Developer purchases new site in Lincoln
Commercial property developer, Stirlin, has announced a new site investment.
Stirlin has purchased 1.22 acres of land on Newark Road in Lincoln, which is situated directly adjacent to an Esso fuel station and the River Witham.
An existing planning application has been approved for 8 single-storey industrial units to be constructed on the site, which range in size from 1,000 sq ft up to 3,100 sq ft.
The site can also accommodate bespoke design and build opportunities of up to 15,000 sq ft, which will be offered by Stirlin on a long-term lease basis.
Stirlin holds a long-standing commitment in Lincolnshire; having developed over 260,000 sq ft commercial property across the county since their first development in 2007.
James Kirby, owner of Stirlin, says: “We are delighted to invest in another site in Lincoln. We have been aware of the site on Newark Road for many years, so were pleased when it became available. The site has a tremendous amount of potential and will greatly benefit from a complete regeneration.
“With its excellent access to Lincoln City Centre and the A46, the development will act as the perfect base for a variety of local and national business.”
Jamie Thorpe, chartered surveyor at Pygott & Crone, says: “It’s fantastic to see Stirlin going from strength to strength as they continue to acquire new sites across the region to deliver their high-quality brand of commercial units. They have been a key player in developing much needed business space throughout the city, providing accommodation that helps local businesses grow and supports economic growth in the area.
“The most recent acquisition at Newark Road is no different, a rundown site that is in desperate need of redevelopment. Situated in a central position, the site location is expected to be very sought after. We encourage all interested businesses to get in touch to discuss their requirements.”
Midlands Energy Summit shines spotlight on region’s opportunity to become ‘famous’ in future energy agenda
The East Midlands needs to determine which part of the future energy agenda it wants to lead if it is to attract overseas investors, an audience of business leaders heard at a conference.
Speakers at the Midlands Energy Summit, held by East Midlands Chamber in partnership with the University of Nottingham at the Hilton East Midlands Airport hotel yesterday (1 December), emphasised the importance of the region having a clear focus when it comes to prioritising various energy strands.
Nora Senior, chair of the East Midlands Freeport, said becoming “famous” for an aspect of the green economy will help to establish clusters of businesses to accelerate innovation and create new jobs, while demonstrating a local commitment to achieving net zero will help to attract inward investment.
Many of the solutions will come from academic research and the University of Nottingham’s vice-chancellor Professor Shearer West CBE, as well as Sustainable Hydrogen Centre for Doctoral Training director Professor Gavin Walker, showcased some of its work in the areas of transport and mobility, energy generation and management, and communities and the built environment.
East Midlands Chamber director of policy and external affairs Chris Hobson said: “With our industrial heritage, world-class research in our universities, central location and the UK’s busiest cargo airport, our region has all the raw ingredients required to be a national and international leader in the net zero economy.
“This is why we are calling the East Midlands a Centre of Trading Excellence in our new Business Manifesto for Growth, which was launched in Westminster last week and calls for Government ‘to back the East Midlands to back the UK’.
“We believe there is plenty to get behind here but there is also a lot for us to think about as a region. The East Midlands Freeport offers a fantastic opportunity to create a name for ourselves on a global stage but as we heard during the Midlands Energy Summit, we need to consider what the focus should be – whether it’s in hydrogen, battery production or aerospace, for example.
“It’s also important that as a region, we demonstrate a commitment to growing our competitiveness in the right way as this is what investors across the world want to see when they decide where to throw their backing.
“More broadly, energy security is a hot topic for many organisations as our research tells us the number one concern for businesses right now is rising energy costs, which is also the main driver of inflation.
“Businesses are eager to work in partnership with Government and the energy industry to develop a long-term energy strategy that gives them certainty about security of supply and minimises costs, which will enable firms to get on with doing what they do best in creating wealth and opportunities locally.”
Frasers Group snaps up luxury homeware platform
Frasers Group has snapped up Amara.com, an online platform for luxury global homeware brands.
The CEO of Frasers Group, Michael Murray, announced the acquisition on social media, saying it would build on ambitions to create a credible homeware destination for luxury retailer Flannels.
Established in 2005 as an independent boutique, AMARA moved its focus online in 2008. It has since grown to partner with over 300 of the world’s leading luxury home brands, such as Versace Home, Missoni, Fornasetti, Roberto Cavalli and Kartell, and has gained a global audience in over 100 countries.
The deal comes hot on the heels of Frasers Group’s acquisition of Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes last week.
Appeal won for village housing scheme in Rutland
Planning permission for up to 75 homes in a Rutland village has been granted following an appeal by Pegasus Group.
Rutland County Council has agreed to the construction of the homes, which will include 30 per cent affordable properties, on 5.52 hectares of agricultural land off Bartles Hollow, Ketton, after Pegasus Group provided expertise on behalf of house builder Vistry Homes.
As well as the homes, the development will also include a formal and informal open space, including pedestrian and cycle routes linking the development through to Wytchley Road and Park Road; and a recreational area with children’s play area.
The new housing scheme, which will be traditional in style and designed to complement the local area and landscape setting, will be under one kilometre from the village centre, where there are shops, services and recreational facilities. The historic town of Stamford is under four miles away.
Last year, Rutland County Council turned down the application, saying the development site was outside the Planned Limits to Development for Ketton and that any new housing has to be proven to be essential for a rural worker or similar operational needs. They concluded that “there is no justification in this instance for setting aside the development plan.”
However, the scheme was approved on appeal.
Guy Longley, executive director of Pegasus Group, said: “We’re pleased that this application has been allowed on appeal. Rutland County Council are unable to demonstrate a five year supply and this is a sustainably located site.
“This housing development will provide much-needed, high-quality homes in one of Rutland’s Local Service Centres. We demonstrated that new residents would benefit from a range of key service and facilities and access to public transport, and the Inspector agreed.”
A reserved matters application will be submitted next year.
Plans submitted for 250,000 sq ft bioscience building at Nottingham’s Island Quarter
A detailed application for the next phase of The Island Quarter mixed-use development in Nottingham has been submitted by Conygar.
The plans comprise a 249,000 sq ft bioscience building, which includes both laboratory and office space.
Christopher Ware, property director of Conygar, said: “We are delighted to submit this application for the next phase of development.
“Nottingham is already home to a large number of exciting businesses in the bioscience space and this scheme will be an excellent addition to the mixed-use development we are creating at The Island Quarter.”
Two more retail units open at £30m development in Nottingham
Two more retail units have opened at a £30 million mixed-use development in Nottingham which is nearing completion.
Birds Bakery’s latest outlet is trading at Teal Park, off the Colwick Loop Road in Netherfield, which has been jointly developed by Warwickshire-based AC Lloyd Commercial (ACL) and Nottingham-based Henry Davidson Developments (HDD).
Valley CiDS charity shop, which supports children, young people and families through its out-reach work in schools and the wider community, is planning to open its 2,000 sq ft premises in the countdown to Christmas.
This will be followed in the New Year by Pizza Triangle opening its first restaurant in the city. The business already has restaurants in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Solihull and Walsall.
Mark Edwards, Managing Director at AC Lloyd Commercial, said Teal Park was proving to be a huge success for businesses from a wide range of sectors.
He said: “It is great the economy is being boosted by the opening of these retail units. Aldi opened in August and the addition of the new retail units will mean they help each other to thrive.
“The area is a hive of activity and the Local Centre is providing amenities for residents on their doorstep which they can walk or cycle to which is good news for the environment as well.”
Richard Croft, director at HDD, added: “We are delighted the Local Centre is fully let and that we have a mix of local and national occupiers across Teal Park.
“Teal Park is going from strength to strength and is adding to the retail mix of this popular area of Nottingham.”
PKF Smith Cooper’s Fire & Security specialists assist Duke Royalty on £5m funding into sector consolidator New Path
International alternative capital solutions provider Duke Royalty has provided £5 million debt royalty financing to New Path Fire and Security (New Path), an investment holding company operating in the UK&I fire and security (“F&S”) sector. The funding agreement also involved Duke Royalty becoming a 15% shareholder in New Path, and agreeing a total funding commitment of up to £20 million to support New Path’s buy-and-build strategy across the UK.
Duke Royalty turned to PKF SC Corporate Finance to support its first deal in the F&S sector due to the PKF team’s growing specialism and expertise in the sector. PKF’s role was to undertake a comprehensive commercial diligence exercise on New Path, its position in the market, and the wider F&S market.
PKF has developed a significant specialism in the F&S market in recent years, its track record including assisting integrated security and fire safety solutions specialist, Total Integrated Solutions, in securing investment from private equity house Key Capital Partners.
New Path is a fast-growing investment platform, focused on acquiring independent fire safety and security companies throughout the South of England. Its group companies cover all aspects of fire safety including installation, maintenance, servicing, testing and monitoring, and a variety of security services, including CCTV and door entry systems. New Path has acquired seven businesses since it was established in 2020, and the £5 million funding from Duke Royalty will fund a further two acquisitions which are currently at advanced stages in New Path’s pipeline.
Commenting on the deal and PKF’s role, Alex Hibbard, Vice President at Duke Royalty, said: “Duke is excited to be partnering with New Path to support their buy and build strategy; we look forward to helping them to continue consolidating a mission-critical sector. Duke looked to the PKF Smith Cooper CF team for a review of the sectors and sub-sectors that New Path operates in, addressing a detailed scope with well-researched analysis, delivered in a short time window. We were happy with their insightful output, which was delivered within our timeframe.”
James Ward, Corporate Finance Director at PKF Smith Cooper and leader of the F&S team, said: “It’s been a privilege to assist Duke Royalty in making its first funding transaction in the F&S sector; they recognised the potential of New Path’s plan to create a group of specialist F&S businesses with a diverse service offering in the highly fragmented F&S sector. Duke’s funding package will enable New Path to complete on two deals in advanced stages of negotiation, and to continue their expansion thereafter. We wish New Path’s management and Duke Royalty, with which we’ve worked on two previous transactions, every success with their strategy.”
PKF Smith Cooper is an award-winning advisory and accountancy firm; PKF Smith Cooper’s Corporate Finance team was crowned ‘SME Advisory Team of the Year’ at Insider’s 2022 Midlands Dealmakers Awards this Autumn.
Springbourne Homes nets plethora of awards
It’s been a stunning, award-winning year for Leicestershire developer Springbourne Homes.
The Market Bosworth based business has scooped five top industry prizes for its spectacular Hornsey Rise site in Bosworth Road, Wellsborough.
Springbourne chairman Adrian Burr collected a prestigious What House? Award last month to complete a fistful of trophies for the flourishing firm, including three coveted Five Star awards at the UK Property Awards.
A delighted Adrian said: “It’s been our best ever year for awards and everyone at Springbourne is thrilled that we’ve collected so many top honours.
“The most pleasing aspect is that they’re all industry awards, judged by our fellow professionals, which makes them the ultimate accolade.
“It’s a ringing endorsement of the high standards we set ourselves and the top quality homes we deliver.
“I always said Hornsey Rise was the jewel in the crown of the Springbourne portfolio and the awards are certainly glittering now in the boardroom!”
Hornsey Rise is a select development of 19 luxury homes on a ten acre site surrounded by amazing countryside views.
At the UK Property Awards it was acknowledged as “Best in the UK for Architecture”, “Best in the East Midlands for Architecture” and named the “Best Residential Development in Leicestershire”.
Revenue to be lower and losses higher than expected at Light Science Technologies
Revenue is expected to be below market expectations while loss before tax is expected to be higher than anticipated for the year ending 30 November 2022 at Derbyshire-based Light Science Technologies.
In a new trading update, the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology and contract electronics manufacturing (CEM) group said that while group revenue grew by approximately 10.5% in the year, this is around 13% below market expectations.
Group loss before tax meanwhile is anticipated to be approximately £850k higher than market expectations.
It comes as a result of a positive sales pipeline being negated by an elongation of the sales cycle, predominantly driven by input inflation experienced by growers which cannot currently be passed on to customers, leading to growers delaying capital expenditure.
Additionally, gross margins at the group’s CEM division have been diluted through the second half of the year, driven by significant price volatility in the global electronics component market.
The group was anticipating certain revenue streams materialising before 30 November 2022, which would have delivered financials in line with market forecasts for the period. However, these have been delayed. These revenue streams are now expected to materialise next year.
Global cannabis company acquires Nottingham firm
Nottingham-based BCM Specials Ltd, the Specials manufacturer in the UK owned by Fareva, has been acquired by global medical cannabis business, Avida Global Ltd.
The new company, Avida Medical, will manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK, in addition to servicing the existing Specials business. Avida Medical will remain in the D10 Building, Thane Road, Beeston before relocating to a new site in Nottingham later next year.
Avida Medical will be headed up by Paul Parkinson, chief operations officer, MD and head of UK operations at Avida Global. Neil Bashforth, general manager at BCM Specials will assume the role of Managing Director, Avida Medical. All 50 BCM Specials employees will transfer across to the new business.
This acquisition gives Avida Global the accreditation and complete set of licenses required to import, manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK for the human and veterinary market, thereby surpassing this lengthy, complicated and costly process.
David Kirby, Chief Executive Officer at Avida Global, said: “This transformative acquisition is incredibly exciting and gives us extraordinary potential as a business, giving us immediate access to the UK medical cannabis market, home to one of the largest patient populations using cannabis in Europe.
“Our primary driver has always been to bring quality to life and we are committed to supplying the highest quality products, working with partners to create new innovative cannabis-based medicines and helping to improve patient access.”
Stepnell opens new Beeston office
Stepnell has opened a new Beeston office, replacing the construction firm’s former Nottingham office located on the nearby Eldon Business Park.
The new 3,800 sq ft office has been designed with CPMG Architects to ensure that the growing East Midlands team – including newly appointed social value roles – can all work together across one floor, as well as provide sufficient space to facilitate team training and meetings.
Showers, more car parking and bike storage have also been added, and infrastructure for electric vehicle charging points.
Tom Sewell, director at Stepnell, said: “It’s great to have finally moved into our newly designed space after months of hard work. We had a clear vision of what we wanted the office to provide, including presentation and training areas that will enable us to upskill our teams and continue their professional development.
“We are also pleased to have been able to put staff first by choosing an office in close proximity to our previous location, which was done to ensure that staff could continue to benefit from similar commuting times and all the area has to offer. This is in addition to being an excellent base for a number of several important projects in the region.”
Tom Wakeford, Managing Director at Stepnell, said: “We aim to give colleagues a fantastic experience and therefore we want great environments for them to work in.”
Ruth Evans, associate interior designer at CPMG Architects, said: “Having supported Stepnell on a variety of projects over the years, we welcomed the opportunity to help with the delivery of their new office space. They had a very clear vision of what they wanted, and they’ve been a great team to work with. The fitout team have shown fantastic attention to detail throughout and we’re delighted with the result.”
Jobs saved as Joules snapped up by joint venture between its founder and NEXT
The joint administrators of Joules Group plc and Joules Limited have sold the majority of the business and assets to a newly formed company which is a joint venture set up by NEXT and Joules founder Tom Joule.
In addition, NEXT has acquired the Joules head office in Market Harborough.
The new company has acquired around 100 Joules stores, with approximately 1,450 employees across these stores and head office transferring as part of the transaction.
19 stores are not part of the transaction and will be closed with immediate effect. 133 redundancies have therefore been made.
Will Wright, Ryan Grant and Chris Pole from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Joules Group plc and Joules Limited on 16 November 2022.
Will Wright, head of Restructuring at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Following a highly competitive process, we are pleased to have concluded this transaction which secures the future of this great British brand, as well as safeguarding a significant number of jobs.
“To have achieved this in such a short timetable is testament to the support we’ve received from employees, suppliers and other key stakeholders throughout the administration process, so we’d like to express our profound thanks to everyone involved.”
New law firm welcomes first new partner
New specialist law firm Michael Cummins Employment Solicitors has welcomed its first new partner, Fabienne McAllister.
Fabienne has moved from her role as a partner at Knights to join the growing venture launched by Michael Cummins.
It’s a reunion for Michael and Fabienne, who worked together at Knights following its acquisitions of their previous firms – Cummins Solicitors and Emms Gilmore Liberson.
Bilingual in French and English, Fabienne will work alongside Michael and the rest of the team at the Leicestershire-based legal firm, providing employers with advice and representation on all aspects of employment law.
Fabienne said: “It’s exciting to be involved in the early days of this new venture. I am enjoying being part of a small team as it grows. Michael is a very collaborative person and an ethos of the firm is to enable flexibility and autonomy.
“I was previously based in Birmingham, so it is also great to be meeting lots of new clients in the East Midlands and beyond.”
Fabienne qualified in 2002 and has specialised in employment law since 2008, developing on her early work in commercial litigation at the international law firm Ashurst in London and Paris before moving back home to work in the Midlands.
She said: “I really enjoy employment law as it has a real human interest to it, it affects everyone in some way, and people and how they are treated are key to any organisation’s success.
“It is also a constantly evolving field, with new case law and new trends in employment. In the last couple of years, we’ve had furlough to deal with and now there are new hybrid and agile working patterns and the prospect of industrial action in many more workplaces than has been the case for many years.
“Helping employers navigate those new challenges is at the heart of what we do, as there are always fresh developments in the workplace and how people work.”
Michael Cummins said: “We are very pleased indeed to have attracted a new partner of Fabienne’s calibre. Her extensive experience, including at the Employment Tribunal, and her commitment to providing outstanding service will be of great value to our clients.
“Our new business has great growth potential and we will be looking to recruit more colleagues at various stages of their careers.”
SureScreen appoints new CEO
A manufacturer of diagnostic testing kits has appointed a new Chief Executive to drive its operations and deliver new innovations designed to tackle the world’s latest health crises.
Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics says the appointment of Andrew Wilcher in the CEO role is a significant development that will pave the way for further growth following strong performance over the past two years.
The company was established in 1996 and has long been at the forefront of medical testing in the UK, and Andrew’s appointment follows a significant investment in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in at Sherwood Business Park at Annersley, near Hucknall, which will act as a platform for future diagnostics.
Recent new developments include a 10-minute lateral flow test for Mpox – the World Health Organisation’s new recommended name for Monkeypox – and the first UK-approved lateral flow test to detect both flu and COVID at the same time.
Andrew has worked in healthcare for his whole career, spanning pharmaceutical and medical device sectors before joining SureScreen.
He said: “Over the years, SureScreen has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of research and development when it comes to diagnostic technology, and I am thrilled to be joining as Chief Executive at such an important and exciting time.
“Rapid result tests have got a huge part to play in ensuring the healthcare systems such as the NHS can continue to respond to the needs of the patients because they are able to give immediate diagnoses and markers without the need to send samples to labs, which would save a huge amount of time and money each year, not least in critical care settings such as accident and emergency departments.
“My role will be to ensure the company builds on the strong platform it has established over the past years while exploring new ways to create synergy with other areas of the business in order to offer solutions to assist clinical decisions.”
SureScreen director David Campbell, who runs the company alongside his brothers, Alastair and Alex, said: “We are delighted to be working with Andrew to build on our 25-year history.
“Andrew has extensive experience in healthcare which will allow us to continue to innovate and supply those most at need with reliable and cost-effective tests.”
Access PaySuite strengthens payments offering with acquisition
Access PaySuite, a division of Loughborough-headquartered The Access Group, has acquired Pay360, one of the UK’s leading providers of credit card and payments facilitation services to the UK public and private sector. Pay360 has been providing secure payment services to a range of customers across the public and private sectors for more than 20 years. With significant experience in the public sector, the acquisition represents major growth potential for Access PaySuite as consumers increasingly demand digitised services. The deal will strengthen Access PaySuite’s payments processing capabilities by adding card payments and Payment Facilitation (PayFac) to its existing payments solutions.Commenting on the acquisition, Andrea Dunlop, Managing Director of Access PaySuite, said: “Pay360 joining Access PaySuite is further evidence of our commitment to invest in innovative payment solutions that give businesses and organisations the confidence that they have a credible, secure and scalable payments partner.“As well as expanding our expertise and capability to enter new markets, Pay360 complements the Access Group’s existing footprint, and our customers across the public and private sector can take advantage of our enhanced, best-of-breed payments solutions.“The Access Group has a long and proud track record of investing in the companies we acquire. Bringing great people, as well as great technology, into Access PaySuite was a major consideration for us. I am confident that there is a great cultural fit between the two companies, and we’re committed to improving customer success and product development to become the payments provider of choice for current and future customers.”Stephen Ferry, MD of Pay360, said: “We are delighted that Pay360 is joining the Access family. It provides a strong platform for the company to grow and prosper further. With complementary products and a shared vision, the acquisition will enable the enlarged payments division to really drive forward innovation and customer excellence to the benefits of our customer base.“We look forward to working with our new owners to support and accelerate innovation within our combined product portfolio to ensure our payments can continue to support the needs and requirements of our customers today and tomorrow.”
Derbion reveals ambitious city centre masterplan
Recycling technology leader opens new research and development labs at Loughborough University
Plastic Energy, a global leader in chemical recycling technology, has opened new research and development labs at Loughborough University.
This builds on the company’s impactful research partnership with the University which began in 2012 to accelerate the innovative process to help prevent plastic waste, transforming previously unrecyclable plastic waste into a valuable resource.
Building capability and attracting skilled research and technical staff, Plastic Energy’s research team has grown from the laboratory space it shared with the University’s chemistry researchers into a suite of specialist labs and a dedicated office space on Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP).
LUSEP will be the hub for Plastic Energy’s work on further development and optimisation of its unique chemical recycling technology. The research team will use state of the art equipment in the new labs to test feedstock and improve the quality of the final product from Plastic Energy’s TAC™ process, called TACOIL™.
Plastic Energy leadership and research teams, and key stakeholders at Loughborough University gathered for the official opening event which included a tour of the labs and demonstration of current R&D projects.
“LUSEP is an excellent base for Plastic Energy to continue leading the way to help create a circular economy where plastics are re-used repeatedly, for good,” said Steve Christie, Loughborough University’s professor of Chemical Technologies. “Co-located with the University’s net zero and sustainability research capabilities, I look forward to us continuing working together to realize this shared goal.”
“After a decade of collaboration with Loughborough University, we are delighted to formally open our new Plastic Energy labs and office space at LUSEP,” said David McNamara, chief technology officer at Plastic Energy. “This will provide a base for our research team to continue their invaluable work on our technology and act us a hub for internal and external visitors. We are grateful to Loughborough University for their continued support.”
Alex Owen, Loughborough University chief financial officer and LUSEP lead, says: “Leading the field in the transition to a low-carbon circular economy for plastics, Plastic Energy are a valuable addition to LUSEP’s largest and most established cluster, Energy and Low Carbon.
“With its distinctive added value of the University’s knowledge base and high calibre graduate workforce, I am confident that LUSEP will be a supportive base for Plastic Energy’s R&D team to flourish. I wish them every success.”
Nottingham e-mobility business to lead project reviewing city’s approach to greening businesses’ supply chains
Nottingham-based e-mobility business, Ottr, have been invited by the Nottingham Green Partnership to lead a project to review the city’s approach to greening businesses’ supply chains and procurement processes to help achieve Nottingham’s ambition of being carbon neutral by 2028 (CN28).
The Nottingham Green Partnership, a group of over 20 public and private sector organisations, has been working to help the city to be more sustainable and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions since 1992.
CN28 is Nottingham’s action plan to help achieve a resilient and sustainable carbon neutral city by 2028. The plan spans: carbon reduction measures; carbon removal; resilience and adaption; and ecology and biodiversity.
To date, the city has reduced its overall CO2 emissions per capita by 57.7% which is the highest reduction of any core UK city. Furthermore, if the plans are successful, Nottingham will be Europe’s first carbon neutral city.
Ottr’s involvement in the project is born from the values at the heart of the company: to contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future by creating innovative technology to harness renewable energy through their fleet of electric vehicles.
The brand’s point of difference is that they are actively encouraging and supporting local communities and business to swap their daily car commute for an e-bike or e-moped and their work with Nottingham City Council is yet another example of this.
Ottr became part of the City’s Green Partnership earlier this year and as CEO of Ottr, David Bothwell explains: “We are working with the City Council and other organisations across the city to progress their impressive plans and work out how we, and other businesses striking the same chord, are best placed to help.
“The plan that we at Ottr have in place to reduce our own carbon footprint within supply chain and procurement is something we’re very proud of and we are consequently well placed and well versed to advise other local business on how to achieve similar goals.”
Chris Common, Carbon Neutral Policy Manager at the City Council, added: “We have big ambitions to achieve CN28 and become Europe’s first carbon neutral city. But the City Council can’t do it alone and businesses like Ottr give us the support and collaboration we need to bring other local businesses on this journey with us.”
Dice Environmental makes significant appointments
East Midlands-based Dice Environmental has appointed two new acoustic specialists to its team.
The company, which launched earlier this year, has experienced considerable growth. It now further strengthens its team and service offering with Jonathan Riley appointed as head of acoustics and Claire Starley supporting him as senior acoustic consultant.
Both have a proven track record in environmental and architectural acoustics with Jonathan having worked across sectors including residential, commercial, industrial, energy, education, healthcare, entertainment, and leisure.
Claire’s specialism is in large-scale road and rail schemes, construction modeling and permitting.
These appointments further add to Dice Environmental’s existing team of expert geo-environmental consultants, and expands the company’s service offering.
It has ambitious plans for the future with an exciting year two coming up.
Jake Bayne, director at Dice Environmental, said: “We could not be happier with how the first year has progressed. We’ve grown the team in less than a year to a level which has exceeded all of our expectations.
“The appointments of Jonathan and Claire are important ones for us. When we launched Dice Environmental, we knew there was a demand for quality environmental services such as contaminated land investigations and acoustic assessments from our existing client base, but that demand has been much higher than we planned for.
“These significant appointments signal how serious we are about growing this arm of the business, and by recruiting acoustics specialists, enable us to boost our pre-planning services offering.
“As for the future, we’ll continue to look for ways to build on our service offering and our business resilience and carry on developing key relationships across different sectors.”
Office refurbishments – four key things to consider
An office refurbishment is a great opportunity to breathe life back into your workspace. It allows you to change up your office without having to move to a new building, therefore saving significant amounts of time and money. Lincolnshire-based office design and fit out company, APSS believes there are four key things to consider to help you kit out your office with a new design:
