Kent Business Case Studies
Adams Creative
Adams Creative is Kent's leading, full-service marketing agency. Established for more than 20 years, it provides innovative, cost-effective advice and solutions to a diverse range of clients in both private and public sectors.
AEI Compounds
AEI Compounds Ltd, a subsidiary of TT electronics plc, is expanding and relocating from its base in Gravesend to Sandwich, Kent, thanks to a Grant for Business Investment, which is funded by the South East England Development Agency.
asb Law
asb Law is one of largest regional law firms in the UK. Employing more than 200 people across its offices in the south east, it has a 100-year connection with Kent. Their new operation on Eclipse Park represents a significant step in driving forward their ambitious development plans for the future.
Cabot Financial
Locate in Kent was supported by Business Link Kent, in bringing Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited to Kent in 1998. The company is the market leader in consumer debt purchase in the UK, acquiring portfolios from the biggest consumer banks in the UK. Cabot is located at Kings Hill, West Malling and its contact centre is an excellent example of why Kent is such a good location for financial services companies.
Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank has a well-established history of innovating and supporting its 7.7 million customers world-wide. Maidstone is home to one of its cutting-edge Financial Solutions Centres, offering customers a highly integrated business and private banking service.
Comma Oils
Comma Oils decided not to move from Kent to Le Havre in France thanks to a funding package from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) organised by Locate in Kent.
Commidea
Commidea is the UK’s leading developer and provider of debit and credit card payment processing systems and services. Commidea relocated from Maidstone in Kent and believes the move to a purpose-built office in Ashford will support its planned growth for the future.
Countrystyle Group
Countrystyle Group, one of the largest privately owned waste management and recycling companies in the South East, is continuing to expand across Kent with the acquisition of a new head office.
Courtyard Studios
Courtyard Studios, based in Hollingbourne, is Kent's premier studio and lighting hire facility, which caters mainly for stills photography and TV commercials. It has been based in Kent for over 20 years.
Cummins Power Generation
Cummins Power Generation is a world leader in power generation, delivering a complete range of generator sets for prime and standby power solutions for a wide variety of applications around the globe.
Direct Design
Established in 1957, Direct Design worked in London's Soho and Covent Garden for nearly 50 years. London is only 45 minutes away and remains the hub of thecompany’s national and international business activity, through technology it is no longer necessary to be there every working day. As media and communications have developed and changed, Direct Design has embraced the opportunity to work in a more pleasant environment and build new working relationships at a local level in the vibrant business community of Tunbridge Wells.
Ecoffins
Ecoffins, a leading manufacturer of eco-friendly coffins and part of parent company SAWD Partnership, was awarded a grant of up to £50,000 by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) under the Grant for Business Investment scheme, to assist its expansion in Sittingbourne, Kent.
Ecologia
Ecologia, a consultant and contractor in contaminated land and ground water remediation was founded in 2000 at Kent Science Park.
Ecoprocess
Waste management company Ecoprocess decided to undertake an expansion programme to create 50 jobs after agreeing to base its UK headquarters at the Questor Business Park in Dartford, Kent.
EcoSan
Kent based EcoSan provide eco-friendly washroom solutions to businesses.
Fresca Group
Investment promotion agency Locate in Kent worked closely with the Fresca Group and Robert Montgomery to assist in plans to develop the UK’s most hi-tech greenhouse complex on the Isle of Thanet.
GlobalExpense
GlobalExpense, the UK’s leading provider of expense management services, relocated its receipt auditing facility from London to Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne in 2008, with assistance from investment promotion agency Locate in Kent.
Go Response
When Go Response chose Kent Science Park as its new home in 2004, better overall quality of life and access to a loyal, local workforce were high on the list of factors influencing the decision to set up its call centre operation in Kent.
Go Talk
Go Talk provides telephony services including calling cards, residential phone services, dial through Premium Rate Services and call back services to end users in the UK and Ireland.
HKD
HKD, a specialist in design for museums, exhibitions and exhibits moved from North London to a Grade-II listed former casino building in Margate in December 2009. The project was supported by a grant from the Government's Meanwhile Fund to help with the refurbishment of the premises, and the company relocated with the assistance of Locate in Kent, Margate Renewal Partnership and Thanet District Council.
Headley Brothers Ltd
Headley Brothers Ltd is the leading magazine and journal printer in Kent, specialising in providing innovative, competitively priced colour print solutions to a national and international client base. Established in 1881, it is still owned and run by descendants of the same family.
Ideal Waste Paper Co. Ltd
With the assistance of Locate in Kent, Ideal Waste Paper Co. Ltd. relocated from London to a purpose-built Materials Recycling Facility in Swanley, Kent in early 2011 to create 60 new jobs. The company’s state-of-the-art facility is able to recycle up to 250,000 tonnes of paper, cans, plastic and glass every year for both public and private sector clients. Expanding from its traditional business as paper merchants, the relocation represented a £14m investment for the company.
Karimix
Ethnic range company, Karimix UK was assisted by Locate in Kent in securing finance to expand its business in 2010. It moved into The Wooden Spoon Preserving Company’s premises in Wye, Ashford, where it shares facilities and uses its own kitchen with its own team.
Kempt
Kempt is one of the UK's leading experts in creating, producing and promoting games for brands using viral, mobile and social media.
Laing O'Rourke, Construction
Laing O'Rourke is one of the biggest names in construction. With contracts to build Terminal 5 at Heathrow, the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh and Basingstoke's new shopping centre, the drive for efficiency, lean management and innovation is a paramount priority.
Manston, Kent's International Airport
Manston, Kent's International Airport is an important and growing regional airport contributing to easing congestion at other South East airports and promoting new and exciting opportunities for growth in the sub-regional economy.
Megger
For over 100 years, Megger has been a market leader in electrical testing equipment and measuring instruments for electrical power and communications applications, most famously insulation testers. Other areas of specialism include cable fault locating, protective relay testing and high voltage circuit breaker testing, although the company offers a wide range of over 1,000 products.
NorthWise Services
NorthWise Services (NWS), with headquarters at Kent Science Park, in Sittingbourne and other offices in Belgium and Hungary, was established in 2001, building on a strong foundation of very extensive experience by its directors in the pharmaceutical CRO and other industries.
PageSuite
PageSuite is an award-winning digital publishing software house that specialises in the newspaper and magazines industry. It is highly regarded as one of the UK’s leading publishing software houses and is renowned for its professional page-turning software.
PPR Wipag
PPR WIPAG, based in Dover, Kent, specialises in a unique technology where it is able to take plastic waste that others send to landfill sites and produce a product that is re-usable in its original form.
RailSimulator.com
A game development firm, whose newest release has been listed in the top 10 most downloaded games in the world, expanded into Kent, following assistance from Locate in Kent.
Saga
The Saga Group focuses exclusively on the provision of services for people 50 and over. These include holidays and cruises, insurance, savings and other financial services. Saga Independent Living provides domiciliary care and Saga Magazine is the UK's biggest subscription magazine.
Sagittarius Marketing
Sagittarius Marketing is a full service advertising and marketing agency based in Ashford, Kent, with creative excellence and a sophisticated approach to off-line and on-line marketing requirements. The agency has an exceptional reputation for delivering results driven marketing solutions for international blue chip companies to locally based SMEs.
SBE
SBE is a global organisation providing comprehensive repair solutions to the consumer electronics industry, from customer care solutions to reverse logistics, technical inspection, grading and component-level repair. SBE employs 3,000 people in Europe and repairs more than 5 million devices each year, ranging from mobile phones to HD TVs.
Sharp Interpack
Three years ago, when the company acquired new owners, a major incentive was needed to convince them to continue to invest in Kent.
Solace Pharmaceuticals
With its American office in Boston, Solace Pharmaceuticals is a privately owned organisation which researches and develops innovative pain relief treatments. The company approached investment promotion agency Locate in Kent for assistance in finding suitable commercial property and subsequently moved four employees to The Denne Hill Business Centre in Womenswold, near Canterbury. The company expects to create seven further jobs in the county within three years.
Sota
Established in 1989, specialist IT services provider, Sota Solutions Ltd, relocated to Kent Science Park in 2003, after delivering a project to expand the availability of Broadband Internet access at the site. Thanks to Sota, Kent Science Park is now probably the best connected business location in the region, and is fast becoming a magnet to bandwidth-hungry businesses and organisations.
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Synchronica
Synchronica plc, which has been headquartered in Royal Tunbridge Wells since 2006, is a market-leading developer of next generation mobile messaging software, and one of Kent’s most promising technology companies.
The Bunker
The Bunker is an ultra secure data centre that offers the most secure facility for hosted systems, data storage and managed services in the UK, located in Kent inside an ex-military command bunker.
The Creation Lab
Website and video production company The Creation Lab took start-up desk space at The Nucleus, The Bridge, Dartford in early 2010. In late 2010 the company expanded into a dedicated office at the innovation centre and counts several large businesses as clients including P&O Ferries and Heart Radio.
The Maidstone Studios - Creative, Digital Media and Business Centre
The Maidstone Studios-Creative, Digital Media and Business Centre has been making great TV shows for more than 20 years. Originally built by TVS in 1982, the studio has become one of the UK’s leading facilities. Major investment over the last few years has included the construction of Studio 5 - the largest single studio floor in the country, capable of seating 1,000 people.
The Wooden Spoon Preserving Company
Locate in Kent assisted The Wooden Spoon Preserving Company, in securing finance to invest in new equipment, a new warehouse, freezer store and new kitchens at its premises at Coldharbour Farm in Wye.
Thintech Online
Thintech Online, a company providing virtual desktop solutions for businesses, moved to Medway in August 2009. Now with headquarters at the Innovation Centre Medway in Rochester the company, initially run from home, has employed 7 new staff and now looks after five Kent-based clients, which cover 100 computer users.
Thomas Pink
World famous shirt tailor Thomas Pink has opened a new warehouse and distribution centre in Kent.
Towergate Partnership
Towergate Partnership is the largest independently owned insurance intermediary in Europe. With its central office at County Gate, Maidstone, the company now employs in excess of 4,000 people – including more than 100 in Maidstone, 30 in Whitstable and 54 in Sevenoaks.
Vanquis Bank, Financial Services
A reputation as one of the best call centre locations in the UK has inspired FTSE 100 company, Provident Financial plc, to open its Vanquis Bank call centre at Chatham Maritime Business Park in Medway.
Westgate Communications
Helen Westgate, director of Westgate Communications, first considered Kent after a conversation with a colleague when working at a big London PR agency. She said: “We were discussing the perils of living and working in the Capital as working mothers. My colleague started talking about her life in Kent, about her children’s fantastic schools and the lovely countryside where they all walked at weekends.
Wilkins Kennedy FKC
Finn-Kelcey & Chapman has been a leading Kent and Ashford firm for some 80 years and in May 2008 merged with Wilkins Kennedy a top 30 firm which takes its roots back 125 years. The merged Ashford firm, W K Finn-Kelcey, continues to operate from its Station Road offices with 70 directors, partners and staff.
Zebra Geosciences, Life Sciences
Zebra Geosciences, a recently established joint venture company set up operations in Kent in January 2003. The inventive company, which specialises in analysing geological and seismic information, was the first company to base itself at Invicta Innovations, the Enterprise Hub in East Malling.
