North West business briefs: Eurovision; UrbanChain; Back to the Garden; Therme Manchester; Science in Sport; Bare Bar
More than 1,500 jobseekers descended on ACC Liverpool as the city region looked to fill hundreds of hospitality and tourism roles ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest in the city this May.
Around 100,000 extra visitors are expected in the city region when Liverpool hosts Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine. Eurovision will also attract a TV audience in the region of 160 million viewers, and it is estimated that the Liverpool City Region will reap a £25m economic return from the event, which will rise to £250m by 2026, as experience shows most tourists tend to make return visits.
Tens of thousands of visitors are also expected for the Grand National race meeting in April and The Open Golf Championship, at Hoylake, Wirral, in July. The recruitment fair was attended by Microsoft who offered digital accessibility support to jobseekers – including translation.
Forty three employers, including hotels, travel companies, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, the Jockey Club and Liverpool Football Club, attended the special recruitment fair – with 2,382 posts available to jobseekers who travelled from across the city region and beyond. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority joined forces with the Department for Work and Pensions, Liverpool City Council and Growth Platform to stage the fair which showcased current vacancies and long-term careers in the city region’s £5bn visitor economy.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority executive director for investment and strategic deliver, Aileen Jones, said: “Eurovision presents a huge opportunity for the Liverpool City Region, its people and its visitor economy. With around 100,000 extra visitors expected and the eyes of the world on us, we are determined to do the city and Ukraine proud. This recruitment fair is helping ensure we give visitors to Eurovision and the other world-famous events the city region is hosting, the best possible welcome so they keep coming back.”
Linda Usher, senior employer and partner lead for the DWP, said: “This jobs fair in Liverpool was a brilliant success and gave those across the region, looking for work the chance to speak to prospective employers face to face. It’s crucial that people of all ages and backgrounds have the chance to progress and we have another five jobs fairs planned in March and April in the lead up to Eurovision.”
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Somayeh Taheri
Manchester energy technology company, UrbanChain, will introduce electric vehicle charging stations and batteries to its renewable energy trading market. It comes after the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero awarded the company £430,000 through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).
UrbanChain CEO, Somayeh Taheri, described the funding as a fundamental step for the future of the UK’s energy market. She also revealed that UrbanChain has committed more than £100,000 to the grant to continue innovating its peer-to-peer energy exchange services for all potential members: “Our peer-to-peer energy exchange is the only trading platform for renewable energy in the UK and the support from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will assist us in our plans.”
“The addition of electric vehicle charging stations and batteries to our trading platform is an important move for the UK economy and its carbon footprint. The return on investment will be maximised and payback time of the assets minimised. With this funding we will further introduce balancing and settlement to our peer-to-peer energy market while continuing to drive forward our customer offering and welcoming more participants to the peer-to-peer exchange.”
The funding was part of Round 9 of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF) from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – formerly part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Grant Shapps, said the EEF forms part of the Government’s wider plans to bring down the cost of energy.
Having been founded in Manchester in 2017, UrbanChain has since continued to disrupt the energy market by reducing the energy bill prices for businesses and households. The company has now received £2.1m in funding, including from Innovate UK and various government bodies. Through its AI and blockchain technology UrbanChain profiles consumption behaviours and production patterns and secures the best match between consumers and renewable energy generators.
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Alison O’Connor-Limb
With build fully complete, Back to the Garden Childcare has officially opened its second nursery in the heart of Lymm, Cheshire, and is welcoming its first intake of local children. It offers 90 places for children from three months up to five years.
The purpose-built £2m development on Statham Avenue focuses on natural, child-led learning, exploration and play in an innovative indoor and all-weather garden setting complete with a tepee and wooden play structures.
Lymm is the second site in the North West for Back to the Garden Childcare, the operator has a flagship nursery in Broadheath, Altrincham. Back to the Garden says its philosophy allows children to be children, to explore their environment, experiment with the outdoor playscape and all its natural resources, harness the power of their own imaginations and to feel a valued part of an extended and caring family.
Founder and director at Back to the Garden, Jeannie Pickering, said: “We are incredibly proud of our second setting in Lymm and the new nursery team, and are very much looking forward to welcoming further children over the next few weeks. In the childcare setting, our role is to facilitate, to provide the best possible environment in which every child can develop at his or her own pace and learn naturally through the enjoyment of play and socialising with others and I can already see this happening with the team and our children.”
Lymm resident and nursery manager, Alison O’Connor-Limb, said: “It is really very special to be here at the start of our journey in Lymm, to be meeting all of our new children and their families and see everyone settling in, starting to bond and explore our fabulous space. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be introducing our forest schools programme and other exciting projects for the children and plan to develop an ongoing relationship with the residents at the care home next door.”
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New footage shows the completed demolition of a former events venue to make way for Therme Manchester – a new £250m development at TraffordCity and the UK’s first city-based wellbeing resort.
Spanning 28-acres opposite Trafford Palazzo and The Trafford Centre, Therme Manchester at TraffordCity, will provide attractions for all ages and budgets including Greater Manchester’s first all-season urban beach, a next generation indoor waterpark and thermal pools and spas.
Regeneration business Peel L&P has now finished clearing the 28,000 sq m former EventCity conference and exhibition centre at its TraffordCity site on Barton Dock Road in preparation for the flagship development. Therme Manchester is being built by global developer and operator of state-of-the-art wellbeing destinations Therme Group which has seen phenomenal success with similar resorts across Europe over the past 20 years.
The development’s economic impact is estimated to be worth £4.5bn to the region including the creation of 1,200 jobs and with a strong focus on health, wellbeing and sustainability, Therme Manchester is forecast to save more than one million hospital admission days per year. There are also plans for an education centre at Therme Manchester for schools and community groups to learn about nature and sustainability.
James Whittaker, Peel L&P’s executive director of development, said: “Therme Manchester is a landmark development for the North and something the UK has never seen before. It’s incredibly exciting to see the land being prepared to welcome the resort to TraffordCity and we’re proud to help bring such an amazing attraction to the North West which we know will be enjoyed by so many people across the country whether it’s for a fun family day out, relaxation or educational trips.”
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Global endurance brand, Science in Sport (SiS), has announced a three-year strategic partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University. The partnership will bring together state-of-the-art facilities and best-in-class research techniques with a global brand at the heart of elite sport to develop new knowledge that will ultimately provide novel performance solutions to athletes.
Science in Sport, which has a key operation in Blackburn, is the official sports nutrition partner to more than 320 elite athletes and professional sports teams including The INEOS Grenadiers, Tottenham Hotspur and The Milwaukee Bucks. Manchester Metropolitan University’s existing partnerships include Manchester City FC, Manchester City Women’s FC, City in the Community, Manchester United Foundation and the Manchester Giants basketball team. The university’s academics feed cutting-edge knowledge into sport via their research as well as their direct work with Olympic and Paralympic medal-winning athletes.
The partnership’s research programme involves embedding a PhD student, who will work alongside and be supervised by the university’s Dr Mark Hearris, lecturer in exercise metabolism and nutrition, and Dr Fiona Simpson, a specialist physicist in magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Sam Driver, commercial director of performance solutions at SiS, said: “We work with the world’s best sports teams and athletes, learning what they need to succeed before conducting world class science and research to create and craft the products required for them to perform at their peak, across all endurance sports. I’m delighted we have signed a multi-year agreement with Manchester Met to demonstrate our commitment in this regard.”
Dr Mark Hearris said: “We are truly excited to be partnering with SiS to support their commitment to deliver world class research through their innovative research programme. With the increasing demand placed on athletes and their relentless competitive schedule, this partnership will focus on optimising athlete recovery to allow them to perform day after day.”
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Bare Bar, a Clitheroe-based producer of natural personal care products, has received £15,000 of additional funding after experiencing triple digit growth in its second year of operation.
Founded in February 2021, Bare Bar was first established to produce natural soaps, providing an alternative to mass-produced products. The business caters to the growing male grooming market, creating a natural product offering. In order to support the business in its early stages, in May 2021, Bare Bar received a £4,000 Start Up Loan through the Hyndburn Enterprise Trust, a delivery partner of the British Business Bank. This loan helped the business to buy the essential equipment and stock required to set up operations at a commercial level.
Bare Bar’s rapid growth has seen the business begin to expand on its core product offering of soaps, with the recent launch of a range of natural shampoo bars. With plans to scale the business further, and strong growth expected to continue in 2023, Bare Bar has received an additional £15,000 facilitated by Hyndburn Enterprise Trust. This funding will predominantly be used to scale its website, improving the customer experience and journey. The business will also be further investing into its product offering, with developments currently under way on a range of natural deodorants.
Christian Winstanley, founder of Bare Bar, said: “The growth we’ve already experienced at Bare Bar over the last two years has been exceptional, and our trajectory remains just as strong. Our success is undoubtedly due, in part, to the Start Up Loan and support received through the Hyndburn Enterprise Trust and the British Business Bank. It provided us with the vital funds needed to help scale our business to a commercial level.”
Joanne Fulthorpe, business advisor at Hyndburn Enterprise Trust, said: “The Start Up Loans Scheme provides small businesses with the crucial support they need to unlock the next phase of their growth plans. It’s been great to support a local business like Bare Bar, and working closely with Christian who’s entrepreneurial drive has helped to scale the business at such a rapid rate. We look forward to continuing this relationship and seeing Bare Bar continue to expand.”
