North West business briefs: Eric Wright Group; ROI Media; Manchester Pride; Bold Street Coffee

Preston-based Eric Wright Construction has started work on Nye Bevan House in Rochdale for Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a project that will deliver a leading muscularskeletal (MSK) diagnostic treatment hub unit for the people of Rochdale.

The £1.25m project will see the four-storey building, which was built in 2008, extensively re-modelled, increasing clinical capacity and maximising use of the building’s available space. It will also include a gym for patients, counselling rooms and offices for the clinical teams. The InHealth Pain Service will also move into the new areas at Nye Bevan House from local outdated accommodation, further adding to treatment and support for patients.

The transformation of the building and investment into the new facilities will reduce travelling time for service users across the region and deliver a better overall patient experience and improvements to their quality of life. The project is due to complete in May.

Wayne Ashton, Eric Wright health and care’s partnering director, said: “We’re pleased to help CHP and the NHS transform this building into a best-in-class facility which will continue to support the health needs of communities across the region. Making sure that useful and well positioned buildings such as this are re-purposed to meet the population’s future healthcare needs is a cost effective solution and supports the aims of a modern health service. We look forward to seeing it completed later this spring.”

Community Health Partnerships regional director, Andy Muir, said: “CHP is delighted to support care closer to home for patients and their carers. Our high quality buildings are ideally placed to house multiple complementary clinical services in one building and reduce the need for patients to travel for this support.

“Our buildings are specifically designed to be flexible to accommodate future changes, meet the needs of building users and maximise efficiencies. They provide an improved experience for patients who are treated closer to home in their community and we are pleased that Eric Wright has now started work on this important project for Rochdale.”

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Robin Kaneteg and Joel Halling

BGF-backed lead generation technology company, ROI Media, has created a new division to provide a distinction between its fintech specialism and the original business focused on optimising landing pages for small businesses.

The fintech division will be re-branded to Firstborn Group and provide a significant platform for future growth. The announcement follows Manchester-based ROI’s investments in the financial sector over the past 12 months in which it has acquired Raketech’s financial assets, as well as Firstborn Capital, Effective Marketing, and UniFinance, with the latest acquisition boosting ROI’s annual revenues by £2m and EBITDA enhanced by nearly £1m.

Alongside the acquisitions, ROI, led by Robin Kanateg and Joel Halling, has further strengthened this part of the business by key appointments to the management team adding industry and technical experience.

Co-founder and CEO, Robin Kaneteg, said: “Creating a distinct fintech division which differentiates Firstborn Group from ROI Media clearly marks our ambition within the financial services sector. Adopting the name was a natural decision as we acquired Firstborn Capital last year including the Firstborn proprietary platform. The platform is core to our business model as it enables us to leverage the other acquisitions within the financial sector.”

“Our focus is to further develop the platform and integrate it across our business. This allows us to expand the effective lead generation business to also include data collection and re-targeting – fundamentally changing the business model, focusing on recurring revenues.”

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Manchester Pride has announced the return of its parade for 2022 following a two-year break. The Parade, which will take place on Saturday, August 27, is the city’s biggest, with tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ people and allies gathering to march through the city for equality, with thousands more lining the streets to take in the spectacular sea of colours.

The theme for the 2022 parade is March for Peace, with the importance of peace in a world where all LGBTQ+ people are free to live and love without prejudice at its heart, it said.

Mark Fletcher, CEO at Manchester Pride, said: “In 2020 we had decided to theme the parade as our March for Peace. Sadly the pandemic took hold and we were unable to take to the streets. As we look around the world today, this theme has become even more relevant. Conflict within and outside of our communities is rife and we are calling on our LGBTQ+ communities and allies around Greater Manchester to join in and support us as we March for Peace.”

Registration is open for organisations to take part in the Parade, with entry categories refreshed in 2022 to enable more LGBTQ+ organisations and groups to participate for free, subsidised by larger organisations to wish to participate.

Entry categories for Manchester Pride Parade 2022: LGBTQ+ Organisations (new category); Non LGBTQ+ Not-for-profit; Public Sector; Greater Manchester Independent Business (new category); Small Business; Commercial Organisation.

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Bold Street Coffee event space

Liverpool’s Bold Street Coffee has developed a private event space in the basement of the city centre site which first opened in 2010.

It is aimed at events such as milestone birthdays, baby showers, small weddings and corporate events. It can accommodate up to 40 people, or can seat up to 10 people as a meeting venue.

Matt Farrell, director of Bold Street Coffee, said: “Having this new event space adds a further dimension to Bold Street Coffee.

“Known and loved for its speciality coffee and dishes, this new basement space will give our guests the opportunity to host private events with us in the heart of Bold Street and pre-book for large parties where our food and drinks will be available.

“The space has been designed to reflect bright and bold colours. It’s a welcoming environment and we’re really excited about having our loyal guests joining us for a different experience at Bold Street Coffee.”