Business support pivotal to growth as R53 Engineering moves into top gear

"The support given by Warwickshire County Council has been has been absolutely outstanding"

A small business specialising in high-performance engineering is growing its list of prestige clients after receiving "absolutely outstanding" support from Warwickshire County Council.

R53 Engineering, in Warwick, first received a £100,000 Coventry & Warwickshire Innovation Programme (part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund) grant in 2017 to develop a new innovative high-performance shock absorber.

That funding, accessed through county council business & investment officer Kai Cott, helped the company improve its offer to a client-list which already included the likes of McLaren and Bentley. R53 was able to take a new product to market, at the same time generating new skilled jobs within Warwickshire.

The company was then awarded a small capital grant by Warwickshire County Council to equip a new quality control room and prototype shop at their premises on the Heathcote Industrial Estate.

The council's support, however, far transcends funding. Other members of the Invest in Warwickshire team also got involved with inward investment officer Steph Williams helping R53 managing director Roger Estrada to locate the right premises and business skills advisor Fay Winterburn offering advice on recruiting.

With more than 15 years experience at the top level of motorsport, Mr Estrada already possessed all the expertise and knowledge needed to power an SME. Now he also has all the required business support.

"The support given by Warwickshire County Council has been has been absolutely outstanding," Roger said. "It has been pivotal to our projected growth.

"The Coventry & Warwickshire Innovation Programme funding, which we received thanks to Kai's support, helped us to create the product at a very exciting time for the business. That helped us to attract high-profile customers like McLaren and Bentley.

"Then Steph assisted us with getting a small capital grant towards our premises. That gave us a quality control area and an attractive place where we can see clients and they are assured we are good business and they are in safe hands.

"All this support means that we can keep growing. We employ six people which will hopefully rise to ten by end of year. Fay has been great in helping us recruit. We require very specific, high-level skills and, for an SME, competition in this region is fierce. It is hard to find experienced engineers with the level of skills we require so Fay's guidance is invaluable."

Kai Cott said: "R53 is a vibrant, forward-thinking business which is growing and thereby helping to keep Warwickshire's economy strong. I am delighted that they are making such good progress and have taken full advantage of the broad range of business support offered by the team at Warwickshire County Council."

*  The advice for the company was delivered as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Support Programme, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Warwickshire County Council. 

• To find out more about the range of support available to grow your business, please contact the Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747.