Property consultants Bruton Knowles has appointed a key industry figure, to be based from its Manchester office, to head up a new Utility Team as it plans for major expansion into the sector over the next 12 months. 

Chris Gaskell was Head of Estates and Wayleaves at Electricity North West for 20 years. He decided to take early retirement in January 2018 but was persuaded to return to the sector by James Bailey, Managing Partner at Bruton Knowles with an offer clearly too good to turn down.

“I was determined not to return unless the role and the business was just right, offered me new challenges and an opportunity to utilise my specialist knowledge within the utility sector. Bruton Knowles is one of the few firms with the ability to offer this”.

James Bailey has a clear vision for the Utility Team at Bruton Knowles: “This has been some time in the planning but key to its launch was finding the right person to spearhead the campaign and to expand our team with knowledgeable and industry respected individuals.

“The utility sector is a fast growing business area for Bruton Knowles, representing a large percentage of business income nationwide.

“Current clients, including some long-term relationships with Western Power Distribution, National Grid, Cadent Gas and Thames Water has brought a level of knowledge and experience of the sector to the business that is in great demand and certainly driving the need to source and establish a dedicated team.

“We are now actively recruiting with the intention of building a significant team around Chris. This will also impact on our annual graduate recruitment programme. Candidate intake will be influenced by the need to attract and build talent within the business.”

Chris Gaskell continued: ”The utility sector is a challenging market at the moment as it continues to change and evolve at pace.

“It is vital that utility companies are able to outsource the efficient and cost-effective acquisition of often complex land rights and planning and environmental consents for the development of new systems and networks, to firms like Bruton Knowles which has the resources and skills to support them in their plans.”

TeamSport Indoor Karting, has successfully completed its acquisition of Daytona’s Manchester circuit.

Located within the well-known Trafford Park industrial estate, and just a short drive from Manchester’s city centre, Daytona is one of the city’s oldest leisure attractions. Visited by residents and visitors, the site features a 450m indoor track, a licensed bar, a children’s party area and meeting facilities.

TeamSport was established in 1992 and has tracks across the UK.  The company’s success has been focused on installing multi-level karting tracks along with exceptional customer facilities and service.

Dominic Gaynor, Managing Director of TeamSport Karting said; “We’re delighted to have finalised the acquisition of Daytona.  Manchester is a thriving city with so much to offer people looking for a fun activity to do.  Karting is a great option and appeals to so many people; families can race together, it’s a great place to celebrate an occasion such as a birthday or stag do and the perfect activity for socialising or teambuilding with colleagues.”

“Our range of offers such as half price mid-week karting, discounts for students and our exclusive Grid membership have proved very popular with karting fans. Our new Cadet Academy provides expert tuition for budding F1 stars, so you never know, the next Lewis Hamilton could be from Manchester.”

Castlefield Recruitment, which has offices in Manchester and Leeds, has reached the £5m turnover mark ahead of plan.

The company is forecasting growth that would increase revenues by 50% in 2019 based on hiring additional consultants to service increased client demand.

Castlefield’s core business focusses on supplying finance, procurement and housing staff from entry level up to £80,000 salary, in both public and private sectors.

Andrew Davison, co-founder and director along with Nick Ogden and Chris Oldfield, said: “We are a rapidly-expanding recruitment business and our growth up to now has been achieved by sticking to the sectors and job roles we know well and providing a first-class service.

“Companies and public sector organisations need more and more from the people they hire while being faced with ever-tighter recruitment budgets. So, for us, that means finding quality people, working as partners and flexing in a way most recruitment firms won’t when it comes to delivering value and cost savings.

“Our success is founded on building and maintaining long-term relationships, achieved by delivering high quality candidates who make a difference, which leads to a high level of repeat business for us.”

Within the public sector Castlefield is a leading supplier of staff to the NHS, education and housing associations. This includes finance, procurement, project management and transformation, as well as teams providing housing management, asset management, repairs and maintenance.

Within the private sector the business counts Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Drax Power Group and Card Factory among its clients, placing permanent, contract and interim positions at all levels of finance with clients ranging from SMEs to multinationals and FTSE-listed companies.

The company was founded, originally, in the spare bedroom of a Castlefield apartment in Manchester and is now based in long-term leased offices in city centre Manchester and Leeds.  It currently employs 28 staff across both locations and with growth forecasts aims to have 40 staff by the end of next year.

Davison added: “We’ve all experienced recruitment consultancies that care only about the bottom line, which is why we wanted to run things differently in our own business: that involves offering no ceiling on commission for the work staff put in, investing in them through training and trusting them to work independently.

“As well as reinvesting profits in the business and the team, we’ve made a long-term commitment to our offices in Manchester and Leeds aligned with the growth and investment they are both experiencing.”

A 38-year-old mum from Manchester has her sights set on taking over the letterbox gift industry with her new business Olive and Bloom.

Entrepreneur, Gemma Robinson, started making soaps to sell at craft fairs but soon expanded into making beautiful gift boxes full of natural, luxurious products; and the best thing is that they can be delivered straight through the letterbox!

“I’m aware that today’s busy lifestyles mean that people don’t have time to wait in for deliveries or go to the post office to collect items they’ve missed,” says Gemma.

“I wanted to create luxurious products that would be a joy to receive, without any inconvenience.”

Gemma spent months coming up with the product formulations and making sure all the ingredients were natural, organic and ethically sourced. “People are a lot more aware of what goes into their products these days,” she says. “They don’t want goods that are artificial and full of chemicals.”

She was also meticulous about the packaging and branding. “I’ve been very hands-on with design,” says Gemma. “I wanted something that looked and felt really special as a big part of the gift experience is opening the box.”

Gemma still makes all the soaps herself from her kitchen, on top of running another business and being mum to an energetic toddler. “It’s a difficult juggling act,” she she added, “but Olive and Bloom is a real passion project. I want it to be the go-to company for letterbox gifts and have lots of ideas for it going forward.”