News: A decade at Century

Century Business Centre at Manvers in Rotherham has recently celebrated 10 years of helping local enterprises to thrive and grow. The Centre, designed for small and new start business, offers a range of office and workshop units, and Centre staff marked the occasion with some of their current tenant companies.

Since 2000 the Centre has been home to over 200 businesses, creating more than 600 jobs.

The Centre, owned and managed by Rotherham Investment & Development Office (RiDO), the regeneration arm of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council was originally developed to help local people in the Manvers area of the Dearne Valley to set up their own businesses following the decline of traditional industries.

Amanda Parris, RiDO's Business Centre Manager said: "This is an important milestone, not just for Century but for the fact that it started the whole culture of business incubation in Rotherham. It has been really great working with all of the businesses that have being based here over the years, and to see many of them grow and expand.

"It has also being interesting to see the developments around the Manvers area in the last ten years. Back in 2000 Century stood on its own, but now with more commercial and residential developments, the area is a great place to live and work."

Martek Marine have grown from one workshop unit and £6,000 of start up capital into a world leader in the manufacture of safety and environmental emissions monitoring systems for the global marine industry, turning over in excess of £7m per year.

Steve Coulson, Director at Martek Marine said: "Choosing Century Business Centre was a great decision in our growth story. The set-up at the Centre gave us the flexibility to develop our business in a rapid, organic way, allowing our business to incubate then accommodating our growth spurts, and eventually allowing us to fend for ourselves without bureaucracy or fuss.

"The business centre itself is only one story; the staff are the true stars. Led by Amanda Parris they always gave us the very best service, and after leaving Century to move into a self contained unit we have continued to progress, even in the harshest trading conditions in living memory."

The success at Century led the Council to expand the provision for small business incubator premises, and RiDO now has four centres, located across the Borough at Moorgate Crofts, Templeborough and Dinnington providing over 200 office and workshop units.

RiDO business centres website

Images: RiDO