Plans to transform the museum area and overall visitor experience at Birkenhead Priory have been approved. It is benefitting from investment of more than £350,000 under the Town Deal grants awarded to Birkenhead that will enable significant improvements to be carried out at the historic site, which originally dates back
Dubbed ‘Google Maps for heavy industry’ Tended’s advanced Geofencing technology is currently used across the rail industry by leading organisations such as Network Rail, Siemens, Morgan Sindall and Amey to improve safety. Tended successfully closed out the £1.5 million EIS round with Wealth Club with participation from existing investor Blackfinch
Plans to transform the museum area and overall visitor experience at Birkenhead Priory have been approved. It is benefitting from investment of more than £350,000 under the Town Deal grants awarded to Birkenhead that will enable significant improvements to be carried out at the historic site, which originally dates back to the year 1150. A key part of this investment will see the transformation of one of the most eye-catching parts of the existing Birkenhead Priory into a much-improved visitor attraction. The revamp of the ‘Undercroft’, which dates back to the 14th century and features an imposing – and intact – vaulted stone ceiling, will make for a much-enhanced visitor experience, enabling residents and visitors to gain an even-greater insight into the history and heritage of this unique attraction. Improvements supported by the Town Deal grant will also include the reinterpretation of displays to exhibit even more artefacts that tell visitors about the former monastery’s fascinating history, some using state-of-the-art museum equipment and technologies. Visitors will be able to get a better view of the historic floor, with a new system to protect it from harm installed. Proposals have also been made to improve access to the Refectory space on the floor above with the installation of a platform lift. Other improvements to the wider site included in the overall investment are repairs to the historic Chapter House chapel and the installation of a new landmark lighting system on the tower of St Mary’s Church, the only remains of the church, which occupied the site between 1819 and 1977. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Dubbed ‘Google Maps for heavy industry’ Tended’s advanced Geofencing technology is currently used across the rail industry by leading organisations such as Network Rail, Siemens, Morgan Sindall and Amey to improve safety. Tended successfully closed out the £1.5 million EIS round with Wealth Club with participation from existing investor Blackfinch Ventures. In the UK, Network Rail is responsible for maintaining more than 20,000 miles of track – but despite a strong focus on trackside safety, accidents do happen causing significant financial cost and even cost lives. Network Rail has committed a specific allocation of its £44 billion, 5-year budget to improve safety, and has identified geofencing as a key technology for meeting the tightening regulations. With Tended’s solution, which uses Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and real time kinematics (RTK) to provide location to within 1cm, managers can set ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ locations on an easy-to-use dashboard. Meanwhile, high-precision wearables pinpoint where workers and other physical assets are located, and can alert users if they are unsafe. Tended’s commitment to workplace safety was internationally recognised when its product was featured in Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023 list. This recognition illustrates the type of impactful technological solutions Blackfinch Ventures and Wealth Club aims to support through its investments. In January, Siemens Mobility announced that it would be rolling out Tended’s technology across the UK following a successful six-month pilot and small-scale deployments in the South West, where the teams were impressed by its suitability for the varied and complex projects*. Following on from its success in the rail sector, Tended is also targeting other heavy industries including Highways and Utilities. Tended is now working in partnership with the European Space Agency on the next generation of its product. Gayle Bowen, Head of Direct company investments at Wealth Club said: “Tended has achieved a great deal since launching its Geofencing product in March 2023. Not only has it secured contracts and pilots with key industry players like Siemens Mobility but it has also secured major R&D funding to complete the next iteration of its technology. We expect the Department for Transport’s anticipated changes to safety standards to be an important catalyst in this market which could further underpin Tended’s growth plans. Tended is a great example of high impact UK innovation as part of a commercially compelling EIS investment.” Leo Scott Smith, CEO of Tended said: I’m delighted to welcome Wealth Club as a shareholder at this really exciting time in our growth trajectory. We’re already starting to see the profound impact we’re having on safety and efficiency in the rail industry through the implementation of our geofencing technology. With Wealth Club on board, I’m excited to increase this impact and together, work towards our mission of putting an end to preventable fatalities in heavy industries. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
