Spotlight on Howbery Business Park

Our award-winning Park has come a long way since its early days as the site acquired by the Government to house the Hydraulic Research Station in 1951, and is now a thriving commercial centre, the UK’s first solar-powered business park, and home to more than 50 different businesses and organisations.” Donna Bowles, Estates Manager.

Venture Harbour

Venture Harbour is a digital innovation studio which has grown from one employee to having a globally distributed team of 20 plus people since setting up at Howbery Business Park.

With a team of passionate digital marketers, product designers & developers, Venture Harbour has built nine ventures ranging from lead generation software to artificial intelligence chatbots, transforming the way over 3 million marketers and entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Leadformly, the company’s latest venture is its most successful to date, and is now used by leading brands all over the world.

“We’ve grown by 330% per year since being at Howbery Park, making us one of the 50 fastest growing tech companies in the UK. And we base everything we do on one guiding principle: Each new venture we build must be more ambitious than the last.”
Marcus Taylor, Founder and CEO, VentureHarbour

A Centre for Water Science

Water Science remains an important focus for Howbery Park with civil engineering and environmental hydraulics organisation, HR Wallingford having its headquarters, physical modelling laboratories and UK Ship Simulation Centre on the Park.

The independent research and consultancy which earlier this year celebrated its 70th anniversary, delivers solutions to complex water-related challenges faced by its clients around the world.

HR Wallingford leads in the development of scientific methods and models for assessing flood risk; planning and implementing management strategies; and delivering innovative and intelligent risk-based approaches to securing a more resilient future.

Maritime expertise includes the provision of technical consultancy services for the design of maritime projects around the world, such as  the selection, design and improvement of ports, harbours, and terminals.  The UK Ship Simulation Centre houses advanced navigation simulation technology with four real-time ship simulators, each simulator a functioning ship’s or tug’s bridge surrounded by a 360-degree simulated environment.

The Environment Agency’s Wallingford Hub is also located on the Park, housed in Red Kite House, one of two award-winning grade A BREEAM specification office buildings.

GTI

GTI has been a local employer since its foundation over 30 years ago and moved onto Howbery Park in 2009.

When GTI was formed its mission was simple: to help organisations recruit top early talent, while providing students with the best resources possible to make successful decisions about their future. Today, it is the UK and Ireland’s leading provider of graduate and school leaver recruitment services for employers looking to attract and recruit the most talented students.

GTI provides access to top-quality students through an unbeatable series of media products and databases. It also supports companies recruiting early talent with market-leading products and services including student research, employer branding, candidate sourcing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and application tracking systems (ATS).

For schools and higher education institutions, GTI offers unique support and partnerships to help their students make more informed career decisions. Its careers resources for students and school leavers include the UK’s largest graduate jobs website, the most-read careers publications on campus, and industry-renowned events designed to improve work-readiness.

Lifestyles Gym

Founded at Howbery Park, and having recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, Lifestyles is a gym specialising in rehabilitation which is helping people of all ages to improve their quality of life through movement therapy.

Starting from just a few machines and a limited range of weights, the gym has since expanded to include a complete range of cardio equipment, weight training areas and treatment rooms.

The gym’s clients include those who have had a heart attack or stroke, or who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s Disease, cancer, depression, and many other conditions.

“Rehabilitation is our passion. Whether it’s due to a sporting injury, stress at work, or a serious stroke or cardiac condition, we aim to get our clients moving and give them back some quality of life. Howbery Park is very convenient for our clients with easy access and parking and of course, we also offer a regular gym which many people working on the Park use before or after work.”
Lisa Treacher, Founder, Lifestyles Gym

P1vital

P1vital and its affiliate company P1vital Products, is an innovative Clinical Research and Healthcare Organisation specialising in products and services for psychiatric and eating disorders and obesity. P1vital moved to Howbery Park in 2013 when it relocated from the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital.

The organisation was recently awarded €4 Million from the EU Commission to develop and launch its novel medical device the P1vital® PReDicT Test across Europe.

The PReDicT Test is a major breakthrough in the treatment of depression, with the potential to significantly reduce the time for patients to return to good mental health, by enabling physicians to identify whether or not an antidepressant is working after only one week of starting treatment, and so decrease the time to response and remission for depressed patients.

“We were drawn to Howbery Business Park because of its parkland site and accessible location. It’s not only an inspiring setting to host visits from our pharmaceutical and healthcare clients, but it also provides an attractive location for our employees.”
Dr Colin Dourish, CEO, P1vital

Further Development

Howbery Park, which this year won Business Park of the Year in the Thames Valley Property Awards, has planning consent to develop a further 74,000 sq ft (6,875 sq m).

Site owner, HR Wallingford, is keen to attract businesses and organisations, both commercial and academic, who have a focus on resilience, including water, infrastructure, cyber-security, or environmental hazards.

Located near Wallingford, the Park is set in the grounds of the former Howbery Manor dating back to the 1850’s, and covers a 70 acre site, including mature parkland adjoining the River Thames.