Business Manchester

Zerum announce new Director

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10/01/2023

Manchester and Leeds based Planning, Project Management & Cost Management Consultancy, Zerum are delighted to announce the promotion of Pete Gleave to Director within the Planning Team.

Pete Gleave is a chartered town planner with over 12 years experience with an emphasis in the Yorkshire property market. Pete has acted for a range of clients on city centre developments both in the residential and commercial markets.

Tom Cook, Director at Zerum said: “After a successful year, it is great to announce Pete’s well earned promotion to Director. Pete has become an integral member of the team, not only in respect of how he supports members of staff within the planning team but also across our many divisions.

“Pete has and continues to deliver the planning role on significant schemes across the North of England, including Thorpe Park, Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and Middlewood Locks, to name a few, achieving much success in the last 3 and a ½ years, and we look forward to sharing his further successes in the coming years.”

Pete joined Zerum’s Leeds office in September 2019, and currently works on major mixed use projects across Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and the North of England.

Pete Gleave said; “I am delighted to have been promoted to Director and look forward to helping continue to grow the business over the next 12 months with a number of exciting projects in the pipeline”.

Pixel Kicks cultivates new win with Pegasus

Business

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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Pixel Kicks, the Manchester-based full-service digital agency, has secured its first new client for 2023. The agency will be working with Pegasus Garden Rooms which specialises in creating beautifully crafted, cutting-edge outdoor living spaces.

Headquartered in Stockport, the family run business manufacturers bespoke wooden buildings that can be used as garden offices, storage, playrooms or gyms. Every product is hand built in the UK and are made out of the finest quality local materials. Owner Jack Pendlebury is ex-military so a percentage of the company’s profits are donated to armed forces charities.

The project will seePixel Kicks work as Pegasus’s digital partner over the next 24 months. This will include a website revamp as well as the rollout of a full digital marketing plan that will be a blend of SEO and PPC. Everything will be geared towards driving leads, improving overall brand awareness and showcasing the product range’s quality.

Jack Pendlebury said: “Pixel Kicks understood our objectives from the very first time we met so the fit seemed natural.”

Jamie Bray – business development manager at Pixel Kicks – commented: “The last quarter has been exceptionally strong from us. Adding Pegasus to our client roster is fantastic news and we are looking forward to delivering real value to the business over the coming months and year.”

Ongoing strike action across several industries is having a major impact on businesses

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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HR Advice & Consultancy Director at Peninsula, Kate Palmer, explains how employers can best support employees impacted by the strikes.

“With public transport facing severe disruption over the past and coming months, it’s likely many employees will face significant difficulties getting to and from work. It’s important for employers to be understanding when it comes to managing lateness, with some staff unable to get to work at all. Even employees who don’t rely on trains or buses to get to work might find that their normal routes are busier than usual, so make appropriate allowances where needed.

“To minimise disruption to business operations, speak with your employees, understand who will be affected by strike action, and agree alternative arrangements in advance. Starting earlier or finishing later could make it easier to catch trains, trams, or other forms of public transport outside of peak rush hour times. A car-pooling system could be temporarily agreed, or accommodations made for them to work from home on days when strike action is taking place. Where this isn’t possible, there is the option of enforcing annual leave (with the correct notice) or asking staff to use accrued TOIL.

“Teacher strikes in Scotland are also taking place throughout January, with more expected in February, which may be of concern to working parents. Teaching unions in England and Wales are also balloting members over pay so we could potentially see wider strike action across education soon.

“Time off for dependants may not apply here since parents have enough notice to make alternative plans. But employers should be reasonable with requests for annual leave and unpaid leave.

“In addition, NHS nurses in England will walk out in some trusts on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 January. While emergency care will still be provided, routine services will be limited with many operations postponed. Employees who had booked time off for treatment may now find themselves having to cancel it and rebook for a future date.

“Whilst there is no obligation for an employer to cancel pre-booked annual leave, they should be as accommodating as possible. Employers should also be mindful of their staff who are on long-term sick leave whilst waiting for operations. Given many operations could be postponed, this could mean employers will need to provide sick pay for a longer period than originally anticipated.”

Employers may also be concerned about the potential of a general strike in the UK as union leaders discuss the possibility of co-ordinated action.

However, the Government is hoping that a bill being introduced in Parliament today (Tuesday 10 January) will limit the disruption caused by industrial action, by mandating that vital public services must maintain a basic function and deliver minimum safety levels during industrial action.

Kate adds: “We don’t yet know when this proposed bill could come into force, but it could substantially change the way industries strike, and the impact that strike action has on the wider community.

“For instance, failure to adhere to the minimum service level will mean the strike is illegal and, as such, would see employers able to sue unions for damages. Those who participate in unlawful strikes would also lose protection against dismissal and could potentially face action for breach of contract.

“It’s an unprecedented time for many of us in the world of work and more important than ever for all employers to monitor the ever-changing situation. I would advise all employers to stay abreast of any governmental developments to ensure that they can provide effective support to employees whilst maintaining business operations as efficiently as possible.”

Strategic marketing communications agency experiences double digit growth

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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MC2, Manchester-based strategic marketing communications agency, has had its operating profits up 10 percent and revenue up 15 percent, which has resulted in its best ever financial performance for the third year running.

The employee-owned agency specialises in supporting high-growth businesses. This year it enjoyed a number of significant client wins, including northern unicorn Radius, AIM-listed technology transformation business SysGroup, private equity-backed commercial equipment supplier JLA and Cynergy Business Finance, the asset-based lending arm of Cynergy Bank.

It has also been a year of international growth. The agency, which is part of global communications network IPREX, sent delegations to partner meet-ups in Arizona, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Lisbon, and worked on international briefs with IPREX partners supporting a number of high-growth technology businesses.

MC2 has also continued to support a number of community initiatives, including Manchester Metropolitan University’s First Generation programme, which targets young people who will be the first generation in their family to go to university. It also provides pro-bono support to Fund Her North, a northern volunteer collective of women in VCs, funding organisations and angel groups looking to make the investment landscape work better for women.

Jonny Saatchi, managing director at MC2, said: “I am incredibly proud of the team for what we’ve been able to deliver this financial year. I’m impressed each day with both the passion and the pace of development of every individual – and their commitment to challenge the ordinary. It is particularly encouraging that it feels like we are only at the start of our journey.

“This was a year where we honed our product around the specific needs of high-growth businesses, helping them to maximise the value of transactions, deliver effective lead generation and create magnetic employer brands. The need to really focus on our clients and their pain points will become even more acute during a tough economic period – but I can’t think of a better team than the one we have to build on our successes to-date.”

Andrei Mylroie, partner at Washington-based IPREX partner DH and non-executive director at MC2, added: “I’ve worked with MC2 for over two years, and have seen first-hand the emphasis the agency puts on the development of its people. This is what sets them apart, not just in the UK but on a global scale, and I am confident this has been the driving force behind the agency’s growth over recent years.”

Pearson Solicitors & Financial Advisers bolster their Employment Team with Senior Hirings

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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North West based law firm, Pearson Solicitors & Financial Advisers Ltd has significantly strengthened its Employment Law Department with a triple appointment from Linder Myers Solicitors.

Alan Lewis who is recognised by The Legal 500 as a ‘leading individual’ joins as a Partner. He will work alongside existing Pearson Employment Partner, Susan Mayall. Alan brings with him 30 years of experience. In addition, joining Pearson alongside Alan are team members from his former practice: Ben Williams, an employment solicitor and Robyn Saunders, a paralegal.

The expansion of the employment team has been made possible through continued business growth at Pearson and the strategic development of the corporate and commercial offering, which provides a viable alternative to city centre firms.

Over the past few years, the client base of the employment department at Pearson Solicitors has grown significantly. It represents large national companies, SMEs and private individuals across England and Wales.

Commenting on the new hiring, Pearson Director, Chris Burke, said: “We are delighted to welcome on board Alan, Ben and Robyn, they are a great addition to an already flourishing department and further complement and strengthen our commercial service. We see this strategic hire as a platform to enable us to carry out our ambitious growth plans. It positions the firm for the future and bolsters our presence in both the North West and nationally”.

The team will be based at the law firm’s North Manchester commercial office at Hollinwood Business Centre.

Alan Lewis said: “Having worked in Manchester and led a national team of employment lawyers for many years, I decided to make a move to my home town. I have kept a close track on Pearson over the years and have always been impressed with the depth of legal expertise that the practice offers, which easily rivals many city centre firms. What particularly attracted me to Pearson was the warm, collegiate environment that exists between the specialist departments and a genuine team spirit and desire to collaborate to provide the best multi-disciplinary services to clients. The firm is also pretty unique in being able to offer financial advice together with its full range of legal services to individuals and companies”.

OBI receive approved planning for Quay Street cornerstone redevelopment

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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Manchester based property consultants, OBI, have received full planning permission for the comprehensive office refurbishment of 17 Quay Street, Manchester.

Urbana Partners acquired 17 Quay Street, formerly Direct Line House, through OBI’s Transaction & Asset Management team in February this year. The building comprises 58,000 Sq Ft of office space, prominently situated on the corner of Quay Street and Byrom Street in Manchester city centre and will form an integral link between Enterprise City and Spinningfields, from which the building is only a stone’s-throw away.

Approved plans include a new entrance via Byrom Street creating a new gateway through St John’s Gardens to Enterprise City. The building’s external appearance will also be brought into the present day, with proposed alteration to the elevations including wholesale window replacement, brickwork tinting and new canopied entrances from Quay Street.

Whilst also delivering Grade-A office space from floors 1-5, a new best-in-class reception and business lounge, fitted-and-furnished small suites to the First Floor and leisure opportunities.

Acknowledging occupiers’ desire for increasing amounts of green and amenity space in the workplace post-covid, the refurbishment will add both cycle and shower facilities to the Lower Ground floor and a new rooftop terrace accessible to the building’s tenants.

The scheme will also have a raft of sustainability credentials such as BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and a WiredScore accreditation of ‘Platinum’ in accordance with the ESG objectives set out at project inception.

Joe Weilding, Building Consultancy at OBI commented: “We are delighted to have obtained Planning Consent with minimal conditions allowing us to commence works promptly. We will shortly be appointing a contractor to deliver the scheme at the end of the year”.

Andrew Cowell, Transactions & Asset Management at OBI commented: “We are really excited to see the refurbishment of 17 Quay Street, which will see the building totally transformed and repositioned into a Grade A workspace building that will appeal to occupiers from all sectors.

“The building is in a great central location and the inclusion of the ground floor collaboration space, wellness facilities and roof terrace will attract progressive businesses who really value their working environment.”

The core design team, headed by OBI’s Building Consultancy team includes 3DReid as the architectural consultant, MEP Design as the mechanical & electrical consultant and Tier Consult as structural engineers. Element Sustainability has also been appointed as BREEAM assessor.

Works on the building have been tendered and are due to commence immediately with a delivery date of Q4 2023.

IDENTITY CONSULT SCOOPS NEW PROJECTS ACROSS THE NORTH WEST

Business

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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Just months after its move into the new Salford Office, award winning, independent development and construction consultancy Identity Consult has been appointed on a range of new projects across the North West. The company has also completed a significant number of incumbent client schemes.

Having opened a new office in Salford in the summer, the team has grown its client base in the area, advising on projects including a new 177-home Passivhaus development for client Salford Council in Little Hulton, a project for Salford College, and a Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme of modular homes along with a Pupil Referral Unit.

The business has also been appointed on the refurbishment of Grade II listed Buile Hill Mansion which will see the building which has been out of use for over 25 years modernised and reopened as a wedding venue. This is in addition to a new, £16m Extra Care development at Burnley General Hospital – a project which will see client Calico Homes transform derelict land into 93 apartments for people over 55 with extra support needs – and work with The University of Cumbria. There the team is project managing the £77m Citadels Project and has been appointed as cost consultants on the £8m Barrow Campus Project.

Speaking of the news, Identity Consult director Alex Atkinson said: “We are proud of the level of work that’s been achieved this year as we have been given the opportunity to partner with more clients – helping them deliver sustainable new developments – be they housing, education buildings, healthcare facilities or workspaces.”

Other ongoing projects with North West clients include Identity Consult’s role as a strategic partner to Great Places.

The news comes as Identity Consult has also invested in its people this year, appointing 18 new colleagues – including two apprentices who are studying through the University of Central Lancashire.

The business was originally based in the North East, expanding into Yorkshire in 2020, and more recently into Salford after the successful growth of the Preston office established in the region in 2016. Alex continued: “There is an acute skills shortage in the construction sector – something we are mitigating by investing in our people – be that through recruiting new talent, training and education, or working with FE and HE institutions to nurture the skills of future property professionals.

“We look forward to deploying the skills of our people as we deliver more great projects in the new year and beyond.”

To find out more about the business visit: https://www.identityconsult.co.uk/

Cost of living crisis hits Manchester learning disability charity

Charity

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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Better Things, one of Manchester’s smallest charities which provides mental health support and practical assistance to people with learning disabilities/autism, is now seeing people struggle to afford its heavily-subsidised services. It is subsequently on the hunt for 25 local businesses to support a new sport-themed fundraising initiative so it can make its sporting activities free of charge for the rest of the year.

The charity, which has less than ten staff (working a variety of hours), provides a range of sporting and social activities in Wythenshawe so that people have a safe space to come to and relax and make friends. These include football, Zumba, and multi-sport sessions.

Better Things CEO Kate Maggs said: “The people we work with are often isolated and face discrimination, verbal and even physical abuse – often from complete strangers – so we use sport to give them a safe and welcoming place to come, enjoy themselves and make friends.

“We’ve seen people turn from being very introverted and shy to confident and chatty after attending just a couple of sports sessions. But we need to be able to pay for football pitches, sports halls and instructors. The sessions are already heavily subsidised, but with the cost of living crisis people are struggling to pay as little as two pounds to join in.

“We’re a very small charity with limited funds so we need to raise £2500 so that we can provide the sessions free for the rest of the year. We’re hoping to do this by holding a sport-themed fundraising day on the 3^rd February and we’re looking for local businesses, schools and colleges to join in with it.”

The fundraising initiative will involve local businesses promoting the event internally and encouraging their staff to wear their favourite sports team shirt (e.g. football, rugby, cricket etc.) and to each make a suggested donation of £3-£5 to Better Things (using the website so the charity can claim gift aid).

To make it interesting, participating organisations are being encouraged to hold their internal own competition amongst those joining in to compete for the titles of:

oldest kit
most unusual kit
club/team furthest away

Companies that have signed up so far include Trafford-based digital signage consultancy, Saturn Visual Solutions, and Hale-based digital marketing agency, First Internet.

Julaine Speight, Marketing Director at First Internet said: “As soon as we heard about the initiative, we were keen to get involved. Our staff think it’s a great idea that will be really fun.”

Paul Murphy, Operations Director at Saturn Visual Solutions said: “We’ve been supporting Better Things for a few years now and have seen first-hand what a difference a small amount of money can make to them. It’s a wonderful charity and it’d be a terrible shame if lots of people missed out on their only weekly social interaction because they couldn’t afford to pay for an already heavily-subsidised session. If you can help, please do.”

Growing demand causes Haines Watts to expand

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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It has been another successful year across the North West and wider UK for Haines Watts’ corporate finance team. They have welcomes two new team members; celebrated two promotions; completed a flurry of deals across the region, and have secured a strong pipeline of over 24 deals ahead of 2023, since the beginning of 2022.

Alex Glennie and Rebecca Patterson both joined the team in September as Corporate Finance Trainee and Corporate Finance Executive respectively to support the team with their growing demand for services.

The new starters come as Chris Hird, Corporate Finance team lead was promoted to Partner earlier this year, and Lee Jefferson to Corporate Finance Manager.

Speaking on the current M&A climate, Chris Hird said: “The last few years have subjected business owners to a prolonged period of unprecedented challenges which have included COVID, rising energy costs, supply chain challenges due to the conflict in Ukraine and also rising interest rates.

“Succession planning continues to be a key topic within the business community as we enter the new year. And with the sheer number of active buyers and sellers at the moment, the M&A market is very busy across the North and Scotland.”

Commenting on the success of the team, Chris added: “Our team are working on a number of significant transactions and I am looking forward to delivering these through to completion in 2023. In addition, the pipeline of future work is strong and I am looking forward to these projects coming online.

“When I first moved to Haines Watts I was a one-man Corporate Finance team, so I am really proud with the growth of the service line and the quality of the team we have built. The team is very strong and I look forward to seeing them grow and develop further into 2023 and beyond.”

Haines Watts is a leading advisor to owner-managed businesses in the UK. As a Top 15 firm, they deliver a wide range of services and solutions that enable aspirational business owners to achieve their goals.

More information on Haines Watts can be found on their website: https://www.haineswatts.co.uk

Deloitte expands North West team with trio of new partner appointments

Appointments

News Desk

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10/01/2023

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Global professional services firm, Deloitte, has expanded its North West team with three new partner appointments. The appointments across the Audit and Assurance, Risk Advisory and Financial Advisory teams strengthen the firm’s expertise in the region.

With extensive experience working on large and complex clients on high-risk engagements at Deloitte, Katie Harrison has been promoted to partner in Audit and Assurance. In her new role, she will be responsible for advocating for the complimentary nature of audit and assurance.

After 14 years working across both the Manchester and London offices, Iain White has re-joined the firm as a partner in the Financial Advisory team with responsibility for leading Equity Capital Markets activity in the regions. With a wealth of experience as a transaction services practitioner, Iain will work alongside IPO candidates on their path to flotation.

Joining Deloitte’s Manchester office from South Africa, Marisa Geldenhuys makes up the trio of new partner appointments. Having previously worked as a senior executive in consulting for more than ten years in South Africa, Marisa brings added expertise to the region’s Risk Advisory, SAP S4 and Digital Controls team. Marisa’s primary industry specialism lies in consumer industries.

The new partner appointments come as Deloitte eyes continued expansion in Manchester, reaffirming its commitment to the development of regional talent and investing in the resilient regional economy. NW headcount grew by over 300 in 2022, and similar growth is expected this year ahead of the firm’s move in 2024 to its new office at 100 Embankment.

Andy Westbrook, practice senior partner for Deloitte in the North West, said: “We are thrilled to welcome our newest partners, Katie, Iain and Marisa, to the Manchester office. The experience and skillsets they bring to their new roles will be a great asset to the firm and the services we provide to our regional clients.

“These latest appointments highlight how Manchester remains an incredibly attractive place for top talent, as well as Deloitte’s commitment to investing into the region. I’m looking forward to the year ahead, continuing our work in supporting the development and growth of both our North West people and businesses.”