Tyseley Energy Park marks Small Business Saturday with ministerial visit

Tyseley Energy Park (TEP) and the University of Birmingham welcomed Paul Scully MP, Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets, for a tour of facilities at TEP ahead of Small Business Saturday (4 December 2021).

Mr Scully met David Horsfall, Director of Tyseley Energy Park, and Professor Martin Freer, Director of the University’s Birmingham Energy Institute, to find out more about the opportunities offered at TEP for low carbon businesses.

Small Business Saturday is a non-commercial campaign which aims to highlight small business success and encourages the support of small businesses within communities.

Tyseley Energy Park (TEP) is the convergence of and collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector focused on creating solutions to drive carbon reduction across: heat, transport, recycling and energy systems.

Born out of Webster and Horsfall’s 300 year-old manufacturing business TEP continues the theme of industrial innovation and seeks to create new systems and collaborative working opportunities that ensures Birmingham is the epicenter of the new green industrial revolution.

The University of Birmingham is a strategic partner of TEP who are delivering energy innovation activities on the site. Key to this effort is the Birmingham Energy Innovation Centre, run by BEI and funded by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership. The BEIC is focused on developing waste, energy, and low carbon vehicle systems and includes business incubation facilities including laboratory and testing space.

Small businesses located at TEP are offered support on a variety of levels, depending on the maturity of the business and on how close the technology is to commercialisation. This ranges from help with testing an innovative idea, to tailored incubation programmes and commercial demonstrators.

Small Business Minister Paul Scully said: “There is so much creativity and dynamism in the West Midlands and across the UK, but without access to support it’s difficult to fully unlock the entrepreneurial spirit that makes this region great and solve critical challenges like the climate crisis.

“Birmingham has one of the proudest histories of creativity and innovation in the world, from photocopiers and x-rays, to Balti and heavy metal music, a legacy which dynamic organisations like Tyseley Energy Park are taking forward.”

David Horsfall said: “At Tyseley Energy Park, we have created an environment where transport, heat and power focused businesses can receive support and collaborate in a location that is a key focus of Birmingham’s decarbonisation efforts. We’re delighted to support Small Business Saturday and to showcase the innovation and the progress already being achieved by businesses at TEP.”

Professor Martin Freer said: “Local and regional approaches are essential for developing and delivering low carbon technologies and ensuring they are available to everybody, not just the well-off. Small businesses will play a vital part in this innovation process – by working alongside and collaborating with companies based at TEP and across the region, we aim to make a significant contribution to the region’s low carbon future.

• For media enquiries please contact Beck Lockwood, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)781 3343348. 
• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
• Tyseley Energy Park is a 16-acre site, which is one of the five Energy Innovation Zones established by the West Midlands Combined Authority. It is adjacent to the Tyseley Energy from Waste plant, operated by Veolia, which processes 350,000 tonnes of municipal waste a year. The park has also established a biomass plant which generates 10 MW of green electricity which is provided to the park.
• TEP is owned and managed by Webster and Horsfall, a 300-year-old company that has a core business which is associated with the manufacture of wire and wire rope. Webster and Horsfall had a main role in the manufacture of the first successful transatlantic cable, and the family business is strongly linked to the local community.