NEW technology company Voller Energy is gearing up to become the first manufacturer of portable fuel cell systems in the UK - and only the third in the world.

Earlier this month, Voller Energy left its embryonic offices in Basepoint in Basingstoke to move further along Wade Road into the Brixton Estates-owned building Rawdon House.

Vacated by Sprint Communications, Rawdon House has been refurbished and Voller Energy has taken half the building.

It now occupies 5,500sqft of first-floor offices and a ground floor set up to begin manufacturing the portable fuel cell technology in May.

Chief executive Stephen Voller, a founder of Voller Energy, said: "We will be the first in this country to manufacture the fuel cell technology and one of only three in the world - the other two are in Germany and Canada."

Only last month, Voller Energy took the giant stride of becoming an Alternative Investment Market-listed company just three years on from its inception.

Now it is poised to become a market leader, selling its products for fuelling temporary buildings where there is no power, yacht battery chargers, recreational vehicles, the power tool hire market and military lightweight generators and battery chargers.

It is a technology that Mr Voller believes will one day be bought off supermarket shelves in bulk by today's generation of technology users who demand longer battery life from their mobile phones and laptops.

Voller Energy already has an order book ready for when production gets under way and some will be for the export market. Systems will be delivered to the UK Speedy Hire group, whose retiring chief executive, John Brown, has joined Voller as its chairman.

The company is also planning to create about 20 new jobs over the next year in manufacturing, sales and accounting.

To the outside world, it would seem that Voller had suddenly made its mark in the technology sector, as it floated only this year, at the same time making its first acquisition of a German laboratory and recruiting scientist Dr Mark Turpin to develop the portable fuel cell systems.

But Mr Voller said: "It has taken three years to develop the technology and more than three months of raising funds with a business plan in mind.

"This has all been in the melting pot for some time - it didn't happen in the blink of an eye."

Voller Energy raised £10million with its AIM flotation and immediately invested £250,000 in buying the German research laboratory of KAT-Chem in Bremen, which it is now running.

Rawdon House is owned by Brixton Estates, and the Basingstoke commercial property agent London Clancy was the joint letting agent with Vail Williams.