As the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2025 draws nearer, and with nominations set to close in just five weeks, Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire is encouraging entries. Megan Powell Vreeswijk, Chief Executive of Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire, said: “For 10 years, the East Midlands Bricks Awards has helped to champion businesses that define our region through innovation, ambition, and resilience in the built environment sector. “These businesses help to shape our communities and drive economic growth across Nottingham & Nottinghamshire. I encourage organisations across Nottinghamshire and the wider East Midlands to enter the Bricks Awards and showcase the incredible work happening here – let’s put our region firmly on the map.” A key event in the business calendar, highlighting the exceptional work of the region’s property and construction industry, the 10th annual East Midlands Bricks Awards will take place on Thursday 2nd October, at the famous Trent Bridge Cricket Ground (4:30pm – 7:30pm). Revealing the winners in a glittering awards ceremony, the evening also offers time to establish new connections with property and construction professionals from across the region, and hear from keynote speaker Councillor Nadine Peatfield – Leader of Derby City Council, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Strategy and Policy, and Deputy Mayor of the East Midlands. Nominations for the prestigious event are open, and now is the ideal time to make your submissions, ahead of the deadline – Friday 15th August. Take this opportunity to showcase your successes, recognise your team’s efforts, bolster morale, and reach our audience of over 60,000 business readers. It’s completely free to enter and making the top three finalists in your category also wins you free tickets to the awards ceremony and networking event.

To nominate your (or another) business/development for one of our awards, please click on a category link below or visit this page.

Categories include:

• Contractor of the Year
• Developer of the Year
• Architects of the Year
• Most Active Agent
• Deal of the Year
• Residential Development of the Year
• Sustainable Development of the Year
• Commercial Development of the Year
• Excellence in Design
• Responsible Business of the Year
• Overall Winner

All finalists will have the chance to take home the Overall Winner award, which this year comes with a grand prize of a year of marketing/publicity worth £20,000, with the opportunity to split or gift the marketing to a charity of your choice. Tickets can now be booked for the 2025 awards event, click here to secure yours. Taking place in the Derek Randall Suite at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground on Thursday 2nd October, from 4:30pm – 7:30pm, connect with local decision makers over nibbles and complimentary drinks while applauding the outstanding companies and projects in our region.

The East Midlands Bricks Awards 2025

What: The East Midlands Bricks Awards 2025 When: Thursday 2nd October (4.30pm – 7.30pm) Where: Derek Randall Suite, Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham Keynote speaker: Councillor Nadine Peatfield – Leader of Derby City Council, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Strategy and Policy, and Deputy Mayor of the East Midlands Tickets: Available here Dress code: Standard business attire Thanks to our sponsors:                                                                                          

To be held at:

Svella Plc has confirmed the completion of the first stage of its investment in Emeg Group Limited, a Chesterfield-based provider of rail depot and facilities solutions, as well as M&E engineering services. The acquisition strengthens Emeg’s operations and aligns with Svella’s strategy to drive sustainable growth through collaboration and long-term planning.

Emeg, which has been in business since 1997, will benefit from Avidrail’s extensive expertise in the rail sector, including civil engineering, infrastructure, and groundworks. This collaboration aims to expand Emeg’s capabilities, enabling the company to offer a full, in-house turnkey solution for rail projects. With this enhanced offering, Emeg is positioned to secure and deliver a broader range of projects while tapping into new commercial and revenue opportunities.

Svella, known for its successful track record in business development and operational improvement, plans to provide essential working capital to Emeg for growth, asset acquisition, and workforce expansion. The investment also strengthens Emeg’s presence across the north of England, Southern Scotland, and the Midlands.

Svella’s involvement is expected to unlock significant growth potential for Emeg, reinforcing its reputation and ability to deliver quality services while ensuring continued innovation and collaboration with key supply chain partners.

The UK government has struck a partnership with Google to provide free technology solutions for various public sector services, including the NHS and local councils. The deal aims to phase out outdated technology across government systems, with a focus on upgrading to cloud-based platforms that are more secure and efficient.

Under this agreement, Google will invest significant resources into public sector infrastructure without requiring any direct financial payment from the government. Importantly, the deal ensures that public sector data will remain protected, with no access granted to Google.

The initiative is designed to improve access to public service information while cutting costs, potentially saving up to £45 billion in taxpayer money. The shift to cloud systems is also expected to reduce vulnerabilities to cyberattacks and system outages, which have become an increasing concern for public sector operations.

The UK Government is encouraging other tech companies to step forward with proposals, aiming to create more effective and cost-efficient technology solutions across sectors, from healthcare to local services.

A £150,000 support programme is launching to help East Midlands businesses – particularly those in manufacturing, logistics, and professional services – strengthen their defences against cybercrime. Led by Dr Ismini Vasileiou, associate professor at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) and founder and director of the East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster, it offers practical, hands-on support to businesses that want to improve how they manage cyber risk, train staff, and future-proof their operations. The project will be delivered in collaboration with 1284 Communications and Bulb Studios. Funded through the Government’s Cyber Local scheme, this project takes a hands-on approach to tackling one of the region’s biggest economic challenges: how to make cyber resilience not just the responsibility of IT departments, but a core part of how organisations think, operate and grow. It was one of just 20 projects funded across England, selected from more than 110 applications. Dr Vasileiou said: “The programme is designed to meet businesses where they are. It’s aimed particularly at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do not have dedicated cyber security expertise in-house or rely on the same trusted person to ‘do the IT’. “The reality is that cyber threats have changed. Ransomware, phishing scams and data breaches are constantly looking for weaknesses. Whether you’ve got a full IT team or just someone who’s always ‘looked after the computers,’ now’s the time to think differently. “It’s about building confidence and capability. Our mission is to make cyber resilience as second nature as health and safety. “As a region powering the UK’s manufacturing, logistics, and professional sectors, the East Midlands urgently needs practical, localised cyber support to protect its businesses and sustain economic growth. This project turns national ambition into local action – equipping East Midlands businesses with the tools to become resilient, confident, and digitally secure.” The pilot will directly support 30 businesses to embed cyber resilience at every level – from boardrooms to shop floors. This will include:

• 15 businesses which will take part in a structured programme to build organisational cyber resilience, focusing on governance and strategy
• 10 businesses who will be supported to develop internal cyber workforce plans, identifying and reskilling existing staff into cyber roles
• 5 businesses who will host academic placements from DMU to trial research-led cyber innovations

Alongside this, a sustained outreach campaign will target traditionally underrepresented organisations, ensuring the benefits of the project are widely felt and not just confined to those already engaged in the cyber sector.

DHL Supply Chain is set to invest £550m to launch a new health logistics centre in Derby and further advance automation within its UK and Ireland operations. This move supports rising demand in e-commerce and healthcare logistics. The company has already allocated £860m to automation over the past three years, with over 3,200 digitalisation projects implemented across the region.

This investment forms part of DHL’s larger strategy to scale its UK and global operations by 2030, with robotics and digital technologies at its core, driving growth. The expansion is driven by increased demand for efficient and sophisticated logistics solutions, particularly in high-growth sectors like e-commerce and life sciences.

DHL plans to integrate cutting-edge robotics, including the deployment of 750 Assisted Picking Robots and the introduction of Boston Dynamics Stretch Robots for container unloading. These innovations aim to boost productivity, reduce physical strain, and improve return on investment for customers.

The new Derby facility will support the rapidly expanding life sciences and healthcare sectors, which are expected to see double-digit growth in the UK in the next five years. It will feature cold chain and cleanroom capabilities, integral to DHL’s broader health logistics network. This investment solidifies the UK’s role as a key logistics hub within DHL’s global strategy.