New roles created in sustainability as Rugby business expands
Exergyn recruiting for new positions and providing sustainability in both technology and jobs after opening new £500,000 office
A cleantech company in eastern Warwickshire has announced the creation of 15 new roles in line with the opening of its new office.
The new roles at Exergyn will be across engineering after the company invested £500,000 in the new centre, redesigning it for its new purpose which will indirectly support more jobs in the region, and allow the company to benefit from an established solid supply chain network.
Exergyn is a clean energy tech producer that specialises in the design and development of heating and cooling technologies based on expertise in solid-state shape memory alloy (SMA) materials for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC).
The new base of operations will be focused on prototype testing and the location will allow the cleantech company to benefit from a highly skilled engineering workforce already present in and around Rugby. Skills from other advanced manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aerospace can be leveraged by Exergyn. Using its expertise in the application of SMA, Exergyn designs and manufactures thermal management product solutions which are set to significantly lower carbon emissions and compliance costs in the heating and cooling of buildings and water, both domestic and commercial.
Rugby Borough, as part of Warwickshire county and the wider West Midlands, has been very successful in attracting investment in green energy and zero-carbon transport technologies. The region is home to the Manufacturing Technology Centre, and to major brands such as Cadent, London EV Company, and GE Power Conversion. Net zero carbon transport technologies in Coventry and Warwickshire already account for approximately 50,000 jobs in the area.
Given the strong presence of manufacturing companies, Rugby has become the ideal location for businesses such as Exergyn as it provides direct access to well-established suppliers of materials and components. This, combined with access to talent within the area will enable the commercial production of groundbreaking, clean technology products.
Figures from the IEA show that the global market for key mass-manufactured clean energy technologies will be worth around $650 billion USD (£542 billion) a year by 2030 – more than three times today’s level. This would see clean energy manufacturing jobs more than double from 6 million to nearly 14 million by 2030. According to the UN, in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and maintain life on earth, global temperature increase needs to be kept to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The work being undertaken in Rugby has the potential to positively impact the wider society in the long term.
Invest in Coventry & Warwickshire, worked with West Midlands Growth Company to provide the Exergyn team with information on supply chain and skills and helped the company identify temporary office space while their new facility at Stepnell Park was readied. Invest is the inward investment service for the city of Coventry and the county of Warwickshire, and works to support businesses expanding or setting up in the area for the first time.
Cllr Martin Watson, Portfolio Holder for Economy & Place at Warwickshire County Council, said: "Warwickshire has long been at the forefront of vehicle propulsion and power technologies and, in recent years, has become a major centre for the development and deployment of low carbon technologies in automotive, rail, energy, and other applications. The county is a popular location for foreign direct investment and Exergyn's expansion here is welcome news for the region and matches the County Council's ambitions for its residents to have access to highly-skilled employment in new and emerging green technologies.
"Exergyn, with its innovative shape memory alloys, will fit well with existing supply chains, and in Stepnell Park in Rugby a modern and well-located new UK home. We have two excellent industry-linked universities, two UK Catapult Centres including the MTC at Ansty and access to a range of industry within easy reach of Rugby.”
Commenting on the new office, Exergyn co-founder and chief executive, Dr. Kevin O'Toole, said: "This is a very exciting time for Exergyn. We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to have a new base in a region where engineering pedigree has always been held in such high regard and we look forward to recruiting new R&D positions.
"Rugby and the surrounding communities have so much to offer from their well-connected supply lines to the wealth of experience from a multitude of disciplines already present in the area. We look forward to making this our UK home and, in turn, we hope we can offer the community part of ourselves and to add to the growing development of cleantech in Rugby.”
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