We’re excited to share a milestone in our journey at Logical Biological. Our relentless dedication to customer centricity and unwavering commitment to quality has led to us securing 148th spot in the prestigious “FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” listing, a recognition that fills us with immense pride and joy.

 

The “FT 1000” list, created in collaboration with Statista, shines a spotlight on the European companies that have shown extraordinary growth. The ranking is determined by analysing the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue from 2019 to 2022. In a list that is dominated by IT, Software, Construction and Energy/ Utility companies, Logical Biological is proud to be leading the way for science.

 

Our Managing Director, Dr James Steggles, reflects on this achievement with gratitude, attributing it to the hard work of our team and the trust our customers place in us. “This recognition validates our team’s dedication and the close relationships we’ve built with our partners who share our vision of creating a healthier world. It’s their trust in us as a provider of high-quality biospecimens that has propelled our growth.”

FT 1000: Europe's Fastest Growing Companies

Our position in the list is not just a number—it’s a narrative of our dedication to delivering excellence. Our expansive array of biological samples, combined with our focus on responsiveness, reliability, and quality, illustrates our commitment to the scientific community. We strive to understand and meet their needs ensuring that our products and services exceed expectations and maintain the highest quality standards.

 

Lowri Cope, Commercial Director, echoes this sentiment, expressing enthusiasm for our future endeavours. “Being acknowledged as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies is a milestone that fuels our ambition. We look forward to building on this success and forging new partnerships in the advancement of scientific research and healthcare.”

 

As we celebrate this achievement, we’re not just looking back at our successes—we’re looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead. Our vision is clear. Join us as we continue to forge ahead, solidifying our role as your trusted partner for biospecimens.

Logical Biological is dedicated to fostering sustainability, operating with ethics and integrity, and striving to reduce our environmental footprint. In-fact one of our 6 company values set down as the founding principles of our company is “We do we what we can to reduce our environmental impact.” This principle is deeply embedded in our company culture, influencing our daily activities, and guiding our efforts towards creating a more sustainable future for everyone.

 

Our Carbon Offsetting Journey

Early in 2023 we made a firm commitment to carbon offset all our incoming and outgoing freight and set about measuring our carbon tonnage. Throughout the year this goal expanded, and we increased our commitment to include our carbon tonnage (Scopes 1 & 2) for the following;

  • Freight for all shipments
  • Business Travel
  • Staff Commuting
  • Office Lab equipment (electrical usage etc)
  • Office and Lab Space lighting etc
  • Dry Ice

We opted to work with Native, a US based public benefit and certified B corporation, to ensure our carbon offsets achieve our company’s sustainability goals, which are based on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are proud to announce that we have offset our carbon impact and are carbon neutral for the above activities in 2023.

 

Sustainability Projects we are Supporting

We have offset our 2023 carbon footprint by purchasing verified emissions reductions’ credits (VER’s) to support 2 projects for the next 20 years;

  1. Brazil Pastureland Regeneration project

The Brazil Pastureland Regeneration with Native Palm Silvopasture Project works with smallholder farms in Brazil to plant native Macaúba palms in degraded pasturelands. This work will create a silvopasture system that sequesters carbon in the soil, provides shade for grazing livestock, and supports biodiversity, while providing a responsibly grown source of palm. It will remove >900,000 tCO2e over 20 years and have a substantial impact on the community by providing additional income for 100+ farms and jobs for over 300 people.

  1. Mozambique Clean Water project

The Mozambique Clean Drinking Water Project, led by the non-profit Village Water, rehabilitates, installs, and maintains borehole water infrastructure to provide communities with safe, clean drinking water. The project also;

  • builds capacity and offers training at the local level around managing water sources into the future.
  • reduces the risk of waterborne illnesses and the need to boil water for purification, which saves over 95,000 tonnes of firewood annually and reduces CO2 emissions.
  • improves sanitation and hygiene practices in the communities.
  • allows women and girls to spend more time on other activities previously dedicated to collecting water and firewood.

As a result of this project to date, over 36,000 people have access to clean drinking water, and over 98 million litres of drinking water are supplied annually.

 

2023 Sustainable Development Goal Achievements

Reducing inequalities was also part of our 2023 sustainability goals. In February 2023, we sought your insights through our customer satisfaction survey. In response to each completed survey, we made donations to PATH, an international organization dedicated to advancing health equity worldwide. Your participation not only aided our sustainability endeavors but also supported a specific Sustainable Development Goal. We are grateful for your valuable contribution to this vital cause.

Sustainability achievements 2023

Sustainability Programs in the Local Community

We are active members of the local community where we are based, Discovery Park. Annually, we plant Christmas Trees on-site, fostering a green initiative. Additionally, we’ve launched an on-site program for the collection and recycling of printer toner cartridges in Feb 2023.

Christmas Trees growing
Last year’s Christmas Trees

We reuse packaging materials including expanded polystyrene (EPS) boxes, dry ice, and cool packs. Over the last 4 years we have re-used 41% of our EPS boxes for our outgoing shipments.

Logical Biological supports volunteer days and we have an annual volunteer day. In March 2023 we volunteered our time to the Kent Wildlife Trust and spent the day at Sandwich and Pegwell Bay, litter picking and clearing sea-buckthorn which dominates the dunes above the bay. To read more please see our blog.

 

Our Sustainability Credentials

In April 2023 we were awarded a Bronze EcoVadis Medal. EcoVadis measures the quality of a company’s sustainability management system and will be planting a tree on our behalf. Our objective is to consistently improve our performance to attain a higher rating in the 2024 assessment.

EcoVadis Bronze 2023

2024 Sustainability Plan

Our 2024 Sustainability Plan is an extension of our achievements from 2023 and we will continue to review our progress, reinforcing our dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainable business practices. Concentrating on key areas— Environment, Labour and Human Rights, and Ethics — we not only aim to enhance our EcoVadis score significantly, but we are also steadfast in our goal to achieve Carbon Neutrality in 2024 by once again minimising and offsetting all carbon emissions.

Logical Biological is committed to do what we can to reduce our environmental impact and improve our local environment. With this core value in mind some of our team recently enjoyed a blustery day in Sandwich and Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve volunteering for the Kent Wildlife Trust.

 

Covering 615-hectares (1,520-acres), Sandwich and Pegwell Bay is the Kent Wildlife Trusts largest site and is important for breeding, migrating, and wintering birds all year round. It has rich feeding grounds which are a vital stop for migrating birds, some of which cover thousands of miles and come all the way from places like Canada, Russia, and Africa. The area is also home to many internationally important rare plants and animals, such as lizard orchids and sand lizards.

 

Caption: Sea-buckthorn dominate the dunes above Pegwell bay

 

Sea-buckthorn, as we discovered, is a spiny, thicket-forming shrub that grows well in the sand dunes. In-fact it grows so well that it has taken over too much of the reserve and needed cutting back and managing. That is where our team of volunteers came in! Our team spent the day cutting back the shrub and litter picking the cleared area, making it ready for sand lizard to bask in the summer sun and highland cattle to graze.

Caption: Logical Biologicals team of volunteers

 

With the ideal ratio of shrub to dunes being 25:75%, there’s still a way to go, but we definitely made an impact and hope that we played a part in ensuring the vast biodiversity of the area.

Caption: Rubbish and wayward golf balls collected (there’s an adjacent championship links golf course!)

 

In the four years since it was founded, Logical Biological has established itself as a go-to company for diagnostic test developers, requiring healthy and diseased human biological material such as serum, plasma, swabs, and saliva, directly from donor centres and blood banks around the world.

 

Founder and managing director, James Steggles, set up the business after being persuaded by his family and friends to go it alone and put his years of industry experience to work.

 

With the need to operate from Containment Level 2 laboratory space, James identified the life science park: Discovery Park in the southeast of the UK as the home for his start-up company, Logical Biological.

 

Speaking from his office in Building 500, James said: “Discovery Park offered the space and the all-important containment facilities, and a welcoming approach that made it easy for us to choose to move here.

James Steggles, Founder and Managing Director, Logical Biological

James Steggles, Founder and Managing Director, Logical Biological

 

“Since establishing the company at Discovery Park we’ve grown quickly and already moved to bigger offices and labs twice, with another move onsite on the horizon.”

 

The company’s expertise has helped it establish a global network of partners to help source the human biological material needed by companies involved in the development of disease diagnosis testing.

 

Logical Biological’s aspiration is to be the company of choice for test developers to partner with their 12-strong team. A further three people are expected to join by the end of the year, maintaining it as one of the UK’s fastest growing companies.

 

James, who has a PhD in Biochemistry and years of experience in the industry, felt that there was an opportunity to establish a business that offered integrity, reliability, and quality assurance.

 

“The development of high-quality tests, whether for allergies, auto-immune diseases, cancer, cardiology or infectious diseases, require reliable information gathered from high-quality human material. My experience while working in the industry was that the supply-chain too often failed. I knew that with the right attention to detail, we could do much better,” added James.

 

His confidence has been well-founded. The company now provides human biomaterial to many globally recognised names and often with multiple projects for each ongoing at any one time. Logical Biological’s approach and expertise is being put to good use by test developers involved in a wide range of clinical areas.

 

James added: “Covid-19 shone a light on the value of diagnostic tests and how they can support clinicians across many fields, which has stimulated demand for the materials we are perfectly placed to source and supply.

 

“Repeat business, referrals from existing customers and to potential new ones, has driven our growth. Seeing our work, which is at the start of the development of new tests, come to fruition with the tests being launched into the market, gives all of the team huge satisfaction, and drives us to be even better.”

 

Logical Biological has benefited from the talent pool that exists in Kent, and specifically in the Discovery Park area.

 

“The majority of the CVs we receive from potential team members inevitably mention Pfizer which demonstrates the quality of the skills on offer, and the local universities are delivering science graduates to the area.

 

“We’ve also benefitted from the community of like-minded companies here with shared values, with relationships nurtured by the team on site, and we have developed a strong partnership with at least one other firm at Discovery Park.”

 

Logical Biological’s offices, with its testing and write-up space, put the team in amongst a community of high-growth companies, many of whom have started and flourished at Discovery Park.

 

James concluded: “Being among business owners and scientists who are open to collaborate here means that Discovery Park is a great environment in which to grow.

 

“I am delighted about how great the last four years have turned out. Our success has been built on doing things right through integrity and reliability and an extreme commitment to our customers.”

 

The team has also benefitted from the work-life balance offered by Discovery Park and living in Kent. James frequently commutes by train from Whitstable to Ramsgate and then cycles to work through Pegwell Bay nature reserve, with the sea air getting the day off to a great start.

 

 

Logical Biological were delighted to exhibit for the first time at MEDICA, in Dusseldorf, Germany from 14 – 17 November 2022.

MEDICA – Leading International Trade Fair

MEDICA 2022 Infographic

MEDICA is one of the largest international events for the IVD Diagnostic industry and Logical Biological was one of over 5,000 exhibitors from over 70 countries . Logical Biological was pleased to see that visitor numbers were up from 2021 to more than 81,000 visitors, a significant increase from the 46,000 visitors that attended in 2021. In fact, MEDICA felt almost back to its pre-Covid self with the share of international visitors totalling 75 percent. European countries topped the visitor numbers, followed by South Korea and the USA. India and North African countries were also represented in large numbers. Many visitors noted that after the long pandemic break, they were happy to be able to talk to exhibitors again.

Logical Biological at MEDICA 2022

For Logical Biological, this was the first time exhibiting at MEDICA. Exhibiting gave us the opportunity to increase awareness within the industry of who Logical Biological are and how we can support and empower IVD manufacturers to develop high performance assays and associated calibrator and control material.

Thanks to some bold back-lit graphics we were a noticeable presence in the UK Gambica area of Hall 1, which enabled us to have many conversations with passing visitors, who we look forward to building working relationships with. Our team of three enjoyed over 30 pre-arranged meetings with customers and suppliers, and many more spontaneous ones. Better still, thanks to the support of Gambica we were able to have 2 meetings simultaneously by utilising the shared meeting area that Gambica offers.

MEDICA is always good way to get an overview of the market, to network and to see what the other companies are doing and where the trends are, this year was no exception. We look forward to attending more trade shows this year and further building the relationships we started at MEDICA.

 

Logical Biological Products

Logical Biological specialises in provision of human biospecimens, such as serum, plasma, swabs and saliva, all of which are essential components used in IVD tests, their development, calibration and quality control. 

Date of the next MEDICA in Düsseldorf: 13 –16 November 2023

Logical Biological is delighted to announce the appointment of Stephane Argivier as Non-Executive Director and Board member. Stephane has been involved in IVD and Life Science for the past 23 years, during most of which he has held leadership and executive positions, and built a successful track record of delivering fast and sustained growth with entities ranging from start-ups to multinationals.

Stephane is currently CEO and Board member of MIP Diagnostics, a rapidly growing company with a unique technology expanding the scope of affinity reagent applications & functionalities. Stephane was previously Managing Director at SCIPAC Ltd, a multi-business awards winning company, where he led a successful divestment of the company to the BBI Group on behalf of its shareholders. Stephane stayed with the organisation in various Executive roles for a further 9 years to enable a successful integration to what became BBI Solutions and to set-up a number of new business units, several of which have now reached a significant size. Stephane holds a Masters degree in Business and a degree in Applied Biology.

The appointment comes at a time when Logical Biological has established a strong market position as an ethical, quality focused and reliable source of best-in-industry human biological materials and is now preparing for the next stage of its journey. Dr James Steggles, Managing Director at Logical Biological said, “I am very pleased to welcome Stephane Argivier to the board of Logical Biological. Stephane’s experience in critical IVD reagents, especially within the clinical specimen market, will be extremely valuable as we continue to expand our business operations. We are delighted that Stephane will be joining our board and we look forward to working with him as we continue to build scale and success at Logical Biological”.

Stephane Argivier commented, “I am delighted to be joining Logical Biological at this pivotal time in its business cycle. I am truly impressed with the progress the company has made over the past few years and excited about its future.”

Logical Biological has gained ISO 9001:2015 certification. We have always operated a Quality Management System based on the ISO 9001 system, and now we have the certificate to prove we are fully ISO 9001 compliant. This emphasises our commitment to Quality processes and products.

Logical Biological specialises in provision of human biospecimens.

 

Here at Logical Biological we care about reducing our environmental impact. We are lucky to work in a rural location and get to see lots of wildlife around our HQ at Discovery Park. A few days ago, we were able to put our environmentally conscious aims into practice when we saved a Green Woodpecker. We noticed the beautiful bird, caught upside down with its legs tangled in synthetic nesting material high up on the outside of the building.

 

The trapped woodpecker

 

We at Logical Biological will not stand idly by whilst a woodpecker is in distress, so we sprang into action and… called Discovery Park reception! Some heroes arrived with a ladder to retrieve the woodpecker, whilst Logical Biological provided the crucial pair of scissors required in the untangling process.

 

Untangling the woodpecker

 

Although our levels of customer service are second to none, we are not expecting to win awards for our wildlife photography any time soon! However, here is a picture so you can see what a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) looks like when it is not being saved by the team at Logical Biological.

 

The European Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)

 

 

As we move into 2020, one thing we’d like to do at Logical Biological is find a greener way of dealing with polystyrene box waste. The material has fantastic properties making it ideal for use in shipping biological reagents around the world. It is incredibly lightweight, a great insulator and it can withstand some knocking around, so it is no surprise that our industry uses so much of it. The downside is that most EPS boxes are treated as single-use and are destined for landfill or incineration. How can we get rid of them in a way that minimises environmental impact? We’d love to know how people would feel about receiving goods in re-used EPS boxes where it is safe to do so. Any other suggestions on this topic are very welcome! You can contact us on infoATlogicalbiological.com or follow this link to complete the web form.

Logical Biological, December 2019

Our Managing Director, James Steggles, will be attending the Medica conference in Dusseldorf on November 18th, 19th and 20th. We’d love to discuss how we can help you achieve your project goals – contact us at info@logicalbiological.com to arrange a meeting.