Sills & Betteridge LLP, a regional law firm offering a wide range of corporate and commercial services, have appointed Partner Wendy Martin to its team. Primarily based at the firm’s Marshalls Yard, Gainsborough and Hallgate, Doncaster offices, Wendy will handle the commercial property matters for a growing number of clients in the North Lincolnshire – South Yorkshire area. Wendy has practiced exclusively in commercial property since qualifying as a solicitor in 1997. She has extensive experience in acting for a wide range of clients including small independent business owners, SMEs, larger national companies, investors and pension schemes, advising on new leases, assignments, licences, and freehold and leasehold sales and purchases for occupiers and investors. Wendy said: “It is great to join Sills & Betteridge at such an exciting time of growth and I look forward to working with the existing team to further grow the firm’s commercial property offering in the area.” Head of Department Malachy McGill said: “Wendy’s appointment is a very positive development for the team. She is a highly-rated property specialist with a strong background and we are confident that she will play a key part in our plans to build our commercial profile across the north of our region.” Sills & Betteridge now has 18 offices across Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the East Midlands employing over 400 people. The firm acquired Nottingham-headquartered Campions Solicitors in March 2024 and looks forward to relocating to larger premises in Sheffield, Northampton and Sleaford later this year.

Hull City Council is exploring the possibilities for expansion of the city’s Heating Network as it confirms that it has varied its existing contract with technical consultants Ove Arup and Partners. This will enable scope changes to the design of HDHN, including future connections to East Bank Urban Village, as well as providing additional network routing to Great Thornton Street Flats and an enhanced energy centre at Trippett Street. With £10 million of Levelling Up funding allocated to the East Bank development, it presents an opportunity to provide district heat to the site as part of the enabling works. A direct connection from HDHN to Great Thornton Street Flats would significantly lower construction and operational risks, whilst an enhanced energy centre at Trippett Street would mean an energy centre on Anlaby Road is not required. Also included are energy performance and building fabric assessments to those council buildings connecting to the network. This will provide a holistic approach to the future decarbonisation of buildings and maximising the performance of the HDHN. These contract variations will incur £270,905 of costs to the council which will be partly financed through its funding allocation of £13m from Green Heat Network Fund received in 2022.

Three multi-academy trusts in North Yorkshire and beyond have benefitted from an innovative business collaboration designed to bring state-of-the-art connectivity to students in over 40 of the region’s schools.

NYnet, which builds and manages its own full fibre network across North Yorkshire, has worked with specialist education technology company Vital York Limited and North Yorkshire Council’s NYES Digital team to improve broadband connectivity, introduce the latest firewall and filtering technology and provide ongoing technical support to Ebor Academy Trust, South Bank Multi Academy Trust and Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust.

Together, the three Yorkshire academy trusts manage over 40 schools, from rural village primaries to inner-city primary and secondary schools.

The collaboration, which is thought to be the first of its kind in the region, has seen NYnet, Vital and NYES Digital pool their experience of working with the education sector to develop a programme of digital improvement, resilience and technical support.

NYNet CEO Alastair Taylor said: “NYnet has built its reputation over a period of almost two decades with a remit to deliver robust full fibre broadband to the NHS, blue light services, schools and remote rural communities in North Yorkshire.

“The knowledge we have built up over that time was invaluable as we worked with our partners on this project to make sure every learning community within the three trusts has access to the same high performance digital connectivity.”

James Pawson from Vital said: “It has been highly rewarding to work as part of a larger tech team to bring together our knowledge and expertise and develop the best possible solution for the academies involved.”

Keren Wild from NYES Digital said: “This partnership has brought huge benefits for all the schools involved and will futureproof their digital communications for many years to come. The academies can now benefit from ongoing support from Vital and NYnet to keep their IT systems trouble free and ensure school staff are not spending time fixing IT issues.”

Everfield, the Europe-based, long-term B2B software investor, has acquired education software specialist MyKnowledgeMap. York-based MyKnowledgeMap provides competency assessment, ePortfolio and digital credentialing software to universities and professional bodies across 15 countries, including the UK, Australia and the USA, with a particular focus on medicine, nursing and midwifery. The acquisition of the company by Everfield will enable MyKnowledgeMap to achieve further growth across the university sector and expand its overseas footprint. MyKnowledgeMap’s Adam Doyle will continue in the role of CEO of the company, while the transaction allows an exit for founder and majority shareholder Robert Arntsen. Adam Doyle, CEO of MyKnowledgeMap, said: “Joining forces with Everfield marks a significant milestone in our journey. It’s a unique opportunity to accelerate our mission in creating best-in-class learning technology for leading educational institutions and training organisations around the world. “While maintaining our focus on business as usual, we will increasingly expand our impact, reach new markets, and drive forward the evolution of learning technology. This strategic direction will enable us to capitalise on new opportunities while upholding our commitment to service excellence.” Nicki Berrange, acquisitions manager at Everfield, said: “We’re delighted to bring MyKnowledgeMap into the Everfield ecosystem. MyKnowledgeMap’s niche expertise in healthcare e-assessment and e-portfolio platforms, combined with its seasoned team and deep expertise, aligns seamlessly with our strategic objectives, promising an exciting path ahead.” Henning Schreiber, head of acquisitions for Everfield, added: “MyKnowledgeMap is a great business that has developed a comprehensive portfolio of learning technology platforms to support university faculties and their students. “We’re looking forward to supporting Adam and his team, providing them with the operational support and resources to achieve further growth in the UK and beyond.” Founded in 2000, MyKnowledgeMap has grown to have 24 employees and thousands of end users around the world. Henning Schreiber added: “Our investment model enables us to provide our businesses with the tools, advice and resources to achieve sustainable business growth, while their experienced management teams get on with doing what they do best – developing great software to support their customer’s daily operations. “Our partnership with MyKnowledgeMap will help the company consolidate its leading position in nursing, midwifery and medicine, but also continue to grow across all university faculties, as well as postgraduate healthcare markets.” Everfield was advised by Grant Thornton (financial and tax), CMS (legal), TC Group (HR), and Shiker Consulting (technology). MyKnowledgeMap was advised by Benchmark International (corporate finance) and EMW Law (legal).