Food research company looks to grow in Melton

A new company that is looking to change the way food is produced in the UK has moved into Melton.
Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.
Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.

Evolve Growing Solutions is the 80th company to have moved on to the Pera business park, in Nottingham Road.

Phillip Lee, managing director of the company, which employs five people, says there were a number of reasons for the move from Nottingham.

He said: “Melton is regarded as the country’s food capital, and this is something with which we wish to be associated.

Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.
Nigel Brown, of Pera, and Phillip Lee, managing director of Evolve.

“We are specialists in the development of the next generation of food production in the UK and internationally.

"Evolve designs projects all over the world and looks to build greenhouses, vertical farms and anaerobic facilities - basically waste to energy to food proposition.

"Pera is ideal for us as we know it is possible for us to expand on this site.

“Significant expansion for us is planned, and by the end of next year.

“We hope to have up to 12 staff and by the end of 2020 we aim to have 40 employees.

Mr Lee added: “It will allow us to develop without worrying too much about our facilities, and in particular the warehouse research facility will allow us to take on multiple research projects, and to test and deploy things in a way we could not do elsewhere.

He added: “Pera is unIque - it is a fantastic combination of a natural, rural environment with facilities similar to those you find at Canary Wharf.

“We were blown away to find it has a 450 people auditorium slap bang in the middle of Melton.

“We plan to hold an international conference here next year.”

Evolve was created with the aim of identifying and developing new technologies that can move the built environment and food production towards a more sustainable future.

It seeks to encourage the growth of better tasting food in a more sustainable way.

Nigel Brown, managing director of Pera, said: “We’re always excited to have new and diverse companies coming to the Business Park.

"Evolve not only has an office at Pera, but we’ve also been able to accommodate them with space in our workshop, so that they can carry out their research and development work to support their very innovative global projects.

“Since moving onto the Park three-months ago, Evolve has already outgrown their office and are moving into a bigger space, on-site, very soon.

“The nature of Evolve’s work means that they employ postgraduate students – so the links to local universities is good too.”

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