NW business briefs: Geek+; Lancaster University; Blossom Café; Broadway Insurance Brokers; Yodel; Upmarket Leisure

Geek+, a global leader in autonomous mobile robot (AMR) technology, has revealed how opening its new UK headquarters in the Violet development at Sci-Tech Daresbury in 2022 has enabled its rapid expansion in the UK and across Europe and helped create a raft of high quality tech jobs in the Liverpool City Region.

The headquarters is a hub for innovation, featuring a state-of-the-art robotics experience centre where clients can see Geek+ robots in action and explore cutting-edge solutions for automating logistics and warehouse operations. 

Since entering the European market in 2019, Geek+ has deployed projects in more than 30 countries, including key collaborations with major UK retailers in the apparel and grocery industries. 

The UK location has supported the company’s continued growth, with the Geek+ UK team offering comprehensive services including sales, solution design, implementation engineering, project management, and customer care. This has resulted in the creation of more than 20 jobs since opening on campus.

Brian Lee, Managing Director, EMEA, Geek+, said: “The UK is home to some of our most exciting projects, including large scale automated parcel sorting and goods-to-person robotics deployments. Our headquarters at Sci-Tech Daresbury have allowed us to serve our UK clients even more effectively and showcase our robotics solutions in action while creating a significant number of job opportunities for local people.”

John Leake, Business Growth Director at Sci-Tech Daresbury, said: “Sci-Tech Daresbury brings both an attractive location but also strong collaborative networks that enable hi-tech, high growth companies like Geek+ to expand and flourish. We are also seeing international companies like Geek+ seeing Sci-Tech Daresbury, and our ‘Home for Life’ philosophy, as the ideal environment that will support their long term growth in the UK.”

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Lancaster University has partnered with environmental firm ICT Reverse to extract precious metals from printed circuit boards (PCB) recovered from waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The company, based in Morecambe, has benefited from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the university’s School of Engineering. This project was funded by UKRI through Innovate UK which awarded £129,000 with further funding from ICT Reverse.

More than 50 million tonnes of electronic equipment are generated globally each year, with the PCB waste either recycled informally through open burning, creating toxic fumes, or transported to refineries for smelting or incineration where much of the valuable material is lost. Bioleaching is a far less environmentally harmful technology, making use of bacteria to extract precious metals like copper and gold from metal ores in the PCBs, which can then be recycled commercially.

Dr Farid Aiouache, from the School of Engineering, said: “The process operates spent PCBs from various domestic appliances and uses an efficient bioreactor design to run the process at moderate conditions of acidity and temperature and promoted safety. The aim is to design a technology that is scalable and economically viable.”

Craig Smith, Group Managing Director of ICT Reverse, said: “Having a sustainable and financially viable way to reuse these rare metals and ores within our existing electronic devices creates a true circular economy, and we see bioleaching as the best way to achieve this goal.”

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Fabio, left, and Kaya

A new café bistro that blends classic and contemporary dishes as part of its seven-day operation has opened its doors in Warrington’s growing Time Square development.

Situated on Dolmans Lane, Blossom Café will offer brunch during the day and transform into a cocktails and tapas spot in the evening. Owner, Fabio, said: “People from Warrington often head to nearby cities like Liverpool or Manchester for a good meal and evening out, but we wanted to create a place right here in town that offers great food at a reasonable price.”

The venue, which is also set to host live music, joins the growing collection of businesses in Time Square, Warrington’s go-to hub for shopping, dining, and leisure.

Fabio, who has opened the restaurant with his son Kaya, after more than 20 years in the hospitality industry, added: “We want Blossom Café to be a space where locals can come together, enjoy a meal, and spend time in the heart of Warrington. Kaya will be running the day-to-day operations, and I’m really excited to be working alongside him. His energy and enthusiasm will help make Blossom Café a welcoming place for everyone who visits.”

Cllr Laura Watson, Cabinet Member for Economy, Growth and Quality Work, said “We’ve seen a big increase in visitors to Time Square, making it a key destination for shopping, dining, and leisure in Warrington. It’s great to welcome Blossom Café to this thriving community and we’re excited to see how it adds to the town’s growing food and drink offering.”

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Louisa Roberts and Daniel Lloyd-John

Broadway Insurance Brokers has described its decision to open a new office in Liverpool as a sign of its “willingness and capability” to support a growing number of business and personal clients in the area.

The firm, which advises some of the country’s wealthiest individuals, entrepreneurs and household brand businesses, has announced that a team of five staff, led by Liverpool Managing Partner Louisa Roberts, will operate from premises at the Cotton Exchange in the heart of the city’s Business District.

Chief Executive Daniel Lloyd-John, said that branching out from its Cheshire headquarters was “a milestone”.

He added: “Part of our decision to appoint Louisa a year ago was because of a growing volume of work from Merseyside and the surrounding area, and that has happily continued to be the case.”

Born in Liverpool, Mrs Roberts has spent her entire 25-year insurance career working in the city after finishing a degree at Liverpool University.

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Liverpool-based parcels delivery group, Yodel, has partnered with InPost, the biggest Out of Home parcel locker network in the UK, to provide final mile delivery services. Yodel will be handling hundreds of thousands of parcels through the InPost ‘Locker-to-Door’ service.

Yodel will be handling the final mile delivery of parcels from InPost Lockers to customers’ addresses. Customers can track their delivery status using the InPost app. This partnership will enhance the existing offer for InPost customers as service usage continues to grow. 

Recent research by Yodel revealed that 54% of Brits aged 16+ are reselling items on online marketplaces, and the market has seen significant growth in C2C volumes, which have grown by 200% in the past two years.

Mike Hancox, CEO at Yodel said: “This partnership with InPost represents an exciting new step in expanding our presence in the fast-growing Out of Home sector. InPost’s locker network provides choice and flexibility for customers who are sending and receiving parcels. As second-hand marketplaces increasingly grow in popularity, so, too, will the demand for customer-to-customer parcel deliveries.”

Neil Kuschel, CEO at InPost UK, said: “This announcement builds on the significant commercial growth that InPost has achieved in the UK. We are committed to developing additional services with the capacity to deliver them to win in the UK, as well as serving the B2C market at a faster rate as more customers discover the benefits of delivery from and to our lockers.”

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Manchester-based premium hospitality group, Upmarket Leisure, has launched its first international outpost, a new world-class poolside experience and Mediterranean restaurant, Cabana Club, at the recently opened ME Malta – a luxury hotel by ME by Meliá.

Located at the island’s highly anticipated lifestyle development, Mercury, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and positioned in the heart of St Julians, the opening follows years of planning with Mercury Towers and ME by Meliá, with the three companies delighted to cement this landmark strategic partnership. 

The launch is the first of three upscale experiential restaurants and bars to be opened by Upmarket Leisure at Mercury. They will include an exclusive premium Italian restaurant, Luciano, by chef Gino D’Acampo, and modern Asian grill and cocktail bar, Radio Rooftop, together with meetings and event facilities, due to open in early 2025.

Located on the eighth floor, Cabana Club is Malta’s new premier rooftop poolside club providing guests, residents, and visitors with the ultimate poolside experience and Mediterranean restaurant, combining breathtaking views with a stunning rooftop pool, an alfresco pool bar, juice bar, and exclusive 200-cover modern Mediterranean restaurant.

Upmarket Leisure chairman, Steven Walker, said: “After many years of talking, we are proud to announce this significant partnership with Mercury and ME by Meliá.  The time has allowed us to get to know one another well and plan these openings to the last detail.”