New senior technical leader joins WestBridge Group
WestBridge Group, which provides specialist tax advice and independent administration, consultancy, and trustee services for Small Self-Administered Pension Schemes (SSAS), has strengthened its technical team following the appointment of Janet Corbett as senior technical leader.
Janet has worked in the pensions industry for over 30 years and joins WestBridge SSAS having held senior pensions administration roles with Michael Ambrose Group and other leading SSAS providers.
Reporting to the head of pensions, Janet will be responsible for dealing with complex technical queries from account managers. She will also act as an interface with the compliance director to ensure the procedures are maintained and adhere to current and future legislation. Other aspects of her role include being responsible for supporting the competency and development of the SSAS account managers together with the administration of a small, dedicated SSAS portfolio.
Commenting on her appointment, David Santaney said: “Janet has built up an enviable reputation within the industry covering all areas of administration and technical support. She delivers a cradle to grave service to clients and will play a key technical and management role in the future growth of our business.”
Janet added: “Having previously worked with other members of the WestBridge SSAS team I am looking forward to helping the company build on its reputation as well as helping our account managers develop their competencies and manage their client portfolios in a way that is both customer focused and efficient.”
2022 Business Predictions: Julia Day, sales and development progression manager at KMRE Group Ltd
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Julia Day, sales and development progression manager at KMRE Group Ltd.
Last year was unquestionably a challenging one for all industries – each come with their unpredictability but for the property market in particular, 2021 certainly kept us on our toes.
People have been on the hunt for larger homes, house prices have increased – and the stamp duty holiday meant that transaction levels were fluctuating constantly, with interest rates too at an all-time low. The number of buy-to-let mortgages are on the rise, as are – naturally – the number of people renting, and “staycations” are becoming ever more popular.
It was a reflective year for many and we’ve certainly seen a lot of people questioning and rethinking their living situations, not only from a financial and practical perspective, but from a lifestyle point of view too. Homeowners want more space, we are travelling abroad far less and we want security and stability.
Looking ahead to what 2022 will bring, we expect to see more and more people on the move as the demand in the property market remains high and relatively steady. Rental properties also stay in high demand, particularly apartments in central and accessible locations, so we expect to see these become more popular too.
The rise of living costs and the demand pressures may mean the tightening of belts for some and make it harder for first time buyers to get on the property ladder, but given the fluctuation that we saw through 2021, we don’t think this will be as dramatic in the new year, and a crash in the market following the housing boom which some have questioned we actually don’t expect to see any time soon.
We’re looking forward to progressing with and completing our latest residential developments in Nottingham and Leeds in 2022, as we remain committed to investing in cities that offer residents excellent locations and investment opportunities.
HelloFresh chooses Derby for new distribution centre
Recipe box company, HelloFresh, is set to open a new distribution centre at Derby’s SmartParc SEGRO this Spring, creating 450 new operation, distribution, and management jobs.
The new distribution centre, named “The Orchard” by current HelloFresh colleagues, will be located at SmartParc SEGRO Spondon, a high-tech food manufacturing and distribution campus, near Spondon station.
The Orchard is the third distribution centre that the Berlin-based company has opened in the UK, in response to the ongoing demand for their meal kits. The company now has 7 million active customers globally, and the opening of The Orchard will play a key role in allowing the business to continue growing and expanding its offering to UK customers.
In line with HelloFresh’s achievement of becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral meal kit company, all carbon emissions from production and distribution will be offset. To prevent food waste, HelloFresh plans to set up a partnership with a local Food Bank which will distribute unsold but still edible food to communities in need. In 2021 HelloFresh UK donated over 1.9 million meals to The Felix Project and local food banks.
Jackie Wild, SmartParc SEGRO Derby, SmartParc founder and Chief Executive, said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome HelloFresh as our first anchor client in this ground-breaking new SmartParc development. They share our ambition to see food businesses operate in a more sustainable way, and also to build close links with the Derby community.
“We look forward to developing our partnership with them over the next few years, and to delivering all the commercial, operational and environmental benefits that SmartParc is uniquely able to provide.”
Councillor Chris Poulter, leader of Derby City Council, said: “This really is very exciting news for Derby. HelloFresh is a huge name, and choosing our city as their new home is testament to our strong reputation for innovation and manufacturing – Derby has a lot to offer!
“The Council has been working with the team at SmartParc for some time now, and it’s really exciting to see those efforts come to fruition. Welcoming HelloFresh will bring good quality, sustainable jobs to the city, which ultimately means income and opportunity for our people and their families.
“I look forward to welcoming HelloFresh to Derby!”
Paul Simpson, Chief Executive of Derby City Council, added: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to support this move through our work with SmartParc. The Council has already allocated £5.5 million towards the project and was successful in securing £12 million of D2N2 funding, to help with the reclamation of a major brownfield site in the city.
“HelloFresh is just the kind of organisation we want to attract to Derby, with sustainability and social value at the heart of their ethos, which is brilliant to see. Not only are these attributes a key strand of our Council Plan, it’s something that we should all strive towards as businesses and individuals, to ensure a more sustainable future.”
Two new children’s homes set to be created in Leicester
Two new children’s homes are set to be created by the city council to help boost the number of council-run homes for children and young people in care.
Leicester City Council is seeking to expand its in-house provision by converting existing council properties into homes for children and young people who are not able to live with their birth families or foster carers.
Plans have been drawn up to convert two former council-owned houses in Aylestone and a former children’s home site in Braunstone into homes that will provide places for five and six young people respectively, between the ages of eight and 17.
The proposed expansion would mean the city council would be able to care for more children and young people in-house, increasing capacity from five children’s homes, caring for up to 30 children and young people, to seven homes caring for up to 41.
Deputy city mayor for social care, Cllr Sarah Russell, said: “The city council is determined to provide the best possible care for the children and young people we look after. The vast majority of children who can’t live with their birth families live with foster carers, but this isn’t right for everyone, and increasing demand for children’s social care services in recent years means there has been a significant rise in demand for residential children’s homes. This is the case across the country.
“This has led to an increase in the use of external providers. We will always need to do this, and they can offer a high standard of care, but we also believe there are substantial advantages to providing more of these homes and care ourselves. For a start, all our city council-run children’s homes are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, demonstrating our experience and expertise in providing quality care.
“All of our homes are within the city, which means children and young people can continue to receive support within their communities rather than them moving away from Leicester. This continuity and stability can be very important to children experiencing major disruption to their lives.
“There are also financial advantages to providing more places ourselves. External providers can raise fees and that is outside our control, but by providing places in-house we can control costs – as well as benefitting from economies of scale across all our children’s homes.”
The estimated costs for creating each of the new homes are around £1,100,000 each. Leicester City Council has been awarded £500,000 towards the first home from the Department for Education’s children’s homes capital funding programme.
Cllr Russell added: “We are proposing to use part of the council’s capital budget – the money we set aside for big projects – to fund the rest of the project. We consider this a really important use of our resources to help support and protect some of Leicester’s most vulnerable children and young people.”
There are currently more than 50 children and young people living in external residential children’s homes at any one time, with an average cost of £3,900 per week. The average direct cost at an in-house home in 2020/21 was between £3,400 and £3,800 a week.
Both proposals will be subject to planning application processes, which include an opportunity for members of the public to comment on the proposals.
Brexit anniversary presents opportunity for Government to reflect on how it can solve issues affecting businesses, says East Midlands Chamber
The region’s leading business representation group is calling for the Government to work with the EU to find a solution to ongoing issues around how the trade deal is interpreted.
It follows huge lorry queues being reported at Dover last week and a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) finding that 60% of UK exporters reported difficulties in trading with the EU in November 2021 – an increase from 49% in January last year.
East Midlands Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “The current delays at Dover appear to be linked to the export of food products across the Channel, with differing interpretations of how trade arrangements work after leaving the EU.
“Given that the East Midlands has a thriving food manufacturing sector with both large and small businesses that export to numerous markets, these bottlenecks have a significant impact on our region’s economy.
“This is on top of the extra bureaucracy that is adding considerable sums to overheads for many SMEs, which are simultaneously being hit by rising prices for raw materials and energy – not to mention struggling to find people with the right skills.
“A perfect storm of Covid-19, Brexit and spiralling inflation means the cost of doing business is becoming a huge concern and could weigh down on our prospects of a strong economic recovery.
“The Chamber has witnessed the direct consequences of leaving the EU, alongside the challenges caused by the pandemic, as the number of international trade documents we process fell from 22,000 in 2020 to 14,000 in 2021 due to businesses exporting lower volumes and on a less frequent basis.”
How Brexit has impacted East Midlands export markets
The only market growing for the East Midlands has been in North America, with all others reducing by about 30% on average compared to pre-pandemic and Brexit.
Scott said the business community recognised that goods won’t flow as freely across the Channel now as they did two years ago.
“But the way the trade agreement is being interpreted in 27 different EU countries is a major headache for UK business – especially smaller firms without the cash reserves to set up new EU-based arrangements,” he added.
“Yet it doesn’t have to be this way. It is possible for the UK Government and EU to take a pragmatic approach and work together to reach new understandings on a consistent interpretation of the rules and to build on them further.
“On the second anniversary of Brexit, now is the time for our policymakers to reflect on the issues facing businesses and to find a real solution to them, rather than just offering more rhetoric.”
Loughborough to create first-of-its-kind zero carbon loss manufacturing system
A £1.3m Loughborough-led project is set to develop the first ever net-zero biomanufacturing system that captures and utilises carbon instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
The study, led by Professor Jin Xuan and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, looks to achieve its ambitious goal using a novel electrochemical approach.
Nearly 140,000 industrial materials and chemicals are marketed worldwide, and most of them are made from fossil fuels, which are harmful for the planet given their high levels of embedded carbon dioxide. It is vital to identify sustainable alternatives for the manufacturing of these chemicals and materials and biomanufacturing is a promising avenue. This type of manufacturing uses biological substances as ‘feedstock’ – raw materials that supply/fuel the process – to make important chemicals and materials for sustainable bioproducts, such as medicines, polymers, and detergents. The process is deemed sustainable as it utilises waste, such as biomass, by using it as feedstock. However, it is far from perfect as it still results in the release of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is emitted and lost during steps in the biomanufacturing process, and waste from end products are incinerated or go to landfill, further increasing the system’s carbon footprint. Professor Xuan and team are looking to develop a process that integrates electrochemical lignocellulosic conversion with CO2 reduction and power it using renewable energy. They hope their efforts will reduce up to 50% of energy used for biomanufacturing and make the manufacturing process more efficient and cost-effective. Of how the system will work, Professor Xuan said: “This project looks to capture carbon dioxide and put it back into the manufacturing process and eliminate waste after the end-of-use of the product and put it back in as a feedstock. “One important aspect is the systems thinking. We need to put the new manufacturing technology into the big industrial system and supply chain, and look at the environmental, economic and social impacts from their entire life cycle. “It is a challenging task, but we aim to achieve it by developing a novel digital twin solution to capture the complex dynamics of such manufacturing systems over their life cycle.” He continued: “The chemical manufacturing sector is the UK’s second-highest industrial emitter, with an annual turnover of £32bn. “Therefore, exploiting net-zero carbon loss (emission or waste) systems throughout the life cycle will be key towards future sustainable manufacturing with resource resilience and economic viability. “Through our closed-loop circular economy design, we want to eliminate all forms of carbon loss.” In addition to collaborating with academic partners from Imperial College and Heriot-Watt University, the project involves partners including the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), BASF, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and Oxford University spin-out OxCCU.Stamford regeneration project takes significant step forward as £1.3m approved for demolition work
A flagship regeneration project has taken another significant step forward after South Kesteven District Council approved a £1.3 million budget towards the cost of demolition work at St Martin’s Park, Stamford.
The demolition of existing buildings is a condition of sale for the former Cummins site off Barnack Road. Work is expected to take around 36 weeks and could start as early as March. One building will remain, which dates from 1904 when manufacturing first started on site.
SKDC is working in partnership with Burghley Estates to bring forward plans for a 14.7-hectare site which includes a designated commercial area; mixed-use area; retirement village; range of residential properties, including 30% affordable homes; and areas of green and open space.
Outline planning permission was granted in October 2021 subject to completion of a Section 106 agreement.
The Leader of SKDC, Cllr Kelham Cooke, said: “This is a hugely important site in Stamford and our resolve has never wavered in bringing forward plans that will transform it for future generations.
“I am delighted to see this major project, which will bring benefits and opportunities to Stamford and the surrounding areas, passing another significant milestone.
“The Council have a stated it is as an ambition of delivering the St Martin’s Park scheme, it’s been included specifically in our Corporate Plan. These works are a key component in allowing the site to be sold which will generate capital receipts for delivering the Councils capital programme.”
Van Elle CEO “delighted” as strong pandemic recovery sees revenue and profit rise
Revenue and profit are up at Van Elle, the Nottinghamshire-headquartered ground engineering contractor, with its core markets recovering strongly following the relaxation of pandemic related restrictions.
According to interim results for the six months ended 31 October 2021, revenue rose to £60.1m, up from £38.3m in the same period of 2020 and £48.5m in 2019.
Pre-tax profit meanwhile grew to £1.9m, from a £0.7m loss in 2020 and a £0.9m profit in 2019.
Mark Cutler, Chief Executive, said: “I’m delighted that Van Elle has continued to deliver a strong recovery from the pandemic, despite supply chain and labour pressures.
“Our core markets have seen strong demand with all divisions operating at increased utilisation levels throughout the Period. This demand for our services has continued into the third quarter, and we are particularly encouraged by the improved opportunities in our Rail division.
“We remain optimistic that the improved levels of demand in our core markets will remain strong for the remainder of the financial year and into the medium term. As a result, we expect the trading performance for the full year to be ahead of our previous expectations.”
Apartments set for Grade II listed Belper warehouse as sale agreed
Commercial property consultants OMEETO have completed a deal which will transform a landmark site in Belper into apartments.
The three-storey former warehouse in Derby Road was built in the early 1800s and is Grade II listed. It was originally used by renowned hosiery company Ward, Brettle and Ward – supplying cloth, hosiery, haberdashery and blankets to London’s drapers for decades and was latterly occupied by motorcycle lubricant manufacturer FUCHS Silkolene.
The buildings have laid empty for several years and have been sold to AG Group in Hilton who recently secured planning permission to convert the buildings into 16 two bedroom luxury apartments.
AG Group founder and CEO, Allister Gardiner, explained: “With planning permission approved and the sale of the site agreed, we look forward to restoring these currently vulnerable buildings and creating a sympathetically designed development which will ensure the longevity of the history and character of one of the few remaining warehouses of this era.
“We are committed to transforming this prominent but underutilised brownfield land so that it makes a positive contribution to the on-going regeneration of this local area.
“The buildings will be repaired and as much as possible of the original structure, windows and interior – including cast iron columns – will be retained.”
Chris Wright, director of OMEETO, said: “I am delighted to have been involved in the sale of this landmark site and look forward to AG Homes starting work on the regeneration re-development.
“I live in the local area and have a long-held passion for the restoration of historic buildings so I know just what a positive impact this scheme will have on the local area.”
Lincoln dog food producer snapped up by Cranswick
Cranswick, a leading UK food producer, has acquired the entire issued share capital of Lincoln-based Grove Pet Foods Limited.
Grove Pet Foods is a producer of dry dog food for several leading brands under private label relationships alongside its own brands including Vitalin (natural) and Alpha Feeds (working dog).
The business operates predominantly from a purpose-built freehold facility in Lincolnshire and employs a total workforce of approximately 100.
John Walgate, Managing Director, will remain with and continue to lead the business.
Adam Couch, Chief Executive Officer, Cranswick, said: “I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Grove Pet Foods, a well-invested manufacturer of dry pet food supplying
leading brands focussed on the specialist pet retail market.
“This acquisition represents a platform for future growth in the attractive UK pet food market and diversification into this complementary category for Cranswick. The existing facility has capacity and a footprint for further expansion.
“Grove Pet Foods has built a reputation for high quality products and service that is well aligned with Cranswick. The combined business will benefit from vertical integration opportunities within the group and particularly our fresh poultry and pork businesses. We look forward to building on this and continuing to invest in the product range, facilities and the team over the years ahead.”
