Mansfield District Council has unveiled its £25.75m plans to transform the town’s former Beales department store building into a new multi-agency civic hub.

A topping out ceremony has taken place to celebrate the latest milestone in the creation of a 2,000 sq m four-storey fourth pavilion to expand SportPark, the multi award-winning development on the Loughborough University campus. SportPark already houses the UK’s highest concentration of sports governing bodies and national sports organisations. The latest organisation to join is UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), having relocated its central office from London in May 2021, as part of its new 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. UKAD is the anchor tenant of SportPark Pavilion 4, occupying the entire third storey. Professor Mike Caine, Loughborough University associate pro vice-chancellor sport, said: “SportPark is a tremendous asset to the University and wider region – housing complementary organisations, working in partnership with the University, and harnessing the power of sport to benefit communities, locally, nationally, and around the world. “SportPark Pavilion 4 will provide the capacity to welcome yet more mission-driven organisations to the University, and to reinforce the East Midlands region’s potential as a global sports innovation hub, with Loughborough at its heart. “The SportPark expansion coincides with a growing number of innovation and technology-led sports businesses launching at, or relocating to, LUSEP, attracted to the collaborative environment and access to the University’s world-leading expertise in sports science, engineering, health and well-being, high-performance athlete base, and sports infrastructure.” SportPark Pavilion 4 is delivered by the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) as part of the Getting Building Fund (GBF). Funds were designated for investment in local, shovel-ready infrastructure projects to stimulate jobs and support economic recovery across the country. The LLEP was allocated £20m, supporting the SportPark 4 project with £6m. A separate £1.8m GBF allocation helped fund improvements at Junction 23 and the A512, which links the M1 with Loughborough. It makes LUSEP one of the most accessible science parks in the UK. Andy Reed OBE, interim chair of the LLEP Board of Directors, said: “Loughborough University’s global reputation for sport brings tremendous opportunities for us all and, through this fourth pavilion, provides new jobs and opportunity for further growth across a range of services. “This latest project directly supports 165 jobs, with more than 150 in the wider economy. Importantly, it also helps create further demand to bring sports-related organisations and businesses to the region. “On a separate note, it’s really pleasing for me personally to see the continued development of SportPark. I was fortunate to be involved in creating the vision of a sports cluster at the University for the first phases of the development back in the mid-2000s. It’s wonderful to see it continue going from strength to strength.” Henry Brothers Midlands are leading the project to build SportPark Pavilion 4. Managing Director, Ian Taylor, said: “SportPark Pavilion 4 is an exciting Passivhaus development which is supporting Loughborough University’s plans to decarbonise its estate to meet the Government’s zero carbon target by 2050. “It also builds on Henry Brothers’ growing portfolio of environmentally sound schemes and we are very pleased to have reached this milestone in this important development for the University.”

Following a period of sustained growth, high-performance engineering consultancy KWSP is relocating to an all-new, purpose-built ‘skunk works for OEMs’ facility at Silverstone Park. The new site will enhance the consultancy’s ability to deliver niche vehicle programmes for road and track, alongside ‘horizontal innovation’ projects and further enable technology transfer between sectors. Given the company’s long-term focus on high-performance automotive and motorsport projects, the new facility nestled beside world-renowned Silverstone Circuit will be an important draw. For customers looking to outsource or ‘Skunk Works’ end-to-end design, development, production and testing of niche vehicle programmes and motorsport projects, the new facility will offer a step-change in capability. The all-new 28,000 sq ft facility combines a modern and expandable office space with a significant and adaptable workshop space and assembly area. The move coincides with KWSP’s 10-year anniversary, celebrating a decade of consultancy work with blue-chip companies including F1 teams, Automotive OEMs, the aerospace & defence sector as well as professional sports.

KWSP’s sister company, the Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) is also located at Silverstone Park and has experienced significant growth since opening in 2021. The DMC is a state-of-the-art commercial additive manufacturing facility that will also continue to produce parts for use in KWSP projects. Co-locating the two businesses will enable greater collaboration, leveraging each other’s capabilities to deliver substantial benefits for both companies. Kieron Salter, CEO of KWSP, said: “Relocating to new headquarters at Silverstone Park will deliver a step-change in capability for our customers. The new office will house our rapidly growing engineering team, while the hybrid workshop assembly area will give us greater capacity than ever before to deliver high-performance road, track and motorsport projects – not to mention the substantial development and testing advantage of being located next to Silverstone Circuits. “After ten years of specialist, high-performance engineering and a myriad of fantastic projects, we are now working on some of our most exciting programmes yet. All will be revealed later this year, but this new move marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for the business. It is also a fantastic way to celebrate KWSP’s tenth anniversary and positions us perfectly for another exciting decade of success. “With the Digital Manufacturing Centre also moving from strength to strength, now is the perfect time to enable greater cooperation and collaboration between KWSP’s high-performance engineering and the DMC’s world-leading additive manufacturing capabilities. This will be hugely beneficial for customer projects, as we will be able to better leverage the DMC’s expertise and production capacity with rapid production and instant delivery.”

KWSP expects to move all staff across from the current location at Bicester Heritage by the end of July.

Midlands estate agent Pygott & Crone has opened a new branch in Nottingham’s up-and-coming Bridlesmith Gate in the city centre.

Pygott & Crone has been established in Lincolnshire for the past 30 years, with offices in London and more than 600 associated offices across the UK, as founding members of the Land and New Homes network and the relocation agent network, and this move marks its first branch opening in Nottingham City.

The agency has already sold a number of properties in and around the area, while adding a number of well-known home builders to its books, including the likes of Taggart Homes, Sherwood oak homes, KMRE, Longhurst and IKON residents. Following the opening of its new branch, Pygott & Crone is contracted to sell more than 1,000 new homes across the region within the next 18 months, after receiving support from the Nottinghamshire business community and the public. Six new staff members are set to join the office, with more recruitment opportunities in the coming months. Director of Pygott & Crone, Tim Downing, said: “I am really excited and feel very proud about our new branch opening in Nottingham. This has been a significant investment for us, with new technology and a total refurbishment of the premises – it looks great, and very inviting too for the public to pop in off the street and have a chat with us, which is exactly what we want. “We first opened an office space in Gothic House in the Lace Market in 2018 and back then, it was just me. We have since hired three more members to join the Nottingham team, and to now have an official branch open right in the centre with a team of six – and more to come – is just fantastic and a real testament to the success of the agency. “I am very much looking forward to what the rest of 2022 has to bring for Pygott & Crone and I know that Dale Brewster, the new manager of the branch, will do a fantastic job of leading the team.” Dale has extensive experience within the industry in Greater Nottingham and the county itself, having worked as a negotiator, valuer and manager over the past 10 years. He said: “It’s an exciting time for the business as there is ample opportunity here in Nottingham and we’ve already hit the ground running. We’ve been overwhelmed with the support so far and are feeling positive about the future.”

Vehicle electrification specialist Lunaz Applied Technologies (LAT) has revealed plans to dramatically quadruple its presence at MEPC Silverstone Park by expanding into 140,000 sq ft of new industrial accommodation at the estate. The premises are among four large industrial units recently constructed by MEPC as part of its latest 265,000 sq ft development at Silverstone Park. The additional production space will enable LAT to grow its upcycling of diesel-powered industrial vehicles, such as recycling trucks, by restoring them to warrantied-as-new condition and converting them to full electric power. As many as 1,100 ‘upcyled electric vehicles’ (UEVs) could be produced a year inside the plant and 300 new jobs created as part of the expansion, according to the business. LAT, whose investors include England football legend David Beckham, says it is now actively recruiting across both manufacturing and electric vehicle specialisms to support its rapid growth. David Lorenz, founder, Lunaz, said: “This landmark project represents a huge step forward for Lunaz Applied Technologies and the wider drive towards clean-air mobility. “We have dramatically expanded our upcycling campus in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, in response to market sentiment, and the clear and growing demand for upcycled electric vehicles (UEVs). “We’re backing our own technology, processes and people, and making a powerful statement of intent for our vision of Lunaz Applied Technologies (LAT); it’s also a renewed vote of confidence from us and our investors in the UK as our chosen long-term location for LAT’s manufacturing and R&D activities. “This development will enable us to unlock the vast potential of UEV technology to break the replace-with-new cycle and bring us ever closer to carbon neutrality.” Notably, investment in technology by LAT to reduce its own environmental footprint means its Silverstone Park premises will be highly thermal-efficient and use heating powered by sustainably-generated electricity. Furthermore, all tools used by production experts will be battery-operated and vehicle ramps will be fitted with a kinetic energy recovery system to minimise power usage.