershire comms business 9 Group.

In this latest deal Onecom was advised by Thames Valley Deal Awards sponsors Shoosmiths and HMT.

Fintech Armalytix raises funds to help with tech drive

Armalytix has completed a targeted fundraise of £900,000 which it will use to develop its Source of Funds offering.

The Slough-based company provides financial insights for antimoney laundering checks to the professional, financial services and betting sectors.

As regulatory focus has increased, these firms have struggled to continue to conduct these checks sufficiently, which has led to a number of fines.

Armalytix’s Sources of Funds technology makes completing these checks faster and more efficient.

Richard McCall, CEO at Armalytix, said: “This capital, raised from individuals with first-hand knowledge of the AML challenges facing the finance sector, will help Armalytix to expand its growing market stronghold across Legal & Property.

“Additionally, we have seen increasing numbers of fines relating to Source of Funds across finance and betting and gaming, which presents a clear opportunity to help more firms in these sectors.”

CloudFactory makes German acquisition in machine learning drive

Reading-based Artificial Intelligence business CloudFactory has acquired Machine Learning (ML) platform Hasty.

The acquisition of the Berlin-based entity enables CloudFactory to offer users natively built, AI-assisted automation capabilities which reduce manual data work and maximise workforce productivity.

Since its establishment in 2010, CloudFactory grown to manage offices across four continents.

Mark Sears, CEO of CloudFactory, said: “We’re seeing our most successful clients shift from manual data labelling to AI-assisted labelling, and from a modelcentric to a data-centric approach. This shift requires best-in-class labelling

automation and tools to work on the model and the data in tandem – enabling rapid feedback and fast iterations.”

Osborne Clarke supported the transaction which was led by Corporate Partner Justin Starling and included Paralegal Fern Tawera as well as Partner Anika Chandra and Senior Associate Rhiannon Jones.

FINDING THE RIGHT EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PACKAGE IN DIFFICULT TIMES

People are at the heart of every business, particularly smaller enterprises, writes Lee Thomas of Pangea Life.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

Most people are more vulnerable to financial shocks than ever before.

A recent study by Legal and General (Deadline to Breadline 2022) reveals some shocking statistics about the UK workforce’s financial fragility:

• Based on their actual savings and spending patterns, the average UK worker is just 19 days from the breadline,

• 60% of households have less than £5,000 in savings. 37% have less than £1,000 with 16% having no savings at all.

The right employee benefits package can be vital to keeping the lifeblood of your business, its people, healthy and financially secure. And it shouldn’t be forgotten, that in most small businesses, the owner is a key employee too. The business relies on them and they, in turn, rely on the business for their, and their family’s own financial well-being.

With the current cost of living crisis, an under pressure NHS, the rise in mental health issues and the ever increasing challenges of recruiting and retaining talent, it’s probably never been more important to make sure you protect you, your business, your family and your employees.

• Nearly 2 million adults have no money left at the end of each month – a rise of 330,000 since 2020. For those who earn under £20,000 per year (5 million people in the UK), the average household has no financial safety net if they lost their income.

So, the question is, how long would your savings last, or how long could the business afford to pay you, or an employee, if incapacitated?

If you could only afford to pay Statutory Sick Pay (£99.35 per week), particularly

for a long period of time, the impact on an employee and their family could be devastating. We need only look back a couple of years to remind ourselves of the difference the furlough scheme made to people’s financial stability.

Group Income Protection

This is why, if you can do one thing for you and your team when it comes to employee benefits, it’s to have sick pay insurance. It’s a simple policy that allows you to insure payroll costs, so you can continue to pay yourself, or an employee.

The policy covers:

• Up to 75% of their salary (including, if you choose, bonuses and dividends)

• Employer National Insurance Contributions

• Employer and employee pension contributions.

”This is why, if you can do one thing for you and your team when it comes to employee benefits, it’s to have sick pay insurance”

The policies don’t just provide financial protection either. With these schemes the insurers provide rehabilitation services to support the employee’s recovery and return to work, as well as a range of other well-being services for them and their family, including access to a virtual GP service and counselling.

Group Life

Alongside ill health and injury, the other event that can obviously destroy a family’s finances is the death of a spouse/parent. Many families still have no life insurance in place, and of those that do a large proportion have only enough cover to clear the mortgage on their home.

You may find it quite an eye opener to ask your employees how they would cope financially if they couldn’t work, or how would their families would survive financially if they died.

Another simple and very affordable employee benefit is group life insurance. You can insure you and your employees for a multiple of their income (between 1 to 12 x), so should the worst happen, a tax-free lump sum benefit is available

to the family. This may not resonate so much with a young, single, mortgage free workforce, but it can certainly give a lot of comfort to those with who are the main bread-winners with a dependent family.

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL–BEING

At a time when there is mounting pressure on the NHS, with 6.73 million people waiting for treatment in England, private health insurance can offer a much-needed route to treatment when you, your staff or your family need it. This is particularly relevant to small businesses where everyone is crucial and you can’t afford for anyone, including yourself, to be off work any longer than necessary.

And private health insurance isn’t just about solving a problem once it’s happened. It’s also about prevention. The right cover can embed a culture of wellbeing and will provide early intervention services to stop a small problem growing to an unmanageable one.

The right benefits are a clear manifestation of the genuine care you as a business owner have for the well-being

of your team. Small businesses can often feel like a family, not just a group of employees. So ask yourself:

• If a member of your team died, would you be at their funeral and if so, would you want to be giving more than just your condolences to their family? How about enough money so their family would be financially secure for a number of years?

• If a valued employee was struck by serious illness or injury and couldn’t work, would you be happy to have them get nothing more than Statutory Sick Pay knowing the financial stress that would put them in, or would you still want to pay them?

• If they were suffering and needed medical attention, would you want them to get treated as quickly as possible rather than just sit on an NHS waiting list for months or even years?

Now more than ever, knowing that financial security and access to treatment will not be additional stresses no matter what fate deals you or a valued employee, is the pinnacle of an employee benefits package.

”The right benefits are a clear manifestation of the genuine care you as a business owner have for the well-being of your team. Small businesses can often feel like a family, not just a group of employees”

ARE YOU FULFILLING YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS IN RECRUITING NEW EMPLOYEES?

On 1 October 2022 the requirements surrounding the Right to Work (RTW) checks were updated. During Covid 19, temporary measures were brought in to conduct RTW checks. This has now been updated and must be done in person or by appointing an Identification Service Provider.

To establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty, employers must do one of the following before the employee commences employment:

1. Manual RTW check:

Complete a four-step process:

Step 1: Obtain

Employers must obtain original documents

Step 2: Check: Employers must check documents are genuine and belong to the prospective/ existing employee.

Step 3: Copy

The importance of conducting the correct RTW checks cannot be underestimated.

Earlier this year two Bolton businesses were heavily fined for use of illegal workers following an unannounced visit by the Home Office. Failure to carry out the correct RTW checks can cost the employer a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker, and in serious cases a criminal conviction carrying a prison sentence of up to five years and an unlimited fine.

Employers must conduct a RTW check on every candidate to ensure the individual is legally allowed to work for the employer and should not discriminate against anyone when conducting the checks.

Employers will need to make clear copies of original documents and retain copies either electronically or in hard copy format and record the date the check was carried out.

Step 4: Retain

Employers are required to retain copies for the duration of the individual’s employment, plus a further two years after the employee leaves their employment.

2. Online RTW check:

The employer can conduct an online check using the Employer Checking Service. This is a free online service to verify a prospective or existing employees’ permission to work. The online checking service works for those

candidates who have:

• A Biometric Residence Permit

• Settled Status or Pre-Settled Status

• Frontier Worker Permit Holders or those issued with eVisas.

The employer must meet with their new employee on their first day to verify the uploaded photo is indeed the person attending work. The employer should download and save a copy of the online check which includes the PDF document and the time and date is was recorded.

3. RTW check using Identity Verification Technology (IDVT) for British and Irish Nationals:

Employers must physically check new employees’ RTW documents – this can be completed either:

In person – meeting with the employee, ensuring that documents they are presenting are original, untampered and belong to them. Employers should take a signed and dated copy of the document/s and retain these securely. Or By appointing an Identification Service Provider (IDSP). The IDSP will use IDVT to check the validity of passports of British/ Irish nationals on behalf of employers. If you are concerned that your business may not be complying with the correct RTW procedures, please contact our specialist team on 0239 2660261 or visit biscoes-law.co.uk

www.biscoes-law.co.uk sali@biscoes-law.co.uk

SHOOSMITHS MARKS 30-YEAR MILESTONE

The Hampshire office of law firm Shoosmiths is celebrating its 30th year in business on the south coast.

Shoosmiths’ Solent office has grown to employ 120 people, achieving a 50/50 gender split of male and female partners. On top of this, 78 per cent of its overall team members are female.

The office continues to achieve big numbers, with the corporate team advising on transactions with a cumulative deal value of more than £275 million in the first half of 2022 alone. The size of each transaction is also increasing, with the office advising on more deals valued at above £100 million than ever before.

The Solent office is also home to businessto-business debt recovery, domestic conveyancing, employment, pensions, general commercial, commercial litigation, tax, banking, and finance. It also houses

Osborne

Osborne Clarke is committing half a million pounds over three years to support leading charity UK Youth to help address the lack of digital skills and resources for young people.

UK Youth aims to ensure that all young people are equipped to thrive and contribute at every stage of their lives. The funding will help buy new devices and software, and provide digital training

one of only a few specialist marine and aviation finance practices in the South East.

Along with leading Shoosmiths’ Solent office, partner Paula Swain manages the firm’s national business to business (B2B) debt recovery team, which last year recovered more than £10 million for clients across the UK.

Paula Swain said: “Shoosmiths’ Solent is proud to be one of the most longestablished law firms in the area and has a range of experts and advisers at the very top of their game.

“We have one of the best corporate teams in the country, an award-winning real estate team as well as a well-established marine law practice. With the Solent region finally having its time in the spotlight as the freeport is developed, we are in an excellent position to grow alongside our clients in the market.”

BDO welcomes 24 trainees in Southampton

The Southampton office of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO is welcoming 24 new trainees as part of a nationwide intake of 600.

The intake is made up of school leaver apprentices and university graduates. Nearly half of the national cohort will join the firm’s audit practice.

Most of the new trainees will have the opportunity to undertake a level-7 apprenticeship to earn a qualification equivalent to a master’s degree.

BDO has also appointed more than 50 industrial placement students this year, who will join for 12 months between their second and third university years, along with 70 summer interns.

BDO also runs insight programmes aimed at school or college students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and university students from a black heritage as part of its commitment to increasing diversity in the profession.

and outreach – primarily in areas local to Osborne Clarke’s Reading, Bristol and London offices.

Osborne Clarke will also offer volunteering and mentoring to the youth organisations which receive funding in so-called “digital coldspots.”

Together they aim to distribute up to £500 million over three years.

Malcolm Thixton, Head of BDO in the Central South said: “We’re delighted to welcome this year’s intake of trainees to BDO – a group of talented individuals who join us from a variety of backgrounds, whether they’re school leavers, or university graduates.

“As a firm, we believe in the importance of providing career opportunities and pathways that enable young people from all walks of life to access a vibrant and exciting profession, such as accountancy.”

Clarke gives £500k to aid digital skills

WESTCOTT THROWS ITS DOORS OPEN TO SHOWCASE SPACE POTENTIAL

for Buckinghamshire and Tony Forsythe, Head of Space Technology for the UK Space Agency.

The event, which included presentations from other leaders within the space industry, celebrated the continued growth of the Westcott Space Cluster, and showcased innovative companies, products and services on site; including the facilities at Westcott Venture Park, which are set to lead the UK space sector.

The Westcott Space Cluster is based in the Enterprise Zone of the Westcott Business Park, Aylesbury.

Westcott Space Cluster near Aylesbury threw open its gates this summer to local businesspeople and space experts giving talks and tours of the unique testing sites, which included revealing many of the new Satellite Applications Catapult facilities opening later this year.

Kathy Bass, Deputy Director of UK Space Strategy for BEIS (the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) kicked off the presentations, followed by Countess Howe, Lord-Lieutenant

Formerly a disused airbase, over the last few years it has become a major hub for the UK space industry, thanks to significant government investment, and has become home to a growing number of space-related companies developing innovative technologies in rocket propulsion, 5G communications and autonomous systems.

Kathy said that innovation was key for the space sector: “Levelling up and regional growth are an absolutely essential goal of the UK Space Strategy, and we are aiming for a national space ecosystem with employment and broad benefits across the UK.”

The specialised technical Expo tours also featured the unique In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing facility, as well as the Living Labs facilities.

Lucy Edge, Chief Operating Officer at Satellite Applications Catapult, the government supported agency which is driving economic growth through commercialising research, said:

“Adaptable access to testing facilities will help to spark further industry growth and allow both established companies and space start-ups to bring their technologies to life at a competitive pace. Through our facilities we can enable companies to revolutionise the way we use space.”

Richard Harrington, Chief Executive at Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, added:

“We were delighted to support the Westcott Space Cluster Expo.

“Westcott is one of the most exciting innovation assets in Buckinghamshire. Over the past five years we have helped start and grow the huge potential of the space sector and believe that future collaborations across sectors will continue to build a secure platform for UK innovation and growth.

“This year’s event demonstrated the crucial role that the unique R&D and testing environment at Westcott is already playing in helping the UK deliver on its National Space Strategy.

“It is attracting significant international investment and addressing major global challenges such as reaching net zero,management of our natural resources and improving global food supply chains.”

“Levelling up and regional growth are an absolutely essential goal of the UK Space Strategy, and we are aiming for a national space ecosystem with employment and broad benefits across the UK”

JANKEL TO WORK WITH UK DEFENCE INDUSTRY TO DELIVER TACTICAL VEHICLE

Jankel, the Surrey-based world-leader in the design and manufacture of highspecification defence systems, is to work with key UK defence industry partners to deliver the Oshkosh Defense Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) to UK.

These latest partnerships are being specifically formed to meet crucial protected mobility requirements of the British Armed Forces.

Weybridge-based Jankel is working on a framework to establish a robust, UK-based, expert supply chain to deliver design, subsystem integration, manufacture, assembly and through life support services.

The first agreements of this type to be put in place are with NP Aerospace in Coventry and Make UK Defence, a member-owned defence trade organisation.

Andrew Jankel, Chairman at Jankel , said: “I’m delighted to announce these key partnerships today with NP Aerospace and Make UK Defence that are the first of a number of this type that we will be establishing to enable the delivery of the Oshkosh Defense JLTV to UK MoD.

“We have so much talent in the UK defence industry and to begin to bring it all together like this is very exciting and will give the MoD exactly what they need whilst remaining fully aligned with the Land Industrial Strategy.”

He added, “Looking ahead and beyond JLTV, these partnerships could be further developed to support our long-term strategy of establishing a UK-based light vehicle centre of excellence that integrates and further develops the best of British technology and innovation into worldleading vehicle platforms, to meet future UK and global requirements.”

John Lazar, Vice-President and General Manager International at Oshkosh Defense said: “Oshkosh Defense have been providing vehicles and through life support to UK MoD for nearly two decades. We are proud to have demonstrated the capability and reliability of our Oshkosh military trucks through years of successful contracts. We look forward to the next chapter of this relationship, meeting protected mobility requirements in cooperation with our partners at Jankel.”

Swindon Powertrain launches first commercially available battery pack for electric vehicles

Manufacturing firm Swindon Powertrain has launched the first commercially available ‘off the shelf’ battery pack for electric vehicles.

The company, which hit the headlines in 2019 after retrofitting classic (1959-2000) Minis with electric engines, says its battery pack will ease light duty vehicle developers into electrification.

The battery pack can be used to power passenger cars, taxis, and light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.

Before now, niche manufacturers have had to develop their own packs each time or source parts from used EVs.

The battery pack was developed to solve its own supply chain issues.

Now it has begun battery assembly in its facility that was originally used to build race-winning F1 engines in the 1970s, and today makes the engines for Hyundai’s British Touring Car Championship cars.

Swindon Powertrain’s managing director Raphaël Caillé, said: “Niche manufacturers and conversion specialists told us they couldn’t source new, industry-grade batteries from the big suppliers who aren’t interested in low-volume supply.

“This has led to some recycling parts from used EVs, often of unknown provenance. High Energy Density means they have a fresh, turnkey battery pack complete with the peace of mind that comes from over 50 years of supplying to the motorsport and automotive markets.”

AMTE POWER PENS BATTERY PRODUCTION CONTRACT WITH UKBIC

AMTE Power, the Oxford-based manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodiumion battery cells for specialist markets, has signed a contract to manufacture its Ultra High Power cells at UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) in Coventry.

This is a significant milestone for AMTE Power. Under the agreement the company can request UKBIC to manufacture up to 60,000 of its Ultra High Power cells each year, over an initial term of 24 months.

This will enable the company to deliver its first Ultra High Power cells in sufficient scale to allow customers to progress through to in-vehicle trials, as the industry transitions away from traditional fuels.

Ramping up production of the Ultra High Power cells is due to start from January, generating initial revenues for the company and enabling the business to meet growing demand from within the automotive sector – principally for high performance electric vehicles.

AMTE Power has existing non-binding memoranda of understanding in place with key automotive partners Cosworth, Viritech

(which develops enabling technology for hydrogen fuel cell powertrains), and MAHLE Powertrain, in addition to development agreements with BMW, lowcarbon, electric vehicle developer Sprint Power and Eltrium, which designs and manufactures electrical Hharnesses and energy storage systems.

Manufacturing cells at UKBIC will boost AMTE’s mass commercialisation plans as it moves towards building its first MegaFactory in Dundee.

Kevin Brundish, CEO of AMTE Power, said: “This builds on the partnership that we’ve established with UKBIC through cell development. It is testament to the investment that the UK government has made in this market-leading battery manufacturing and scale-up facility.”

Jeff Pratt, Managing Director, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, added: “Advanced battery cells being manufactured at volume in the UK are a vital component of ensuring the UK prospers from the energy transition towards Net Zero. This latest agreement – our biggest to date – is further demonstration of the unique value of UKBIC.”

Custom Interconnect invests £9m in semiconductor and PCBA manufacturing facility in Andover

Leading electronics manufacturing company, Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL), is investing £9 million in building an advanced semiconductor packaging, power device and volume PCB Assembly (PCBA) manufacturing facility. The 46,000 sq ft is in addition to its existing 34,000 sq ft in Andover.

CIL’s micro-electronics production and power device development will relocate to the new facility next March.

CIL has seen strong demand for its micro-electronics and electronic assembly capability through the Covid period.

Coupled with its Innovate UKsupported innovation programmes focused on power device development and compound semiconductor technology, CIL has generated the demand for this investment in increased capacity and capability.

Romsey water leakage instrument manufacturer sold to Canadians

Romsey-based GCRTech, which specialises in the design and manufacture of leakage instruments for managing water networks, has been bought by the Canadian company Mobiltex Data.

Dr Gurch Chana, Founder and Managing Director of GCRTech, said: “This new partnership will allow us to accelerate our product development roadmap as well as significantly

expand our growth plans into existing and new markets”.

Mobiltex’s Vice-President of Value Stream, Alain Lalonde, said: “GCRTech’s unique edge-computing technology will deliver differentiation in the rapidly evolving water utilities segment that is demanding visibility into water distribution network pressure, flow monitoring and management.

This investment in engineering skills, coupled with the additional unique processing equipment, will create one of the UK’s largest independent semiconductor packaging facilities, and will accommodate world-leading development labs and full volume production areas. The UK has a thriving integrated circuit design community, but very little UK based packaging capability able to deal with development, low volume and high-volume production. The new facility is the first stage in CIL addressing this capacity requirement.

HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY FROM SPACE

Martin Soltau of the Space Energy Initiative explains how beaming solar power

It sounds like part of a science fiction plot, but by the end of this year work will have started on a UK space energy system that will continually harvest solar power from the sun and beam it back to earth to be used to power our homes and businesses.

The Space Energy Initiative (SEI), based at the Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire is to benefit from the UK government's awarding of £3 million in grant funding for Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) projects.

SBSP collects solar power through a constellation of large satellites in a high earth orbit and beams it securely to a fixed point on the earth. It promises to deliver clean energy, day and night, throughout the year and in all weathers.

Martin Soltau, co-chair at Space Energy Initiative (SEI), said: “Increasingly, it is being realised that getting to net zero is incredibly difficult and it is important that we have energy security with affordable and resilient sources of energy.

“We need new energy technologies if we are going to achieve net zero and energy security.”

The SEI has planned a 12-year roadmap, starting by the end of this year, which aims to have its first operational power station in space by 2035, before moving on to a period of rapid production and scaling.

The team says that by 2050 a total of 25 per cent of the UK’s energy could be generated from space.

The project was initially sparked by a feasibility report, published last autumn, compiled by Surrey-based Frazer-Nash Consultancy and commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Martin said: “When we completed the study, we realised the government would need to be reassured that industry was behind this ambitious concept, even though the findings were very positive.

“A colleague and I set up the SEI to show the Government that serious players in academia, industry and the research sector are fully behind this and to bring the energy and space sectors together.

“We want to demonstrate and build a capable organisation that can build a strong

UK-led project with UK leadership and international partners.”

The SEI now has more than 60 nationwide partners, including the UK government, and a governing advisory board. Space Solar Ltd has been established to lead the development, manage IP, accept investment and place contracts with suppliers.

Partners with a strong connection to South East England (outside London) include Airbus, CGI, Deloitte, Oxford Space Systems, Reaction Engines, Surrey Satellite Technology, Surrey Space Centre, University of Southampton and the University of Surrey.

Martin said: “Space Solar Ltd will attract the funding and then SEI members will be used within a procurement framework to deliver a development programme.

“This is a £10 billion programme that is going to require a huge range of engineering skills from all the engineering disciplines and will require wider skill sets from outside engineering such as legal, economic and communications.

“There’s a really strong network of highly capable organisations that are in the SEI and many others outside will have a role to play.”

back from space could boost net zero ambitions and provide energy security

“We need new energy technologies if we are going to achieve net zero and energy security”

The vision of the programme, however, goes beyond providing solar energy back to earth.

New economic frontiers

Martin says it could open a new economic frontier by developing the capability to assemble large systems in space.

He said: “The capability of today’s spacecraft is limited by the payload capacity of a single rocket and also the amount of energy you have up there, which is very constrained.

“If you can suddenly start assembling things from multiple launches to create a very capable spacecraft–ike a solar-powered satellite then a whole new economic frontier is enabled by being able to assemble and even manufacture things in space.”

The SEI, in its economic modelling of the project, anticipates a spill-over effect from the project to other land and sea-based industries.

It is expected to lead to advances in autonomous robotics which could also be used in challenging underwater environments or for nuclear decommissioning.

The project could eventually power a new space economy

A programme of this size, scale and ambition is not without its challenges with funding, international collaboration and public acceptance all key issues.

The process of beaming energy back from the sun needs to rapidly develop and improvements in space transport, such as the US-based SpaceX Starship programme, are essential.

He said: “There are a number of major challenges that we are addressing.

“There is a need for international standards and regulation to ensure the responsible deployment of these very large systems in space.

“Public and private funding is critical, and we need really patient capital as this will require a lot of funding over a long timescale and there won’t be much of a payback until the latter stages.

“We have never built something this large in space before. It will be five times the mass of the International Space Station.

“While we can see how it can be done through a modular approach, assembly in orbit has never been done before.”

Until recently the UK did not have an established programme around space-based solar power. However the US, China and Japan are all making significant advances in this field.

COULD YOUR BUSINESS WITH SOLAR? SAVE COSTS & CARBON

With business energy costs rising and decarbonisation becoming a mainstay of customer expectations, solar power on commercial property rooftops has a major role to play and is an increasingly attractive investment proposition in its own right.

Commercial solar in the UK

The United Kingdom has a long and complicated relationship with solar power, it has some of the largest solar farms in the world yet for a long time had one of the lowest rates of rooftop solar installations. However, this is rapidly starting to change, with equipment and installation costs decreasing by as much as 60% from 2010, swift rises in energy costs, and expectations that businesses opt for sustainable operations all coming together to create such a surge in demand that supply chains are creaking under the pressure; a good thing for an industry that used to primarily survive on government grant funding.

What businesses should expect Businesses can now expect rooftop solar

systems to pay back in as little as 3 years if they have a suitable roof and are exposed to high energy bills, especially if they have the opportunity to generate surplus energy and sell this back to the grid, with sale prices of up to 50p/kWh currently being agreed.

Grants and funding opportunities for SMEs (such as LoCASE across the South East) are helping to provide further opportunities for smaller businesses to benefit from the reduced energy costs and decarbonisation credentials that solar PV provides whilst shorter payback periods mean even those on relatively short leases are able to confidently make the investment.

A data-led approach to decision making Key to making the decision to invest in

solar is understanding the solar potential of the rooftop itself against the business’s individual energy demand profile. To accomplish this, it’s important to accurately predict how much power a rooftop can produce over each hour of the day throughout the year. This is then matched against a business’s energy profile to predict how much electricity the business will draw from the solar and how much will be exported back to the grid (known as surplus).

By taking a data-led approach, a high degree of certainty can be provided over business cases, enabling investment decisions to be confidently taken and benefits realised as soon as possible.

The University of Southampton Science Park is a big step closer to reaching Net Zero in scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2030 with its new rooftop solar system on a multi-tenanted building housing offices and R&D laboratories.

From the initial solar survey using our unique LiDAR and AI solar potential analysis, allowing data-led decisionmaking, through to the installation and final switch-on, Absolar is proud to have supported the Science Park on its

journey so far and delivered a turnkey installation.

The University of Southampton Science Park is on target to generate 207MWh of electricity and save 50 tonnes of carbon annually with this system alone, with more systems in planning.

To find out if your business or portfolio could benefit from solar, contact info@absolar.co.uk or visit absolar.co.uk.

Absolar uses its award-winning AI-based technology to provide businesses and property portfolios with the clarity and tools needed to make data-led decisions about investment in solar, providing turnkey installations where solar makes sense.

BOILER BOOSTS GOODWOOD’S SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

The Goodwood Estate, home to one of the first organic farms in the UK is once again proving to be a leading example in sustainability. The Chicester estate has installed a biomass boiler capable of powering all parts of its operations on an average day.

It is the product of a £6 million investment which saw the system installed on the estate early in the pandemic.

The biomass boiler is fuelled by 3,500 tonnes of straw from the estate’s annual Festival of Speed event and 3,000 tonnes of woodchip from Goodwood’s forestry team.

It was turned on last November, creating heat and power which is then piped throughout the estate.

The biomass boiler can create enough energy to power the estate on a normal day. However, when large-scale events are held or it is turned off for maintenance, it will be supplemented by green energy from the grid.

Goodwood Estate is made up of multiple businesses across its 11,000 acres including the Goodwood Road Racing Company which is behind the renowned Goodwood Revival and Festival of Speed events.

It is also home to a hotel, organic farm and luxury lodge accommodation.

He said: “I came to Goodwood to be part of the team that organises the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival before moving from operations to be general manager of motorsport.

“My focus as an operations planner was always things like power alongside temporary infrastructure for water and groundworks.

“I gained a lot of technical knowledge while doing that role and learned a lot about big water, big power and developed quite an interest in it.

“I have always been interested in how energy and water can be done in a more sustainable way.”

Goodwood’s sustainability efforts were recognised this year when the estate’s hotel won the Sustainable Business Award at the industry’s Catey awards, the UK award programme for the hospitality industry, where judges praised its impressive 10-year sustainability strategy.

Sam said: “The estate is always looking at ways to reduce its carbon footprint.

“We have been making the most of renewable energy sources for quite some time and the biomass boiler is a significant

step forward as it is providing all the heating and electricity requirements for all of the big users on the estate.

“There may now be a formal sustainability strategy, however it has always been in the DNA of the estate.

“The things that we are doing aren't just for a sustainability report, they have been done for the long term to reduce our carbon footprint and become self-sufficient in heat and power.

“Everything we do helps the estate be here in 200 years’ time.”

Future plans at the Goodwood Estate include investigating further solar capabilities, adding hydro and aerobicdigestion facilities and continuing with its rewilding programme.

A fleet of hybrid and electric machinery has been commissioned to look after its two golf courses along with additional high-speed electric vehicle charging points being installed across the estate.

SUSTAINABILITY – MAKING SMART DECISIONS TODAY FOR TOMORROW’S BENEFIT

choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.”.

It is easy to set a target for something to happen in almost 30 years’ time – ‘net zero’ is so ambitious that it will require a similar determination to the moon project across the globe. This will involve governments, businesses, individuals, and technologies that have not yet been invented. The radical actions required over the coming decades will impact businesses as well as our daily lives.

• optimised investments, and better access to capital. We are now seeing increased challenge for business around their approach to ESG, including by mainstream banks providing finance.

Although they may be difficult to measure, studies now consistently show that a clear and coherent approach to ESG, and climate change in particular, can help companies be successful over the long-term.

Reporting

Frequently, people talk about ESG in the context of environmental considerations: waste, pollution, energy and the like. It is in the DNA of businesses, particularly those involved in production, to minimise waste and energy usage so they remain competitive in their markets. Pollution is more difficult to control as it depends on the technology available for generating energy, producing goods, and reducing energy usage.

Net zero – an ambitious global challenge

The UK has committed to becoming ‘net zero’ by 2050. This essentially means that greenhouse gas emissions are in perfect balance with greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere.

When President Kennedy made his famous moon speech in 1962, he said “We

What are the benefits to business?

The main areas of benefit include:

• developing and maintaining a strong, trusted brand and reputation; both in absolute terms and relative to peers

• attracting and motivating talent; increasingly, current and potential employees are expecting their employers to have a strong ESGrelated purpose and strategy that fits with their values

• greater productivity, reduced costs, improved resilience and lower regulatory intervention

• opportunities for growth and innovation; for example, through new or tailored products and improved competitive position

Large and listed companies are now required to publish data on their carbon emissions within their financial statements. I expect that this will filter down to SMEs in due course, as standards harmonise and become established. The theory is that measuring and reporting will focus minds on actions to reduce the emission of carbon, as well as allowing this to be scrutinised by third parties.

Focusing on disclosure alone is the wrong approach and tends to lead to ‘greenwashing’ – focusing on strategy and a transition plan enables progress to be made which in turn gives a good story to tell.

For many SMEs, the challenge is how these big issues can be tackled in an achievable way. This starts by embedding ESG into the business and its strategy.

We are on our own net zero journey. Crowe has committed to set near-term companywide emission reductions in line with climate science with the SBTi.

We think it’s important that we walk the talk in line with what we advise our clients to do. Is Net Zero on your agenda?

To start the conversation on how we can help your business, please get in touch with Richard Baker on 0118 959 7222 or email richard.baker@crowe.co.uk www.crowe.co.uk

What is ESG? ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) has become the recognised term for the standards businesses use to operate in a sustainable and socially responsible way.

OXWASH RAISES £10M TO MAKE LAUNDRY SECTOR SUSTAINABLE

Oxwash has raised £10 million to accelerate its bid to make the laundry industry more sustainable.

Operating from its headquarters in Oxford, the start-up uses electric bikes for washing deliveries and pick-ups, water-saving technology to clean clothes at lower temperatures and dissolvable laundry bags

The round was led by UNTITLED, the investment firm founded by lead partners Magnus Rausing (Tetra Pak) and Bertie C (ZuluForest).

Long-standing supporter Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter, also returned for the round, as did Indeed.com founder Paul Forster, Holly Branson and Sam Branson,

Reckitt venture arm Access VC, Pentland Brands Group, Ascension, Vala Capital, and TrueSight Ventures.

New investors in the round include 8 Dimension Ventures, SCM (Ukraine’s largest VC Fund), and Khimji Ramdas LLC.

Oxwash founder, Kyle Grant, said: "We will be investing deeply into developing our technology to achieve the complete decarbonisation of our proprietary washing process. We're laser-focused on achieving net zero carbon emissions and the elimination of environmental impact in the laundry and dry-cleaning industry. This new funding will be used to fuel our mission to widen our national footprint ahead of our expansion into the USA.”

Wildlife haven to be created from HS2 tunnel debris

Chalk excavated while creating the HS2 Chiltern Tunnel is being used to transform the project’s largest construction site into a 127-hectare wildlife haven.

Ninety hectares of chalk grassland will be created alongside new areas of woodland, wood pasture and wetlands, including almost 65,000 trees and shrubs of 32 species and nearly 3.5km of new hedgerows.

Around 4.5km of new footpath, cycling and horse-riding routes will give the public access to large parts of the site, which sits between the Colne Valley Regional Park and the Chilterns AONB.

The Chiltern Hills extend nearly 70 miles through parts of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) is teaming up with the University of California to create scalable processes for converting captured CO2 into sugar.

The Uxbridge-based Coca-Cola bottler is collaborating with Berkley through its innovation investment platform –CCEP Ventures. The partnership will support the foundational research of the Peidong Yang Research Group, which is focused on industrial-

scale production of sugar from CO2

Craig Twyford, Head of CCEP Ventures, said: “CCEP Ventures is helping to find solutions to industry challenges and provide funding to make these foundational technologies a reality. We’re excited to be involved in this project that could lead the industry in the development of transformational technology capable of converting CO2 into more complex, usable goods.”

Using chalk to landscape the surrounding area means the material did not need to be removed by road.

High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd Director of Environment and Town Planning, Peter Miller, said: “The south portal project is one of the most important parts of our Green Corridor programme to establish better connected, sustainable and biodiverse landscapes along the route of the new railway and will contribute substantially to HS2’s carbon reduction target.”

Coca-Cola bid to scale conversion of CO2 into sugar

IMPORTANCE OF A ROBUST ESG STRATEGY

An Environmental, Social and Governance strategy is now business critical with investment, contracts and recruitment becoming increasingly linked to a firm’s sustainability score

Round Table Participants

Five key ESG strategy tips

1 Create a white paper to get buy- in from senior leadership and use this as a foundation of your ESG strategy

Develop a scorecard mechanism around three key areas based on measurable data that can be acted upon

Ensure the social side of your strategy is communitybased and something your employees can buy into emotionally

Appoint a Head of Sustainability and establish working groups at a senior and operational level to aid strategy development

Ensure that all communications, including job adverts, do not include gender bias

Developing an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is rapidly moving to the top of the corporate agenda, even in an era of turbulent economic times, as organisations gain an appreciation of its value when it comes to winning new business, investment and recruiting staff.

The Business Magazine, in partnership with Redwood Technologies Group, hosted a roundtable at East Hampstead Park in Wokingham to discuss how an ESG strategy can be fostered within organisations large and small. The wide ranging discussion covered its importance

in the current business landscape, pressure points and challenges.

Defining what ESG means is a crucial first step as it sets the scope for how deep that sustainability-driven change will run in the business.

Sean Taylor, CEO of Redwood Technologies Group which owns cloud contact centre solutions provider Content Guru, said setting up committees around ESG and diversity had been pivotal in driving forward strategy.

He said: “With ESG, you are mashing together three separate areas and there is a lot of work to do on strategy to end up with something coherent and productive.

“Getting to net zero is a big driver for us, and we have a long tradition on the social and governance sides due to the nature of our business, which involves keeping sensitive data safe from cyber-attacks.

“We have spent time setting up committees to define the value of ESG to the business. This doesn’t necessarily relate to profit, but we have found value in activities such as going into local schools to promote engineering to young women. There is business value, and most importantly value for the community, within this type of initiative.”

“A company’s ESG strategy has to be authentic and genuine, she said.

“It must be embraced by the leadership team and CEO. There has to be a golden thread achieved by a clear vision and strategy accompanied by education and awareness among employees so they understand what you are trying to achieve and why.”

The first steps of any strategy are pivotal in defining its future success and this is especially true with ESG, with the future prospects of organisations resting on having a robust approach.

What is ESG and why is it important?

Mark Wood, Chief Operating Officer of sustainable aviation pioneers Reaction Engines, said that creating a white paper to get buy-in from the top down was an impactful first step.

He said: “We created a white paper from all the pieces of information we had collected and then we took that to our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and board to get buy-in.

“The ELT recognised that it was good for business, good for our people and aligned with our values.

“We created a scorecard which focused on three areas. It looked at where we are investing our money and if we are investing in sustainable technologies that are going to enable people. We also included diversity and how we are reaching out within our local community from the ELT down.”

The value of sharing ESG advice

For companies starting out on their ESG journey, the road ahead can be daunting with a plethora of acronyms and reporting legislation to contend with.

MoA Technology based at The Oxford Science Park was established five years ago and specialises in crop protection.

Bell, said that her company would benefit from a local ESG support network.

She said: “We are still very early in the process and gleaning bits of information from companies we meet. We would greatly benefit from a support network of companies and organisations we could discuss ideas with.

“We don’t own the building we operate from and have no control over its heating or electricity so we are looking at alternative ways to impact our ESG score.

“We are looking at how we purchase equipment and what the company that supplies it has done to meet their ESG requirements. We also recycle a lot of our equipment and waste where we can.

“On the social side we have been at The Oxford Science Park for a year and a half and worked with the science park last year to do a collection for The Trussell Trust.”

On the other side of the scale, Hitachi is a global organisation that employs 350,000 staff around the world and faces the challenge of developing a strategy across continents.

James Stevenson, UK Head of Market Development – ZeroCarbon Fleet at Hitachi, said Hitachi’s ESG strategy is informed by the UK ZeroCarbon team, however challenges remain in implementing a universal strategy across multiple business units.

He said: “Due to its global scale, Hitachi has a significant carbon footprint, our approach to ESG is both top down and bottom up. Our leadership has redefined the mission, social innovation is at the heart of our company and our transition to net zero.

“In terms of making a difference on the ground, it is challenging due to our scale, and the high degree of autonomy each business unit has. Hitachi has focused on sharing best practice – in the UK our expertise in electric vehicles has informed European operations and now the rest of the world. We are also helping our suppliers improve their operations, which in turn addresses our scope 3 emissions.

“Scale can make the ESG transition easier, but collaboration is important especially in a conglomerate. We are working very hard to make sure that communication and innovation change is happening in a meaningful way.”

Full disclosure of sustainability information

Expanded reporting under Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) came into force in April. Now companies with 500 employees and £500 million turnover have an obligation to provide sustainability information annually.

Sarah Atkinson said Micro Focus will make its first disclosure in February.

She said: “We established a new governance framework two years ago and set up a board level committee which has oversight of ESG along with a working group made up of different heads across the organisation.

“We also have an environmental sub group that spends a lot of time looking at the operational side of what we are trying to do in terms of reducing our environmental impact.”

Fran Boorman, founder of Goal 17, is developing a technology platform that will link companies with mentoring opportunities and also allow them to track their sustainability activities.

Fran said an inequality gap was emerging between large and small firms when it came to reporting.

“Reporting can create inequality as large businesses have the resources but small businesses do not,” she said.

“My technology is helping small companies compete as they don’t have consultants or departments to deal with this.”

Technology is key to helping companies reach their sustainability goals, however it must be sensitive to the societal and economic circumstances in which it is deployed.

This point was flagged up by Dan Williams, CEO of measurable.energy, who pointed to email as a prime example, with its initial positive sustainability impact outdone by spam.

He said: “Take email as a simplistic example which got rid of letters. This means we reduced paper consumption, which is good, but then spam email was discovered.

“Energy consumption around email went through the roof and got rid of any benefit from removing paper.

“We should always consider the rebound

impact as there will always be things that will be hard to foresee or predict. You have to plan and consider the best – and worstcase scenarios across the full lifecycle of a technology.”

Redwood Technologies’ Sean Taylor pointed to the need for a systems solution when it came to technology, with carbon off-setting in the airline industry enabling multinational firms to keep functioning.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, he said.

“A big concern for us is travel as we do business in 50 countries and if we did it as Zoom it wouldn’t be as good.

“If the airline industry collaborates and solves the problem with fuel emissions then it gives flying a score of 0.

“The systems have to fit together as we just can’t stop doing things. We can’t conduct business as efficiently if we don’t travel, so let’s change the premise.”

With a recession looming, investor pressure for companies on ESG disclosure remains.

But the focus on profitability and survival is particularly poignant for companies battling inflation and rising supply chain costs.

Rowan Grobler, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures, said companies needed to adopt a strategic approach to ESG and should strive to make positive incremental steps.

He said: “Business staying in business is important. If they go out of business then there is no ESG. Businesses still need to operate.

“They may have to halt some of the projects they are working on and focus on one or two of the key aspects of ESG.

“What we see now is grass roots businesses that are looking at ESG and they are building business based on measuring what they are doing.

“They are not choosing the whole breadth of ESG, they are choosing one of ‘E’, ‘S’ or the ‘G’ and trying to measure it and growing from there.”

People are a company’s key asset and core to their organisation shifting to a sustainable path. However change of any description can often be met with opposition.

How to get your employees on board with ESG

What are the best approaches to encouraging staff buy-in?

Fran Boorman said that employees had to feel emotionally connected with their company’s ESG agenda and one way to achieve this was community mentoring.

She said: “If you look at the companies going through growth they are the ones getting their people engaged with this.

“You have to educate and bring your people along with you because if you don’t

then they will not stay or be motivated to drive forward with you. People have to feel emotionally connected with the activity that they are doing, and the agenda.”

Fran pointed to a collaboration with a national construction firm which trained staff as mentors in Southampton and helped 10 homeless people into permanent accommodation and employment .

The scheme helped the company win multimillion pound contracts by increasing the ‘S’ part of their ESG score.

She said: “The construction firm worked with us not just so they could win contracts but they wanted to create social value and it was the right thing to do.

“Our programme with the Saints Foundation saw us use sport as a vehicle and meant that their managers could see the impact that the work was having on the community.”

The Berkshire Community Foundation (BCF) matches companies with charities and in many cases carries out the logistics of their philanthropy.

BCF CEO Jon Yates said community action by companies provided a boost to staff morale alongside wider business benefits and that if businesses work collaboratively then the overall benefit to the community is multiplied.

He said: “Businesses are aware that recruitment is important and having an ESG strategy is a key way of inspiring people to join your organisation.

“Business staying in business is important. If they go out of business then there is no ESG. Businesses still need to operate”

“Young people will join their business if they see them acting in a socially responsible way.

“There is also a bottom-line impact for business by being socially responsible and putting resources back into the local community where their staff live, work and play – and where their customers are based too.

“By doing this they are generating a lot of goodwill internally and externally. Staff also get a spring in their step because their organisation actually gives a damn.”

Having good ESG credentials affects the very fabric on which business is conducted, with an acceptable ESG score impacting the terms on which a company can gain insurance cover.

landscapes was making sure that they were future-proof for the climate challenges ahead.

She said: “We have seen a lot of changes thanks to Covid and from people working from home in terms of what people need from their own space.

Building a diverse workforce can improve the capability of a business. However, it’s not without its challenges.

Building a positive sustainability public image is important, according to Reactoin Engine’s Mark Wood, who argues that this can only be done by careful communications, including job advertisements.

“People are at the heart of everything we do. It is critical for our business that we have diversity in how we do things which helps with problem-solving and creative solutions, which is just so powerful.

“We looked at job adverts which were very technically focused and biased towards males. Amongst other activities, we now screen every advert to make sure they are not biased.”

Gayle Bennouir, Risk Management Director at insurance broker VERLINGUE, said making sure ESG data was recorded and available publicly would help with applications across multiple industries, including insurance.

She said: “If your company is impacting negatively then it is important to consider what you are doing to reduce that risk and how you are positively impacting society.

“Signing up with a public ratings agency such as EcoVadis allows you to share what you are doing on their platform This means you have it documented and can prove it.”

Sustainability concerns are also having a deep effect on our built landscape with the design of buildings expected to rapidly change in the years ahead.

Alicia de Haldevang, Sustainability Principal Consultant at engineering and design consulting firm Stantec, said that the challenge with creating future city

“We have extreme weather events which linked to climate change, will be more frequent, and we are having to think about what people need from their spaces.

“In terms of a sustainability view, when looking at a development, it’s about linking the ‘E’ and ‘S’ through nature-based solutions, to provide aesthetic and functional solutions that can enhance health and biodiversity at the same time.

“What I would like to see in the future is more solar shading measures, through drought resistant trees, and green corridors to deal with the impacts of climate change.

“We also need to consider retrofitting our buildings as 80 per cent of them will still be here in 2050.

“Also changes in transport mode, how we use our spaces as multi-functional places, such as our streets, and consider whether we have to build new buildings or infrastructure in the first place.”

Building a diverse workforce improves business capability

Good ESG credentials can improve business prospects

After coming through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, rising energy costs and the impact of the war in Ukraine, businesses have had their fair share of upheaval and uncertainty. But the scale of political turmoil wrought by the tax cuts in the ‘mini-budget’ going further and faster than expected, followed by the subsequent u-turns has had us all on the edge of our seats.

“It can be easy to get swept up by the headlines and fear the worst when things are uncertain politically, but the reassuring news is that on the ground corporate transactions are still completing” says Paul Stout, Corporate Finance Partner at PKF Francis Clark.

As one of the largest independent firms of chartered accountants and business advisers in the South, PKF Francis Clark is in a good position to assess market confidence.

Despite disruption to many sectors of the economy during the Covid pandemic, the transactional market reached its peak in 2021. This mirrored the experience at PKF Francis Clark, which completed 139 deals last year.

“Of course, we’ve had downturns and recessions before, but the difference

What’s in store for the deals market in the South?

What impact is the current political turmoil likely to have on the deals market in Hampshire? According to a corporate finance expert from PKF Francis Clark, although businesses are increasing their levels of due diligence, deals are still crossing the line.

this time has been the availability of money,” adds Paul Stout. “Equity and alternative finance are much more abundant. Coupled with that, there has been a need for investors to take risks to generate returns. The appetite for buying businesses remains high.”

This volume of funding in the system may help to shield the transactional market from wider economic threats.

The uncertainty of the last few years has brought changes, particularly an increased focus on due diligence. “We are undertaking far more vendor due diligence to help business owners be better prepared to sell, maximise the consideration and achieve completion in a sensible timeframe,” explains Paul Stout.

Stout also points out that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors will continue to be important. “We may not have seen ESG affecting profits and multiples significantly yet, but I have no doubt that the potential impact on exit values will increasingly benefit businesses which have embraced this agenda.”

What advice does PKF Francis Clark have for business owners who are thinking about buying or selling? “Selling or buying a business can be an incredibly stressful and emotional time, but I would urge

business owners not to get too distracted by media analysis and market turbulence. What we are seeing on the ground in the South, and indeed across the UK, is that deals are still going through and there continues to be an appetite for buying businesses from private equity and overseas buyers in particular.”

With 54 partners, over 850 members of staff and annual revenue of £52 million, PKF Francis Clark is a member of the PKF International network of legally independent accountancy firms, which has more than 220 members in 150 countries.

“It can be easy to get swept up by the headlines and fear the worst when things are uncertain politically, but the reassuring news is that on the ground corporate transactions are still completing”

HOW CAN THE OFFICE CLAIM VICTORY OVER THE HOME?

The Answer? Create a great (cool) workplace with choice at its centre.

But what does this look like in practice? How have organisations created a great working culture that emphasises choice and empowers people to work in the best way possible? Here are two case studies that empower employee choice through design.

CASE STUDY: IRI, BRACKNELL

To stimulate the creativity of employees, the new HQ for forward-thinking market research and data company IRI is an agile workplace that inspires collaboration by offering multiple ways of working that are not ordinarily possible at home. The huddle room is designed to act as an adaptive informal meeting space complete with carefully chosen objects to create a homely yet functional feel. Elsewhere, open plan collaboration areas feature high tables and chairs conducive to team-based assignments while other areas of the floorplan are designed for more formal work, featuring fixed desks and greater privacy.

The variety of spaces facilitates both planned and unplanned interaction. Not only are there spaces to support concentration and in-person collaboration, but the IRI brand is felt throughout the space, with lighting angles and ceiling details which mimic its logo, as well as wall-covering designs and wayfinding features that borrow from visual cues in the branding. This helps create a sense of identity and belonging, bringing people together in pursuit of a shared purpose.

In summary

CASE STUDY: THREE UK

The design and fit out for Three UK’s new 117,000 sq ft HQ in Reading also offers the ‘home from home’ feel. A ‘barrier free’ layout with a wide spectrum of areas to satisfy staff needs includes a living quarter, a play quarter and a social quarter. The living quarter has been designed to aid personal wellbeing and features a sanctuary, chill room, yoga studio and gender-neutral shower facilities. The play quarter, a high-energy zone with neon lighting, is laden with games. There is also a library, phone pods and booths for quieter work and meeting rooms to suit every occasion. The social quarter encourages personal connection, collaboration and ad-hoc encounters over food and drink.

Inclusivity is key when striving for a connected experience. Meeting rooms feature Braille panels and zip tags for booking. All ten tea points are DDA compliant and incorporate 3D icons to help abled and partially-sighted individuals identify amenity locations. Custom lighting controls and gender-neutral toilets and showers, alongside audio-visual systems which consider neurodiverse needs have also been included.

It doesn’t end there. The building, holding BREEAM Excellent, WELL Platinum and an ‘A’ EPC rating, has been designed with environmental and human health in mind and offers an abundance of natural light and fresh air. The thinking behind the design proves Three UK cares about the health, wellbeing and experience of its people and visitors.

The design principles behind these projects shine a light on how the office can claim victory over the home. The level of variety on offer, coupled with a working culture that grants people the freedom to choose while driving a culture that everyone feels part of, tops anything the office’s biggest competitor could hope to offer.

COOL COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

The importance of the environment that we work in cannot be understated as its effect on our productivity, health and indeed happiness are all connected.

Working in a desirable, or cool office building, is a major draw for employees and is now a major focus for employers who are looking to attract talent or encourage staff back into the office.

But what makes a building cool?

Is it the inspiring exterior that lifts your mood as you approach, the spacious interior designed to maximise creativity or the attention paid to the surrounding space created to encourage collaboration?

Morgan Lovell has played a key role in the design of offices across the region and works with firms that are overhauling their workspaces to reflect the hybrid world of work that we now live in.

Colin Allan, Morgan Lovell’s Managing Director in Bracknell said: “People’s needs and expectations of the workplace have evolved, they want choice on how and where they will do their most productive work.

“For forward-thinking businesses, the opportunity is in how they make the office the best place for this to happen. Research tells us that if people like their office, they are more engaged, connected and likely to stay in their current role.

“Creating an office for a client that draws their people back together, claiming victory over the home, ultimately helps to grow a business and its culture. When

Perch Eco Business Centre, Bicester

office design creates this end result, it has achieved cool status.”

Our listacross the following pages includes buildings that have a ‘cool’ angle and strive to stand out in the rapidly-evolving commercial property space.

The list contains buildings with awardwinning designs that draw on their surroundings to create truly remarkable properties.

The Lady Bee Enterprise Centre at Shoreham Port, with its wave-inspired roof is a master stroke of modern design while the Royal Navy’s NELSON offices

The Perch Eco Business Centre in Bicester goes to great lengths to create a cohesive spirit for its occupants while Lakeside North Harbour in Portsmouth takes full advantage of its green space so that residents have ample opportunity to connect with nature.

Office design is undergoing a postpandemic revolution and we can expect a torrent of design innovations in the years ahead. It is an exciting time to be working in this space or indeed looking for a new office.

What makes a building cool? It has to inspire, encourage creativity and be a conduit for collaboration

Campus Reading International, Reading

Wellness is at the heart of Campus Reading International with the just completed 375,000 sq ft space boasting a lakeside running track, fully-equipped gym and yoga studio.

The Campus owners also take their sustainability commitments seriously with EV charging points, biogas bus transport links along with landscaped gardens, bee hives and a community allotment.

Bourne Park, Bournemouth

Design is a core component of Bourne Park in Bournemouth with each room and wall carefully and colourfully designed with quirky wall coverings and objects. The result is an office space which encourages creative thinking, with the Urban Garden bar and restaurant adding to its collaboration and sociability credentials.

Arena Reading, Reading

Arena Reading’s glass-fronted exterior marks it out as a prestige address and this impression is continued inside with beautiful meeting rooms and an elegant reception area. Clients can also access Arena’s in-house design team to customise their workspace so that it suits the needs of their team.

Lakeside North Harbour, Portsmouth

Lakeside North Harbour’s acres of green land and centrepiece lake gives its occupants space to think, with the facility even having a lakeside hut that workers can escape to when they need some much-needed focus time.

Lakeside is home to more than 40 businesses, across a wide variety of sectors including engineering and technology, recruitment, technical services, marketing, automotive and maritime.

There are very few buildings that capture the essence of their surroundings, however Lady Bee Enterprise Centre at Shoreham Port, with its wave-inspired solar-paneled roof easily slides into this category.

The eco-focused buildings, built on a reclaimed parcel of land, are home to 14 individual business units and come complete with electric vehicle charging points, bicycle racks and recycling storage facilities.

The Old Bond Store, Southampton

Industrial but modern surroundings make for a unique-looking and feeling working environment at Southampton’s Old Bond Store. An ‘on-demand’ approach effectively allows users of the classily-designed space to “pay as they go”. offering a genuinely flexible option.

Parking and a central location make it appealing for occasional use, such as for meetings. But its comfortable and stylish interior - plus the complimentary refreshments - may convince users to take up a more permanent residence during office hours.

The Brick Works, Reading

Brick Works is a warehouse style workspace built to provide inspiring private and communal workspaces and a high specification base for creative minds in Reading. The modern and impactful designed office comes with a communal roof terrace, excellent natural light and comfort cooling and heating throughout.

The Porter Building, Slough

Natural light is a key component of The Porter Building and it flows throughout thanks to its window-laden facade and a central light-amplifying atrium. The Porter Building was the first office building in the UK to be awarded WELL Core & Shell Certification through the International WELL Building Institute thanks to its air quality, filtered drinking water, communal roof terrace, healthy eating options, noise reduction measures and a layout aimed at encouraging movement.

Portsmouth

The power of an office space to inspire new thinking and creativity takes on a different level of importance when the defence of the country is involved.

Morgan Lovell created an office design for Royal Navy Nelson, an artificial intelligence programme, which combines naval forces traditions, support for new technologies and space for collaboration.

The entrance to the facility boasts a floorto-ceiling curved steel wall, complete with riveting to reflect the hull of a vessel, hanging desks suspended with thick-set ropes and numerous wall details with historic graphics and naval prints.

Waving goodbye to newcomer status

A month has already passed since 350 industry professionals gathered at Southampton’s Hilton at the Ageas Bowl for the South Coast Property Awards ceremony. AJC Group was the youngest company to ever be crowned Housebuilder of the Year. In what was a very special evening for the Poole-based firm, AJC Group also scooped Fast Rising Property Business of the Year.

In this guest piece from David Cracklen, Director of AJC Group, we asked him to tell us all about the secrets to the company’s ongoing success.

David Cracklen said: “Our affordable housing division commenced trading four years ago, and AJC Group was very much in its infancy at the last in-person South Coast Property Awards ceremony. But while many well-established companies suffered a downturn – as a result of the challenges of Covid-19 – we were able to use the agility of the business to our advantage.

In collecting two awards trophies, it felt as if we were waving goodbye to our newcomer status on that evening of 29th September. We are very grateful to The Business Magazine’s judging panel for selecting us from two very competitive shortlists! Awareness of AJC Group has grown across our target audiences, and we are really thankful to all our industry peers who have congratulated us. It was certainly a memorable week for AJC Group, because the team was also undertaking an epic fitness challenge, to raise £10,000 for local homelessness charity Routes to Roots.

“We are currently delivering 230 homes across seven sites, and are incredibly proud of our year-on-year growth. This has come about from delivering a steady stream of quality developments in prime locations across Wessex, focused on our mission to become a leading affordable housing contractor. We have built our reputation on the consistency of our development portfolio. Our architecture, design detailing, landscaping, and eco features, convey a premium narrative, irrespective of whether the homes we are delivering are designated for affordable, or open market housing.”

AJC Group undertook a charity challenge raising £10,000 for the charity Routes to Roots

Recent projects

AJC Group operates across the Wessex region. Recent projects that contributed to the two award wins include 14 characterbuilt apartments with sea views at West Cliff Gardens in Bournemouth, and a high-quality new build scheme of 57 homes which is part of the Dorchester Brewery redevelopment.

At Clarendon Road in Bournemouth, AJC Group has recently completed 19 apartments in a scheme inspired by the grand traditional architecture found locally. The development has been delivered to Stonewater Housing Association, with 100% of the plots designated for affordable housing to meet local needs. This scheme received a coveted NHBC Seal of Excellence Award.

Elsewhere in Dorset, in the historic village of Hazelbury Bryan, AJC Group is delivering 21 mixed tenure affordable homes for Abri Housing Association. Also being delivered for Abri is a design-led contemporary scheme, located on Lindsay Road in the Branksome Park area of Poole. The 28 apartments there are all designated for shared ownership.

ABOUT AJC GROUP

The company has also recently secured planning permission for 86 Build to Rent apartments on a brownfield site in Poole town centre, together with 27 affordable homes in the North Dorset village of Okeford Fitzpaine, which are being delivered on behalf of Aster Communities.

Future plans and current focus

David Cracklen added: “From the outset, our business was founded on a clear set of values and by putting integrity at the heart of everything we do. A key focus is working in partnership with Registered Providers, Local Authorities, and charities to deliver much-needed quality affordable housing. Despite the challenges encountered across the industry over the past few years, we have succeeded in trebling our turnover, and are firmly on target to deliver 500 mixed-tenure homes a year. *

“We have a clear vision to become the leading developer of affordable homes across the Wessex region, delivering homes of exceptional quality, on time and to budget, on behalf of – and in collaboration with – our partners and customers. Our aim is to deliver lasting

change, transforming lives and landscapes through partnerships that build ecofocused homes of the highest quality in communities that are vibrant, sustainable, and aspirational. We work closely with our clients to ensure their needs are met to the highest of standards, and we pride ourselves on our excellent customer service and build quality.

“The founding Directors have worked very hard to bring together a great team of people, who we count as friends, as well as colleagues. We are thrilled to now be expanding from our base in Poole into south Hampshire, south Wiltshire, and West Sussex.

“Our commitment to our people runs through everything we do, and earlier this year, we received an accreditation from Investors in People, followed by a shortlisting for UK Employer of the Year (up to 49 employees). The Investor in People Awards will take place in London on 15th November, and we are thrilled to be in the running for a national prize!

“In August, we also introduced a £200 per month cost of living bonus, which is being paid to all staff for six months to help meet the rising cost burden every household is currently facing.

“Our current focus is securing land, viable planning permissions, and communicating to Registered Providers, Councils and Institutions, the strength of working in partnership with AJC Group to deliver housing needs. We are also working proactively to enhance the eco-credentials, energy performance, and biodiversity gains across all our upcoming developments. Energy usage and cost is firmly in the spotlight, and we are passionate about demonstrating how our energy-efficient, quality new homes can help residents to lower their carbon footprint and help the UK to reach its carbon reduction targets.”

AJC Group based in Poole, Dorset, is on a mission to improve the quantity and quality of affordable homes in the Wessex region. The team has extensive experience in the industry as a strategic land promoter, quality new homes developer, and community creator. The rapidly growing business is transforming lives and landscapes to deliver lasting change through partnerships that build affordable homes and sustainable vibrant communities.

Combining traditional craftsmanship with the latest innovations and technologies, AJC Group delivers both small, bespoke schemes and large-scale, strategic residential schemes safely, on-time, to the highest quality, and within budget.

For information on AJC Group’s development portfolio, visit: ajcgroup.uk

WINNERS CELEBRATE AT THE 2022 SOUTH COAST PROPERTY AWARDS

The fifth annual South Coast Property Awards recognised the region’s top performers from the commercial and residential property community across 18 award categories. Vail Williams picked up three awards and several companies achieved a double triumph on the night.

Over 350 developers, agents, planners, consultants, property lawyers and dealmakers came out in force at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl to enjoy the first in-person SCPA ceremony since the Covid-19 pandemic, ably supported by host Marcus Brigstocke. The TV personality, comedian and broadcaster led the entertainment with a hilarious barrage of banter, anecdotes and asides.

The headline sponsor was Amiri Construction and the other sponsors

Commenting on one of the major challenges the sector has faced over the last year, Richard

Director of The Business Magazine, said: “The move from full remote working has meant a need for flexible, high-quality office space, resulting in significant growth in that market.”

During the evening, £7,000 was raised by the audience for Hannah’s Holiday Homes Appeal. The Waterlooville based charity provides holiday homes in familiies of children with cancer and life limiting illnesses..

BDB PITMANS –BUILDING A BETTER TOMORROW THROUGH ITS CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGY

As the official legal partner and back of the shirt sponsor of Reading FC Women, BDB Pitmans was proud to support the launch of the team’s latest kit earlier this year.

Highlighting the climate crisis

Designed to highlight the climate crisis, the club released their 2022/23 strip on 21 June 2022 to coincide with #ShowYourStripesDay which aims to drive conversations about climate change.

Comprised of 170 vertical red, white and blue coloured bars, the stripes in question, which appear on the sleeves of each player’s jersey, belong to the climate stripes graphic created by Reading University climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins, intended to illustrate the rise in global temperatures from 1850 to the present day.

Impact of the stripes

The impact of the stripes cannot be underestimated. On 21 June every year, individuals and businesses around the world ‘show their stripes’ in honour of their commitment to slowing down climate change. Since its conception in 2018,

Professor Hawkins’ stripes have appeared on the front cover of The Economist, on the catwalks of London Fashion Week, at music festivals, on television and even at the Chelsea Flower Show. Four years later, the now iconic image secured another first when it took a spot on Reading FC Women’s latest kit.

Named in The Sunday Times’ Green PowerList as one of the UK’s top 20 most influential environmentalists, Hawkins is also a prominent climatologist at the University of Reading – a world leading climate science facility based just a few moments’ walk from BDB Pitmans’ Reading office.

Partnering for the planet

The University of Reading and Reading Football Club are themselves ‘partnering for the planet’ to help the club take steps towards minimising its environmental impact and improving its sustainability. With

this in mind, the kit’s shirt is made from a knit fabric called Eco-Softlock, made from 100% recycled polyester yarn, equivalent to 13 ½ litre recycled plastic bottles.

BDB Pitmans’ climate change strategy

For BDB Pitmans, creating space to amplify important voices in the climate change sphere is only the tip of the iceberg. As part of an ambitious climate change strategy we are implementing various wide-ranging measures, policies and practices with the aim of reducing our energy use and carbon emissions to reach net zero by 2050.

With the help of independent environmental consultancy, Green Element, we are striving to understand our true environmental impact and find ways to support our employees and those across our supply chains, to reduce their overall carbon emissions through recycling, best practice and carbon offsetting.

To find out more, read our Responsible Business Overview by scanning the QR code opposite.

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO WORK? FROM

REGIONAL HUB?

There is anecdotal evidence that some big professional employers are saying adios to their spacious city offices.

They’re not abandoning them completely, but many are considering sizing down to something that will accommodate fewer staff – because with the cost of energy alone, why heat and light a huge office space if only a handful of staff are there at any one time?

“We are in a transition phase,” according to Guy Parkes, partner at Thames Valleybased commercial property agents Vail Williams. “There isn’t yet a clear trend from office occupiers. It’s more about getting staff engaged back in the workplace, wherever that may be.

“Office occupiers have been using this year to encourage their staff back into that rhythm and are starting to move from a defensive position into a planning phase.”

What is certainly happening is that large firms, which have traditionally occupied thousands of square metres of office space in central city locations, understand that how staff worked pre-pandemic, is not how they want to work in the future.

In August, Jacob Rees-Mogg, now Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, made headlines after laying out plans to sell off £1.5 billion of government space in central London. He said taxpayers should not have to fork out for half empty buildings.

Other tenants and owners are likely to follow his lead.

Employers must tread carefully to keep staff

But professional firms need to tread carefully. They don’t want lose valuable staff by forcing them back into the office, equally they realise that collaborative office life boosts camaraderie and productivity – and helps maintain a company culture. It’s just not the same on Teams, Zoom or Slack.

As employees began to return to the office last year, employers said: “Come into the office if you feel you need to. Don’t if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.”

Many companies felt they had to offer flexibility in a tight job market, but employees are also realising they may need to be in the office more to ensure visibility to employers.

Few company bosses will admit this, but the expectation is that those who want promotion will return to the office.

Employees who aren’t in every day could miss out on the corporate culture and realtime contribution to decisions and actions.

Some companies are starting to mandate at least three days in the office. A common suggestion is that they come to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so work can be done together. Mondays and Friday can be for report writing or reflection time.

does this mean for office real estate?

Guy says he expects companies to adopt a “hub and spoke” approach, although it hasn’t happened quite yet.

“When a tenant’s lease in London or another big city ends, it is possible they will look at a smaller hub space in London and grow their regional spokes to be closer to residential areas.”

That means that staff can work from wherever they are most efficient. If a workplace isn’t accessible, they can work from home, or serviced offices.

Are you fed up working from home but don’t want the hassle of heading into the big cities to work? We look at what’s happening in the world of office real estate

HOME, AT HQ OR A NEW

What

“There isn’t yet a clear trend from office occupiers. It’s more about getting staff engaged back in the workplace, wherever that may be”

DEMAND FOR SERVICED OFFICES SOARS

There are more boutique serviced offices than ever before. Old hands such as Regus are being joined by edgy new brands such as Work Life, which launched in London in 2015 and is now expanding out into other UK cities.

The Office Group is another company. Founded in 2003 by real estate professionals Olly Olsen and Charlie Green who wanted to convert beautiful buildings, the company now offers more than 50 buildings across the UK and Germany. Most are in London, but the company also offers office space in Bristol.

There are many others, including Yooserv in the Thames Valley, Perch in Bicester and the Wheelhouse in Oxford.

These spaces rely on people not wanting to travel into their main offices, but not wanting to work home alone either, preferring to be part of a community.

Guy thinks it’s likely that these office providers will begin to specialise in sectors

– such as serviced offices for professionals, tech or the growing life sciences sector where laboratory space is automatically included.

Guy said: “Business parks, where many serviced offices have traditionally been located, might be easy to drive to and park, but they can be bland and soulless.

Many new serviced offices are located centrally. And this could mean a revival of town centres.

“What people lack working from home is community and amenity. But if their offices are in a town centre, there are coffee shops, other retail, bars and restaurants. And that can only be good news for town centre retail and leisure.”

Could serviced offices in town centres herald a high street revival?

REMOTE WORKING START-UP SET FOR KEY CITY LAUNCHES

Many a business idea has sprung from a casual conversation between a friend or close acquaintance and Jarvo is no different. Dan Hillman had a neighbour with a spare room he wanted to monetise and the pair discussed the pros and cons of home rental service Airbnb over the fence.

The contents of the conversation faded in Dan’s memory until he had to make an important call with his bank but was contending with a teething toddler. He contacted his neighbour to see if he could use his room and in two minutes, the Jarvo founder was set up in a spare bedroom.

The Reading man then became a frequent visitor with the two agreeing a fee and the concept of Jarvo was born.

The rise of Jarvo has been rapid considering the above conversation only happened 12 months ago.

Dan has since raised £300,000 through crowdfunding site Seedrs, breaking his fundraising target in less than 42 seconds, exceeding Monzo Bank’s target completion which took 96 seconds.

Jarvo now has 1,164 approved workspaces pre-registered across the UK, a user wait list of more than 16,500 and is set to launch the app serving Reading and Bristol before rapidly expanding to towns and cities across the UK and internationally.

On recalling the conversation with his neighbour, Dan said: “From that day, my mindset shifted from having an asset growth mindset in that we have to acquire assets to create value to one of creating something that can leverage existing inventory so that I can create value in a different way.”

When the Jarvo concept began to crystalise, Dan began searching for similar

services that already existed and was surprised to find little existing competition in the marketplace.

He found a company in San Francisco –Codi – which had tried the concept but quickly pivoted to become a co-working aggregator service.

Dan said: “I think that was definitely a case of first mover disadvantage. Look at Friendster and Google Glass. When they came out, they were so far ahead of their time and they flopped because the timing wasn’t right.”

His next step was to road test his idea by creating a basic site and then inviting friends and family within a 10 km radius of his home to try out the service, with homeowners earning income each time their home was used, and Jarvo taking a fee.

Jarvo is set to launch in Reading and Bristol as the ‘work from anywhere’ movement grows

Dan said: “All these homes created a network effect as the people who took part started talking to their friends and family about it as they were earning money and wanted to continue doing that.

“I started speaking to users of the pilot to understand their pain points and found that they enjoyed working from home but it wasn’t the office they had the problem with it was the commute.”

Dan’s background is in design and he started his career at renowned international interior designers Candy & Candy (now Candy London) where he spent just over four years.

He said: “I moved back home to Reading and experimented with interior design businesses, then went into project management which eventually lead to becoming a property development

business having £17 million worth of assets.”

He said: “Unfortunately Hillnic went into administration in 2019 as a result of being over leveraged as well as other mistakes made along the way. Failure shouldn’t be glamourised but absolutely shouldn’t be something you are fearful of as long as you learn from the mistakes you make.”

His experience in design and the property industry has shaped the concept of Jarvo and at its core is a belief that everyone should have access to the benefits of good design around them.

Dan said: “Design and attention to detail has always been instilled in me and I want to make well-designed workspaces accessible for everyone.”

What will Jarvo spaces look like?” Dan says they will go beyond the conventional thinking of a workstation in someone’s spare room and will be community-focused.

He explains: “We prefer to think in seats, so if you were to think of an apartment there could be a desk and chair in the corner, a sofa area and a coffee table with say six seats around it.

“More areas for homeowners to reap the financial rewards from. We have a strict criteria on what is accepted on to the platform: ie superfast WiFi as standard, a well designed environment, and very accessible.

The Jarvo founder says the shift of large

corporations moving outside large cities and drawing on workforces from around the UK – and indeed the world – is driving forward change.

The early Jarvo model involves individuals letting out their own workspaces or “seats” in their homes to other individuals. However, Dan sees his business evolving into a subscription-based service that companies will buy into.

The model would see companies take out memberships for each of their employees that would allow them to choose a different workstation around the country and eventually around the world.

Dan says that this model has networking advantages as those using the app will be able to request meetings with people who are booked into the same location as them on the same day.

The advantage over co-working spaces is the minimal journey to a Jarvo space in someone’s home against commuting into a town or city to a co-working space paying inflexible monthly fees.

He said: “Companies will have a mechanism where we are the aggregator with one simple billing process and they will pay an amount per month and their staff can choose wherever they want to work.

“Remote work is still so early and it is as revolutionary as the internet.

People want that nomadic capability and being able to use workspaces wherever they are in the world.”

“Remote work is still so early and it is as revolutionary as the internet. People want that nomadic capability and being able to use workspaces wherever they are in the world”

South Coast Architectural Practice of The Year re-imagines it’s legacy identity

As an architectural practice, it is most usual for the external work we do on our built projects to be publicised and reflected on. However, we believe one of our most influential projects we worked on recently was a company retrospection. During the pandemic, we took an opportunity to pivot; rebrand and build a brand-new website.

A great legacy of work, an established presence on the South Coast and a strong contingency of long serving staff are key factors that have stood us in good stead as a fantastic foundation for many years. However, navigating the business through recent unusual circumstances and multiple lockdowns, like many of us, caused us to consider the way in which we want to continue our practice, evolve and realise an ambition to further promote our creativity in designing, detailing and delivering enduring architecture.

Transitioning the brand Being established for over 50 years meant our name was not up for grabs, but the time was right to transition the brand to reflect the current leadership and philosophy and how we’ve evolved from a more corporate project-oriented attitude to a more flexible, people-based culture. Not a re-brand as much as a re-evaluation of our company identity, we chose to delve into who HGP are currently to staff, clients, the industry and then address where we want to be positioned in the future.

Reflecting our unique approach Although we perform a service attributed

to many, we are unique in our approach, delivery, and culture. We consider that one of our key strengths that set us apart from others is the value we offer in the experience we provide for clients, so we wanted any new brand or website to reflect this. We worked with London based design company, Praline, who unpicked our current identity and re-built it around core themes and principles derived of our social culture and our approach to working with our people, our clients and our industry. Opening ourselves up to an outside agency, meant that we wouldn’t be just paying lip service to the process but be taken out of our comfort zone to embrace change.

Matching design to our ethos

Understanding the principles of good design and rather than mimic a ubiquitous architectural style, we looked to exemplars from other industries that are highly influenced by design and service experience, such as graphic design and hospitality sectors, to understand how they presented themselves and let how they present what they offer, influence us and challenge any pre-conceived notions.

With a firm belief in the collective, it was important to us to develop a corporate language that demonstrates the open collaborative approach we have with clients and our internal team diversity. The use of lower-case letters and our signature colour is softer, more approachable.

The bespoke font to create the logo is a conscious considered design strategy and demonstrates attention to technical detail. The result is playful artistry reflective of a more youthful HGP. We are pleased Praline were able to develop a logo and identity that is truly representative of who we are now but that also forms a distinct marker in our journey for future generations of HGP.

The Effects of our Re-imagining

The re-imagining of our corporate identity and website is the culmination of internal reflections and a journey of selfdiscovery during a globally difficult time. The elements of design and detail are emblematic of our strategic shift, allowing our new brand and website to support and strengthen our commitment to our newly defined position, reinforced by industry recognition.

For more information: email@hgp-architects.co.uk hgp-architects.co.uk

BROOKFIELD LAUNCHES ARC OXFORD SCIENCE AND TECH PARK

Paloma Capital and Graftongate gain triple planning win in Banbury

Private equity real estate investor Paloma Capital and Warwickshirebased real estate developer, Graftongate, have secured three new planning consents at a logistics location in Oxfordshire.

The joint venture partners will develop a drive-through Starbucks, new electric vehicle charging facility and surface-level car park on a site off Southam Road in Banbury.

International investment management firm Brookfield has launched ARC (Advanced Research Clusters) Oxford, previously known as Oxford Business Park).

With demand for lab space in Oxfordshire reaching almost 860,000 sq ft, ARC Oxford is aiming to develop new science-ready space.

Brookfield, which also manages Harwell Campus, is set to invest more than £1 billion into Oxfordshire by later this decade. Plans being considered could see the current 514,000 sq ft Oxford City

space double in size as it brings new laboratories, cleanrooms, offices and R&D facilities to the campus.

Dan Williams, Director of Asset Management at ARC Oxford, said: “Oxford has a thriving innovation ecosystem, however science-ready space is in short supply across the city.

“We’ve been working in partnership with our members to understand their needs, so that we can invest and build flexible research and development space on a speculative or pre-committed basis.”

The property is located near Junction 11 of the M40 next to a recently refurbished 200,000 sq ft warehouse, let to Amazon.

Graftongate will develop a new 2,200 sq ft drive-throughon a 0.85 acre site fronting Ruscote Avenue that will trade as Starbucks for a minimum term of 15 years.

A new 156 EV van charging station will be developed on an adjoining four-acre site. Both sites are owned by Paloma Capital.

Commercial property investor and developer Mantle Estates, advised by Carter Jonas and Savills, has secured three new tenants, comprising a total of 12,000 sq ft at The Lambourn building on Abingdon Business Park.

Retail fit-out specialist umdasch The Store Makers has agreed a 10-year lease on the ground floor east wing with approximately 6,600 sq ft of space.

Education provider Navitas UK Holdings has agreed to lease around 3,400 sq ft

on the first-floor east wing on a five-year lease.

Completing the line-up, electric vehicle charge point manufacturer Compleo Charging Solutions has agreed a five-year lease also on part of the first floor east wing extending to approximately 2,000 sq ft of space.

Hertfordshire-based commercial property investor and developer Mantle Estates acquired The Lambourn Building in 2019.

The third development will see the demolition of a redundant, former office building owned by Jacobs Douwe Egberts to make way for a new 215-space surface-level car park, serving employees from its Banbury coffee factory.

On completion of the new facility, Jacobs Douwe Egberts’ existing car park will be let to and occupied by Starbucks and a multinational technology company.

Work on all three projects is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

The stars have aligned for the South East’s film industry with the region’s attributes creating a global appeal that has triggered a studio construction boom.

Tax incentives, a skilled workforce, location options and a weak pound have created a big bang which has seen an investment surge, with the British Film Institute reporting inward investment spend from major international productions in 2021 topping record levels at £4.7 billion.

Tax has proven pivotal according to the industry with a 25 per cent cash rebate that applies to actors’ salaries and other so-called above-the-line costs attracting major international studios.

Streaming companies are digging in with Apple TV setting up at Symmetry Park, The Walt Disney Company embedding in Pinewood Studios, Amazon Prime at Pinewood Group’s Shepperton Studios and Netflix also setting up camp at

Shepperton and Longcross Film Studios.

The UK’s film and TV studios have struggled to meet booming demand for production space in recent years.

This has triggered a wave of new studio developments, warehouse conversions and extensions to existing studios but the current development pipeline still appears insufficient to satisfy future demand.

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) estimates that 2.3 million sq ft of new sound stage space, on top of what is in the pipeline, will be required by 2033.

Research conducted by PwC has estimated that the UK is missing out on as many as eight blockbuster films per year due to a lack of studio space.

Adrian Wootton, CEO of the British Film Commission, said: “Globally, we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of film and

high-end TV production commissioned in recent years. With more and more content being consumed each year, this growth trajectory is only set to continue.

“As a result, the UK is enjoying a significant production boom, translating into thousands of new jobs across the UK’s nations and regions.

“Indeed, record levels of inward investment production spend in 2021 reinforce the UK’s position as a leading global production centre. And we are able to make the most of it thanks to our underlying strengths: world-class UK studios and infrastructure, award-winning talent in front of and behind the camera, globally respected VFX and postproduction facilities.

“Our tax reliefs are widely recognised as one of the most transparent, inclusive and reliable production incentives in the world. And the sheer breadth of locations, from

The south east film industry blasts into a blockbuster future as tax incentives lead to explosive growth

medieval castles to modernist skyscrapers, is hard to beat.”

A number of major building projects, detailed in the following pages, are seeking to address this shortage of studio space in the South East.

Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire is developing Screen Hub UK which will see a £450 million expansion to its current site and include studio buildings, education and business growth hubs and the Pinewood Studios Experience.

At Pinewood’s Shepperton Studios, longterm deals with Netflix and Amazon Prime will see multiple new stages and facilities developed.

Shinfield Studios, based at the Thames Valley Science Park, already has four stages in place, five more opening next year and an 18-stage Creative Media Hub opening in 2024.

A planning application has been submitted to create Marlow Film Studios, which will be built on former gravel pits and will be made up of two film production clusters, a mix of soundstages, workshops and offices.

The people behind the project – a team of local entrepreneurs and arts industry professionals – said that the development would deliver 4,180 jobs.

Growth in international streaming markets coupled with the clustering effect in London and the South East means that the region is likely to remain as the dominant location for production in the UK.

In the past two years, Stage Fifty has built Farnborough Film Studios and Winnersh Film Studios and is currently building its third site in the UK, Wycombe Film Studio, to meet the increasing demand for highquality stage space.

James Enright, CEO of Stage Fifty, said: “The film industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom, with production companies from all over the world choosing to shoot their upcoming films and TV shows across the UK.

“The Golden Triangle sits within the South

East and it has become the go-to place to build new studios as it is ideally located for existing skilled crew who are based in this area

It has easy access to international airports for crew and talent, existing infrastructure including post-production houses, VFX and prop makers alongside an array of specialist manufacturers who supply the film industry.”

James said the impact of his current and existing sites would have a sizeable impact on the surrounding economy with productions having a trickle-down effect and pointed to Winnersh Film Studios.

He said: “Stage Fifty’s second film studio site in the UK, Winnersh Film Studios, will bring an estimated £50 million economic boost to the UK economy annually, creating around 500 new jobs in the UK film and production sector and will support a further 500 indirect jobs in the supply chain.

“The jobs themselves are skilled, exciting, and varied, with production companies

needing crew to staff various departments, including hair and make-up, costumes, set design and construction, producers, runners and many more”

The rapid growth of the industry in the South East and beyond has created an acute shortage of skilled crews.

UK film and premium television production is expected to reach £7.6 billion by 2025 and will require around 19,000 crew to meet demand, according to a report by ScreenSkills, a non-profit organisation that trains production crews.

The Stage Fifty CEO said the skills shortage was a major issue.

The main issues are crew shortages across the board, from runners to accountants and skills shortages, especially in specialist areas such as Virtual Production, VFX, creative departments including art department, camera and costume.

“There is also a shortage of equipment hire such as lights and cameras and a general shortage of building supplies.”

FILM STUDIOS

u FARNBOROUGH FILM STUDIOS (STAGE FIFTY)

Stage Fifty has two 22,000-sq ft soundstages operational with Amazon Studios filming The Devil’s Hour and BBC/ Netflix creating Inside Man at the site.

LONGCROSS FILM STUDIOS

u SHINFIELD STUDIOS

u SHEPPERTON STUDIOS

A total of 14 new sound stages are under construction at the Pinewood-owned studios. Netflix plans to double the size of its production base at the Surrey facility while Amazon Prime recently agreed a long-term long lease on nine sound stages, workshops and offices.

u PINEWOOD STUDIOS

The Buckinghamshire studios were granted planning permission in April for Screen Hub UK which will create a £450 million expansion to its current site and include studio buildings, education and business growth hubs and the Pinewood Studios Experience.

The studio has also submitted a new planning application in July for an expanded £800 million scheme, building on the previous scheme, which will also deliver 20 sound stages with workshops and offices on 82 acres of land and includes a nature reserve.

The new scheme would bring the total number of purpose-built sound stages at Pinewood to 50.

u BRAY FILM STUDIOS

The Windsor studios, made famous by Hammer Films who shot Dracula at the site, announced plans at the end of 2021 to create nine new sound stages, four workshops, one rehearsal building and offices.

u WINNERSH FILM STUDIOS (STAGE FIFTY)

Winnersh currently has two sound stages operating with four more planned. The studio will also house the world’s largest fully encapsulated virtual production (VP) stage which will open this year.

u ASHFORD INTERNATIONAL STUDIOS

The new Kent studio is expected to open next year and will be operated by TIME + SPACE Studios. The £250 million film studio development, built on a former railway works, includes a 200,000 sq ft film studio complex alongside residential and leisure developments.

COLLABORATION NEEDED TO NAVIGATE FILM SKILLS SHORTAGE

Universities,

studios and industry need to join forces in titanic effort to keep talent pipeline running

The UK film industry is sailing slowly towards an iceberg and unless a new course is steered it is headed for delays in productions, rising costs or a loss of confidence in the sector.

A skills shortage of titanic proportions is heading towards the UK, with film and high-end television production in the UK expected to be worth £7.66 billion a year by 2025 according to research by ScreenSkills.

The study, supported by the British Film Institute (BFI), found that this growth will require the UK to find up to 20,770 additional full-time crew.

What, then, is being done to address this impending skills crisis?

The University of Reading and its Cine Valley development, with Shinfield Studios

Limited as the main tenant, is investing in its own facilities and, like its peers, is refocusing courses towards in-demand skills.

The University of Surrey has also invested £1.5 million in a custom-built studio to expand its recording studios for music and media students which will open before the end of the year.

The British Film Commission, which supports the production of international feature film and television in the UK, is investing £100,000 in training courses to increase access to skilled crew.

And Amazon has committed to creating 1,000 apprenticeships across the UK while Netflix operates a range of training schemes including the £1.2 million Grow Creative UK which will support 1,000 apprentices.

Edd Pickering, Head of Commercial & Development at the University of Reading, said: “If we want to make Cine Valley a success and benefit from its growth then we need to address the skills shortage.

“We hope that 16 and 17 year-olds will come to Reading because we have Cine Valley and as the school grows then the film industry will grow too.

“We very much hope that with Cine Valley and Shinfield Studios, our students will go into high skilled, high paying jobs, stay in the local area and develop the local economy.”

Susan Pratt, Programme Leader for Film Production and Broadcast Engineering at the University of Surrey, called for greater collaboration between the film industry and academic sector to keep the talent pipeline running.

The former BBC News Director said: “We have great connectivity with the broadcast industry as they know our students have strong technical skills and we have students at Disney, Sky and NEP.

“What I don’t have yet is perfect connectivity into the film industry. The industry has a shortage and needs to reach out to the courses with young graduates.

with training in drama prodcutions.. “Studios need to find a way to relate more to universities and take advantage of the excellent students that we are producing.”

The South East, however, is not coming from a standing start when it comes to film skills, having benefited from the BBC in London being a centre of excellence for training.

Susan said: “There are a lot of people in the South East who were trained at the BBC’s centre of excellence.

“A lot of people who did work for the BBC did live in the South East and would commute into Shepherd’s Bush.

“There are a great number of people in the area with a lot of expertise.”

The University of Surrey’s new studio complex will have facilities geared towards the university’s creative music technology and film production and broadcast engineering students.

It will feature a sound stage with acoustic walls and ceilings, lighting rig, TV gallery and sound mixing desk.

Susan said: “Our new studio complex is incredibly exciting and it has progressed very quickly.

“The flexibility of the space is going to be brilliant for students and for external productions.

“The sound stage will be able to teach all the skills within that area and get students accustomed to what they can expect within the real world.

“It will also work as a TV studio and with a purpose-built production gallery with professional vision mixer, set-ups for graphics and VT replay, as well as a vision engineering control room and sound mixing room.”

Susan says that many in the industry have been warning of the looming skills shortages for years and urged film studios to set up established and equitable routes for students to gain experience.

She said: “Production companies want people to come and work for free,

however you don’t get a wide range of people who can do that.

“It needs to be opened out to a more diverse group of people and they need to be paid.”

Crucial to easing the skills crunch and creating a sustainable film industry is increasing the number of people with tangible technical skills.

However soft skills that allow people to thrive in a film studio environment are also vital, said Susan.

“Young people see people on the TV and say they want to do this, however they don’t realise there are a wealth of jobs behind the scenes that can give them a great future and an exciting career.

“We teach them technical skills to help them problem solve and use their initiative.

“They need to know how to make things work and how to fix something on location.

“We also give our students the chance to put their skills into practice in a final year project so that they know the intensity required on a film set and how to behave.”

Susan points to an agreement struck between the University of Surrey and Black Hanger Studios as a model of how the industry could work with academic institutions in the future.

She said: “When they do their next in-house production our students will be given the opportunity to be runners in a paid capacity.

“More opportunities like that could help attract more youngsters into the industry.”

Edd echoed Susan’s belief in collaboration and said that as a collective, the region could achieve its full potential.

He said: “I can see that broad collaboration between universities and studios being mutually advantageous.

“If the sector is to reach its full potential, doubling up effort is not the way to do that. It will be done through increased specialisation.”

“People in production companies want people to come and work for free, however you don’t get a wide range of people who can do that.”

EAGLE LABS LANDS AT DISCOVERY PARK

In the Kentish countryside not far from Sandwich is Discovery Park, a 20-acre science and technology park, one of only seven Life Science Opportunity Zones in the UK.

This summer Barclays Eagle Labs announced it would be setting up shop at the park, connecting it to one of the largest co-working and incubator networks for start-ups and scale-ups in the UK.

We caught up with Jane Kennedy, Chief Business Officer at Discovery Park to find out more about what the Barclays Eagle Lab will bring.

Jane explained how Kent’s peripheral location led them to approach Barclays.

“We entered into discussions with Barclays Eagle Labs because we saw the strength of the network they are building. They currently have 27 physical locations, with six more in the pipeline. Being fairly on the periphery of the country, tapping into Barclays and the network they have brings a huge amount of connectivity.

“When I first came down, I was standing at the train station in St Pancras, and as you look out one door you can see the Francis Crick Institute, and then you look out the other door and see Google and Yahoo. Then you jump on the train and an hour and 15 minutes later you’re in the heart of a biotech cluster in one of the UK’s biggest science parks.

“That opportunity to create a knowledge exchange corridor between the Life Sciences and technology cluster we’ve got at Discovery Park and the knowledge exchange quarter in St Pancras is phenomenal.”

Jane also detailed the role Barclays Eagle Labs will play in the day-to-day operation of the park and what they offer the companies located there.

She said: “They’ll have a physical base at the park and we’ll have an ecosystem manager working out of that office to create co-working spaces where companies can come in and hot desk or use it as a springboard to test out Discovery Park to see if they like it before taking office space.”

People will be able to access Eagle Labs resources at Discovery Park and also

online with the Kent facility plugging into a wider national network.

“A lot of the programmes they run are online, even more so because of Covid. The main thing for us was building the network through Barclays so companies can come in and look at Discovery Park, where they can find collaborative partners and opportunities to work on projects in different sectors with Eagle Labs’ network of companies.

“They work with around 700 health tech companies UK-wide. So, it will be a physical space; it’s a virtual online community but the individuals within Barclays, such as the ecosystem managers and the leads of each of the tech verticals – HealthTech, EnergyTech and AgriTech – are very active. We also like to look at how they can bridge corporates and start-ups, so that start-ups can talk directly to potential customers or acquirers and, equally, corporates are able to access innovation in a way they wouldn’t be able to ordinarily.”

Barclays Eagle Labs provide support to start-up businesses, particularly those focused on technology and innovation. It also provides physical co-working space and offices across the UK, including Southampton and Oxford. It plans to open in Portsmouth soon.

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