City firm has its sights set on Wembley

Feb 6 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

ACOMPANY developing a new drainage system could see its technology used at sports grounds including Wembley Stadium following a six-figure cash injection.

Newcastle-based Electrokinetic has received £100,000 from NEL Fund Managers to develop the commercial use of electrokinetic geosynthetics, which helps to extract water from a number of different materials including sludge and waste.

The firm, which came out of Newcastle University four years ago, is also using the cash to conduct tests on grass turf with the aim of marketing it to the country’s big sports stadiums.

Although the company, based in the Drummond Building of Newcastle University, is still in its research and development stage, it believes that it will be able to achieve a turnover well over six figures once it begins trading, a stage its chief executive David Huntley hopes will be this year.

He said: “There is an increasing and now widespread interest in our technology, particularly in the waste and civil engineering sectors. Field trials into the application of the technology are taking place in South Africa, USA and Australia in addition to the UK.

“We will be using this funding to further develop the applications of the technology to complete the development process in our key markets.

“Thereafter we will introduce our products to these markets as we move into the commercial phase.

“There is a need for our product in large stadiums such as Wembley where areas of the turf are not penetrated by the sun.”

The company has four members of staff and is looking to add at least two to this number in the coming months as a result of the investment from NEL.

Barrie Hensby, chief executive at NEL Fund Managers Ltd, said: “David and his team at Electrokinetic Limited had a clear vision from the start.

!We hope they will progress and become a worldwide leader in their field by offering these unique solutions to their key market sectors.”