Hull-based Sewell Construction project manager Martin Standley has been shortlisted for a national award in recognition of his positive contribution towards the construction community.
He has been chosen as one of the finalists in the Construction Manager of the Year category at this year’s Chartered Institute of Building’s CIOB Awards. He has been shortlisted following his work project managing the construction of Hull’s brand new Broadacre Primary School. Martin joined Sewell Construction in 1985, where he served a four-year bricklaying apprenticeship, before becoming a Project Manager in 1994 and working on Sewell Construction’s first £10m-plus project at Orchard Park Health Centre. Now, his projects have a combined value of around £100m and he has worked on several of Hull’s cutting-edge facilities, such as Thomas Ferens Academy and the refurbishment of the former Endeavour School. Broadacre Primary School is Hull’s first purpose-built base for young children with autism spectrum condition and aims to create an inclusive learning area that enables the pupils to be able to access mainstream education with the necessary additional support. Martin championed the involvement of the site staff in social value projects during the build, helping to raise awareness on inclusion and diversity within the Sewell team, and even doing further research on autism spectrum conditions in order to broaden his own understanding. It is because of his enthusiasm and passion for this project that he was nominated for the award. Martin will find out if he has been chosen as the winner at the glittering CIOB Awards ceremony in London in April.LCF Law pledges to raise thousands for leading cancer charity
LCF Law has announced it will be fundraising for Yorkshire Cancer Research, its nominated charity for 2024, with a packed calendar of activities to raise thousands of pounds for the charity.
The law firm employs 145 people across its four offices in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and Ilkley. Each year its team members are invited to give a presentation on a charity that they would like to nominate for the firm’s annual fundraising efforts, before all their colleagues vote which charity to back.
Last year LCF Law raised £10,000 for the Bone Cancer Trust and following a presentation from Sarah McCann from the firm’s conveyancing team, Yorkshire Cancer Research was chosen for 2024. One of the fundraising activities planned will see 13 members of the team taking part in the Leeds Half Marathon on 13th May.
Members of the firm are also taking part in a sponsored ‘Tour De LCF Law’ cycle challenge and have collaborated with PureGym to set up static bikes in the offices. They hope to cover the distance from Yorkshire to the Tour De France finishing point in Nice, which is 1,064 miles. Anyone cycling on the static bikes in the offices, as well as any miles completed outside of the office cycling, running, walking, or rowing will be included.
Sarah said: “Cancer is a horrible disease, and everyone will know someone close to them who has or is fighting a fight against it. I have a close friend who was shockingly diagnosed with breast cancer last year at the age of 39. She completed her chemotherapy treatment and has undergone surgery but devastatingly she’s now been told her cancer is incurable.
“I nominated Yorkshire Cancer Research because it does the most amazing job of funding research to help prevent cancer. The number of people surviving cancer has doubled in the last 40 years and research is continuing to change what it means to have cancer. Everything we raise this year will help leading researchers in Yorkshire, along with experts across the UK and throughout the world, to improve cancer survival.
“Our main fundraiser is the half marathon, which my friend will also be taking part in, which goes to show you what a determined person she is and that anything is possible, even with a life-limiting disease.
“The genuine interest and positive feedback from my colleagues at LCF Law is heartening, and throughout the year we’ll continually be raising money for the charity. LCF Law also match funds everything we raise, doubling our total, which is fabulous.”
Yorkshire Cancer Research has been funding research and saving lives since 1925. Today the charity is the biggest funder of cancer research study places in Yorkshire, bringing vital world leading research and expertise to the region. Money raised by LCF Law will be used to support research into new ways to prevent or manage cancer, help find cancer sooner when it’s often easier to treat, and also improve cancer treatment and pioneer new services.
Business Shows Group celebrate 25 years of Network Exhibitions
On Wednesday 20th March, the Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo will take place at The Bentley Hotel, South Hykeham, Lincoln, LN6 9NH. The event focuses on all things property, construction, investment and related services, bringing together industry professionals to discuss and deliver business opportunities.
Sponsors include Team Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce and Invest East Midlands, all looking to deliver growth and encourage investment within the region. The event is free to attend.
The exhibition opens at 9am, followed by Nespresso coffee and celebration cake at 11am-11:30am where we will be joined by Lee Marshall, Managing Director of Viridis for an informative update on Net Zero.
11:30am – 12:15pm is a Speed Network session courtesy of Lincoln Business Club who are celebrating 20 years.
The exhibition will end at 1pm. Don’t dash off though as there is another great networking opportunity. Join Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce at their March Construction & Property Network.
All networking opportunities are delivered free of charge when pre-registered. Register online at https://businessshowsgroup.co.uk/lincoln/
Tina King, the Event Organiser, expressed that after 25 years, they have successfully established a well-targeted event catering to professionals in the Property, Construction, Professional Services, Business, Finance, and Investment sectors.
She confirmed the primary objective is to provide an environment where clients and delegates can connect with new clients, cultivate relationships, and expand business opportunities in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The event aims to bring together industry experts, facilitate networking, and provide a platform for collaboration and growth.
On 11th November 2024 we have the big East Midlands Expo, held at the same venue for 25 years, EMCC, Nottingham.Back in 1999, Martin Freeman saw a gap in the market that no one else had, a starting point to bring together like-minded people from within Property, Construction, B2B, Finance & Investment all under one roof for one amazing day.
The event has continued to grow and evolve. Many exhibitors have been at the event every year since it started. Martin acknowledges: “Throughout the years, we have seen many changes within the industry, many strong and positive, but also some challenging and difficult times.
“However, the property and construction industry remains robust and unwavering, supported by a dedicated and well-informed workforce that diligently seeks solutions in every circumstance. Tina & I thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.”
The events attract a wide variety of exhibitors and attendees including professional intermediaries, environmental consultants, engineering consultants, contractors, financiers and brokers, estate and property agents, landowners, property developers, investors, construction companies, interior design & fit out, marketing, B2B & PR agencies.
Testimony to the success of the events and in their effectiveness of matching buyers and suppliers shows in the planning and delivery of present and forthcoming projects and in the strength of the business relationships that develop post event.
Pre-register for free registration at https://businessshowsgroup.co.uk/register/
Contact tina@businessshowsgroup.co.uk for further information on exhibiting.
20th March 2024 – Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo
11th November 2024 – East Midlands Expo with Property & Business Investment Show Nottingham
Yorkshire business confidence dips in February
Business confidence in Yorkshire and the Humber fell 13 points during February to 31%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.
Companies in Yorkshire and the Humber reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 17 points to 37%. When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, down nine points to 25%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 31% (vs. 44% in January).
However, a net balance of 39% of businesses in the region expected to increase staff levels over the next year, up 10 points on last month.
Yorkshire and the Humber businesses identified their top target areas for growth in the next six months as investing in their team (43%), introducing new technology (31%), and investing in environmental sustainability measures (27%).
The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.
National picture
Overall, UK business confidence dipped two points in February to 42%, driven by softening confidence from firms in both their own trading prospects (49% vs. 51% in January) and the wider economy (34% vs. 37% in January).
Companies’ hiring intentions increased to the highest level since May 2022, with 36% of firms intending to increase staff levels over the next 12 months, up three points on the month before.
Sector InsightsThere was a mixed picture for sectors this month. Confidence fell in manufacturing (nine points to 40%) and construction (seven points to 38%) respectively, although results remain higher than the same time last year. In contrast, the dominant services sector was unchanged compared to January at 45%, exceeding all months of 2023 except for November. Retail confidence was broadly steady, dipping one point to 41%.
Steve Harris, regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “While business confidence fell slightly in February, this data paints a clear picture of a region looking ahead with optimism.
“It’s particularly good to see a growing number of businesses planning to hire. This shows firms are gearing up for future growth or are looking to staff newly secured contracts, and it’s a move that will benefit local communities and the regional economy, not just firms themselves.
“Meanwhile, it’s encouraging to see sustainability as a top business focus area. This aligns with Yorkshire and the Humber’s reputation as a national powerhouse for the UK’s green economy – reflected in the announcement of planning permission for a major new carbon capture project in East Yorkshire last week that promises the creation of thousands more jobs for the county.”
Hann-Ju Ho, Senior Economist, Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “This month’s data still reflects a positive mood among businesses despite a marginal fall in overall confidence. Firms appear to be upbeat about their prospects and the economy, supporting their positive staffing expectations.
“Looking at the sectors, there is a mixed picture. There was a slight fall in confidence reported in the manufacturing and construction sectors, while retail and services stood their ground – remaining unchanged compared to January’s figures. But despite the manufacturing and construction fall, businesses are still showing high levels of confidence.
“The split across the regions also provides reason to view the dip in confidence at the broader UK level cautiously. Six regions have reported an increase in confidence while the other six have reported a decrease. So, scratching the surface, we see a story that continues to show a more positive outlook for the year ahead.”
PPE firm secures 16,000 sq ft unit in Doncaster
Protective clothing maker Skanwear has committed to a unit at Priority Space’s Jubilee Park in a relocation from Kirk Sandall.
Agreed by Commercial Property Partners on behalf of the landlord, the 16,042 sq ft unit has been secured on a 10-year lease for the growing business, which operates globally.
Jubilee Park is a speculative development close to Doncaster Sheffield Airport with the M18 1.5m away.
Priority Space director, Lee Buchanan, said: “We’re delighted to work with our letting agents CPP and Knight Frank and agree terms with Skanwear, one of the leading electrical PPE providers in the UK.
“We’re also confident that we will be making further announcements in the very near future as interest regarding the other available units on Jubilee Park continues to come in.”
Skanwear Chief Executive Richard Long said: “This is a high spec quality unit that will allow us to grow with confidence with the right facilities and space to expand. It will also provide an excellent base for our staff and its central location is ideal for both clients and supply partners to reach.”
The Skanwear unit offers warehousing provision along with reception area, open plan offices and staff facilities.
Outside, Skanwear will benefit from 23 car park spaces including electric charging points and a concrete service yard. The unit achieved an A EPC Rating.
CPP partner Ed Norris added: “We think this is a great deal for both parties and, as a speculative development, it shows the continued confidence in the commercial property sector across South Yorkshire with premium ‘A’ rated spaces still coming to market.”
Northern Gritstone and Deeptech Labs form unique partnership
Northern Gritstone, the investment company focused on science and technology-enabled businesses in the North of England, and Deeptech Labs, the expert in turning breakthrough scientific advances into category defining companies, have formed a unique partnership.
The partnership – NG Studios powered by Deeptech Labs – will accelerate the creation of deeptech spinouts. Working closely with the universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, each university will identify early-stage spinouts to participate in a ten-week programme delivered by the new partnership.
The programme will provide bespoke venture-building activities covering strategy, operations, and capital-raising. It will also bring founders into the Deeptech Labs’ global ecosystem of technology entrepreneurs and investors to complement the universities’ own support and communities.
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said: “Northern Gritstone’s three founding universities are highly regarded for nurturing technical talent and commercializing intellectual property through spinouts to create tomorrow’s world-class businesses.
“Innovation thrives when it is part of a collaborative and supportive ecosystem of talent and capital. NG Studios powered by Deeptech Labs will help accelerate the process by broadening access to the innovation ecosystem and helping academics test and develop their business strategies. We are delighted to partner with Deeptech Labs given their deeptech expertise”
Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs, said: “We are delighted to partner with Northern Gritstone to support the commercialisation of the world-class research from the universities of Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield.
“It represents a strategic expansion for Deeptech Labs to deliver on our goal of enabling breakthrough science to be commercialised at scale and to catalyse the deeptech ecosystem across the UK and Europe.”
Sheffield network encryption specialist raises further £5m in seed funding
Sitehop – the Sheffield-based network encryption specialist backed by Mercia Ventures – has raised £5m in a seed funding led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Manta Ray Ventures.
Mercia also participated in the round using funding from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) and its EIS funds, along with the founders of Event Horizon Capital & Osney Capital and angels including Silicon Catalyst founder Rick Lazansky and NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin.
Sitehop addresses a critical challenge in the digital age: that current software encryption solutions slow down communications networks by adding delay to the system. Communications infrastructure providers face the choice of incurring significant additional costs by laying down extra fibre capacity to minimise the latency caused by encryption or to run lines without encryption which creates unacceptable enterprise risks.
Sitehop helps businesses proactively handle the escalating threat level from increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals, with hardware-enforced enterprise encryption.
Mercia first invested in Sitehop in early 2023 to help it commercialise its technology. Its flagship product, SAFEblade 1100, now offers a significantly more secure alternative to software-based solutions, being able to support over 4000 secure tunnels at once with an ultra-low encryption or decryption latency of less than 900 nanoseconds and at a data throughput of 100Gbps.
This low latency is crucial in any scenario involving high bandwidth network traffic, such as data centres, the cloud, or edge computing environments.
Melissa Chambers, CEO, Sitehop, said: “This investment allows us to expand our global reach, with sales and support engineering staff in Brazil, the US, India, and grow our Yorkshire headquarters. We will be adding engineers and production workers and moving into a new Sheffield location.
“The investment will also enable Sitehop to pursue its technology roadmap – fleshing out the range of SAFE products securing all types of data-in-motion, and developing parallel products using our world-class skillsets in cryptography and programmable hardware design. We aim to get Sitehop’s products into the backbone of most of the world’s networks in the next few years.”
Nick Kingsbury, Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners, said: “Sitehop is bringing a novel hardware-based approach to a fundamental challenge facing the providers of the essential network infrastructure underpinning our digital society.
“The flexibility and scalability of Sitehop’s data encryption technology makes it accessible to SMEs as well as large enterprises, meaning there need be no weak link in our defence against cyber criminality.”
Lawrence Barclay, Managing Director, Manta Ray Ventures, said: “We are really excited to partner with Melissa, Ben and the Sitehop team in the next phase of their journey. We have been incredibly impressed at how thoughtful and effective an approach they have taken to the increasingly critical challenge of network security.
“We are past the point of dependency on data connectivity and need to ensure enough attention is put on how it is secured without compromise on performance and with important attention to energy efficiency.”
Examine issues surrounding the safe handling and storage of bulk materials in ports and on the sea during short course
A short course taking place in March will examine the issues surrounding the safe handling and storage of bulk materials in ports and on the sea.
Taking place from 19 – 22 March 2024, with on-line delivery from 13:00 – 17:00 each day, join this course from the University of Greenwich’s Wolfson Centre to discuss real life issues and to determine best practice for future developments.
Subjects discussed include:
· Ship unloading technologies (Grabs vs CSUs, different CSU technologies)
· Conveying technologies (pneumatic versus belt)
· Storage and discharge technologies (silos, flat stores, stacking etc)
· Loading, unloading control (weighing, controlling ship bending etc)
· Rail and road outloading equipment and control
· Explosion and fire risks and management (ATEX, fire control & management)
· Mobile plant and safety
· Developments in automation and autonomous vehicles
· Dust control and environmental protection
· Controlling cargo damage (particle degradation, spoilage, water damage etc)
· Wear protection and maintenance
· Cargo characterisation for handleability and other issues
Who should attend? Stevedores, Operations supervisors, Port managers, Ships Masters, Port developers, Cargo superintendents, Equipment suppliers, Design consultants.
The course leader is Mike Bradley, Professor of Bulk and Particulate Technologies and Director of The Wolfson Centre. He has worked internationally on design and troubleshooting for bulk solids handling as a commercial consultant and research expert for over twenty-five years. Contributions will also be made by Dr Baldeep Kaur, whose interests lie in characterisation and transportation of bulk materials, and Mr Lukas Paul from Beumer who will be presenting on ‘Shore Side Transport’.
This course is held in association with ABTO, The Association of Bulk Terminal Operators – members will receive discounted rates. Discounts are also offered for multiple bookings and returning delegates.
The full list of courses for 2024 and their content is available here.
All courses are available in-company so if the dates don’t suit operations, or you have a large number of attendees, please contact The Wolfson Centre for details.
wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk www.bulksolids.com +44 20 8331 8646
The full list of courses for 2024 and their content is available here.
All courses are available in-company so if the dates don’t suit operations, or you have a large number of attendees, please contact The Wolfson Centre for details.
wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk www.bulksolids.com +44 20 8331 8646 Barnsley family business merges with Welsh producer
Tomorrow fourth generation family business Naylor Gardenware from Barnsley will officially merge with Welsh company Smith & Jennings to create a new business called British Flowerpots.
British Flowerpots and will be based in new purpose-built manufacturing premises in Barnsley. The business will be headed by MD Simon Smith and General Manager Liz Hudston. It will offer a comprehensive range of British made glazed and terracotta pots, complemented by a select range of imported items.
Naylor has been making clay pipes and other ceramic products since 1890, and has produced its Yorkshire Flowerpot range since the early 1990’s. Smith & Jennings is near Cardiff, and makes glazed and terracotta ware. It was founded by ceramicist Simon Smith in 2013.
Dacres strengthens lettings business with two new hires
Dacre, Son & Hartley has made two appointments to strengthen its lettings business, with Joanna Speight joining as a senior lettings manager in the company’s Ilkley office and Chelsey Illingworth as a property manager at Harrogate.
Joanna has spent more than two decades working in property rentals in the Wharfe Valley, including eight years at Dacres between 2012 and 2020, prior to our previous lettings division being acquired. She has always lived in the surrounding area, which further enhances her knowledge of the local market.
Chelsey brings over 15 years’ experience in the lettings and property management sector to her new role, after working in both North and West Yorkshire for several well-known property companies.
The lettings team, launched last month, is headed up by Sophie Tillisch at the Harrogate office. She has worked at Dacres for nine years and has more than 15 years’ experience in both property rentals and sales. The fourth member of the team is Neil McGroarty, who heads our York office
Sophie said: “Although it’s early days, our new lettings division is already generating lots of interest from landlords wanting a bespoke range of services from a well-established Yorkshire based estate agent with a large online reach that’s complemented offline by our extensive branch network.
“Establishing dedicated local teams in Ilkley and Harrogate, with the appointment of Joanna and Chelsey, further strengthens our offering in both towns as we begin to build our market share. Crucially, they both bring a wealth of experience to their new roles and have a thorough understanding of the lettings market, making them the perfect people to represent landlords and ensure their investments are successful, at a time when demand from tenants is higher than ever, so they’re very welcome additions to our team.”
