A Hull company which produces laboratory furniture for leading universities and research institutes has secured a £100,000 loan from NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance, which is managed by Mercia Debt as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
The funding will enable Lab Systems Furniture to expand its capacity by moving into new premises three times the size of its existing unit and create two new jobs. The move is part of the company’s growth plans which also include investment in new machinery.
Lab Systems Furniture manufactures and installs high specification fitted furniture for pharma, biotech and medical research laboratories including Reckitt Benckiser, Indivior, GlaxoSmithKline and the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh which produced the first cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep. It also serves clients in the education sector such as Cambridge, Loughborough and Hull Universities.
The business’s origins date back to the 1890s when it was founded in Hartlepool as a manufacturer of school furniture. Since diversifying into laboratories in the 1970s, it has built up a strong reputation in the sector and after moving to Hull in 1995, it has gone from strength to strength. Lab Systems now employs 15 staff. The funding will cover the cost of moving and the fit-out of its new 12,000 sq ft premises on Hull’s Sutton Fields industrial estate.
Geoff Lound, Managing Director, said: “Laboratory furniture is a specialist area. This year we have seen an upsurge in interest, driven in part by the increased number of science parks, and we have a strong pipeline of enquiries. However, the lack of workshop and warehouse space limits the work we can currently take on. The funding will enable us to move into bigger premises and remove the barriers to growth.”
Rebecca Pickering of Mercia added: “Lab Furniture has strong client relationships and a reputation for quality but its current premises are holding it back. In some cases, manufacturing has had to be halted until the warehouse is cleared. The new premises will provide greater flexibility, enable it to compete in ‘off the shelf’ sales by manufacturing popular products in advance, and to expand its range with complementary lines such as classroom furniture.”
Lizzy Upton, Senior Manager at British Business Bank, said: “Funding from NPIF II is paramount to Northern businesses like Lab Systems Furniture, supporting them as they expand their teams and premises. It is great to see businesses across Hull and East Yorkshire using NPIF II funding to grow and we’re pleased to see the Fund playing a part in supporting this specialist sector.”
The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIFII) covers the entire North of England and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.
