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INNOVATION AND CHANGE


VARS TECHNOLOGY Using technology to protect retailers from theft and abuse


VARS Technology is a software and security business specialising in protecting forecourts and retailers from theft and abuse, as well as providing parking management services and a facial recognition system to protect retailers. The business employs 40 people and works with about 1,800 forecourts, providing staff with alerts when a vehicle previously linked to fuel theft arrives at a site and helping to recover £250,000 per month in stolen fuel.


VARS has introduced a number of innovative new features, including automatic CCTV evidence gathering to improve recovery rates and reduce the time between a drive off and recovery of the stolen fuel money.


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VITAL SYNERGY Embracing AI for proactive building management


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Vital Synergy began as a one man plumbing business, founded by Dave Heap. Originally called Vital Heating Solutions, the solo venture has since evolved into a full service mechanical and electrical engineering company specialising in building services and future proofing estates. Today, having rebranded to Vital Synergy to reflect its wider service offering, it employs more than 40 skilled staff and generates an annual turnover of £6m.


The company has embraced AI driven monitoring that reads building systems in real time, flagging issues before they become failures, shifting its maintenance approach from reactive to proactive. Its building management systems integrate with operational data such as hotel check ins, school opening hours and occupancy patterns to automatically optimise energy use. This means heating, lighting and ventilation respond intelligently to actual demand rather than fixed schedules, cutting both energy consumption and costs for clients while extending asset lifespan.


Lucia Arnone, director of business transformation, says: “Rising energy consumption and wasted energy are major cost and sustainability burdens for estates across Lancashire. We set out to solve this by future proofing buildings using smart, integrated systems that ensure energy is only used when and where it is genuinely needed.


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“By reducing waste, cutting costs and improving efficiency, we are helping estates become more resilient and sustainable for the long term.”


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One of Synergy’s biggest lessons has been the growing role AI plays in driving innovation. By using AI to monitor building systems, the business has shifted from reactive to proactive maintenance, identifying issues before they escalate and scheduling service plans more intelligently.


Lucia adds: “AI also allows us to continually fine tune clients’ systems, ensuring they run at peak efficiency with minimal energy consumption and cost. This has reinforced our belief that technology and engineering expertise must work hand in hand to deliver genuinely future proofed, sustainable estates.”


John McVan, marketing manager, says: “A major change was the introduction of our own AI system for automating parts of the claims process, allowing us to process larger numbers of claims more quickly without the need to significantly expand the existing claims team.


“As we have quickly added new customer sites, a major challenge was ensuring claims are processed quickly and accurately, and that customers receive any money for stolen fuel owed to them without delay. This had to be achieved while keeping the claims team at a practical size, with significant fluctuations in the total number of claims submitted on a week by week basis, resulting in a varied overall workload.”


VARS integrated multiple AI systems into the claims process, all developed by its in house team of developers, to streamline the process and improve accuracy. The system interfaces directly with the DVLA and allows claims to be processed and letters sent out to drivers in a matter of minutes, rather than the previous system that required paper requests for driver details from the DVLA.


John says: “The addition of automatic CCTV evidence gathering further streamlines and improves this process. Overall recovery rates have improved since implementing the changes, with a 10 per cent improvement overall. This means an additional £25,000 on average in stolen fuel money returned to the petrol stations each month.”


SWT CONSULTING Restructuring to break growth ceiling


SWT Consulting is a quantity surveying and cost management consultancy working across civil engineering, groundworks, prime residential, equestrian and infrastructure projects. Founded in January 2023 by Samuel Turner, who operates as sole director, the business grew to £320,000 turnover by the end of its third year. Samuel is now looking to use this growth to develop a proper office structure to bring in and train staff.


Samuel is in conversation with the University of Lancashire, where he studied, about a graduate placement partnership, and is ready to start taking people on.


He says: “My growth ceiling was defined entirely by my own hours. As a solo operator I could keep the business profitable, but not scale it, and construction’s well documented skills shortage meant competing for experienced hires wasn’t a reliable route to change that.


“The harder problem was sequencing. You can’t responsibly bring junior people into a business that’s still run as a one man operation around them. So the challenge wasn’t really how to hire. It was important to build the structure, systems and capacity first, so hiring and training people would actually work rather than just add pressure.


“It would have been easier to keep growing solo. It’s a comfortable, profitable place to sit. I chose the University of Lancashire specifically because I went through that course myself, and I know what a well run placement can do for someone starting out. The bigger lesson has been sequencing. The pricing model, service structure and hiring all had to be redesigned in the right order, not all at once.”


A major change was the introduction of our


own AI system for automating parts of the claims process, allowing us to process larger numbers of claims more quickly


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