A Nottinghamshire media event staging company is to expand its workforce thanks to a £50,000 grant from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
Trans-Sport Ltd secured the grant from D2N2’s Unlocking Investment for Growth fund, which is supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
The grant will go towards a £500,000 project to expand the company’s offices in Treswell, near Retford, as well as create a new storage and distribution building.
The company is a major supplier of customised staging in the UK and worldwide, working directly with all media industry suppliers including the BBC; ITV; BSKY B; Matchroom Sport Limited; World Snooker; Professional Darts Corporation and Halfords Media to name just a few.
They are the appointed Rigging Contractors for tours such as the Premier League Darts, European Poker Tour and Caribbean Adventure, technical consultants and staging contractors for World Snooker and Matchroom Sport events as well as the Contractor of choice for the BBC Special Events Team. Trans-Sport operate a turn-key solution from design, manufacture right through to presentation, building television sets, bespoke studios and poker tables for example.
The company has 17 employees but this expansion will see that number increase to 20 by March 2015.
Helen Cope, a director at Trans-Sport, said: “This is fantastic news that we were able to secure grant funding through the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s Unlocking Investment for Growth fund.
“Without the support of this government-backed scheme our project could not happen in the time frames we are now afforded and the increase in jobs could not have been created so quickly.
“This in conjunction with a positive decision made by Bassetlaw District Council in granting us relevant planning permissions on site means Trans-Sport can increase the number of local people employed and the business continues to develop its worldwide platform of supply.”
D2N2 Chief Executive David Ralph said: “This is an established media solutions business, which is an asset to the area. They wish to invest in this expansion to enable them to remain competitive and create three new jobs in a high priority area but the company would have had difficulty going ahead without this grant investment.”
D2N2 – the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – secured £5m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, topped up further by the European Regional Development Fund, to help businesses grow through this Unlocking Investment for Growth (UI4G) programme.
Since launching in 2013, the programme has approved £3.2 million in grant funding which will create 292 jobs. Further applications that are at an advanced stage are requesting in excess of £1.6m and expect to create an additional 200 jobs.
But it is a time-bound opportunity with capital projects having to be completed by March 2015.
The programme will provide a grant in support of capital investment projects with a minimum overall project value of £200,000. In exceptional circumstances up to £500,000 of grant funding is available for projects that can demonstrate real potential to create new jobs.
For more information, go to www.d2n2lep.org/UI4G, or call 01332 826366 or email UI4G@embltd.co.uk