Leeds consulting engineers secure four more care-related contracts

Stuart Pearcey
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Leeds consulting engineers secure four more care-related contracts

Leeds-based Dudleys Consulting Engineers has secured four more contracts with Torsion Projects to provide structural and civil engineering support for new care homes in Bradford, Chesterfield, Durham, and Worksop.

The new contracts follow similar care home and retirement living projects for Torsion Care in Shipley, Bingley, Brighouse, Sleaford, Lincoln, and York for which Dudleys provided full engineering consultancy support.

In Bradford Torsion is redeveloping a brownfield site at Eccleshill to build a new 72-bedroom care home with associated ancillary services.  Dudleys is providing engineering solutions to raise the site level by approximately 3 metres to provide a level plateau.

Torsion Care is also poised to deliver a new 72-bedroom care home in Chesterfield after securing planning consent subject to conditions.  Dudleys is supporting the redevelopment of the former Walton Works, including Grade II listed mill buildings for the care home alongside new housing.

Works are also due to commence on site next month in Worksop where Torsion is building a new 70-bed care home within the expanding development at Gatefold Toll Bar in Worksop. Dudleys is delivering full civil and structural engineering support, working alongside Watson Batty Architects which is designing the scheme.

John Currie, MD at Torsion Projects, said: “It is a pleasure to appoint Dudleys on our next roll out of schemes. Their support and expertise from inception through to completion on multiply projects at the same time allow Torsion Projects to maintain its growth plan and deliver exceptional schemes on programme.”

Paul Brownlow, Director at Dudleys, said: “Our team is highly skilled in working with challenging brownfield sites that need varying levels of remediation from historic use or local environmental impact and we admire Torsions commitment to rejuvenating often difficult sites to provide much needed new community focused facilities.”

Torsion Care is a part of Torsion Group, a privately owned independent company focused on developing residential, student living, care homes and retirement living apartments. With a pipeline of more than 5,000 units in the UK, Torsion Care delivers modern care homes, assisted living, and extra care facilities for operators across the UK. Torsion Care offers a complete turn of key service from finding land, obtaining planning permission, and constructing care facilities in a partnering approach with operators and investors.

Australian company chooses West Yorkshire for digital property pilot

Stuart Pearcey
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Australian company chooses West Yorkshire for digital property pilot

Australian property company Pexa has chosen West Yorkshire as the base for a pilot working group initiative to streamline property sales.

The Future Property Transactions Group brings together stakeholders from across the market to accelerate the transformation and improvement of the UK home buying and selling process.

The Group wants to drive collaboration between key property market stakeholders in the region, including Leeds Building Society, Legal & General, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Mortgage Advice Bureau, and Arch Law, as well as the Open Property Data Association to help make the property transaction process more efficient and seamless for all.

Hosting its inaugural meeting as part of Leeds Digital Festival, the initiative seeks to draw the best from the region’s key strengths in the financial, legal and property sectors, promising to enhance efficiency, reduce cost, save time, and cut the risk of fraud.

Joe Pepper, PEXA UK CEO, said: “PEXA’s mission is to help address the current issues within the property market. Transactions are often inefficient because of the siloed nature of each stage of the journey and, with an overarching view of the process and the proven ability to develop and implement technology to help drive change, we are in a prime position to help bring all stakeholders together and enable better collaboration to ease the issues being faced across the board. The launch of the Future Property Transaction Group supports this aim and we are excited to see the results it delivers for all.”

Richard Fearon, Chief Exec of Leeds Building Society, said:“Our purpose is to put home ownership within reach of more people. We welcome the launch of this group and look forward to working closely with others to create a quicker and simpler process that our members could benefit from.”

Electric vehicle charging company gears up for growth with Finance Yorkshire investment

Tess Egginton
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Electric vehicle charging company gears up for growth with Finance Yorkshire investment
West Yorkshire-based We Power Your Car (WPYC) is expanding with £750,000 from Finance Yorkshire’s growth fund. The company is using the investment to scale its operations and attract more domestic and commercial customers across the UK. WPYC employs more than 50 people including 25 engineers who install the electric vehicle charging points at customers’ premises. The company also has several strategic partners, carrying out installations for their customers. WPYC has ambitions to become one of the country’s leading national home installation providers having grown sales to £2.66 million last year. Government legislation requires that 22% of all new vehicle registrations must be electric by 2024, increasing year on year until 2030. Chief executive Kai Arter said: “We saw the potential to grow the business and vital to that was having our own team of engineers rather than sub-contracting work to installers. “This enables us to be very focussed on the customer journey and we have scaled up our internal team based in Bingley to provide the highest standards of customer service and support the installers in the field.” Kai has a longstanding relationship with Finance Yorkshire having received previous investment for his successful cosmetics business Badgequo. “It was an easy decision to return to partnering with Finance Yorkshire having enjoyed a previous strong and successful working relationship,” said Kai. Finance Yorkshire chief executive Alex McWhirter said: “Kai is a seasoned businessman who has seen the potential in the electric vehicle charging market to grow WPYC. Our investment is supporting the company’s growth as it seeks to scale up its operations and sales and create new jobs in Yorkshire.”

Luceco acquires Rotheram wiring accessories manufacturer

Tess Egginton
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Luceco acquires Rotheram wiring accessories manufacturer

Luceco, the supplier of wiring accessories, EV chargers, LED lighting, and portable power products, has acquired CMD Limited, the manufacturer of wiring accessories for the workplace, through the acquisition of its ultimate parent company, Baltic Topco Limited, from Rubicon Partners and management for cash consideration of £30m.

CMD, founded in 1984, designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of wiring accessories for commercial premises. Products include under-floor and under-desk power distribution solutions, on-desk and in-desk sockets, and a range of ergonomic products including the award-winning Miro monitor support arm.

CMD has an experienced senior management team which will remain with the business, continuing to operate from its headquarters in Rotherham.

For the audited 12-month period ended 31 December 2023 CMD reported revenue of £23.1m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £4m.

John Hornby, Chief Executive Officer of Luceco, said: “Luceco has a well-established position as a leading supplier of wiring accessories to the residential market in the UK so CMD, with its leading position in the commercial wiring accessories market, is a very natural fit.

“The Group’s expertise in product development, manufacturing and sourcing will enable us to accelerate range innovation and improve margins for CMD. We also see an opportunity to offer Luceco’s professional lighting range to CMD’s customer base of specifiers and contractors. The acquisition is in line with our M&A strategy and follows the successful acquisition of D-Line earlier in the year.”

Jon Holding, Managing Director of CMD, said: “CMD has been successful over many years thanks to its hard-won reputation for consistently delivering excellent customer service.  The management team and I are excited for the next chapter and look forward to growing the business with Luceco behind us.”

Work gets underway on hundreds of new homes in Leeds

Tess Egginton
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Work gets underway on hundreds of new homes in Leeds

Work is underway on the latest phase of the East Leeds Extension – one of the region’s largest infrastructure projects that could see up to 5,000 new homes built.

Housebuilder Persimmon was joined by Councillor Jessica Lennox, Executive Member for Housing at Leeds City Council to formally welcome start of work on the site. Persimmon’s Wellington Mount development located next to Red Hall Lane, forms part of the 233 hectare East Leeds Extension stretching around the edge of Red Hall, Swarcliffe, Whinmoor and Crossgates. 407 new homes will be delivered on this site with a mix of both 1 and 2-bedroom apartments and 2, 3 and 4-bedroom houses. All of the new homes will be equipped with Air Source Heat Pumps and electric vehicle chargers. Councillor Jessica Lennox, Executive Member for Housing at Leeds City Council, said: “It’s good to see work beginning on these new homes after a long period of planning and consultation with the East Leeds community and us local councillors. I’m looking forward to seeing this new, green, well-connected neighbourhood develop.” Christopher Hull, Managing Director of Persimmon West Yorkshire, said: “We’re delighted to be on site and selling homes at Wellington Mount. “The East Leeds Extension is a truly exciting project and we’re proud to be working with the Council to provide much needed new homes for local people, set amongst outstanding green and open spaces. “There’s a wide range of homes to choose from, so would encourage any local homebuyers to come visit our on-site sales suite to find the right property for you.”

Pressure Technologies sells PT Precision Machined Components to Indian manufacturer

Tess Egginton
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Pressure Technologies sells PT Precision Machined Components to Indian manufacturer
Pressure Technologies, the Sheffield-based specialist engineering group, has exchanged contracts and agreed the sale of PT Precision Machined Components (PMC) to Raghu Vamsi Machine Tools, a manufacturer of precision engineered components based in India. The deal is for an initial enterprise value of £6.2 million with the potential to increase to £7.7 million dependent on the future performance of the division.

PMC manufactures highly specialised components for use in safety-critical subsea and surface flow control applications, serving global oil and gas OEM customers through its Al-Met, Roota Engineering and Martract operations in the UK.

PMC was identified as non-core by Pressure Technologies, with a shift in strategic focus to the development and growth of the Group’s principal division, Chesterfield Special Cylinders (CSC).

The sale simplifies the corporate structure of the Group and leaves CSC as its only operating business. The Board is now focused strategically on the development and growth of CSC in defence and hydrogen energy markets and in through-life Integrity Management services.

Chris Walters, Chief Executive of Pressure Technologies plc, said: “We are delighted to announce the sale of PMC to Raghu Vamsi Machine Tools and look forward to seeing the continued progress of the business under its new ownership, where plans for strategic development and growth present exciting opportunities for the combined businesses, their global customers and their employees.

“The completion of this strategic divestment will allow us to focus our resources on the development and growth of Chesterfield Special Cylinders in defence and hydrogen energy markets and in the provision of through-life inspection, testing and recertification services over the medium and longer term.”

Vamsi Vikas Ganesula, Managing Director of Raghu Vamsi Machine Tools, said: “We are delighted with the strategic acquisition of the PMC business from Pressure Technologies.  The respected brands of Al-Met, Roota Engineering and Martract will complement our existing engineering businesses and deliver strong operational and commercial synergies as we continue to expand our international footprint.

“We are very excited by the opportunities presented in the global oil and gas market with the blue chip customer base of PMC and will now work closely with our new colleagues in the UK to develop the long-term manufacturing capability and reach of our combined businesses.”

Merger sees TC Group strengthen Lincolnshire presence

Tess Egginton
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0
Merger sees TC Group strengthen Lincolnshire presence
TC Group, the firm of accountants and tax advisers, has completed a merger with Lincolnshire-based accountancy practice, Brooks & Partners, to form ‘TC Brooks & Partners’. This deal continues TC Group’s M&A Strategy and enhances the firm’s more than 30 locations across the UK. Brooks & Partners provide a full range of accountancy services. Their team in Stamford possess extensive expertise across various tax domains and business sectors, enabling them to provide comprehensive services to a diverse clientele, ranging from individuals and small enterprises to large corporate organisations. Fay Brooks and Kate Howitt, Partners at Brooks & Partners, said: “We are thrilled to join TC Group, marking an exciting chapter in our journey. This partnership will help us work more closely with our clients, offering even better services and support. Our team is eager to meet and collaborate with the new team, building strong relationships and continuing to grow for the benefit of our clients.” TC Group Partner, Keir Warwick said: “We are delighted to merge with Brooks & Partners, Stamford has always been an area in our sights and Brooks has a great reputation. As a result of this merger we now have a really strong presence in the town and I cannot wait to get started and grow it further with Kate and Fay.”

Hydrogen power unit builder secures £22m for expansion plans

Stuart Pearcey
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0
Hydrogen power unit builder secures £22m for expansion plans
Hydrogen power unit producer GeoPura, with hubs in Sheffield, Matlock, Nottingham and Newcastle, has raised £22 million to accelerate its expansion plans.
This announcement builds on momentum from a £56m investment round in February 2024 and a £36m Series A funding round in February 2023, welcoming investment from Siemens Energy, General Motors Ventures, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, Swen Capital Partners, and the UK Infrastructure Bank. This brings total capital raised to £114m over the last two years.
Derek Bulmer, CFO of GeoPura, said: “Securing this debt funding is a pivotal milestone in our journey to build a global fleet of over 3,600 HPUs, which will require over £2.5 billion in capital over the next decade.
“This funding will not only accelerate our expansion but also drive significant reductions in carbon emissions and improve local air quality while contributing directly to the UK’s net zero targets. Partnering with world-class debt funders like BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, Close Brothers, HSBC UK and Siemens Financial Services is critical to delivering this vision and achieving these goals.
“This milestone supports our commitment to a cleaner, healthier future and underpins the vital role of sustainable finance in advancing global environmental goals.”

Spencer Group opens the way for development of new North Yorkshire commercial park

Stuart Pearcey
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Spencer Group opens the way for development of new North Yorkshire commercial park
Construction and engineering specialist Spencer Group has delivered the access road and supporting infrastructure to open up major new mixed-use industrial, commercial and retail park in North Yorkshire. Spencer Building and Civil Engineering has created the route onto Harrogate 47 at the intersection of the A59, which runs alongside the A1(M) at Junction 47. The low carbon development by Opus North and Bridges Fund Management at the 45-acre site will include offices, industrial and warehouse units, high-tech hybrid units and roadside retail and amenities. Harrogate 47 is expected to support up to 2,000 jobs when it’s finished. The first phase of the development involved the creation of the access road and supporting infrastructure for the site so that offices and units can be built. This, in turn, will open up the site to further development as the scheme progresses. Darren Kilvington, MD at Spencer Building and Civil Engineering, said: “We’ve had challenges to overcome, but we’ve managed those really well and the project has been delivered as planned. “Spencer Group were certainly the right people for the job, and we’ve had some great input from our highly experienced Civils team to overcome some of the challenges posed by the ground conditions on the site. “Our Build and Civils teams have been able to work together, delivering the whole project in-house.”

Beetroot growers given access to American market

Stuart Pearcey
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0
Beetroot growers given access to American market
Britain’s beetroot growers are to have access to the US market after extensive talks between the two Governments and trade representatives. The move will open new opportunities for British farmers by increasing export opportunities and raising the profile of British beetroot in international markets – and is a springboard to grow the economy and expand UK trade relationships post-Brexit. For the US, this will allow their processors to satisfy demand for high-quality beetroot outside the US growing season, giving American consumers to access beetroot all year round from world-leading producers in the UK. Industry estimates this new access will be worth approximately £150,000 per year in increased exports, with groups such as the NFU recently voicing their desire for the barrier to be resolved to allow British producers to benefit from the enormous potential of the US market, building on the recent successes of UK lamb in the US. NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “It is great news that after many years of campaigning, British beetroot growers will have access to the market in the United States for the first time. Being able to access the US market, supplementing local production, will help to meet rising consumer demand for this healthy, nutritional crop, creating genuine growth opportunities for farmers and growers in the UK. “I am especially delighted that this announcement comes days after we returned from the US where we were able to make the case for UK beetroot directly to government officials. Industry collaboration with government and especially with the UK’s agri-food attaché based in Washington has been key to resolving this issue. “It shows the type of wins we’re able to achieve with the UK’s expanded network of agriculture attachés following a number of years of campaigning by the NFU for the creation of these positions. Long may the collaboration continue so British farmers and growers can expand into further markets and increase sales of great British food overseas.”

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