The region’s first certified PassivHaus office at client Raynsway Properties’ Watermead Business Park in Syston was given the seal of approval by Business Secretary Vince Cable MP last night after he visited the recently completed project.

Dr Cable praised the ‘extraordinary building’ as he was given a tour around the 6,000 sq ft premises by representatives from key partners Raynsway, Interserve, CPMG Architects and environmental building consultants CPW, during which he was able to learn more about sustainable development and more specifically about the principles of PassivHaus.

He congratulated everyone involved in the project and spoke of the need to look at similar schemes for industrial and commercial buildings across the country, saying that “energy efficiency needs to be a key consideration in the construction of any new build offices and commercial premises”.

The £1.5m state of the art facility pushes the boundary of environmentally friendly design and is now home to around 50 employees from Interserve - one of the world’s foremost support services and construction companies.

Vince Cable is given a tour around the new PassivHaus office at the Watermead Business Park in Leicester

Tom Watkinson from Raynsway Properties (right) speaks in more details to Vince Cable MP about PassivHaus

The new PassivHaus office at Watermead Business Park

Client and regional property developer Raynsway Properties last week teamed up with Apprentice star and entrepreneur Joanna Riley following the re-launch of her Leicester based cleaning company Cleancom Ltd.

 Raynsway Properties has agreed a deal with Joanna which will see its tenants given a 15% discount for the first year if they sign a new cleaning contract with Cleancom.

Cleancom Ltd, based in Syston, Leicester has expanded from a small firm to a nationally recognised business that offers a wide variety of services related to cleaning including domestic, commercial and retail, specialist cleaning and pest control.

 We spoke to Joanna about her latest contract and she said, “When I appeared on The Apprentice, Lord Sugar and his team taught me many invaluable lessons that have given me the business tools to re-launch my cleaning company, Cleancom based in Syston. Meeting with Raynsway Properties was very positive and I hope to have an ongoing relationship with them in the future.’

 If you would like to read more about Cleancom or arrange a meeting with them today, please call 0116 216 6565, email info@clean-com.co.uk or visit the website at www.clean-com.co.uk

A brand new, state-of-the-art building, which pushes the boundaries of environmentally friendly design and will be the first of its kind in the Midlands, is being built at the Watermead Business Park in Syston, owned by client Raynsway Properties. 

The £1.5m project is seeing a 6,000 sq ft regional office constructed for Interserve Project Services, one of the world’s foremost support services and construction companies, using the design principles of PassivHaus, a well established German based building standard which reduces energy costs by approximately 90%, compared to traditional build properties both in the residential and commercial markets.

The project is believed to be the first of its kind in the Midlands, with only two other PassivHaus offices completed in the country at present. Build work is expected to take until July 2011 to complete.

The Unsworth Sugden PR team secured the following coverage in this week’s Leicester Mercury business supplement about the project.

A CGI of the new Interserve office at the Watermead Business Park in Syston

“SMILE!!”

Employees at client Raynsway Properties wear it pink in support of the Breast Cancer Campaign. A total of just under £2,000 was raised by staff working for firms at the Watermead Business Park in Syston.

Have you ever heard of Sepak Takraw? No, nor had we until the Leicester Mercury recently interviewed Tom Watkinson, MD of client Raynsway Group, for the Company Car Man feature in Tuesday’s Business section…

“ It took guts to eat”

“Monkey was okay, but Tom did not fall for the ostrich”

This week’s Company Car Man is Tom Watkinson, 44, managing director of commercial property developer Raynsway Group, in Watermead Business Park. He drives a Nissan Navarra.

 Here are his views on some of the week’s hot topics.

  Q. A farmer in Lebanon has grown a whopping 11kg potato. What’s the weirdest thing you have eaten?

 A. The year was 1989 and I was with the British Sepak takraw team, in Malaysia, for the world championships – Sepak takraw is a southeast Asian sport resembling volleyball. We ate monkey intestines at a market stall. It was a bit bland, but okay. Not long after, most of the team went down with food poisoning. Oddly, I survived unscathed.

 Q. The Bishop of Leicester has launched a campaign to help people rediscover the magic of Christmas. It will include adverts on the sides of buses. What is your view?

 A. That’s fantastic – the adverts should relate to a wider and younger audience. I have met the bishop and he struck me as open-minded and progressive.

 Q. Ministers are looking at how benefits claimants can do more to “earn” their welfare payments. Is this overdue?

 A. Everyone should have the opportunity to earn their keep. If changing the system leads to genuine employment, that must be a good thing.

 Q. Has your view of how the Government is handling the economic crisis changed in the weeks since the pre-Budget report?

 A. The worry is that, under pressure to react, bad and rushed policies result. The appalling decision to end relief from empty business property rates is an example. The bailing out of the banks is the equivalent cost of a major war. We are likely to be paying for it for generations to come.

 Q. How do you feel about Sky’s decision to broadcast a controversial documentary which showed a British man with motor neurone disease committing assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic?

 A. Such matters are deeply personal and sad. I support the right of any adult to choose most things, but these things are best kept private.

 Q. Users of social networking website Facebook have been targeted by a virus which tries to steal credit card details. What is the worst scam you have encountered?

 A. Remember the ostrich farming scams, where con artists exploited fears about beef during the mad cow disease crisis? They tried to promote investing in ostrich meat as a viable alternative but many people were ripped off. I looked at, but luckily avoided, that one – although the idea of a mature bird costing £17,000 and laying 70 eggs a year worth £1,000 each did sound fantastic.