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Helping local businesses to achieve their growth ambitions
Part of the role of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership ( SWLEP ) Ltd . is to support and develop the economic environment of our area . Swindon and Wiltshire have 29,200 registered businesses with 99.6 per cent of them being classed as SMEs – small and medium enterprises employing less than 250 people .
To support such businesses and to help achieve our priority of inclusive and sustainable economic development for the area , the SWLEP launched its Growing Places Infrastructure Fund ( GPIF ) in March 2012 , with a significant expansion from 2016 . GPIF is a £ 12.17 million revolving loan fund which provides investments to companies in Swindon and Wiltshire to use towards capital elements of suitable projects . To date , the fund has provided £ 18,229,958 of loans to support business projects which benefit the region . It is estimated that 1066 new jobs have also been created as a result of the scheme .
It is important that the investments support the continued development of Swindon and Wiltshire as a productive and innovative area . By supporting the SWLEP ’ s priority sectors in a sensitive and sustainable way , the scheme helps to maintain the high quality and attractive environment of Swindon and Wiltshire .
Since inception , GPIF has invested in a range of important projects across healthcare , manufacturing , real estate , energy and technology , unlocking opportunities to support innovation , enterprise , growth and productivity gains . Investments have particularly focussed on projects that have been unable to be developed due to infrastructure or commercial constraints , but that were able to proceed immediately following investment from the fund .
To date , 24 companies from all over Swindon and Wiltshire have benefitted from loans from the fund to help them succeed . An analysis of eight companies who were early clients of the loan fund , shows that they averaged a net asset improvement of 91 per cent .
The SWLEP is keen to have a pipeline of businesses interested in utilising the loan fund . For further information please email hello @ SWGrowthHub . co . uk .
The companies who have received loans all had unique needs with diverse project requirements . Examples of some of the projects and profiles of the companies who benefitted are outlined below .
Advanced Biofuel Solutions Advanced Biofuel Solutions converts household waste ( such as food , plastic , cardboard and paper ) into grid quality natural gas . Its GPIF loan enabled the company to complete the construction of its demonstration plant , that was already 90 per cent complete . It has gone on to establish itself as a centre of excellence in biofuel production . The fuel it produces can be used to heat homes as well as power natural gas vehicles ( including hydrogen vehicles ). The biproducts of carbon dioxide and ash are also sold on to further the company ’ s ecological mission .
Advance Biofuel Solutions owns and operates the facility in Swindon which is the world ’ s first plant converting household waste into bio-substitute natural gas ( BioSNG ). The site converts 8,000 tonnes of waste into 22GWh of gas each year . Since receiving their GPIF loan , the company has also increased its workforce of highly skilled engineers .
Carbon Three Sixty Founded in 2017 , Carbon Three Sixty is a provider for the design , development and manufacture of highly challenging , advanced composite structures . They partner in the delivery of innovation , engineering and manufacturing services to the aerospace , automotive , energy and defence sectors . One of their strengths is providing lightweight components to assist with the development of more efficient electric vehicles .
Their loan was needed to purchase equipment and fit out an additional production line in their new facility , which gave them space to meet existing customer orders as well as providing capacity to increase production levels . The new premises has also enabled Carbon Three Sixty to carry out more joint work with clients to prototype emerging product lines and invest further in overall research and development .
Nationwide Engineering Limited Nationwide Engineering was established in 2018 as the holding company for Nationwide Rail Ltd ( established in 2011 ) and Hibberd Development Company ( established in 2009 ). Together with Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre ( GEIC ) at The University of Manchester , Nationwide Engineering has also created Concretene , a graphene-enhanced concrete .
Their GPIF loan will be used to build a new research and development facility in order to test and develop Concretene further . Global CO2 from cement production fills an area the size of the Millennium Dome every 23 seconds . Globally , the cement industry produces 4.3bn tonnes of cement per year and this is expected to increase to 5.2bn tonnes by 2030 . Creating an effective product which reduces this carbon footprint will significantly lessen the environmental impact of the construction industry .
Seamach Energy Another UK based engineering firm Seamach Energy has also been a recipient of GPIF funding . Seamach specialise in renewable energy with extensive expertise in high energy electro-mechanical and multiphysics design , including nuclear fusion . They required funding to assist with developing new wind turbine designs and to erect a technology demonstrator turbine at the Science Museum Group ’ s Wroughton site .
Their aim is to research improved and differing designs which will increase efficiency and reduce the impact on the environment . They are currently working on a turbine design , for example , which utilises smaller blades and incorporates a device which requires less air to drive it but produces the same amount of electricity output as a standard , largerbladed turbine .
Clinical Partners Clinical Partners provide expert advice from trusted clinicians online , in-person or over the phone , either privately or via the NHS . Their advice covers all areas of mental health and includes depression , Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ), self-harm and eating disorders for adults and children .
With the onset of Covid-19 , Clinical Partners realised that they needed to upgrade their software platform to not only provide a safe and secure environment for its clinicians , clients and clinical partners to communicate and share information with full GDPR compliance , but also to deliver significantly higher volumes of appointments giving consistent service nationwide . The improved system would also be more effective and evidence-based , utilising customised dashboards to enable targeted treatment and automation for reports and repeat prescriptions services with improved outcomes for patients .
Their GPIF loan was drawn down in three phases , each offering further improvements to the system . The final phase enhanced further the integrations with NHS systems and introduced an app-based patient management system . The GPIF loan significantly assisted
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