Fill Your Boots

Zero-waste shop celebrates third anniversary at Space

by Uncategorized

A Gloucester nurse is celebrating her third year helping people cut down on plastic after opening a zero-waste essentials shop during the pandemic.  

Private care nurse and mum of three, Louise Coleman launched loose food and home essentials shop Fill Your Boots at Space Business Centre Gloucester in January 2020.

Having been open only a matter of weeks before the pandemic and facing an uncertain future, Louise is now celebrating her third year in operation and is hoping to reach more of the Gloucestershire public.

The outlet offers customers a range of loose food, household items and eco-friendly products with a focus on sustainable, packaging-free shopping, as well as zero-waste party pack hires.

Louise was inspired to start the business after her children made her more aware of the impact plastic packaging has on the environment.

She said: “The pandemic was unintentionally a great time for me to start the business. Customers were able to spend more time choosing their purchases and thinking reflectively about the food they purchased, and lots of them have shopped with us ever since.

“The flexibility offered by units at the Space Business Centre also helped with the changing of restrictions, meaning we were able to respond quickly to keep customers safe.

“The short-term contracts available also helped to ease my worries during that time of upheaval and have given me the flexibility to grow my business the way I want to.

“With all my children attending school from next year, I am hoping to really grow the business and with the potential to move into a new unit, the future is looking bright.”

Space Business Centres Gloucester and Cheltenham are owned by property development company AC Lloyd and offer flexible, multi-use units ranging from 275 to 775 sq ft.

Lucy Iles, site manager at AC Lloyd Space Business in Gloucester and Cheltenham, said: “It is absolutely brilliant to see how much Fill Your Boots has grown since arriving at the Space Business Park in Gloucester.

“Fill Your Boots is a wonderful member of the community here as we continue to expand our retail offering, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to enjoy a different way of food shopping that helps customers reduce their impact on the environment while enjoying a friendly and engaging shopping experience.”

Trilvee pic

Pioneering transport start-up heads to Cheltenham for next phase of development

by News

An innovative technology start-up is looking to transform urban transportation from a state-of-the-art business centre in Cheltenham.

Trilvee, which is developing a teleoperated, on-demand transport service to minimise congestion and the need for parking and cut emissions in UK cities while reducing costs for road users, has launched the next phase of its development at AC Lloyd Space Business Centre in Cheltenham.

The company, which is based in London and comprises a team of software and automotive experts, is using the unit as a hardware and design workshop to test and develop prototypes, including a two seat, stabilised, three-wheel electric vehicle to meet most urban transport needs.

The lightweight fully electric vehicle reduces the energy used per mile compared to standard EVs without requiring the materials and energy of resource-intensive EV manufacturing, as well as mitigating the initial cost of a personal electric vehicle and reducing space and energy wasted on unoccupied seats.

Trilvee’s research suggests that around two thirds of all car journeys are single occupant and most of the rest are two.

Once a ride has been requested, an electric vehicle is driven remotely to the customer’s location. The customer gets into the vehicle and self-drives to their destination, whereupon they exit the vehicle, end their ride, and remote operators drive the empty vehicle to the next customer or for top up charging.

Trilvee hopes for its service, which is accessed by requesting a ride via a smartphone app, to start an initial trial in 2023 with full rollout to the public in 2024.

James Campbell, co-founder and Director of Automotive at Trilvee, said: “Space Cheltenham is a perfect development location for us as we have been able to tailor the unit to our specific needs while we perfect our design and hardware.

“It is a very exciting project that started as a conversation among colleagues in the automotive industry and eventually transitioned into an ambitious but achievable means of transport as we explored the potential benefits of on-demand, space-saving travel and how we might be able to bring it to market.

“The work that we are undertaking at Space is vital to our progress in the coming months and years, and the location in general provides opportunities for us to develop our extra-urban network further down the line, with inner-city travel the priority for 2024.”

Space Business Centres Gloucester and Cheltenham are owned by property development company AC Lloyd and offer flexible, multi-use units ranging from 275 to 775 sq ft.

Lucy Iles, site manager at Space Gloucester and Cheltenham, said: “It’s been fascinating to see the work that Trilvee has been doing and we are thrilled that they have chosen Space Business Centres as an ideal location outside of London to house their workshop.

“We are excited to see what James and the team can achieve over the next few years.”

For more information about Trilvee, visit www.trilvee.com