Business Archives - Invest Colchester

Colchester Council Completes Sale of Northern Gateway Site to Lidl GB

Posted on September 7, 2026 | by Victoria Hanley | Leave a Comment

Cllr Alison Jay, Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Transformation and Digital

The sale of a development site on United Way at Northern Gateway to Lidl GB marks another important milestone in the area’s growth and reflects strong investor confidence in Colchester. Following a highly competitive marketing process with multiple bidders, the council secured best value for the site while demonstrating Northern Gateway’s attractiveness as an investment destination. Lidl has also brought part of the wider site to market for future development opportunities, which could help attract further investment. With existing attractions including Colchester Leisure Park, Colchester Sports Park and the park and ride facilities, Northern Gateway continues to play a key role in the city’s development, with any future proposals for the site subject to the usual planning process.

Business Board manifesto for Greater Essex makes business the driver of growth

Posted on February 5, 2026 | by Editor | Leave a Comment

Business leaders from across Essex came together on 3 February to set out a confident, business-led vision for the future of Greater Essex, launching a new manifesto focused on accelerating growth, attracting investment and unlocking opportunity across the region.

With a £55 billion economy, 94,000 businesses and 878,000 jobs, Greater Essex is already one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing regional economies. GEBB highlighted that if the region performed in line with the wider South East, it could generate up to £8 billion more in economic output each year – underlining the scale of the opportunity for businesses operating in the area.

Read the GEBB Manifesto https://tinyurl.com/4tt44scy

Four Colchester Winners in Essex NOVO Awards

Posted on November 18, 2021 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

2021 saw the BEST Growth Hub launched the inaugural NOVO Awards. Focussed on recognising and rewarding innovation as well as the ability to pivot and adapt, the NOVO Awards saw entries from 100+ Essex-based businesses. Six entry streams were categorised as Economy, Creative, Society, Environment, Use of Business Support and Digitech.

An expert judging panel awarded marks, with 32 entries reaching the benchmark to win NOVO Awards. 26 of the 32 companies won classic NOVOs and six won gold NOVO Awards. Bespoke artisan-made trophies and certificates were presented at the gala presentation and dinner at Braxted Park on 21 October.

Four Colchester companies won awards. Many congratulations to:

CLIP empowers young people to take creative risks and make exciting new music with playful education services and
innovative range of music technology products. CLIP provides music workshops supporting young people to explore new technologies and get curious with sound in supportive and encouraging environments, ensuring self-perceived ability is never a barrier to entry.
Arma Karma is an Insurtech that provides flexible insurance for students and renters. Its subscription based service allows people to cover up to five valuable items at home, while they’re outside the home and abroad as standard. In doing so, they can support a good cause, with 25% of commission revenue going to a charity of their choice from our selected panel of four. Arma Karma aims to raise £1million collectively for these organisations over the next three years.
Business Time in Essex is the only B2B magazine serving Essex. Launched in 2016 it is now the largest regional B2B magazine in the UK. Distributed free to 8,000 businesses across Essex BTIE is also available free online as a flipbook magazine. It offers a wealth of news, views and information on the Essex business scene as well as marketing opportunities for businesses of all types and sizes.
Bare Native is an organic cosmetics company from Mersea Island. It saw the problem of tonnes of oyster shells being thrown into landfill each year by local restaurants as it’s against the law for shells to be thrown back into the water because of the bacteria that then kills growing oysters around the estuary. Bare Native explored the benefits of oyster shell powder and transcended it into the formulation of specialised skin care, upcycling oyster shells in the process without the use of toxic chemicals. It’s skin care line works with the world-famous, Colchester Native Oyster and has proven that the rare composition of the oyster shell is an incredible exfoliant and healing aid to the skin’s epidermal layer.

Image credit: BEST Growth Hub

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London Stansted rallies to the call of Africa with new Air Senegal service to Dakar

Posted on February 26, 2020 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

London Stansted airport will open up the UK’s only direct service to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from this summer, boosting tourism and trade links for the East of England and London.

Air Senegal, who has chosen London Stansted for its first ever UK service, will operate three flights a week starting on June 26 to the city made famous by the historic long-distance car rally.

The news has been welcomed by organisations and businesses in the region who say the flight will give local firms the chance to develop new trade and investment opportunities.

Image: London Stansted

Colchester Business Enterprise Agency’s Scoops National Award

Posted on December 4, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

Colchester Business Enterprise Agency (COLBEA) was named Enterprise Support Organisation of the Year at the 2019 National Enterprise Network Awards. Enterprise Support Organisation of the Year (Turnover Under £750k) was awarded to Colbea for their strategic and astute practices including match-funding, sponsorship, partnerships and engagement with local businesses, the judges praised Colbea’s strong commitment and determination to support impactful initiatives. The end result is an agency that provides outstanding enterprise support, which is driving forward economic prosperity within Colbea’s community.

Image credit: Mandeep Singh Gabhari

Colchester Businesses Celebrate Success

Posted on November 1, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

Local dignitaries, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Colchester, joined almost a hundred representatives of the local business community at Wivenhoe House, Colchester this week to celebrate enterprise in the town at Colchester Business Enterprise Agency’s (Colbea) 2019 Annual General Party (AGP).

Image credit: COLBEA

Lodge Park Business Centre Expansion Underway

Posted on October 24, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

To tackle the shortage of serviced office facilities in Colchester, Lodge Park Business Centre is
embarking on an impressive expansion of its popular business centre just off the A12 at Langham. Rose Builders Ltd have been
awarded the construction contract and have now started work on the first new building of the planned
expansion.

This additional building will deliver a further 42 serviced desks while a second building planned to
follow will bring a further 64 desks to the market making Lodge Park Business Centre one of the biggest
in the borough. A planning application is currently under consideration by Colchester Borough Council
for further office accommodation.

The new building under construction has been specifically designed to attract professional services
organisations ranging in size from 1 to 4 people while the second will target slightly larger
organisations of up to 12 people.

Since its acquisition three years ago, Lodge Park Business Centre has undergone a major
transformation to create one of the most prestigious business centres in Colchester. Commenting on
the planned facilities, Joshua Warren, Managing Director of Lodge Park Business Centre said: “We are
delighted to bring more serviced office space to Colchester’s start-up and entrepreneurial community.
Colchester is rapidly growing and hence it is important that it has a range of offices to meet all needs
particularly high-quality serviced offices for the smaller organisations.”

“Since purchasing Lodge Park in 2016, we have been successful at establishing our business centre as
the location for Colchester’s professional services firms. They appreciate the high-quality environment
that we have created, the easy access to the A12 and A120 and the ample parking available for tenants
and visitors as well as all the other all-inclusive services we offer.”

Scheduled for completion in May 2020, Lodge Park Business Centre is being advertised locally and
through Fenn Wright incorporating Newman Commercial.

Lodge Park Business Centre is a self-contained business centre on the outskirts of Severalls, Colchester.
Adjacent to the A12 & A120 junction, it consists of 27,000 square feet of offices in a landscaped
parkland setting. Half of the offices are serviced offices on an easy in / easy out basis for the small and
medium enterprises of Colchester.

Image credit: Lodge Park

Colchester-based Ultimotive wins Small Business of the Year Award in the Eastern Region

Posted on October 11, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

Brand licensing company Ultimotive continues their winning year with another award for 2019. Recognising and rewarding excellence in British business, the Chamber Business Awards is one of the UK’s most contested and prestigious business award programmes. Each year, from Aberdeen to Cornwall, organisations of all sizes and sectors compete for the coveted titles and the national recognition they bring.

The Small Business of the Year category is sponsored by Facebook. The ability to highlight strong financial performance as well as consistent growth secured Ultimotive, the only Essex-based company listed, with this prestigious award.

Image credit: Chamber Business Awards

New £12m Innovation Centre Opened by Chancellor John Bercow at University of Essex

Posted on July 15, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

A new home for early stage and start-up technology companies and student entrepreneurs has been officially opened by The Rt Hon John Bercow MP at the University of Essex’s Knowledge Gateway research and technology park. The Innovation Centre is being operated by the UK’s leading innovation centre operator, Oxford Innovation, and will eventually host more than 50 businesses. It is also the base for Studio X, the university’s digital creative collaborative studio and student start-up programme.

Image credit: University of Essex, David Higgleton

Colchester’s Ultimotive Wins Queen’s Award for International Trade

Posted on May 1, 2019 | by web@colchester.gov.uk

Image Credit: Ultimotive: A Colchester chemical cleaning manufacturer has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its excellence in international trade. Ultimotive develops, manufactures, markets and supplies innovative chemical cleaning products for the global automotive industry. The firm was started by managing director Andy Smith in 2003 and supplies major brands under license such as Williams F1, Moto GP and Michelin.