Page 17 - Survey 2020: The Star Business

Wednesday,January22,2020 www.thestar.co.uk THESTAR 17
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GROWTH
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LITTLEFISH: FIRM TAKES FLOOR IN STEEL CITY HOUSE
Staff needed after IT company opens brand-new office
One hundred and fifty jobs are on offer in Sheffield af- ter an IT company opened a new office in the city.
Littlefish has taken a full floor in Steel City House and says it needs new staff now.
It offers IT services, cy- ber security, a call centre and helpdesktocustomersinclud- ing the Houses of Parliament, paint company Farrow and Ball, the PDSA and NSK, one of the world’s largest makers of ball bearings.
continents and works in seven languages.Bossessaythemove will create up to 150 jobs in the local area during 2020.
Vacancies on the website includeITinfrastructureengi- neer, IT service delivery man- ager and IT service desk team leader.
Steve Robinson, chief ex- ecutive and co-founder at Littlefishsaid:“Thedecision to expand our footprint in the UK and open a second major service centre here
in Sheffield was due to the excep- tional levels of digital talent
in the city and
thesurroundingareas,thefan- tastic transport links, and the superb universities, but also because Sheffield is a creative andvibrantcitythatwefeelhas ahugeamounttoofferourpeo- ple.”
The move coincides with another record-break- ing year for Littlefish. And it comes a month after an-
Mark Petty, sales and marketing director at Littlefish.
other IT company moved into the city centre to accelerate growth.
DeeperThanBlue has tak- en space at Victoria Quays in a bid to land more clients in the city after working all over the country from its former base in Killamarsh.
The firm employs 35, has hired five in the last year and is advertising three jobs.
It sells software and ser- vices, such as ecommerce and analytics, to firms including sandwich maker Greencore and kitchen company Sym- phony. Revenue is growing 10 per cent year-on-year.
Littlefish helpdesk centre.
Mark Petty, sales and mar- keting director, said: “We are delighted to announce the opening of our new, strategi- cally-importantShef- fieldoffice.
Their new Grade II listed office, the Terminal Warehouse, was construct- ed as the ter- minus of the Sheffield Ca- nal and is ‘at the heart of Shef- Headquar- field’sindustrial
“Geograph- ic expansion is amustforusas we continue to secure new cus- tomers.”
tered in Notting- ham, Littlefish has customers on six
pastandeconomic future’.
Government to harness research at city university base
Thegovernmentisdetermined to harness “brilliant” research atauniversitybaseinSheffield to drive innovation across the UK.
Universities minister Chris Skidmore MP, said the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre was “super- charging” manufacturing in the North and helping to se- curetheUK’sstatusasa“global science superpower.”
Mr Skidmore toured the AMRC, part of The Univer- sity of Sheffield, to see how academia, industry and gov- ernment work together to tackle manufacturing chal- lenges and drive forward sec- tors including aerospace, energy and construction.
He also discussed the type of investment, com- mitment and structures the Northneedstobuildthein- novation, skills and business
Prof Ridgway, who left the AMRC in the autumn, said the current ownership “severely restricts”accesstoexpertiseat other universities and the im- pact of its work is too focused onSouthYorkshireratherthan the whole of the North.
The AMRC pioneered paid work by academics for manu- facturers and led to a Nuclear AMRC, an apprentice training centre and satellites in Derby, Wales,Preston,theWirraland South Korea. It also powered the engineering department to top spot for research in- come this year, overtaking Imperial and Cambridge, earning £124m, some 57 per cent from
the AMRC.
Prof Ridg-
way is now the executive chair oftheAdvanced Forming Research
Centre at Strathclyde Univer- sity. Steve Foxley is the new ex- ecutive director of the AMRC. Heisaformermanagingdirec- tor at global engineering giant Siemens.
Universities minister Chris Skid- more, left, with Andy Storer, chief executive of the Nuclear AMRC.
SteelCityHouse.
Keith Ridgway CBE is co-founder of the AMRC.
base required to rebalance the UKeconomy,reshoreindustry andrecogniseitsfullpotential.
He said: “Driving innova- tion in all parts of the UK is vital. We’re determined to harness brilliant research like this,togrowtheeconomyand secureourstatusasaglobalsci-
ence superpower.”
Vice chancellor, Prof Koen
Lamberts, said: “This model could be one of the key driv- ers for Northern Powerhouse growth, and we are excited to explore how we can work with otheruniversitiestoadaptitto support towns, cities and in-
dustrysectorsacrosstheNorth of England.”
His comments came af- ter former head of the AMRC, ProfKeithRidgway,calledforit to become independent of the university to ensure the whole oftheNorthbenefitsfromits world-leading work.