North West business briefs: Mersey Tunnels; Housemates; Manchester Arndale; Plytime Learning; Merchr
The latest stage of the Queensway (Birkenhead) Tunnel’s ongoing £11m lighting system upgrade took place last weekend, with all hands on the road deck inside the 89-year-old structure.
Alongside the lighting replacement project, a wide variety of additional tasks were carried out across the weekend, including: Replacement of road deck access covers; installation of cable ducting to support new Variable Message Signs; replacement of lighting in the refuge areas; cleaning the pumping station’s sumps; various deep cleaning and maintenance tasks.
Cllr Liam Robinson, Transport Portfolio Holder for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said: “We’re very grateful for the patience tunnel users have shown while these lighting upgrades are taking place in the Queensway Tunnel. The £11m investment is a major part of Mayor Steve Rotheram’s pledge to target net zero for our city region by 2040. The Mersey Tunnels are an essential part of our city region transport network and with increasing energy prices, they are becoming more expensive to maintain. This upgrade will help us make significant savings in the long term.”
Existing lighting throughout the two-mile tunnel is being replaced by an energy-efficient LED system, with a lifespan of 25 years. The new lighting will result in 60% reduction in carbon footprint of 220 tonnes of carbon each year, as well as savings on electricity costs when the works are complete in around 14 months’ time. While the new system will reduce the amount of energy used, it will not compromise light quality.
The project, funded through the Liverpool City Region’s ‘City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement’ will bring the Queensway Tunnel in line with its counterpart in Wallasey, the Kingsway Tunnel, which became more energy-efficient thanks to completion of a similar upgrade in June 2018. The Kingsway Tunnel remains open during this time.
This is part of an ongoing investment and modernisation programme to futureproof the tunnels as a key part of the city region transport network and a vital a cross river travel option. Queensway Tunnel continues to be closed each night between 9am and 6:30am while the upgrade work takes place.
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Lydia Jones
Manchester-based student accommodation booking platform Housemates has expanded into Canada.
It comes in response to the booming student admissions opportunities in Canada, driven in part by affiliate partners who send thousands of international students to study in the country each year. The expansion will cover several major cities across including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and more, with new suppliers joining weekly.
Housemates’ entrance into the Canadian market aligns with its mission to simplify the housing search process for students around the world, making their study abroad experience more enjoyable and stress-free. Lydia Jones, CEO of Housemates, said: “We are incredibly excited to bring Housemates to Canada and support the vibrant community of students studying across this beautiful country.
“Canada has become a hotspot for international education and we are determined to make the transition into Canadian student life as seamless as possible for all our users.”
According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, there was a 31% increase in international students in Canada from 2021 to 2022. It added that at the end of 2022, Canada saw 43% growth over the previous five years and nearly 170% over the last decade.
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Nike, Manchester Arndale
Manchester Arndale is gearing up for a bumper 2024 as it looks set to add to its retail, leisure and eatery line-up following a hugely successful 2023.
During the past 12 months, joint asset managers M&G Real Estate and Global Mutual secured more than 106,042 sq ft of leasing transactions which included 13 new tenants and 25 lease renewals, as the centre moved close to full occupancy. This leasing activity and new openings meant footfall grew by 6.3% with more than 46 million people visiting Manchester Arndale and New Cathedral Street during 2023.
The past year has seen Manchester Arndale welcome a host of new stores, restaurants, and leisure operators to the city centre, ranging from international brands such as Nike, Moss, Manchester City, Dune, Clarks, Sunglass Hut, and French Connection, to growing operators such as Sides, Creams, Black Sheep Coffee, and Lazy Sundae. The centre has also managed to secure long term lease renewals for many of its popular brands including River Island which has upsized their space by 3,686 sq ft.
Manchester Arndale is now looking forward to welcoming more new names in 2024. The North Face has already opened its new store, and this will be followed by the opening of Korean supermarket Oseyo, fashion brand Lounge, and local leisure operator King Pins, who are all set to arrive early this year. These new arrivals have taken the centre to more than 95% occupancy, and further strengthens Manchester Arndale’s diverse mix of retail, leisure, and restaurant operators as it enhances its reputation as one of the North West’s premier visitor attractions.
Scott Linard, Portfolio Director for M&G Real Estate, said: “2023 was a hugely successful year for Manchester Arndale with the rise in footfall and flurry of leasing activity across the centre testament to the team’s hard work and strong relationships with shoppers and leading brands. From working with our long term occupiers to enhance their stores, to welcoming new names, we hope that 2024 will be an equally exciting year for Manchester Arndale as we look to provide a great retail experience for our visitors and further add to our impressive retail line up.”
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Ian and Lisa McCartney
Plytime Learning, the Manchester-based business on a mission to make effective learning more affordable and accessible, has won a Smart Grant, co funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK to further develop its online learning platform’s AI-Tutoring capability.
The £205,000 grant will enable the EdTech and tutoring firm to develop an AI-Tutor to sit between the student and their one-to-one tutor to enhance the learning experience. The tech innovation will provide intelligent and interactive responses to students based on answers to questions and knowledge gaps.
Plytime will collaborate with AI-experts, Inevitable on the EdTech innovation project which will commence in early February 2024. The businesses met as part of the Exchange tech scale-up programme based at Department Bonded Warehouse. Plytime is recruiting an additional developer to its team of five people following the funding. It aims to commence early trials with partner schools and individual students before the start of the next academic year. It currently has partnerships with 10 primary schools and over 1,000 students across the UK.
Lisa McCartney, Plytime Learning, co-founder, said: “We’re on a mission to provide the most effective and affordable learning support to students in the UK, and this funding moves us a step closer to achieving that. Our AI innovation has the potential to revolutionise the way primary-level pupils learn which is a very exciting prospect.”
Ian McCartney, Plytime Learning, co-founder, said: “Each year billions of pounds are spent on education, but the system is fundamentally flawed because it’s built around the providers rather than the students. That’s why almost 40% of students in the UK seek supplemental support such as private tutoring, but that is unaffordable and out of reach for too many. Over the next decade, we believe education will be transformed and Plytime Learning’s technology has the potential to lead that change with a new, online approach to personalised learning that will drive schools into the future.”
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Merchr production facility, Middleton
Print-on-demand technology company, Merchr, has signed up picture-sharing platform ClickASnap as its latest strategic partner, offering photographers a new way to monetise their images.
The agreement sees Merchr enable photographers to sell prints and canvases of their images across the UK, North America and Europe by setting up merchandise stores hosted on its fast growing platform. ClickASnap, which was founded in 2014 and is based in Dorset, is a digital platform which hosts more than 16 million images, enabling users to showcase and sell their pictures.
More than 1,800 photographers have set up stores in the first month of the venture. Items are being shipped from Merchr’s integrated facilities in Middleton, Greater Manchester, and Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as through other production partners.
Peter Hallett, co-founder of Merchr, said: “This exclusive partnership gives ClickASnap photographers access to the Merchr technology, enabling them to monetise images through their own free webstore that features canvas prints and merch showcasing their content. It’s an exciting strategic move for both parties, as it enables ClickASnap users to further monetise their photographs by leveraging Merchr’s software combined with their own creativity.”
Jason Hill, chief executive of ClickASnap, said: “Our partnership has got off to a superb start, with over 1,800 photographers signing up in the first month. We look forward to seeing the number of stores grow on our platform to give more people the opportunity to sell their pictures.”
