TIGERS FORCED TO SETTLE FOR
A POINT AGAINST LINCOLN:
WORK has begun on a £4.4m expansion at Crown Paints’ Hull manufacturing base.
The huge industrial site is to welcome a state-of-the-art raw material and packaging warehouse facility.
It will create an additional 4,365sq m of space, with completion anticipated in July.
Hull is the major UK water-based paint production plant for Crown.
The facility will allow the manufacturer to consolidate its operations from several older buildings into one modern facility – with space created to accommodate future growth.
Crown Paints’ Hull site manager,
Jonathan Fewster, said: “The new warehouse will create much-needed additional storage space for raw materials and packaging, which will effectively allow us to increase our manufacturing output and improve efficiencies at our Hull site.
“What’s more, the new building will have better sustainability credentials, which is an important consideration for us as a company.
This represents a significant investment in our manufacturing capability, and is a demonstration of our company’s commitment to the longterm future of our facility in Hull.”
Hobson & Porter is the main contractor on the building, and will be overseeing the construction project throughout.
Richard Hunter, Hobson & Porter’s managing director, said: “The new Crown Paints facility will be a fantastic investment for our region and will see increased manufacturing and production outputs at an already thriving site here in Hull.
“It’s great to see two local businesses with a proud heritage coming together to deliver new facilities in the area and demonstrating a commitment to the production and manufacturing sectors.”
SUCCESSFUL East Yorkshire tech entrepreneur Chris Byrd is launching a new venture in Hull after selling the company he co-founded for £47.5m. Thingsim aims to make Internet of Things technology accessible to SMES, providing lower cost connectivity and management of enabled devices.
It removes a major adoption barrier with the service, which it is selling directly to businesses and through partnership agreements with IT providers from its base at Hull’s digital innovation centre C4DI.
Mr Byrd started Manchester-based Internet infrastructure and hosting business M247 with his friend Jonathan Buckle while studying internet computing at University of Hull’s Scarborough campus. Metronet swooped five years ago.
Of the new venture, Mr Byrd said: “IOT technology tends to be dominated by very large companies, in part due to the cost of the network infrastructure and expertise needed to support it.
“We want to help democratise this technology by providing an affordable network and management solution, which will lead to a more level playing field and greater innovation.
“Use of IOT can transform customer service, productivity and profitability as well as supporting the implementation of new, smart technologies which can ultimately benefit everyone’s lives. The possibilities are endless.”
Thingsim connects devices, vehicles and employees to their central IT systems via private network SIM cards backed up with a user-friendly, “self-serve” platform on which businesses can manage their IOT devices and connections.
To date, there are billions of connected smart devices globally which make up the Internet of Things, despite the technology being in its infancy. These include smart home solutions in the consumer space, to devices used in many industries including in warehousing and logistics, and major advancements in ‘connected healthcare’ to allow remote monitoring of patients.
Thingsim is directly connected to the London Internet Exchange as well as having its own extensive private UK network to provide secure and robust connectivity away from the public internet. It also has mobile data roaming access to more than 300 network operators in 197 countries.
“Due to the sensitive nature of data being generated by connected devices, the Internet of Things often relies on private network connections, whether due to privacy concerns, potential hacking or resilience issues,” said Mr Byrd. “IOT network service providers need to mitigate these real risks.”
He said unlike most of competitors, Thingsim owns manages a large part of infrastructure which is enabling it offer bespoke solutions, such integration with clients’ IT systems.
The service has been in development since 2018, and has already won significant contracts with two global household names.
Mr Byrd is chief technology officer of Netavo, which owns the Thingsim brand.
He lives in Hornsea with his wife and children and is full of praise for Hull’s expanding tech hub. “I would like to thank C4DI for its support and welook forward to developing our business alongside like-minded people who share our passion for improving people’s lives and business efficiency through the use of technology,” he said.
With M247 he had On the Beach and Warburtons as clients, with operations in Manchester and Bucharest, Romania. Equity firm Livingbridge, which recently sold Hessle’s Giacom, funded the buy-out. its and its to as
AKEY constant in KCOM’S emergence as a tech pioneer has called time on his career with the company. Sean Royce, managing director of the retail business and the technology lead within the Hull giant, said he is ready for a new challenge - and keen to prove he’s no “one trick pony.”
The hugely respected executive joined the business as a graduate trainee, was front and centre of the 1999 flotation, then wrote the plan and executed the roll-out for full fibre broadband, putting the city “light” years ahead of the rest of the UK.
Mr Royce said: “I have done 32 years, and while in the midst of it all it doesn’t seem that long, what I didn’t want to do was work for 40 years, get a gold clock and think ‘I’ve never done anything else - am I a one trick pony?
“I’ve had quite a lot of success at KCOM and lockdown gave me a different perspective - detached from work to a certain extent, I have had more time to reflect, and in late summer I thought it was a good time to prove I’m not a one trick pony and I can do something else.
“KCOM is a wonderful company, at the heart of the community, a special unique place and the owners, the board - have got a very good executive team, with exciting plans. I just felt it was time to hand the baton on.”
He approached chief executive Dale Raneberg and early in the new year was settled on for his departure, having served as finance director for the regional and national business and gone on to be managing director for the technology, services and operations elements prior to being made executive vice president in 2016.
The ardent Hull City fan is now putting more into his role as chair of the charitable Tigers Trust, his directorship at tech hub C4DI while “looking to run a business in the tech space, use my experience and ability to see if I can be a success”.
He has already had a couple of conversations this past week, having officially left the role last Friday.
Mr Raneberg said: “Sean has been a key part of the team at KCOM after developing and advancing through a successful career since joining the company as a trainee through to his years holding senior executive roles leading both our technology team and our retail business.
“We are all grateful for his contribution to the business in different roles and his commitment and loyalty to the company over many years of service.
“I am personally sorry to see Sean leave KCOM, but I am also excited for him to take his skills and experience gained at the company on to new challenges.”
The legacy of the 1904 launch of Hull Corporation Telephone Department, Kingston Communications
was famed for the cream telephone boxes. Now it is full fibre broadband five years ahead of government plans.
An initial share offering saw original owner Hull City Council raise £260m from the flotation, as the last of the 13 local authorities awarded operator licences to still be in business. It went to the London Stock Exchange aware of the huge infrastructure costs emerging as Britain went digital, with the initial listing valuing it at £788.6m.
In 2019 it was taken private as Macquarie paid £627 million for the entire share capital, with the service recently named best in Europe.