Derbyshire farm shop Croots boosts its parking facilities to cater for demand

Steve Croot in the new car park.

Popular Derbyshire farm shop Croots has doubled the size of its car park to cater for increasing numbers of customers.

As it gears up for Christmas and its busiest time of the year, the farm shop near Duffield has opened a second car park to create additional spaces.

The new hardstanding area has effectively doubled the number of car parking spaces at the farm shop in Wirksworth Road to around 56.

“Croots Farm Shop & Café has become a popular destination for shoppers and diners, and we wanted to make sure that our visitors could park – whether they were coming to shop, visit our café for coffee, lunch or afternoon tea, or to use our children’s play area,” said Steve Croot, who runs the shop with wife Kay Croot.

“We’re situated at the end of a 500m drive and many of our visitors come by car, so this will make it easier for customers to find a space, especially as we are now heading towards our busiest time of the year when we expect a lot of visitors to the Christmas events we have planned, as well as those coming to do their shopping or join us in the café.”

The new car park is near the top of the drive, just a few metres away from Croots Farm Shop & Café.

Croots, which opened in June 2008, is an award-winning family run farm shop – well known for its wide array of quality food and drink, homemade produce and gifts. It has an extensive butchery counter and a well-stocked cheese display, making it a big favourite for foodie fans in Derbyshire.

It also sells a range of bakes created exclusively for Croots by Great British Bake Off contestant Val Stones who is the sister of Steve Croot.

Earlier this year, Croots Farm Shop won the People’s Choice in the Midlands Award in the Family United Business Awards.

“We’ve expanded the shop and the café since we opened, and improved the drive, so it’s logical to also extend the car park,” added Steve. “We have additional improvements in the pipeline too, as we continue to boost our facilities and customer experience.”

Croots Farm Shop, based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, near Duffield, is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information, visit http://www.croots.co.uk. Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-Shop

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

BSP Consulting celebrates ten years in Leicester

BSP Leicester office celebrating
the 10th anniversary

East Midlands-based civil and structural engineering company BSP Consulting is celebrating a decade in Leicester.

It is ten years since the firm opened a Leicester office in De Montfort Street – the third office in the group.

Since then, the award-winning company has moved to larger premises, double the size of the original, to cater for increasing demand for its services in the area.

“We opened our Leicester office in December 2007 with three staff and since then have gradually grown as we established ourselves as a key civil and structural engineering company in the city,” said Paul Elphick, BSP Consulting director, who manages the Leicester office and has been based at the De Montfort Street branch since it was launched.

“During our decade in Leicester we have increased the range of services we offer from this office to include pre-planning support and traffic and transportation engineering, and this has been one of the reasons behind the expansion of the team.

“However, as our reputation has grown, so has the number of engineers and technicians we have employed in Leicester and we currently have a team of 15 based in our city office, working across the city, county and beyond.”

During the past decade, BSP has provided civil and structural engineering services for a number of key projects in Leicester and Leicestershire, including Makers’ Yard in Leicester’s Creative Quarter, buildings at Brooksby Melton College, refurbishment schemes at Loughborough University, the new Birkett House SEN School in Wigston, and the HQ for Dunelm at Syston.

It has also recently supported the development of the Get Busy Living Centre near Melton Mowbray – the rehabilitation centre for those with life-changing sporting injuries, which is being spearheaded by the Matt Hampson Foundation, the charity set up by the former England Under-21 and Leicester Tigers player, Matt Hampson who was paralysed in a rugby accident.

In addition, members of staff from the Leicester office have been involved in numerous developments further afield and are currently working on projects as far away as South Wales, where the firm has been appointed to work on the spectacular new multi-million-pound Afan Valley Adventure Resort, which is set over 500 acres of forests and hills and will be the first development of its kind in the UK, and home to a wealth of adrenaline-fuelled indoor and outdoor activities.

BSP Consulting managing director David Sumner said: “On behalf of BSP Consulting, I’d like to congratulate Paul Elphick and his team on the way they have built up the Leicester office of the company to become a well-established and highly regarded business in Leicestershire, and to also thank them for their hard work and commitment over the past decade.”

The Leicester BSP team headed to Warwick Castle for an away day to mark the tenth anniversary of the office.

BSP Consulting was founded in 1999 in Nottingham, and later opened a Derby office before also expanding into Leicester. It offers civil, structural, transportation, environmental and geotechnical engineering services and provides a complete range of consultancy services to all sectors of the construction community, from architects, project managers and contractors to developers and estate agents.

For more information, visit www.bsp-consulting.co.uk

Press released issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Three new appointments at Focus Consultants

Sana Arif

Focus Consultants has welcomed three new members of staff to its professional teams.

Sana Arif joins the Energy Team as a graduate sustainability consultant and is based in the company’s Nottingham head office.  Sana’s interests and qualifications lie within the energy sector, focusing on renewable technologies with specific skills in wind, solar power and hydrogen fuel cell technology.

She graduated from the University of Nottingham with a BEng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems and she completed her Masters during an internship with Blueprint. 

“Focus works with both the University of Nottingham and Blueprint and we are therefore especially pleased to welcome Sana to the team,” said Focus partner, Jason Redfearn. “It’s great to see Sana join Focus Consultants, at a time when our work in the energy and sustainable development sector is expanding. She brings new skills to the team and will add strength and depth as we continue to grow.”

George Jones

Also based at Nottingham is George Jones, who joins the Funding, Research and Economic Development Team. George has joined the company through the University of Nottingham’s Internship Scheme. George has strong client-facing skills and excels in communication and consultation techniques coupled with research and evaluation. He has travelled and studied widely in the UK and South America.

Focus partner Heather Frecklington said: “George is a welcome addition to our team. His skills are an excellent fit with our requirements and we look forward to working together.”

Evie Osbon

The third new team member is Evie Osbon who has joined the Focus London team as a graduate project manager. Evie has a background in the theatre and arts, having graduated with a BA (Hons) Acting Degree.  She is the latest addition to Focus’ expanding London team and will be supporting the firm’s project managers on a range of cultural and heritage-focused projects.

London partner Eleanor Clarke commented: “We are pleased to welcome Evie to our team. Her knowledge will provide a really useful user-centric insight into our arts-related commissions. She is already proving an excellent asset to the team getting to grips with brief development and programme management.”  

Focus, which has offices in Nottingham, London, Leicester and Boston in Lincolnshire, specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful companies of its kind.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press released issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

J Tomlinson appointed on £7.25 million M&E student accommodation contract

J Tomlinson awarded student accommodation contract

J Tomlinson has won a £7.25 million contract to provide mechanical and electrical engineering services for a new 922-bed student accommodation scheme.

The company has been appointed by main contractor Galliford Try to undertake the M&E work on the £52.5 million development in Paradise Street, Coventry.

The new halls will be built across three blocks of three, 12 and 14 storeys on the site of a former garage close to the city centre, with an additional two low-rise house blocks. Further landscaping will also be created including a recreational area for the students, as well as office and maintenance facilities for the proposed management company AXO Student Living.

J Tomlinson has been secured to design, supply, install and commission the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services for the project by Galliford Try’s Building East Midlands business, which has been appointed by The Elite Group to develop the scheme.

“J Tomlinson has wide experience of providing both integrated building services or standalone mechanical and electrical and plumbing services for clients, across many sectors, and we are very pleased to have been appointed by Galliford Try on this student accommodation development,” said Tony O’Toole, J Tomlinson’s managing director – mechanical and electrical.

“This is a key contract for our M&E team and throughout the bid we used our ‘One Team’ approach for all items, working collaboratively alongside our customers and suppliers. We have a good working relationship with Galliford Try and are delighted to be part of the team bringing this scheme to life.” 

The project is due to start shortly, with completion expected in August 2019. J Tomlinson’s project manager will be Phil Paddock.

Nottingham-based J Tomlinson, which also has an office in Canwell, Sutton Coldfield, operates primarily across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire. The company provides a range of integrated building solutions including construction, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance, mechanical and electrical services (M&E), and facilities management.

For more details, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk

Press released issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk