The pandemic powerfully demonstrated to all of us, incuding those who shamefully abandoned science the second we left school, the immense importance of the life sciences sector to the UK’s health, security and economy.
Thanks to Covid-19, we all became armchair experts on the efficacies, or otherwise, of the various vaccines and celebrated the achievements of scientists such as Dame Sarah Gilbert, the Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, and her team who worked around the clock to bring forward what has become known as the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
The pandemic also demonstrated the huge value of deploying health data in saving lives. The UK was the first country in the world to discover a different use for dexamethasone – a low-cost drug. The 20-year old steroid, first used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, was found to reduce the risk of mortality in hospitalised Covid-19 patients requiring oxygen or ventilation by up to 35 per cent.
This was healthcare in action. As a result, over the last two years there has been a huge uptick in private and public investment in our life sciences sector. Foreign direct investment into the sector has also grown, and in 2020 was £898 million.
The UK life sciences sector generated almost £81 billion in annual turnover in 2019, even before anyone had heard of Covid, and employed more than a quarter of a million people across the country.
In this issue (on pages 76-103) we celebrate 100 of the region’s most exciting companies – and these are just the tip of the iceberg, there are thousands of life sciences companies across the UK all undertaking work which could, in the future, save your life, my life and millions of others. We’ve all got a
vested interest in helping them succeed. Many are spin-outs and start-ups, and they will all need investment to achieve their potential.
This issue’s front-cover feature (on pages 11-19) reveals how and where any young company can the raise funds to invest and grow. We analyse the benefits of each type of investment and talk to an expert on how company founders can best ready themselves and their businesses for growth.
Where will that growth come from? It depends on what market a company is operating in. Are you targeting local, regional, national or global growth? Who can help? Our feature (on pages 48-55) looks at how small businesses can tap into the regional business support landscape.
We can’t not mention the war in Ukraine and all of us working at Business & Innovation Magazine are appalled at the on-going tragic situation. It’s difficult to
know what we, as a publishing business with no direct links to the region, can do to help. But we clearly cannot stay silent. At the very least, publicly acknowledging the situation is important.
Nationally, the UK’s defence sector –much of which is based in our region, is helping the Ukrainian forces defend their country. This country’s defence industry is one of the best in the world and has a long history of innovation.
The UK government is playing its part in offering significant financial support. This is delivering anti-tank missiles and air defence systems, as well as non-lethal aid like helmets, body armour and night vision goggles. In total it’s likely that UK military and humanitarian support for Ukraine has already surpassed a billion pounds.
The events unfolding in Ukraine show that no country, not even the United Kingdom, can take our democratic freedom for granted.
Nicky Godding Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher
Kirsty Muir Commercial Director and Co-Publisher
A Cheltenham product design agency has developed the UK’s first EV charger to help elderly and disabled drivers –which it says is a better design all round.
Andrew Aylesbury, Director of Duku, said: “Our research highlighted problems people were having, including the need to use two hands and reach past collision barriers. Now everything’s touchless and lightweight. It’s a better charging point for everyone – regardless of disability.”
The design by Duku supports British Standards Institution standards and includes patented features such as a motorised cable drum to automatically coil and uncoil the cable using plugmounted buttons.
A crash-resistant base protects the unit from damage without the need for obstructive collision barriers.
After winning funding last July from the government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK, the UK’s
innovation agency which supports organisations making new products and services, Duku took just eight months to create the new charger.
Final-stage development is now under way and Duku is looking to take its charger into production.
An online retailer selling British-made products is set for significant growth.
Sir Gordon Bennett was established by Stratford-upon-Avon based entrepreneurs Dan Colagiovanni and Neil Elliot in 2017 as a platform for highquality British products. It now offers more than 90 brands online selling hundreds of products and aims to have 200 brands by December.
Dan said: “Neil and I had been discussing starting a business for some time. Neil has a strong background in advertising and that was key to us building a memorable brand.
“We settled on the idea of really celebrating British manufacturing
and craftsmanship. It’s not in any way jingoistic or anti-overseas-products, but recognition that when you go abroad, people have a real respect for high-quality British-made goods.
“On top of that, we wanted to get back to some of the principles that guided our grandparents where they would make a sustainable choice based on
quality not price. We could help the move away from disposable retail that has become the norm in recent years.
“Our ambition is to open physical stores because many of the things we sell are very tactile and we want customers to be able to touch and feel them.”
The company was supported by the Business Ready programme run out of the University of Warwick’s Science Park.
Dan added: “Gaynor Matthews from Business Ready has been hugely supportive. She has also got a lot of contacts in this sector too, which has been a big help.”
A transport and logistics software development company celebrated 40 years in business by inviting the local MP over to visit its new Bromsgrove offices.
Bromgrove MP Sajid Javid took time out of his national responsibilities as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to visit constituency company Vigo Software.
The company helps more than 5,500 users manage their fleets and customers, and has invested £500,000 in relocating to Topaz Business Park for its rapidly expanding team.
Vigo has taken on 12 new people and grown revenues 14 per cent over the past year and expects sales to smash through the £4 million mark.
Vigo Software Managing Director, John Vickers, said: “Our old offices in barn conversions were starting to hamper team collaboration. To build exciting new products and solve problems faster we needed a creative space.”
Vigo Software has specialised in the logistics software market for 40 years, designing and deploying software and technology for the logistics, haulage, warehouse and pallet network markets.
Sajid Javid, said: “Local businesses, such as Vigo, are a powerful driver of innovation and employment. I wish them the best in their new home.”
A Bristol-based bike retailer determined to meet the growing demand for e-bike activities has launched a £625,000 bond offer on the Triodos Crowdfunding platform.
Temple Cycles designs and builds highquality, sustainable bicycles from its Bristol workshop, offering bikes made for urban commuting to multi-terrain adventures.
Formed in 2014, it now has more than 15,000 customers across 30 countries.
Temple Cycles produces bikes to last. Its skilled team of bike builders create bikes that benefit from a lifetime frame warranty that are easy to fix and maintain.
The company uses traditional steel rather than more conventional materials such as carbon fibre, which are harder to recycle, have a short product life cycle, and a high carbon footprint. The steel comes from 70 per cent recycled sources and can easily be recycled at the end of its life.
The growth at Temple Cycles has been in part driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, with an extra one million extra adults starting cycling in 2020.
Temple Cycles entered the e-bike market in 2021 and the bond proceeds will allow the company to refine and develop its range of e-bikes to complement its range of conventional bikes.
Researchers have finally sequenced the entire human genome and uncovered epigenetic patterns, 30 years after the mission first began.
In a paper published in the journal Science the group of researchers, who make up the telomere-to-telomere consortium (a community-based effort to generate the first complete assembly of a human genome,) published the first truly complete 3.055 billion base pair sequence of a human genome.
Technological barriers have previously meant that eight per cent of the genome remained inaccessible. But now, using sequencing technology from Oxford Nanopore and others, this has finally been overcome.
Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, said: “The
mission to sequence the whole human genome started more than 30 years ago and we are delighted to see the telomere-to-telomere consortium has now finished the first truly complete, more than three billion base pair, sequence.
“Oxford Nanopore’s high accuracy and ultra-long sequencing capabilities have finally removed technological barriers and enabled the final eight per cent of the genome to be revealed.
“We congratulate all the fantastic scientists that have contributed to this ground-breaking project.”
Understanding the human genomes can help scientists in their pursuit to identify the cause of genetic diseases.
Some rare diseases are caused by as little as a single change (variant), like a spelling mistake, in someone’s DNA. Looking at the genome of a person affected by a rare disease can help find which DNA changes might be causing the problem.
Epigenetics is the study of how behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way a person’s genes work.
There are now 34 million pets in the UK including 12 million cats, 12 million dogs, more than three million small mammals three million birds and 1.5 million reptiles. There are also five million aquaria. This equates to 17 million households responsible for a pet’s welfare.
And UK vets are keen to take advantage of the boom. The innovative practice Vet’s Klinic is opening its second business after signing a 10-year deal for a unit in Reading.
The new practice is on Headley Road East, Woodley and the 7,024 sq ft unit will include four consultation rooms, an operating room, digital X-ray, ultrasound, laboratory, dental suite and advanced anaesthetic monitoring. It will also include a cattery and isolation cattery, kennels and isolation kennels, waiting rooms and dispensary.
Vet’s Klinic is part of Swindon-based Pets’ Kitchen which also owns the Vet’s Kitchen brand of pet food.
“Oxford Nanopore’s high accuracy and ultra-long sequencing capabilities have finally removed technological barriers ...”
We weren’t entirely confident of the webinar’s success, but if you don’t try, you don’t know. I’ve always said that I’d rather fall on my face moving forward than standing still! However, doubts were unfounded, and our high-profile guest attracted a large audience of enthusiastic individuals.
Businesses that have a focus on community and corporate responsibility are fast becoming the consumers’ choice.
It may seem like a long time ago for some of us but starting out in the world of work can be tough. Trying to find that dream job, or even that first “foot in the door”, of an industry or company that you have wanted to work in can be a huge challenge.
For us at RE and Safehands Recruitment we aren’t your usual recruitment company. We see ourselves as part of the communities that we work in and saw an opportunity to help those in education with some of those difficult steps to finding their way into the world of work.
On 22 March we hosted a free webinar specifically targeted at people aged 18 – 24 years old. The webinar was designed to equip them with tools to make their CVs stand out and to give them key tips on how to handle an interview.
To help draw a crowd we looked for someone who was well known for dissecting CVs and putting candidates through their paces during interviews.
If you have seen BBC1’s “The Apprentice” then Claudine Collins needs no introduction. She has been involved in the final interview stage of the show since 2013.
We wanted those that would benefit most from these tips to get a chance to be part of the webinar. As a nationwide multisector recruitment company, we have a broad brush of links not just with businesses in the areas we serve but also with colleges, universities, and higher education centres. We worked with these organisations to target those still in studies or coming towards the end of a course and were delighted with the uptake.
The feedback from the webinar was overwhelmingly positive and I managed to spot comments like “absolutely invaluable”, “incredibly useful” and “amazing session” appearing in the chat as we were wrapping up. It made us all proud of what we had delivered and the investment we had made in the communities that we support.
The feedback from the webinar was overwhelmingly positive and I managed to spot comments like “absolutely invaluable”, “incredibly useful” and “amazing session” appearing in the chat as we were wrapping up.
Welcome to a completely different recruitment experience
In recruitment, I have previously talked about how candidates are now the ones holding more of the power. Alongside the obvious like salary and benefits, candidates are more likely to want to work with organisations that give back to their communities. In short, consumers and potential employees recognise and appreciate when we give back, and they are likely to direct their business to or choose to work with those who do.
If you want something different, you must do something different, and we pride ourselves on being brave, taking chances and thinking outside the box. In recruitment you need to use innovative approaches to reach a variety of audiences and cater for their varying needs; one size does not fit all.
If you’re looking for a completely different recruitment experience where you can expect more support, accountability, innovation, and personal service, then do get in touch for a chat.
Where can a business go for investment?
It depends on what you want it for, how cash-rich the business already is and how much equity, if any, you’re prepared to give away.
We analyse the benefits of each type of investment and talk to an expert on how companies can ready themselves for growth.
There was a surge in equity investment into smaller UK businesses last year, according to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets 2021/22 report.
A total of £14 billion was invested during the first three quarters of 2021, a 130 per cent increase on the £6.1 billion invested over the first three quarters of 2020. With one quarter still to go when the report was published, investment had already exceeded the £8.7 billion
invested in the whole of 2020.
The report suggests there could be continued economic recovery throughout 2022, with strong demand expected for investment to fuel business growth.
Although this year may still provide a challenging environment for some businesses, many others report that they are seeking to pivot towards growth, improve productivity and transition to a net zero economy.
More than four in 10 businesses in the UK were using external finance in 2021 but a lack of local investors means economic potential continues to be wasted across the UK’s regions and nations, according to the British Business Bank.
London, the South-East, North-West and
East of England accounted for 86 per cent of equity investment and 69 per cent of private debt investment despite hosting just 55 per cent of UK businesses.
The UK’s uneven distribution of growth finance is not driven by a lack of high growth potential business in certain areas of the country but by the presence of local investors.
Investors are far more likely to invest in businesses close to their office – in 82 per cent of equity investment stakes between 2011 and 2020, the investor and company were within two hours of each other; 61 per cent were within one hour of each other.
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO of British Business Bank, said: “The lower flows of finance in certain regions reflect a population of businesses operating with fewer choices. These gaps in growth finance are undoubtedly holding back ambitious entrepreneurs and lead to wasted economic potential.
From private equity to venture capital, angel investment to crowdfunding, bank loans, debt financing, government grants to the more recent revenuebased funding models – there are more ways than ever for businesses to attract investment
Is the founder the right person to grow their business?
Perhaps? Or perhaps not. A founder may have a great idea, and while they might have the enthusiasm to turn it into a business, it doesn’t mean they’ve got the skills to make it successful.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t learn argues David Mott, Founder Partner at one of the region’s most successful venture capital companies.
Oxford Capital invests in seed stage and Series A companies, and it believes in backing the people who’ve started a business, not edging them to the periphery and replacing them with an experienced executive team (which is more a trait of private equity investors).
Oxford Capital’s philosophy is all around backing founders because it makes financial sense to do so.
Good investors invest in people often as much as the ideas they’ve brought forward. Avid viewers of the BBC Dragon’s Den may have heard Peter Jones mutter to Deborah Meaden: “I’m not sure about their product, but I like them,” before offering to invest.
David explained: “In our experience, out of the 100 or so companies we’ve backed over the years, those that still have the founders in a leadership role at the point of exit have delivered a 51 per cent greater return than those where the founder has been replaced.
“We are investment managers. Our responsibility is to deliver returns and we see a clear correlation between outperformance and founder leadership.”
There is also some anecdotal evidence within Oxford Capital’s investments that co-founders seem to be outperforming solo founders – although that might not be the case for more than two founders.
Oxford Capital has looked in depth at why founders stay or leave a business.
David said: “We asked, is it because they don’t understand business, or it’s just too much of a struggle for them? Is it because they think their new investors don’t like them or rate their abilities?”
And the company applies this thinking on each investment. “We are there to back
the founders, and we tell them that at the beginning.
“We want them to be the best possible leaders and we have some honest conversations around that.
“From the beginning of our first investment we help founders prepare themselves to last longer on the journey and be there at the end.
“Perhaps they have fantastic commercial skills which aren’t matched by their knowledge of finance. In that instance we’d suggest a sensible early senior hire would be a good financial director. That will enable a founder to focus on their core strengths.
“It may be that we need to put a line in the budget to allow the founder to go off to business school for three months and learn specific skills. Or perhaps they need a mentor – an independent non-executive or chair. It could be someone who’s been there and done it before or has other industry relevant experience.
“Everyone who leads a business needs a pretty thick skin at times, so we need to ensure there’s someone on the board who can support them through these challenges,” he added.
It’s a natural human fear to relinquish control of a board when a founder takes on a chair or non-executive directors. “But in experience it’s almost always a positive decision,” said David.
When Oxford Capital makes its investment it’s often the first time its target company has had external investors.
And the company also always co-invests with other venture capital companies or angel investors. This means that the founder has a range of experience and knowledge available to them, as one or two of the co-investors will also have a seat on the board.
“We have found that the best company boards are those who set a clear culture early on,” David said. “We also ask about their ESG (environmental, social and governance) impact.
“It’s all about trying to set the right foundations so that a few years down the line, when the company is bigger and has more investors, it has built on those foundations and is a well-run, wellgoverned, impactful business.”
A common failure point for founders is burnout. Starting a company is tough. It takes a long time and there are ups and downs along the way. There are always going to be challenges – from losing a major customer, a
deal being delayed or cash getting tight. All these have a stress impact.
Oxford Capital thinks of itself as a mindful venture capital investor, and part of that is appreciating and understanding a founder’s mental health and resilience requirements.
An obvious peak stress point is the worry about running out of money. Accepting that, Oxford Capital funds businesses for 18 months or two years, not a just year.
“Most young companies are chasing to reach a milestone,” said David. “Perhaps that will be to prove a product, close a deal, or get to a certain turnover.
“Inevitably delays will push up against their cash reserves. If we offer 18 months of funding, there is some wriggle room
for them to still meet the outcomes they’d planned in their one-year business plan, allowing for slippage.”
Ultimately, founders come in all shapes and sizes and have widely differing personalities. But David Mott says that helping a founder recognise their abilities, as well as the gaps in their professional knowledge will add to their skills, and external experience can plug the gap.
And with such self-awareness, success is more likely to follow.
“Founders almost inevitably show grit, determination and a never-give-up attitude,” said David. “Yes, you can get it with professional management, but in our experience it’s the businesses which enjoy their founder’s continuing commitment that deliver the best results for everyone concerned.”
“We are investment managers. Our responsibility is to deliver returns and we see a clear correlation between outperformance and founder leadership”
A capital sum is borrowed from a bank, or another lender and the amount borrowed is paid back in full, with interest, over a period of time.
This can be through a loan, or (generally more expensive) an overdraft.
There are additional forms of debt finance. Two of the most widely-adopted are finance secured on assets and factoring.
Asset finance (leasing or hire purchase) can be ideal for businesses seeking help to buy expensive assets, without using funds earmarked for cash flow.
Factoring turns invoices into working capital. A business sells its invoices to a third party (a factoring company) at a discount. Invoice factoring can be provided by independent finance providers, or by banks.
Capital generally invested into promising start-ups or small businesses in exchange for equity. Funding such as this usually comes from wealthy investors, investment banks or other financial institutions looking for opportunities to support young companies in
the hope that early investment will help them grow faster, making money for the investor and founders faster. The financial investment may come with managerial or technical support.
Venture capitalists will often invest in a number of small companies taking around 50 per cent equity in the business. By doing this they spread their risk, and also allow the business founders to retain equity in the business so that its success will also deliver for them as well as their investors.
Oxford not only attracted the most venture capital funding of any region outside London in 2021, but the city raised more than all the other regions combined.
Using data from Dealroom and job search engine Adzuna, the new Digital Economy Council Levelling Up Power Tech League reveals that between January and November, Oxford-based firms attracted £1.3 billion in funding. By comparison, all the other regions analysed – including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – raised a combined total of £1.275 billion.
Oxford’s impressive figure was driven by a number of high-profile, high-value deals, including the £396 million raised by AI drug discovery Exscientia and £127 million raised by biotech company Vaccitech which helped create the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
A relatively new form of funding. This is a way for young companies to secure financing without giving up equity or having the burden of inflexible debt repayment conditions.
The money is repaid as a percentage of future revenues, which means that if sales struggle, the company will have more time to pay. If not, the debt can be repaid more quickly.
This type of financing is different to debt financing because interest is not paid on an outstanding amount and there are no fixed payments.
Repayments are directly proportional to how well the firm is doing. This is because payments vary based on the level of the business’s income. If sales fall off in one month, an investor will see their royalty payment reduced. Likewise, if the sales in the following month increase, payments to the investor for that month will also increase.
Similar to, but not to be confused with venture capital.
Private equity investors take shares in a business. Like venture capital, the investors are generally high net worth individuals, or large institutional investors, such as pension funds or companies acting on their behalf. The goal of private equity investors is generally to take control of the whole business and so they usually invest in mature or proven businesses which the investors feel have fundamentally good products or services but have unrealised potential because of poor management or other inefficiencies.
Manufacturers are turning their attention to private equity investment as the sector makes a strong post-pandemic recovery and sets its sights on growth.
According to research by the manufacturers organisation Make UK and business advisory firm BDO, a third of manufacturers are considering private equity investment to help fund the growth of their business.
Seventy per cent of respondents said their company had a good understanding of how private equity works – a jump of 10 per cent compared to 2019 when respondents were asked a similar question – with manufacturers increasingly realising the broader benefits private equity investment can bring to their business.
While 45 per cent believe private equity would be more attractive if investors had longer-term investment intentions, just over half agree that such investors bring much more to the table than an injection of money, saying they would also benefit from the additional skills, expertise and credibility that such investment brings.
BDO says the figures demonstrate the appetite for growth among UK manufacturers.
High net worth individuals willing to invest their own funds.
Angel investors seek to share in successful growth and have a return on their investment. However, angel investing is generally regarded as “patient capital” (an investment made for the longer term) and they may not see an exit or a return on their investment for up to eight to 10 years. While business angels can invest on their own, more frequently investment is made alongside other angel investors through syndication. This enables them to pool funds and share the risks.
There is a regulatory framework for angel investing that both protects the angel and the entrepreneurs.
Before receiving business plans or beginning to make angel investments, an angel investor must self-certify as either a High Net Worth or Sophisticated Investor.
A certified high net worth individual must
have a net income in excess of £100,000 or net assets in excess of £250,000 over and above their pension fund assets and private residence.
A sophisticated investor must have either been a director of a company turning over at least £1 million within the last two years, have made more than one investment in an unlisted company in the last two years, be a member of a network or syndicate of business angels for at least six months or have worked in the past two years professionally in the private equity sector or in the provision of finance for small and medium enterprises.
The government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) give angels generous tax breaks. By making investing less risky for investors, the schemes help businesses grow.
Under EIS, angels cannot take more than a 30 per cent share of a business, which makes sure that entrepreneurs stay incentivised.
In March Bristol-based agri-tech start-up Glaia secured £1 million of investment from Green Angel Syndicate, the UK’s largest network of specialist investors fighting climate change.
Glaia, which was founded in 2019 by two former University of Bristol scientists,
Dr David Benito and Dr Imke Sittel, has discovered how to supercharge crop growth without increasing greenhouse gases, using ground-breaking, carbonbased technology that reduces farming’s climate footprint.
The investment will allow the company to commercialise their game-changing carbon-based technology, the ‘sugar dots’, which reduces emissions from crops by 30 per cent when applied to the plants.
Grants from government are often difficult to find and sector specific. Application forms are also often time-consuming to complete. Try contacting your local Growth Hub where advisers (sometimes called navigators) should be able to point a business in the right direction. You can also contact the government’s innovation agency Innovate UK which operates many funding schemes.
The value of grants varies greatly but can be between £1,000 to £100,000 for small or medium-sized businesses, or much larger for the high growth businesses that the government wants to encourage.
Oxford University bioscience spin-out HydRegen, which enables sustainable chemical manufacturing, has received £385,000 in new funding from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund alongside private investors, to work in collaboration with pharmaceutical and chemical companies that want to reduce their costs and environmental impact.
Development of greener and less wasteful processes is now a priority for many companies who are under increasing regulatory, policy and financial pressures to improve their sustainability. The newly raised funds will enable HydRegen to invest in the people and resources required to develop and scale up its platform and subsequent implementation into new chemical processes.
Raising capital through collective funding of individual investors. These can be friends and family or, increasingly, amateur investors or individuals seeking opportunities to invest their money via online or social media platforms.
Crowdfunding platforms offer a public arena to showcase a business’s product or service. There are different sorts of crowdfunding
websites, including rewards-based where the investee offers their product or service as a reward, equity-based where the investee gives up a portion of the business to the investor, or donation-based – often used for social enterprises or community interest companies.
Gloucester Brewery raised more than £531,00 in a crowdfunding campaign to help realise expansion plans. The Gloucester Docks brewery is using the money to fund further beer and gin production, increase its sustainability and develop its Warehouse Four brewing space and taproom.
There are also plans for more bars with the brewery setting its sights on Cheltenham and Bristol as new locations.
Managing Director Jared Brown said: “We were overwhelmed with the level of support shown to the brewery since we launched the crowdfunding campaign.
“Every single one of the 860 pledges whether it is £10 or £10,000 will make a difference to our future success and we are immensely grateful.”
Peer-to-peer lending matches up potential investors with borrowers, who could be individuals or businesses.
They appeal to investors who are willing to take on more risk with their cash for higher interest rates offered than typical savings accounts.
Retail investors access an online platform to provide loans to consumers or small business borrowers. These platforms facilitate the lending, undertake credit assessments and other risk management, but do not act as a counter-party to the loan, and contracts are direct between the investor and the borrower.
In 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority imposed stricter rules for peer-to-peer platforms to protect less experienced investors. These included the introduction of a requirement that platforms assess investors’ knowledge and experience of peer-to-peer investments where no advice has been given to them.
A bakery which supplies M&S and Pret A Manger is moving to a new site at Furlough Park in Cheltenham after securing £1.5 million funding via NatWest.
The cash injection follows a period of ‘significant growth’ for the Four Anjels bakery after it secured a contract with M&S Café for the supply of baked goods in 2020.
The funding will enable fit-out works to create a new factory and bakery. Four Anjels said it intends to increase its headcount to 120 over the next year. Plans are in place for a purpose-built bakery pod, also funded by NatWest, to be installed in the new factory to develop new lines. At present the company produces approximately 20 product lines with an average output of 700,000 portions per month.
Bristol-headquartered light commercial vehicle broker Global Vans has secured investment from H2 Equity Partners as part of its growth plans.
Global Vans is one of the largest procurers of light commercial vehicles in the UK. The company organises light commercial vehicles and a suitable finance solution for small and medium-sized businesses.
Following H2’s investment, its founders, Andrew Hurst and Jonathan Lewis, will stay and work with H2 to deliver Global Vans’ ambitious growth strategy.
Coventry Engineering secured a £400,000 loan to create seven new jobs in the next three years and invest in new equipment to enable 24/7 production.
The engineering company secured the funding from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.
It will enable the company to increase the manufacturing of its precision static and driven spindle tooling, which is used in some of the world’s most demanding and high-profile industries including the medical and aerospace sectors.
Andrew Flynn, Managing Director of Coventry Engineering, said: “We are proud to make our products using both traditional and modern manufacturing techniques. This funding will enable us to expand the modern end of our range with cutting-edge solutions, so that we can better serve our customers and continue to innovate and grow as a business.”
The Foresight Williams Technology Fund, a joint venture between investor The Foresight Group and Wantage-based Williams Advanced Engineering, has made a £2.5 million growth capital investment into Kognitiv Spark, which has opened a UK office at at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.
Canada-headquartered Kognitiv Spark is commercialising software that provides 3D data to support field service workers in remote locations.
Kognitiv Spark’s leading product, RemoteSpark, is an augmented reality software package, which enables the sharing of complex and critical data between a desk-based expert and a fieldbased worker.
The growth capital will enable the company to expand into new industries and geographies via new sales and marketing teams in the US and UK and support the ongoing development of further products.
Smaller businesses across the West Midlands are showing a renewed appetite for growth according to figures revealed by the British Business Bank’s eighth annual Small Business Finance Market Report 2021/22.
Equity investment in West Midlands’ smaller businesses reached £277 million by the end of 2021’s third quarter across 46 deals.
This was an 18 per cent rise on the number of equity deals completed in the same period in 2020, however the region experienced a 25 per cent drop in investment value.
Nationally, equity investment in smaller businesses surged in 2021, with figures on course to double.
Mergers and acquisitions surged at the beginning of 2021 as businesses pushed forward with strategic transactions put on hold when the pandemic first hit.
According to the latest UK M&A Review by Experian Business Research, the UK saw an unprecedented level of deal making in the first quarter of 2021. However, transaction volumes settled down to a more moderate level over the rest of the year.
The 6,917 deals involving a UK company in 2021 represented a 14.3 per cent upturn on the 6,053 transactions announced the previous year, with close to every region of the country returning double digit year on year growth.
There was a 27 per cent increase in the number of corporate acquisitions and a 51 per cent upturn in buy-out volume year on year.
According to the Experian report, headline deals involving companies across our region include Coventry aerospace group Meggitt which is in the process of being
acquired by US-based Parker Hannifin Corp in a £6.3 billion deal. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Another high-profile sale was of Chippenham-based inhaler manufacturer Vectura to tobacco company Philip Morris for £1.1 billion last September, following a lengthy battle with private equity giant Carlyle. The sale to Philip Morris angered some health groups such as Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation which challenged whether a tobacco group should own a company that treats the respiratory illnesses cigarettes cause.
In March last year, National Grid acquired the Bristol-based Western Power Distribution in a £7.8 billion deal.
Alongside the number of deals, the professionals enjoyed a successful year. At the top of the 2021 legal advisory table, Midlands-based law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys provided advice on a total of 191 qualifying transactions. Cheltenhambased accountants Hazlewoods came in at
number five of the financial adviser ratings, with 126 qualifying transactions.
Private equity bids for UK companies soared in 2021, with the number of private equity-backed buy-outs reaching 520, up from 340 in 2020 and representing by some way the busiest year for the industry, according to Experian’s records.
Private equity houses are sitting on unprecedented levels of capital.
Management teams also seem to be more receptive to private equity approaches than might have been the case in the past. Widening the scope to include more early-stage growth investments as well as outright buy-outs, the Business Growth Fund was the UK’s leading investor by transaction volume, completing 80 transactions in 2021, followed by Octopus (40 deals) and LDC (38).
Mergers and acquisition surged last year, facilitated by the region’s professional services companiesVantage Towers spun out from Newbury-based Vodafone for around £2.4 billion
Key deals in the Midlands in 2021 included the acquisition of Coventry aerospace group Meggitt by US-based Parker Hannifin Corp in a £6.3 billion deal, expected to complete later this year, and German asset management company Aurelius acquiring another Coventry company – healthcare provider McKesson UK for £477 million.
Key deals in the South East in 2021 include the takeover of Reading-based Dialog Semiconductors by the Japanese Renesas Electronics Corporation for £4.3 billion and the spin-out of Vantage Towers from Newbury-based Vodafone for around £2.4 billion. Vantage is now listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Key deals in the South West in 2021 included National Grid acquiring the Bristolbased Western Power Distribution in a £7.8 billion deal and Vertical Aerospace, the Bristol aerospace company pioneering zero-emissions aviation, floating on the New York Stock Exchange through a business combination with Broadstone Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company. Chippenham-based inhaler manufacturer Vectura sold to tobacco company Philip Morris for £1.1 billion and Exeter water company, Pennon Group plc, bought Bristol Water for £425 million.
1 Harrison Clark Rickerbys
2 Ashfords
3 Burgess Salmon
4 TLT
5 Roxburgh Milkins
6 Gateley
7 Foot Anstey
8 Knights
9 CMS
10 DLA Piper
1 BDO
2 PKF Francis Clark
3 Hazlewoods
4 K3 Capital Group
5 Grant Thornton
6 RSM
7 Bishop Fleming
9 Azets
When the editor of Business & Innovation Magazine asked me to write a piece on which companies are driving Gloucestershire’s economy – both large and small – I was pushed to make a choice.
Here in Gloucestershire where I edited newspapers for 12 years, there is a great array of diverse businesses that both make you proud and drive our economy.
My choices have several key threads running through them, and in particular innovation, skills, leadership and heritage.
Building contractors EG Carter & Co Ltd of Gloucester are one of our smaller companies with a great heritage and leadership.
They were founded by Edward George Carter in 1945. He was a man of great principles – a master craftsman – who was horrified if anyone criticised his workmanship, or service.
And legend has it that he would rip up an invoice and refuse to accept payment should anyone have the temerity to question his standards.
I asked Michael Carter, 63, now chairman of the company how they have been able to maintain their core values in such a volatile industry as we have seen recently with the
collapse of building companies like Midas.
“I think it’s mainly because of the family involvement. Family members running the brand provides that consistency that allows us to maintain that level of commitment.
“Without wishing to appear boastful, we don’t have debt and we don’t have borrowing. We are the custodians of the business and remain truly independent to make the right choices for our company.”
Not a bit Michael. He is an understated man who has always supported apprentices and has people on his board who started out as management trainees.
The fourth generation are now maturing within the business: Joshua 30, Sam, 28 and Gavin Carter, 27.
And in chairman Michael’s words: “We endeavour to hold fast to our principles and set a vision to reach our 100th anniversary in 2045 with the ownership and our values intact.”
Last year EG Carter turned over £80 million with 200 employees, a firm whose name in the county is synonymous with quality service.
At the other end of the scale is Renishaw, Gloucestershire’s largest private company
with 2,460 employees in the county and just over 5,000 in total worldwide.
But Renishaw’s values are very much deep rooted like those of EG Carter.
Renishaw’s watchword is innovation and it’s a world leader in specialist engineering and manufacturing.
Something like 95 per cent of its production is exported and profits for the last year were £139.4 million.
At the age of 82, its chairman Sir David McMurtry is still very enthusiastic and working four days a week from its headquarters at Wotton-under-Edge.
The business started in the home of his friend and joint founder John Deer — the garage was their workshop and the back office was the dining room table.
Sir David and John met at Rolls Royce and decided to set up their own company. Renishaw Electrical was then born on April 4, 1973.
Sir David had worked on the Olympus engines for Concorde and invented the touch trigger measuring probe which is now used worldwide.
Renishaw is a company set just below
Ian Mean, Vice-Chair of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, director of Business West and former newspaper editor offers his view
public consciousness so most of the public do not know them.
They don’t have a consumer brand but Renishaw’s innovation and engineering skills actually power a lot of world-leading products.
The same is true for many of our engineering and specialist manufacturing companies in Gloucestershire where these skills are embedded in the county’s DNA.
Remember it was from Gloucestershire that Sir Frank Whittle developed the first jet engine and it was from here that it first flew.
This is the age of the engineer and there are few companies in Gloucestershire more representative of that talent than Renishaw— led by a former apprentice machinist and fitter.
Like Michael Carter at EG Carter, Sir David is an understated man. But he is a true leader who cares about his people.
Some years ago, I attended a Stroud District Council meeting where the subject of housing for young people was being discussed. Unbeknown to me, he was there too as he was concerned about his talented young engineers having affordable homes.
Renishaw believes in young people. The
company took on its first apprentice in 1979 and this year is recruiting 80 of them.
Moog at Tewkesbury, like Renishaw, is a world leader.
It is their servo valves – the founding product of the company – which are used by the world’s aerospace engine manufacturers like Rolls Royce.
Like Renishaw, this is a real powerhouse of a company which is making huge investment into Tewkesbury where it has operated for more than 5O years.
It is currently investing £40 million into a new aerospace manufacturing and design facility which will open next year.
The American headquarters of Moog in New York State has huge confidence in the
engineering expertise of the Tewkesbury workforce to make this sort of investment.
There are similarities here with Renishaw in that Moog is a great employer and many of the staff stay there all their working lives.
And like Renishaw, their name is very much under the radar but their products keep the world’s aircraft flying.
I hope my choice of companies in a small way illustrates the strength of skills among the Gloucestershire workforce.
Yes, this is a predominantly rural county, but specialist engineering and manufacturing is still the biggest sector driving its economy.
Our challenge must be to keep developing these skills among our young people to encourage them to stay in Gloucestershire.
For hackers and cybercriminals, opportunities have never been greater. With an increase in the usage of digital services, the number of public IP addresses continually growing and a staggering amount of data generated across the globe every day, there is a multitude of vulnerabilities which can be taken advantage of. It means the likelihood of your business and extended supply chains being hacked is higher than ever.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has estimated that cyber-attacks cost UK business £34 billion each year. For SMEs through to large organisations, the challenge is complex, and the threat of a cyber-attack is a serious one. Establishing greater cyber resilience and being on the front foot is critical, as a business is certainly only as strong as its weakest link.
If you think your cyber resilience and cyber hygiene are at the right level, you may need to think again. Cyber threats evolve daily, like a virus, finding new weaknesses and ways of hitting your business; so policies and procedures and supply chain controls need to be updated constantly. The impact of a hack can be severe, from reputational damage to the complete crippling of all operations, as well as the potential for corporate and personal fines at board level, so it’s critical that you’re on the front foot.
IT, technology and legal teams often work in silos rather than collaboratively, which can leave critical gaps in an organisation’s cyber defence strategy. The cost of sourcing upto-the-minute, expert advice in this area can
The Technology division at BPE has partnered with Cheltenham-based Bamboo Technology Group for an innovative service which meets this challenge headon, following the UK Government and NCSC guidelines as best practice. Digital Assurance as a Service is a combined tech and legal service, designed to make your organisation digitally-fit and augments its resilience against diverse or blunt threats And,crucially, it helps it stay that way
The technology element of the service uses an automated diagnostic tool to carry out an audit, conduct threat and vulnerability assessments and identify any weaknesses. It independently certifies and verifies an organisation’s digital status, which can also open the door to new business opportunities.
A full governance review ensures that the right roles and responsibilities have been allocated; and that suitable policies, procedures, training and validation are in place. Wargaming and simulations enable a much faster, more effective response across the whole team in the event of a real hack, all documented in the ‘Digital Response Playbook’. This isn’t a box-ticking exercise:
it actively helps your organisation to meet cyber threats in the most proactive way possible.
The legal aspect of cyber security is also made watertight. Contracts are reviewed and upgraded across the entire supply chain, and evidence logs provide tangible proof that all controls, processes and contracts are fit for purpose and fully up-to-date.
Digital Assurance offers organisations a smart combination of integrated technology and legal expertise in one place. It puts organisations on the front foot in a constantly evolving digital landscape, and helps to reduce the operational impact, reputational risk, potential fines and the risk of litigation. Plus, with greater digital resilience there are potential savings to be made on insurance.
If you would like to know more about Digital Assurance as a Service, email BPE Solicitors at digitalassurance@bpe.co.uk or call 01242 501903 or email Bamboo Technology Group at da@bamboo.tech
on Oscar and BAFTA award-winning visual effects for Hollywood blockbusters, Gravity and Blade Runner 2049.
Driven by her own difficulties with breastfeeding, she collaborated with film industry colleagues and infant feeding, maternal health and AI experts to develop the technology behind LatchAid.
“I was determined to breastfeed my child,” says Chen, “but nobody told me how difficult and painful it could be.
Gloucestershire Femtech start-up LatchAid has raised £1 million to grow its breastfeeding and early parenthood support app, teaching new mums practical skills and helping them fight loneliness, postnatal depression and physical pain.
LatchAid uses interactive technology and
3D avatars to help expectant and new mothers learn breastfeeding skills. The app also connects mothers to support groups, experts who can provide 1-2-1 advice and an AI-powered virtual supporter chatbot.
LatchAid was founded by CGI specialist, Dr Chen Mao Davies, who previously worked
“I developed mastitis and thrush and it went on for weeks with mum and baby crying during feeding time. I just felt such a failure – I couldn’t feed my own baby.
“As a technologist, I was frankly shocked by the lack of innovation in this space.”
Netomnia, the Tewkesbury-based provider of full fibre broadband infrastructure, and its sister company, the internet service provider YouFibre, have secured £295 million in new funding led by DigitalBridge Investment Management.
The company says it is the fastest-growing network operator specialising in connecting homes and businesses to ultrafast full fibre broadband.
Founded by its Chief Executive Jeremy Chelot, an internet entrepreneur and computer scientist, Netomnia is delivering a multi-gigabit broadband network across the UK.
Jeremy was previously Chief Executive of Community Fibre Ltd. He led the “Fibre To The Home” revolution in London, raising £100 million from two financial institutions.
He was also a non-executive director at the Internet Services Providers’ Association –the UK’s Trade Association for providers of Internet services.
He made the announcement on April Fool’s Day, but it soon became obvious it was no joke that Dale Vince, the founder of the world’s first green energy company, Ecotricity, is putting the company up for sale and moving into politics.
The reasons for his departure are two-fold. First, Ecotricity requires massive investment: an estimated £2 billion to build a green energy pipeline – the company has 2,500 megawatts of renewable energy generation in planning.
Second, Dale wants to go into politics in some form – maybe by standing for parliament. Those ambitions are no secret: he laid them bare in his book Manifesto, published in 2020.
The company supplies around 200,000 homes and businesses across Britain with renewable energy from the wind and sun. Turnover is around £300 million a year.
KPMG has been tasked with finding a buyer – which might not necessarily be one of the Big Six energy companies. Dale told BBC Gloucestershire that a list of 60 to 70 companies had been drawn up by KPMG: pension funds, venture capitalists, car companies and more.
Dale said: “This is a huge decision –it’s been my life for a long time and is arguably my life’s work.
“But it’s the right decision at the right time – our pipeline of green energy projects is way beyond what we can fund ourselves, while at the same time, the country’s need for new sources of renewable energy has never been bigger.”
Tewkesbury-based Netomnia and YouFibre secure further £295m fundingLatchAid’s breastfeeding app
You may have started your business with a passion of doing the work that you love and are good at, with aspirations of having flexible working, a good home life balance and making good money, but somewhere along the journey, things changed. Does this sound like you?
Are you working long days, even weekends, to ensure your clients are happy but don’t have the time to spend with your family or doing the things you enjoy which you’d promised yourself you would when you set out?
Well fear not, your plans of working that four day week might not be out of reach, but deep down you know that without making changes, things are unlikely to change!
Or
Are you on the other side of the coin, with a business that is thriving, cash rich and scaling fast?
In which case you probably are struggling to find the time to sit down and work out what you want for the future of your business, as you are busy focusing on keeping all hands to the pump and ensuring the business keeps growing and running well.
Either way, the Veloci-Tech team understand the importance for business owners to take time to focus on what they really want to achieve in the future both personally and for their business
Whether it’s the sports car you’ve always dreamed of, paying for your children’s education, a dream family home in the countryside or just working a four day week with more free time
This is where the magic can start in fact, and we believe that’s when everything becomes clear.
For a majority of entrepreneurial business directors, personal wealth is closely linked to the success of your company and business decisions can have a significant effect of your life outside of work, so it’s vital to get it right.
Forward thinking and strategic planning is essential so you can plan your future how and when you want it, whether that’s early retirement, benefiting from your hard earned work, selling your business for a sizable value or just having the lifestyle you’ve always wanted in the most tax efficient manner.
It’s really hard to see where you’re going without perspective and that’s what we create for business owners.
Veloci-Tech have experts in business growth, accountancy and financial planning, who work with you, the business owner to establish these dreams, put together a robust plan that spans both your business and personal finances and design your business to achieve your dreams.
If you feel you don’t have all the answers and would like to speak to an expert who can help you and your business, send us an email on activate@veloci-tech.co.uk
So, you’re a business Director, you’ve been in business for a while and suddenly it hits you one day…
Does Gloucestershire produce the UK’s most successful hot sauces? It would seem so.
Hot sauce brand NAFF has seen significant success over the last 12 months as it reports a doubling of sales in the last year, according to James Horwood, director of Stroudbased Kitchen Garden Foods which owns the brand.
And so has Tubby Tom’s, which has boosted production from 13,000 bottles a year to an impressive 166,000.
Over the past four years, Tubby Tom’s, based in the Forest of Dean, has grown from a solo operation to having six staff, and a new unit producing a huge range of handmade sauces and seasonings, ranging from a signature BBQ sauce to an innovative maple bacon dust.
But his ambition doesn’t stop there. Tom added: “In the next four years, we hope to be using a kitchen three times the size of our current one. This will hopefully make us even more efficient, and as well as the new kitchen, we want to have more people working in it — adding to the already amazing team we have here. The key for us is to ensure that everything we produce still remains of the highest quality as our consistency and unique flavours are what really
Gloucester Food Dock has revealed the names of the first three food and drink businesses confirmed for its new £3.5 million waterfront dining destination.
Sibling Distillery, Stroud-based Strip Steak Bar and Gloucester-based Wholly Gelato will be among 15 new businesses welcoming customers when the development opens later this summer.
Gloucester Food Dock, which overlooks Victoria Basin at the bottom of Southgate Street, will be home to up to 15 artisan food and drink businesses drawn from
Gloucestershire and the surrounding region. Two 19th century brick buildings are being extensively refurbished and reconfigured to incorporate external dining terraces and stand-alone wooden-clad units.
makes us stand out in a competitive market.”
Quality is just as important to James at Kitchen Garden Foods, which also produces the successful Wolfy’s porridge brand. “Having just finished our 21/22 year, business is better than ever. We’ve secured lots of new customers and our sales are the highest they’ve been in our history. We’re certainly back to pre-pandemic levels, and some.”
Autonumis, the Stroud-based manufacturer of refrigerated drinks dispensers, bottle coolers and vending machines, has been acquired by Peak Analysis & Automation, part of Directech Global, based in South Africa.
Established in 1962, Autonumis employs 52 people and supplies its products globally.
Graham Keen, General Manager, of Autonumis which is based at Aston Down near Minchinhampton, said: “We’re thrilled to be joining Directech. The group’s backing provides critical investment to support our operations and our growth ambitions. Our team has been incredible during some challenging times during the pandemic. The interest from Directech is testament to the skills, experience and drive of all our people.”
The average age of a British company is around eight and a half years, so if you’re tantalizingly close towards 100 years in business, as with the Cullimore Group of Companies, you should be very, very proud.
And as the third generation leading this Gloucestershire business, 42-year-old Moreton Cullimore is already looking to 2027 for the mother of all centenary celebration parties.
But this is a sector which in the last three years alone has had to tackle Brexit, supply chain shortages and Covid, and
with the recent off-the-scale fuel prices rises and the challenges brought on by the Ukraine war, nothing can be taken for granted, and Moreton doesn’t, although he knows it’s a lot to shoulder.
However, this doesn’t faze the man whose nickname has been Chief since he was a teenager. He may have got the name because he’s a big man with a big personality, but it’s also clear that he takes his responsibilities seriously, and others look up to him.
The business, first established in 1927 as
a road haulage company by Moreton’s grandfather, now quarries aggregates, manufactures ready-mix concrete, farms and has recently set up a new welding shop. The Group employs around 100 people and turns over around £14 million annually.
The Cullimore Group will be familiar to anyone living in and around Gloucestershire, or just over the county’s borders and its 60 or so green and gold liveried lorries are on the roads every day of the year.
It also owns thousands of acres of land
He’s battled Brexit, Covid-19, off-the-scale diesel fuel price rises and supply chain problems thanks to the Ukraine war, but Moreton Cullimore remains unbowed and ambitiousMoreton Cullimore
across the region, most notably at the Cotswold Water Park where it has quarried for many years, as well as land near Stroud which it farms and at Tewkesbury where it is currently applying for planning permission to quarry an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of high-quality aggregate material at Bow Farm.
And yes, that’s causing Moreton some local grief. But as much as those living near
the site might not like to hear it, quarrying is a necessary raw material for modern life. If you want new homes, roads – anything that involves concrete, drainage, water filtration and sewage, then you’ll need aggregate dug out of the ground, and it’s environmentally better, and more costeffective, to quarry it locally than truck it in from overseas.
Properly managed quarries can enhance community amenities. Moreton, who took over as managing director of Cullimore Group when his father retired a few years ago, can point to the company’s management of its quarries at the Cotswold Water Park over the last couple of decades.
He said: “Once quarrying is complete at a site, we continue to manage the area proactively. Over the years we’ve restored and maintained habitats and have planted thousands of trees.”
Quarrying might make up a quarter of the Cullimore Group’s work, but the company’s heritage lies in transport, and last year Moreton was made the youngest ever chairman of the national Road Haulage Association, a role that he proudly accepted after his father, Roger, in his time had given many years of his life to the association.
But it’s a tough gig to take on as the road haulage sector battles with rising fuel prices, Brexit, a lack of HGV drivers and ongoing supply chain problems.
“Around 97 per cent of what we all consume is transported at least once in its product lifecycle by truck,” said Moreton.
“If the transport world has increasing costs, the end users pay and it impacts inflation. It’s understandable that the government wants people to use less diesel and petrol, we all do, but there is currently no realistic alternative to diesel for SME businesses such as ours.”
Cullimores has 60 trucks on the public roads. A new diesel truck costs around £150,000, a hydrogen-fuelled truck is around £450,000. While an electric truck costs less, perhaps around £250,000, it
will only get to midday before needing a lengthy recharge.
“We would need two and a half electric trucks to do the job of one diesel one,” said Moreton. “And while some companies are using biofuels, it’s still not a costeffective alternative.”
Moreton joined the family business in his late 20s. Despite being very happy in his career choice now, he initially fought hard against his destiny.
“My father was an only child. I’m an only child. Mum watched how hard dad worked and suggested I should think about something else. I was never a massive academic at school. I went to Wycliffe College in Stroud, and Beaudesert before that. Those schools gave me focus because I was more motivated being outside building dens than learning my times tables.”
But he went to university, completing a degree in business and management at Sheffield Hallam, where his passion for rugby and sport saw him become chairman of the university’s rugby club.
“I’d always played rugby and at six feet two, I am a big guy so people have always tended to look to me for leadership.”
However, even with a degree under his belt, he wasn’t keen to commit full-time to the family business, but he did spend a year helping his father on specific projects.
After 12 months he took a post-graduate degree in sport at the (now), University of Gloucestershire and began working for Sport England and UK Sport, coaching rugby and elite sports.
His final hurrah before joining the family business was six months’ travelling around Central and South America. “It was incredible. I visited Mayan pyramids, Easter Island and followed the Inca Trail – the experience forced me to grow up.”
Moreton now recognises that he’d needed that separation time to believe in himself as an individual. “I’d grown up as the only
son of a traditional family business, living a semi-rural lifestyle with a lot of attention on me. I was in and around the business, its trucks and the farm all the time. Our milk was dropped off daily in a churn, straight from our cows. If my parents were away, a member of staff would drop me off at school. Despite having spent three years at university, my six months overseas was what I needed to cut my own teeth.”
Moreton returned to finally join the business and over the last 20 years he’s innovated and diversified to help it grow. But he admits it’s not been easy.
“The last 10 years have been about survival: the credit crunch, Brexit, Covid and now the Ukraine war. In dad’s era it was boom or bust, often five good years, five less good years. Now we have a lot of curved balls all coming together.
“Being classed as an SME business is tough. We have all the financial responsibilities of a big business with the numbers of quite a small business and that’s an ongoing challenge.
“However, I was lucky to be handed a financially stable business and everything here is owned by us. We are custodians of everything – our land, the trucks –everything. We are an old school business, where service and reliability is key, but I know that to grow we need to think wider.”
Most recently that has seen the company invest more than £100,000 in a new fabrication operation at its Frampton-onSevern facility. This has included new welding equipment and a plasma cutter which allows his four-strong welding team to undertake bespoke metal working.
“As long as it’s metal we can make, fold and design pretty much anything, from garden railings to fuel tanks and automotive body parts.
“We are also an approved MOT station on vehicles of anything from 3.5 tonne upwards, including horseboxes and big trucks.”
Despite his early reticence Moreton admits that he now lives and breathes the business.
Three years ago, he also took on the Group’s farming activities, after his longstanding farm manager retired, and he’s applying his innovative ideas here too, developing the beef herd and introducing a wagyu herd.
“We are lucky if we make £100 a cow on our beef herd. But over the last couple of years we’ve been working on producing our own blood line and creating our own beef wagyu herd, which we can potentially sell for more. With all our cows eating our grass, wheat or barley, it’s also about lower food miles.
“I’m a bit of a foodie and it will be nice to have some full wagyu product on the farm. It’s not high volume but it gives us another income stream and it’s a really cool product.”
Since Moreton took over the family farm, he’s secured the Red Tractor food accreditation and is redeveloping some of the buildings.
Ten years ago I knew little about farming –now I’m really enjoying it.”
So what about the future? Moreton says it’s not about national expansion. “The further a product travels in a truck the more expensive it becomes, and there’s enough work for us in and around Gloucestershire and our near neighbours without going much further afield.”
It’s more about reaching that magical 100 years in business.
“I want to get to that landmark. I never met my grandfather, the original Moreton, but I want to be able to celebrate his legacy, as well as that of my father.”
He’s also aware that quite often a family business doesn’t get beyond the third generation and he wants to prove that old trope wrong.
“Yes, it’s been far more challenging than I thought it would be, but we are one of very few independents in a sector full of national and international businesses, and that’s worth celebrating.
“The last few years has been tough, but out of it I have learned some big lessons. My greatest challenge here isn’t just about being the managing director. I have a responsibility to encourage and nurture people and over the last few years many have reached out to me for guidance, perhaps because the business is seen as a respectful brand in the community. We don’t cut corners and we try to do things well.”
“Our growth is not necessarily on our profit and loss sheet but in more innovative ways of doing business. Getting that right is what I see as my legacy.”
It’s a hackneyed phrase that insurance is a necessary evil. That can’t be said about risk management. Actually, effective risk management enables your business to make better decisions, avoid the typical pitfalls and deliver on its plan. Isn’t that how we all want to manage our business?
A great analogy is Formula 1. People often think of this elite sport as a motor racing business. It’s actually a risk management business. The better you understand your risk environment, the better you can anticipate what’s coming around the next corner, and make informed decisions that will enable you to go faster, safely.
A good risk programme is a balance between three approaches: mitigating the inherent risks in your business by refining your processes, absorbing some element of risk and accepting it on your own balance sheet or transferring the risk to an insurer.
Getting the balance right will enable you to create the ideal risk programme for your business, which will then act as an enabler for growth.
What should this ideal risk programme include?
People risk Many of the risks to business today relate to people. When was the last time you considered how your employees’ wellbeing, health and engagement related to your business performance?
Key person Most businesses rely on a few individuals who are responsible delivering a disproportionate share of profit. When was the last time you did an audit of who the key people in your business are?
Cyber risk From ransomware and hacking to identity theft and electronic fraud – you now face potentially ruinous financial loss, litigation and reputational damage due to the sharp increase in cyber crime. When was the last time you reviewed your cyber security (or trained your team to be aware of these risks)?
Operational risk How confident are you that your current practices meet all the expectations of the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) and do not leave you exposed to employers’ liability claims? When was the last time you undertook a claims defensibility survey to understand your true exposure to liability-led claims?
Under insurance risk Many property owners insure their building for the market value. But the value that matters for insurance is the rebuild cost. Do you know how long it would take and how much it would cost, including demolition and fees, to completely rebuild your commercial or residential property in the event of a loss?
Credit risk When was the last time you considered the balance between credit terms you offer to your clients and their ability to pay? By understanding their ability to pay better through a partnership with a credit insurer, you can optimise your credit risk profile and therefore profitable growth.
How have you integrated it into your strategy? These can be complex areas to navigate, so obtaining the professional advice from your broker is your best course of action.
When was the last time you spoke at length to your insurance adviser about your business, where it’s going and what your plans are for the future? If they’re not asking you these questions, I’d question whether your broker really understands your needs.
Your broker shouldn’t be just looking at last year’s insurance programme. They should be seeking to understand your business as a whole, to understand the wider risks in your business and the sector in which you operate, and how it’s changed over time. Then working in partnership with you, they should build a programme that is relevant to your business today.
Let’s face it: nobody likes surprises. When you know what you’re up against, you can seize opportunity that others with less insight can’t. You can make more informed decisions that ensure your business is resilient enough to bounce back from an unexpected bump in the road and continue to grow. After all, have you ever seen a Formula 1 Grand Prix when the drivers are on slicks in the rain?
isPhil Barton, CEO, Partners&
The better you understand your risk environment, the better you can anticipate what’s coming around the next corner, make informed decisions and grow faster.
Phil Barton, CEO
Bristol-based social distancing devices pioneer SpaceBands has built on its success during the pandemic and expanded into the wider health and safety market with a £450,000 investment.
SpaceBands’ first wrist-worn device, launched in May 2020, helped employees stay safe during the pandemic by storing contact tracing data and vibrating when users are less than two metres apart.
Bristol’s oldest independent property consultancy, ETP, has merged with CSquared Real Estate which says it is the newest and fastest-growing company in the sector, also based in the South-West.
ETP can trace its roots back to 1878 and offers property services, with particular expertise in valuation and building consultancy.
The current leadership team has scaled the business in recent years having consolidated around a number of highprofile corporate contracts.
CSquared opened in Bristol in 2020, expanding out from its base in Bath.
Success and growth followed especially after the firm made some senior hires drawn from the Bristol agency market.
The combined business, which will trade as CSquared, has a multi-million pound turnover.
Its services include occupational, investment and development agency as well as property management, building consultancy project management, valuation and lease advisory specialisms.
The company will operate from the current ETP head office on Alma Road, Bristol until a larger premises is secured, and CSquared’s Bath office.
The company sold its devices to more than 1,000 businesses – including the likes of the NHS, MoD, Panasonic, Sony & Amazon – and is now leveraging that customer base to expand its new multi-feature hazard alert system, tackling a broader spectrum of workplace safety issues.
Workplace injury and ill health costs the UK economy £16.2 billion annually, according to the Health and Safety Executive, and can devastate lives and families.
SpaceBands’ latest wearable addresses these challenges by prompting employees to take action on wellness and helping employers to make more informed decisions about workplace safety.
The device monitors heart rate, prompts users to take a break and alerts them to hazards such as dangerously loud noises or close machine proximity.
Bristol-based OCO Technology has signed a multi-million-pound contract to recycle air pollution control residues (APCr) from two new Energy Recovery Facilities being operated by Covanta.
OCO Technology has developed a Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) process to treat and stabilise thermal residues and turn them into sustainable construction products.
It is currently one of only a few UK companies to hold Environment Agency End of Waste approval, classifying the finished aggregate as a product.
OCO will take significant tonnage of APCr per year from the facilities using its pioneering Accelerated Carbonation Technology to turn the waste into a sought-after carbon negative aggregate – known as Manufactured LimeStone.
Lizzie Bayley, OCO’s new Legal and Commercial Manager, who has been leading the negotiations, says the agreement marks another major milestone in the growth of OCO.
“We are delighted that the partnership with Covanta has recognised the huge potential our technology offers for both APCr recycling and safe and sustainable carbon capture,” she said.
Oxford-based fusion start-up First Light has claimed a major breakthrough in energy production – becoming the first to achieve nuclear fusion.
The University of Oxford fusion spin-out used its unique projectile method for the first time at its laboratory in Kidlington.
First Light’s equipment shoots a tungsten projectile out of a gas-powered gun at tremendous speed at a target dropped into a chamber.
In a fully working reactor a high-speed projectile will hit the moving target, which contains a small deuterium fuel capsule that implodes in the impact. This rapid implosion causes the fuel’s atoms to fuse, which releases a pulse of energy.
The result was independently validated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
Projectile fusion is a new approach to inertial fusion that is simpler, more energyefficient and has lower physics risk.
First Light has achieved fusion having spent less than £45 million, and with a rate of performance improvement faster than any other fusion scheme in history.
First Light now expects to partner with existing power producers to develop a pilot plant using its unique fusion approach.
It is working towards a pilot plant producing 150 MW of electricity and costing less than $1 billion in the 2030s.
A US manufacturing tech pharma company has bought the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), based at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.
Catalent plans to invest up to $160 million (£120 million) to complete the building of the facility – which is currently under construction – and equip it with state-ofthe-art capabilities for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and
vaccines, including mRNA, proteins, and other advanced modalities.
It is expected that the new facility will employ more than 400 people and support public and private organisations seeking to develop and manufacture biotherapeutics.
But campaigners against the sale protested in Oxford, saying it should have remained a national treasure to be cherished rather than being sold to the highest bidder.
VMIC was set up as a not-for-profit organisation in 2018 to provide the country’s first bespoke strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability.
The rapidly-accelerated programme for the 7,000 square metre facility was an unprecedented collaborative effort between The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, Harwell Campus, Vale of the White Horse District Council, UK Research and Innovation.
St Albans-based Glencar, the main contractor, accelerated construction to bring the facility online early to provide an emergency response capability for the UK.
It was initially funded through a £67 million government grant and secured a further £131 million from the government in May 2020 and a further £47.6 million in March last year to support the expansion and acceleration of the programme.
Catalent has a long-standing presence in the UK, where its workforce already exceeds 1,300 people at its four facilities focused on development and manufacturing of oral dose forms, located in Nottingham, Swindon, Haverhill, and Dartford, in addition to a clinical trial supply site in Bathgate, Scotland.
The Catalent Biotherapeutics network also includes sites in Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the United States.
Conrad Energy, the Abingdon-based portfolio company of investment manager I Squared Capital and an independent power producer focused on flexible power generation, battery storage and energy management services, has bought leading software provider in the flexible power generation market, TGG Solutions.
TGG is one of Conrad Energy’s major software providers that specialises in solutions for the management of flexible power assets in a dynamic energy environment.
Its flagship product, iON, has already been deployed across the Conrad Energy portfolio of power and battery storage assets.
It is the main Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that links Conrad Energy’s commercial desk to the sites that it manages, by communicating in real-time with all the assets.
The product will be combined with Conrad Energy’s in-house algorithmic trading and asset management capabilities.
Conrad Energy is the UK’s largest flexible power producer with over 600MW of generation across 45 sites, and over 200MWh of battery storage in construction to add to their existing 40MWh storage site.
Conrad Energy works with commercial clients to maximise the potential of on-site generation and energy import arrangements.
The construction of a purpose-built research and manufacturing facility, which will be a vital hub for one of the world’s leading suppliers of reagents enabling research into diagnostics and vaccines for emerging and endemic infectious diseases, has been completed at Oxford Technology Park.
The new 49,000 sq ft two-storey building has been let to The Native Antigen Company, on a 10-year lease.
The Native Antigen Company is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-quality reagents for infectious diseases. Its portfolio of antigens and antibodies provides customers with the critical components needed to build in vitro diagnostic tests, support vaccine development, and further academic research.
The company was awarded ‘Best COVID-19 Responder at the 2020 OBN Awards’, for their efforts in supporting the research and development of diagnostics and vaccines for COVID-19.
OBN (UK) Ltd is a membership organisation that supports the UK life sciences industry, Nick Roesen, COO of The Native Antigen Company, said: “The new facility provides us with the perfect opportunity to expand our operations, following the acquisition of The Native Antigen Company in July 2020 by LGC.
“The building has been designed to meet our exact specifications, which will enable us to work more efficiently and effectively. We are also excited about being part of a new science and technology community at Oxford Technology Park.”
Angus Bates, owner and developer of Oxford Technology Park, said: “We are thrilled to be working with The Native Antigen Company and looking forward to growing the science and technology community around them.”
A Bicester company which has developed an advanced but low-cost nano fibre skin substitute technology to treat chronic wounds, is seeking angel investment to continue development.
Partners in Global Wound Care (PGWC), which has previously also won Innovate UK funding, aims to improve global equity and access in healthcare by providing economically accessible and practical solutions to universal needs.
Globally, approximately 116 million people suffer from chronic wounds with the healing process often impeded by multiple factors including diabetes, poor circulation and infection, says the company. Growth in this patient population is driven by increasing rates of diabetes, obesity and circulatory diseases and the vast majority of patients outside the US do not have access to the most effective treatments due to cost and lack of accessiblity.
PGWC says its nano-X is a revolutionary skin substitute technology for chronic wounds. Its developers say it is lowcost and manufacturable at scale, antimicrobial and practical in nonhospital settings. It is also easy to store and transport, avoiding the need for low-temperature storage.
PGWC says it is not attempting to gain market share through competing with existing technologies. It plans to create an entirely new market segment with a product developed specifically to address the issue of accessibility of advanced wound care at a fraction of the cost of existing products.
Last year the company, which has two patents with further IP protection through patents pending and trade secret proprietary manufacturing methodology, won a prestigious Eureka Eurostars grant.
Oxfordshire’s MPs showed their support for the county’s tourism sector during English Tourism Week by visiting businesses at the invitation of Experience Oxfordshire.
This year the national campaign is also focusing on the wide range of jobs and career opportunities available across the sector.
Anneliese Dodds, MP for Oxford East took the Oxford Official Walking Tour, Victoria Prentis, MP for North Oxfordshire, visited Bicester Hotel Golf and Spa, Robert Courts, MP for Witney and West Oxfordshire, visited Fairytale Farm, David Johnston, MP for Wantage and Didcot, visited Didcot
Hayley Beer-Gamage, chief executive of Experience Oxfordshire, said: “In 2019, over 30 million trips were made to Oxfordshire and the visitor economy was supporting more than 42,000 jobs, contributing over £2.5 billion a year to Oxfordshire’s economy.
“The impact of the pandemic has had a devastating effect on local businesses across the county. It’s vitally important that we all show support to our local businesses in order to build back a thriving visitor economy”.
British Airways is extending its Joint Development Agreement with Velocys plc, the Oxford sustainable fuels company, on its Altalto project at Immingham in Lincolnshire.
BA is also extending its option to acquire 50 per cent of the Altalto plant by one year to March 31 next year.
Velocys is developing technology to turn household and commercial waste into
clean-burning fuels to enable commercial scale production of sustainable synthetic fuels from waste materials, such as municipal, commercial and forestry residue.
Sustainable aviation fuel is the only commercially available alternative to fossil aviation fuels. The plant’s main product will be Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene, approved for commercial aviation at up to 50 per cent in a blend with conventional jet fuel.
Banbury-based motorsport company Prodrive has unveiled a 600 bhp, fourwheel-drive all-terrain adventure vehicle nicknamed “the Ferrari of the desert”.
Called The Hunter, it is based on the Bahrain Raid Xtreme competition car driven by nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb to compete in the world’s toughest motorsport race – the Dakar.
The Hunter is the product of more than 40 years of successful off-road competition at Prodrive.
Prodrive Chairman, David Richards, said: “There are numerous hypercars on the market; however, they all need good roads or even race tracks to show their performance. We identified that in certain parts of the world, particularly the Middle East, there are vast expanses still to be explored that go way beyond the access provided by asphalt roads. Therefore
why not create a vehicle that gives the opportunity to explore these regions with performance way beyond that offered by any off-road vehicle before?”
The Hunter retains the Dakar competition car’s engine, drivetrain and suspension, but to improve driveability, the manual sequential gearbox has been replaced by a six-speed paddle-shift, giving a smooth gear change in just milliseconds.
As the hypercar does not have to comply with strict competition regulations, power has been increased by more than 50 per cent. The 3.5 litre twin turbo V6 has been refined and retuned on Prodrive’s advanced transient dyno in Banbury to produce greater break horse power and torque while making its power delivery smoother and easier to drive.
Prodrive expects to sell around 20 Hunters at £1.5 million each.
Oxfordshire’s Twin Town Challenge charity car rally has reached £1 million fundraising for Charlbury-based charity SpecialEffect, even before the 2020+2 event took place.
The event saw 120 cars costing less than £500 travel to Witney’s twin town of Le Touquet for a weekend of fun challenges. The fourth and final COVID-delayed Twin Town Challenge 2020+2 left Blenheim Palace on Friday April 29.
The Twin Town Challenge is organised by Brendon Cross, MD of Witney-based STL Communications and Hexagon Business Centres and a SpecialEffect Vice President.
Brendon said: “To be announce before the final Twin Town Challenge that we have raised £1 million for SpecialEffect is truly amazing. The generosity of our sponsors and the participants over the four events is humbling.
An international competition launched to design the masterplan for a £1 billion, 190-hectare mixeduse Innovation District at Begbroke Science Park, has been won by architectural practice Hawkins Brown.
Oxford University Development (OUD) launched the competition last November.
The 190-hectare mixed-use Innovation District is located just to the north of Oxford. The project is intended to provide an exemplary new setting for the university’s worldleading science and innovation but will also create a community of up to 2,000 quality homes, with new schools, a public park and a nature reserve.
Darryl Chen, urban design lead at Hawkins Brown, said: “This is one of those rare opportunities to set an agenda for a type of place that doesn’t quite yet exist.”
OUD and the university aspire to create a scheme that achieves a step-change in sustainable design, delivery and operation.
The new district has the lofty ambitions of aiming to drive economic growth, improve transport connections, deliver local community benefits for local people and enhance the surrounding natural landscape.
Begbroke has been a cornerstone of the entrepreneurial environment of Oxfordshire since its inception in 2000. It was a launching ground for successful companies and has supported many University spinouts and start-ups, including Oxford Nanopore and Oxford Photovoltaics.
Research and development (R&D) tax credits are aimed at companies investing in innovation. The Government rewards them for this through the rebate and they can then use the cash to help them sustain and grow the business.
Through the scheme, businesses can claim back up to 33 per cent of their R&D costs and experts at accountants and business advisors Whitley Stimpson stress that a wide variety of firms are eligible – not just hi-tech companies which is a misconception.
For example, an established solar panel specialist which has an annual turnover worth millions of pounds, has started work on a new piece of technology. Whitley Stimpson has helped the business make a claim for labour, materials, and subcontracting costs to the value of an extra £23,808 off their profits - a tax deduction of 19 per cent. The claim took less than two hours to complete.
Another claim was made for a wellestablished international IT business specialising in cloud-based service support. Whitley Stimpson recently submitted a claim for an additional tax relief of £71,000 representing 85 per cent of its total expenses.
A further example comes with a startup business specialising in cloud-based payment processing systems. Up to 80 per cent of the company’s costs qualify for R & D tax credits and it recently submitted a claim for £160,000 covering its payroll for two months.
Significantly, the firm’s claim is calculated within two weeks of Whitley Stimpson receiving the data and processed within six weeks of the firm’s year-end.
Whitley Stimpson director Jonathan Walton said: “We have worked with a vast range of businesses from a roofing and construction firm to a company which developed a face recognition mirror.
“In the case of the start-up business with no income, these tax credits have kept the company alive. It’s not about reducing profits because the firm is purely involved in R&D and all they have is expense.
“The directors can cash in the value of their R&D claim and then receive a refund back from the Government within 30 days of their corporation tax return having been submitted.”
Significantly, Whitley Stimpson works on
an hourly rate for this work rather than taking a percentage of the tax saved.
Jonathan added:: “The fees we charge are far less than the specialist R&D niche firms which take up to 30 per cent of the savings.
“We ensure the claim is genuine and thorough and we have never had one rejected. We do 80 per cent of the work inhouse and for more complicated claims we will bring in a technical expert.”
For more information about how Whitley Stimpson can support your business visit www.whitleystimpson.co.uk Banbury |
Businesses are being urged to see if they qualify for a tax refund scheme which could see them reclaim thousands of pounds in revenue.
“I would encourage anyone carrying out research and development to investigate making an R&D claim as it could make a real difference to their cashflow.”Whitley Stimpson Director Jonathan Walton
Blenheim Estate has launched Blenheim Strategic Partners which it says will offer a new approach to property development which offers expertise in land promotion, master planning and development to landowners throughout the country.
The model offered by Blenheim Strategic Partners enables landowners to retain a long-term involvement in the development of their land. Rather than selling land to a developer this enables landowners to benefit from ‘patient capital’ – the higher land values achieved as developments reach completion.
Blenheim Strategic Partners is the official formation of a long-term collaboration between Blenheim Estate and Vanderbilt Strategic Ltd, bringing together the knowledge of Blenheim Estate’s Property
Oxford University has secured planning permission for the construction of a new £150 million humanities building to include academic faculty space, concert, theatre and lecture halls at the Radcliffe Observatory quarter on Woodstock Road.
Director Roger File and founder of Vanderbilt, Edward Spencer-Churchill, together with leading planner Nigel McGurk as Head of Planning and Pye Homes as development partner.
Dominic Hare CEO of Blenheim Strategic Partners, said: “Blenheim has over 300 years of experience in land development, stewardship and investment and an inherent understanding of legacy. From the creation of Blenheim Palace and gardens to the new communities that we have developed locally, the Estate has provided insight and inspiration. Blenheim Strategic Partners offers an understanding of value beyond the financial: longevity, social value and a respect for land, people and place. It also offers a strong financial basis and access to funding, from private individuals and the wider Blenheim finance group.”
Construction will begin in October, and it is due to open in 2025.
Designed by Hopkins Architects, The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at the University of Oxford has come to be from the largest single donation the University has received in its history.
It will pull together seven faculties, two Institutes and six Bodleian libraries along with a world-class Concert Hall and three other performance venues, exhibition and film spaces in a unique academic and public building in the centre of the city.
Root One Garden Centre in Wallingford has unveiled extensions to its coffee shop and retail areas.
The family-owned centre was granted permission by South Oxfordshire District Council last year for an 8,255 sq ft extension to its plant area and it’s coffee shop, providing additional seating and kitchen space further to planning specialists Malcolm Scott Consultants submitting detailed proposals for the business.
Andrew Burton, of Malcolm Scott Consultants, said: “The Root One team brought us in after carrying out an assessment of their retail operations, keen to capitalise on the spike in visitors to the centre that was born during the Covid pandemic and continued to thrive.”
Jeremy Brudenell, who established Root One Garden Centre in 2001, said: “The newly extended retail area has provided us with the chance to expand our garden leisure range, and we’ve almost doubled the size of our popular plant area to give customers a wider choice for their gardens. We’re hopeful that the increase choice, teamed with the extended coffee shop, will attract new customers to the centre and encourage them to stay longer, exploring the offering and enjoying the wares in the café.”
Blenheim Estate
Oxfordshire is fast becoming the go-to setting for high-tech manufacturing, science, and innovation eco-systems for the UK and beyond. In the next evolution for Oxfordshire as a technology hub of the UK, Bicester Motion has revealed its £140m masterplan in full to become a centre of excellence for the past, present and future of mobility within a 444-acre destination development.
Not only will it allow mobility equipment manufacturers to offer an experience to their audiences, as well as promote its community, but also debug the myths around innovative and sustainable transport solutions.
Divided into four quarters – Heritage, Wilderness, Innovation and Experience, with a grass airfield at its centre –Bicester Motion has already evolved with impressive speed.
Factors such as proximity to major transport links and international airports, in addition to sitting at the heart of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, mean that the brightest minds in science and innovation are looking to call Oxfordshire home.
Sites such as Harwell Campus, home to the Zeus building, celebrate research and development, just south of Oxford, with Bicester also attracting innovative EV sector businesses such as Arrival and Zeta. Businesses located near to Bicester, such as Vertical Aerospace, report pre-orders for 1,350 piloted eVTOL aircraft ($5bn) including 500 ($2bn) from one of the top three leasing companies and a pre-order option from Virgin Atlantic.
Unlike other sites in the surrounding area, Bicester Motion is already home to an established Heritage Quarter, serving 47 specialist businesses, including Morgan, Singer Vehicle Design and Motorsport UK.
For more information about Bicester Motion, please visit www.bicestermotion.com
Its community ethos is unique to the site as a whole, with test track access currently on offer and a 200-key hotel, conference centre and cycling and walking trails all scheduled for delivery within the next few years.
The next Quarter for delivery, the Innovation Quarter comes at a point when the mobility industry is set for huge acceleration, with an estimated £3.7bn investment per year into automotive and mobility solutions, and a predicted £62bn in economic growth from connected and autonomous vehicles by 2030.
Set across six buildings, the Innovation Quarter will provide a small-scale campus opportunity within an already established site. For pioneering businesses looking to draw inspiration for new technology and mobility solutions, this Quarter benefits from the synergies offered by a campus in the heartland of science and motoring.
Slough-based HomeLink Healthcare Limited has secured a £2.15 million investment from infrastructure and SME investment manager Foresight Group LLP.
Existing shareholders also invested £500,000 to further support HomeLink’s growth.
Formed in 2015, HomeLink has provided “hospital-at-home” services since 2018. The company employs experienced nurses and rehabilitation teams to support the NHS by providing services to patients in their own homes. These services deliver a range of clinical interventions, including wound care, intravenous therapies, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation. HomeLink has also expanded into the rapidly growing remote monitoring practice and offers a “virtual ward” solution.
Bed-blocking is an major issue across the NHS with significant delays in the discharge of patients and increasing hospital admissions due to a lack of viable alternatives. This is exacerbated by demographic shifts and the pandemic. HomeLink helps relieve these pressures by freeing up hospital bed space.
Screen With Envy, an online retailer of decorative garden and indoor screens, fences and gates, has revealed further international expansion plans following its refinancing with Santander UK.
Santander UK has provided Aylesburybased Screen With Envy a £3.75 million funding package. The funding enables the business to refinance existing debt, free up its cashflow and supports it with importing materials from overseas used in the production of its products.
Screen With Envy was founded in 2017 by Sophie Birkert, who began designing garden screens when she identified a gap in the market for products that were stylish, decorative and durable. At the time she founded the company, she was pregnant with her third child and decided she would turn her hand to running her own business rather than return to her demanding job in the City of London. Five years on, Screen With Envy has a multi-million pound annual
revenue, which has grown by more than 800 per cent over the past two years, and employs a staff of 73.
The business sells its products exclusively through its website and, in addition to growing its business in the UK, it is working to increase sales internationally, with a focus on the US and Europe. Having established a subsidiary in the Netherlands in 2020, it is well placed to bolster sales on the Continent, particularly in Germany and France.
Screen With Envy’s products use an advanced wood composite material, which has the look and feel of wood but is lighter and has enhanced durability, giving the products a life of up to 20 years. The company has been a pioneering adopter of the wood composite material, which is made from wood offcuts and recycled plastic, in decorative screening due to its lighter environmental impact and benefits to customers.
A
The consortium has submitted plans
for a ‘165-mile drone superhighway’ connecting airspace above cities including Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby.
The blueprint for the superhighway, known as Project Skyway, will enable businesses to develop and grow
through the commercialisation of new and innovative drone-based products, processes, and services.
Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder, said: “This is the most ambitious transport project proposed for the country since the advent of the railway network in the 18th century."
A young animal nutritionist has picked an ideal time to open his own pet food shop in Redditch.
Dev Gordhan has launched Earthly Pets in the wake of massive growth in pet ownership during the Covid pandemic and a growing interest in healthier dining options for pets.
Tattoo artist Hanan Qattan has secured a five-figure funding package from HSBC UK to open a new tattoo studio in Worcester town centre.
The entrepreneur has used the funding to purchase a two level 1,200 sq ft. property in Worcester’s Reindeer Court Arcade to launch Fox and Fortune Tattoo. The support from HSBC UK has also allowed Hanan to apply for planning permission to undertake renovation work to the listed building.
The new property allows Hanan to run a private studio while renting out further commercial space, which will allow her to take control of all the finances and run the business effectively for artists and clients.
The United Kingdom is the most tattooed nation in the world, according to Inkability,
the tattoo listing website, with an estimated one in three young adults having at least one tattoo, and getting more tattoos done every year. Worldwide, the tattoo industry is worth an estimated £38 billion. Well over 40 per cent of all millennials have tattoos, and 92 per cent of people with tattoos are already looking for the next one.
Hanan said: “HSBC UK has been instrumental in enabling the opening of Fox and Fortune Tattoo, which is now an asset for life, as I now own the property. Our Relationship Manager at the bank, Vivek Joshi, has been incredible in taking the time to understand my business and my ambitions helping me to make this a reality. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
It is estimated that the UK has around 3,000 tattoo shops.
In total, people in the UK spend nearly £8 billion per year on their pets, that’s up more than 150 per cent from early 2000, and more than 55 per cent of pet owners live in towns and cities, with about one-third under the age of 40.
Dev is focused on ethical and natural pet food at the Alcester Arcade store.
“It was slow to start but things are really picking up now,” said Dev. Ian Parker, joint managing director at John Truslove, arranged the five-year tenancy on the shop.
He said: “This is clearly a case of the right business at the right time; it just needed the right premises.”
“This is clearly a case of the right business at the right time; it just needed the right premises”Hanan Qattan
Spectator sports events specialist Cube International, the master franchisee for the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games has opened its new 45,000 sq ft facility in Worcester.
Cube specialises in sports retail merchandising and supports the planning and implementation of experiential campaigns.
The firm recently secured some major contracts, becoming an official partner of both the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby League World Cup.
It is also the e-commerce partner of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team and international women's golf tournament, the Solheim Cup 2023.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Cube International provided testing facilities at sites including Heathrow Airport, NHS hospitals, supermarkets and nursing homes.
Ed Boardman, Cube International’s CEO, said: “Our new facility will also allow us to enhance our efficiency and sustainability
within the sports industry and enable us to integrate our group more effectively. It is a big step forward as we grow our national and international footprint.”
The Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Stephen Hodgson, said: “It was a real pleasure to be part of the opening of Cube’s headquarters. It was great to come to their new facility in Worcester and see what they do. I wish them the greatest success for the years to come.”
The Commonwealth Games, to be held in Birmingham this summer, was a major catalyst in the decision to move to Worcester, where the warehouse element will be used to manage the on-event retail programme for the Games, providing stock management and logistics.
David Leather, CGF Partnership’s CEO said: “Seeing the impact of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games through the attraction of new business to the region, local business growth and enhanced jobs and skills opportunities in the West Midlands, demonstrates the legacy hosting the Commonwealth Games can have on a region.”
A leading robotics and automation business has relocated to Hereford’s Skylon Park.
Visicon provides machine vision, collaborative robot and industrial ID systems. The company, which was founded by control system specialist Peter Jelf, works with customers looking to increase production efficiency and reduce costs. It has recently recruited two employees through the government Kickstarter scheme.
Peter said: “We’ve been looking to move to bigger premises over the past year. We were able to secure a Revive and Thrive grant from Herefordshire Council, which is specifically for businesses looking to move to commercial premises in the region.
“Many of the organisations we work with don’t realise just what the possibilities are when it comes to machine vision and robotics, thinking this type of technology is only available for large blue-chip companies.
“Visicon can bring quality technology solutions to the fingertips of business owners, with support and training every step of the way. We have big ambitions for Visicon. Part of that will be working closely with food and drink producers and processers to help improve productivity through digitalisation and robotic technology.”
Law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ automotive specialists have completed three automotive deals this year.
In January, Tim Ward helped Gloucestershire-based motor group Baylis acquire Southern Vauxhall in Merthyr Tydfil. The deal takes Baylis to more than 350 staff across nine dealerships in the three counties, as well as two standalone
accident repair centres and a used car centre in Worcester.
In February, Startin acquired Cresser Vauxhall in Redditch, where the group already represents Peugeot, Kia and Suzuki from its Far Moor Lane dealership. Worcester-based Harrison Clark Rickerbys Tom Bartley-Smith advised Startin.
In March, Harrison Clark Rickerbys acted for Andrew Hockedy and Nigel White in the sale of Trust Group UK to Johnsons Cars. Trust Group UK operates Volkswagen and Skoda dealerships in Redditch, Stourbridge and Wolverhampton, alongside three Trade Parts Specialist franchises covering the whole of the West Midlands
Urban-Air Port, the UK developer of ground infrastructure for air taxis and autonomous delivery drones, has opened “Air-One”, a world-first demonstration of a fully-operational hub for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles – such as air taxis – and autonomous cargo drones.
With the Commonwealth Games set to take place in Birmingham this summer, Olympian Sebastian Coe told business leaders from Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce about the transformative impact a major international event can have.
Lord Coe, the multi-Olympic medallist who headed up the London Olympics in 2012, highlighted to businesses the major commercial and social benefits that the Games brought to London.
He believes the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is set to bring a similar boost to Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands.
“The potential legacy after the games is very exciting, but it will challenge a region in a way nothing has challenged it before.
“People should not underestimate the impact this area connecting with the Commonwealth Games will have.
Lord Coe lived in Warwickshire from the age of one, initially in Redditch, before moving to Alcester and then Stratford-upon-Avon
“This is an area that was quite important to me, my father ran a manufacturing business in the region. It was also where I achieved my first top three finish in a race, as part of a Warwickshire schools’ competition at the age of 10,” he said.
Urban-Air Port is backed by the government and supported by Supernal, a company formed last year by Hyundai Motor Group to lead the Group’s progress in Advanced Air Mobility.
Air-One will operate in Coventry for at least a month and aims to provide a blueprint for more than 200 vertiports planned worldwide by Urban-Air Port over the next five years.
The advanced air mobility market is forecast to reach $1 trillion within the next two decades. But despite a booming market and a strong pipeline of eVTOLs entering commercial operations, the lack of ground infrastructure remains one of the single biggest barriers to growth, according to analysis by NASA.
Ricky Sandhu, Founder and Executive Chairman of Urban-Air Port, said: “Air-One is the starting gun for a new age of transport, an age of zeroemission, congestion-free travel between and within cities. Cars have roads. Trains have rails. Planes have airports. Now eVTOLs have an Urban-Air Port.
Minister for Aviation, Robert Courts, said: “British innovation has a rich history of transforming global transportation. The opening of AirOne, backed by Government funding, will revolutionise the way people and goods travel across the nation. This step forward puts Britain at the vanguard of clean transport.
“People should not underestimate the impact this area connecting with the Commonwealth Games will have”Local businesses get set for this summer’s Commonwealth Games
3P innovation is doubling the size of its premises with a £5 million investment in an eco-friendly 30,000 sq ft facility at Warwick.
High-tech engineering company, 3P innovation, helps global pharmaceutical and medical device businesses develop new products, devices and production processes. This employee-owned business is one of a very limited number of companies globally which can design and manufacture this sophisticated and heavily regulated automation.
The new site, being built by Clowes Developments, will be a 30,000 sq ft purpose-built facility, taking the 3P premises to a combined total of 60,000 sq ft of office and workshop space. This move will allow for 3P’s workforce to double in size.
A Leamington chef who walked away from commercial kitchens to launch his private dining business in lockdown, is celebrating his latest collaboration – with an international luxury clothing brand.
Bramble Dining was approached by the Alexander McQueen fashion house to create a bespoke range of canapes and cocktails.
Richard Bramble was tasked with creating the culinary artworks to complement McQueen’s ethereal spring/summer range, launched in their flagship store in Old Bond Street.
Bramble Dining enlisted the help of Liquid Spirit Events from the Cotswolds to provide bespoke cocktails and mocktails for the event to accompany the canapes.
Richard said: “You can imagine our excitement when we were contacted by Alexander McQueen. They asked us to create canapes and cocktails to match the colours of the sky and the London skyline.
“Obviously we are extremely proud to be working with a company of this calibre. It is a huge boost to our independent business to have such world-renowned companies that want to collaborate with us.”
Coventry-based Whitehouse Industries has acquired Ernest Engineering, which is also based in the city.
Ernest Engineering incorporates Bailey & Wade Limited, a manufacturer of precision turned parts, and Anchor Inserts Limited, a manufacturer of inserts for the rotational moulding industry.
Whitehouse Industries Limited was
established by entrepreneur Stuart Whitehouse to purchase engineering businesses.
Stuart said: ““I am delighted with the acquisition of Ernest Engineering, Bailey & Wade and Anchor Inserts, who have undergone significant development over the last 10 years. With ongoing investment in sliding head CNC machines and property extensions, the Group has
gone from strength to strength and I look forward to maintaining this trajectory.”
Austin Wade, owner of Ernest Engineering, added: “What we really like about joining Whitehouse Industries is that the business will still be run as a family company.”
Whitehouse Industries also owns Nutters Fastenings in Birmingham, and has plans for further engineering acquisitions.
Why do so many small businesses only look local to trade? Thinking bigger boosts business growth and now there are regional support agencies to help
England is defined, geographically at least, by its 48 counties. From Cornwall to Northumberland, each one has its own personality.
But personality isn’t enough to drive economic prosperity in the 21st century –strength in numbers matters more.
Combining Gloucestershire (population around 640,000) with its close neighbour Worcestershire (population around 600,000), doesn’t come close to that of the West Midlands (population around three million), which is still more than Oxfordshire (population 687,000), Berkshire (population 915,000) and Buckinghamshire (population 543,000) together.
So how can these counties compete more fairly?
In recent years, the government has encouraged them to “buddy up” and form regional powerhouses. The benefits for small and medium-sized businesses in these powerhouse regions are big. There are more opportunities to meet and trade with a wider number of companies and a collective voice is louder when bidding to government on important infrastructure projects.
Such group strength will benefit the regions as they compete nationally to secure funding from the government’s much talked about “levelling up” agenda, which it hopes will boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector in those places where they are lagging, and spread opportunities in places where they are weakest.
However, the government hasn’t been too specific about which areas should be “levelled up” and perhaps areas such as Oxfordshire, a net contributor to the UK economy, will lose out financially to our more northern counties, even though it has its own areas of deprivation.
Which are the powerhouses across our region aiming to support their area’s economic growth?
The Midlands Engine was launched in 2017 and spans a geography from the Lincolnshire coast through the West Midlands, Worcestershire to Herefordshire and the Welsh border. It has a combined population of 11 million – greater than Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales put together. It includes 65 local authorities, nine local enterprise partnerships and 20 universities.
The most recent regional powerhouse, the Western Gateway, launched in 2019, uniquely straddles England and Wales, ranging from Swindon through Wiltshire, Somerset, Bath and Bristol, encompassing Gloucestershire and into South Wales, including Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.
Across Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley there is the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. While not a formal organisation, with two of the world’s most renowned universities spinning out hundreds of science and technology companies, the region has become a powerhouse almost by default.
Across the region it’s a complicated landscape with layers of public/private partnerships which all have their own ambitions.
So, why are individual councils and local economic partnerships – usually highly competitive with their neighbours, supporting these regional entities?
According to Ruth Dooley, Chair of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership who is also a board director of the Western Gateway, it’s about shared ambition.
She said: “The Western Gateway represents around 4.4 million people and if all our plans come to fruition, it could add £34 billion gross value added to the UK economy.
“We want to create a green supercluster, host the country’s first fusion plant at Severn Edge and are revisiting plans to harness the tidal energy of the Severn. We are also looking at further development of hydrogen power. Across our region there’s already a lot going on in all those areas, but if we want to make the most of any of them, we have to work together as a region. Not one county, or local enterprise partnership, could achieve this ambition alone.”
Ruth admits that the county she represents is particularly excited about the Western Gateway’s bid for the fusion plant, because Gloucestershire is already home to the former power stations of Oldbury and Berkeley, so there is a significant amount of local expertise on which to draw – and of course there’s Hinkley Point C being built further down the Severn Estuary.
“If our combined bid is successful, the
prototype would be built at Oldbury, and nearby Berkeley would be its support with a new science park. The site is already home to a university technical college and the Active Building Centre which is showcasing how building of the future can be constructed more sustainably.”
But the beauty of this joint bid by the Western Gateway is that every area of the regional powerhouse, and its neighbours, could benefit. “If the fusion plant is successful, it would be built with steel from South Wales – also in the Western Gateway region and could use Lithium from nearby Cornwall,” added Ruth.
And just as importantly, the fusion project has widespread community support.
“The region’s MPs, local councils, county councils and local enterprise partnerships are behind the bid, but so are local parish councils who we have also consulted,” added Ruth.
However she – along with all those involved in the Western Gateway, remain cautious about the possibility of success.
Ruth added: “There are five bids still in the running, but we believe that our technical bid is the strongest, and that’s because we are working together across the patch.”
Launched in 2017 and spanning a geography from the Lincolnshire coast through the West Midlands, Worcestershire to Herefordshire and the Welsh border. It has a combined population of 11 million –greater than Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales put together. It includes 65 local authorities, nine local enterprise partnerships and 20 universities.
www.midlandsengine.org
Local Enterprise Partnerships in the region
The Black Country LEP
Coventry & Warwickshire LEP (CWLEP)
Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP
Worcestershire LEP
Established in 2019, The Western Gateway uniquely straddles England and Wales, ranging from Swindon through Wiltshire, Somerset, Bath and Bristol, encompassing Gloucestershire and into South Wales, including Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.
www.western-gateway.co.uk
Local Enterprise Partnerships in the region
Gloucestershire LEP (GFirst)
Swindon & Wiltshire LEP
The West of England LEP
NOTE: Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are non-statutory bodies responsible for local economic development in England. They are business-led partnerships that bring together the private sector with local authorities, academic and voluntary institutions. LEPs do not exist in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
All areas of England are covered by a LEP, with 38 in total. LEPs are designed to reflect functional economic areas, taking into consideration things such as local labour markets – where people actually commute from and to. They also need to be large enough to offer sufficient economies of scale. As a result, LEPs cover multiple local authorities, and some local authorities lie within multiple LEPs.
The region’s three pan-county support agencies have common borders. This map does not cover the entirety of each agency’s geography, but it does reveal how each one links to its neighbour.
While not a formal organisation, it is formed from five counties: Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.
It is home to two of the world’s most renowned universities and has become a powerhouse almost by default. It supports more than two million jobs, adds more than £110 billion to the economy every year. It is one of the fastest growing economies in England.
Local Enterprise Partnerships in the region
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
Combined Authority
Oxfordshire LEP (OxLEP)
South East Midlands LEP (SEMLEP)
Buckinghamshire LEP
While not an official regional powerhouse, the Oxford-Cambridge Arc is a globally significant area between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge. It is formed of five counties: Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.
It supports more than two million jobs, adds more than £110 billion to the economy every year and houses one of the fastest growing economies in England.
Last year, the government published a consultation to help it develop a strategy plan to support the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, which had been identified by the government as a key economic priority.
The “OxCam Arc” plans included a rail link, new homes and an expressway, but the expressway was scrapped later that year after being deemed not costeffective for the taxpayer according to the government. Plans remain ongoing for the East West Rail scheme which will re-establish a rail link between Cambridge and Oxford to improve connections between East Anglia and central, southern and western England.
However, since publication of the consultation, the government’s ambitions around devolution and levelling up have changed its focus. While there is still government support for the Arc, it has indicated that the collaboration and cross boundary working should be determined locally.
Alongside the Arc project driven by central government there was – and remains – a wide-ranging and locally-led Arc programme of activity which includes
a trade and investment plan for the Arc on which its leadership group (which includes local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and universities in the region) is currently working with the Department for International Trade.
Property agency Bidwells recently published a report on the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. Called Radical Capital, the report is arranged around six strands of ‘capital’ – from knowledge, human and natural to connective, global and future, that it says must be considered collectively to supercharge the Arc, which currently accounts for seven per cent of England’s economic output, and which is predicted could grow to £235 billion by 2030.
A total of £2.36 billion was raised by Oxford and Cambridge in venture capital investment from January to June last year.
Bidwells partner, Patrick McMahon, said: “While government may be focussing on other priorities at the moment, there is such a head of steam from the private sector, universities and non-government organisations that the momentum is there.”
Those leading the Oxford-Cambridge Arc area believe that with investment, the region will be able to enhance its world-leading science, technologies and industries which can drive growth, deliver sustainable outcomes and boost jobs.
The Midlands Engine partnership covers a huge swathe of central England, from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border, with a population of 11 million.
Chaired by Sir John Peace, whose career has covered technology, financial services and retail sectors, the Midlands Engine – like the Western Gateway, also sees a bright future in supporting the growth of a net zero economy. Its 10-point plan promises that by 2041, the region will have the potential to create or safeguard 196,000 green jobs, increase regional GVA by almost £26 billion and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 36 per cent.
The Midlands is also the manufacturing heartland of the UK, with unrivalled expertise and capacity to make and apply low carbon hydrogen technologies to deliver net zero. The region accounts for 20 per cent of all England’s exports and generates £246 billion for the UK economy – the majority from the manufacturing sector.
The Midlands Engine region is home to the largest cluster of medtech companies in the UK generating £1 billion a year for the UK economy, 1,200 life sciences businesses, seven leading medical schools and two of the three largest NHS Trusts. It also hosts the UK’s largest Clinical Trials Unit and the UK Centre for black and minority ethnic health.
Last year, the Midland’s Engine published its first digital connected map. Working with mobile operators, local authority partners, Ordnance Survey, universities and others, it published a comprehensive record of public assets, broadband, 4G, 5G and fibre+ gigabit connections. This highlights where services are needed most to properly target new investment.
Midlands Connect is the transport arm of the Midlands Engine. It is working with partners to decarbonise the region’s transport network, with a focus on more charging points, improving public transport and reducing congestion. Midlands Connect’s rail programme, Midlands Engine Rail, currently comprises seven major projects.
International trade is also a key regional priority and in his March budget, the Chancellor approved the creation of the East Midlands Airport as a freeport. Freeports offer concessions for eligible companies on customs, other tax and planning advantages and reduced bureaucracy. They can range from secure warehouses to sites where considerable added-value manufacturing occurs before the goods are re-exported.
The UK’s only inland freeport could create more than 61,000 jobs for the Midlands
and an extra £8.9 billion for the local economy over the next 30 years.
All these priorities have been developed through consultation and collaboration with key institutions and companies across the region.
The Midlands Engine Observatory is an alliance of academic researchers and economic and industry experts working to gather the data and intelligence that can shape policy, help target investment for recovery and growth, and measure levelling up progress. It is the only pan-regional observatory in England.
The Midlands Engine Business Council consists of 30 entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the region, collaborating on how to drive growth and productivity, and act as a conduit for the private sector into government.
The region covered by the Western Gateway generates £110 billion of Gross Value Added (GVA) per year, contributing six per cent of UK output. It is a national innovation powerhouse, has an educated workforce and hosts significant natural and economic assets.
Despite these advantages, the region lags behind the UK average in terms of productivity.
Set up in 2019 to tackle this, The Western Gateway is the pan-regional partnership for South Wales and Western England which is now championing economic growth across the area.
Made up of local authorities, a combined authority, city regions, local enterprise partnerships and governments in Wales and Westminster, the Western Gateway is concentrating on four key pillars to drive investment and widen prosperity across the region.
The most high-profile one, where it’s already investing a lot of time, is Net Zero. The Western Gateway believes it has all the elements to become a world-leading green energy cluster. The Western Gateway’s bid to host a new fusion energy plant has made it into the final five shortlisted to become the future home of the UK’s prototype fusion energy power plant – the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP).
In Swindon and Wiltshire along with Swansea which is working with the University of South Wales and South Wales Industrial cluster, there’s national expertise in hydrogen technology.
Swindon also hosts waste management innovation. Recycling Technologies the Swindon-based company whose innovative manufacturing process can turn plastic packaging back into oil, is currently planning to list on the London Stock Exchange.
Another of the Western Gateway’s investment targets is supporting innovation and there the region has many companies which are national leaders in AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and fintech.
A significant part of this innovation support is for cyber – and in particular the multi-million-pound Cyber Central project along the Golden Valley in Cheltenham. This project has been named in the government’s strategy setting out how the UK will foster the growth of a sustainable, innovative and internationally competitive cyber and information security sector. Bristol and Cheltenham are home to some of the biggest cyber manufacturers and innovators in Europe. Each a vital part of the other’s supply chain.
Fourteen of the world’s 15 largest aerospace design and manufacturing firms are based in the Western Gateway and there is a world-leading manufacturing hub of compound
semiconductors – powering everything from iPhones to satellites. The other two pillars which the Western Gateway has flagged up are Connecting Communities and supporting investment.
The Western Gateway was originally formed to better the region digitally and through improved public transport. Certainly, the dropping of the tolls on Bristol’s suspension bridge in December 2018 has helped to make South Wales more accessible – 140,000 people now cross the Severn Bridge every day.
In March, Katherine Bennett, Chair of the Western Gateway, and also a member of the UK Investment Council and chair of the UK’s manufacturing catapult, joined colleagues from across the region at MIPIM, the world’s largest real estate fair in the South of France. Participating in this major world fair presents an opportunity for the Western Gateway to make in-roads on the international stage to attract further investment into the region.
Coventry and Warwickshire has announced its new Chief Executive. Corin Crane will join the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce from its sister organisation, the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, which he led for the past six years.
Worcestershire building contractor Speller Metcalfe has promoted James Speller to the role of managing director. He takes over from his father Steve Speller who has retired, and Andy Metcalfe who will undertake special projects. However, they retain ownership of the company.
Law firm FBC Manby Bowdler has appointed Claire Bentick as a Senior Associate in Redditch. Qualified solicitor Claire will be working alongside Partner Gareth Ruddock (also pictured), who is also based at the Redditch branch.
Gloucester headquartered chartered surveyors Bruton Knowles has appointed Harry Lea as Senior Surveyor. As the firm celebrates its 160th anniversary, Bruton Knowles is aiming to expand its headcount across all areas of the business.
Dave Atkinson has returned as regional director for Lloyds Bank across the Midlands and South Wales, having previously held the role between 2012 and 2014. He also continues his role as Lloyds Banking Group’s UK Head of Manufacturing.
Ian Mean, Director of Business West has been appointed Vice-Chair at GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership. Ian said: “I am passionate about helping business in Gloucestershire and supporting the economy of this great county.”
Thomas White Oxford Ltd has appointed Dame Alison Nimmo DBE to its board to provide property and sustainability advice across its activities, including Oxford North, the city’s new £500 million global innovation district. Dame Alison was formerly chief executive of The Crown Estate.
A senior lawyer says she feels “back where I belong” after rejoining Midlands firm Wright Hassall. Claire Halle-Smith has returned to the commercial team of Leamington-based Wright Hassall after leaving last summer to join Penningtons in Oxford.
Shoosmiths law firm has recruited housebuilder expert Ben Pariser, pictured above, as a partner into its Thames Valley office in Reading. Also joining the team is Simon Dawes who has taken on the role of legal director.
Exmoor Pharma has appointed Dr Lucy Foley as Chief Technology Officer. Lucy joins Bristol-based Exmoor after eight years at the Centre for Process Innovation with her most recent position as Director of Biologics and COVID response.
In her new role as CEO of Aerospace Bristol, Sally Cordwell brings significant experience in visitor attractions and culture venues including as Interim Executive Director at Bristol Old Vic Theatre, and as Deputy CEO at SS Great Britain Trust.
Cheltenham-based BPE Solicitors has welcomed two solicitors to advise both businesses and individuals. Simon (below left) joins as a Partner in the Construction and Engineering team, and Senior Associate, Philip Allen (below right) joins the private wealth department.
On the May 18, the UK will celebrate National Numeracy Day.
Why is that important? Because "Good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health".
So says German mathematician Andreas Schleicher, an education policy adviser at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Schools and colleges often celebrate artistic subjects such as English and drama, but there is less recognition for young mathematicians, and that’s something that Jemma Vaughan, a director at accountants Hazlewoods would like changed.
Employers need mathematicians for their problem-solving abilities. From chartered accountant to software developer, data scientist to economist – these are also careers which attract high rates of pay.
Growing up in rural Herefordshire, Jemma recognised early that she had a maths brain. “I like a clear solution to a problem. To some people numbers are meaningless. To me they can paint a picture,” she said.
An early work placement with a local accountancy firm confirmed it and she went on to secure an accounting and finance degree from Birmingham University.
But real-life accountancy isn’t cut and dried, and her first job – at a small firm of accountants in Worcester, saw her working in the local business community.
“A lot of my work was for farmers and construction workers, where I spent my time typing their invoices and analysing them out. It wasn’t the most exciting job, but it was a necessary part of learning.”
Moving to a larger practice she began focusing on tax, an area of accountancy which interested her most.
Ten years ago, Jemma joined Hazlewoods in Cheltenham. Moving into the innovation team, she began helping clients reduce their tax liabilities using the government’s R&D tax credit relief and, since 2013, its Patent Box.
“The UK government’s Patent Box encourages companies to keep and commercialise intellectual property in the UK. It effectively allows them to apply a lower rate of Corporation Tax to profits earned from their patented inventions.”
Why did she decide to focus on this area of accounting? “It’s satisfying getting to know an innovative business. I often first work with them on securing R&D tax credits. Then, when they have secured patents and are commercialising their products, I can say to them: “You’ve done all this great research, created new products
and inventions and in return, we can help reduce your tax bill and you can reinvest that saving to make your business even better.”
So it’s a win/win for Jemma in terms of job satisfaction and for her clients who benefit from lower tax bills.
What can be done to encourage more students to recognise their mathematical capabilities?
“Perhaps the GCHQ approach where every Christmas they set out a difficult puzzle that no mere mortal can attempt to solve unless they’ve got a brain which is wired that way.
“That’s a fun way to discover whether your brain is wired for a career in mathematics, accountancy or data.”
Jemma has achieved a lot in her career at Hazlewoods, but she’s not done yet. Having become an acknowledged expert in R&D tax credits and Patent Box, Jemma, now 40, wants to make Hazlewoods the go-to advisory service for innovative companies regionally and nationwide.”
“I discovered early what I was good at, and accountancy is giving me huge job satisfaction. I work with people from a broad range of businesses, and most importantly –doing my job delivers huge benefits and tax savings to my clients.”
Jemma Vaughan is forging a successful career at Hazlewoods Accountants and Business Advisers helping innovative companies become tax efficient so they can reinvest in their business
A teenager has started his first full-time job after receiving a boost from an education and employability programme delivered by the rugby club Wasps.
Kieran Bolton, 17, has started working full-time at Park Sheet Metal in Exhall near Nuneton as a part picker after excelling in an 80-plus hour work placement organised through the Wasps’ HITZ programme.
HITZ works with 16 to 19-year-olds to improve their maths and English, develop valuable life skills and earn other relevant qualifications. This work is coupled with organising work experience placements with local employers.
Kieran said: “I don’t think I would have got an opportunity like this without HITZ.
It was good to hear that Park Sheet Metal was interested in taking me on full-time, it’s
my first job and I’m really enjoying working here.”
Graham Penter, Finance Director at Park Sheet Metal, said: “We approached Wasps to say that we were interested in giving young, enthusiastic people with the right mind-set opportunities through traineeships with the business.
“Kieran’s attitude has been fantastic, he completed more than 80 hours work with us and we were really pleased to be able to offer him a full-time job.
“This is the first time we have done something like this. We have previously struggled to find the right way of reaching out to young people in the local area and give them opportunities.
“This programme with Wasps has helped and we are keen to take more trainees on in the future.”
Metro Mayor Dan Norris has secured £3.3 million funding to expand a series of successful Skills Bootcamp programmes through the West of England Combined Authority.
The government cash will allow another 1,200 West of England learners to take part in free skills bootcamps across the region.
The camps offer flexible courses up to 16 weeks to the unemployed and those seeking a career change, as well as employed local people looking to gain new skills.
Dan Norris said: ““There is training for heat and solar panel installers and retrofit advisors, vital if we are going to reach our net-zero ambitions, plus there are courses for people who want to be HGV drivers – so important to keeping our shelves full – and welders, plumbers and more.”
The Buckinghamshire Skills Show 2022 returned in March with more than 120 businesses and 4,500 people walking through the doors of Westcott Venture Park for two days of careers inspiration.
Students, young adults and people of all ages looking to change career path were able to meet with more than 120 businesses and organisations exhibiting, including Pinewood Studios, Google, MetroBank, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Cliveden House, Cisco, Buckinghamshire Council and Satellite Applications Catapult.
Organised by the Buckinghamshire Skills Hub, the event followed on from a virtual Skills Show in 2020.
The South West of England’s tech sector is set to grow to almost £20 billion “gross value added” a year by 2026, creating more than 125,000 new jobs, according to a new study commissioned by Tech South West.
The study reveals that the South West is rapidly becoming a global leader in environmental tech, with internationally tech firms, centres of excellence, science parks, university research, and innovation hubs in specialisms including environmental science, marinetech, climate science and cleantech, along with fintech, deep tech and robotics.
The South West is now generating around one in 11 of all new tech startups in the country. With nearly 170,000 people working in the sector, the GVA per capita of £1,943 is the second highest in the UK when compared to all other regions outside London and the South East, the study reveals.
As part of the West Mercia Rural 5G (WMR5G) project, Worcestershire County Council and its partners shared their 5G experiences at an exclusive UK5G Showcase Event.
Stephen Ashton, Senior Project Manager at Worcestershire County Council, said: “The project is leading the way on investigating how to build 5G infrastructure quickly and efficiently in rural spaces as well as the impact 5G has on rural communities, specifically to support health and social care services.
“The Connected Worker project trials the use of a wearable connected camera which provides support and expert advice
to care home staff, without the need to bring highly specialised GPs to the location.
“The second Health XR project is an experimental mobile application that maps the movement of a patient following a prescribed exercise for their physiotherapist to review. This event has provided an excellent opportunity to present our front-line 5G progress and experiences, with representations from WMR5G on the panels covering 5G in Health & Social Care and 5G in Rural.’’
The 5G network went live towards the end of 2021 to support the delivery of the trials, which are due to finish this summer.
Cheltenham-based cyber security consultancy Pentest People is planning further expansion following its second consecutive year of rapid business growth, which saw revenues increasing by 65 per cent and headcount by 35 per cent over the past 12 months.
Pentest People’s cyber security experts test company’s websites, applications and IT systems for
weaknesses that could allow cyber criminals to steal information, damage IT systems, or hold data to ransom.
Co-founder, Andrew Mason said: “We have opened a second office close to GCHQ in Cheltenham and launched an apprentice and graduate recruitment and training programme.
“We’ve also hired 13 women and are recruiting more female consultants.”
Pioneering Bristol-based automated credit control platform itsettled, has been announced as this year’s TechNation Rising Stars 4.0 FinTech Award winner.
Built on CEO Glen Morgan’s 28 years of experience in the credit management industry, itsettled integrates with a customer’s accounting software, allowing invoices to be pulled across with ease. With free access to credit reports and a debt collection guarantee, itsettled helps businesses get paid quicker and stress less.
Awarded by TechNation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, the Rising Stars programme is a competition for innovative, early-stage tech companies.
CyNam, Cheltenham’s cyber cluster, has launched a new manifesto aimed at turbo-charging its entrepreneurial cyber ecosystem.
Richard Yorke, Managing Director at CyNam and Chair at UKC3 – UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration, said: “It’s time for us to stop talking so much about CyNam and our ecosystem in the abstract and instead talk much more about the specific achievements of our start-ups and entrepreneurs.”
The manifesto states that Cheltenham must recognise its fast-growing success stories, such as Anatwine, Fasthosts, Immersive Labs and Aquilai and celebrate them.
These success stories are the high growth companies that are paving the way for other start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs in the region.
What is a cool product design? We’ve rounded up 10 of what we consider to be among the best. Our criteria are that the products should be aspirational, good looking, sustainable and either designed or manufactured in our region.
Across the region there are many companies which are already hugely successful in terms of product design and function. In the top 10 of the list must surely come Malmesbury-based Dyson.
The company’s vacuum cleaner designs are now iconic, and its more recent products, including the hairdryer and air purifiers are equally as successful and beautiful to look at.
But great product design isn’t new. Think of the Anglepoise lamp. It was based on a new spring and lever mechanism invented in 1932 by automotive engineer George Carwardine.
This system allowed the lamp to remain
in position after being moved in every direction. It became popular immediately and demand soon outstripped supply, so Carwardine licensed it to Herbert Terry & Sons, a manufacturer based at Redditch in Worcestershire that supplied springs to industry. Almost 100 years later it remains an iconic design.
Then there is the lowly lawnmower. In 1830, Edwin Beard Budding patented “a new combination and application of machinery for the purpose of cropping or shearing the vegetable surface of lawns and pleasure grounds”. Before the invention of the lawnmower, grass was cut by scythes.
Edwin, a mechanic who built and repaired machinery for the textile mills in the Stroud valleys, got the idea for his lawnmower from the cross-cutting machines used to
finish woollen cloth. Apparently, more than 1,000 were manufactured and sold from the Phoenix Iron Works in Thrupp, near Stroud.
And of course, Concorde, by far and away the world’s most beautiful (but OK we admit, not the most sustainable), aircraft was built at Filton in Bristol.
The origins of the Concorde project date back to the early 1950s when Sir Arnold Hall, Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, asked the noted Welsh aeronautical engineer Morien Morgan, to form a committee to study the potential of supersonic transport. They delivered their first report in 1955.
In 1959 Hawker Siddeley and Bristol Aeroplace Company produced preliminary designs based on the distinctive and slender delta concept.
The project, by this time a co-operation between the UK and France, launched its first flight from Toulouse in 1969. Concorde 002, the first UK-built aircraft, flew from BAC Filton to RAF Fairford just 31 days later, piloted by Brian Trubshaw.
Urban e-cargo and micro-mobility vehicle
The EAV e-cargo bike, designed and manufactured near Bicester in Oxfordshire, is powered purely by humans and a unique electrical assist mechanism. As soon as the rider begins to pedal, the EAV’s motor, which stands between pedal input and wheel, kicks in. And you don’t have to be fit. If you can use your legs, you can pilot an e-cargo bike.
www.eav.solutions
Designed and manufactured in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1926, this classic bicycle company continues to innovate.
www.pashley.co.uk
Could one of these 10 cool products have as much impact at the mighty Concorde?
Rupert Wilkinson, Director at Oxford Product Design, said: “Good product design must meet a real need to be successful. What has also changed over the years is that product designers must consider the effect that their designs have on our planet. Concorde – while
aesthetically very beautiful – was unsustainable. We care deeply about the impact our work has on the planet and are members of Oxfordshire Greentech – an organisation that encourages innovation, collaboration and knowledge transfer towards a sustainable, low carbon future.”
Extensive research has been carried out by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to distinguish the world’s five most common facial shapes. Using this research JSP has developed the Force®8 half-mask available in sizes to fit a variety of facial shapes. With easy maintenance and replaceable PressToCheck™ filters, this mask is more sustainable, reusable, and affordable. The award-winning filter technology allows users to perform a fit check each time they wear their mask. Designed and manufactured by JSP Ltd based near Witney.
www.jspsafety.com
Designed in 2003 by four friends studying at the Royal College of Art in London. They designed a revolutionary new chicken house which made it simpler to keep chickens in gardens. The team established Omlet to commercialise their design. Since then Omlet’s designs have sold around the world.
www.omlet.co.uk
A pioneering, Oxford-based adaptive optics technology company which aims to have a major impact on the future of augmented and virtual reality for eyewear. Adlens Taskmaster lens system is a new prescription alternative to varifocals, occupational eyewear or wearing multiple pairs.
www.adlens.com
A British electric motorcycle with a removable battery that you can charge from any plug socket. It’s light, clean and affordable says its makers. Designed and manufactured in Coventry. It has no gears, no petrol, no smell, no noise and it’s easy to ride.
www.maeving.com
Made from organic Fairtrade cotton and PETA-approved vegan material, Y.O.U underwear is as good for the world as it is for our wardrobes. It also has a buy-one-give-two promise, meaning it donates two pairs for every pair purchased.
www.youunderwear.com
Once a traditional vehicle manufacturer, the London Electric Vehicle Company now manufactures its electric taxis at Ansty, near Coventry.
www.levc.com
An estimated 46 per cent of gas customers don’t know how to turn their gas off, and many millions wouldn’t physically be able to, even if they knew how. This product solves that problem.
Designed to enable vulnerable customers to turn off their gas easily in an emergency – and turn off automatically if it detects fire.
www.easyassist.uk
Few companies can trace their heritage back to the 1800’s. Gloucestershire engineering company, Helipebs was incorporated as a limited company on the 7th July 1922, however the name HELIPEBS was published in an article in The Engineer, right back in 1915, in reference to the launch of the Helipeb product being invented.
From 1834 when Helipebs began life as Kell, Meats and Co, founded to design and manufacture agricultural implements and machines in Ross-on-Wye, to its current day role as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fluid power technology, some things remain unchanged.
Entirely British owned, Helipebs provides global businesses with quality, bespoke and standard solutions to today’s demanding hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder applications and designs, manufactures and supports world class Hydraulic Cylinders, Pneumatic Cylinders, Servo Actuators and Hydraulic Systems.
The company was founded by cement works engineer, Robert McDougall, whose aim was to improve the grinding process used in the production of cement. In 1956, the original company site in Quay Street, Gloucester (part of which had been
owned by the famous Cotton Motorcycle Company) was compulsory purchased and Helipebs acquired Kell & Co. Ltd and its Barton Foundry premises; a company that had been founded in 1838 to manufacture agricultural equipment.
Kell expanded into sub-contract machining and supplied many famous names in the area including Fielding & Platt, Gloucester Aircraft Company, Bryce Berger and Rank Zerox and Arca Controls to name a few.
The company was conscious that with a sub-contract facility it was not in control of its own destiny and following a visit to the United States, an agreement was signed with an American cylinder manufacturer to produce their imperial product range under license and in the name of Helipebs Controls Ltd. In due course, a similar range of metric cylinders was designed for the mould and tool industry.
The businesses all continued to grow and in late 1969, the decision was taken to re-locate to the present 5-acre site in Sisson Road in Gloucester, which had a history of engineering dating back to the late 19th Century when it was used to manufacture chocolate making machines for Cadbury.
With the cylinder side of the business having established itself in the UK and overseas, as a quality supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, the foundry facility was closed, and Kell & Co. Ltd and Helipebs Controls joined forces to operate under the name Helipebs Controls Ltd. www.helipebs-controls.co.uk
Helipebs current Managing Director, Geoff Davis, grandson of the founder, joined the business 59 years ago as an apprentice when he was just 18 years of age. In those days it was standard practice during an apprenticeship to gain experience outside of the business. During his apprenticeship
Geoff worked at some of the world’s best engineering firms including Heenan & Froude Fielding & Platt, Dowty Hydraulics (now Ultra Group) Walker Crosweller (now Mira) and travelled the globe learning about the ball making process at plants all over Europe.
Geoff took the helm of the family business from his grandfather and has since been managing Helibebs for more than 4 decades. Today the company has several hundred years’ experience on the factory floor with many of the loyal team also working at Helipebs for most of their entire careers.
As part of a long term strategic plan and in recognition of the increasing demand for high quality British engineered and manufactured products, Helipebs continues to export into China & further across Asia and in 2016 the company was recognised for its excellence in export, winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise –International Trade.
Under the stewardship of Geoff, the company recognised it could’nt always compete with low cost imports from the Far East, and over time evolved to concentrate on high value low volume bespoke products for such industries as subsea oil & gas, aerospace & Formula 1 fatigue testing, pharmaceuticals and green energy with a range of welded cylinders to be introduced later in the year for use in the food, maritime and pharmaceutical industries.
Geoff Davis, Managing Director, says that “to meet exacting needs of the industries we supply such as subsea oil & gas, Helipebs Controls must operate a fully integrated QHSE system, and therefore we are accredited to the BSI standards ISO 9001:2015 (Quality), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental) and ISO 45001:2018 (Health & Safety). This means that the company has full control and traceability over the many exotic materials that are used to produce cylinders that may be in use for up to 25 years in an extreme environment”.
In 2022 the business continues to diversify and grow with the recent development of a shot blasting, painting and powder coating facility under the name of Helipebs Metal Finishing Ltd. – www.helipebsmf.co.uk
Helipebs recognises the importance of developing the next generation of engineers, ensuring vital skills are passed on and future proofing the business. As the company continues to grow, there will be opportunities for motivated and ambitious people to join the team. For further information on opportunities, please e-mail jobs@helipebs.co.uk
“We are proud of our legacy and inherent tradition of combining a quality service with an innovative approach”
Geoff Davis, Managing Director.Geoff Davis, Managing Director with The Duke of Kent receiving the Helipebs Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade.
Versarien, the Forest of Dean-based advanced engineering materials group, has launched a “Lifestyle Pod” to showcase its first 3D printed concrete product made with Cementene, Versarien’s grapheneenhanced cement.
This is a milestone project for a 3D-concrete printed product with a graphene additive. The pod’s wall design shows the level of detail, flexibility and precision that can be achieved with 3D-concrete printing.
While the pod building might be appropriate for wealthy western countries, Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, said that the buildings, and the graphene-enhanced concrete out of which they are made, could be easily adapted to house refugees. “They take very little time to build, can be constructed on-site, and have excellent insulation properties,” he said. “We have already been in touch with the government to see if they might be of interest.”
This construction innovation comes at a
time where sustainability in the sector has never been more under the spotlight.
The industry accounts for around eight per cent of global CO2 emissions and would be third for emissions in the world if it were a country, behind only the US and China. Since fewer materials are needed to achieve the same structural performance as ordinary concrete, incorporating graphene into concrete can enable faster completion of buildings, reducing costs and the carbon footprint.
Herbs and spices specialist The Bart Ingredients Co has opened a £15 million production facility in Bristol.
The business has been moving its operations to the new 167,000 sq ft facility at Severn Beach after rising demand saw the business outgrow its factory in Bedminster.
In its most recent financial results, The Bart Ingredients Co. saw turnover rise 33 per cent to £40 million as the
pandemic lockdowns encouraged more people to cook at home.
The new facility is more than double the size of its old factory and has been developed to help significantly enhance the sustainability of the business’s operations.
The whole of Bart Ingredients’ dry goods business will be housed at the facility, reducing carbon emissions associated with stock movement
between sites and warehousing, improving operational efficiency.
Two fully automated high speed production lines have been installed to increase capacity and efficiency.
David Collard, CEO, said: “This is a major milestone for The Bart Ingredients Co. Our new facility will be central to delivering our growth plans. This incredible investment is a company first.”
Recycling Technologies, the Swindon company whose innovative manufacturing process can turn plastic packaging back into oil, has announced a new collaboration with global energy technology leader Sumitomo SHI FW.
Sumitomo SHI FW and Recycling Technologies will work on the development of technology and manufacturing of Recycling Technologies’ advanced waste plastic recycling machine, the RT7000.
The RT7000, turns hard-to-recycle plastic such as films, bags, laminated plastics into a hydrocarbon feedstock, called Plaxx, which can be used as a feedstock for new plastic production. The RT7000 is modular
and small-scale, designed to fit easily onto existing waste treatment and recycling sites, providing a scalable solution to recycle waste plastic anywhere in the world.
Adrian Griffiths, CEO at Recycling Technologies, said: “This collaboration represents an important milestone in our strategy to mass produce our RT7000s, reduce their manufacturing costs, improve their efficiency and expand our global marketing and sales channels. These steps will speed up our goal to make plastic more sustainable through innovation, technology and determination.”
Recycling Technologies is also seeking to list on London’s AIM investment market this year.
Bristol engineering company Avon Group has completed more key acquisitions with the purchase of Telford-based Acousta Products Ltd and AntiVibe Ltd based in Hull.
Acousta Products manufacturers acoustic foam and rubber products
for the automotive, medical, air conditioning and packaging sectors.
AntiVibe is a specialist manufacturer of power transmission couplings and precision-made technical rubber and plastic components industrial machinery and the automotive market.
West Midlands-based manufacturer, Coventry Engineering has secured a £400,000 loan to create seven new jobs and invest in new equipment to enable round-the-clock production. The engineering company secured the funding from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), provided by The FSE Group, Debt Finance Fund and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
The funding will enable the company to increase the manufacturing of its precision static and driven spindle tooling, which is used in some of the world’s most demanding and highprofile industries including the medical and aerospace sectors.
Andrew Flynn, Managing Director of Coventry Engineering, said: “We are proud to make our products using traditional and modern manufacturing techniques. This funding will enable us to expand the modern end of our range so that we can continue to innovate and grow.”
Chris Mould, Audit & Assurance Partner, in the Cheltenham office of national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe, looks at the future of energy for the UK’s manufacturing sector.
The UK’s future energy security strategy needs to tread a fine line between the practical needs of industry now and its medium to long-term targets.
Soaring energy costs are a huge challenge to the manufacturing industry.
This is not just a short-term cashflow issue, it is about the competitiveness and survival of UK manufacturing. There is a very real risk that factories will have to close as they become unviable with too-high energy prices.
It’s no good being ‘clean’ but importing products from countries that aren’t. It’s just creating poverty here while moving the problem elsewhere.
Not all countries are committed to net zero, let alone by 2030/2050, and this was behind the rumoured threat by Toyota to move manufacturing away from the UK (now denied). Others may follow, however.
We need a balanced and affordable approach from government that supports UK industry in the short term and incentivises investment for the future. This means grant funding as well as loans and it means listening to industry much more to inform policy-making.
I believe that an over-aggressive, early implemented, energy security strategy has grave short-term risks for business.
and the manufacturing sector’s short-term requirements, cannot be reconciled.
Yes, we want to secure the long-term future of our domestic energy supply so that we are not in thrall to world events and widely fluctuating markets, but it cannot be at the cost of short-term damage to the engine room of our economy - our industrial and manufacturing base.
We all support the call for the ambitious, quicker expansion of nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, oil and gas, but history and experience teach us that projects of this kind invariably take much longer than was originally thought.
It is admirable to have a strategy that envisages the creation of 40,000 more jobs in clean industries by 2030, but not at the cost of our manufacturing industry and many thousands of jobs in the next few years.
And there is the inherent risk of securing the UK’s domestic energy policy and committing to a greener future, while businesses simply import products from countries that pay only lip service to the environmental agenda.
It feels like manufacturing has been rather overlooked in the government’s new energy security strategy. Firms are given no support with immediate costs and no incentives to invest for the long-term.
As governments in other countries have been stepping in with support packages worth billions to support businesses through the energy crisis, we risk destroying our manufacturing base and seeing it go abroad
In the short-term there will undoubtedly be an impact on cashflow, on the return on capital employed, and an impact on profits which, ultimately, may risk the survival of some businesses.
Organisations with money will only invest in countries with the best incentives and a more realistic, balanced approach to net zero.
Industry has a key role to play here as an influencer, to help the UK government steer a viable path between ultimate energy security for the country, and the current practicalities facing manufacturing businesses.
There is no reason, with a great deal of careful thought and planning, why the government’s medium to long-term aims,
The Prime Minister has called for the offshore wind industry to deliver new power supplies in one year, rather than the 10 years that seem to be taken up mostly by planning issues.
He wants to see one nuclear power station a year coming on stream, against the current rate of one every ten years.
The cost and time overruns on Hinkley Point C do not fill you with confidence.
We all want clean energy and independence of power supply but beware of creating casualties in the rush to deliver an over-ambitious agenda by 2030.
Crowe works with a broad spectrum of businesses in manufacturing industries, and we advise on a wide range of issues.
To start the conversation on how we can help your business, call Chris Mould on 01242 234421, or email chris.mould@crowe.co.uk
Covering
Worcestershire & Hereford
Coventry & Warwickshire
Thames Valley & Swindon
South Gloucestershire & Bristol
The life sciences sector is now among the most valuable and strategically important in the UK economy – and critical to the country’s health, wealth and economic resilience.
The sector generated almost £81 billion in annual turnover in 2019 – a year before Covid-19 came into existence. That was more than two thirds the turnover of the mighty construction sector, which contributed £117 billion. The life sciences sector also employed more than a quarter of a million people across the country.
Investors like a success story. In the first 10 months of 2021, UK life sciences companies raised a total of £6.6 billion in equity finance, according to the government’s Office for Life Sciences. In 2012, the equivalent figure was £0.6 billion. That’s an increase of 1,000 per cent.
But we cannot be complacent. Our competitiveness as a leading global location for life sciences is heavily reliant on a successful, supported and thriving science and research ecosystem.
Last July, the government published its life sciences vision to help the UK build on its phenomenal pandemic response.
It wants the country to be a science superpower, and for the UK (across government, industry and philanthropy) to invest 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product in research and development by 2027.
The vision acknowledges the diversity of the sector across the UK: that the country’s modern centres of excellence are fed by an ecosystem of entrepreneurs as well as small and large companies, all supported by a world-class academic base in our universities.
In the heart of our region lies not only the UK’s, but also one of Europe’s most successful life sciences clusters, with a track record in establishing and attracting world-leading life sciences businesses.
Their research and development is leading a swathe of innovative lifesaving products and therapies.
A company researching and developing sciences concerned with the study of living organisms.
The companies included in our listing are either pre-revenue or already commercialising their research and development.
The pandemic saw UK life sciences companies thrown into the global spotlight. We reveal 100 of the region’s most successful and share some of their innovations
The global health crisis has seen the life sciences sector thriving across the UK like never before.
This has been helped by investor confidence in the sector’s ability to find ways to improve the health of humankind, which has helped fund a rapid advancement of new innovations.
Central to this success has been a healthy collaboration between researchers, scientists and experienced professionals located in geographical UK clusters, supported by an efficient ecosystem.
And one of the UK’s most successful life sciences ecosystems is based across Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley.
During much of the Covid-19 pandemic, Oxfordshire was in the global news – thanks in no small part to the fast development of the highly successful Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
Since then hundreds of UK life science companies have contributed to the global effort to diagnose and eradicate the virus.
This success has led to an even greater awareness of the region’s thriving life sciences ecosystem – and a wider investment appetite for life sciences companies than ever before.
And that’s the key – scientific endeavour is a costly business and it can take years for a scientific breakthrough to become an overnight success.
While celebrating the higher profile life sciences are currently enjoying, Claus Andersen, a partner in the life sciences group at law firm Freeths, which has an office in Oxford, points out that the county’s ecosystem was well-established years before the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Experienced life science investors understand that research and development take time and money, and they are prepared to wait,” he said.
It was a 2016 investment in the technology of the Oxford vaccine team, led by Dr Sarah Gilbert, a Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, and in their Covid-19 vaccines since March 2020, that paved the way for approval by the UK’s independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
“The Oxford team was able to respond fast to the Covid-19 crisis because they had already invested in years of research and testing vaccines for previous Covid outbreaks,” said Claus.
“While there is major potential for financial returns, new investors unfamiliar with the
sector need to recognise that these may not come straight away.”
According to Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at Milton Park near Abingdon, the country’s largest single ownership science community, the UK’s rapid Covid19 vaccine roll-out was helped significantly by the pragmatic way in which the MHRA reviewed clinical data on a rolling basis.
Claus Andersen Partner in Freeth’s Life Sciences group agrees “The MHRA was able to approve the vaccine in more timely fashion and this has perhaps opened people’s eyes on how, in future, this could be done quicker in related areas. Preparing for Brexit forced the MHRA to act independently. The Covid outbreak focused their minds on how to do it successfully.”
Philip added: “The prospect of faster approvals also has the potential to drive further investment in the sector, not least because investors will see the potential for shorter exit timeframes.”
Oxfordshire has more than 25,000 people employed in life sciences and healthcare, representing more than five per cent of the population, according to Oxfordshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership.
It shouldn’t have taken a global health crisis to reveal how critical the UK’s highly successful life sciences sector is to humankind, but it did
Great science starts with an idea, or a theory. This must be researched, developed and tested, which takes appropriate lab space, qualified scientists and the informed and active support of the professional sector.
Philip has been a passionate supporter of the life science sector since he joined Milton Park in 2006.
His understanding of the unique requirements of such companies has helped many life sciences start-ups grow into some of the park’s most successful tenants which employ hundreds of people and occupy labs purpose-built in new buildings constructed by Milton Park.
There are around 250 companies on Milton Park, 47 per cent of its rental income is generated by life sciences and healthcare companies.
Philip said: “I feel privileged to work alongside, and in a small way support, many amazing companies and people in the sector.
“I get a real buzz when I hear about milestones reached. Whether it’s Immunocore’s recent USA Food and Drug Administration approval for KIMMTRAK, or Oxitec’s recent USA Environmental Protection Agency approval, it makes me proud of the great things going on at Milton Park.”
But start-ups can seldom afford all the inhouse expertise they need to get going.
Claus added: “Many young companies outsource functions such as regulation compliance and IP advice as these areas are complex and can de-risk their growth. Oxfordshire has an experienced legal and accountancy sector which understands the particular issues that life sciences companies face, not only when they are establishing themselves, but as they grow.
“When I’m drafting a document for a life sciences client, I can look at the outcomes they want to achieve thanks to my detailed working knowledge of the sector. The more you know about a sector, the more you can adapt and focus your advice.”
The pandemic, and the success of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and other science innovations, has also given overseas companies the confidence to look beyond London when they are seeking to establish themselves in the UK.
Claus has advised many overseas companies on setting up in the UK. “Businesses looking to establish themselves in the UK now recognise the innovation that’s going on further afield and are recognising the capabilities of the eco-systems supporting them in many parts of the UK, particularly in Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and other places.”
However, this fast growth in the UK’s life sciences sector doesn’t come without its own challenges, and one of those is lab and office space.
Last year the government published its new life sciences vision, setting a path for the UK to build on its pandemic response. It hopes that the 10-year strategy for the sector will help solve some of the biggest healthcare problems of our generation, including cancer and dementia.
“Suddenly life sciences has become fashionable within the real estate sector, and we are seeing many new players rushing in. I worry that some of them
don’t have the expertise our life sciences companies need,” Philip added.
“The decision for Milton Park to support technology, and life sciences in particular, was made way back in 1988, which is why we’re so well set up for the sector as we can build on 30 years of experience.”
That also goes for the region’s life sciences professional support network.
Claus added: “Our greatest challenge is to maintain our pre-eminence and it’s essential that the quality of support from experienced professionals already based in the region is maintained.”
Other countries are already staking their own claim in the global life sciences sector, he added. “Take Denmark, my home
country. Historically its biggest exports were dairy and Danish bacon.
“Life sciences has overtaken them. You see the same in Sweden and other countries. In November 2017, the EU Member States decided to relocate the European Medicines Agency from London to Amsterdam, because of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.”
“Our life sciences sector must avoid complacency. What we are doing at Freeths is about continually adding value. It’s not only about providing a really good service, but also maintaining and improving our understanding of the sector, recognising the potential impact of new innovations coming through and supporting the companies behind them.”
Philip agrees. “The commercial momentum behind the region’s life sciences sector is vast. We are playing our part by continuing to invest in the ecosystem at Milton Park. And that means investing in the provision of space for smaller companies as well as larger ones, because if they know they are welcome and supported, that will help the larger companies in terms of their innovation pipeline.”
Two years ago Milton Park published its 2040 vision, which has proved particularly accurate in predicting changing work patterns.
“Our 2040 vision identified that people wanted to work less 9-5 and more flexibly,” said Philip.
“Our masterplan set out how we plan to grow sustainably from 9,000 to 20,000 people working here in the next 20 years or so. The pandemic has accelerated the pace towards our vision of a much greater proportion of science and technology companies based at the Park.”
One of the biggest problems currently faced by many sectors, and life sciences is no exception, is getting the right people, said Claus. “And I don’t mean just
“I feel hugely privileged to work alongside, and in a very small way support, so many amazing companies and people in the sector”Philip Campbell
top scientists, but all those right up the support chain. Which is why Oxfordshire’s ecosystem remains strong compared to others in the country.
“We currently face a huge and desperate migration of people from Ukraine and other regions facing geo-political challenges. Oxford is a very welcoming place, and it needs to remain that way. The region is already building thousands of new homes in areas where they will be more affordable. Many of these migrants are skilled people, and we can offer them opportunities to help them build successful careers, benefit them and their families as well as the global life sciences sector. Ultimately it could help them rebuild their lives back home.”
A thriving life sciences cluster is a draw for talent, Philip said. “A few years ago, I was
returning from an event in London. When I got off the train and on to the Milton Park bus, I chatted with a man who had travelled from Kent.
“He was up for an interview, and wasn’t just looking at his next career step but future opportunities too. He was prepared to relocate to the area because of the raft of other great companies here.”
Oxfordshire and much of the Thames Valley lies within the UK’s Golden Triangle of economic growth and innovation.
With top universities, a thriving life sciences ecosystem, world-class facilities and a commitment from the region’s local government to build thousands of new homes, it’s not surprising that it is one of Europe’s most successful life sciences clusters. Who wouldn’t want to work here?
Claus Andersen
Claus is a Partner in Freeth’s Life Sciences group. He specialises in all aspects of corporate and commercial work with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder agreements, joint ventures, licensing agreements and regulatory advice to the life sciences and technology sector.
Claus has advised businesses from Scandinavia, Central and Western Europe, Asia and the USA on investing in the UK.
Philip is the Commercial Director at Milton Park, the largest single ownership science community in the UK. A chartered surveyor, he joined the team in 2006 and has been instrumental in the continuing improvement of Milton Park to meet the evolving accommodation needs of the hundreds of companies based there. Life sciences companies, which make up almost half of the businesses based at the Park, are of particular interest to Philip, and he has helped many of them adapt their workspace facilities to meet their growing needs.
Alongside his role at Milton Park, Philip is a Director of Didcot First, an organisation supporting the town’s business and community. He also sits as one of two external members on the University of Oxford Strategic Capital Steering Group and is a member of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s (OxLEP) Enterprise Zone Sub Group.
“One of the biggest problems currently being faced by many sectors, and life sciences is no exception, is getting the right people ...”
Claus Andersen
Life sciences companies have intensified their focus on privacy, security and information risk management to avoid regulatory risk and others stealing their information for competitive advantage. But are they doing enough?
A young university spin-out may be more focused on developing its proprietary technology than realising the high importance of protecting its data.
Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist at Cylera, a global cyber security company with offices in Cheltenham, says that life sciences organisations have been in the cross-hairs of cyber criminals for nearly two decades.
“Initially this was for the theft and sale of PII (personally identifiable information –any data that could potentially identify a specific individual) and PHI (protected health information) which can fetch high prices on underground marketplaces, but these marketplaces became full of data batches for sale, so prices dropped, and this pastime became less lucrative.”
However the market still exists he points out, and a complete personal identity for someone with an excellent credit rating in the right age range and income bracket can fetch thousands of pounds for criminals specialising in identity theft.
“Far more lucrative today appears to be cyber extortion campaigns that steal regulated data and threaten to release
it unless a ransom payment is made. Often this is run as a double or triple extortion campaign, where perpetrators approach the organisation and each of the individuals whose data has been obtained to maximise leverage that a payment will be made. The types of attacks are mainly being carried out by organised cyber crime gangs or freelance criminal hackers.”
Phil Howe, CTO at Core to Cloud, a cyber solutions company in Cirencester, added: “Failure to protect regulated data such as PII and PHI can result in fines in the millions of pounds or euros, the award of punitive damages and the need to provide credit monitoring services for anyone impacted. Regulators have issued massive fines to the most egregious failures or where inadequate cyber security controls have been put in place to protect non-public regulated data.
in the marketplace,” added Phil. “This is provided to state owned enterprises which have been told by their autocratic government of the need to surpass western competitors as part of the next five-year central plan.”
Richard continued: “Nearly all these cyber espionage attacks have been carried out by the People’s Republic of China which is thought to employ close to 100,000 People’s Liberation Army cyber warriors engaged in the theft of military-defence, intellectual property, and commercial trade secrets from almost every other nation on the planet.”
According to General Keith Alexander, former director of the United State National Security Agency, the Chinese theft of American intellectual property is the “greatest transfer of wealth in history,” likely costing the US upwards of $400 billion a year. Britain and Europe have expressed similar sentiments for their respective economies.
“Even more valuable for cyber criminals, and in particular nation-state actors, is the theft of intellectual property including experimental drug and treatment regimes, trial procedures and methodologies, proprietary drug formations, experimental medical devices, more or less any use cases involving AI or machine learning, and anything that helps a healthcare life sciences organisation differentiate itself
“Cyber security company Mandiant first drew mass public attention to the problem of Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage of commercial trade secrets over 15 years ago,” Richard added. “Since then, China has continued to increase its espionage activities. Its theft of commercial trade secrets has been so successful that Chinese companies have been first to patent and launch new products on the global market, based upon ideas and research stolen from others.
“Protecting IP is critical for any innovative company whether long-established or a fledgling start-up. Anyone who doesn’t afford comprehensive and holistic cyber security is asking not to be in business for long.”
“Nearly all these cyber espionage attacks have been carried out by the Peoples Republic of China ...”
The history of vaccine development began in the late 18th century when Edward Jenner, a doctor from Berkeley, near Gloucester – intrigued by countrylore which said that people who caught cowpox from their cows could not catch smallpox, tested the protective properties of cowpox by giving it to someone who had not yet suffered smallpox.
Over the next few years, he undertook and published the results of further experiments, all of which confirmed his original theory that cowpox did indeed protect against smallpox.
He is now considered the founder of vaccinology. Thanks to Dr Jenner, the first smallpox vaccine was developed in
1798 which led to the global eradication of smallpox and the development of many more life-saving vaccines.
This pioneering spirit was evident in the team behind the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Over the last two years, more than two billion doses of this vaccine, developed by University of Oxford scientists, have been manufactured and distributed across the world.
In fact, the UK has played a fundamental role in the development of a number of different vaccines and showed significant commercial and regulatory flexibility in getting vaccines to patients quickly.
In its Life Sciences Vision, published earlier this year, the government committed to continue to improve core immunology, vaccinology and clinical trial design and infrastructure. This means that the UK can continue to operate as a global hub for the development of new vaccines and trialling in first-in-human and larger, late-stage efficacy trials.
During the pandemic, the government’s vaccine task force invested more than £350 million in building the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capacity.
This included fast-tracking a £200 million Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire which, in a surprise move in April, was sold to USA manufacturing tech pharma company Catalent.
Catalent said it plans to invest up to £120 million to complete the building and equip the facility for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines.
“Thanks to Dr Jenner, the first smallpox vaccine was developed in 1798 which led to the global eradication of smallpox ...”A statue of the founder of vaccinology, Dr Edward Jenner, in Kensington Gardens, London
Thermo Fisher Scientific is a world leader in serving science, with annual revenues of approximately $35 billion. The company provides industry-leading pharmaceutical services for drug development, clinical trial logistics and commercial manufacturing through its Patheon brand.
Patheon has five sites in the UK, including in Swindon and at Milton Park.
Its Milton Park facility, which has a workforce of around 50, provides early phase development with strong links to both larger scale development and clinical labelling, packaging, and distribution sites in the Thermo Fisher network.
Coming up with a potentially life-changing idea may be the easy part. Making it happen needs an army of help.
And for those working in the highly complex life sciences sector, that will need to be from experienced professionals who have the right knowledge to help guide the rookie entrepreneur through the challenges they’re likely to face.
This ranges from law firms that understand the intricacies of intellectual property and can offer support to entrepreneurial companies in a highly regulated and competitive sector, to landlords who understand that a young company needs flexibility in office and lab space. This enables them to respond to fast growth or, sometimes, scaling back if research and development temporarily stalls.
Then there are the architects and construction companies that understand specific requirements that must be met when building a science laboratory –
where good ventilation is essential and other facilities, such as fume cupboards, need to be correctly designed and installed.
There are dedicated manufacturers for the life sciences sector too, and suppliers to those manufacturers – it’s a long supply chain and pretty much all of them will need to meet stringent regulations to operate in the life sciences sector.
The Swindon site, which has a much larger workforce of around 380, is a centre of excellence for speciality pharma solutions. Last year Thermo Fisher expanded the 30,000 sq ft site into a new full scale commercial manufacturing facility, and cold chain storage for vaccines requiring ultra-low temperatures.
Canadian company Nordion, which has a major base at Milton Park, is a leading provider of medical isotopes (used by medical professionals to diagnose and treat health conditions such as heart disease and cancer), and gamma technologies which are used in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease and infection. Nordion’s products are used daily by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical-device manufacturers, hospitals, clinics and research laboratories.
The government’s Life Sciences Vision aims to make the UK a leading global hub for life sciences. But the companies themselves can’t do this alone. Everyone needs the right support system to grow
Laboratory design is critical for efficient research and development, and to ensure they are safe places to work.
Bulb Laboratories, which has offices in Oxford and Reading, have worked with many of the region’s life sciences companies.
A recent Bulb project was to create a compliant laboratory space for biological research and analytical work for Emergex Vaccines, based at Milton Park, which needed extra space for its vaccine research and development work.
Emergex secured a building next to its current space at Milton Park and commissioned Bulb to create biology labs with tissue culture rooms, liquid nitrogen storage, and analytics.
The facility also needed installation of laboratory furniture, external gas storage and supply and provision of a three-phase power supply.
The project included ancillary support with GMP areas and relocation, as well as new flooring and associated works in the upper floor office areas.
Where do the best ideas grow?
There will be many answers to this but for a lot of us, what starts as an idea from one person grows into a workable business idea through collaboration, networking and unexpected partnerships which are increasingly happening thanks to the growth of innovation hubs around the region.
An innovation hub is a space where start-ups, established companies and entrepreneurs work alongside each other developing their own ideas. At its most basic, it offers a desk, chair
and fast-broadband access. At its most sophisticated, these spaces will offer lab space and opportunities for collaboration between seemingly the most disparate companies as they bond over the coffee machine or communal lunch table.
Across the region there are more than 100 innovation hubs, many with specific facilities for life sciences companies, based on existing science parks, in town and city centres and even more rural locations.
With its existing innovation centre already full in Oxfordshire, Milton Park’s
management team has just completed the transformation of 140 Eastern Avenue into Oxfordshire’s largest and newest collaborative workspace – the Bee House.
The Bee House offers private office suites, Skype booths and flexible space for young and growing businesses.
Culham Innovation Centre, based at one of Europe’s leading science and technology centres nearby, has dedicated labs, workshops and office space designed for innovators in the science sector.
The Oxford Centre for Innovation and its sister Wood Centre for Innovation, close to Headington’s Health and Life Sciences District, offers co-working and a wider business community.
Heyford Park Innovation Centre, based on the former RAF base near Bicester, is also home to a mix of technology and sciencebased businesses.
As the University of the West of England campus at Bristol, Future Space offers co-working space and purpose-built laboratories specifically for high-tech, science-based entrepreneurs and innovators.
Abbott Diabetes Care Ltd
Active Needle Technology Ltd
Adaptimmune Ltd
Accession Therapeutics Ltd
Amsbio Holdings Ltd
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Arctoris Ltd
Argonaut Therapeutics Ltd
Argonaute RNA Ltd
Beckley Psytech Ltd
Bioarchitech Ltd
Biocleave Ltd
BioCote Ltd
1996
Robert Ford Abbott Diabetes Care Ltd is part of Abbott Laboratories, the leading global healthcare company. It entered the blood glucose monitoring marketplace after acquiring MediSense in 1996
2016 Ian Quirk Technology to enable clinicians to perform needle-based procedures safely
2008 Adrian Rawcliffe A leader in T-cell therapy to treat cancer
2021 Bent Jakobsen
2008 Alex Sim
2002 Dr Yvonne Greenstreet
2016 Martin-Immanuel Bittner
2016 Professor Nick La Thangue
2015 Dr Mike Khan
Developing novel immune-oncology therapeutics
Accelerating discovery through life science technology, products and services for research and development in the medical, nutrition, cosmetics and energy industries
Develops innovative medicines to transform the lives of patients with inadequate treatment options using gene silencing
Combines its unique automation platform with computational approaches and team of seasoned drug hunters to progress its drug discovery programmes in oncology and neurology
A spin-out from Oxford University’s Medical Sciences Division focusing on new cancer treatments
Developing safe and reliable methods of temporarily silencing target genes in different tissue cells
2018 Cosmo Feilding Mellen Building a pipeline of psychedelic compounds with distinct clinical attributes for mental and neurological diseases
2014 Geoff Hale, Managing Director
2002 Dr Liz Jenkinson
1997
Developing immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer
Develops research use only proteins, for the study of multiple cellular activities such as cell signalling, replication, transcription, and translation
David Hall, Managing Director When manufactured into products, Biocote’s antimicrobial additives provide surface protection against microbes such as bacteria and mould, creating more hygienic products with an extended functional lifetime
BioMe Oxford Ltd 2015 Dr Soren Krogsgaard Thomsen Developing a pill-sized medical device for targeted and minimally invasive sampling of the human gut microbiome
Brainomix Ltd 2010 Dr Michalis Papadakis Medical imaging software that interprets brain CT scans of stroke patients
Carbon Gold Ltd 2007 Craig Sams, Executive Chairman Carbon Gold was founded by Craig Sams, founder of Green & Black’s Chocolate, as an organic, peat-free planting aid
Celleron Therapeutics Ltd
Cerus Endovascular Ltd
Chronos Therapeutics Ltd
Circadian Therapeutics Ltd
2004
Professor Nick La Thangue Global oncology company focused on the clinical development of new and innovative therapies to treat cancer
2011 Dr Stephen Griffin, President Privately owned medical device company developing and manufacturing neurovascular products to treatment haemorrhagic strokes
2009 Dr Huw Jones, Chairman Developing a portfolio of therapies in degenerative and behavioural brain diseases
2016 Dr Mark Sampson Develops products that target serious diseases associated with circadian rhythm disruption
Circassia Group Plc 2006 Ian Johnson, Chairman Diagnostics and management company focused on asthma
ConvaTec Group PLC
2016 Karim Bitar Medical products and technologies company focused on therapies for the management of chronic conditions in advanced wound, ostomy, continence, critical and infusion care
CryoLogyx Ltd 2020 Dr Thomas Congdon CryoLogyx’s proprietary technology enables it to develop cell models frozen in-plate and ready to use directly from the freezer
CytoSeek Ltd 2017 Dr Carolyn Porter Artificial membrane binding protein technology to deliver next generation cell therapies
Business and Innovation Magazine has endeavoured to correctly describe to its general readership the work of each life sciences company listed. However, the magazine does not accept liability for any inadvertant mis-representation.
Witney and Maidenhead
Culham Science Centre, Abingdon
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Business Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Maidenhead
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Bristol
Oxford
Oxford
Milton Park, Abingdon
Coventry
Woodstock, Oxford
Banbury
Bristol
Oxford Science Park
Oxford Science Park
Oxford Science Park
Oxford Innovation Centre
Oxford Science Park
Reading
Coventry
Bristol
Cytox Group Ltd
2004 Dr Richard Pither Provides non-invasive, risk assessment and patient stratification tools for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
Oxford Science Park
DJS Antibodies Ltd 2014 David Llewellyn Aiming to creating the next generation of antibody therapeutics. It uses its HEPTAD platform for antibody discovery to create novel therapeutics
2014 Dr Philip Huxley Developing novel therapies for inflammation and autoimmune diseases Witney
Wood Centre For Innovation, Oxford Ducentis BioTherapeutics Ltd
Eden Research Plc
1995 Sean Smith
Emergex Vaccines Ltd
Enara Bio Ltd
Enesi Pharma Ltd
Everest Biotech Ltd
Evotec (UK) Ltd
Evox Therapeutics Ltd
ExMoor Pharma Concepts Ltd
FasT Biopharma Ltd
Ferryx Ltd
FluoretiQ Ltd
GeneFirst Ltd
Genomic Labs Litd t/a Genomekey
2002 Professor Thomas Rademacher
2016 Kevin Pojasek
Developing sustainable bio-pesticides and plastic-free encapsulation technology for global crop protection, animal health and consumer products
Developing a pipeline of CD8+ T-Cell adaptive vaccines with the potential to deliver long-lasting immunity to reduce serious illness associated with infectious diseases
Advancing novel T-cell receptor directed immunotherapies against unconventional, shared, cancer-specific antigens
2017 David Hipkiss Developing next-generation vaccination products targeting infectious diseases and emergent threat pathogens
1999 Monika Mobley Specialists in anti-peptide and antigen affinity purified goat polyclonal antibodies
1991 Dr Werner Lanthaler Discovers and develops effective therapeutics. Assesses disease relevance at the patient-specific level as early as possible
2016 Dr Antonin De Fougerolles Harnessing the natural delivery capabilities of extracellular vesicles to develop an entirely novel class of biotherapeutics
2004 Angela Osborne Technical and strategic consultancy specialising in cell and gene therapies (ATMPs) and biopharmaceuticals
2016 Peter Davis Specialist therapeutics company developing therapeutic antibodies in the field of immuno-oncology
2019 Dr Jenny Bailey Developing innovative bacterial products for the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal inflammation in people and animals
2017 Dr Neciah Dorh Founded to solve the £1.1 billion problem of using broad spectrum antibiotics as an alternative for accurate diagnosis of infection. Developer of Nanoplex, a 15-minute proprietary diagnostic platform for bacterial infections
2011 Dr Guoliang Fu A molecular diagnostics company working in the fields of infectious disease, cancer diagnostics and personalised medicine
2019 Dr Michael Roberts Uses DNA sequencing and novel machine learning, to diagnose bacterial presence, species and antimicrobial resistance in hours, not days
Genomics Plc 2014 Professor Sir Peter Donnelly Pioneering healthcare company that uses large-scale genetic information to develop precision healthcare tools, and to bring new understanding to drug discovery
Grey Wolf Therapeutics Ltd
Halo Therapeutics Ltd
HydRegen Ltd
Immunocore Ltd
Hypha Discovery Ltd
Imophoron Ltd
Innaxon Ltd
2017 Peter Joyce Focused on developing novel immuno-oncology agents. Rather than targeting the immune system, Grey Wolf aims to directly alter tumour cells, illuminating them for attack and destruction by the immune system
2020 Dr Dan Fitzgerald Develops safe pan coronavirus antiviral drugs for Covid-19 that can be administered by patients
2020 Dr Holly Reeve Developing bio-based manufacturing technologies for the fine chemicals and pharmaceutical markets using biocatalysis
2008 Dr Bahija Jallal Commercial-stage T cell receptor biotechnology company developing a new generation of medicines to address unmet needs in cancer, infection and autoimmune disease
2004
Liam Evans PhD Specialists in metabolite synthesis, complex purification and structural characterisation for pharma and agrochemical companies worldwide
2020 Frederic Garzoni Developing a novel, next generation rapid-response vaccine platform called ADDomer, which can be produced and stored at warmer temperatures, removing the need for refrigeration
2009 Frank Neumann Innaxon’s in-house biopharmaceuticals Toll-like Receptor 4 agonists and in-licensed small molecule inhibitors have been shown in proofof-concept pre-clinical studies to treat cancer and prevent serious inflammatory diseases
Milton Park, Abingdon
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Bicester
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Future Space, Bristol
Watlington
Future Space UWE, Bristol
Science Creates, Bristol
Culham Science Centre, Abingdon
Gloucestershire
Oxford
Milton Park Innovation Centre Abingdon
Science Creates, Bristol
Oxford
Milton Park, Abingdon
Milton Park, Abingdon
Science Creates, Bristol
Bristol
Invivo Diagnostics Ltd
Ipsen Ltd
Isansys Ltd
Lipocast Biotech
UK Ltd
Ludger Ltd
Medherant Ltd
2018 Humphrey Bacchus, Founder
Developed multiple diagnostic tests that analyse the bacterial, viral and fungal communities of multiple human microbiomes, associated with key host immunological and inflammatory markers
1981 David Loew Biopharmaceutical company focused on transformative medicines in oncology, rare disease and neuroscience.
2020 Keith Errey Digital healthcare company which has developed the most complete, scalable and simple-to-use advanced patient monitoring platform – the Patient Status Engine
Bristol
Milton Park, Abingdon
Milton Park, Abingdon
2016 Martin Ffrench Blake Developed a regenerative therapy available for treating horses and dogs Cirencester
1999 Dr Daryl Fernandes Specialises in glycomics and glycoanalytical technology to support biopharmaceutical medicine. Technology originated at the University of Oxford and is used in the quality control of FDA and EMA approved biopharmaceuticals
2014 John Burt
Mirada Medical Ltd
NanoSyrinx Ltd
2008 Jon DeVries
2018 Dr Joseph Healey
Neuro Bio Ltd 2013 Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield CBE
Novo Nordisk Research Centre
Oxford
1923 (Novo Nordisk)
Dr Bill Haynes, Site Head
Developing its novel transdermal drug delivery technology, the TEPI Patch. Transdermal drug delivery can overcome some disadvantages of oral administration, such as spikes in drug levels that can lead to side effects and poor compliance
Diagnostic imaging software that aims to help medical professionals identify cancer
Leveraging naturally occurring, protein ‘nanosyringes’, to deliver drugs in a cell specific manner, with nano-scale accuracy
Privately-owned biotech spun out of Oxford University with a therapeutic focus on neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s
Innovative target discovery and translational research unit with a focus on identifying novel, game-changing therapies for patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases
Occuity Ltd 2019 Dr Dan Daly Design of non-contacting optical instruments for use in healthcare diagnostics and monitoring
OMass Therapeutics Ltd
2016 Rosamond Deegan
Identifying new medicines against highly validated but inadequately drugged targets using novel biochemistry, native mass spectrometry and custom chemistry
Optellum 2015 Jason Pesterfield Lung health company, developing products to help clinicians in the management, diagnosis and care of patients
Orbit Discovery Ltd 2020
Dr Neil Butt
Develops innovative drug discovery platforms defined by a unique peptide display engine that deliver novel peptide therapeutic leads
OrganOx Ltd 2008 Craig Marshall Developed a medical device that maintains human livers for transplants during transport and storage
Orthox Ltd 2008 Dr Nick Skaer Tissue regenerative synthetic biology company developing orthopaedic implants manufactured from silk protein.
Owen Mumford Ltd 1976
Oxford Biomedica plc 1996
Jarl Severn, Managing Director Manufactures innovative range of medical devices and disposables for drug delivery and capillary blood sampling
Dr Roch Doliveux World leader in gene and cell therapy
Oxford BioSystems Ltd 2001 Fiona Alcock
Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd
Oxford Genetics Ltd (t/a Oxgene)
2003 Dr Christian Rohlff PhD
2011 Jocelyne Bath, Managing Director
Sources reliable, quality in-vitro diagnostics products and research tools for clinical and research laboratories
Focused on first-in-class immune therapies, with special emphasis on improving outcomes for patients with solid tumours who respond poorly to PD-1 inhibitors
Design and engineering for viral vector optimisation and cell line development
Oxford Immunotec Ltd 2002 Peter Wrighton-Smith Global diagnostic company developing proprietary in vitro diagnostics tests.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc
2005 Dr Gordon Sanghera Manufacturing and engineering of genetic sequencing technology
Oxford Optronix Ltd 1991 Dr Andrew Obeid Global pioneer in the design and manufacture of sophisticated instrumentation for clinical medicine and the life sciences
Oxford Vacmedix UK Ltd
2012 William Finch
Developing therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer
Culham Science Centre, Abingdon
University Of Warwick Science Park
Oxford
University Of Warwick Science Park
Culham Science Centre, Abingdon
Oxford
Reading
Oxford Science Park
Oxford
Oxford Science Park
Oxford Science Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Oxford
Milton Park, Abingdon
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Oxitec Ltd
2002 Grey Frandsen Develops biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock
OxSonics Ltd 2013 Dr Colin Story Its SonoTran Platform has been designed to actively enhance the delivery of oncology drugs into solid tumours
Oxular Ltd
Pathios Therapeutics Ltd
Pertinax Pharma Ltd
2014 Thomas Cavanagh Developing treatments for patients suffering from sight-threatening diseases
2017 Stuart Hughes PhD Pioneering a proprietary macrophage conditioning approach to treating advanced solid tumours
2015 Dr Michele Barbour Developing smart materials capable of delivering slow-release antiseptic to promote fast wound healing and reduce risk of infection
Premier Research LLC 2002 Ludo Reynders Helps biotech companies transform ideas into reality, targeting unmet needs in analgesia, neuroscience, oncology, paediatrics and rare diseases
PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd
Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd
Replimune Ltd
RevoluGen Ltd
Rosa Biotech Ltd
Sense Biodetection Ltd
Sensium Healthcare Ltd
t/a The Surgical Company Group
2006 Priya Mande Systemic immune oncology products for sustained reprogramming of the tumour micro-environment to overcome resistance to therapy
2008 John Milad Developing innovative dialysis products and services
2015 Philip Astley-Sparke Pioneering a novel class of tumour-directed oncolytic immunotherapies designed to kill the tumour locally
1998 Pieter-Willem G Haitsma Mulier Company commercialising molecular tools with a specific focus on rapidly extracting long and pure DNA fragments from cells
2019 Dr Andy Boyce Aims for early diagnosis of a broad spectrum of diseases by combining the power of protein design and machine learning
2013 Timothy Still Diagnostic technologies which deliver fast, accurate results and offer the flexibility to run one test or dozens at the same time
2000 Chad Bateman Sensium is a discreet, wearable, wireless system for monitoring vital signs of patients outside of high acuity areas
Alex Snow Clinical artificial intelligence company analysing real-world data to deliver healthcare and life sciences insights
Neil Weir Regulating cell metabolism to develop disease modifying therapeutics in immunoinflammation & immunooncology
Bernard Ross Develops bioelectronic medicine for clinicians who treat vascular related conditions
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Science Park
Oxford Science Park
Oxford
University of Bristol
Reading
Abingdon
Alcester
Milton Park, Abingdon
Ascot, Berkshire
Science Creates, Bristol
Abingdon Science Park
Sumi Biswas Uses unique protein superglue technology to develop vaccines against infectious disease and cancer Oxford Business Park Summit Therapeutics Plc 2004 Robert Duggan A clinical-stage drug discovery and development company
Park, Abingdon Systems Biology Laboratory UK CIC 2004 Mike Fischer CBE A Community Interest Company dedicated to improving patient treatment through collaborative and clinically focused research
The Native Antigen Company Ltd 2010 Dr Nick Roesen, COO Develops and manufacturers antigens and antibodies Kidlington
Theolytics Ltd
Charlotte Casebourne Focused on harnessing viruses to combat disease Oxford Science Park
Bayer UK 2021 Antonio Payano Works across pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare and crop science, developing new molecules for use in innovative products and solutions to improve the health of humans, animals and plants
Vaccitech plc
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (UK) Ltd
Vicon Motion Systems Ltd
Xerion Healthcare Ltd
Zentraxa Ltd
2021 Bill Enright T-cell immunotherapy and vaccine company developing products to treat and prevent infectious disease and cancer
2011 Reshma Kewalramani Invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has multiple approved medicines that treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis
1984 Imogen Moorhouse Global leader in motion capture hardware and software, helping track and analyse movement
2015 Dr Ian George Working to transform radiotherapy for cancer treatment using pioneering nanomedicine technology
2017 Jonathan Wogel, Executive Chair Specialises in the design, production and testing of novel biomaterials
Reading
Oxford Science Park
Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxford Industrial Park
Bicester
Science Creates, Bristol
Unsuccessful biopsy due to inaccurate needle placement is common according to Active Needle Technology, which is based at Culham Science Centre near Abingdon.
It can be costly too, because it could mean that another biopsy needs to be done, incurring extra costs, and clinician time – never mind all the extra scheduling of appointments and patients being required to come back another day.
The Active Needle Technology company has developed a needle actuating device. Its award-winning technology enables precision needle targeting and has the potential to allow clinicians to perform these procedures safely, efficiently and cost-effectively benefiting patients and healthcare providers.
The technology is the outcome of research work carried out by Dr Muhammad Sadiq, a biomedical engineer and Royal Society of Edinburgh
enterprise fellow, and Professor Graeme McLeod, a consultant anaesthetist at Ninewells Hospital and the University of Dundee.
In March the pre-revenue company announced that it had been awarded an Innovate UK grant to help it focus on scaled manufacture for its devices. It is working with the Coventry-based Manufacturing Technology Centre to help it develop a strategy for building its devices at volume.
Late last year the company raised more than £250,000 on crowdfunding site Crowdcube.
Adaptimmune is a leader in T cell receptor therapy to treat cancer.
The company's unique SPEAR (Specific Peptide Enhanced Affinity Receptor) T-cell platform enables the engineering of T-cells to target and destroy cancer, including solid tumours.
Its technology was developed at Oxford University in the early 1990s and a business called Avidex was spun out. Adaptimmune was spun out of that company and in 2015 it launched on the
New York Nasdaq, raising $176 million.
It has a sister company (also in this listing), Immunocore which focuses on soluble TCR technology.
In September last year, Adaptimmune announced that it had entered into a strategic collaboration and licence agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group to develop and commercialise allogeneic cell therapies to treat multiple oncology indications.
Beckley Psytech was established to help patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric disorders by developing psychedelic compounds – such as magic mushrooms, ketamine, DMT, and LSD –into licenced pharmaceutical medicines.
In 1998 Lady Amanda Feilding set up the Beckley Foundation, a non-profit NGO focused on evidence-based drug policy reform and scientific research into psychedelic medicines.
Over the last 20 years the Beckley Foundation has become a world-famous pioneer in psychedelic research. Amanda has been dubbed “the hidden hand” behind the renaissance in psychedelic science, featured on the Guardian’s list of the Bravest Men and Women in the History of Science, and has personally co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications on the subject.
“Its award-winning technology enables precision needle targeting ...” BECKLEY
Oxford-based Beckley Psytech was created to build upon the Foundation’s work by developing safe and effective psychedelic medicines available to patients.
In 2020 the company raised more than $22 million to develop an intranasal formulation of synthetic 5-MeO-DMT, which is found in plants and in the glands of the Sonoran Desert toad.
In January it announced the first cohort of volunteers had been dosed in a clinical
trial exploring the safety of the substance, with the aim of helping patients with treatment-resistant depression.
The trial is being conducted as part of Beckley Psytech’s ongoing collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London and is being led by Dr James Rucker, who said: “Treatment-resistant depression is a challenging condition, and it is exciting to be exploring new treatment options that could have a positive impact on patients’ lives in the future.”
This Oxford-based company specialises in developing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered software to enable image-guided precision medicine for better treatment decisions for stroke, lung fibrosis and cancer patients.
In February Brainomix announced a new partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, to improve the accuracy and standardisation of tumour measurement in clinical trials through further development of its AI software.
Brainomix will leverage its existing capabilities in AI-powered medical software development, supported by Boehringer Ingelheim’s expertise in clinical development and the translation of technology innovation into practical applications.
Last December the company closed a series B financing round, raising £16 million to fund expansion into new markets and therapeutic indications. The financing was co-led by existing investors Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Parkwalk Advisors, along with new investor, Tencent Holdings, and included participation from Oxford University Innovation Fund.
“In 2020 the company raised more than $22 million to develop an intranasal formulation of synthetic 5-MeO-DMT, which is found in plants and in the glands of the Sonoran Desert toad”
University of Warwick spin-out, CryoLogyx, is developing cell models frozen in-plate and ready to use directly from the freezer.
Its proprietary technology can provide the best of both worldsfrozen cells that are bankable and easy to store, in the end-use format needed for scientific research.
In May last year, the company was awarded £300,000 from Innovate UK to develop cryopreservation agents with applications in the diagnostic, medicines discovery and cell-based therapy markets.
In order to store and transport cells for research, or as advanced medicines, it is essential to freeze them as they are not stable at room temperature for long periods.
Carbon Gold was established by Green & Black’s Chocolate founder Craig Sams in 2007 as an organic, peatfree planting aid.
Together with co-founder Dan Morrell, who established the Carbon Neutral Company, they developed a natural range of organic biochar, a bi-product of burning biomass to produce a charcoallike substance which traps carbon while adding nutrients to the soil.
Carbon Gold’s biochar products are free from peat and synthetic chemicals and are Soil Association approved for organic growing.
Carbon Gold, which is based in Bristol, works with Premier League football clubs, major race and golf courses, royal parks and gardens to improve the condition of their grounds, but the product is also available to amateur gardeners.
Executive chairman Craig Sams said:
“Carbon Gold has always been about making a difference. Whether that’s helping trees flourish in the face of pests and diseases, boosting commercial growers’ yields to help them meet growing demand and stay profitable, or sequestering carbon permanently in soil to combat climate change.”
The traditional solution to this was to add organic solvent “antifreezes”, similar to those used in a car. Professor Matthew Gibson’s lab at the University of Warwick has learned from how organisms survive in the coldest environments on earth to develop new macromolecular cryoprotectants which allow more cells to survive the freezing process and to replace the organic solvents.
The polymer cryoprotectants are easy to use, can give up to four times the number of recovered cells, and have been shown to work in a range of cell types.
CryoLogyx is aiming to use this platform technology to accelerate fundamental life science research, simplify the development process and aid supply chains.
Based at Milton Park in Oxfordshire, Eden Research is an Aim-quoted company helping farmers to sustainably produce high-value crops, improving crop yields and marketability.
It is estimated that a staggering 20-40 per cent of global crop production is lost to pests and disease each year. To counter this, farmers spend billions of dollars every year on products that help them protect their crops and keep up with food demand.
Pesticides are a critical component of effective crop protection. However, some conventional pesticides contain chemicals that may be harmful to human health or the environment. Consumers are also increasingly concerned about the potential impact of pesticide residues in the food they eat.
Eden is the UK’s only listed company focused on biopesticides for sustainable agriculture. It develops innovative biopesticide products and natural microencapsulation technologies to the
“Getting a jab” is something we've all had to get used to recently. But ImplaVax from Oxford-based Enesi Pharma does away with the dreaded needle.
Almost all vaccines are administered in liquid or suspension form, using a needle and syringe.
Anxiety UK says up to 10 per cent of the population suffers from full-on needle phobia, but no-one really enjoys a shot in the arm.
Instead of injecting liquid deep into
global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries.
Its products, two of which are commercially available, are based on natural plant chemistry but deliver performance, ease of use and cost on par with conventional alternatives, the company says.
Biopesticides typically offer a lower risk solution but are still rigorously assessed before approval for sale. They are the fastest growing segment of the crop protection industry and their use has increased in recent years as older chemistry has been removed from the market due to consumer demands and consequent regulatory pressure.
the muscle, ImplaVax administers a solid dose implant just under the skin, using downward force pressure. The implant completely dissolves, releasing the vaccine and eliminating the risk of dosing errors
And vaccines delivered by ImplaVax can be administered by individuals with little or no training.
Cold chain logistical issues like the ones seen during the coronavirus pandemic are also negated because of ImplaVax's thermal stability. UK clinics had to install cold storage facilities to administer
some vaccines, but in developing countries the situation is far worse and logistical issues make vaccine delivery to remote communities impossible.
And, says Enesi, it's better for the environment as some components can be reused up to 1,000 times, unlike the traditional single-use syringe.
In October Enesi entered into an agreement with the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to test a novel ImplaVax enabled pandemic flu vaccine.
Founded in Germany and with a major presence at Oxfordshire's Milton Park, Evotec is a drug discovery and development company. The company operates globally, largely through external alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, patient advocacy groups, and venture capitalists.
The company's 2,000 plus employees work across a number of therapeutic areas including neurology (Alzheimer's and Huntington's Disease), metabolic diseases like diabetes, cancer and inflammatory and infectious diseases.
In late 2020 Evotec announced the expansion of its campus at Milton Park, naming its new discovery and development centre after Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, the Nobel Prizewinning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for structural biology.
Evotec’s campus at Milton Park already benefits from the strong relationships and proximity with the Diamond Light Source at Harwell, making it a centre of excellence in structure-based drug design. The location also facilitates partnership opportunities in the Oxford and UK academic and biotech scene.
With more than 600 employees on site, the campus will became one of three fully integrated powerhouses of capacity, capabilities and know-how in integrated research and development along with those at Toulouse and Verona.
The wider company is also embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive up the probability of success of its treatments and has partnered with the University of Bristol to expand its molecular patient database in the field of kidney diseases with a focus on nephrotic syndrome.
University of Bristol spin-out FluoretiQ is a medical device company designing simple but effective bacterial detection systems for rapid infection diagnosis.
Its proprietary diagnostic platform, Nanoplex, identifies bacterial infections in just 15 minutes – instead of the days traditional laboratory techniques can take.
Products built on the platform will enable doctors to confirm infection within minutes, stopping the use of incorrect and unnecessary prescription of antibiotics, says the start-up.
In February FluoretiQ announced the completion of a £1.1 million, pre-series A investment, which will enable the
team to produce trial units of its first Nanoplex product, a 15-minute urinary tract infection diagnostic device.
Nanoplex says it provides laboratory quality results 200 times faster than laboratory analysis, helping clinicians meet antibiotic stewardship targets.
FluoretiQ’s products will be an important tool in the wake of reports showing that antimicrobial resistance is growing faster than expected.
In a report prepared for the government in 2014, antimicrobial resistance was predicted to reach 10 million cases by 2050 and exceed cancer as the leading cause of death across the world.
Halo Therapeutics develops safe pancoronavirus antiviral drugs for Covid-19 that can be administered by patients.
The company was founded in 2021 by scientists from the University of Bristol who found that exposing the coronavirus to a free fatty acid called linoleic acid locks the virus’s spike protein into a closed, non-infective form – stopping it in its tracks.
Free fatty acids are already manufactured at huge scale for the nutritional industry and have a decades-long track record of use in the pharma industry as inactive ingredients. They have an iron-clad safety record, says the company.
Halo Therapeutics' antiviral is delivered via a nasal spray. It should stop the coronavirus multiplying, halting it in its tracks before it can reach a patient’s respiratory tract and lungs.
And because it is delivered by a simple nasal spray it can be used at home.
The team developed a stable formulation, established manufacturing pipelines and designed the spray delivery apparatus in nine months – a process that would usually take two to three years.
The team is seeking funding to take its ground-breaking pan-coronavirus antiviral to clinical trials.
We've grown accustomed to hearing about 'good bacteria' in yogurt commercials on the TV. But which bacteria are good, which are bad, and do elevated levels mean there's something seriously wrong with us?
Since 2018 Invivo Diagnostics has been working to analyse microbiome samples taken from patients and build a wide picture of what our internal microbial ecosystems can and should look like.
Meanwhile, its sister company Invivo Healthcare produces supplements that can rebalance our microbial ecosystems when there is a deficit of 'good bacteria'.
From its lab in Bristol, Invivo concentrates on three main areas: vaginal, oral, and gastrointestinal microbiomes. Tests are submitted by clinicians for diagnosis.
The presence of certain bacteria can explain illnesses or medical conditions – irritable bowel syndrome, for example. And they can also provide markers in the diagnosis of cancers.
Invivo's scientists are also keen to understand the bigger patient picture. Stress, smoking, diet and chemicals like perfumes can all affect microbial ecosystems, as can the PH levels – the acidity – of the mouth, stomach or vagina. Founder Humphrey Bacchus says it is important to understand "the soup in which the bacteria are swimming".
Understanding the way human microbiomes interact with each other could prevent conditions like infertility and miscarriages. Looking at how a man’s semen microbiome and his partner’s
vaginal microbiome react with each other could help women conceive more successfully and carry a baby to full term, says the company.
“Going forward, understanding the way human microbiomes interact with each other could prevent conditions like infertility and miscarriages”
From premises at Cirencester Park, near the world-famous polo ground, Lipocast Biotech UK is helping horses and ponies recover from injuries using a treatment adopted from human medicine.
The Lipogems system transfers fat tissue from the horse’s tail head to a damaged part of the animal’s body in a single step, triggering the body’s own damage response mechanism. Because there is no need for laboratory culturing, transplanting can take place within 20 to 30 minutes of harvesting.
The system can treat tendon injuries, inflammation of ligaments, soft tissue damage, and early osteoarthritis. As well as supplying the Lipogems system, Lipocast Biotech UK also trains the vets to deliver it.
Because the process is relatively simple, horses can be treated at home rather than being sent to a veterinary hospital.
In March, a ground-breaking project to monitor young patients at home won funding from NHS England’s Transformation Directorate to create a hospital from home for acutely unwell children.
The technology, the Patient Status Engine developed by Isansys, allows hospital clinicians to monitor young patients at home as if they were in hospital, providing the patients’ vital signs continuously at a central monitoring station or on mobile devices 24 hours a day, ultimately integrating this key data into the electronic medical record system.
Using this information, clinicians and community care teams can work together to develop personalised care plans for young patients at home, eliminating the stress and disruption of admission, or readmission, to hospital.
Isansys says its Patient Status Engine is the most complete, scalable and simple-to-use advanced patient monitoring platform. The company has subsidiaries in Germany and India, and through a network of distributors and partners, it works with healthcare providers globally seeking lower cost monitoring and higher quality data.
To date more than 20,000 Lipogems Equine procedures have been carried out, with a 95 per cent success rate, says the company. The treatment can be used on pets, but also on sports horses and ponies, saving them from career-ending injuries or conditions and allowing them to race, jump or play polo again within months.
Lipocast Biotech UK continues to research and develop regenerative science on equines. And there’s good news for dog-lovers – the treatment has recently been adapted for use in canine veterinary practice.
Medherant is a clinical-stage company developing innovative treatments using its novel transdermal drug delivery technology, the TEPI Patch. There is considerable interest in the transdermal delivery of drugs to overcome some of the disadvantages of oral administration, such as spikes in drug levels that can lead to side effects, and poor compliance. Patches are also a more convenient way to deliver drugs through the skin than gels and creams and provide better dose control.
The company was founded by Professor David Haddleton and the University of Warwick using their world-leading expertise in bioadhesives and polymer chemistry.
Medherant has developed its own novel pressure sensitive adhesive. The drug
The eye, says Occuity CEO Dan Daly, is about far more than seeing the world around us. It contains a record of the changes happening within our bodies. Diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease leave markers as the disease progresses.
Occuity’s products use patented optical technologies to identify changes in the eye which can be used for the early detection and monitoring of these diseases and more.
Reading-based Occuity says its products can be used to make diagnosis quickly and non-invasively.
Last September it launched a £1.8 million fundraiser on crowdfunding
to be delivered is mixed with the adhesive. This proprietary delivery system was well-tolerated in a Phase I clinical study.
Medherant is collaborating with third parties to formulate their drugs for transdermal delivery using its TEPI technology. In the future, Medherant expects to receive milestone payments and/or licence revenues for products utilising its technology.
Medherant has secured funding from Mercia Fund Management and private investors.
platform Seedrs – and smashed its target within 24 hours, settling at more than £2 million. It was the largest MedTech financing deal ever on the platform.
In total the firm raised £2.85 million for the development of Occuity Indigo, an optical glucose meter. The device will allow the 4.7 million people in the UK with diabetes to monitor their bloodsugar levels through a simple scan of the eye.
Its other products are the AX1 Axiometer, which will be used to look at the progression and control of myopia (nearsightedness), and the PM1 Pachymeter, which will make it easier, faster and safer to diagnose glaucoma
by measuring corneal thickness in just a few seconds.
Last November, Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC) made a £1.6 million investment from the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund into OrganOx Ltd, a spinout from Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. The following month OrganOx was granted premarket approval of its metra system by the USA Food and Drug Administration.
The OrganOx metra is an automated device for the preservation and transport of donor livers destined for transplantation. The marketing approval includes livers from donors after brain death and livers from donors after circulatory death.
The OrganOx metra improves the viability and supply of donor organs. During preservation with the metra, the liver is continuously perfused with oxygenated blood, medications and nutrients at normal body temperature and physiological pressures, and flows for up to 24 hours.
This means the liver is functional throughout preservation, allowing for evidence-based decisions on whether to transplant a donor organ.
The metra has already supported more than 1,000 liver transplants globally. The investment was part of a £6.4 million equity funding round led by OIC and supported by existing and new shareholders.
Founded in Oxford in 1952, Owen Mumford has grown from a small, family-run business to a medical device innovator.
This year, the company is celebrating its 70th anniversary as a global leader in medical device design and manufacture, leading innovation and delivering medical device solutions that respond to customer and market needs.
Through this well-established network it delivers the highest levels of safety, comfort and accuracy in the treatment and diagnosis of chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Owen Mumford has pioneered a number of world firsts including an
This Oxford University spin-out, which became a household name after becoming one of the manufacturers of Britain’s Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, has a lot more strings to its bow as a leading cell and gene therapy group.
Its Oxford-based manufacturing facility, Oxbox, was originally built to solely service the Group’s growing demand for lentiviral vectors in the fast-growing cell and gene therapy market where it is a leading global specialist working with multiple partners. The Oxbox facility was completed at the end of 2019 with
automatic lancing device for home blood glucose monitoring and the first plastic auto-injector. Today, the company continues to develop innovative medical device solutions including its Unifine SafeControl safety pen needle and Aidaptus, a two-step single use auto-injector.
the Group expecting to have one or potentially two of the manufacturing suites approved during 2020. In April that year the Group joined the Oxford Vaccine Consortium and shortly afterwards signed the first of two agreements with AstraZeneca for Covid-19 vaccine production.
This March the company completed its deal with Homology Medicines Inc, a genetic medicines company listed on the New York-based NASDAQ, to establish Oxford Biomedica Solutions LLC, a new US-based full scope, adeno-associated virus manufacturing and innovation business.
Owen Mumford has developed Aidaptus, a two-step single use auto-injector”
Scientists across the world are using Oxford Nanopore’s DNA/RNA sequencing technology to answer some of society’s most urgent and important questions, including those concerned with biomedical, pathogen, plant and animal scientific research, infectious disease, critical viral surveillance,
optimising crop efficiency, ensuring food security and understanding how our environment is changing.
Late last year Oxford Nanopore, which has developed a new generation of sensing technology that uses nanopores – nano-scale holes – embedded in hightech electronics, to perform
Oxular is a clinical-stage retinal therapeutics company developing technology to transform the treatment of retinal diseases including diabetic macular edema (DME) and macular degeneration.
DME is a serious retinal disease that affects 24 million people globally and is
the leading cause of blindness in young adults in developed countries.
It is also developing programmes for conditions such as ocular cancers and the delivery of gene therapies.
A key challenge facing patients with DME
precise molecular analyses, launched its highly anticipated IPO on the London Stock Exchange, pricing the company at £3.4 billion.
The company, which started to sell its first commercial device, the MinION portable DNA/RNA sequencer in 2015, is looking to bring DNA sequencing out of the laboratory and into the consumer market.
is the need for frequent clinic visits for repeated treatment injections.
To address this, OXU-001, an innovative, sustained-release formulation of dexamethasone, provides up to 12 months’ treatment effects following a single administration.
Oxular’s products include Oxuspheres, a drug-containing biodegradable polymer system, designed as an adjustable, sustained release formulation, and Oxulumi, a semi-automated ocular administration device using an advantageous route of administration to deliver therapeutics for the treatment of retinal diseases.
In March 2021, the Oxford-based biotech secured £27 million financing led by Forbion Capital Partners with support from the company’s existing leading investors.
The investment will fund Phase 2 human clinical studies.
“In March 2021 the Oxford-based bio-tech secured £27 million financing led by Forbion Capital Partners with support from the company’s existing leading investors”
The Native Antigen Company is one of the world’s leading suppliers of antigens used in antibody testing kits for research into emerging diseases.
In 2020, the University of Birmingham spin-out was one of the first companies to start production of the Covid-19 antigens. Its SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Assay Development Kits were recognised by The Scientist – the leading publication for life science professionals – as a Top 10 Innovation.
The company also played a key role in supplying products to combat both the Zika and Dengue virus in 2016 and 2018.
In January the Kidlington-based company announced the expansion of its noroviruslike particle range, with the addition of six new reagents, including four which are unique to the market.
Vicon is an award-winning provider of motion capture systems for the life sciences, media and entertainment, location-based virtual reality and engineering industries.
While Vicon officially began trading in 1984, its original product was first introduced to the market in 1979. The system was manufactured by a subsidiary of Oxford Instruments, called Oxford Medical Systems (which became Oxford Dynamics). Following a management buyout Oxford Dynamics became Oxford Metrics, and Vicon was born.
Vicon also offers a motion analysis mobile app called Capture.U that displays realtime data overlaid on video, enabling users to make informed decisions – on the pitch, trackside, poolside, courtside or in the lab. Capture.U’s intuitive display and evolving range of capture
This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company was responsible for the technology behind the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
Vaccitech was founded in 2016 by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Professor Adrian Hill as a spin out from Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, one of the world’s most prestigious vaccine centres.
Last April the company raised $166.5 million in a Series B private financing, and $110.5 million on its debut on the New York’s NASDAQ.
The company’s proprietary platform comprises Chimpanzee Adenovirus
Oxford (ChAdOx) and Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), two nonreplicating viral vectors which safely mimic viral infection in human cells and elicit high magnitude, durable, targeted CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses and antibodies to clear foreign pathogens and tumours. The company is set move into a new 31,000 sq ft headquarters and laboratory at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.
modes make it an ideal tool for researchers, students, coaches and physiotherapists studying athletes’ movement in their natural environments. In March, Vicon released an app update to offer an accessible and practical way to learn about inertial measurement units. This helps school and university students develop on the theory-based applied learning model as they will learn using the sensors by applying them to human movements.
“... responsible for the technology behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine”
Around 40 million sq ft of new warehouse space was scheduled for completion in 2021, compared to 20 million sq ft completed the previous year, according to property consultancy Knight Frank.
But that hasn’t stopped demand for industrial units, says Coventry-based Bromwich Hardy, which revealed the market in key areas of the region is now becoming just as competitive as that further south and in the west.
The “insatiable demand for quality space” also continues across the South-West, according to commercial property agents Alder King, with rents and capital values hitting new highs.
More than 5.5 million sq ft of space was transacted across the region last year, driven by ongoing changes in consumer spending patterns and demand from logistics providers. This would have been higher if not for a significant shortage of good quality available space.
Developers are responding to demand, bringing forward new schemes in key locations but these are often pre-let or under offer either before or during construction to the more forward-looking occupiers.
A 540,000 sq ft temperature-controlled centre originally developed by Tesco in 2010 has been sold for more than £102 million.
The warehouse serves more than 400 supermarkets and convenience stores across the South West of England and South Wales forming a crucial part of Tesco’s distribution network.
The sale was to an undisclosed purchaser by investment management company Roebuck.
Roebuck acquired the asset for $94 million in 2017 on behalf of institutional Korean investors, and follows its 2021 sale of the Accolade Wines, Avonmouth Warehouse for $123 million to Tritax Big Box REIT.
Hugh Macdonald-Brown, Managing Partner at Roebuck, said: “The sale of Tesco Avonmouth has delivered our Korean investors significant out-performance following a four and-half-year hold period producing total annual return in excess of 16 per cent.”
£100m industrial scheme planned at a major logistics site near Bristol
A £100 million 50-acre industrial scheme is planned for Avonmouth’s six million sq ft Central Park. The park is already home to corporate giants including Amazon, Lidl, and The Range.
The site, which comes with planning
consent for logistics and industrial development, has been acquired by Fiera Real Estate and Opus Land.
The first phase of development at Opus 49 will see the creation of a 100,000 sq ft unit on a 5.3-acre portion of the site.
Exhall3, a mixed leisure and logistics site in Coventry has been sold by Warwickshire property investment company The Wigley Group to new owners for £7 million.
The 2.7 acre site consists of two units tenanted by the popular Red Kangaroo Trampoline Park and event management firm Event Support Team.
Purchased by The Wigley Group as a single unit in 2016 it was extensively refurbished and let to Red Kangaroo in 2018, but disaster struck when it was destroyed by a fire just months later.
The site bounced back into life with the development of a new purpose-built 32,500 sq ft unit which was let to Red
Kangaroo on a new 15-year lease, while a separate speculatively-built self-contained 27,180 sq ft unit was built and let to Event Support Team on a 10-year lease.
Edgerley Simpson Howe LLP and Bromwich Hardy were joint agents in the sale to a London-based investment and asset manager.
£102MTesco Avonmouth distribution centre
Warwickshire real estate developer Graftongate has started work on the construction of a £10 million development near Gloucester.
Gloucester 12 sits next to junction 12 of the M5 motorway. It already incorporates a 120,000 sq ft warehouse unit sold to International Plywood and sits next to the Javelin Park energy from waste facility.
A further four units are being developed and will comprise 17,516 sq ft, 26,465 sq ft, 38,227 sq ft and 41,288 sq ft of space.
Phil Silk, managing director of Graftongate, said: “This is the final phase of Gloucester 12, which will comprise four industrial/warehouse units totalling 123,500 sq ft.
“Having recently completed the infrastructure works and secured planning permission we have decided to speculatively build these units given the strength of the market and having identified a lack of supply particularly of the sizes being built.”
Myles Wilcox-Smith, partner at M1 agency and Edward Jenkinson, senior surveyor at Bruton Knowles, joint letting agents for the scheme, added: “These units are scheduled to be completed in November and will be constructed to a high standard, above institutional standards, to include 12m to underside of haunch for the largest unit with a substantial level of power available to the site.
Cheltenham-based bathroom manufacturer, Kohler Mira, has officially opened its new multi-million-pound national distribution centre at Worcester.
The new facility is the most advanced Kohler distribution centre globally and follows the opening of its Space 100 facility in Cheltenham in January designed to foster creativity and innovation among its team.
Kohler Mira’s new distribution centre at Worcester allows the brand to process orders three times faster, and links its manufacturing sites around the UK.
The 150,000 sq ft building has the capacity for more than 10,000 pallets and is built on an 11.25-acre site, with room for growth as the business and customer requirements evolve.
Craig Baker, Managing Director at Kohler Mira said: “Our team worked tirelessly to design this state-of-the-art facility, and it has been great to see the first orders
processed during our 100th year. With innovative technologies throughout, it has been built with customer needs in mind, and will allow us to make sure they receive the very best service for years to come.”
“... it has been built with customer needs in mind ...”
A new 30,000 sq ft warehouse is set to open in Leamington Spa.
Slough-headquartered Fullers Fulfilment says the warehouse at Spa Park will service about 100 small to medium-sized e-commerce businesses in the Midlands area that need orders picked, packed and distributed to customers, as well as handling returns and providing secure storage.
Tony Dempsey, divisional managing director at Fullers Fulfilment, said: “The UK’s e-commerce sector is booming with more people shopping online, and more companies needing our fulfilment services to pick, pack and send products to customers, especially with environmental impact and sustainability in mind.
“Our existing warehouses in the south are already very busy so we’re delighted to have secured the site in Leamington Spa, which will be a brilliant gateway for us to serve businesses and endcustomers across the Midlands and beyond.”
Fullers Logistics is a privately-run fulfilment service employing more than 300 people.
Industrial and warehouse developer
Tungsten Properties has agreed a £26.4 million forward funding deal with NFU Mutual for the speculative development of the final phase of its warehouse and industrial project at Downs Road in Witney.
The four-unit scheme will total 167,800 sq ft and is expected to house around 150 jobs. It was granted planning consent in February 2022.
Warwick-based MCS Construction will start the build this summer and it is due to be completed by March next year. The final phase will bring the whole project to total approximately 470,000 sq ft.
Phase one was speculatively built in 2021 and totalled seven units. 93 per cent of the space has been sold, which included a sale of four units to BP Pension Fund for £26 million.
Construction on five speculative, industrial units at Hartlebury Trading Estate has been completed, providing an additional 27,000 sq ft of commercial space at the site.
Schroder Capital UK Real Estate Fund announced the project, which comprises five units of approximately 5,000 sq ft
each, last autumn to meet the demand for more commercial space in the Midlands.
Rupert Jeffries, of asset manager Collingwood Rigby, said: “At 230 acres, Hartlebury Trading Estate is the largest commercial site in Worcestershire.
“Such is the demand for industrial space at
present, we are experiencing record low void levels.
“The shortfall of suitable stock throughout the region has caused concern for many months, and with less than two per cent of the estate area available to new occupiers at present, we were keen to deliver new space at the site to meet that need.”
The region’s most influential B2B magazine, in-print and online for news, features, interviews and business sector analysis. Published by NK Media Ltd.
2022 Print issues will be published in January, March, May, July, September, November
Regional Coverage: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, South Gloucestershire, Bristol, Thames Valley, Swindon, Worcestershire & Hereford, Coventry & Warwickshire
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