C Mitten: the local renewable energy specialist helping reduce fuel poverty
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10th March 2015
Heating, plumbing and renewable energy specialist C Mitten is in rude health. The Brighton-based company has doubled its turnover and taken on 10 new employees over the past year.
It has been working with Your Energy Sussex, a partnership between local councils and Carillion, to install new boilers and insulation free of charge to low-income and vulnerable residents through the Government Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) scheme.
“It’s always great to be able to take on new staff, especially when you know that each one is helping local residents stay warm and reduce their fuel bills,” says managing director Charlie Mitten.
To keep pace with its growing operations, C Mitten needed to update some of its health and safety policies, including bringing into line its risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) with those of the Your Energy Sussex programme. And as a south east small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) in the renewable energy supply chain, the business was able to access free support through the Institute for Sustainability’s RE:Start Local programme. Experts from the Sustainable Business Partnership CIC worked with the company on a one-to-one basis to develop effective RAMS to cover all eventualities – working at heights or tight spaces or uncovering unexpected asbestos, for example.
With a growing workforce and increased materials to purchase, C Mitten also turned to RE:Start Local for financial guidance. Specialist consultancy Carbon Minded helped the company create a new cash flow model and renegotiate payment terms with a number of suppliers, to help improve financial forecasting and reduce risk.
“There was a fantastic range of support on offer helping us expand our business. All companies are tight for time, so to be able to tap into ready expertise at each stage of our development has been a great help,” comments Mitten.
Alongside the specialist one-to-one support, a range of events and seminars were held exploring topics such as public sector tendering and the latest industry developments; at the time the Green Deal and ECO.
As well as helping attendees decide which avenues to pursue to grow their businesses, the events proved to provide great networking opportunities.
Over 200 businesses participated in the RE:Start Local programme in Sussex.
The Institute worked in partnership with B&E Group, Crawley Borough Council, Milton Keynes Council, National Energy Foundation, Reading Borough Council, West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, MTW, TV Bio Energy and TV Energy.
Completed in December 2014, the project was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
“It’s always great to be able to take on new staff, especially when you know that each one is helping local residents stay warm and reduce their fuel bills,” says managing director Charlie Mitten.
To keep pace with its growing operations, C Mitten needed to update some of its health and safety policies, including bringing into line its risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) with those of the Your Energy Sussex programme. And as a south east small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) in the renewable energy supply chain, the business was able to access free support through the Institute for Sustainability’s RE:Start Local programme. Experts from the Sustainable Business Partnership CIC worked with the company on a one-to-one basis to develop effective RAMS to cover all eventualities – working at heights or tight spaces or uncovering unexpected asbestos, for example.
With a growing workforce and increased materials to purchase, C Mitten also turned to RE:Start Local for financial guidance. Specialist consultancy Carbon Minded helped the company create a new cash flow model and renegotiate payment terms with a number of suppliers, to help improve financial forecasting and reduce risk.
“There was a fantastic range of support on offer helping us expand our business. All companies are tight for time, so to be able to tap into ready expertise at each stage of our development has been a great help,” comments Mitten.
Alongside the specialist one-to-one support, a range of events and seminars were held exploring topics such as public sector tendering and the latest industry developments; at the time the Green Deal and ECO.
As well as helping attendees decide which avenues to pursue to grow their businesses, the events proved to provide great networking opportunities.
Over 200 businesses participated in the RE:Start Local programme in Sussex.
The Institute worked in partnership with B&E Group, Crawley Borough Council, Milton Keynes Council, National Energy Foundation, Reading Borough Council, West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, MTW, TV Bio Energy and TV Energy.
Completed in December 2014, the project was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
