Elder Studios
A software engineering specialist is helping clients keep their businesses running smoothly.
Elder Studios, basad at the Media Centre in Huddersfield, was launched three years ago by Chris Gillespie and Alex Wright “to create a business where they and other software developers would want to work”.
Within a few months, they had taken on their first employee. Three years on, they employ 21 staff providing services and expertise over the entire software “life-cycle” from planning and integration, infrastructure and testing to maintenance and support.
Current clients include a £1bn turnover telecoms provider and a rapidly expanding meat producer which has recently added wholesale and e-commerce channels to its business and is set to hit turnover of £10m this year.
Over the past 12 months, Elder Studios has been building links with Huddersfield University’s school of computing to deliver an advanced web programming module for final year computing students.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Robson said: “We are incredibly proud of how far we have come in the last 12 months.”
She added: “We believe that the quality of our work drive the growth of our business and as a result of our continued success, we have hired staff year-on-year.”
Rebecca said: “Our developers are the most vital part of our company. We depend on them and on their talent to keep our business moving forward.
“We promote a forward-thinking productive ethos throughout the company and offer our staff many benefits.”
Elder Studios plans to expand the team further next year – and build on its partnership with the university.
ROKT Climbing Gym
They’re certainly going up in the world!
A former flour mill in Brighouse has been transformed into arguably the most innovative climbing centre in the UK.
ROKT Climbing Gym, based at the former Sugden’s flour mill, is catering for everyone from beginners to world-class international climbers.
Commercial director Euan Noble said: “Indoor climbing is a fast-growing activity, but tends towards the elite. We created ROKT to be everything that climbing should be about – fun, problem-based activities, the desire to get stronger, climb higher and above all attract everyone regardless or background or ability.”
After six months of opening, ROKT had 6,000 members. At year one, it had 11,000. Now it has more than 30,000 members – and numbers are still growing.
Said Euan: “In the last year, we have gone about our business quietly, expanded quickly and developed extensively – driven by a passion for climbing, tourism and growing the local economy.
“ROKT is now a series of buildings and experiences – not just a climbing wall – and we’ve worked with community, council. professional bodies and Welcome to Yorkshire to create this attraction for everyone from British and European gold medal climbers to families and people aged two to 92.”
In the 12 months to March this year, ROKT welcomed about 47,500 visitors – with a third from outside Yorkshire and one in 10 from overseas.
ROKT has also developed an indoor caving experience – a 30-minute, 330ft run of pitch black tight twists and turns.
And there’s more! Said Euan: “Major, ground-breaking plans are about to become a realty at ROKT.”
ProVu Communications
They’re a leading player in their field.
Milnsbridge-based ProVu Communications was formed in 1999 by chairman Peter Bryant and sales director Ian Godfrey to capture the video phone market.
But with broadband replacing ISDN-based services and demand growing for Session Initiation Protocol-based communications, ProVu has shifted its focus to become the UK’s leading business-to-business distributor of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) hardware.
ProVu is the principle distributor for many leading brands of IP phones and other products, including door entry and network switches. It supplies products and services via a network of UK-based channel partners, ranging from IT and network support companies to telecom resellers and consultants.
The firm’s 19-stong team includes several Huddersfield University graduates.
Spokeswoman Kate Millard said: “ProVu believes in home-grown talent, by picking good people with the right attitude and then nurturing them to meet their true potential. The people who work for ProVu are responsible for their success.”
She said: “Since its creation, ProVu has grown year-on-year and through organic growth the last three years have seen growth racket up significantly.”
Last March, ProVu was named one of the 50 fastest growing Tech companies in the north of England. It has also been shortlisted for national industry-specific awards, including Distributor of the Year in the Comms Business Awards and Distributor Accounts Team of the Year in the Comms Dealer Awards.
In the last 12 months, it has doubled its sales team, invested in apprenticeships with Kirklees College and built a dedicated showroom and training facility.
Order volumes and values have also risen significantly.
