Case Study

42Technology - consultancy and professional services

42T is a product development and technology innovation consultancy based in St. Ives that partners with its clients to solve complex engineering problems and create brilliantly successful products across three key sectors: industrial, transport and energy; consumer; and healthcare and life sciences.

The team take on multidisciplinary projects that are technically challenging, highly collaborative, and require innovative solutions.

In early 2022, following 12 months of significant growth and strengthening of its in-house team and development capabilities, 42T rebranded and updated its marketing materials to better reflect the breadth of services offered.

Growth

Initially starting out in 1998 as mechanical designers of rugged power tools from a garage in Peterborough, 42T relocated to the Meadow Lane development in 2004 just as the Cambridge phenomenon was booming.

Within seven years the company outgrew those initial premises and moved to a different space on the same site in 2011.
CEO Jon Spratley says: “When I joined in 2007 I was the thirteenth person in and we occupied two out of three floors of the building. Now we have three times the space and four times the people. And we have big ambitions to accelerate growth over the next few years too.”

As the team worked from home during the pandemic this provided the perfect opportunity to reconfigure the office and development laboratory space to enable staff to return to collaborative work safely.

42T have recently reconfigured its space to allow for significantly improved and expanded lab space, high quality meeting spaces, collaborative space and refreshed the office. This should support growth for the next few years and the company has already been in discussion with Huntingdonshire District Council in order to be kept up to date with property/space availability as they will be in the market for bigger premises in the future.

Location, location, location

St. Ives is a thriving riverside market town and Meadow Lane is not only within easy walking distance of the town centre but also has excellent access to the A14, A1 and Huntingdon railway station.

Although the clients 42T works with are located all over the world, being based in a well-connected location that is so well served with transportation links is an asset. Being within reach of a variety of London airports is helpful when it comes to international travel making St. Ives a smart, strategic location.

The guided busway helps with recruitment too as people can get in from Cambridge and beyond meaning there is a diverse talent pool to draw from.

As Jon says: “St. Ives is a really nice place to be. We’ve got enough of the connection into Cambridge to be close enough to the tech infrastructure there that’s important to us, but we don’t have the associated costs of facilities or traffic that come with it. This is a real benefit to attracting good quality recruits.”
Many of the 50-strong workforce live locally and enjoy being able to walk or cycle to work as well as benefit from the superior quality of life and green open spaces provided in the bustling market town.

Jon says: “Getting here is simple but the real draw for why we’re keen to stay in the area is the connection to St. Ives and being able to walk in. The team really appreciate the location and I think the pandemic highlighted the importance of the work/life balance which is easier to achieve when you don’t have to spend a long time on a commute or deal with congestion.”