Home Blog Page 808

BELLWAY ANNOUNCES LAND ACQUISITION IN BOLTON

Sam Whitear
-
0

Bellway is pleased to confirm that it has acquired land on Lostock Lane in Lostock, Bolton, with planning consent granted for a brand new residential development.

The 14 acre site, which was previously Hercules Business Park, will be transformed by the award-winning housebuilder.

Known as Hazel Fold, the new development will provide 214 new build homes. The development will offer a superb selection of properties, including one and two bedroom apartments as well as three and four bedroom semi-detached and detached homes.

Renowned for its high standards, the properties at Hazel Fold are part of Bellway’s recently launched Artisan collection and incorporate carefully considered elevations and luxury design features.

Infrastructure has already started on site, with build of the homes due to commence imminently. Bellway will officially launch the development in late February, releasing for sale the first few homes, followed by the opening of two show homes in the Summer.

Hollie Reynolds, sales director at Bellway, comments: “We have an excellent reputation in Bolton for delivering well designed, high quality homes and we are thrilled to continue building in the area. Hazel Fold will be a welcome addition to Lostock and with a great range of stylish properties planned, the development will appeal to buyers of all ages.”

In addition to the new development, Bellway has made significant financial contributions to the locality, including £200,000 towards education and £60,000 towards off-site POS.

Hollie concludes: “With initial infrastructure works well underway, we are looking forward to starting construction of the new homes, introducing the Artisan range to Bolton buyers.”

MCALISTER FAMILY LAW EXPANDS WITH RECRUITMENT OF NEW SPECIALIST CHILDREN LAW PARTNER

Sam Whitear
-
0

Ruth Hetherington will head the Private Law Children Division of Beyond Group’s specialist family law practice
McAlister Family Law, the North West-based, award-winning specialist family law practice, has appointed Ruth Hetherington as partner and head of the firm’s Private Law Children Division.

Ruth, previously a partner and head of the Family department for FDR Law, is a highly experienced family lawyer of more than 25 years and a specialist in Children Law, both public and private. She has been a member of the Law Society Children Panel for more than 20 years, is a Member of Resolution, Reunite and works closely with the Association of Lawyers for Children as a Member of their organisation, attending the executive committee meetings. She is also a representative on the Cheshire and Merseyside Family Justice Board, often arranging training courses for her fellow professionals.

Ruth, who conducts her own advocacy, has acted for children, parents and grandparents on all areas of children law, including complex injury cases, sexual and physical abuse, infant death, jurisdictional issues, including trafficking, relocation cases, adoption and special guardianship.

Her many Children Public Law cases include drug and alcohol issues, complex jurisdiction issues, injuries to children, child abduction and international matters. When acting for parents, she understands learning disabilities, the cycle of domestic abuse and deals with experts in other fields to ensure all matters are presented to the court. Her Children Private Law matters include living arrangements for children, parents wishing to move children to another jurisdiction, the interplay of domestic abuse, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. This can lead to linked criminal proceedings, which Ruth has frequently dealt with.

Her work also encompasses divorce and financial matters, including complex company assets, pension and trusts. She works as a collaborative lawyer when dealing with divorce, finance and children issues in this area. “I believe that this approach brings with it a different perspective,” she says, “in that by working together with other collaborative lawyers, it is possible to better achieve possible settlement solutions.”

In addition, Ruth works with teenagers in relation to deprivation of liberty/secure accommodation orders: having fostered children for many years, she has seen the other side of care proceedings and this experience allows her a deeper and more personal understanding of the issues inherent in such situations.

McAlister Family Law, which is part of Beyond Group, has climbed the rankings in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners year on year and has offices in Manchester city centre and throughout Cheshire. It is home to the leading Children Law team in the North West which now boasts seven Law Society Children Panel-accredited solicitors.
“I am thrilled to join a family law firm that specialises in Children Law and puts the welfare of children at the heart of everything it does,” said Ruth. ““I believe, very strongly, in the culture and ethos of McAlister Family Law, so to be a part of this trail-blazing firm fits perfectly with my own outlook and ambitions. I am very much looking forward to our working together to shape, in a positive and holistic fashion, the provision of family law in the UK.”

Amanda McAlister, managing partner, added: “I am extremely pleased to welcome Ruth to McAlister Family Law: she will be a tremendous asset to the firm and will make a significant contribution to the development of our Children Law division, as we continue our programme of strategic growth and cement our reputation as one the UK’s leading family law firms.”

Beyond Group Head Matt Fleetwood said: “The appointment of Ruth as a partner within McAlister Family Law enables the Group’s family law business to enhance significantly its offering. She is a natural fit for us, both as a person having the human perspective that is important for all our businesses and as a fellow professional, highly regarded throughout the industry. We are all delighted to have her on board.”

HOW IMPROVING WASHROOM HYGIENE IMPROVES EMPLOYEE CONFIDENCE

Sam Whitear
-
0

Six simple steps for businesses

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, research studieshave found that many employees are less confident about their health and safety at work and more aware of hygiene practices.

The washroom is often viewed as a reflection of a business’ overall hygiene standards, and so Paul Swift of washroom services company, Elis, outlines six questions business can ask themselves to help improve their washrooms and build employee confidence.

1 – How clean and tidy does your washroom look?

Employees want to feel confident that the washroom is being cleaned regularly and properly. Consider improving your cleaning regime and its frequency and communicate these improvements to your employees.

If you have over-flowing bins and messy, dripping soap dispensers, move to a larger bin, empty more frequently or consider a sustainable cotton roller towel or efficient electric hand dryer. For a mess–free basin area, choose soap dispenserswith anti-drip design.

2 – How does your washroom smell?

Making sure your washroom passes the ‘nose test’ is really important. Regular cleaning and waste disposal are important, but it’s also easy to add effective air freshening or air purifying.

Wall-mounted air freshening units will release fragrances into the air, or you can use a cost effective and maintenance–free air purifier to kill bacteria and viruses and eliminate odours,without the need for chemicals or fragrances.

3 – Are you providing the best soap for your employees’ needs?

We are all washing our hands more frequently, but are you providing the most appropriate soap for your employees? There are many liquid and foam soaps designed to meet the needs of different businesses, such as certified sanitising soap for the food industry, heavy duty cleaning soap for the removal of oil and grease and gentle hand soap that also kills bacteria.

It’s also important to provide hand sanitiser in washrooms and other key locations around the business. A free-standing hand sanitising station, with no-touch, anti-drip sanitiser dispensercan make it easier to position exactly where it’s needed.

4 – Are you providing good hand drying facilities?

Damp hands can spread more germs, so it’s important to provide hand drying solutions that work for employees.

Elis’ electric hand dryer options include fast and quiet Dysondryers, with no-germ HEPA filter and antimicrobial coating,and Dyson taps that wash and dry. Paper towels are available folded or in rolls, and cotton roller towel comes in a dispenser that keeps the used and fresh towel separate, with the roll re-used after going through Elis’ industrial laundry process, for a more sustainable alternative.  

5 – Are you maximising hygiene with no-touch equipment?

It’s important to minimise touch points in all areas, and it’s easy to do this in the washroom. You can choose no-touch soap and sanitiser dispensers which automatically dispense when hands are placed underneath, as well as no-touch electric hand dryers, paper roll dispensers and feminine hygiene bins.

6 – Is your washroom always well-stocked?

Empty soap dispensers and cubicles with no toilet tissue are common frustrations for employees.  The right products can make it quicker and easier to keep the washroom clean and functioning. Long lasting soap and sanitiser dispensers, with easy to use,  refill pouches, and toilet roll dispensers with practical inspection windows and easy roll replacement are two examples.

Elis provides a cost effective, nationwide washroom service, with a wide range of products and regular, scheduled servicing to help businesses achieve high levels of hygiene for employees and visitors.

Elis also supplies and launders workwear, linen and mats for businesses of all sizes throughout the UK.

For further information see uk.elis.com or telephone 0800 616691.

Sambro International secures new £13m Working Capital facility to finance future growth

Sam Whitear
-
0

LEADING toy manufacturer and distributor Sambro International Ltd is assessing growth opportunities after securing a £13m funding package with Barclays Bank.

The Manchester-based business, achieved strong sales in 2020 despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic. Sambro employs more than 90 staff and has offices in Bury, Hong Kong and Amsterdam.

Tony Hicks, CEO of Sambro International, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Barclays’ team and have been very impressed with their desire to understand our business and build a strong partnership approach. The next few years will be very exciting for our business.”

Tom Falcon, Chairman of Sambro and Partner at Elysian, which has backed Sambro since 2016, said: “We have been really impressed by Sambro’s resilience and business improvements over this challenging period.

“Combining Sambro’s highly capable team with Barclays Bank support, the platform has been laid for a period of accelerated growth. Sambro can pursue new opportunities and markets and we are excited by the future for the business.”

Matt Ryan, Head of North and Midlands Large Corporate Retail & Wholesale at Barclays added: “Barclays has been building a close relationship with Sambro International since it was acquired by Elysian in 2016 and I’m delighted to see this latest facility put in place to support their continued growth aspirations.”

Manchester Data Centre Invests £450k into Improved Resilience

Sam Whitear
-
0

Manchester data centre operator Teledata, has invested £450,000 into improved resilience at its Wythenshawe colocation and cloud hosting facility. This investment further protects the company’s data centre infrastructure and guards against incidents that would otherwise cause downtime to critical customer hosted systems, applications, data and online presence.

Three brand new diesel power generators, installed by UK generator manufacturer – CPS Generators, offer multi megawatt power generation capacity to support the data centre’s infrastructure against mains power outages. Should mains power fail, the generators and existing battery backup systems will be called upon to seamlessly protect all customer power with enough fuel on-site to sustain protection for an extended period of time. Advanced, automated synchronisation between the generators balances the electrical load and reacts fast in the event of failure of any of the individual engines – transferring power to the other engines without risk of power loss.
Through the implementation of sophisticated control systems which integrate with high capacity UPS battery backup systems, the firm has also been able to dictate a staged transfer of the site’s electrical load onto the new generators, reducing the potential for individual generator failure and thus improving the resilience of the data centre facility during main power loss situations.

Teledata director, Matt Edgley explains: “As a data centre, it is our job to keep the lights on – no matter what. As customer requirements change and the load put upon our facility increases, it’s vital that we expand and improve to meet those demands. Every second of downtime can potentially result in tens of thousands of pounds of financial losses, along with damaging reputational losses, so we’re committed to continuous improvement of our facility to ensure that we’re providing our clients with the most robust and resilient data centre services that the industry can offer.”

Teledata’s UPS systems take the majority of the load for a substantial period, allowing the generators to start, stabilise and intelligently accept the controlled transfer of the load of the site in a gradual manner to ensure a smooth transition. This guarantees zero downtime, and complete business continuity for Teledata’s clients.

Teledata recently became the first UK colocation facility to join the smart grid with battery storage, as part of a project to improve environmental efficiencies with low loss transformer and voltage optimisation, boosting the resilience of the facility by improving the shelf life of equipment, while reducing unnecessary energy waste and optimising the incoming power supply. In December 2020, Teledata was awarded the Data Centre Energy Efficiency Project of the Year Award at the prestigious DCS (Data Centre Solutions) awards, in recognition on this project.

Founded 10 years ago, the DCS Awards are firmly established as the premier annual celebration of the data centre industry, recognising the achievements of vendors, their business partners, their staff and their customers.

Teledata has also recently begun work on a £2Million 7000ft2 data centre expansion project to meet demand.

Based in Wythenshawe, Teledata provides colocation, cloud hosting, workplace recovery and data centre services to businesses across the UK. The firm’s solutions are designed to enable organisations to protect their applications, data and online presence from the damaging effects of downtime, and to make the most effective and efficient use of technology with secure and scalable hosting platforms tailored to business critical needs. The building has some of the most sophisticated security of any data centre in Europe, with an on-site police-linked, NSI Gold Approved, BS5979 certified control room and alarm receiving centre making Teledata unique in the UK.

DA Languages defies pandemic to support customers and drive growth

Sam Whitear
-
0

Fast-growing language services provider DA Languages has reported its best-ever year after a rapid response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic saw it invest significantly in technology and IT infrastructure to support clients, including a number of NHS trusts.

The Manchester-based company, backed since 2018 by leading investment company Foresight Group’s maiden North West Regional Investment Fund, said revenues in the year to the end of June had surged 28% to £9.6m.

Prospects for the current financial year are strong, with a number of new business wins and framework appointments set to boost revenues a further 35%.

Managing Director Matthew Taylor said: “2020 has clearly been an incredibly challenging year for everyone and our first priority after ensuring the well-being of our people, was to support our clients by enabling them to switch quickly from a face-to-face appointment system to video and telephone based.

“Recognising the importance of continued service delivery to the NHS, our teams worked incredibly hard to transfer thousands of important interpreting sessions to a remote service, which was under-pinned by a significant investment in our technology and infrastructure.

“This led to a 400% growth in telephone Interpreting and 900% growth in video interpreting, as we enabled the NHS, local authorities and many other public sector bodies to continue to operate many of their services.”

During the Spring lockdown the DA Languages team offered free telephone interpreting services to the Nightingale Hospitals in Bristol and Manchester and is now helping to deliver the NHS Track and Trace system.

Every month the company’s technology is enabling vulnerable people with limited or no English access over 50,000 public service interpreting sessions.

Mr Taylor added: “Considering the business was severely impacted by the cancellation of face-to-face appointments, which hit our revenues in April and May, we have had a strong year, retaining all existing customers and securing 27 new strategic clients, including Yorkshire Ambulance Service, The Office for National Statistics, the DVLA and the DVSA.”

The company has also been awarded full status on two new Public Sector frameworks, the NOECPC (North of England commercial procurement collaborative) and the National Police Dynamic Purchasing system. This police framework is the first time all forces have joined together to create a consistent, high specification and bespoke procurement route, covering 38 police forces.

Claire Alvarez, Investment Director at Foresight’s Manchester office said: “Businesses like DA Languages are the lifeblood of the regional economy as it looks to recover from the challenges 2020 has brought.

“The team has been energetic, flexible and above all customer-focused in the way it has pivoted its operations in difficult circumstances.

“DAL is a true success story – its growth has enabled it to expand its workforce from 20 to around 100 in less than three years, and with the recent framework wins, the prospects for further success are very promising.”

Separately DAL’s non-executive Chair, Diane Cheesebrough, was named Non-Executive Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors for the Yorkshire and North East region.

Two New Bailey Square welcomes another leading brand

Sam Whitear
-
0

Hot on the heels of the largest single office deal in the region for 2020, New Bailey has once again proven its mettle as a number one destination for leading brands, as Sainsbury’s signs up to 4,000 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor of Two New Bailey Square.

As one of the largest retailers in the UK, Sainsbury’s, will provide a valuable new offering to New Bailey’s retail scene and provide more variety for its occupiers, residents and visitors. Sainsbury’s will begin the store fit out in the New Year with doors set to open to customers in spring 2021.

The letting takes the recently completed 188,500 sq ft Grade A, BREEAM “Excellent” office development to 66% let, following significant pre-lets to law firms BLM and Eversheds Sutherland.

Phil Mayall, regional director at The English Cities Fund, said: “We’re proud to have secured this letting and bring such a well-known brand and much-loved supermarket to the New Bailey community.

“We’ve recently announced the 175,000 sq ft deal to BT at neighbouring Four New Bailey, and we’ve got a host of prominent organisations already in-situ or due to move into New Bailey in the coming months. As a result, and with hundreds of new employees coming to the city, we need to make sure that we’re meeting our occupiers’ needs and providing easy access to a wide range of local amenities, so we look forward to welcoming Sainsbury’s to the scheme.”

Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s property director said: “We’re delighted to be opening a new Sainsbury’s Local in the heart of this new development. Our convenience store will give customers access to fresh, great value food, alongside Sainsbury’s renowned colleague service. This shop will provide residents with everyday essentials at their doorstep and the chance for workers, commuters and visitors to get what they need as they go about their busy daily lives.”

Paul Dennett, City Mayor of Salford, said: “Salford Central is going from strength to strength, creating new jobs and offering more and more services and benefits to everyone who works there.”

New Bailey is being delivered by The English Cities Fund, a joint venture between Muse Developments, Legal & General and Homes England. The joint venture partnership is currently delivering some of the most complex and most successful urban regeneration projects across the UK. Following the fund’s expansion in 2018, it continues to take on large-scale, challenging sites and create inspiring new places.

Building on the fund’s success at Salford Central, it was named earlier in the year by Salford Council and the University of Salford as their chosen development partner to take forward Salford Crescent – a game-changing £2.5bn, 240-acre programme of regeneration delivered through a unique partnership that will bring forward a new city district with thousands of homes, alongside innovation and education space, as well as swathes of green public space.

Cushman and Wakefield and JLL are the joint lettings agents on the New Bailey scheme. Kingstreet Commercial agreed the deal with Sainsbury’s.

Investment made by LDC’s Manchester office with the support of advisers from across the North West

Sam Whitear
-
0

Omniplex, a market-leading eLearning solutions provider, has secured investment from leading mid-market private equity investor LDC to support its growth strategy.

Omniplex empowers organisations worldwide to design, create and deliver effective and engaging digital learning. The company has offices in the UK and China and is the official partner of Articulate software in the UK. Articulate is the world leading eLearning authoring platform used by more than 100,000 organisations globally to create digital learning programmes for more than 100million learners.

Omniplex also partners with industry-leading software platforms such as Vyond, Docebo and eLearning Brothers and provides eLearning services including training, consulting and bespoke content development through their digital learning design agency, Cursim. Omniplex’s impressive portfolio of customers include Pfizer, Deloitte, Medtronic, GlaxoSmithKline, KPMG and Thames Water.

LDC is backing the business’ existing management team led by CEO Matthew Lloyd. Under Matthew’s leadership, the business has experienced strong growth having increased revenues 36% year-on-year.

LDC’s support will enable the management team to further consolidate its market-leading position as it targets further organic growth and explores complementary acquisitions.

The transaction was led by LDC’s Aziz Ul-Haq, Jacob Leone and Dale Alderson. As part of the deal, Aziz will join Omniplex’s board as a Non-Executive Director. Ken Hills, who was a senior board executive on LDC-backed workforce management software business Mitrefinch, will join Omniplex as a Non-Executive Chairman. Financial details of the investment are undisclosed.

Matthew Lloyd, CEO of Omniplex, said: “Omniplex offers organisations a market-leading all in one digital learning solution. Partnering with LDC gives us an opportunity to further consolidate our position by investing in our services and people. This is the next step in our journey to expand globally and truly transform learning in the workplace.”

Aziz Ul-Haq, Director at LDC in Manchester, added: “Omniplex is an impressive business with cutting-edge software solutions and services, a market leading position in the UK and an excellent management team. It is perfectly placed to take advantage of a rapidly growing market as organisations continue to turn to digital learning solutions. We’re delighted to partner with the team to support its growth strategy.”

LDC has invested more than £1bn in UK tech, media and telecoms (TMT) companies. In addition to Omniplex, LDC has backed a number of TMT businesses over the past 12 months including ultra-secure, cloud-based data infrastructure provider Aker Systems, online order fulfilment provider James and James, and 3D software reseller Solid Solutions.

LDC was advised by BDO (corporate finance and financial due diligence), DWF (legal), PMSI (commercial due diligence) and KPMG (tax).

Omniplex was advised by Signia Corporate Finance (corporate finance) and TLT (legal).

Manchester-based Frost beta-testing new way to bank and find utility deals

Sam Whitear
-
0

Start-up CEO, Pawel Oltuszyk, says now is the time for 25–44-year-olds to finetune their finances as sign-ups for the app hits over 8000

A new online digital account has started beta testing ahead of its full launch later this year.

Frost, accessible via your smartphone, will use intelligent functionality to allow users to set up an account and manage transactions, including bills, direct debits and balance transfers, all from one application, thereby saving them time and money.

The mobile account is due to launch in the first half of 2021.

Over 8,000 people have already signed up to use the app, with a select number currently helping Frost to refine all aspects of the service to users during the beta testing period. Over half (58.3%) of users are aged 25-44, with a fifth of total users (19.7%) under the age of 25. Meanwhile, 8.5% are aged 55 and over, showing the broad appeal of being able to bank and manage money from your phone.

Frost is particularly keen to help consumers manage their money and find the best deals on the market. As consumer champions, like Martin Lewis, and the Government itself have been pointing out for many years, around 14 million households in the UK could save themselves hundreds of pounds by switching energy providers. The problem for many, is the process involved with doing this.

Frost accounts will have the functionality to automatically compare utility companies and find the best deals for each user so they can switch energy providers directly from their phones. Therefore, customers will no longer need to spend time trawling and comparing all the different deals on the market. This is possible because Frost’s app is powered by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine called Save Assist which boosts the level of automation a user can enable in their account while also benefitting from rich, personalised features and improved functionality.

In addition to finding the best deals for its customers to make switching easy, Frost’s fully online digital account also allows users to send and receive payments using just their phone number and exchange currency at the preferential inter-bank rate for a small fee.

Pawel Oltuszyk, co-founder and CEO of Frost, said: “Now is a wonderful time to be thinking about money management and what that means to us as individuals. Our vision is to help Frost customers better understand their finances and save them time and money by automating boring, time-consuming tasks, such as finding better deals and switching providers.

“This is because our Save Assist engine will do all the heavy lifting for our customers, making smart and informed decisions and alerting them instantly so they can save on their utility expenditure by being on the best possible deal.”

Edyta Sliwinska, co-founder and chief marketing officer for Frost, said: “The New Year is a valuable time to think about finances, make New Year’s Resolutions and plan for the year ahead. This is why we have invited some of our future Frost Money community to put the service to the test during this beta testing stage and make their recommendations. By doing this, we can create the best and most user-friendly experience, so our customers find it as easy as possible to manage their finances and keep those Resolutions for a lifetime.”

Quantuma bolsters North West operations following over 100% growth in 2020

Sam Whitear
-
0

Business advisory firm Quantuma has appointed leading regional restructuring adviser, Jeremy Woodside as managing director, following a year of strong growth in the firm’s North West practice.

Over the last 12 months, the business advisory firm has seen over 100% rise in demand for its services across the region, with headcount in the North West now rising to 13.

Jeremy is a chartered accountant and qualified insolvency practitioner and he brings over 25 years of experience to Quantuma, having worked as partner for national mid-tier accounting and consulting firm, RSM, for 20 years prior to which he was at PwC for 5 years.

He is also a regional committee member of the insolvency and restructuring trade body R3.

Throughout his career, Jeremy has advised directors, creditors, lenders and other stakeholders across a range of sectors on distressed and stressed trading positions.

In his new role, Jeremy will be based in the firm’s Manchester office, focusing on providing insolvency and restructuring advice to SMEs across the North West.

Since launching its Manchester office in 2019, Quantuma has continued to invest in its regional practice to support further growth. Earlier this year, the firm acquired insolvency boutique, Bell Advisory, further strengthening its services to North West businesses, and providing the foundation for further expansion.

Jeremy Woodside said: “I am excited to work with the team in Manchester to accelerate the firm’s growth in the North West. 2020 was a challenging year for many businesses, so demand is naturally high for those advisers who can support businesses in further developing resilience and adapting their response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In just two years, Quantuma has developed an outstanding reputation in the North West for providing a broad range of independent advisory services, and I am looking forward to building on this as we look to help many of the region’s businesses rebound and return to growth.”

Carl Jackson, CEO at Quantuma added: “Our North West operations have grown exponentially in the last 12 months, which means that we have been able to support more businesses than ever across the region throughout what was an incredibly difficult year.

“We have known Jeremy for a long time, and it is fantastic to welcome someone of his calibre and reputation to the firm at this very exciting time in our journey. This is a further step change to our investment in the North West and Jeremy’s appointment reflects our desire to continue developing our brand with leading practitioners.”

1...807808809...1,097Page 808 of 1,097