CTS Group makes sixth acquisition in 18 months
Leicester-headquartered CTS Group (Construction Testing Solutions), a provider of Geotechnical Consulting, Construction Materials Testing and Surveying and Monitoring services, have acquired Concept Engineering Consultants Limited, a leader in geotechnical, structural and geo-environmental services.
Operating across the UK and with headquarters in London, Concept Engineering employs 105 staff. The company was originally established in 1997, consulting for civil, structural and geotechnical projects and surveying buildings across London.
This is the sixth acquisition by the CTS Group over the last 18 months.
Chief Executive Officer for the CTS Group, Phil Coles, said: “Offering superb coring and drilling capabilities, as well as a wide range of high-quality site investigation services will be a strong addition to our growing portfolio of Geotechnical Consulting, Construction Materials Testing and Surveying and Monitoring Services.
“I am delighted that Concept Engineering will become part of the CTS Group and look forward to working with Milan, Anastasia, Natalie and the management team to continue to grow the business. This latest acquisition complements the previous deals announced over the last two years as we continue to grow and develop a strong team with the skills and knowledge to deliver a quality and trusted service to our customers.”
Concept Engineering’s CEO, Milan Dedic, added: “We are delighted to become part of the CTS Group and continue to bring innovative site investigation solutions to our clients.
“We look forward to the opportunity to expand the business as part of the group and having met the senior leadership team at CTS we believe we have found a company with a similar ethos to our own and see exciting times ahead. Together we will be able to offer our clients a market leading range of construction related testing, inspection and compliance services.”
Plans revealed to breathe new life into Nottingham Guildhall regeneration site
Vita Group has submitted plans for a major mixed-use development at Nottingham’s Guildhall and its adjacent site.
An important redevelopment site for the city, Guildhall is a Grade II listed building, originally built in 1887 and once home to the city’s Magistrates’ Court along with the former fire and police stations.
Vita Group’s proposal is specific to the former fire and police stations, bringing forward plans for a PBSA-led mixed-use development creating 967 student rooms. The accommodation will be supported with a residents’ gym, dance studio, co-study spaces, cinema and games rooms.
Along with the accommodation, plans also outline provisions for a public facing Market Food Hall for around 500 diners.
Vita Group says the proposals have been designed to sit within its surroundings sensitively and sustainably on Shakespeare Street, North Church Street and South Sherwood Street and will complement the existing plans already approved for a hotel on the Guildhall site. Plans also outline better provision for pedestrian friendly pavements and support biodiversity with significant planting and new trees.
Mark Oakes, chief commercial officer for Vita Group, said: “A vastly underutilised redevelopment opportunity, Guildhall has the potential to be one of Nottingham’s major landmarks once again, bringing significant investment to the city and a historically important building back to life.
“The plans aim to create best-in-class student accommodation with outstanding amenities, whilst also easing pressures on local housing stock. The Market Food Hall will create a go-to destination for all the city to enjoy, providing the perfect backdrop for exciting new independent restauranteurs to bring their new ventures to people across the region.”
Nominations close on Friday! Enter the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022 NOW!
With nominations closing this Friday (19 August) for East Midlands Business Link’s prestigious Bricks Awards, don’t miss this opportunity to raise the profile of your business by submitting a nomination!
Celebrating the region’s property and construction industry, its people, and outstanding developments, the annual awards attract leaders from across the region and are the perfect way for businesses to promote the work they are completing and create more buzz.
Award categories include: most active estate agent, commercial development of the year, responsible business of the year, residential development of the year, developer of the year, deal of the year, architects of the year, excellence in design, sustainable development of the year, contractor of the year, and overall winner.
A highlight in the business calendar, winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony on Thursday 15 September, at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground – an evening that will also provide plenty of chances to forge new contacts with property and construction professionals from across the region.
Henry Brothers, winners of Commercial Development of the Year at the 2021 East Midlands Bricks Awards, reflected on the event: “Henry Brothers was absolutely thrilled to have won the Commercial Development of the Year award at the East Midlands Bricks for the delivery of the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility at Nottingham Trent University’s Clifton Campus.
“The Henry Brothers story began in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and the company has grown to become a leading UK construction company. However, this award for Henry Brothers Midlands cements our position as a significant member of the East Midlands construction sector and we are very proud to have been recognised for our contribution.
“We enjoyed the informal atmosphere of the East Midlands Bricks Awards ceremony and hope to nominate projects next year, as we’d very much like to be part of the event in 2022.”
To submit a business or development for the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022, please click on a category link below or visit this page. Make your nominations before entries close on Friday 19 August!
The Overall Winner of the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022 will also be awarded a year of marketing/publicity worth £20,000.
Find out who last year’s winners were here.
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Most active estate agent
- Commercial development of the year
- Responsible business of the year
- Residential development of the year
- Developer of the year
- Deal of the year
- Architects of the year
- Excellence in design
- Sustainable development of the year
- Contractor of the year
- Overall winner (this award cannot be entered, the winner will be selected from those nominated)
Book your tickets now
Tickets can now be booked for the awards event – click here to secure yours. The special awards evening and networking event will be held on 15 September 2022 in the Derek Randall Suite at the Trent Bridge County Cricket Club from 4:30pm – 7:30pm. Connect with local decision makers over canapés and complimentary drinks while applauding the outstanding companies and projects in our region. The event will also welcome John Forkin MBE DL, Managing Director at award-winning investment promotion agency Marketing Derby, as keynote speaker, as well as award-winning mind reader, magician, and professional mentalist Looch, who will bewilder and astonish guests during the evening’s networking. Dress code is standard business attire.
To be held at:
Bookings for the East Midlands Expo heat up
The East Midlands Expo is picking up pace as bookings soar.
Returning on Monday 14 November 2022, the established event of over 20 years offers an ideal day for networking and business generation.
The free to attend expo, for which Business Link is a proud partner, is well targeted and aimed at the construction, property, business, investment, finance, professional services and related B2B markets.
Event organiser Tina King said: “Hot, hot, hot, and not just the weather. Bookings for the East Midlands Expo and Property & Business Investment Nottingham 14 November event are steaming ahead – up by over 40% versus the same period last year. It is great to see so many exhibitors and delegates engaging with networking and exhibiting again following Covid restrictions.”
Taking place at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, the exhibition will open to attendees at 9am, with a seminar taking place between 10:45am and noon.
A special networking lunch (for which tickets can be purchased here) will then take place between 12:15pm and 2:15pm, and the exhibition will close at 3:30pm.
For more information on exhibiting at the event click here.
To register to attend the event for free click here.
To secure tickets for the networking lunch click here.
From property agents to developers, architects, contractors, investors, PR firms, and more, see the list of current exhibitors here.Northampton-based accountancy firm acquired by local counterpart
Cottons Accountants Northampton has acquired J R Watson & Co, a fellow Northampton-based accountancy firm, as part of its continued growth plans.
Established over 100 years ago, J R Watson & Co has been providing accountancy and taxation services to small and medium sized business and individuals in the Northamptonshire and Warwickshire areas.
A natural stage in the business lifecycle, the retiring partners are passing the baton to Cottons, along with a high-calibre team.
“The team at Cottons have worked hard to ensure the merger for the existing partners has been as seamless as possible, as they transition towards retirement. We are very much looking forward to working with the J R Watson & Co team and clients on this next chapter,” said Charles Hill, director, Cottons.
“We pride ourselves on our service, and this new merger provides our clients with an opportunity to continue with a long-term partnership, with familiar faces and access to a wider, more modern service offering. We feel our clients are in good hands,” said Alan Markham, J R Watson & Co partner.
All seven J R Watson & Co staff are being retained.
Healthcare company strikes deal as it chases record revenues
Health and social care enterprise Provide Community Interest Company (CIC) has acquired Nottinghamshire-based React Homecare, with support from FRP Corporate Finance, as it moves to achieve record revenues during 2022.
Provide Community is an employee-owned CIC delivering a wide portfolio of health and social care services in hospitals and community care settings. As a not-for-profit organisation, all Provide Community surpluses are reinvested into services and supporting the communities it serves. In 2022 alone, charities and community groups have shared grants and match funding of almost half a million pounds.
Provide Community became a CIC in 2011 and has since grown from c£40 million revenue to £75m million revenue currently, through both organic growth and acquisitions, employing more than 1000 people.
Whilst Provide Community operates in the NHS market, it has also diversified through acquisition, including organic growth in its Provide Digital business and Provide Wellbeing business, which are developing and delivering innovative solutions for health and social care.
The recent acquisition of React Homecare, a domiciliary care provider to adults of all ages, is the latest of several acquisitions. React Homecare has a network of eight local offices in the Midlands and Yorkshire, helping Provide Community grow geographically outside the South East.
Provide was advised by FRP Corporate Finance in Brentwood, led by partner Chris Adlam and supported by associate director Joanne Price. The FRP team will continue to work with Provide to identify further acquisition opportunities.
Philip Richards at Provide Community said: “Provide is a dynamic organisation that is constantly working to deliver the very best quality care and clinical outcomes that we can. We want as many people as possible to be able to access our services, which is why we continue to be interested in buying businesses that complement our existing organisation.
“We have a target to grow and diversify revenues to £120m and will keep exploring opportunities to grow and develop our services both organically and through acquisition, whilst always putting our service users’ and their families at the heart of everything we do.”
Chris Adlam, partner at FRP Corporate Finance, added: “It is a pleasure to be able to work with an organisation with similar values to our own and to support Provide’s ambitious growth plans as it works to develop a wider portfolio of services across healthcare, social care and digital healthcare solutions.
“This latest acquisition complements Provide’s existing operations and means the organisation is well-placed to roll out its high-quality care, for the benefit of the communities it serves whether in hospitals, clinics or service users’ homes.”
Birketts LLP provided legal advice to Provide.
MEPC completes 265,000 sq ft Phase 3 industrial development at Silverstone Park
MEPC has completed its latest Phase 3 development at Silverstone Park which adds a further 265,000 sq ft of industrial accommodation to the estate.
The development comprises four sizeable properties – two of which have already been let prior to completion.
In addition, the spine road through Phase 3 has been fully asphalted and is now open, thereby linking businesses direct to the earlier Phases 1 and 2 of development.
“It’s great to have the spine road that originally started to be built during Phases 1 and 2 now completed as this crucially links up all the areas on the western side of Silverstone Park,” said MEPC’s development director Chris Kimber-Nickelson.
“Phase 3 has been a successful project in spite of some supply challenges related to the pandemic which affected multiple trades.
“Architecturally, each property is a progression of the designs we saw during Phases 1 and 2 and we are extremely pleased with the final product.
“The units are strong on energy efficiency and look terrific for the businesses occupying them. The infrastructure we put in place prior to building works commencing means that businesses really can ‘plug in and go’.
“I believe we have intelligently implemented the outline consent to maximise the value of this parcel of land.”
He added: “What is also really exciting about the businesses being attracted to our new buildings is the activity behind their front doors.
“The technology they are developing and projects they are working on are off the scale and, with all that, they are also creating many high-level jobs and skills.
“To have terms on two of the four properties already agreed before they were finished and the two others in solicitors’ hands… I don’t think we could have asked for a better conclusion.”
Meanwhile, MEPC has already been granted planning consent for its Phase 4 of development – a 100,000 sq ft scheme to include hybrid industrial units, with smart offices, a nursery, gym and café.
An application for planning consent for Phase 5 – c.201,300 sq ft of industrial premises on land opposite the main entrance to Silverstone Circuit – has also been submitted.
Letting in Alfreton unlocks expansion plans for local occupier
Acting on behalf of private pension fund trustees, Tim Gilbertson, director of FHP Property Consultants, has completed the letting of substantial distribution space off Keys Road in Alfreton, moments from the A38 and Junction 28 of the M1 motorway.
This modern warehouse building was put under offer within days of coming to the market and a lease has subsequently been agreed and completed to an expanding local occupier who wish to remain nameless to enable their further expansion in the region.
The building sees just over 23,000ft² of warehouse space let, and Tim Gilbertson who dealt with the letting said: “This is the second time I have had the pleasure of letting this building for our clients and I am delighted with the outcome. The ingoing tenants offer a good covenant and a long term lease has been agreed. Equally, it’s always a pleasure to see a local company expand and to help them with their developing business.”
A spokesperson for the private pension fund landlords said: “Alfreton remains a popular location for businesses looking to grow and further strengthen their market positioning. The unit resides within a prime warehouse and logistics hub with excellent links to the wider East Midlands transport network, namely direct access to the M1. We wish the new tenant all the very best in their new premises.”
Tim Gilbertson concluded by adding: “Even though we are in the middle of the summer holiday season, we are still experiencing good demand for space on both a leasehold and freehold basis throughout the region with industrial and warehouse spaces from a few hundred sq ft to a few hundred thousand sq ft very much still in demand.
“Despite the obvious economic pressures we are all encountering at present and indeed some supply chain issues which occupiers are also having to deal with as a result of Brexit, the market does seem to still be moving strongly.”
Frasers Group disposes of retail parks for £205m
Shirebrook-based Frasers Group has completed the disposal of a number of freehold and long leasehold retail parks held by its wholly owned subsidiaries, to RI UK 1 Limited for a headline price of £205m.
The company noted that Frasers Group fascias will operate from leases within these properties where appropriate.
The company intends to use the proceeds of sale towards the working capital of the company and its group operations.
Tax cuts on the horizon? By Michael Ball, tax partner at Streets Chartered Accountants
Michael Ball, tax partner at Streets Chartered Accountants, considers the impact the potential new Prime Ministers might have on the tax system.
Now that we know the final two candidates who will contest the conservative leadership contest, and therefore that one of either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will be the new Prime Minister in the Autumn, let’s have a look at what this might mean for the tax system.
As Mr Sunak was, until fairly recently, the Chancellor, it is perhaps understandable that he has not pledged any variation to the current intended tax changes – although he has said previously that he “firmly believes in cutting taxes” and as part of his leadership bid has said that “once we have gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down. It is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.”
Therefore, if he was to win the leadership race, we can expect the health and social care levy of 1.25%, currently collected via an increase in NIC, to continue to be implemented as planned in April 2023.
We can also expect the planned rise in corporation tax in April 2023. This will reintroduce a tiered approach to corporation tax, with profits under £50,000 continuing to be taxed at 19%, profits above £250,000 being subject to the main rate of 25% and those profits in between being taxed at a tapered rate.
In contrast Ms Truss has pledged a number of tax cuts including to scrap the health and social care levy and the planned increase in corporation tax, as well as the suspension of green levies on energy bills.
It is interesting to note that at this point, and with the cost of living continuing to rise, neither have mentioned a cut in VAT. Nor have either of them, as yet, mentioned the tax that has been rising significantly in recent years, and that is inheritance tax. Whilst a large proportion of estates still do not pay inheritance tax, and this is perhaps why it is not high on the political agenda, not as many votes in it, with the increases in property values we have seen over the last few years, more and more estates have been brought into charge.
If Liz Truss is the next PM we can, it would seem, look forward to tax cuts in the short term. Whereas if it is Mr Sunak who moves into No 10 there may well be cuts eventually but, as is often the answer in tax, it depends.
Whichever takes office it is my hope, but not expectation, that politics will take a back seat in planning the tax policy of the future. Our tax system has become increasingly complex in my 15 years in the tax profession, and this has too often been as a result of politically motivated tinkering around the edges.
The recently released Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) report includes a recommendation “that the principle of simplification should be embedded in the general tax policy making process.”
We can only hope that whoever takes over at No 10 listens to this advice.
