Shedfield House Estate News

Building fibre network

We have completed cabling up all the units at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park with CAT5 giving them access to a share of the 100Mbps un-contended fibre link.  First of the businesses on the site have signed up for the service which is managed and maintained by Newnet in Fareham.

As part of the facilities now available,  we have just installed wireless at the Business Park which is available for visitors to the businesses based on the site (photo above).

We are now in the process of linking up Shedfield House Dairy with a special multimode fibre link which will run along our own specially installed underground ducts.   This will link in the Dairy and all the businesses based there to the 100Mbps un-contended fibre link running from the Estate to Newnet over BT OpenReach ducts.  We are also intending to run CCTV images over the multimode fibre from security cameras onsite back to servers operated by i-Code which is based on the Estate. Reticom is handling all the installation and cabling work on site.

We believe the provision of access to high speed fibre for all businesses based on the Estate means that they have the opportunity to grow in a highly flexible way with an advanced IT platform which opens up IP based operations.  We also believe the network will enable us over time to develop a range of additional services for businesses based on the Estate to remotely monitor their office, energy use and facilities.

High speed broadband over fibre arrives in August

The first stage of bringing access to high speed broadband over fibre for the businesses based on the Estate starts this month, when BT blows in the fibre over its own and the Estate's ducts.  During August all the businesses based at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park will be cabled up with CAT5 and also an interface box in each office.  This will then enable each business to access part of the 100Mbps dedicated fibre link giving uncontended upstream and downstream feeds.  The units based at Shedfield House Dairy will be cabled up in the Autumn.  Bringing fibre to the Estate has been a partnership with Newnet based in Fareham and a major ISP; BT Open Reach and ourselves.

 

 

Courtyard at Shedfield Grange Farm Barn.

It is a long term investment by the Estate but we believe access to high speed broadband is going to become increasingly critical for businesses seeking a base to grow.  It will be interesting to see how the service is used by businesses here and how they start to use the opportunities for growth which it opens up.

Bringing fibre to business units - an IP future - Feb. 2009

We are about to commission BT to do a survey on bringing fibre optic cable to Sandy Lane and so enabling all the units across both sites to access high speed broadband by accessing a 100Mbps leased line.   In the ways of BT this involves an investment of £5000 upfront prior to getting the report and then getting the service - that's before the annual rental, of course, so you can see this is no small commitment by the Estate.   BT will be providing the fibre and ISP Newnet based in Fareham will be providing the service.

We anticipate that the first units will have access to the fibre in the Spring with Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park the first to come on stream.  The Estate is also planning to restore and convert the Barn in 2009 on the site ready for occupation later in the year and the two programmes have a great deal of synergy reflecting the need and demand for both high quality space in an attractive working environment combined with high speed broadband access.   

The Estate takes the view that we need to bring very high speed broadband to the units to support the successful businesses on site many with growing internet operations.  We increasingly take the view that we are moving towards an IP or internet protocol business and technology model for the knowledge economy.  It is interesting to note that Ipswich has used IP as part of their vision and branding, building on BT's Martelsham Research Labs which are nearby in Suffolk. The recently launched government report on broadband titled Digital Britain also highlighted that in spite of the recession, consumer e-commerce in the UK is anticipated to increase by 50% by 2012!

Our county, Hampshire strikes me as one  which is very switched on about the importance of IP and their eHampshire team have been very helpful in helping us assess the options.  We are also interested in a Smart Working initiative which they are encouraging us to adopt; and at their prompting we are considering converting one of the units into a hot desking centre, like a mini-Regus centre.  Is there a demand for such services on a small basis - we are not certain?  However we are planning as part of the range of additional services when the fibre is in place to offer free wireless hotspots at both Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park and Shedfield House Dairy Business Centre.  A service aimed at customers visiting businesses on site allowing them to access online from their car or in a meeting in the offices.

By investing in the facilities and IT infrastructure on the Estate, we of course believe that we will be able to charge higher rents longer term, have higher occupancy and also provide a strong platform for the businesses based here for when the economy starts to improve.  None of us know where the economy is heading currently, but in our view, there is no question that IP focused companies will be in the vanguard of the recovery.

Next Steps for Meon Valley Enterprise

With the weekly if not daily bombardment of news about the global economic slowdown, now seems a good time for a different narrative of businesses expanding and growing.  Hence the title and theme of the third Meon Valley Enterprise Forum being held this coming Wednesday 10th September in the Barn at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park. 

The Forum brings together companies, government and academics to discuss issues relating to small, medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Meon Valley and south Hampshire area.

We have got three great speakers - all female - so Shedfield could witness the Sarah Palin effect.  No seriously, as I have blogged before, female entrepreneurship is a growing feature we have noticed with businesses based on the Estate and is an increasing feature of SME business development.   Although not the focus of the event it undoubtedly provides a sub-text.

The three speakers are:

Carmen Evans – Pan’s Lodge.  She is introducing a new range of exclusively designed own label fabric and border collections to a successful interior design business.  She is building on her current business but developing a new potentially global marketplace with a different range of skills required.  How is she tackling it, what partnerships is she building?  Carmen is based on the Estate.   www.panslodge.com

Chloe Carey – HR Handover.  Chloe and her team have built one of the area's most successful SMEs winning a number of awards.  She is going to talk about managing the rapid growth of a successful HR

outsourcing and consultancy business.   Chloe used to be based on the Estate but she grew so quickly we did not have the space to support her and is now based nearby at Bishops Waltham. www.handoverhr.co.uk

 

Liz Leffman – Clothesource.   Liz runs a successful consultancy advising companies on global outsourcing.  She is talking on the importance to growing businesses of finding the right suppliers, with particular reference to offshore sourcing.   She brings a different regional perspective as her business is based in Oxford while at the same time having a good understanding of local business issues being the Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for the new Meon Valley constituency. 

Emphasising the local dimension and local sourcing, the catering is being handled by Ace Catering which is based on the Estate while the wine comes from Wickham Vineyard, one of Hampshire's very successful vineyards and only 500 yards from the Estate. 

If you read the blog over the next few days and want to come along please get in touch.  We will be putting up the presentations at the event later in the week.

Welcome to Ace Catering and Diane Frances Photography

Two new businesses have decided to base their business on the Estate.  A big welcome to Alison Harfield and Vicky Hamilton of Ace Catering which has got a very good reputation locally for catering at weddings, luncheons and events and which is going to be based at Shedfield House Dairy.  Diane Frances is now moving into her recently refurbished unit at Shedfield Grange Farm Barn which will act as both photographic studio and office.  Diane does some exceptionally good photo portraits.  Having worked with photographers for many years as a PR consultant, I know that people photography is extremely difficult to do well and Diane is clearly a real craftswoman going by the material on her site.

As there is a strong female theme to this blog, I must mention the work of Carmen Evans at Pans Lodge with her upmarket interior design business.  Carmen is working on some very interesting projects currently and will be launching in 2008 her own range of upmarket fabrics and wallpapers.  While Helen Thompson's highly creative work in glass at her Fantasia workshop has built up a strong reputation and her work has been commissioned from the UK, France and Canada.  While one of the longest based businesses on the Estate is Judith Wade-Duffee with JWD Associates, a leading insolvency practitioner and particularly busy in this time of financial turbulence.

Five businesses headed by women and that is not mentioning the other businesses on the Estate where  women are in very senior positions such as Julie at iCode.  The Estate is delighted to be such a strong home for female entrepreneurship.  Although they would not have recognised the term, both my grandmother and great grandmother, as widows were responsible for managing the Estate for many years, so I like to feel that there is perhaps a longer term tradition of female entrepreneurship at work.  My great grandmother, Harriet, born in 1836 was a particularly interesting figure. 

Fluent in five languages, she was an accomplished water colourist and wrote several novels.  It was during her later years  as the widowed chatelaine of the Estate that she had built a number of the cottages which you can see in Sandy Lane.  The rather subservient pose of the photo, here seen with her husband Augustus, does not do her justice.  Her extensive letters, diaries and photographs can be seen at the Hampshire Archives in Winchester.

Unit available - Feb 1st 2008

We will have a unit available at Shedfield House Dairy Business Centre from February 1st 2008.  It is a very attractive unit looking out onto the golf course with two dedicated parking spaces.  The current business is expanding to larger units on the Dairy site.  If you are interested please contact: Zoe Harris at Hughes Ellard on 01329 220033 or Anthony Taylor 07850 111800. 

Happy New Year.

Open Day, Christmas 2007

We have just held an Open Day at the Estate to highlight the plans
for the Barn restoration due to start in the summer of 2008.   It was a good opportunity to catch up on news with many of the businesses based on the Estate and others which attended. 

In spite of the gloomy news in the papers, the impression was that most of the businesses are doing well and certainly the south Hampshire economy seems much stronger and supports much higher calibre businesses than 10 years ago.  This is supported by a recent report by the Centre for Cities policy unit which highlighted the attractions and growth rates of some of the UK's smaller towns and cities.  Notable in this respect were Southampton and Portsmouth. 

The event was also an opportunity to highlight the work which has taken place during 2007 to bring the Estate's commercial units up to the higher level of finish and landscaping which we believe is necessary to match the expectations of those businesses based here and their clients and customers who visit.  

By the way, one of the areas of development we are looking at, is to bring fibre optic cable to the Estate over the next 2/3 years to enable very speed broadband access and delivery to all units.  We would be interested to hear from any companies and service providers which can help us deliver this economically.

Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

 

Mulled wine and mince pies, Open Day 7th Dec.

We are holding an Open Day at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park on Friday 7th December. Come and join us over lunch (1130-1530) for a festive mince pie and mulled wine (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) in the Barn.  This will give you a chance to come and see plans for the Barn restoration in 2008 to prestige offices.  It will provide an excellent opportunity to meet other businesses based on the Estate and to see the extensive work which has already been carried out at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park.

Also a big welcome to Diane who is moving her photographic business, Diane Frances Photography, into Unit 4 at Shedfield Grange Farm Barn Business Park.  The unit is being renovated over January/February ready for her to move in from 1st March, 2008.

 

Planning permission granted and work underway

The Estate was granted planning permission to restore and convert the Barn at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park to offices at the end of August by Winchester City Council.  We are currently doing all the external infrastructure work on the site and related to the conversion of the barn which will take place next year. 

The work includes repositioning the garden wall to Shedfield Grange and rebuilding it in rat trap bond with the bricks on edge rather than flat. This was a Victorian brick bond popular for kitchen garden walls as less bricks were required.  The wall gives an attractive backdrop to the car park which will also have an extensive planting scheme for shrubs.   New gates are also being introduced as part of the scheme this Autumn as well as initial extensive landscaping right across the site.

Other infrastructure work this year includes a new septic tank and underground ducts for all electrical, lighting and telecoms services.  Victorian cast iron lampposts are being installed for external lighting  as well as cast iron guttering.  Anew area has been created for bins and caretaker's shed and new soakaways installed to cater for higher and more intensive rainfalls.  We have also landscaped immediately outside the front of the barn, giving extra space and with new brick steps, yet to be built,providing a seating area looking out over the 9 hole golf course.

We need to say a big thank you for the businesses based at Grange Farm who have put up with the noise and work on site over the summer and autumn.

The architect, Barrie Smith is drawing up detailed building regulations as well as detailed plans on certain features which the listing and planning authorities want to see in greater detail. We are getting special surveys done on the history of the barn as well. Anthony is discussing the project with potential builders and suppliers over the next few months. The intention is to start the build work on the Barn next March/April completing in the Autumn and allowing a two month run up for any business taking the Barn so that all services, IT etc and layout of desks etc can be implemented by the incoming business in a sensible timescale.

Hughes Ellard are responsible for the marketing of the Barn and we are planning an Open Day in early December to see the plans and site prior to work commencing next year.  We hope to see you there and it will also provide an opportunity to have a look at both sites: Shedfield Grange Farm Barn Business Park and Shedfield House Dairy Business Park.

Unit available January 2008

A 400+ sq ft unit will become available at Shedfield Grange Farm Business Park ready to move into for the start of the New Year.   This is Unit 4.   Further work is being done on the unit in December ready for occupation in January 2008.   The unit is on the first floor of a 17th century brick barn and has attractive vaulted ceiling with exposed beams.  A great deal of infrastructure work is currently underway at Shedfield Grange Farm ready for restoration work on the barn in 2008 providing additional car parking and enhancing the setting of the Business Park.