Business Hothouse For Talent To Flower

A new hothouse business centre aimed at encouraging cutting-edge, sustainable companies has been launched near Penrith.

The centre, which has been established by the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA), will help growing firms to leap from one-man operations at home to fully-fledged businesses with employees and premises.

Two growing firms – Worldwide Events and Explosive Productions – are the first to move into the units, known as ‘incubators’.

Explosive Productions Ltd produces musical shows for clients including Center Parcs and Brittania Hotels, and Worldwide Events has just secured contracts with Transport for London and Whitehaven Maritime Festival.

Sid Sims, director of Explosive, said: “Working from my home was not an option for us any more and the arrangement with CREA is exactly what
we need.

“The licence fee is inclusive of practical things like telecommunications infrastructure and support services such as reception, kitchen and meeting room
facilities as well as access to professional business advisers.”

BREAKING BARRIERS

CREA’s executive director Bob Clark commented:

“The creative and knowledge-based sectors
have been identified as important for Cumbria, but we know there are barriers to growth for some of these companies.”

He added: “It is a huge jump to go from being a sole trader working from home to having a business with employees and premises.

“CREA has invested in 12 of these incubator units to make those barriers to growth much smaller and to encourage growth in sectors with valuable potential
for the area’s economy.”

The centre has 12 incubation units in all, as well as conference and meeting facilities and parking. The aim is to help businesses grow and eventually move on.

BUILT-IN SUSTAINABILITY

The building has been sustainably designed and built by local architects, contractors and suppliers.
The vernacular style of the building is designed to blend in with the rural environment, using local sandstone and slate. Windows and ‘sunpipes’ maximise the availability of natural light, with additional lighting
provided by low-energy fittings and bulbs. The interior has been fitted with Herdwick wool-blend
carpet. The building design also includes several small-scale renewable energy technologies.
“This construction project offered us a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate renewable energy technologies on our own premises,” explains Bob. “Sustainability is a key issue facing business and anything that saves resources not only saves money in the longer termbut also reduces impact on the environment.”
CREA offers a range of environmental business support services to local businesses including the Cumbria Business Environment Network and award scheme and Resource Efficiency audits and advice.

PARTNERSHIP

John Bodger of Penrith was the renewable energy consultant on the project: “Technologies in
place in the building cover space heating and air conditioning as well as power generation,” he
says. “CREA was already working in partnership with The Energy Saving Trust and Carbon Trust and was keen to incorporate commercial-scale examples of the technologies into this development.”
Ground source heat pumps extract heat from several boreholes to provide space heating, using the temperature differential 100 metres below the ground
surface. Meanwhile, an array of photovoltaic cells located at the rear of the car park generates a
proportion of the electricity for the building, including the power needed for the heat pumps. The amount of electricity generated and used is displayed
in the foyer and this display also shows howmuch carbon dioxide (CO2) has been saved.

KEY ELEMENTS

Two other key elements in place at Redhills are solar panels for initial water heating and windcatchers
to provide a basic air conditioning system. Windcatcher technology provides natural
ventilation without any moving parts. Using vertical ‘dovecote’ vents on the roof, fresh air is brought in and stale warmair expelled using the natural
effects of the wind.

“This range of technology is becoming more and more accessible,” says Bob, “and I hope that the companies occupying our incubator units and using our other facilities will become advocates for renewable energy as they develop and grow their
businesses in future"

Local suppliers included:

Countryside Consultants Ltd,
Alston (www.countrysideconsultants.co.uk)
– architects

Cox and Allen, Kendal
(www.coxandallen-builders.com)
– building contractors

Encompas Ltd, Carlisle
(www.encompas.co.uk) –

underfloor heating Geowarmth, Carlisle
(www.geowarmth.co.uk) – ground source heat pumps

Hughes Beatty, Penrith

(www.hughesbeatty.com) – plumbing
John Bodger, Penrith – renewable energy consultant
Michael Haymes Partnership Ltd, Carlisle – quantity
surveyors Sundog Energy Ltd, Penrith

(www.sundog-energy.co.uk) – photovoltaic panels

For further information, please contact Lynda Nineham at CREA by telephoning 01768
891555

NB - CREA has no responsibility for external website links and the links were correct at the time of going to press.