News

The 2012 Southern Manufacturing and Electronics Show

Locate East Sussex exhibited at this year's Southern Manufacturing & Electronics Show in Farnborough, Hampshire on February 15th and 16th.

The show is the UK's must-attend event for every industrial engineering and manufacturing professional and with East Sussex having a high quality talent pool, particularly in the vacuum technology, instrumentation and advanced optics fields, East Sussex could be the best move you ever make.

Locate East Sussex spoke to a wide range of visitors and explained how moving to East Sussex could really benefit their businesses.

Investing in a high-tech Wealden

UHV Design, which manufactures scientific components for use in high/ultra vacuum environments, is making a big investment in Wealden. In January it received planning permission for a 20,000 sq.ft. facility on an extension site next to its existing operation at the Stonecross Business Centre at Laughton.

Locate East Sussex (LES) has been working with parent group Judges Scientific Plc and its advisors since November 2010 to support the project.

UHV Design’s success is mostly based on exporting. Last year it achieved the Queen’s award for Enterprise in the international trade category. The Queens Awards are the UK’s highest accolade for business success. UHV Design plans to double its current staff establishment within 5 years.

LES’s chairman, Hamish Monro commented: ‘This is a project with a County-wide significance, not only in terms of the numbers of jobs it will generate and the capital expenditure involved – some £2m will be invested – but also for the vacuum technology sector in which East Sussex is a world leader. This sector has the potential to create many knowledge based jobs and indeed the intention to expand here is because of the strong core skills and capabilities in East Sussex where many of Company’s suppliers are based’.

Saga commits to Hastings’ business district, bringing up to 800 new jobs

The Saga Group, which specialises in products and services for the nation’s over 50s, is set to become the largest private sector employer in Hastings, East Sussex.

The company has announced its intended purchase of One Priory Square in the Priory Quarter business district of Hastings’ town centre. One Priory Square is a new, six-storey, 45,000 sq ft building of Grade A offices, created by economic development company Sea Space as part of the long-term redevelopment programme for the area.

Work will start now to equip the building so it can accommodate up to 800 contact centre and support staff. The site will open for business in the New Year.

Saga Insurance has continued to grow and attract customers, creating a need for more staff and facilities, with Hastings chosen as the location for this expansion.

Commenting on the acquisition, Roger Ramsden, chief executive of Saga Insurance, said: “Our customers like things done properly, and we rely on well-trained people, rather than irritating automated call answering. Saga customers like a personal service and prefer speaking with people based in the UK.

“Hastings is an ideal location. Priory Square is in the town centre and has good public transport links and the building will provide a great working environment. We aim to attract, train and keep the best talent that Hastings has to offer.”

Saga is now recruiting people in the Hastings area to work in a variety of positions from agents and managers in contact centre roles such as claims, sales and customer services to positions in HR, IT, property management, cleaning and catering.

Job seekers interested in a career with Saga in Hastings should call 01303 774776 for an application form, download one from www.saga.co.uk/hastings or email their CV to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Halifax Press Release

HALIFAX BANK’S SEASIDE TOWN QUALITY OF LIFE REVIEW– finds that Residents of Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex have the highest quality of life among Britain's seaside towns.

The second Halifax Seaside Town Quality of Life review published in August 2010 tracks where living standards are highest by ranking performance across key indicators of the labour market, the housing market, the environment, education and health. 125 coastal towns in England, Wales and Scotland have been included in this survey.

“Occupying the top spot for quality of life is Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, which not only provides residents with four more hours sunshine a week to enjoy the beach life, but also higher than average employment and earnings, and good health and life expectancy.” Bexhill is closely followed by Newhaven which is in the top five for quality of life and is also ranked in the top 10 of the best value seaside towns in Great Britain.

To see the full report, click on this link.

Kip McGrath open for business

Stephen Lloyd MP, Member of Parliament for Eastbourne & Willingdon, opened Eastbourne's new Kip McGrath private tutoring business on 20th November 2010. Linda, an experienced teacher who is passionate about children's learning, saw an opportunity in the Eastbourne area to provide one-to-one tuition in the core subjects, but a practical problem was locating suitable premises for this enterprise.

After carrying out a search in the Eastbourne area, Locate East Sussex found premises with a suitable (D1) planning use and Linda started the process of setting up her business. Never having done this before, Linda was grateful for assistance from Ian Smallwood of Ten Sixty Six Enterprise on the finances and structure of the business.

Graham Marley, Chief Executive of Ten Sixty Six Enterprise said: “It is incredibly rewarding for the whole team when one of the people we support launches an exciting new business. My colleagues Ian Smallwood, and Michael Cogswell from Locate East Sussex have worked very closely with Linda throughout the process and will remain on hand to help guide future business development. The centre will make a really worthwhile contribution to the lives of young people and I'm delighted Ten Sixty Six Enterprise was able to help make it a reality.”

Link: www.kipmcgratheastbourne.co.uk