New phase of employment space delivered in Lincoln
Local contractor and developer, Stirlin, has completed a new phase of employment space on their development in Lincoln: Kirk’s Yard.
Kirk’s Yard is a commercial business park located just outside the village of Branston, approximately 4 miles from Lincoln City Centre.
Stirlin completed the first two phases of the development back in March 2019, with all units occupied by a variety of established local businesses, including Gateway Automation, Lincolnshire Radiators Direct and TL Electrical Engineering.
Following the success of these phases, Stirlin has now delivered a third phase, to provide 10 industrial units suitable for a variety of business uses, ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft.
Sustainable elements of the scheme include energy efficient lighting, bike racks to encourage the cycle to work scheme and the recycling of existing topsoil from the land, which has been used for the landscaped areas around the site. Stirlin also offer buyers the option to include a renewable energy solar system on the units.
Managing Director of Stirlin, Tony Lawton, says: “Our Kirk’s Yard site has proven very popular, particularly due to its location, so it’s great to provide further employment space to meet the demand and facilitate business growth in the area.
“In addition to this scheme, we have several other projects in the pipeline for 2023. We are also open to contractual work, and we encourage people to get in touch to discuss their requirements.”
With the completion of the third phase, Stirlin have transformed 2.2 acres of vacant land on Mere Road into over 33,000 sq ft of new employment space.
Government set to approve longer lorries for use on Britain’s roads
Lorry trailers more than two metres longer than the existing maximum size are to be allowed on Great Britain’s roads to support the government’s priority to grow the economy, boost productivity, slash road emissions and support supply chains.
Legislation will be laid before Parliament today to roll out the vehicles on roads from the end of the month.
Subject to the current 44-tonne maximum weight limit, the new lorries will move the same volume of goods, but will use 8% fewer journeys than current trailers. This will generate an expected £1.4 billion in economic benefits and take one standard-size trailer off the road for every 12 trips.
As part of efforts to grow the economy and cut emissions, government is changing regulations to allow longer trailers on GB roads, which it estimates will save 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
The development follows an 11-year trial to ensure LSTs are used safely on roads, and operators will be encouraged to put extra safety checks and training in place. The trial demonstrated that LSTs were involved in around 61% fewer personal injury collisions than conventional lorries.
Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Everyone around the country depends on our haulage sector for their everyday needs – from loo rolls to sausage rolls – and a strong, resilient supply chain is key to the government’s priority to grow the economy.
“It’s fantastic to see this change for our supply chain come into law, resulting in a near £1.4 billion boost to the haulage industry and driving economic growth. Let the good times roll as we reduce congestion, lower emissions and enhance the safety of British roads.”
Operators will be legally required to ensure appropriate route plans and risk assessments are made to take the unique specifications of LSTs into account. In addition to these new legal requirements, operators will also be expected to put in place extra safety checks including driver training and scheduling, record keeping, training for transport managers and key staff, and loading of LSTs. With over 300 companies in the UK having already taken part in the trial, and almost 3,000 on the road, some of the biggest brands will be rolling out the extended use of these longer semi-trailers including Greggs, Morrisons, Stobart, Royal Mail, and Argos. Gavin Kirk, Supply Chain Director at Greggs, said: “We welcome the introduction of LSTs into general use. Since 2013, Greggs has been operating LSTs from our National Distribution Centre in Newcastle. We were early adopters of the trial as we saw significant efficiency benefits from the additional 15% capacity that they afforded us. “We have converted 20% of our trailer fleet to LSTs, which was the maximum allowable under the trial, and these complement our fleet of double-deck trailers. Our drivers undertook additional training to use these trailers and we have monitored accidents, finding that they are as safe as our standard fleet.“Due to the increased capacity, we have reduced our annual mileage by 540,000km, and saved 410 tonnes of carbon per year from LSTs.”
Verdion gets green light from planners for further iPort development
Verdion has been given the go ahead for two further buildings at iPort by Doncaster Council’s planning committee.
The outline resolution to grant covers buildings iP4 (extending to around 848,250 sq ft) and iP5, of 323,500 sq ft. Both buildings will be developed to high environmental standards, with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability.
Their delivery will follow the current phase of speculative development which is due for completion in May and June this year. iP7 extends to 165,800 sq ft and completes next month. iP6 (82,250 sq ft) and iP8 (328,500 sq ft) will complete in June.
Jamie Young, Asset Manager at Verdion, said: “This is a welcome decision and an important step forward as we move towards the final phases of development at iPort. We are continuing to see high levels of demand for space in the area and considerable interest in the park from new occupiers.”
Gent Visick, CBRE and Colliers are the retained leasing agents for iPort.
Step forward for Altalto Immingham Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project
Velocys, the sustainable fuels technology company, has revealed that further to the award of the grant from the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT) Advanced Fuel Funds of up to £27 million for the Altalto Immingham Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Project, announced on 12 December 2022, Altalto Ltd has completed the work necessary to claim the first tranche (£7 million) of the grant up to 31 March 2023.
In addition, the project has obtained the first tranche of private funding for the period from 1 April 2023 from its existing private sector participants.
The Altalto project’s aim is to deliver a commercial waste-to-SAF plant in Immingham. The DfT grant and matched funding will enable Altalto to complete the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage of the project. Following the completion of FEED and a successful final investment decision, construction will commence in 2025 with full commercial operation expected in 2028.
Since the award of the DfT grant in December, the Altalto Immingham Project has entered into a number of technology license and engineering services agreements with project technology licensors and the FEED contract with Bechtel Limited, utilising the first tranche of grant funds provided by the DfT. Pursuant to the terms of the grant, further draw down of the grant is subject to demonstration of project milestones with matched funding requirements to be met over the two years to 31 March 2025.
In March 2023, the company announced the appointment of a leading global investment bank to advise on the financing of Velocys’ Reference Projects and to assist in obtaining the matched funding from private sector investors, which is on track to be in place during Q4 2023.
Velocys’ cash contribution to the Altalto Project over two years from April 2023, including its contribution to the first tranche of private funding of £1 million, is not expected to exceed £8 million, with Velocys intending to recover any funding it provides at the earlier development stages (as from 1 April 2023 onwards) following receipt of third party project investment.
Spencer Group makes engineering first by using app to monitor employee wellbeing
Hull-based Spencer Group is is the first engineering company to adopt the Hapstar app to support employee wellbeing by enabling them to track their mental and physical health, set happiness actions, access support and resources and provide anonymous feedback.
The app holds no identifying information about the user, but Spencer Group can use the data to gain a clearer understanding of its workforce’s wellbeing, identify and respond to trends.
Every employee has a Hapstar login and is encouraged to use the app as little or as much as they want. Data is collected on teams, rather than demographics, to ensure anonymity.
HR Director Yvonne Moir said: “The engineering industry must think outside the box, embrace new initiatives and, where possible, new technologies to address the issue of mental health. At Spencer Group, we’ve always taken a proactive approach as industry leaders in employee wellbeing. This means seeking out innovative solutions that help break the silence around mental health in engineering.
“We’re using a data-driven, people-centred approach with Hapstar. The data is all completely anonymous. If a Spencer Group employee asks a question via the app, it will be sent through to the HR team who can respond, without identifying the user.”
If the question affects others in the workplace, Spencer Group might create an internal blog post to address the issue. If questions or data indicates a particular team is feeling underappreciated, Spencer Group can look at ways of addressing the issue.
Hapstar CEO Adam Campbell said: “Innovating in the world of wellbeing, with the goal of changing the way businesses support their people, is no easy task.
“We’ve been developing the concept and technology of Hapstar for over four years and our approach to a truly data-led wellbeing strategy has evolved immensely in that time. A large driving force behind that evolution has been the insights and support of the team at Spencer Group.”
Administrators of 4D Pharma secure sale of manufacturing subsidiary and intellectual property as employees in Leeds made redundant
The administrators of 4D Pharma plc have sold 100% of the share capital of its wholly owned subsidiary, 4D Pharma León, S.L.U. (León), to Bacthera AG, and the intellectual property of 4D Pharma Group to CJ Bioscience Inc (CJ), while 30 employees based in Leeds, Aberdeen and Cork have been made redundant.
Bacthera is a Joint Venture of Chr. Hansen A/S and a Lonza Group Affiliate and was set up to serve the needs of the emerging LBP industry.
The site in León, Spain, is a GMP-certified, proven live biotherapeutic product (LBP) manufacturing plant, equipped with bioreactors of various sizes up to 3,500 L.
The sale preserves more than 40 jobs at the site, and provides León with a new parent company which is keen to invest in the long term future of the facility, such as upgrading the site infrastructure and downstream processes, including the introduction of state-of-the-art filtration and spray drying technologies.
James Clark, Managing Director at Interpath and a joint administrator of 4D Pharma plc, said: “Achieving a solvent sale of León is a great result for all involved. It sees more than 40 jobs saved, and allows León to continue to serve the LBP manufacturing market. This was a complex sale of a Spanish entity with a UK parent to a Danish and Swiss joint venture firm. Successfully navigating these complexities has led to a good result for creditors.”
Lukas Schüpbach, CEO, Bacthera, said: “This acquisition allows us to bridge our capabilities in development with our solutions for commercial manufacturing, adding capacity for the entire LBP market. Additionally, offering the direct transfer of clinical manufacturing into the León site will allow our customers to accelerate their products on the path to commercialisation.”
In a separate transaction, the intellectual property of 4D Pharma Group, including its patent library, pipeline assets, and bioinformatics platform technology, was sold to CJ Bioscience Inc.
CJ is an independent corporation of CJ CheilJedang’s RedBio (pharmaceuticals and healthcare) and is interested in accelerating the development of microbiome-based novel drugs.
However, as it was not possible to sell the Group solvently, the Group’s 30 employees based in Leeds, Aberdeen and Cork have been made redundant. However, the sale will ensure that the drug development expertise and innovative technology of 4D Pharma developed over the past ten years will contribute to accelerating the development of microbiome-based drugs under CJ.
James Clark said: “The sale to CJ is a success for science and will see the continued advancement of the research and development that the 4D Pharma Group pioneered. This was a complex, cross-border sale to a multinational buyer and, while it is has unfortunately not been possible to transact on a solvent basis, it can still be considered a successful result for creditors.”
A spokesperson for CJ Bioscience official said: “Through this contract, we have acquired global-level competitiveness in the development of new drugs based on microorganisms, and we will continue to explore new drug candidates through follow-up clinical trials, in addition to the existing candidates that are awaiting FDA clinical trials this year.”
Specialist College appoints new Principal
Communication Specialist College Doncaster has appointed Laurent Berges principal to lead the organisation.
He joins the college, part of Doncaster Deaf Trust, with 27 years’ experience of working in the post 16 Further Education sector. His previous roles included Group Executive Director of Curriculum at DN College Group (which consists of Doncaster College and North Lindsey College in Scunthorpe), Group Director of Teaching Leaning and Assessment, also at DN Colleges Group, preceded by 15 years as Senior Leader – Head of Curriculum at Wakefield College.
Laurent, who is originally from the South of France, has lived in South Yorkshire for more than 20 years. He said: “Although I am originally from the South of France, I have been a resident in South Yorkshire for 20 years. As a local resident, I have always regarded the College and the Trust as a national institution, because of its reputation and the amazing opportunities that it provides to deaf / hard of hearing and other communication needs young people and adults in the region and further afield.
“I am passionate about education and vocational education in particular. Since 1996, I have lead on a wide range of study areas including hospitality, catering, hairdressing, beauty therapy, animal care, horticulture, health and social care, childcare, art and design, professional courses Business School and Access to Higher Education programmes – for young people (aged 16 to 18) and adults (19+).”
Communication Specialist College Doncaster offers a range of vocational courses for young people with communication difficulties and helps them to gain work experience, life skills and ultimately employment. The college has a strong reputation of delivering a tailored provision for its students.
Alexis Johnson, Chief Executive of Doncaster Deaf Trust said: “We are thrilled to welcome Laurent to our college. He is an experienced senior leader in education with a great track record and we are looking forward to working with him and helping him to create a vision for the future for our already amazing college that further improves our offering for students who need specialist support.”
Nottingham frozen food wholesaler acquires Barnsley competitor
One of the UK’s largest independent family run frozen food wholesalers, Hopwells has acquired one of its competitors, Windsor Foodservice.
The move will support Hopwell’s strategic plan to expand its service offering and geographical reach.
Hopwells was established in 1975 and is headquartered in Nottingham. The wholeslaer operates a fleet of over 110 vehicles from six distribution depots throughout England and offers its customer base a comprehensive range of frozen food products and chilled goods, including premium fresh meat and poultry from various branded manufacturers and suppliers.
Windsor Foodservice, which is also a family run business, was set up in 1989 and is headquartered in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The business employs over 70 staff and supplies over 3,000 catering customers.
In 2013 the business created Pete’s Patisseries – a top of the range luxury dessert range; and in 2017 launched Windsor Fresh Meat which offered top quality meat products at competitive prices.
Browne Jacobson corporate lawyer, Sam Sharp and associate Ruairi O’Grady advised on the deal.
Sam Sharp, who leads the firm’s UK & Ireland food and drink practice, said: “Both Hopwells and Windsor are well respected in their markets, are built on strong family values, and have excellent reputations for providing quality service to their longstanding customer base, so it was a pleasure to have been involved in the merger of these two similar businesses.
“This move will enable the newly merged business group to further develop and grow its product portfolio and position itself as a major player in the food wholesaler sector.”
Tristan Hopwell, Managing Director of Hopwells, added: “Hopwells is an independent family business which prides itself on its traditional family values. Windsor is also a family business, and we both celebrate the successes our family ethos brings to our customers.
“Hopwells and Windsor Foodservice have both grown our businesses from the ground up, we’re both excited to bring together our joint experiences to form a leading position within wholesale.”
ABP recycles trio of end-of-life cranes at Immingham
Three Gottwald cranes together weighing 900 tonnes are being decommissioned after 40,000 hours of service each at ABP’s Port of Immingham – but nothing is going to waste.
As part of sustainability the 60-metre-high HMK 260 cranes are being stripped of their parts and what is left will be cut up and sent to the scrapyard for recycling. Operationally, the port still has some of the same models in service, so parts have been retained to reduce future maintenance costs.
Simon Bird, Director of the Humber ports said: “We’ve been investing significantly in cranes, and with the three new Liebherr cranes on site and working, we can now retire these Gottwald ones.
With our sustainability strategy we have been able to salvage about £250,000 worth of parts from these cranes which will be utilised in our robust maintenance programme to ensure similar models can be kept in service until it’s time to retire them.
“It’s part of our wider strategy investment in future proofing the Humber ports and giving our customers the confidence that the ports remain resilient, and we are giving them what they need in having reliable and efficient cranage.
“The new Liebherr cranes are more energy efficient running on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) with an option to switch to all electric.”
The Gottwalds, dating from 2002, were replaced by Liebherr 420 mobile harbour cranes in an investment of £9.7 million. They arrived last November and can offer greater versatility being deployed on any quay, though primarily used for bulk cargo handling and scrap handling.
The new cranes use the Liebherr hybrid system which comprises of a diesel generator which runs on HVO and the option to switch to all electric, which achieves a greater performance while reducing fuel consumption at the same time. The sustainable hybrid drive reduces the emission of CO2 and other harmful substances but also gives more power.
This is all part of ABP’s £32 million investment in port equipment in the Humber to maintain customer demand as part of a wider Group investment.
Crane deconstruction specialists BDB Dismantling Ltd of Barnsley have secured the tender as principal contractor to dismantle the cranes and break them down into smaller components. Some of the salvage includes drive axles, electrical items, cameras, monitors, joysticks, and an entire luffing ram system including hydraulics.
More new equipment and cranes are in the pipeline for delivery, including a new mobile harbour crane currently being built in Sunderland, which will arrive in the Port of Hull later this year.
Abbie Eaton to join Clare Balding and Gyles Brandreth at Bridlington Business Day event
Following the recent announcement of Clare Balding as keynote speaker, the organisers of The Business Day have announced Abbie Eaton will join the line-up of speakers for the event taking place on Friday 9 June at Bridlington Spa.
The Business Day is an annual networking event tailored to a day of discovery insight, with over 700 business leaders coming together for the event hosted by Gyles Brandreth.
Abbie Eaton is one of the most exciting female talents in the male dominated world of Motorsport, having raced for over 20 years and amassed several championship titles.
She is also known for her role as the Test Driver in Amazon’s hit TV show, The Grand Tour. In which she sets lap times in the featured cars, and also joins Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond on their trips and challenges abroad.
Her career has been filled with some extreme highs and crushing lows quite literally, breaking her back in 2021 to then overcoming the odds to get back in a race car only six months later.
Stephen Parnaby OBE, Event Director said: “Abbie adds an exciting new element to The Business Day with her inspirational story of facing an overwhelming setback and bouncing back to even greater heights and the success she has achieved in the world of Motorsport”.
