Cawood has acquired the agrochemical and household pesticide testing and development centre, i2L Research Ltd, including its divisions in Spain, the US and the Czech Republic.
‘i2L Research is an ideal strategic fit with Cawood,’ said Simon Parrington, Cawood’s Group CEO. ‘Our vision is to become the global partner of choice for value added analytical testing, monitoring and insight. This extension to our geographical spread and testing capability will enable us to meet a wider proportion of our customers’ needs for regulatory studies.’
i2L will sit in Cawood’s Science business unit, alongside Mambo-Tox, the Southampton-based terrestrial ecotoxicology research facility. Both businesses operate to GLP standards, with Mambo-Tox testing for toxicity of plant protection products and biocides, whilst i2L Research tests for efficacy. The addition of i2L Research’s five locations in Cardiff, Newcastle, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Baltimore, USA, will open up larger European and American markets, allowing customers worldwide to source the vast majority of their contract research requirements from Cawood.
‘We are excited to be joining Cawood and are looking forward to working with Simon and the team to drive the future of our company,’ said Dr Peter McEwen, Chief Executive Officer of i2L Research. ‘Our business has grown quickly in recent years, and the backing of Cawood puts us in a strong position to continue that growth. Both companies are aligned in terms of our vision for the future and our culture and values. This, along with our complementary services, made Cawood an obvious partner for us.’
Simon concluded, ‘We are delighted to welcome Peter, Catherine, Pavel, Roger, Edwin and their teams to Cawood. i2L Research has an excellent reputation and I am sure our customers will benefit from the additional capability this acquisition brings to the Group.’
This is the second acquisition of 2021 for the Cawood Group, following the recent purchase of The Environmental Laboratory Ltd from Sigma-HSE Ltd. The Group was formed in 2006 and has grown rapidly through its strong relationships with customers, its ongoing investment in people and equipment, and the acquisition of businesses that complement or expand its services.
About i2L
i2L Research Ltd, established in 1994, is a leading product testing and development centre for the agrochemical, household pesticide and animal health industries. With decades of experience in efficacy testing, its offerings for the UK, EU, USA and worldwide markets range from initial concept testing and screening to complete dossier/submission registration data for plant protection and biocides/professional pest control products. i2L is Good Experimental Practice (GEP) studies certificated for plant protection product registration studies, as well as Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certificated for efficacy and ecotoxicology studies.
i2L’s services include:
- Efficacy testing for agrochemicals, biopesticides and fertilisers.
- Efficacy testing for biocides, animal health products, pest control devices and repellents for both consumer and professional use.
- Terrestrial ecotoxicology testing services for the assessment of plant protection products on non-target arthropods and plants, as well as some aquatic ecotoxicology studies.
Enitial has been awarded a £250,000 project as part of the UK Environment Agency’s aim to improve environmental outcomes by 2025.
Through its AMP7 Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), the Environment Agency’s ambitious measures will help tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the water environment, from low flows to the effects of chemical and nutrient pollution and the spread of invasive species.
‘This project has been key to the expansion of our service,’ said Leo Phillips, Head of Client Services at Enitial. ‘Adding value to our customers is a core focus of Cawood. With this package, we have been able to add new services and make improvements to existing services, including river catchment, reservoir, and final effluent sampling, plus we have given the whole team up-to-date power boat and water entry training.’
Their ISO 17025 accreditation for collecting samples out in the field, along with their new and enhanced services, means Enitial is fully equipped to unite with water utility providers and regulators to improve waterways and increase biodiversity.
‘Digitisation is also at the forefront of Cawood’s strategy,’ added Leo. ‘In a COVID-19 world of limited travel, the need for remote management capabilities has grown significantly. We are the only company in the UK with our own in-house app, EniCIP, which is tied to our ISO 17025 accreditation. Used for generating field and sampling reports with full GPS and temporal traceability, EniCIP provides a more robust, dependable service offering.’
WINEP outlines a set of actions that all 20 water companies operating in England must complete by 2025 to meet their environmental obligations. WINEP is the largest ever national environmental enhancement programme, which aims to:
- Protect and improve at least 6000km of the UK’s waters.
- Protect and improve 10 shellfish sites and 24 bathing waters.
- Protect and improve 1800 hectares of protected nature conservation sites.
- Improving almost 900km of river and 4276 hectares through wider biodiversity enhancements.
For more information on our water monitoring/sampling services, please contact us.
Cawood has acquired the specialist contaminated soil and water testing facility The Environmental Laboratory Ltd (ELAB) from Sigma-HSE Ltd.
The new acquisition complements the activities of two of Cawood’s business units: Infrastructure and Environment, sitting alongside recent acquisitions Marchwood (2020) and Enitial (2018). The addition of ELAB supports the air, emissions and waste testing capability of Marchwood with contaminated soil and groundwater analysis, whilst its team will extend the capacity of Enitial’s existing specialist sampling, monitoring and control service.
‘I am delighted to welcome Mike Varley, the ELAB Management team and colleagues to Cawood,’ said Simon Parrington, Cawood’s Group CEO. ‘ELAB has an excellent reputation for expertise in the chemical analysis of contaminated land and water, which fits perfectly with our strategy of extending our environmental services to meet customer needs. We are also seeing an increase in demand for on-site monitoring, so the addition of further specialist teams will enable us to continue to serve this growing market.’
Located in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, ELAB employs 28 people, including Chartered Chemists, Analysts and Laboratory Technicians. The business will operate as a division of Cawood.
‘We are delighted to be joining Cawood,’ said Mike, General Manager of ELAB. ‘From the first time I spoke with Simon it was clear that we have a similar approach to customers and colleagues. We are looking forward to fast tracking our business growth with access to the Cawood Group customer base and their existing demand for our services.’
Simon concluded, ‘Cawood chooses its acquisitions very carefully to ensure that we maintain the values of the business and our reputation for quality. ELAB fits our business well, in terms of both philosophy and expertise, and we are looking forward to working together to grow our environmental and infrastructure business.’
About ELAB
The Environmental Laboratory Ltd (ELAB), established in 2003, specialises in the testing of soil, water and leachate samples for the construction and infrastructure sectors, and provides on-site environmental monitoring services and equipment hire. With over 35 years of experience in the chemical analysis of contaminated land and water, ELAB is fully UKAS accredited for asbestos identification and quantification and for a range of soil and water tests, as well as MCERTS accredited for a range of soil tests.
ELAB’s services include:
- Contaminated land, water and leachates analysis including asbestos, metals and waste discharge analysis
- On-site monitoring including specialist personnel, on-site test equipment, soil and water sampling, dust and vapour monitoring, and trial pit logging
- Equipment hire including dissolved oxygen meters, gas monitors and pH meters.
For more information, visit ELAB’s website here.