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NEWS FROM OUR LAST MEETING
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS:

At Newark Business Club, Sara Chadd encounters all manner of inventions from a new cycling patent to trains and LEPs. The meeting was followed by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce’s  “Showcase, Market and Sell” event.

It was the first Newark Business Club meeting under new chairman Michelle Allen (Wright Vigar) and deputy chairman Abigail Cutts (Funfair Brewing Company). The place was awash with engineers and sponsored on this occasion by Newark architectural engineers Viridis. Director Lee Marshall demonstrated his portfolio of buildings from London to Edinburgh, where energy usage and substantial design costs were being saved.  Viridis, with Place Architects (Lincoln) represents  one of only three national teams tendering to design the prestigious new Bomber Command Memorial Centre at Canwick Hill. 

We used to have the East Midlands Development Agency.  But today, Peter Richardson, D2N2 Chair, reminded us that we have already had the replacement Local Enterprise Partnership for two years. The LEP is a tight-knit team of business leaders dedicated to lobbying for the best deals across Europe for ‘the country’s most inspirational postcode’.

“In London and Europe, they must learn what we need here to drive successful business,” he enthused.  Five key enterprise sectors where the LEP will concentrate its attention include the visitor economy as well as traditional areas such as construction. 

Visitors were also high on the agenda for the next speaker, Ian Yeowart, from Alliance Rail. We were unexpectedly treated to a graciously-conducted sparring session between the Open Access giant and franchise-consumer champion Bob Poynter. All I learned was that frankly you need to be inside the boxing-ring to understand the rules of the game and what’s at stake here. Alliance Rail are offering big promises of jobs and investment but not necessarily more trains that run on time from Newark stations, from what I could gather, which seems rather to defeat the object of the enterprise. 

After the punch-up, everyone warmed to the next speaker, Sam Pearce of Jelly Products, Eakring and his invention, Loopwheels.  A shock-absorbing alternative to bicycle spokes, the loops provide tangential suspension.  Innovative crowd-funding through Kickstarter  is generating the £40,000 backing to start production at Boughton.  Michelle Allen of Wright Vigar, Ian Underdown of RA Information Systems, Stephen Pinegar of Brick Tinting Solutions and Dean Hyde, AIFCI, were among those who confirmed Loopwheels’ universal appeal by leaping on the bike, with help from Jelly co-director, Gemma Pearce. Smiles all round.

At the busy Showcase,  Market and Sell event, eight of the exhibitors, including Loopwheels, were revealed as ventures hailing from PERA’s Growth Accelerator stable. The event’s workshop sessions included speed networking and social media, with IT expert Jon Egley who, incidentally, recommends Google Plus. My good deed was to introduce Jon to Newark and Sherwood’s Business Growth which hopefully will attract some of D2N2’s free social media sessions our way into Newark. Wheels within wheels.



 
Next meeting: Friday, June 7, 2013 - 7am
at The Everyday Champion Centre, Jessop Close, Newark
FOCUS ON... Viridis Building Services Ltd.

Newark design engineer goes for growth:

ENGINEERING is not everybody’s idea of an exciting occupation. But trouble-shooting  environmental engineer Lee Marshall sees more than his fair share of adventure.

Mr Marshall, a Chartered Engineer, runs Viridis Building Services Limited, based at Newark’s Beacon Business Centre.  As well as new-builds, he regularly gets called in to sort out other peoples’ construction nightmares, the kind of mistakes that can turn factories, churches and blocks of flats, into an unaffordable disaster area or even candidates for demolition.

“You do need technical expertise,” said Mr Marshall, “but as well as the maths, you need creative design flair, because we have to deal with architects all the time. The main added ingredient is client communication. Most clients are afraid to tackle contractors head-on and they will put up with losses, sometimes totalling millions of pounds, just because of a design fault in their heating or ventilation systems. But if the figures speak for themselves and we provide those figures, major savings can be made both on installation costs and on regular energy usage costs, even years after the event.” 

In the last year, Viridis’ energy-saving portfolio has included a range of heritage, industrial and residential buildings across Britain:  St Helena’s Church, South Scarle, St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Shelford, Grahame House in Falkirk, Scotland, Croythorn House in Edinburgh, Tillbridge House, Sturton-by-Stow and a recent commission at Norwell, near Newark. 

Viridis is rapidly gaining a reputation as the design engineering firm of choice to work locally with a number of architects and builders, tendering for prestigious projects which include the Bomber Command Memorial Centre at Canwick Hill, Lincoln in partnership with Place Architects of Lincoln. 

“I would love to get involved with Newark’s new Civil War Museum,” said Mr Marshall, who takes on his first Newark Apprentice in July this year.

  
 
 
     
   

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