Inspire Risk Management Limited is a £7m GWP broker with 1 head office in Warrington.

The County Group, whose Preston office is located on Winckley Square, are pleased to announce that we have acquired Inspire Risk Management Limited on the 1^st November 2017.

Inspire Risk Management was founded in 2008 and the CEO and Co-Founder Neil Reid has led the company to what it is today. Inspire Risk Management specialise in providing quality insurance solutions for 2,000 of their corporate, commercial & private clients.

Neil Reid will remain at Inspire Risk Management as a consultant post acquisition and Chris Boothman will remain as Managing Director for the business. All existing staff and premises will remain the same. With the acquisition of Inspire Risk Management, The County Group is now approaching £90m GWP.

Dave Clapp, CEO of The County Group, commented; “I am absolutely delighted to announce we have completed our second acquisition of our new financial year, what a great first month we have had. Inspire Risk Management is a great business and adds a different dimension to The County Group. We have got to know Neil Reid and Chris Boothman well over the last 18 months and now look forward to meeting their great team that work for them.

Inspire Risk Management has been a long-term target of my Acquisition Manager Keith Frost and it is testament to his hard work that we have managed to complete this deal.

We really admire the success of Inspire Risk Management, in a relatively short space of time they have grown to be a force to be reckoned with in the Northwest broking arena, we hope to build on the growth they are achieving and help them continue to take the business even further forward.

The County Group is now approaching £90 million premium and is on track to push that past the £100m barrier in the current financial year which ends in September 2018.”

Neil Reid, CEO of Inspire Risk Management commented “ I have know the Directors of The County Group for a number of years and they share the same ethos as ourselves which is to provide the best level of service to each of their clients through a dedicated and talented servicing team.

Being part of a larger group presents a great opportunity for both our clients and staff and we are looking forward to working with the County team and building upon the success we have enjoyed since our formation almost 10 years ago.”

For more information on the range of products and services available at The County Group please contact Darren O’Neill on 01772 284700, or call in to see us at 32 Winckley Square, Preston, PR1 3JJ.

Manchester-based Trafford Housing Trust (THT) and London’s L&Q Developments LLP have extended their ambitious new build programme for the North West with by announcing two new schemes in Cheshire which will be delivered through THT’s house building brand Laurus Homes.

Following on from the ground-breaking at the Laurus Homes Spinning Gate development in Trafford earlier this year, which marked the first project to be delivered by THT’s and L&Q’s landmark 50/50 joint venture, details have been revealed of the first Laurus projects outside of Greater Manchester.

The THT and L&Q partnership will deliver a 166-unit mixed tenure scheme at Station Road in Delamere, Cheshire and a further 18 family homes on the outskirts of Daresbury.

Set to be called ‘Earlsbrook’, the redevelopment of former brownfield Station Road site in Delamere will be made up of 45 two-bed and 121 three to five-bed homes, with 30 per cent of the stock allocated as affordable housing on a shared ownership or rental basis. The full scheme is due for completion in Autumn 2020.

Around ten miles south of the Earlsbrook development will be the Hatters’ Park development, sited at a plot at Manor Farm in Daresbury, Hatters’ Park will feature a mix of three and four-bedroom houses which will be available for sale at full market rate with Help to Buy Equity Loan available. Work on the site is due to start this month, with the homes expected to be completed by July 2018.

In line with THTs’ ‘Profit for Purpose’ business model, the profits from both these Cheshire developments will be used to help fund more affordable housing and community projects across the North West.

Larry Gold, deputy chief executive of Trafford Housing Trust, commented: “When we formed our joint venture with L&Q it was on the basis we would look to rapidly extend our new build programme beyond Greater Manchester and become a major developer within the North West through the Laurus Homes brand.

“By announcing over 180 new homes set to be built in Cheshire, with more in the pipeline for the county and other parts of the North, we are demonstrating that we are well on our way to fulfilling that ambition.

 “These developments also demonstrate how working alongside L&Q we aim to accelerate the rate of new housebuilding across the region, but with a wide mix of new homes and tenures, including a high proportion of affordable housing.

“This, combined with our profit for purpose approach and our commitment to creating sustainable communities where people want to live, also gives us a very competitive edge, especially when dealing with local authorities and landowners who are looking for something more than just a top-line profit from a plot.”

The joint venture between the Trust and L&Q, one of the UK’s leading housing associations and one of London’s largest residential developers, was first announced a year ago.

Working together they aim to build 2,000 mixed tenure new homes over the next four years across Greater Manchester, and the wider North West, to help address the region’s housing shortage.

Leading user experience (UX) agency, Sigma, has been appointed by Mind to improve the charity’s online support for those seeking guidance on mental health problems, as well as boost its engagement with supporters and key stakeholders.

Sigma will be providing expert advice and insight to ensure the charity’s new website, which is soon to be developed, better meets the needs of those who use the site to seek help, to get involved, or to find out more about the charity’s work.

Experts at Sigma have been specifically brought in to analyse how the charity currently communicates with its online users, identifying potential barriers to engagement and then designing new user journeys and other enhancements to improve the online experience.

The Sigma team will work closely with Mind’s digital team to ensure the new site provides the best possible experience for the diverse range of users who engage with Mind every day.

Sigma has vast experience in user-centred research, design and development, having delivered a number of similar, successful digital projects for organisations such as Sport England and Citizens Advice.

Managing director of Sigma, Hilary Stephenson, said: “As part of its new digital strategy, Mind is looking to provide an improved and integrated user experience for everyone that accesses its online platforms.

“Our team has been brought in to lay the groundwork for a user-centred design and development project, and advise on Mind’s digital strategy to ensure the new website is as user friendly as possible.

“We are extremely pleased to have been selected to work on this project with Mind. It’s a great opportunity for us and recognition of the work we do, placing us at the forefront of user experience research and design.”

Eve Critchley, Head of Digital at Mind, said: “We were keen to work with Sigma because of their user-focused approach and particular specialism around accessibility. Taking on their expertise we hope to make sure that people using our website get the best possible experience. This fits into a wider digital strategy that we have introduced which seeks to make our website more flexible for us to use, but more importantly, much easier and clearer for users to navigate. We are proud of the information and advice we offer through our website and look forward to working with Sigma to ensure we are able to reach even more people.”

World-leading ethical hacking firm Secarma, based in Manchester, is staging a hair-raising student hackathon aimed at bridging the skills gap in the cybersecurity industry.

In the first event of its kind in the North West, 50 computer science students from Edge Hill University will take part in a ‘real-life’ hacking challenge at UKFast Campus in Manchester.  The challenge, which will take place over the course of five hours on Tuesday 31^st October, simulates the work carried out on a daily basis by penetration testers at Secarma.

Ten teams will compete against each other. Their ghoul, or goal, is to find vulnerabilities in a replica of a real-life business IT environment, with points awarded for identifying weaknesses and providing recommendations for fixing the problem.

The exercise is formulated and organised by some of the world’s top ethical hackers and provides a window into the skills required to join the cybersecurity industry.

More cyber experts are needed to combat a sharp rise in data breaches, computer viruses and ransomware.  Government statistics reveal almost half (46%) of UK businesses suffered a cyber-attack in 2016.

Paul Mason, Training and Development Manager at Secarma said: “Cyber-attacks like this year’s WannaCry ransomware attacks, which crippled the NHS, are becoming more frequent and more serious.  This hackathon is a bit of fun for Halloween but real cyber-attacks are extremely frightening. 

“We need to recruit more white-hat hackers to stay one step ahead of the criminals. By running an event like this we want to encourage more talent to take up a career in the cybersecurity industry.”

Secarma’s ultimate aim is to extend the hackathon to different universities and eventually establish a national inter-university challenge.

Secarma is owned by hosting firm UKFast. Founder and CEO Lawrence Jones said: “It’s exciting to be hosting an event of this kind, inspiring young people to take up a career in tech and cybersecurity.  

“Barely a day goes by without a cyber-attack making headlines and the risks continue to grow.  It’s a fantastic opportunity for students to understand what a career in penetration testing involves alongside some of the best talent in the world.”