Woodhead Construction to expand team to meet growing demand
Robert Woodhead Limited, part of the Edwinstowe based Woodhead Group has recently been appointed to several key projects in the East Midlands, including the newly announced Sherwood Observatory.
Off the back of these projects and the continued long-term partnerships, the contractor is looking to add more members to its team, both on site and at its Edwinstowe headquarters.
Janine Borderick, People Development Director at Robert Woodhead Ltd, part of the Woodhead Group said: “In what has been a tough climate for regional contractors over the last couple of years, Robert Woodhead Ltd has been able to retain a very strong presence across the East Midlands and beyond with major projects for long-term clients across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire
“We are incredibly proud of our Nottinghamshire roots and this plays out through the work we do. All of our projects have a strong focus on community and social value – over the last two years, we have created £113m of social value across all our projects.”
The company’s strong pipeline of work has meant that they are looking to add further experience to their roster of Project Managers, Site Managers, Groundworkers and Quantity Surveyors to Own It, Achieve It and Improve It!
Janine said: “With diverse and exciting projects on the horizon, we’re keen to hear from Project Managers, Site Managers, Groundworkers and Quantity Surveyors who are looking for a new opportunity. One of the key benefits of working for the Woodhead Group is that we maintain the ethos of a family business. Our teams all genuinely care for each other and the work that they do, especially as – for many of them – the sites we operate on are local to them.”
The company also has a rare opening for a Lead Bid Manager, working as part of a dynamic business development and pre-construction team to manage and write competitive bids to secure future work.
In addition, the Woodhead Group is also looking to fill several roles at its headquarters, including a catering assistant – a position with some unique benefits.
Janine said: “Having taken our catering in-house, we are looking for assistants that will be able to help feed our colleagues from the 40 other businesses that work at Edwinstowe House. While there is no shortage of roles such as this one, what sets this apart is the family-friendly working – the role is only within traditional office hours and doesn’t involve any shift work.”
Closed Hallaton village pub seeks new owner through Christie & Co
Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co is currently marketing the closed Bewicke Arms, an attractive and historical 16th Century traditional pub with additional letting rooms, located in the picturesque South Leicestershire village of Hallaton – the home of the traditional ‘Hallaton Bottle Kicking and Hare Pie Scramble’.
The building, which maintains many of its original features including stone façade, oak beams and traditional fireplaces throughout and is in a highly sought-after position in the heart of Hallaton and offers an incoming owner a fantastic opportunity to build on its past success.
Prior to closing, this awarding winning freehold was a popular modern take on a traditional English pub, renowned locally as a high-quality destination for food, drinks and accommodation. Along with the freehouse, which offers a main bar, secondary bar, sparate restaurant, spacious kitchen and first-floor multi-functional space, the property also features three spacious letting rooms and a harmonious barn conversion retail space in a separate building. To the rear of the buildings is a covered outside trading area, with stunning views across the rolling Leicestershire countryside.
The business has been successfully owned by Simon & Claire Tait since 2006 “We have absolutely loved our time at The Bewicke. It and has been a pleasure to be part of such an enchanting, historical place, being one of the oldest and most well known traditional inns in country.”
The village of Hallaton plays host to the annual ‘Bottle Kicking and Hare Pie Scramble’, an ancient Leicestershire custom to race barrels across a local stream, claimed to be one of the country’s oldest sports and is thought to be the inspiration for Rugby Union, that takes place each year on Easter Monday.
Overall the property offers substantial growth potential with multiple revenue streams including extensive internal trade areas, outside trade areas, letting bedrooms and additional retail space. Utilising the spacious dining areas and versatile function spaces, a new owner has the potential to increase the events and function side of the business.
James Buist-Brealey, Business Agent in Christie & Co’s Hospitality team is handling the sale and comments, “The Bewicke Arms is a much-loved pub with many traditional features, which sits pride of place in the beautiful village of Hallaton. This is a rare opportunity to own such an attractive freehold pub which offers exciting potential to a new operator.”
The Bewicke Arms is on the market on a freehold basis and invites offers over £700,000.
Anglian Water announces its largest apprenticeship recruitment drive for the East of England
Anglian Water is launching 54 new Level 3 and 4 operational apprenticeship positions encouraging people to consider working within the utilities industry. This is the largest number of positions the water company has opened up and provides the perfect route for budding engineers and technicians into this vital area of work.
Never before has access to water been so important for health and hygiene. As key workers, the Anglian Water workforce play a vital role in keeping taps running, toilets flushing and drains draining. Applying for an apprenticeship with Anglian Water is a great option for anyone considering their next move.
The water company, which has a big requirement for science and engineering skills in its workforce, offers apprentices an opportunity to work and learn simultaneously in operational, maintenance and engineering roles across the region, guaranteeing a permanent role at the end of the course, along with a nationally recognised qualification.
Grant Duller, Network Technician Apprentice at Anglian Water said, “I joined the apprenticeship scheme last year applying at the beginning of the year and haven’t looked back.
“Anglian Water apprentices are an important part of the business and I have felt incredibly valued. The company invest a lot in our training and development to help us gain valuable and practical skills as well as achieving a nationally recognised qualification. With the Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard I will gain it will give a great start to my career that will enable me to ultimately progress within Anglian Water.”
Courses can last between 18 months and four years, depending on the type of role, and is often a mixture of classroom and practical hands-on learning supporting the team, across the region.
The apprenticeship opportunities will be open for applications until 13th February, with successful applicants set to start their roles in August/September 2022.
To find out more and apply, visit the Anglian Water careers website and visit the Apprentice page.
2021 sees return to growth following COVID-hit year at CloudCall
CloudCall, the Leicester cloud-based software business, has returned to growth following a COVID-impacted 2020, according to a trading update for the year to 31 December 2021.
The business said that total reported revenues rose to £13.6m from £11.8m in 2020, while customer numbers are up 12% to 1,658 (FY 2020: 1,480).
The update follows news in December that CloudCall’s directors had unanimously recommended an all cash offer for the business to shareholders, valuing the company at £39.9 million.
The firm had reached an agreement with Xplorer Capital Growth I, LLC (Xplorer Capital), a newly formed company owned by funds managed and advised by Xplorer Capital Management LLC.
Simon Cleaver, CEO, said: “2021 marked a return to growth following a COVID-impacted 2020. I was delighted to see strong performances from new business sales, existing business upsell, and customer retention combine to drive our annualised revenue growth back over 25% as we enter 2022.
“Whilst our team have delivered well in 2021 and I’m immensely proud of what they’ve achieved, I’m also conscious that we are operating in a marketplace where many of our key competitors are materially larger and better capitalised than we are.
“In the coming few months, if we remain as a listed company, we will need to raise significant further capital to fund the group through to our targeted monthly EBITDA breakeven in 2023.
“I remain passionate about CloudCall and our team, but, given the conflicting sentiment between shareholders that prefer growth vs those that prefer us to push for break-even, I believe a future capital raise from the public markets may be challenging. In addition to this, the quantum of any fundraise will not go far to redress this imbalance between us and certain of our competition.
“Against this background and after careful consideration, as noted in the announcement of the offer by Xplorer Capital, the CloudCall Board have determined that the offer by Xplorer Capital is in the best interests of CloudCall shareholders and staff.”
2022 Business Predictions: Daniel Collins, Director at PolkeyCollins
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Daniel Collins, Director at PolkeyCollins, the architectural practice.
2021 has been a testing year for the property and construction sector but specifically for the professional side of our industry, meaning it’s been difficult to advise clients with certainty, which is being felt across the board.
However, the changeable times have given us the chance to take perspective on many things and if anything, the long-term strategy of our practice has somewhat been validated with our approach to working with a select group of key clients across multi sectors and picking up feature projects too.
For us and many in the industry, the first quarter of 2021 was challenging as projects came to an end and new ones got cancelled because of the knock-on effects of the pandemic. But despite that shaky start, there is lots of positivity and we have never been more optimistic.
Hence, we further expanded our team this year, as planned, worked with existing and new clients and have a strong, exciting pipeline in place for 2022.
The new year is looking buoyant in terms of activity and opportunity, but I do believe the construction industry will continue its struggle with inflating materials costs, which is squeezing viability figures.
The government statement regarding ‘levelling up’ should help the economy outside of the M25 but how much of this comes to fruition we will need to wait and see.
For Polkey Collins, we have impressive projects on the horizon and keep looking forward and innovating in our outlook and approach and take each month as it comes. We are on target in terms of our strategy and have a skilled team which puts us in a strong position moving into the new year.
Gateley snaps up firm of patent and trade mark attorneys in £2.5m deal
Gateley, the legal and professional services group, has acquired Adamson Jones Holdings Limited for a total consideration of £2.5 million.
Adamson Jones provides intellectual property (IP) services encompassing patent, design and trade mark protection advice in the UK, Europe and around the world.
Adamson Jones is the eleventh business Gateley has acquired since its IPO in June 2015 and is the group’s first Business Services Platform acquisition.
Business Services is one of Gateley’s four Platforms, the others being Corporate, People, and Property. These are market-facing structures on which the group clusters complementary legal, and consultancy services.
The Business Services Platform supports clients in dealing with their commercial agreements, managing risk, protecting assets, and resolving disputes. It also includes the group’s multi-jurisdictional forensics and business intelligence services, through Gateley Omega.
Adamson Jones complements the group’s existing legal services in IP and technology, brand and reputation management, media, and privacy.
Adamson Jones was founded in 2000 and acts for clients from large multinational and national organisations, to universities and SMEs. The Adamson Jones team has 25 staff headed by directors Simon Cooper and Nicholas Ferrar and the business has offices in Nottingham, Leicester and London. Both directors will continue to work as part of the management team post acquisition.
In the year ending 31 March 2021, Adamson Jones generated revenue of c. £3.6 million.
Rod Waldie, Chief Executive Officer of Gateley, said: “I am delighted to welcome Adamson Jones to the group as our first acquisition on to our Business Services Platform. Gateley Legal already has an existing and strong relationship with Adamson Jones with whom we have worked previously to support clients on their patent and trade mark applications and protection requirements.
“We see great growth opportunities in our combined offering, with a focus on assisting our clients in protecting and commercialising their IP assets being a key element of the ongoing development of our Business Services Platform.
“This is a strategic acquisition directly aligned to our Platform strategy. The successful completion of the acquisition means that the group has now acquired consultancy businesses, complementary to its legal services, on all four Platforms.
“This strategy continues to differentiate Gateley, to widen our breadth of services and enhance our appeal to both existing and potential clients. We are actively appraising opportunities to further grow each Platform both organically and by acquisition.”
Record quarter for Leicester online electrical retailer
Marks Electrical, the Leicester-based online electrical retailer, has hailed continued strong trading momentum with record sales performance in a trading update for its third quarter ended 31 December 2021.
The record trading period saw 27.4% revenue growth to £22.3m (Q3-21 £17.5m), including a strong performance during the seasonally important Black Friday and Christmas trading events.
The firm further reported year to date (YTD) revenue growth of 55% to £59.8m (2021 YTD: £38.6m), keeping the business on track to deliver its 2022 revenue target.
Mark Smithson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted by our performance in the third quarter of this year, with year on year growth of 27.4%, and continued trading momentum against particularly strong comparatives. This high growth rate allowed us to continue to gain market share.
“In order to improve brand awareness, we continued our investment in TV campaigns, leading to increased website traffic and promoting the Marks Electrical brand. This, combined with our revised approach to digital marketing, helped attract new customers to our site.
“We’ve continued to work closely with all our suppliers in order to maintain inventory levels during the period, and have successfully coped with the continued surge in demand for our products, achieving record delivery numbers and ensuring we maximise the value on each vehicle. In a market with supply issues, this demonstrates the strength of our relationships with our suppliers and the agility of our business model to cope with peak demand.
“I am particularly proud of our further improvement on Trustpilot from 4.7 to 4.8, recognising the market-leading customer service that we provide. Our team has delivered a record quarter, handling increased throughput in our warehouse and via our expertly trained team of delivery drivers. Our call volumes have increased materially and our team have stepped up to deliver during the busiest time of the year, demonstrating the agility of our colleagues and business model to adapt quickly when volumes increase.
“Our momentum has continued into January and we look forward to maintaining our performance management discipline on revenue, profit and cash in the final months of the year.”
Care services firm purchases modern office property
Commercial property agents, Rushton Hickman Ltd, has just sold a 1,350 sq ft (125.42 sq m) two storey modern office property on behalf of private investment clients to Bluebird Care Services.
The property is located in the rural setting of the Lancaster Park Development at Needwood, on the outskirts of Burton upon Trent. The development comprises a mixture of modern industrial/warehouse, business and office units.
The new office location at 9 Lancaster Park, Newborough Road, Needwood, Burton-on-Trent will house a fully functional training facility to support their care team, along with a carers lounge, open plan office for management staff and several meeting rooms.
Bluebird Care provides a range of home and live in care services in the local community, which includes, reablement care, night sitting services, respite care, dementia care, learning disabilities support, and end of life care.
Operating across East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire, Bluebird Care provides homecare to their customers living in Burton, Uttoxeter, Marchington, Doveridge, Rocester, Swadlincote, Hatton, Tutbury, Barton and surrounding areas.
Rick Parekh, director of Bluebird Care, said: “It’s exciting times at Bluebird Care as we move into our new office in Needwood, Burton-upon-Trent.
“We have seen a continual growth for our services, providing high quality care to our customers in the comfort of their own homes and our new office will support us to increase our capacity of care. We hope to recruit 30 new care staff allowing us to provide further care and support in the local community and create new job opportunities.”
Vicki Jones, care manager at Bluebird Care, said: “Our dedicated team are proud to deliver a homecare service that we would be happy for our own family and loved ones to receive. We have a fantastic team whose passion is to always provide great quality homecare and the new office move will provide our care team with better support, including a learning and training facility, not to mention, their own dedicated carers lounge!”
Rushton Hickman commercial property agent, Simon Walker, said: “We are pleased to have recently concluded the sale of this property to Bluebird Care. As the property benefits from an excellent road network and is ideally located for Bluebird Care to provide services across the East Staffordshire/South Derbyshire regions, it was therefore an obvious choice to be considered for purchase.”
Mark Richardson, director of Rushton Hickman, added: “It’s great for us to have helped such a worthwhile business as Bluebird Care find a new home.
“The fantastic office premises they occupy with their flexible space and open plan layout are a perfect example of the type of facility many businesses are now looking for as a hub with a team who combine both home and office-based working. We see this as being the way the office market is going as we move into 2022 and beyond.”
Property firm’s latest acquisition could become home for care provider
A family-run property firm has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of a block which could become an office space for a care provider.
The Nottingham-based Younas Family have purchased Unit 2 Pelham Court, in Pelham Road, off the city’s Sherwood Rise, for a six-figure sum.
It is just a stone’s throw away from two of the family’s other properties – Clarendon Park, which is Unit 1 Pelham Court, and the nearby Lancaster House.
The Younas’ latest acquisition – which brings the total of their commercial acquisitions in the NG5 postcode alone to £4m – consists of 2,000 sq ft of office space.
It had previously been owned by a counselling service, which has shifted to working online amid the pandemic.
Company director Shamraiz Younas said: “We are delighted to have been able to add this unit to our portfolio, which is next door to our other unit.
“I bought it off-market and spoke to the vendor directly. To have care providers interested is fantastic – we are very aware of the sterling work carers do.”
Discussions began six months ago, when Mr Younas initially approached the vendor. The deal was struck recently, with Mr Younas praising the swift transaction process.
The unit formerly comprised a large business facility over three floors, with a meeting room, boardroom and smaller rooms for counsellors.
There are seven off-road parking spaces, a modern fit-out, kitchens, bathrooms and LED lighting, and the developers are hoping to install electric charging points for vehicles.
“Our plans are to fully renovate the building and work will start shortly – our in-house construction team will be doing the renovations,” he added.
The company will be transforming the building into self-contained office space, to be let out.
Two care providers have already shown interest, with a view to taking on a long-term lease.
The Younas family are not fazed by the current trend of home-working taking precedence.
Mr Younas said: “We have more than 35,000 sq ft of acquisitions in the area and we have managed to fill it all.
“I think there is still a demand for offices. People will work from home, but many companies prefer to work from offices, particularly new businesses.”
Renovations are hoping to be completed by February 1.
The Younas family have their sights on an even more successful 2022 and are looking to grow bigger and faster in terms of commercial space, with a number of deals set to be complete in the first quarter. The firm is actively looking for acquisitions.
Over 7,000ft² of offices sold on Clarendon Business Park
FHP Property Consultants have completed on the sale of two self-contained office buildings on Clarendon Business Park in Nottingham.
Acquired by a rapidly expanding education provider, 2.1 and 2.3 provide just over 7,000ft² of accommodation with substantial car parking provision close to the city.
Thomas Szymkiw, of FHP’s Office Department, said: “I have been in touch with the purchaser of both properties for a number of years and was well aware of their desire to acquire a good quality self-contained office building in Nottingham.
“The right freehold option had been hard to find – however knowing the nature of their requirements I knew instantly that two, self-contained buildings situated in close proximity to each other on Clarendon Business Park would present the perfect opportunity to enable them to expand their educational services in the city.”
