Corby redevelopment projects showcased to Government
North Northamptonshire Council projects that are spearheading further redevelopment in Corby town centre were showcased during a Government visit last week.
Minister for Levelling Up, Neil O’Brien, was taken on a tour of the sites which will benefit from a £19.9million cash injection as part of the Town Fund.
The Minister visited Chisholm House in Queen’s Square, which will be repurposed and developed into a sixth form college before touring Corby train station, which is part of a scheme to form a better connection with the town centre through active travel.
Cllr Jason Smithers, Leader of North Northamptonshire Council, said: “I’m delighted that Minister O’Brien visited North Northants to see first-hand the projects that are being developed in Corby town centre.
“The Town Fund has provided a huge cash boost to the town and these schemes will act as a catalyst for economic growth. Creating the conditions to bring prosperity is one of the key ambitions of the council and I look forward to seeing the projects take shape over the coming months.”
Minister for Levelling Up, Neil O’Brien, said: “I am truly excited by the regeneration of Chisholm House into a modern, new, carbon-neutral Sixth Form. With backing from Corby’s £19.9 million Town Deal, the Sixth Form will give hundreds of young people across Northamptonshire the opportunity to achieve their true potential.
“It was also fantastic to tour Corby station and discuss government-funded plans to improve both pedestrian and cycle links from the town centre to the station. Encouraging active travel, reducing emissions and improving safety is how we create healthy, sustainable and thriving communities across the nation.”
The Town Fund projects are:
Sixth Form College at Chisholm House – Chisholm House will be re-purposed and renovated to be a carbon neutral building using the latest innovative technologies to bring this ground-breaking and modern building to the heart of the town centre. It will attract 16 to 18-year-old, young adults from the surrounding area.
Corby Station to town centre – This project will look to improve the public realm on Oakley Road for cyclists and pedestrian usage. This main road will look to update these important links in Corby from the train station, Tresham College and the town centre, with a focus on promoting active travel along this key route.
Smart and Connected Corby – This project seeks to establish Corby as a smart and green town centre through harnessing connected and clean technologies. Using the latest connected and smart technology will enable the council to monitor flows of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, shoppers, and visitors to understand the present and predict the future.
Multi-Purpose building – This project aims to provide permanent new accommodation for a modern Arts and Community Centre in a multi-use facility, located in a central location in Corby’s town centre.
Sharpest manufacturing price growth since 1976
UK manufacturing output growth picked up in the three months to February, but the balance of manufacturers expecting price rises in the next three months was at its highest since December 1976.
That’s according to the latest monthly CBI Industrial Trends Survey, based on responses from 224 manufacturing firms.
- The balance of manufacturers who expect price rises in the next three months rose to the highest since December 1976 (+77% in February 2022, +78% in December 1976).
- Growth in output volumes accelerated in the three months to February compared with the same period one month earlier (+26% from +14%). Output increased in 13 out of 17 sectors, with growth driven by the chemicals and food, drink and tobacco sub-sectors.
- Total order books were strong in February (+20%, from +24% in January), while export order books improved slightly and remained above their long run average (-7%, from -10% in January; average of -19%).
- Stocks of finished goods were seen as inadequate again in February, but with some improvement shown for the second consecutive month (-14% from -17%).
Training provider transforms former newspaper offices into digital HUB
An East Midlands training and apprenticeship provider has invested £75,000 to give Derby’s former newspaper offices a new lease of life – as a state-of-the-art digital HUB.
EMA Training has created three floors of collaborative working space, break-out areas, exam suites and networking facilities inside its new Siddals Road headquarters, which was home to the Derby Telegraph until last year.
It has taken just two months for EMA Training to renovate the offices, which cover almost 9,000 sq ft, ahead of a big push to promote apprenticeships and staff training as a vital component of the city’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
EMA Training Chief Executive Officer, Tracey Mosley, said: “The expansion into this building is extremely exciting for us. The city has so much to offer our learners and we want to keep local talent in Derby.
“The support we have had from the employers we work with; our external stakeholders and our team has been incredible. Our people are the core of everything we do, and it has been great to see their involvement in each phase come to life.
“All the local businesses who helped renovate the previously empty office have done a fantastic job, in a really quick time. Together we have turned the building into a collaborative, innovative working space that supports the new hybrid way of working.”
The move into the new office, which is due to be officially opened by businesswomen Eileen Richards MBE, comes after EMA Training expanded from 10 members of staff to 30 in the last two years.
Mrs Mosley added: “This is such an exciting time for EMA Training and our new prominent position in the heart of the city means we will be able to bring our ground-breaking and exceptional expertise to even more young people and employers.
“EMA training has gone from strength to strength in the last three years and as the city builds back better we hope that we will be an important part of this recovery.”
Eileen Richards said: “I am delighted to have been given the honour to officially open EMA’s new training hub.
“The East Midlands is renowned for their entrepreneurial and business spirit which is why it is fantastic that EMA are providing a place for emerging and existing talent to be upskilled through apprenticeships and training programmes to continue to add value and expertise within our region.”
East Midlands housebuilder secures £6.5m finance facility for Northamptonshire scheme
East Midlands housebuilder Barry Howard Homes has secured a £6.5 million finance facility from Paragon Development Finance to support a 28 new build home scheme in Weedon, Northamptonshire.
The ‘Grand Union Way’ canal-side development, located on Dodford Wharf Farm, consists of three, four and five-bedroom homes and is due to be complete in the summer. It is located close to the High Street of the popular Weedon village.
A further 19 affordable units are also being delivered as part of the scheme in conjunction with a housing association.
The deal was led on behalf of Paragon by relationship director Adrian Reeves and portfolio manager Bonnie McCloskey. It was introduced to Paragon by Matthew Cleave from MPC Estates.
Barry Howard, founder of Barry Howard Homes, said: “This scheme benefits from a vibrant village life, but also has close links to Daventry, Northampton and Rugby, which of course have fantastic transport links to London and Birmingham. We have designed these family homes to enhance the village, offering good quality housing in a desirable location.”
Adrian Reeves said: “We pleased to have been able to support Barry Howard Homes with this latest development. The company has built a fantastic reputation for delivering top quality homes over the past 30 years and this scheme will further cement that.”
MPC Estates’ Matthew Cleave said: “Having worked successfully with Barry on a number of his transactions over the past few years, I knew that a relationship with Paragon would be very beneficial for the delivery of this scheme. As always, Paragon have proven to be a reliable partner in securing the funding with the help of Adrian and Bonnie and I am sure there will be many more opportunities for similar projects in the future.”
Council sets out budget to protect vital public services as financial pressures mount
Budget plans intended to protect essential council services in Leicestershire are to be discussed tomorrow.
Leicestershire county councillors will meet on Wednesday (23) to address the challenging financial position facing the authority.
The council’s proposed medium term financial strategy (MTFS) looks to manage the rising costs of caring for vulnerable children and adults while finding ways to deal with increasing inflationary costs across services and on key multi-million pound capital projects needed to support the county’s growing population and economy.
The authority is proposing to increase its share of the council tax bill by three per cent from April – a two per cent rise in the basic levy and one per cent ringfenced to contribute towards adult social care.
This rise is below the current rate of inflation and the lowest increase in recent years.
The precept rise will also help fund other key services including children’s social care, public health, transport, education, planning, road maintenance, libraries, waste management and trading standards.
Cabinet lead member for resources councillor Lee Breckon said: “The money we will receive from the Government in the coming financial year was better than anticipated but significant risks remain.
“Our proposed budget will balance the books next year but we still face a gap between our income and what we will need to spend of £39 million by 2026.
“Our financial strategy is prudent and deliverable though we will still need to make significant savings and that will require difficult decisions.”
Cllr Lee Breckon, Cabeniet member for resources said: “It is recognised many residents will be having a hard time with the rising cost of living.
“We ask for more council tax with great reluctance and we will need to repay residents by delivering those essential services efficiently and effectively.
The pressure on the council to fund both children’s and adult social care remains considerable with rising demand in the number of vulnerable older and young people who need looking after – and the costs of the care they need rising.
Overall social care costs are expected to rise by £88 million over the next four years with a significant part of that needed to pay the national minimum wage.
There is also large deficit of £63 million predicted by 2026 in paying for the education of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
More than half a billion pounds is also to be spent on major capital schemes between now and 2026 to provide for essential infrastructure – such as new roads and schools – to meet the demands of the county’s growing population and economy.
The popular Shire Grants scheme is being boosted with an additional £150,000 to make up a £600,000 pot available annually to communities to bid in to for projects that will make a real difference for Leicestershire’s residents.
The council remains committed to its target of helping to plant 700,000 trees across the county – one for every resident – and the MTFS contributes £100,000 developing a tree nursery to grow saplings towards this target, helping to make our county cleaner and greener.
The MTFS also provides £50,000 to enable the cost of road closures to be waived for communities and groups planning street parties to celebrate HM The Queens’s Platinum Jubilee in June.
Cllr Breckon said: “This budget will provide protection for vulnerable children and adults, builds on the Covid support we’ve provided over the past years and will continue to support.
“It delivers the lowest rise in the precept in recent years.
“Although we can balance the books this year, we will continue our campaign to get a better funding deal from government- and this includes working with the cross-party F20 group of the lowest funded councils in England to achieve this aim.” Rolls-Royce signs sustainable fuel global declaration
Rolls-Royce has signed a global declaration, committing to promote the acceleration of the development, production and consumption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
The engineering giant, which has its civil aerospace and defence divisions in Derby, joined with other key players within the aviation industry – Airbus, Safran and Singapore Airlines – to sign the declaration at the Singapore Air Show.
The aviation industry plays a part in achieving the Paris Agreement targets, with SAF being one of the key decarbonisation levers in the sector.
The Global SAF Declaration calls on industry partners from the aerospace, aviation, and fuel value chains to embrace SAF as an important part of decarbonisation with the ambition to ensure a steady ramp up over the next 10 years.
The declaration is open to all airlines, as well as aviation and aerospace organisations, as a complement to their sustainability commitments.
Grazia Vittadini, chief technology and strategy officer at Rolls-Royce, said: “Signing the declaration is an important milestone for the aerospace industry.
“We welcome the opportunity to push for more SAF use by coming together across the value chain.
“It is important that we combine our efforts and focus into building the momentum required to drive this forward.
“We are all big advocates for the development of alternative propulsion solutions including hydrogen, hybrid-electric and electric and we also recognise that SAFs are a key building block to set us on our path towards achieving our long-term decarbonisation goals.”
Major residential scheme proposed for Nottingham
Plans for a major mixed-use scheme on Alfreton Road, Nottingham, have been submitted to the city council.
Olympian Homes is seeking Full Planning Permission to create 790 student bedspaces in 344 houses, studios, and cluster flats, along with leisure and retail facilities, and 68 residential apartments comprising 19 one-bedroom apartments, 44 two-bedroom apartments and 5 two-bedroom townhouse apartments.
The development would be placed on the site that was historically home to Forest Mill, a large lace factory established in 1840.
A planning statement notes: “The Mill remained open and trading until the 1950s, however, following closure the site stood empty for decades and along with a more contemporary office block to the north east corner of the site, fell into a derelict, unsightly and deleterious state of repair. The last of the Mill buildings were finally demolished in 2012 and the remaining section of office accommodation in 2020.”
The site has been acquired by the applicant.
The new development could reach up to eight storeys.
Multiple warehouses let at Magna Park Lutterworth
GLP, an investor and developer of logistics warehouses and distribution parks, has leased multiple warehouses at Magna Park Lutterworth, and commenced speculative development on four units at Magna Park South Lutterworth.
Magna Park Lutterworth is home to 36 different customers and occupies over 11 million sq ft of floor space across 41 buildings.
The deals in the park include two spec build lettings and a build to suit transaction in the North, plus a letting of an existing building in Magna Park Central.
Bleckmann, a fashion and lifestyle supply chain expert, has leased the first of the three “spec builds” in Magna Park North, taking a 200,102 sq ft building (MPN1) on a long-term lease. The warehouse will be used to service Bleckmann’s increasing number of contracts and will be the company’s second unit leased at Magna Park Lutterworth, after it acquired Tornado-186 18 months ago.
Iron Mountain, an information management services company, has signed an agreement to lease MPN3, the third spec building under construction, totalling 297,194 sq ft. This will support Iron Mountain’s UK expansion strategy. MPN3 is expected to complete by the end of March 2022.
LX Pantos has taken a building on a built to suit basis – MPN4, totalling 310,000 sq ft, which is expected to complete by July 2022. LX Pantos is upsizing from an existing facility and plans to use the warehouse to service LG Electronics, amongst other top brands.
In a separate development, GLP has completed the letting of Hurricane-258, a 258,000 sq ft cross-docked distribution unit located within the Magna Park Central Lutterworth development, to Rhenus Home Delivery. Rhenus intends to operate the unit as a two-man lift operation in response to the further growth of their home delivery business.
Following the development of 1.2 million sq ft (Phase one) last year in Magna Park South (MPS), GLP has announced it has commenced the next phase (Phase two) of speculative development in MPS, with another 1 million sq ft being constructed across four buildings.
The development will see the construction of 186,000, 211,000, 256,000 and 355,000 sq ft buildings respectively. Work on-site will commence in Q2 and is expected to complete by Q4 2022.
Joe Garwood, senior development director at GLP, says: “This marks an exciting time in the ongoing development of Magna Park Lutterworth, which has been firmly established as Europe’s leading logistics and distribution park.
“The park has seen unprecedented development and leasing activity in recent months, with GLP completing eight deals over the course of last year totalling 2.2 million sq ft.
“We are delighted to partner with such well-established companies, and we look forward to working with Bleckmann, Iron Mountain, LX Pantos and Rhenus Home Delivery and supporting them as they grow.”
Derby fabrication and precision machining business snapped up
Mersey Industries has acquired Derby-based MCE Engineering, a fabrication and precision machining business.
Off the back of a record year for the business, this acquisition forms part of an ambitious journey for Mersey Industries to build a group of engineering companies in the UK, with an impetus on serving the defence, nuclear and aerospace sectors.
The acquisition of MCE Engineering marks the second acquisition for Mersey Industries as it expands its footprint in the Midlands, and, in turn, the operational capabilities across the group.
Established in 1996, MCE Engineering operates from a 12,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Derby and delivers specialist metal machining and fabrication solutions to blue chip market leaders such as Rolls Royce and Bombardier. The business has a team of over 35 staff who play a key role in the ongoing success of the business.
Jeremy Rowson, director of Mersey Industries, said: “We’ve been on the lookout for a high quality and well-run precision engineering company to enhance and extend our capabilities and MCE Engineering ticked all the right boxes for us. We are delighted to welcome the MCE team into the group and look forward to working with them.
“We are grateful to the team at Magma Corporate Finance for guiding us through the acquisition process. Shafwaan Bheda and Irfan Ashfak provided an excellent advisory service, and Jon Kicks delivered expertly put together tax due diligence and advice. Their experience and expertise were invaluable during the transaction.”
Shafwaan Bheda, senior manager at Magma Corporate Finance, said: “Mersey Industries has an extremely ambitious and dynamic management team, and this acquisition strengthens their presence and operational capabilities in their target sectors. We are extremely pleased to have advised Mersey Industries on the deal and look forward to working with the business moving forward.”
Jamie Lloyd and his team at Nexus Solicitors, Manchester, provided legal advice and legal due diligence to Mersey Industries.
Strike proposed at Nottingham bakery over pay rise that could leave staff “worse off”
A strike is on the cards at Nottingham’s Riverside Bakery – the producer of quiches, flans and savoury tarts for major retailers including Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Marks and Spencer – according to Unite.
The union says that a pay cut disguised as a rise offered to staff earning just above the minimum wage has resulted in a strike ballot.
More than 150 workers at Riverside Bakery are being balloted for strike action over the pay offer that would apparently leave staff worse off by reducing overtime and premium rates.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This offer is a pay cut disguised as a rise. It would leave our members, who are already struggling with low pay and soaring inflation, worse off. I doubt customers will be impressed to learn that the quiches they buy in Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer and other supermarkets are being made by workers on the breadline.
“Riverside Bakery should be aware that if our members vote for strike action, Unite will have their backs with all the support they need.”
The ballot for strike action opens today (Tuesday 22 February) and closes on 8 March.
Unite said that the latest pay offer is a serious attack on its members’ premium rates.
Riverside Bakery is part of the Addo Food Group, which was bought by private equity firm PAI Partners in 2020. PAI is planning to merge Addo with another chilled food company it owns, Winterbotham Darby, to create a new company, The Compleat Food Group.
Unite regional officer Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Riverside Bakery and their new owners, PAI Partners, can well afford to ensure that their already low paid workers’ financial woes are not further increased.
“With the rising cost-of-living many will be plunged – if they are not there already – into in-work poverty under the current pay offer. Riverside Bakery need to put forward a deal our members can accept before this dispute escalates further.”
A spokesperson for The Compleat Food Group said: “After extensive talks, The Compleat Food Group made a very favourable offer of an increase to hourly rates for the colleagues at Riverside Bakery which was rejected by the Union.
“To enhance the previous offers, the final offer from the business included the fixing of overtime premiums at the 2021 rates. This was a move to further enhance hourly rates and increase differentials in advance of the forthcoming increase to the national minimum wage.”
