North West business briefs: Wrights; +24 Academy; TfGM; Diversity Travel; Shawbridge; Athletic Brewing
Crewe-based food manufacturing specialist Wrights has made a £1.3m investment in a fleet of environmentally-friendly vehicles.
The three-site manufacturer which supplies and distributes sweet and savoury bakery products and ready meals into the hospitality and retail sectors as part of The Compleat Food Group, has invested in eight new vehicles which are fuelled by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) bringing a 95% saving in carbon emissions.
The new fleet includes heavy duty tractor units which tow trailered loads, typically transporting frozen goods to customers across the UK, rigid vehicles and shop vehicles which transport items baked in Crewe to local shops and businesses across the North West.
The group’s Crewe-based health, safety and environmental compliance manager, Paul Strangwood, said: “We are working hard to get ahead of the Government-set target of reducing carbon emissions by 2030. This is a mission which sits alongside our wider Group’s Environmental, Social and Governance targets which include a commitment here in Crewe of making a 50% reduction of our 2021 carbon emission levels by 2030 and a 90% reduction on 2021 carbon emission levels by 2035.
“While the carbon emission reduction of our new vehicles is integral to our investment, there are additional benefits to our new fleet, such as the onboard fridges and freezers which are generator-driven from the vehicles’ engines and reduces the environmental impact even further. And with our team’s comfort and safety always a priority, we have taken steps to ensure the new vehicles are fully equipped with additional home comforts including larger bunks, upgraded cabin seats and more cupboard space which support drivers when they need to be away overnight.”
David Moore, Compleat Food Group’s head of environmental social and governance (ESG), said: “Decarbonising our fleet is an important step on our journey to net zero. Moving from diesel to CNG is a crucial step for us and having made this investment we are showing our commitment to achieving our net zero targets.”
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Digital expert +24 Academy is set for a nationwide roll-out of an innovative new training module aimed at the next generation of cybersecurity experts who will help keep the UK a safe place to live and work online.
Following the successful launch of its digital maketing Level 3 apprenticeships to training providers in the FE sector, including Blackburn College in Lancashire, +24 Academy is now set to expand its unique training offering. In a direct response to calls for cybersecurity skills to be offered as apprenticeships, +24 Academy founder and managing director, Dave Walker, is launching this additional training module at an important time in the world of cyber.
The +24 Academy pilot cybersecurity training module has been robustly tested and well received, by education sector professionals, after a further £100,000-plus investment by the Burnley-based business into expanding its training module across the UK. Dave said: “A career in cybersecurity can be exciting and rewarding. Our Academy cybersecurity training module is an accessible solution to starting a career in this fast paced environment.
“We know from the success of our Level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship training module that there is a need to offer digitally-delivered courses around cybersecurity. It is the fastest growing area of tech, yet there is a digital skills shortage in this field with very few cybersecurity apprenticeships currently on offer in the UK.”
In its 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, the government body with statutory responsibility for the UK intelligence community, found that 3.4 million more skilled cybersecurity professionals are currently needed globally.
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Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has signed a contract with Ticketer to provide new smart bus ticket machines across the region to support the delivery of the integrated Bee Network.
The electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) will initially be rolled out to the region’s bus network for the first franchised services coming into operation in Wigan and Bolton and parts of Salford and Bury from September. Together with pole-mounted readers, which allows users to seamlessly pay via contactless cards, ETMs will unlock quicker boarding times while ensuring passengers can travel knowing they are getting the best possible price.
Automatic vehicle location (AVL) equipment including improved GPS tracking will also be installed on board buses, allowing TfGM to provide accurate up-to-date travel information for customers, including across digital journey planners and displays at bus stations and interchanges. This will reduce the amount of hardware that needs to be installed on buses, while also providing opportunities for operators to reduce energy consumption through advanced monitoring on electric vehicles.
Vernon Everitt, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said: “Ticketer’s on-bus ticketing services will provide a convenient and flexible way for customers to pay for journeys on buses with further integration planned that will connect up and simplify payment across all forms of public transport. It will also help us to provide enhanced accurate, real-time travel information, keeping people up to date and opening up access to more choices for journeys by public transport.”
Both the ETM and AVL systems will undergo rigorous testing ahead of September 24, when Greater Manchester will run its first locally-controlled bus services since deregulation in 1986. Go North West will operate two large franchises, with Diamond running seven smaller franchises, across Wigan, Bolton and parts of Salford and Bury.
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Diversity Travel team
Diversity Travel has become the academic travel partner for the Netherlands-based University of Wageningen following its expansion into mainland Europe.
The Manchester-based specialist travel management company said it secured the contract due to its expertly led academic services and its success with other university customers. Diversity’s latest win follows a programme expansion that dedicates resources to fuel foreign growth, leading to the establishment of a new European operations team.
The team, known as Olive, includes both French and Dutch native speakers along with specialist individuals that can speak multiple languages. The expansion also saw the launch of a new Dutch and French version of the Diversity Travel website to ensure that it was accessible to all new and potential clients in 2022.
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specialising in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally important centre for life sciences and agricultural research.
Christopher Airey, Diversity Travel managing director, said: “This is a very exciting move for us into the European academic travel sector. It truly is a testament to the effort, resources and continued investment we made in this area and the hard work of our incredible EU-focused Olive Team who are ready to support our European customers in whatever language they need.”
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Malcolm Ireland and Carlo Graziani
A well-known Clitheroe licensee is bringing a taste of Italy to the town with a new upmarket Italian wine bar and café. Carlo Graziani, who already owns and operates The Parlour, a cocktail bar on Westgate in Clitheroe, has now opened Shawbridge, on Shawbridge Street in the town centre.
Shawbridge is a wine bar and café that also offers a delicatessen counter selling traditional Italian dried goods, including exclusive pastas, cheeses, cured meats and Italian wines. Carlo has recruited four waiters and bar staff to help manage the new the café which has capacity for 50 people.
Before establishing the venue, Carlo operated a temporary ‘pop up’ bar at the same site during the festive season. Named ‘Miracle on Shawbridge’ it proved popular during the Christmas period, encouraging him to create a permanent venue there. He said: “My vision for Shawbridge is to create a cosmopolitan place with an Italian feel to attract a discerning clientele. Clitheroe is a town with a very diverse mixture of people and I see Shawbridge as the ‘go to’ for people to meet and enjoy a drink all in a continental and friendly atmosphere.”
Carlo secured Shawbridge’s premises licence with help from the leisure and licensing team at Lancashire-based law firm Harrison Drury solicitors. Partner Malcolm Ireland, head of the leisure and licensing team, previously helped Carlo to secure his premises licence for The Parlour.
Malcolm said: “Carlo is genuinely talented at what he does. He’s well known in the industry and has made a great success of The Parlour, which has been in operation since 2016 and is a popular and unique offering in the town. I have no doubt that he will have the same success with Shawbridge.”
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Ellie Roebuck
Athletic Brewing, an American producer of alcohol-free craft beer, has signed an endorsement deal with Manchester City and England professional women’s goalkeeper, Ellie Roebuck.
With the 2023 Women’s World Cup approaching in July, the keeper will represent Athletic at marquee events and commercial spots to be broadcast across digital, social, and TV media. She said: “I’ve partnered with Athletic Brewing Company because they are determined to do things differently. A lot of what I stand for as an athlete aligns with their brand, and I’m incredibly excited to work closely with them to give back to my local community which helped shape who I am today.”
To kick off their partnership, Athletic Brewing will donate 100% of profits from the sale of its latest release, Trailblazer Hoppy Helles, to Women in Sport, a charity selected by Roebuck that is dedicated to transforming sport for the benefit of every woman and girl in the UK. In addition to conducting in-depth research, Women in Sport also innovates programmes and promotes solutions to tackle gender inequalities in sport while empowering more women and girls to be active.
Bill Shufelt, co-founder and CEO of Athletic Brewing, said: “We are thrilled to be working alongside Ellie Roebuck and Women in Sport. We share a common goal of promoting mindfulness and inclusiveness, and we look forward to empowering all generations of UK athletes.”
Half of the UK adult population purchased a low- or no-alcohol product in 2022, with alcohol-free offerings growing by 16%, according to IWSR which provides data and analysis on the beverage alcohol market.
