East Yorkshire excavator bucket manufacturers set up US distribution network
East Yorkshire-based Rhinox Group Ltd has taken turnover from £3.5 to £17m in just five years, increasing sales of its excavation buckets and attachments five-fold since its launch in 2018, and is now aiming even higher having set up a distribution network in the United States which will cut delivery times from weeks to days in a game-changing market.
The business is using technology to drive its campaign, with Hull-based performance marketing agency 43 Clicks North already delivering on a comprehensive e-commerce programme.
Sales Director Will Hooper said: “We evolved from a plant spares business and had been selling our products under the Rhinox brand since about 2014. We made big changes in 2018, renaming the business after the successful brand, committing to continuous improvement and taking turnover to £17m.
“We are aiming to reach £50m in the next three years, and some of that will come from the US as a result of our investment in our own distribution network over there.”
Rhinox employs more than 40 people, including about 30 at North Newbald near Beverley, where the site has been transformed from traditional farm buildings to an HQ for manufacturing, storage and all back-office functions.
The company also has exclusive manufacturing agreements at third-party factories in India and Eastern Europe and has remote sales staff in Tunbridge Wells, Ipswich, India and the Philippines. The new distribution network in the US will be supported by its own sales team.
Josh Sprakes, Marketing Manager at Rhinox, said work began during 2022 on raising the profile of the Rhinox brand in the US with 43 Clicks North, based in the Old Town of Hull, selected to develop the existing e-commerce strategy.
Josh said: “Because of the work we have done there is already a lot of awareness of Rhinox in the US and the distribution deal will boost customer confidence because they know the product is already in the country.
“Instead of having to fly the orders in we can land-freight them across the US and reduce delivery times from three to four weeks down to five or seven days and maybe quicker.
“Our approach to ecommerce is unusual in our industry and has also helped us make a lot of progress in the UK in a short space of time compared to competitors who have been out there for 30 or 40 years. We have gone from being an outlier in the market to the UK top two in various product categories.
“There are not many others doing it on the scale that we have adopted. After Covid we took the decision to look at other markets. We set up a website in the US and started to get somewhere, and then we felt we needed a partner to help us take our ecommerce strategy to another level.”
Mike Ellis, Managing Director of 43 Clicks North, said he was attracted to Rhinox because of the company’s track record of ecommerce success.
He said:” The exciting part for us is that this is a traditional B2B industry but the way they have set it up is B2B2C – ultimately they are pitching and marketing a strong brand to the end user to build demand for the network of dealers.
“When we looked at Rhinox we saw a huge opportunity to drive performance through brand recognition. Usually B2B businesses are a lot further behind us in their approach to speaking to the end user but Rhinox already had two working ecommerce sites.
“There’s a lot of work to do but it’s clear the ambition is there and it’s a good fit. As soon as you get to the end user everything else becomes easier.”
Will said Rhinox will continue to build its UK business while preparing the ground for “mega-exciting” opportunities in the US.
He said: “We are more established in the UK so we will keep chipping away because there is a lot more we can do here. In the US we think brand strategy is key and we are very much scratching the surface of a mega-exciting market that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Leeds brand consultancy relocates
CBRE’s Office Agency team in Leeds has completed a letting at 1 City Square in Leeds to brand consultancy Propaganda.
The strategic and creative brand agency, whose clients include Clipper Logistics, Endless LLP, GenM, BSW Group and Woodlands, has relocated its 50-strong team to the 2,232 sq ft Grade A offices.
The office offers facilities and amenities including dedicated 16-desk plug and play workspaces and 20 touchdown spaces; a business lounge, a café, two gym/studio fitness facilities; a tech-enhanced environment; secure cycle racks and charge points, secure car parking and EV charging points, as well as being fully connected.
Propaganda will be in good company alongside local occupiers including Teneo, Brabners, Deloitte and Avison Young.
Clair McGowan, associate director, CBRE Leeds, said: “We are continuing to see a flight to quality for businesses in the city with Grade A space being where it’s at.
“The quality of the plug and play space offered here meant we secured the occupier before launching the space to market and we are delighted to secure this new home for leading brand consultancy Propaganda.
“Office space has to work smarter to attract quality organisations and 1 City Square ticks all the boxes with first class facilities and amenities that are engaging, wellbeing focussed, flexible and convenient.”
Laura Kynaston, Managing Director at Propaganda, said: “It’s a fitting time to move to new premises in one of the leading business addresses in Leeds.
“It sees Propaganda in the company of the consultancy and professional services businesses we are increasingly working alongside in our aim to drive brand value for all our clients. 1 City Square offers us an inspiring and collaborative space for both our people and our clients.”
Propaganda were advised by Rob Darrington at CPP.
CBRE acted on behalf of landlord APAM.
ABP launches sustainability strategy involving investment of £2m
Associated British Ports has launched a wide-ranging new sustainability strategy, Ready for Tomorrow, backed by a plan to invest around £2 billion in decarbonising its own operations by 2040 at the latest, and in major infrastructure projects to enable the wider UK energy transition.
Ready for Tomorrow looks both internally at ABP’s own operations and outwards, to building greater partnership and collaboration to meet the challenges and grasp the generational opportunities of sustainability.
Henrik L. Pedersen, ABP’s CEO said: “Climate change is an era-defining challenge, but it is also an opportunity to scale innovative new industries to leave an optimistic legacy for generations to come.
“ABP is ready for tomorrow. We are committed to working together with industry partners and authorities to turn this generational crisis into a generational opportunity: to create a decarbonised, dramatically more sustainable future and deliver the significant investment, economic growth and thousands of new, good jobs that should come with it.”
For ABP’s own operations Ready for Tomorrow identifies five focus areas for action: Net Zero, air quality, biodiversity, waste and water management. Each focus area has a programme of action plans – including action ideas from ABP’s employees in our ports and other locations – to achieve ambitious but credible targets. This includes a commitment to reach Net Zero from ABP’s own operations (Scopes 1 and 2) by 2040.
Maritime Minister Baroness Vere said: “The UK is a pioneer in cutting-edge clean maritime solutions, with hundreds of millions of pounds of government funding being invested in developing greener, cleaner vessels and infrastructure.
“However, it’s vital that industry also invests in our future, and I’m therefore very pleased to see Associated British Ports doing just that, ensuring we’re Ready for Tomorrow and injecting billions into decarbonising our maritime sector.”
Ready for Tomorrow embraces the fact that ports, and in particular ABP, as the UK’s largest ports operator, have a vital and unique enabling role for a range of major decarbonisation and sustainability projects. For ABP this includes continuing to develop its leading offshore wind manufacturing and support hubs in the Humber and East Anglia, as well as more than doubling its own green power generation.
ABP’s £2 billion green growth and decarbonisation plan brings together projects that will deliver major emissions reduction and sustainability improvements for ABP itself with green growth energy transition projects developed in partnership with customers.
The strategy acknowledges that the scale of the challenges but also the opportunities for the UK from the imperative to decarbonise and become dramatically more sustainable is enormous. It’s bigger than any one company or organisation. Addressing climate change challenges meaningfully and fully capturing the opportunities will require collaboration and partnership. That’s an ethos that ABP is committed to.
Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group, a sustainable business organisation whose members have a cumulative turnover of around £600bn, said: “The launch of ABP’s sustainability Strategy marks an important moment in the UK economy’s transition to net zero emissions. Decarbonising ports is not only important in itself, but it is also essential to support the decarbonisation of other key parts of the economy such as energy generation, shipping and heavy industries like steel.
“By taking proactive steps to cut emissions in a part of the economy that is complex to decarbonise, ABP is demonstrating true leadership and showing that that the business community is ready to lead the UK economy to net zero. The Government must respond by showing equivalent leadership in the coming months through strengthening the UK’s net zero strategy.”
Bradford Council plans to create new city centre living project
Bradford Council’s plans to create a new ‘City Village’ in the heart of the City Centre will go before Executive next week.
The ambitious plan focusses on creating a safe, healthy, attractive and resident-friendly environment with high-quality public spaces, landscaped and traffic calmed streets to establish a desirable new neighbourhood of up to 1,000 homes drawing people in to live, play and work.
The key elements of the City Village scheme will see highway infrastructure and landscaping/public realm improvements to create a green, traffic reduced, healthy and sustainable environment, encouraging private developers and owners of existing properties in the area to undertake more and better quality conversion schemes, facilitating new-build homes on Council owned sites and revitalising the local retail, business and leisure activities.
City Village community will boost new opportunities for revitalised independent shopping, cafes, bars and new business spaces to become a vibrant, economically and environmentally sustainable place for residents, businesses and visitors.
The city’s new £23m flagship Darley Street Market will provide a major shopping and leisure venue, and once open, will free up another major development site, the Oastler Centre.
Bradford Council’s Executive will be asked to approve the procurement process of a preferred private sector Development Partner to progress the scheme.
The City Village scheme has attracted the attention and support of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Homes England. With their collaboration, Bradford Council will secure a private developer to take the City Village scheme through to fruition.
Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “City Village is a large and ambitious regeneration project. We’re already showing some of what the City Village area will be like with the new market and this is huge opportunity to reshape the city centre with sustainable and quality new housing, public spaces and business developments. With Bradford Live, One City Park and Darley Street Market, this scheme extends our pipeline of exciting regeneration projects in the city centre for years to come.”
Law company expands with new Leeds office
Fletchers Group has opened a new office in Leeds as it looks to expand its operations across the north of England.
The move will strengthen the Group’s market reach and will help the firm tap into new talent across Yorkshire and the North East.
The new base sits in the heart of the city’s central business district, in the recently renovated ‘Northspring’ building on Wellington Street, and will house the Minton Morrill team, specialists in medical negligence and private client, which Fletchers acquired in 2022.
The office features a range of modern facilities spread across almost 3,500 sq ft including a state-of-the-art communal workspace, rooftop garden, gym, cycle store and podcast studio.
Fletchers Group employs more than 500 people from its offices in Manchester city centre and Southport. With ambitious expansion plans over the next three years, 2023 will see the firm increase its regional presence with further office openings planned, including Liverpool in May.
Peter Haden, Fletchers Group CEO, says: “Opening an office in Leeds, one of the fastest growing business and financial hubs in the UK, was the next natural step for the Group, particularly after the acquisition of Minton Morrill.
“Leeds is an exciting and vibrant city, and our new base will allow us to expand our team, attract top talent, better serve our clients, and build lasting partnerships with key stakeholders across the region.
“We really wanted to create a great work environment that will enhance productivity and employee wellbeing and Northspring has it all. We’re so excited with the opportunities we are already creating in Leeds, and look forward to welcoming clients, partners and colleagues to our fantastic new home!”
ESG commitments spark business opportunities for SMEs
Increasing demand for high environmental standards is providing businesses who invest in ESG with a competitive advantage and the opportunity to increase revenue, new Paragon Bank research has found.
Conducted by Opinium, the research of over 500 UK SMEs found that 61% of firms take an active interest in the ESG credentials of their suppliers, with 51% refusing to work with businesses with a poor environmental record.
Concern over the ESG record of a business continued into enquiries made by customers with 53% demanding to know about an SME’s own standards. This is led to 57% of SMEs considering ESG standards as important to their business and only 14% who do not.
With the increased interest in ESG standards, a majority of SMEs are now both actively investing in new equipment to improve their standards (59%) and are planning to increase future investment (58%).
As well as investing to improve ESG standards to meet the demands of customers, SMEs are also moving towards more sustainable working practices to reduce energy bills (58%).
The research identified both the level of interest and lack of interest shown towards ESG standards:
- Interested in supplier’s credentials (Agree 61% /Disagree 12%)
- Actively investing to improve (59% / 13%)
- Plan to increase investment (58% / 12%)
- Investing to lower energy bills (58% / 14%)
- Very important to our business (57% / 14%)
- Customers demanding to know credentials (53% / 22%)
- Won’t work with company with poor ESG (51% / 17%)
Leeds Media Centre refurbishment gaining pace
Swift progress is being made on a £1.8 million redevelopment scheme which will create additional business space and improve life chances for aspiring entrepreneurs in Leeds.
Scaffolding his been erected around Leeds Media Centre in Chapeltown in preparation for the installation of a new roof and modern windows.
Internal works are already well underway to remodel the ground and lower ground floors to create space for up to 12 new business units and a bespoke business hub with hi-tech virtual facilities.
The project, due for completion this summer, is being delivered by Unity Enterprise – a not-for-profit subsidiary of housing association Unity Homes and Enterprise – in partnership with Leeds City Council.
It is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund including support for a full-time business adviser to assist young businesses, with an emphasis on those working in the creative, digital and media sector.
Leeds Media Centre is owned by Leeds City Council and managed by Unity Enterprise on a long-term lease.
Cedric Boston, Unity Homes and Enterprise chief executive, said: “This major refurbishment project will significantly expand the affordable space we can offer local people wanting to launch their own business.
“We are particularly excited about the new business hub which will enable start-up enterprises to grow quickly without the burden of high overhead costs.
“Richard Altoro, our full-time business adviser, will take the lead in community outreach work, engage with prospective entrepreneurs who may be considering setting up a business and help to create pathways which can make this a viable career option.”
Adrian Green, Unity Enterprise manager, said: “Working closely with our partners, we are delighted that the project is on time and on budget.
“Alongside Unity Business Centre and Chapeltown Enterprise Centre, Leeds Media Centre is one of three locations close to Leeds city centre operated by Unity Enterprise.
“Collectively, they provide 142 affordable business units for more than 80 diverse businesses employing over 750 people.
“We look forward to these numbers rising further when the works are complete.”
Cllr Jonathan Pryor, deputy leader of Leeds City Council and executive member for economy, culture and education at Leeds City Council, said:
“It’s great to see this project gathering momentum as we get one step closer to its completion date.
“Being able to provide further affordable options to aspiring entrepreneurs within the local area is fantastic, and further extends and builds on our excellent ecosystem for innovation across the city.”
Leeds manufacturer invests in local talent
Leeds-based ACS Stainless Steel Limited has announced eight promotions across its team – the result of a six-figure investment in its workforce this past year.
The Cross Green based company is a leading manufacturer and designer of structural building components, providing patented innovative solutions, including masonry support and brick panel solutions – essential construction components used in construction of the largest modern-day projects in the UK.
Eight of the firm’s 118 Leeds-based colleagues will now take on new roles to help future growth, including newly-appointed Strategic Specification Director Paul Ruding from Wakefield, who moves on from his incumbent position as Head of Strategic Specification; Paul is also studying for a BA in Fire Safety Engineering – something that is being funded by ACS.
Colleague Andrew Spencer from York is also promoted from Technical Engineer to Head of Research and Development, while Pontefract-based Jason Hedge is promoted to Specification and Design Director (Associate). ACS Commercial Director Gareth Twohey explained: “Investing in the future of this industry is a priority for ACS right now; we hope we are seen as the vanguard of new ideas, with products that will help developers, architects and contractors create safer and more sustainable structures.
“We achieve this by reinvesting huge percentages of our profits back into the business – that includes investing in colleagues like Paul, Jason and Andrew – each of whom is spearheading new ideas that support and educate clients.”
Other promotions include Sales Operation Manager Tony Richman who becomes Operational Sales Director, with Richard Mathers, Sarah Cox and Robert Parkinson all promoted to Regional Director.
Kate Robertson Hart who joined the team as Marketing Manager in 2022, is also promoted to Head of Marketing in an expanded brief that sees her collaborating with technical colleagues to amplify the work of ACS and the resources and training it is offering to the industry.
Added Gareth: “These brilliant colleagues enable our ambitious plans for the future, as we aim to help evolve the UK construction sector from Yorkshire! The team’s collective experience and passion for the sector is helping us reach more corners of the industry and I am supremely proud to call them colleagues.”
Yorkshire firm launches search for apprentices to help keep Britain connected
Yorkshire-headquartered Smith Brothers has opened applications for its popular apprenticeship programme, which seeks to find the next generation of talent to join the electrical engineering industry, and keep Britain connected.
With applications open for budding substation fitters, the apprenticeship is the perfect springboard to a career in the utilities industry, offering vital hands-on experience of working on overhead lines, with underground cables, and in substation fitting.
As part of the course, Smith Brothers will provide direct, practical advice to a pair of trainee fitters — with one of the positions already filled. This will be dovetailed by a two-year City & Guilds academic course and three years with Utility and Construction Training (UCT).
“Apprenticeships provide people of all ages with a fantastic opportunity to combine practical learning with earning an income — something which is more pertinent than ever, in the current economic climate,” explained Dave Ogden, director at Smith Brothers.
“As an employer, it’s our responsibility to support the ambitions of those in our sector and region. If you qualify as a fitter, you have a ready-made, lifelong career – anywhere in the world. It’s important that we do our bit in fostering the brightest and best in engineering talent.”
The course is designed to give apprentices a sound working knowledge of a wide variety of fitting activity, as well as an understanding of safe working practices, and the practical skills and techniques to enable them to become valuable members of the workforce.
The annual apprenticeship scheme is not solely reserved for school-leavers though, as Dave continued: “We take apprentices of all ages because we believe that everyone deserves the chance to learn a trade. Some of the best engineers left school and went straight into a labouring job, but years later, they might be keen to back up that ‘on the ground’ experience with a formal qualification.”
Region gets a share in £3.1m to explore potential of fusion energy
Organisations in our region are amongst 18 to have secured contracts with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority to demonstrate how their innovative technologies and proposed solutions can help make fusion energy a commercial reality.
The organisations will focus on overcoming specific technical and physical challenges through feasibility studies in contracts £50,000 up to £200,000 and together valet at £3.1m are funded by the UKAEA’s Fusion Industry Programme and awarded through the UK Government platform ‘Small Business Research Initiative’.
The projects aim to tackle specific challenges linked to the commercialisation of fusion energy, from novel fusion materials and manufacturing techniques through to innovative heating and cooling systems, all needed for future fusion powerplants.
Tim Bestwick, UKAEA’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “In the past 12 months we have seen significant advances both in the UK and globally that demonstrate the potential for fusion energy to be a safe, low-carbon and sustainable part of the world’s future energy supply. However, there are a number of significant technical challenges to address for fusion energy to realise its potential. The Fusion Industry Programme is helping engage organisations and industrial partners to stimulate innovation and address these important challenges.”
The Fusion Industry Programme is part of the Government’s £484 million support package for UK research. The Programme was allocated £42.1 million as part of this package to stimulate innovation and to accelerate the development of the fusion industry.
Contracts have been awarded to start-ups, SMEs, established companies, and academia, with six of the eighteen organisations receiving funding through the Fusion Industry Programme for the first time (see below for the full list).
As a growing industry, knowledge transfer from other technical and engineering sectors is vitally important to the fusion industry. Collaborating with wider industry allows a collective approach to tackling climate change issues and faster access to energy security.
The Fusion Industry Programme was launched in 2021 to drive long-term economic growth by developing technology and skills that can both support domestic programmes and be exported globally.
