SCIENCE
Weathering
the storm
Wilton Centre businesses
flourish despite pandemic
T
Despite the months of worldwide business stagnation
brought about by the coronavirus crisis, companies at the
Wilton Centre have more than weathered the storm.
Occupiers have been able to reveal significant steps
forward and – for a group of students from Teesside –
the pandemic has provided unexpected opportunities.
he Wilton Centre near Redcar is the North-East’s
premier science park. It is home to more than 60
businesses and 750 people work there.
“Innovation is the driving force behind a great
deal of the work that goes on here,” says the centre’s
accommodation manager Claire Morton. “It’s perhaps not
a surprise, therefore, that businesses have found ways to
keep operating – whether that’s with staff working from
home or at the Wilton Centre, which has remained open
throughout.
“In addition – and even in the most challenging of
circumstances – we have seen several companies confirm
exciting news about their future.”
At the start of June, for example, Techconsult UK
announced that it had been bought out by its managing
director Steve Guest and finance director Sarah Taylor.
The recruitment company, originally part of Norwegian
firm Techconsult Norway, specialises in technical and
engineering roles.
Mr Guest said the management buyout would provide a
springboard to create new jobs and expand its services.
Around the same time another Wilton Centre occupier
Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) issued details of a new
distribution deal with the Greek company Dichem Polymers
SA.
It means AGM now has similar agreements with local
expert chemicals and coatings distributors in Italy, South
Africa and Japan as well as Greece.
Its CEO Adrian Potts said: “We are pleased to be able to
offer our standardised product offering to the global market
through a strong distribution network across a growing
number of countries.”
AGM was founded in 2010 by Professor Karl Coleman with
its operations and processes based on technology that he
first developed at Durham University. Its commercial-scale
production facility was established at the Wilton Centre in 2012.
Absolute Antibody twice made headlines. First, after
revealing that it was
working on a treatment
for Covid-19 and then at
the beginning of June
it said it had recruited
six Teesside science students to help with its all-important
work.
One of the students - Ella Smithyman, from
Middlesbrough, who has just finished a degree in Biomedical
Sciences – told BBC Tees: “It’s amazing that we’re able to
contribute in any way that we can.”
Second year chemistry student Dominic Scott, also from
Middlesbrough, said: “I jumped at the chance to be involved
in the fight against Covid-19.”
Absolute Antibody’s chief operating officer Dr Catherine
Bladen said: “You go into science because you want to do
something that counts and matters. From a young scientist’s
point of view it’s a phenomenal thing to put on your CV.”
With the company’s expertise much in demand it has
required more space at the Wilton Centre as well as new
staff.
“We’ve just taken on another lab upstairs and again that
flexibility is really what sets Wilton apart from everywhere
else. If we need to expand we can do it very quickly,” said Dr
Bladen.
As the lockdown restrictions started to ease one of the
Wilton Centre’s newest occupiers, Process Group ECI –
which provides engineering solutions within the chemical
process and similar industries - announced that it was
moving to a bigger office.
Another recent arrival, Projex Solutions - a multidisciplinary
engineering design and project management company –
reported how delighted its growing team was to come back
to the Wilton Centre.
On its return, Lynas Engineering ensured that the tape
stuck on the floor to measure social distancing was the
same shade of orange as its corporate colour.
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