now - Alconbury Weald

Supporting six
charities at the
Hunts 10k event
I am a Mole and
I live in Alconbury
Enterprise Campus
Planning and
progress at
Alconbury Weald
Alconbury Weald
welcomes Alex, the
first apprentice
Alconbury Weald Newsletter | Summer 2014 Issue 3
Welcome to
The Incubator
Welcome to the third edition of
our community newsletter. It’s
been a busy time over the last
few months and we have had
warm and positive feedback
from many local residents about
the work we’ve been doing to
refurbish the main entrance
to the site and establish the
tree-lined Boulevard.
News
04 Aquavent bring water
saving innovation to
the Campus
05 Mole Solutions build
prototype pipeline
06 JJM – Engineering an
expansion
—
Audio Analytic use
Campus as sounding
board
07 Economic plan submitted
to Government
—
Tree Ranger update
15 Supporting Partners
16 Urban&Civic becomes plc
Features
08 Skills and jobs
—
Alex the Apprentice
10 Planning and progress
12 Hunts 10k
14 Firefighters challenge
the ladies
We have also been very pleased with the response to
The Incubator building: our first and flagship building
for the Alconbury Enterprise Campus and new home
to our on-site team.
In this edition we update you on progress and future
plans for the next stages of both the Campus and
the first phase of housing. There is also an update
on the businesses who have come onto the Campus
since the last newsletter, and the jobs and skills work
we are doing to ensure that opportunities will be
available to local people.
In February, The Incubator officially welcomed its
first new tenants. The building, designed by
internationally renowned architects Allford Hall
Monaghan Morris, has already been named as one
of the top five places to work in the Midlands and
East Anglia and now goes forward to the national
final of the British Council for Offices’ property
sector awards. As well as being the new home to
the Urban&Civic local team, The Incubator is also
the headquarters of the Greater Cambridge
Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership
(GCGPEP).
The Incubator is already 80% full, and companies
moving into the building include VIP Computer
Systems, Quest Cloud Solutions, Amotio Advanced
Logistics, Waterland Associates, C1 Photography,
Mole Solutions as well as the LEP.
Tim Leathes, Urban&Civic’s Project Director for
Alconbury Weald said “It was important this building
reflected the quality and style we will deliver across
the Campus: working with both the historic setting,
new landscaping and providing inspiring space for
businesses to make and grow.”
Grahame Nix, Chief Executive of the GCGPEP, said:
“One of the first meetings held in this building was
with three senior Government figures: Growth
Minister Greg Clark, Planning Minister Kris Hopkins
and Lord Heseltine. It was good for them to see
the impressive business space Urban&Civic have
brought forward and to look out from the third floor
meeting room and recognise the exciting potential
of this site. It is a great place for GCGPEP to meet
with key partners, and also to plan and deliver the
future growth aspirations for the entire LEP area.”
It’s just a great building to be in: so
much light and space, and of course an
incredible location both for the team to
get to, and for us to reach our clients.
We’re very excited to be moving in.
David Smith
Waterland Associates
We also like to give some space in this newsletter to
some of the great partners we work with. If you want
us to feature anything in the next edition, or have
questions about the scheme, then please do not
hesitate to contact me.
Very best wishes
Becca
Rebecca Britton
Partnerships and Communities
—
E: rbritton@urbanandcivic.com
T: +44 (0)1480 413 141 / M: +44 (0)7739 339 889
Urban&Civic, The Incubator, Alconbury Enterprise Campus
Alconbury Weald, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 4WX
www.alconbury-weald.co.uk | www.urbanandcivic.com
Follow us on Twitter: @beccaU&C
Summer 2014 | 03
Aquavent bring
water saving
innovation to
the Campus
Mole Solutions
build prototype
pipeline system
at Alconbury
Mole Solutions are using Alconbury Enterprise
Campus to create a prototype freight pipeline
system. The system is electrically powered and
has a very low environmental impact. The project
is supported by the Technology Strategy Board.
Roger Miles of Mole Solutions said: “The site is an
ideal location for us because of the flexible space
available and its excellent transport links in all
directions. As well as the demonstration area,
we will be making use of meeting space in The
Incubator for discussions with potential investors
and clients. We are very grateful for Urban&Civic’s
support with planning and site preparation, and
can’t wait to now get started building the prototype.”
The Campus’s Enterprise Zone status has ensured
that planning for the project was processed by
Huntingdonshire District Council in less than 30 days.
Mole is a great company with
some exciting ideas and
technologies. We have always
known the Campus is a good
place for R&D companies to
test and develop products,
and it is good to see that vision
being realised.
Tim Leathes
Project Director of Alconbury Weald
For more information about Mole Solutions, please
visit www.molesolutions.co.uk
A great way of supporting this
area’s cleantech strengths and
potential is by engaging the
emerging technologies from
local businesses. The Alconbury
Enterprise Campus will be an
exemplar low carbon, high
quality place to do business and
it’s great that Aquavent will be
a part of that.
Grahame Nix
Chair of the Greater Cambridge Greater
Peterborough Enterprise Partnership
04 | Summer 2014
Aquavent UK specialises in water efficiency and
have developed a unique water pressure
management device – Aquai-Mod – which reduces
the flow of water and manages the pressures
caused by changes of demand both into and out of
buildings. This in turn helps to reduce leakage and
waste caused by defective joints, and enables
businesses to constantly monitor the effectiveness
of the system and their water use.
This has already enabled huge savings to be made
by organisations who have piloted the technology,
including Addenbrookes Hospital which has cut its
water consumption by 110 million litres per year: an
equivalent to 1.4 million baths and a cost saving of
£141,000 pa.
Mark Lock, Managing Director of Aquavent, said:
“Alconbury Enterprise Campus is a great place for
us to be based. Its location is second to none being
pitched at the A1/A14 intersection, giving us easy
access to our customers via the UK’s motorway
network and the local train station at Huntingdon.
We are also looking forward to supporting and
contributing to the development at Alconbury
Weald with some of the technologies we have
developed and having other like-minded new or
improving technology businesses on our doorstep.”
Summer 2014 | 05
Audio Analytic is using Alconbury Enterprise Campus
to help develop ground-breaking software which
uses sound recognition systems to transform
security systems: enabling them to not just see
but to hear things going on.
The software can trigger alerts for incidents which
might not be picked up by a CCTV camera lens, for
example the breaking of glass out of sight of the
camera, a gun shot or car alarm going off.
The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise
Partnership (gcgpep) has submitted plans calling for a
£500 million investment in the local economy.
Louisa Kelly, who has been leading the work at
the Campus said: “At the moment we are training
and testing the software system to recognise the
different sounds. When we spoke to Urban&Civic
about space at Alconbury Weald, we were amazed
that one of the military buildings called the ‘Hush
House’ has this incredible space for us to set
everything out and a sound-proofed booth so we
can get the sound as clear and clean as possible.”
One of the most important pieces of work gcgpep has
carried out to date – the Strategic Economic Plan – is one of
39 being submitted by LEPs to Government vying for a share
of the £2 billion Local Growth Fund via the Growth Deal process.
In total GCGPEP has bid for £119 million of funding for 2015/16,
with an overall funding bid of £500 million over the next six
years. As a result of the investment, the plan would support
the delivery of 70,000 new jobs and 50,000 new homes, leading
to a £2.8 billion uplift in GVA across the LEP area.
The technology is already transforming the way
security systems work in prisons and hospitals,
but will increasingly become mainstream for CCTV
systems in town centres and business parks. When
developed for smart-phone monitors the technology
will also mean householders can be alerted to
alarms or irregular sounds in the home, linking to
the pictures or the sound reader to know what is
going on.
Alongside new companies coming to the site, the Campus
is also enabling existing companies to expand and to join
the growing R&D community. JJM are a local, family-run
engineering company who have been working on the former
airfield site for over 13 years. One arm of the business has
been working with an international group of companies to
develop the process from R&D to manufacturing of hydrogen
fuel cell technology as a low carbon alternative fuel source.
Jamie and Jim McGreevy, said: “We have a strong track record
of working with different energy and fuel solution technologies
but we are one of a handful of UK companies developing
this technology at the moment. Most of the companies we
work with are based in the UK with manufacturing sources
overseas. We are hoping to expand and bring some of our
partners to the Campus as use of this technology becomes
more widespread.
“At the moment, most of the fuel cells are used in various
consumable electronics as well as commercial/industrial uses
in countries from China, Africa and the USA. It is such a clean
and efficient technology and we are only at the start of
opening up the potential it will offer.
“We are also actively involved with various companies which
have developed Smart metering manufacturing, new wind
turbine technology, bio digesting and other renewable
technologies.”
06 | Summer 2014
Tree Ranger Update
Founder and CEO, Chris Mitchell, knows that
demand will keep increasing: “Opportunities are
coming in thick and fast and we already have
international businesses including US technology
giant Cisco Systems licensing the technology.
This technology can transform the way that we
manage security and peace of mind in our day-today lives: whether that’s keeping an eye on homes,
businesses, cars, pets or babies.”
The Strategic Economic Plan focuses on five core elements:
●Digital – to become the UK’s exemplar area for digital
connectivity and bolster our position as a leader in the
Internet of Things;
●Infrastructure – to enable a transport network fit for an
economically vital high growth area;
●Skills – to facilitate a truly business-led approach to
skills delivery;
●Commercial Property – to respond to existing market
pressures by supporting the provision of additional
commercial space where it is most needed; and,
●Business Growth – to accelerate the momentum of
business growth by offering targeted and coherent
support and advice.
Running through these five core elements are plans to
ensure the continued momentum of delivery at Alconbury
Enterprise Campus.
Grahame Nix, Chief Executive of gcgpep, said: “It is an
exciting time for our LEP, with a range of new funding
opportunities that will enable us to have a significant and
positive impact on our local economy. We have two of the
fastest growing cities in the UK in our area, and now is the
time to harness that growth potential and turn it into new
jobs, new skills, new homes and new infrastructure that
will benefit the whole of our LEP area.”
Government is expected to agree Growth Deals with LEPs
by July 2014, with the funding available from April 2015.
You can find out more by visiting www.gcgp.co.uk
With the warmth and relative dryness of
Spring, the Community Tree Nursery at
Alconbury Weald has come into its own.
Over the last three months, we’ve been
busy sowing out the wild cherry and bird
cherry seeds, as well as extracting and
sowing the seeds from crab apples.
The warmth has also brought out the
weeds, so the team of volunteers has
been weeding the beds, and the piles
of topsoil and sand which we will use
for the planned future expansion of the
nursery.
The trees we are growing will form part
of the next stage of landscaping planned
for both the first phase of housing and
community space, as well as across the
next development of the Enterprise
Campus. They will sit alongside some of
the bigger trees which we buy in, so that
the landscaping has an immediately
natural feel – as if it has been there for
a number of years already. This has
worked well so far in the planting along
Ermine Street and the refurbished
Boulevard entrance.
One thing I’m particularly looking forward
to over the next few months is the
creation of our wildflower meadow,
which should provide some amazing
colour in the Nursery as well as a
fantastic habitat for wildlife. I’m excited
to have spotted bee orchids growing in
the grassed area of the nursery, where
we are mowing very carefully with their
preservation in mind.
We have a team of regular volunteers
who come and help out at the Nursery
every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
If you are interested in coming along
to see the Nursery and try your hand at
some horticulture then please get in
touch. It’s a great way to learn and share
skills and a really friendly group.
Amrita Huggins
To find out more please contact me
on 07748 623073 or e-mail amrita.
huggins@huntingdonshire.gov.uk
Summer 2014 | 07
From day one, a priority of the Alconbury Weald
development has been jobs: in the short, medium
and long term. The team have been working hard
with local partners to make this happen in a
number of ways to ensure that jobs and skills run
through the DNA of Alconbury Weald.
One way this will be delivered is by ensuring that
the creation of the development delivers job
opportunities locally. In December 2013, Alconbury
Weald secured the status of a National Skills
Academy for Construction, awarded by the
Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). It is
the first private sector development in the country
to take forward the Academy Status in a client-led
approach: whereby the developers, Urban&Civic,
mandate contractors working on the site to commit
to taking on local people through apprenticeship
schemes, work placements and new employment
opportunities. They will also undertake projects
with local schools and colleges to engage students
in careers including civil engineering, architecture
and design, as well as a range of trade specialisms
which will be needed in the 20 year development.
Rebecca Britton who leads the jobs and skills
strategy for the development said: “It was a great
moment getting Academy Status as we had to
provide evidence of our commitment through the
work we did with Kier on the construction of The
Incubator. We also had to prepare future plans and
targets which we will deliver working in partnership
with the Jobcentre, Huntingdonshire Regional
College, West Anglia Training Association,
Huntingdonshire Academy Secondary Schools
Partnership and of course a range of local
construction companies.
“Having a 20 year build programme with such
diverse opportunities provides a real chance
to engage people in construction careers now
and in the future. We can also promote key areas
where we know construction, engineering or
design skills are needed, not just on this site but
across the east and south east of England. It’s an
approach we hope to repeat with the businesses
coming to the site.
“We have made the commitment to have a jobs
brokerage service which, in time, will be located in
our town centre Information Exchange. We already
have a portal on our website where people can
upload CVs onto our database.”
Catherine Bullough from the CITB said: “The
Alconbury Weald team have shown a real
commitment to delivering opportunities for skills
development and employment within the site
plans. We’re looking forward to working with them
to translate that on what is one of the most exciting
and most important developments in the country.”
08 | Summer 2014
Catherine added: “Construction offers a huge range
of opportunities for young people, particularly in
the current economic climate where going to
university involves taking on a huge amount of
debt before emerging into an uncertain job market.
Construction boasts an exciting range of career
options, including CITB’s Ofsted Outstanding,
gold-standard apprenticeships, which meet the
needs of a high-tech, world-class industry.”
For more information about careers in construction
please go to www.citb.co.uk/careers-inconstruction/careers-progression-tool/
The Alconbury Weald
team have shown a real
commitment to delivering
opportunities for skills
development and
employment within the
site plans.
Alconbury Weald’s National Apprenticeship Week event
brought hundreds of young people from local schools and
villages to meet employers and training providers looking
to fill apprenticeship vacancies locally.
Alex the Apprentice
Catherine Bullough
Construction Industry Training Board
Alex Snooks from Stretham was the first of Alconbury Weald’s
apprentices, helping to create The Incubator building.
Working with local firm Gowing and Hunt, Alex helped fit the
plumbing and sustainable water systems, often working on
technologies – like the building’s rainwater harvesting system
– for the first time. Alex said: “It’s quite a responsibility
installing systems which we hope will be in place for the
lifetime of the building, but there is great support from the
team to ensure I am able to apply what I’ve learnt in the
classroom into real situations.”
Alconbury Weald’s Information Exchange in
St Benedict’s Court, Huntingdon.
“Apprenticeships are a
really good way to learn
both the technical and
practical aspects of any
trade and to get some
real life experience of life
in a construction team.”
Richard German Project Manager, Kier
Rebecca (left) and Tim (right) from Urban&Civic
with apprentice Alex Snooks (centre left) and
Richard German from Kier (centre right).
Summer 2014 | 09
Planning and progress
at Alconbury Weald
The former airfield at Alconbury
Weald has seen a huge amount of
change over the last 12 months:
a new entrance going in for HCV
traffic, a refurbishment for North
Gate with extensive landscaping,
the laying of a tree-lined Boulevard and the first
new building on the site – The Incubator.
Where are things with the
planning process?
So when will houses start to
be built?
that link are in development with the
County Council Highways team.
In December Alconbury Weald was
given consent by the Huntingdonshire
District Council’s Development
Management Panel and Full Council,
pending agreement of the Section 106
Agreement being drawn up between
Urban&Civic and Huntingdonshire District
and Cambridgeshire County Councils.
This outlines the main framework
whereby the developer agrees to deliver
key aspects of the development by
certain targets, or to provide funding to
local partners to deliver them. It focuses
on areas such as transport, schools,
healthcare, community development,
social housing and maintenance of
public buildings and spaces.
The Outline Application
consent gave the green
light to the principle and
approach to housing on the
site. Since then we have
been working on a Design
Guide which will work across the
development to ensure high quality
design, materials and landscape are a
part of Alconbury Weald from beginning
to end. This process has helped us
develop detailed housing layout and
design for Phase 1 alongside the first
primary school on site, community
space, a new access road and the
provision of landscaping and setting.
For the rail station itself, we continue to
make progress working with partners
locally and nationally to bring forward
the Alconbury Weald rail station. In the
meantime we continue to promote the
Guided Bus link to the site – which is
already on Bus Route B – and the HACT
community transport service to all our
new tenants and contractors.
Now that The Incubator is pretty much full, what
next for the site? We had a chat with Project
Director Tim Leathes to find out more.
Open space
Enterprise Zone developments areas
Developed areas for homes and community facilities
Heritage area
Further Education and Sport Campus development
Woodlands
So you’ve completed the first
building on the Enterprise Campus,
what’s next?
Tim Leathes: Since we finished The
Incubator, we have been working away
on the next stage of the Enterprise
Campus. Partly this has been marketing
the site and negotiating with companies
keen to relocate, so we can start to
design and plan buildings for them.
Partly it has been about planning the
infrastructure needed to prepare the
Campus for those buildings.
With some support from the Building
Foundations for Growth fund from
Government and further private
investment over the next six months, we
will be demolishing a range of buildings
around The Incubator; taking the digital,
water and power connections we have
established on the site from our
enabling works further into the site; and
laying additional internal roads, cycle
ways and footpaths, to extend the
Boulevard and HCV Access to connect
to new building plots. We will then be
ready to take forward new buildings
across an area of 70 acres. This will enable
us to deliver the first 850,000 sq ft of
commercial space – that has the potential
to deliver over 1,000 construction jobs
and up to 2,000 long term jobs on the
Campus over the next few years as
companies move in.
A
B
C
Listed buildings
Primary School and local facilities
Secondary School
Prestley Wood
Land reserved for possible train station
Land reserved for post 16 educational use
The Hub – retail and community facilities
Transport Hub
Footpath/cycleway/bridleway connection
Clay Lane – potential bus/cycle/pedestrian access
A— HCV/construction entrance
B— Enterprise Campus entrance
C— Entrance for first phase of residential
Primary route (including busway)
Proposed options for
Huntingdon access
10 | Summer 2014
One of the biggest and most complex
areas has been agreeing the transport
interventions alongside the developing
plans for the A14, but the partners have
agreed an innovative approach to
commit to key interventions, alongside
a ‘monitor and manage’ approach which
responds to developments off-site by
bringing in a menu of different options
depending on the progress of the A14.
This makes the approach most robust
and responsive over the course of a 20
year development.
Now we have that framework in place,
we can progress the more detailed work
that needs to happen to bring forward
particular phases of development. At
the moment we are working on the
first phase of residential development,
looking to create the infrastructure for
the first 800 homes, and bring forward
detailed designs and plans for the initial
150 or so homes. We will discuss this
first with the local Parish Council Group
which meets regularly and then carry
out further consultation locally and on
site to get people’s views on the process
and design elements.
As we did with the first Enterprise Zone
delivery, we plan to apply for and carry
out early infrastructure works to put in
place the utilities and access routes
needed, while we carry out consultation
to help develop the detailed plans, and
submit a Reserved Matters Application
for the first 150 homes.
We broadly plan that if we consult in the
late Summer and Autumn of this year
and submit a planning application in late
2014, then we can be on site starting
to build homes in Spring next year, with
a hope that they will be going on the
market in Summer 2015. Another
positive aspect of those homes being
built is that it will be a real start to our
plans to use the development to
support jobs and careers in construction
locally. The first phase of home building
will create hundreds of construction jobs
a year, with a proportion directly
targeting local unemployed people, and
will commit contractors to taking on
apprentices and work placements.
You promised early investment
in transport infrastructure, what’s
happening with that?
One of the key elements of the early
transport investment was the creation
of a Southern Gateway link road, which
connects Alconbury Weald to the north
of Huntingdon, creating a clear link
which bypasses the Stukeleys and
Ermine Street, and putting in place the
early bus, cycle and car links to the
future transport hub planned around
the new rail station. Detailed plans for
We have also been working with the
parish councils around the site to
develop a strategy to update all of the
signposts to the site for cars and lorries
along the A1, A14 and local roads. We
hope that will be signed off by the
highways authorities in the coming
weeks.
When do you think you will be
announcing some big tenants
coming to the Enterprise Campus?
Things are very positive in our
negotiations with businesses looking to
relocate to the Campus, and the delivery
of The Incubator and Boulevard features
has started to progress a number of
discussions with a range of companies.
We can never say too much about
names we are talking to or numbers,
until deals are secured, but one reason
we are actively preparing more space
across the Enterprise Campus is that
we want to build more new buildings
and bring jobs to the area by this time
next year.
If you want to find out more about the
latest plans you can always come and
meet us at The Incubator. Call 01480
413141 to set up a meeting or e-mail
Rebecca on rbritton@urbanandcivic.com
or you can drop into the Town Centre
hub, open on Wednesdays between
10am and 4pm. Urban&Civic also meet
regularly with the Parish Councils in
each community around the site and
ask for feedback on key issues and
questions from local communities.
If you want anything raised in those
discussions please contact your Parish
Council Clerk.
Summer 2014 | 11
Hunts
10k brings
Hullabaloo
to the Weald
The fifth Hunts 10k run was held at Alconbury Weald
on 15 June, not only providing a great event for serious
runners, but also an opportunity to support and
fundraise for six local charities.
The race saw more than 800 people put through their paces
with the opportunity to run a variety of distances depending
on their fitness and experience: from 10k and 3k to the new
1k Fun Run to help people get more active through running.
The race is organised by a team from Hullabaloo and the
Huntingdon 10k Charitable Trust, a group which aims to
improve the health and wellbeing of local people in
Cambridgeshire. While the amount raised by this year’s
run is still being counted, previous years have raised a total
of over £16k for local charities and around £50k for runners’
own causes.
We are proud to have
developed a charity
race which is also a
great community event
organised and run entirely
by volunteers.
Bob Hulstrom
Race Director
Bob Hulstrom, Race Director, said: “It is always a great event
as you get serious runners looking to put in personal best
times, alongside teams and individuals doing it for fun or for
causes very close to their hearts. It has a real community and
family feel, especially with the Spectator Village which also
grows year on year with activities, stalls and refreshments.
“We hope to have raised over £8k for our local projects this
year. But we have also worked with Urban&Civic to improve
the course to ensure it is licensed with UK Athletics. This
means that results from the race count towards runners’
national ranking, and it also raises the profile of the race
with wider promotion.”
This year the money raised will support the six local
charities listed below, and runners also raise sponsorship
for these or other charities of their choice.
Bob added: “We are proud to have developed a charity race
which is also a great community event organised and run
entirely by volunteers. We always welcome any offers of
assistance, whether it be with planning and organising the
race, or helping on the day and clearing up afterwards. We
are also very grateful to our sponsors whose contributions
mean more money raised can go to good causes.”
For more information or to get involved please visit
www.hunts10k.org.uk or call 01480 451412.
Local charities who will benefit
Riding for the Disabled Association
Marie Curie Cancer Care
St Ives Day Care Centre
Caresco
Jump Club Huntingdon
Huntingdonshire Cricket Board
12 | Summer 2014
Summer 2014 | 13
The Fire Fighters Charity held a successful Ladies Driving
Challenge event on Alconbury Weald in May. The event is
held annually to raise money for the charity which supports
thousands of Fire and Rescue service personnel each year.
The Charity provides treatment for injuries, therapy and
recuperation and a range of other support services both
through three UK centres and in local areas across the
country.
The Challenge enables women to try their hand at driving a
range of different vehicles: from buses and trucks to tractors,
quads, fire engines and even a hovercraft! Ladies also got a
chance to try the Skid Car Challenge, which helps drivers learn
to control and prevent a vehicle skidding.
This year over 150 ladies took part and over £19,600 was
raised for the charity. The event is now one of the biggest of
its kind in the country.
Paul Staple, from The Alconbury Driving Centre who works
with both Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue
Service to organise the event said: “I think this year was one
of the best yet in the four years we’ve been running this event.
The range of vehicles on offer just gets better each year and
we get incredible feedback from those ladies taking part who
would never normally get the chance to drive such large and
unusual vehicles. It is great to see them having so much fun,
gaining experience and at the same time raising money for
such a good cause.
“The Alconbury Driving Centre provides the Fire and Rescue
Service with driver training and development, so the Ladies
Driving Challenge is a great opportunity to be able to help
them in return.”
Alconbury Weald’s Victoria Parchment was one of the ladies
who took part in the challenges: “The hovercraft was by far
the strangest vehicle I’ve ever driven and as the wind was up
that day it was all the more exciting. Nabila, who came with
me, had her dream come true when she drove a fire engine
up and down the runway.”
The Charity raises £10 million each year to keep their support
going. To find out more about the charity and their events
please visit www.firefighterscharity.org.uk
With coffee and cakes in abundance,
plus an extremely tempting selection of
tombola prizes, businesses at Alconbury
Enterprise Campus raised an impressive
£500 for lifesavers, Magpas – The
Emergency Medical Charity, on Friday
9 May. Antonia Brickell, Head of
Communications at Magpas, said, “We
are immensely grateful to Urban&Civic
and all those who joined us at the event,
for supporting Magpas and for spreading
the word about our crucial service. The
funds raised will make a key difference,
enabling our charity funded enhanced
Doctor and Paramedic teams to carry on
attending seriously ill or injured patients
by air or by land.”
Alconbury Weald and one of the
Campus’ tenants, Accio, put smiles on
some little faces after donating bags of
play sand to Little People Child Care,
Little Stukeley and St John’s Little
Learners, Huntingdon. Rebecca Britton
said: “Accio had put on an event for
Sainsbury’s which included an oversized
sand pit. With bags of sand left over we
were asked if we could find good homes
for it. Local nurseries Little People and
St John’s were more than happy to
accept the sand and it’s great to see it
being put to good use.”
Urban&Civic have continued to sponsor
the holiday scheme run by Fusion
– which supports young people living in
the north of Huntingdon with activities,
learning and projects over the school
holiday period. The scheme continues to
grow in success, with more children than
ever taking part.
14 | Summer 2014
Urban&Civic’s sponsorship for the
Huntingdon Male Voice Choir enabled
Little Stukeley’s church to host a vital
fund-raiser to help their restoration
project. With a church full of local
residents, young people from the
Stukeleys and the Alconburys performed
solos amid a backdrop of spring flowers.
Organiser Camilla Payne said: “It was
a wonderfully local community driven
evening, the choir sang beautifully and
the church was alive with music and
happiness. Everyone, choir and
congregation alike, had a very enjoyable
evening, with delicious canapes and
wine in the interval: a great start to our
fund-raising efforts.”
The Grassroots partnership project,
based in Huntingdon and at Alconbury
Weald, has been named as one of the
winners of the LEP Prize Challenge. The
project’s lead partner Groundworks are
one of the eight voluntary and social
enterprises winning £30,000 to deliver
projects which help people to get back
into work. The Grassroots project follows
two pilot Green Skills schemes which
created the Alconbury Weald Community
Tree nursery and saw over 70% of
participants get into work. This year, a
series of projects will create pathways
to new employment opportunities at
Alconbury Weald from the area of North
Ward in Huntingdon, by enabling people
to gain skills and confidence in working
on projects to improve parks and
community spaces.
Urban&Civic have provided matchfunding and support in kind through
office space for the Grassroots teams,
and will be hosting another Green Skills
project in the Autumn. Employers who
want to get involved in mock interview
sessions with participants or to recruit
people from the scheme into work can
contact project manager Rachel Kelly
on 07889 755091 or by email at
rachel.kelly@groundwork.org.uk.
You can also read Rachel’s blog at
www.groundwork.org.uk/grassroots
Despite the myths and misinformation,
health and safety in the workplace
remains an important issue for
employers and workers alike. Sixteen
people lost their lives while at work
across the East of England in 2012/13
and 1,923 suffered a major injury. Those
figures were the driving force behind an
innovative partnership called Estates
Excellence. Small and medium sized
businesses in the area took up free
health and safety advice and training,
‘Safer Driver’ courses and advice on risk
assessments, workplace fire safety,
working at height, forklift trucks/vehicle
movements and staff health and
wellbeing.
Paul Carter, HM Principal Inspector from
the Health and Safety Executive, said:
“Too often we only come to see
businesses when an accident has
occurred, or when something has been
seen to go wrong. So some businesses
dread ‘the knock at the door’ from HSE.
But at the end of the day, all of us want
the same thing: employees able to carry
out their jobs safely and efficiently. This
project is all about working with business
to provide support needed to ensure we
prevent accidents, illness and issues, and
keep Huntingdonshire working safely.”
Over 30 companies and almost 200
people attended the free advice sessions.
On the first day of events at Alconbury
Enterprise Campus, Huntingdon Mayor
Bill Hensley learned about safer driving
and experienced the Road Safety
Partnership’s collision experience car –
which provides noise, movement, video
screens and smoke to simulate being
involved in a road traffic accident.
Huntingdon Mayor Bill Hensley, said: “It
is great to see partners from the Police,
Fire Service, HSE, County and District
Council and from local businesses all
working together to keep Huntingdon
and its residents safer.”
Supporting
Partners
Summer 2014 | 15
Urban&Civic
becomes plc
Urban&Civic have carried out a reverse takeover of the
property developer Terrace Hill. The move will create a new
‘Best in Class’ UK real estate company – which will be called
Urban&Civic plc – with a focus on large scale strategic
residential holdings and commercial development opportunities
across Central London and the UK’s regions.
As part of this transaction, Urban&Civic have raised additional
investment to support the development of Alconbury Weald.
The new combined company also expands the team ahead of
the delivery of housing and additional business space although
the key personnel for Alconbury Weald will not change:
●Nigel Hugill, Executive Chairman
●Robin Butler, Managing Director
●Tim Leathes, Project Director
●Rebecca Britton, Partnerships and Communities.
The expansion of the business happened at the same time
as Urban&Civic confirmed the purchase of a 50% share in the
regeneration of Rugby Radio Station as a Sustainable Urban
Extension. The Radio Station is of similar size to Alconbury
Weald with planning permission having been granted for 6,200
new homes together with commercial space, schools, green
space, heritage and a full range of supportive development in
May of this year.
Nigel Hugill, Executive Chairman of Urban&Civic, commented:
“We are back in the arena where we feel happiest. Alconbury
and Rugby are both new garden settlements in the making
with strong local economies and good transport links. The
two companies have highly complementary skill sets and the
enlarged business will be strong enough to punch hard but
small enough to care passionately. I simply cannot wait to
get going.”
Feedback
Ask us a question:
If you have any questions you want us
to answer, please drop us a line.
Get in touch:
Rebecca Britton
T: 01480 413141
E: rbritton@urbanandcivic.com
Rebecca Britton
Urban&Civic plc, The Incubator
Alconbury Enterprise Campus
Alconbury Weald, Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE28 4WX
Contact
For more information about
business space on Alconbury
Enterprise Campus please contact:
Andrew Brading, Site Manager
T: 01480 413141
E:abrading@savills.com
For more information about the
planned development, Urban&Civic
or the local projects we are involved
in please contact:
Rebecca Britton,
Partnerships and Communities
T: 01480 413141
M:07739 339 889
E:rbritton@urbanandcivic.com
Follow us on Twitter
@beccaUandC
Contribute
If you have a news story or event
you want to publicise through the
pages of this newsletter or our
website, please send details to
Rebecca Britton at:
rbritton@urbanandcivic.com
Next issue
●First housing plans for Alconbury
Weald
●Grassroots back to work feature
●Business support and advice at
Alconbury Enterprise Campus
16 | Summer 2014
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