North West Business Briefs
Construction began this week on a new Grade A business hub at No 1 Tower Road South, at Peel L&P’s Wirral Waters regeneration scheme.
The new business hub, named Hythe after the Old English for ‘a landing place or small harbour for ships or boats’, is the first speculative office development in Birkenhead for a decade, offering more than 25,000 sq ft of flexible, high-quality office space for local businesses.
The Hythe name has been chosen to describe this next generation office space, which uses contemporary design to maximise the health and wellbeing of customers, offering a haven for entrepreneurs in the heart of Wirral Waters.
Designed by the award-winning Glenn Howells Architects, Hythe is being constructed by GMI Construction with completion expected in late 2021. The business hub has been designed to set new standards in sustainability and will have a BREEAM-Excellent rating, placing it in the top 10% of all buildings for green credentials. Hythe has also been designed to accommodate the latest innovations in digital connectivity.
Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, said: “We’ve invested in the Wirral Waters site to ensure that we’re able to keep offering outstanding facilities and as a catalyst to attract new businesses and jobs to the area. Not only will these new facilities be some of the most advanced office space in the region, they will also be some of the greenest and most sustainable.”
Hythe has been funded by Peel L&P, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) and the Merseyside Pension Fund, advised by CBRE’s investment advisory team, part of CBRE capital advisors. The LCRCA funding comes via the Strategic Investment Fund to unlock job creation and to promote and accelerate economic growth for the Liverpool City Region.
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Dr Natalie Kenny
BioGrad Diagnostics has opened new state-of-the-art testing clinics in Manchester and Shrewsbury to meet the demands of its clients, after seeing a successful year of growth at its flagship Liverpool-based laboratory.
Having provided more than 200,000 COVID-19 tests in Liverpool alone since the first lockdown began, BioGrad Diagnostics has been providing responsive and dynamic antigen and antibody testing facilities, with its face-to-face testing carried out by trained professionals.
With plans to open clinics in Birmingham and London in January 2021, the first quarter of the new year will see BioGrad Diagnostics aim to scale up and provide hundreds of thousands more tests throughout the next 12 months, as the pandemic continues in the UK.
Chief executive, Dr Natalie Kenny, said: “As it became clear that the economy would be devastated by lockdown, we wanted to contribute to keeping schools and businesses open with the provision of fast, accurate COVID testing, and we had lots of labs which were idle due to the restrictions in our core education business, so we began doing what we know best – science.”
The Manchester testing facility is situated at the Crowne Plaza, Ringway Road.
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Simon Hayton
Specialist recruitment firm Workforce People Solutions has reported a 20% uplift in numbers of staff since the start of lockdown and the launch of an entirely new technology division, Workforce Digital, following a £500,000 investment from NPIF-FW Capital Debt Finance.
The facility, managed by FW Capital and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, has enabled further growth at the Bolton-based firm, which recruits highly skilled labour for industries including healthcare, manufacturing, furniture and textiles, automotive and transport.
The company is run by CEO Simon Hayton, who completed a management buyout in 2016. It currently has a turnover of around £10m and employs 50 staff.
The company has traded well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, having placed more than 500 candidates – 70 of which were sewing machinists for PPE equipment for the private sector and NHS – in work across its healthcare and manufacturing divisions during this period.
Simon Hayton said: “Despite the current economic challenges, it has been an exceptional year for us in many ways. Not only have we launched an entirely new division in Workforce Digital to serve those in search of the very best global tech talent, but we have been in a position to grow our own team significantly, too. The support from NPIF and FW Capital has been crucial to that growth and we are appreciative of the partnership to date.”
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Stanley Dock
Residents and businesses at Stanley Dock in Liverpool are set to benefit from low-cost heating and hot water following a deal to bring a low-carbon district heat network to the area.
Peel L&P Energy has signed contracts with Stanley Dock Properties to run its Mersey Heat network to three buildings on the docks: Tobacco Warehouse, the Titanic Hotel & Rum Warehouse and the Southern Warehouse.
The most recent connection agreement means residents at 540 newly-converted waterfront apartments at the Grade II-listed Tobacco Warehouse will be the first to benefit from cheaper energy bills with the other properties to follow soon.
Approximately 580 m of underground district heating pipework will be installed to supply the Tobacco Warehouse, part of the Stanley Docks development. Buildings at Peel L&P’s £5bn Liverpool Waters development are also being connected to the network to provide heat for up to 9,000 homes and 4m sq ft of commercial space as part of the first phase of the Mersey Heat project.
Jon Burley, commercial director at Peel L&P Energy, said: “This is the first phase of a 10-year Mersey Heat project which supports our wider five-year sustainability strategy to reduce carbon emission and support the development of low-carbon communities. We’re pleased to be working with Stanley Dock Properties and the prestigious Titanic Hotel to connect more properties to cost-effective low-carbon energy and we look forward to going live with more buildings soon.”
