In 1872, a new mill was constructed on Quay Street for the specific purpose of cotton spinning, a manufacturing sector that at the time was booming and Huddersfield benefited from the jobs and value created. Today, a new future for part of the site has just been made public. A new, modern and dynamic manufacturing facility will be created to house one of today’s leading businesses in the town, Paxman Coolers Ltd, once again placing Huddersfield at the forefront of a sector, health tech, and bringing new jobs and value to the town. See the proposed design, integrating the new with the old, in the images here.
Huddersfield Unlimited has been privileged to know that this collaboration has been in preparation for a couple of years, following the two CEO’s Ian Brierley and Rich Paxman, speaking together at an HU Breakfast Briefing!
The location on Quay Street is within Kirklees Council’s Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor and is on the edge of both the University of Huddersfield’s National Heath Innovation Campus and WYCA’s Innovation Zone, all showcasing what can be achieved in Huddersfield by the relevant entrepreneurial individuals speaking together and acting accordingly.
Our Programme Director, Charles Maltby, was recently able to speak with both Rich (pictured left) and Ian (right) to find out more about the new opportunity. Rich whilst on a business trip to Canada and Ian in his mill here in Huddersfield.
CM: Tell us about you and your business story for 2025 and beyond?
RP: We ended 2024 with our best financial year to date, an incredible achievement for us all, with decent cash flow, which has put us in a good position to continue investing into the new year. With 105 people, we move into 2025 with some core focuses in terms of our overall strategy. These include further increasing patient access to our technology through reimbursement in the United States, commencing regulatory work in the lead up to commercialisation of our new product in 2026, and the acquisition of a US competitor. The latter now completed, it will require the usual integration for both businesses but gives a 50% growth in the number of customers we now have in the USA.
We also raised a further £9M in funding to support our strategy to complete new product development work and the subsequent commercialisation of those products globally. In addition, we’ll continue to invest in ongoing research, looking at novel therapies and hair loss prevention, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, through the established research centre here at the University of Huddersfield as well as with other Universities in the region. Both 2025 and 2026 are poised to be transformative and highly significant milestones in our journey.
IB: For 125 years the 1872 mill was used for yarn production, and it was pretty good for that purpose. But by around 2000, the UK textile market had declined to such an extent that this one site had 100% of the UK medium count doubling manufacturing. We had a monopoly, which in one sense is good, but in a declining market, business reduced every year and as a result, buildings originally very fit for purpose and whilst running in a very efficient way, were no longer viable. We have made acquisitions to maintain a level of business, but you are swimming against the tide and each in time reduces once again. I don’t regret it because the alternative, at any stage along the line, would have been to have said “we are shutting up” meaning more people would have lost their jobs. The textile business is still operating, but on nothing like the scale that it was. Over the last 25 years we have consolidated the business into one of the two mills, and this now puts us in a position now that we have an opportunity to build another new building that is fit for today’s purpose.
I strongly believe in the power of the free market and the ability of businesses, like this business, when there was a larger textile industry in this country, and Paxman now to adapt. Given a free rein business will find a way to make a profit which then provides jobs and taxes which are obviously vital for a town to thrive.
CM: How has Huddersfield helped you be successful in business and what advice would you give to someone looking to set up, relocate or expand their business in the town?
IB: It’s all about people. The people in Huddersfield are, by and large great: honest, hardworking, decent. They are, and I think in the areas that are relevant to a lot of the businesses around here, knowledgeable. There’s knowhow in this area. It’s not just people with the right attributes, they’ve also got the right, knowhow to help businesses thrive. Which isn’t true everywhere. You can have a willing, helpful workforce in some areas that don’t have the right knowledge.
The town’s location is an asset, between Leeds and Manchester currently benefiting from the Transpennine Route Upgrade for better access. You’ve got access to the countryside, you’ve got access to the green space, easily from your home or place of work. Plus, there is all the work from Kirklees Council in the town centre. It is great that there is there is a plan with progress being made for all to benefit from.
RP: We were born and raised in Huddersfield. I think the long history of engineering in the region and family background – as you know, that’s where my dad came from – ultimately supported his entrepreneurial spirit and his ability to develop a product and commercialise it as we continue to do today.
I often put a West Yorkshire hat on, recognising the region for its support, as well as our proximity to the University of Huddersfield being real catalysts for what we’ve been able to achieve. The establishment of the Paxman Scalp Cooling Research and Innovation Centre at the University of Huddersfield was key, adding to supporting and advancing our product, our development, but also knowing how their knowledge base, with a science-led approach enhances what we didn’t have before. We’ve gone from this manufacturing/engineering style business – which we were many, many years ago – to what is now a health tech company and without that ecosystem around us, which does spread to West Yorkshire, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve that as easily.
If you’re wanting to relocate to Huddersfield, it is a great place to call home, but finding some space can prove difficult. More high-quality space is needed but it is coming! I think if others are interested now, they need to start looking sooner rather than later for appropriate property because there’s not a lot of suitable, modern stock available – for our type of industry anyway. But I think that’s changing, of course, with the investment zone. That, for me, is one of the biggest catalysts for what will happen in the health tech sector.
Connectivity across the region is great, as well as the support that WYCA can offer a new or established scaling business. I mean, the amount of work that’s going into investment in the different programmes, as well as just general support for industry – the health industry in particular – and all businesses in reality, is fantastic. It’s a great time to be to be looking at expanding, both from a location and funding perspective, as the programmes are coming through and are looking exciting.
CM: As well as being delighted with the recent joint news, what future plans do you have for your business that involve investment into Huddersfield?
RP: I think the reality is, we’re moving because we’ve got a lack of space for the growth of our current product portfolio, but also so we can run two product lines; both hair loss prevention, and now prevention of peripheral neuropathy. Our capacity will expand massively, and we will also have an R&D facility within the building which will support advancing what we currently do too, for example, thermoelectric wearables, which are the potential next generation. The building also gives a better environment for the people that are working at Paxman, and we’ll be adding significant headcount to that organisation over the next five years. So yeah, it’s really to sustain our growth and stay in the region as well. We’re not going away!
IB: We have some great businesses in Huddersfield, growing and taking their opportunities. There too many great companies to mention, obviously Paxman and others that spring to mind are BuyItDirect, ACCU – award winning, growing internationally, employing more, Antich with their 3D weaving process for aerospace etc, as well as having extended from weaving the fabric to making suits and selling them direct to the public and still centred here in the town. JT Ellis and Phoenox Textiles have invested in automation and new machinery to keep at the forefront of their furniture and textiles sectors.
Whilst there are still some great weaving companies in the UK, the reality is that when you are in the middle of a supply chain in a continually declining UK textile industry it is challenging and, like other businesses we need to adapt. Repurposing part of the site for Paxman is a great opportunity for us, Paxman and Huddersfield.
CM: What are Huddersfield’s strengths from a business point of view and what do you think Huddersfield’s future holds?
RP: Being in the town centre will offer us some advantages. The George Hotel development, with Radisson Red behind it, and the work with the railways, means our customers and colleagues can get from Manchester Airport directly into the town centre to stay and walk down to the new facility. The work on the Cultural Heart Food Hall means there will be great places to eat in the town centre. I believe we are perfectly situated: connectivity being improved, access to the countryside, and to the great universities in the North. All of this adds to the willing and capable local workforce to join new and growing businesses in Huddersfield. This is our year!
IB: Huddersfield’s traditional strength of textiles and engineering remain and do have advanced technologies coming through like Antich and Holdson all of which can be built on by other innovative businesses coming into the town and joining in. There are also the improvements in infrastructure that come from the public investment in the town and region making the town more attractive, easier to get to and from and helping grow the established businesses in the area. More is always needed as things are not and never have been easy, but I do see that new opportunities appear in Huddersfield and I can see this trend growing with the new university campus and companies like Paxman investing and continuing to grow.
So, history can repeat itself and redeveloping some of the older buildings and land around the town, once perfect for their then purpose, provides new opportunities for those businesses able to rise to the challenge. Some business may be facing many difficulties at this time, not a problem in Huddersfield alone, and not one that will resolve itself quickly. However, Huddersfield is repositioning itself to allow companies like Paxman and Brierley, who recognise the need to invest and develop further, to work together and achieve new goals.
CAM