Theatre launches drive to raise further cash to realise revamp plans
After receiving £10 million of Levelling Up Fund money to develop the venue, Derby Theatre has launched a drive to raise further cash.
The funding the theatre has been awarded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had originally been earmarked for a new learning theatre called ‘Assemble’ at the Assembly Rooms.
However, after the scheme was deemed unviable, the Government agreed that the £20 million it awarded for Assemble could be divided equally between revamping the existing Derby Theatre and Guildhall Theatre.
Now, Derby Theatre, which is based in Derbion, has revealed major plans to refurbish the venue – and enhance its facilities, including the addition of a brand-new studio theatre.
However, the overall cost of the redevelopment will need additional investment. To raise that extra cash, it has launched a campaign called Derby Theatre: New Horizons.
Sarah Brigham, Chief Executive and artistic director at Derby Theatre, said: “Derby Theatre is approaching its 50th birthday in 2025. This funding will allow us to secure the next 50 years of high-quality theatre in our city.”
Derby Theatre has said it plans to use its Levelling Up funding to develop its performance, community, participation and learning spaces.
As well as the new studio theatre, which will be a versatile space for the theatre to present innovative work, there would be an improved space for learners and the community, plus improvements to the audience experience in the main auditorium.
Sarah said: “We welcome nearly 100,000 people a year through our doors to see shows and 25,000 to take part in workshops and learning activity, so we are delighted that we will be able to use this funding to offer an even better experience to our customers and encourage more people to visit us for the first time.”
As well as announcing plans for the revamp, Derby Theatre has also revealed details of its New Horizons campaign, which aims to generate support and additional funds for the project.
The campaign will look to reach out to local communities, audiences, businesses, friends and stakeholders from the region.
Marketing Derby throws weight behind city centre apartments scheme
Marketing Derby has given its backing to plans for a major new apartments scheme in Derby city centre.
Last month, Wavensmere Homes and Wilson Bowden Developments submitted a full planning application to Derby City Council to build Cathedral One, which will consist of 186 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
The nine-storey building would be constructed on vacant land bounded by Full Street to the west and the River Derwent to the east.
In the letter of support for Cathedral One submitted to the city council’s planning department, John Forkin, Managing Director of Marketing Derby, writes: “Marketing Derby is delighted to see plans submitted to bring 186 new homes onto this important site, which has laid vacant for too long.
“Wavensmere is a proven contributor to Derby’s regeneration, and we couldn’t think of a more appropriate developer for this sensitive riverside site, contributing significant benefit and positive impact to the setting of Grade-I listed Derby Cathedral and the Museum of Making and UNESCO Derwent Valley World Heritage Corridor.”
The development site was previously occupied by a police station, which was constructed in the 1960s and demolished in 2013.
Phase One of Wilson Bowden’s Full Street development was completed in 2016.
It included the refurbishment of Riverside Chambers office complex, delivery of 46 new apartments at Number One Cathedral Green, and a Premier Inn hotel.
The remaining parcel of land had been earmarked for an office development of up to 100,000 sq ft, but it is now being brought forward by Wavensmere Homes for Cathedral One.
In addition to the apartments, 2,000 sq ft of mixed-use space has been accommodated at ground floor level to overlook Cathedral Green and Full Street.
A range of uses are earmarked for this space, including a new café and residential facilities such as a gymnasium, co-working zone, and concierge point.
Currently, Wavensmere Homes is delivering the £175 million Nightingale Quarter residential scheme, which features more than 900 houses and apartments.
The company has also submitted plans for the historic Friar Gate Goods Yard site in central Derby, which could be transformed into 276 houses and apartments, and over 110,000 sq ft of commercial space.
Franklin Ellis Architects has designed the scheme.
Growing company walking on air after industrial park move
An East Midlands-based compressor sales, hire, installation and maintenance firm is expanding after moving onto the Moorgreen Industrial Park on the outskirts of Nottingham.Air Compressor Maintenance, which has taken Unit 5 at Chestnut House on the industrial park, has been established over 30 years and covers the whole of the East Midlands.Alicia Lewis, surveyor at NG Chartered Surveyors, acted on behalf of a private landlord to complete the deal.She said: “It was a pleasure to help Air Compressor Maintenance to move into their new home. This is a great outcome for Dan, Sam and the team to realise their growth ambitions as the company expands – as well as our landlord client.“Air Compressor Maintenance is a quality tenant in a quality new premises. The team at NG wish them well for the future.”
£3m funding secured to deliver ‘game-changing’ new approach to skills development in Leicestershire
Further education colleges across Leicester and Leicestershire have been successful in securing £3m in Government funding to enable them to a respond to an East Midlands Chamber-led skills initiative published last summer.
The new programmes, to be delivered as part of the Government’s Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), will aim to develop future green and digital skills across the city and county.
Following the bid by a consortium of colleges, the Department for Education has awarded £3.07m to further education colleges to deliver a range of programmes responding to the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), published in August.
Work led by Leicester College, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, Loughborough College and SMB College Group will focus on addressing four priority areas in skills needs for the area – decarbonising transportation, green leadership skills, digital upskilling and employer skills training – via new initiatives.
These areas were earmarked for intervention in a series of recommendations that followed a trailblazer project for the Leicester and Leicestershire LSIP. Launched in autumn 2022 and led by the Chamber with its partners, it aims to bridge the gap between the skills and attributes employers need in their workforce and what is on offer from local educators.
An innovative new data-led approach was developed by the Chamber, which led to the creation of Insight Unlocked, a “collective skills intelligence observatory” that pulls together insights from existing data sources around job adverts, occupation projections and qualification levels.
A mobile app was also used to engage businesses via short daily surveys on their live requirements for skills, knowledge and behaviours, with findings from this pilot published in summer 2023.
Chris Hobson, director of policy and insight at East Midlands Chamber, said: “Businesses have been telling us for a long time now that skills gaps are one of the biggest issues holding them back from achieving sustainable long-term growth.
“The Leicester and Leicestershire LSIP is a game-changing initiative in shaping future skills, knowledge and behaviours by aligning local education with the needs of local employers, with the overall aim of improving employability.
“Having provided the evidence base through our innovative data-led approach, we are delighted that colleges have now received funding to address some of the issues identified, with a key focus on developing the green and digital skills that will be needed in the future.
“This will help us to establish Leicester and Leicestershire as the best place in the country for developing people with the skills needed for businesses to thrive, the economy to grow and individuals to succeed.”
Examples of activities in each of the four areas of the Leicester and Leicestershire LSIP are:
· Decarbonising transportation: Skills training for staff at levels three to five in green transport technologies to support a step-change in becoming carbon-neutral. New qualifications will include IMI Level 3 electric and hybrid system repair and replacement, and IMI Level 4 in diagnostics, testing and repair of electric and hybrid vehicles and components.
· Green leadership skills: Collaborative development of short, contextualised Level 3 courses, including a new green leadership health check tool for leaders, managers and decision-making staff within organisations to assess the viability of implementing sustainable energy, waste and building technologies.
· Digital upskilling: New easy-access, flexible short courses between levels three and five for digital skills in business, including digital marketing, social media, cloud computing, data analytics and an introduction to artificial intelligence.
· Employer skills training: Review further education training across Harborough and the surrounding districts, including adult provision and English as a second language across Leicestershire. Data scientists will analyse training needs of industry to gain a deeper understanding of the area and how to engage employers.
Verity Hancock, principal of Leicester College, said: “The next stage of the LSIF is a real funding boost that will extend support for colleges and training providers such as Leicester College. It will enable us to offer more high-quality training opportunities and help to develop the skills base in key local industries.”
LSIPs were introduced by the Department for Education to support more people to gain the skills they need to secure rewarding careers, while ensuring the training on offer better meets the current and future skills needs of local areas.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “This investment is about boosting local industries, building people’s skills and ultimately futureproofing our economy and the career prospects of the next generation.
“Our local skills projects will bring together regional organisations, businesses and education providers to respond to the specific needs of employers, building an increasingly skilled workforce and growing local economies.
“Whether it is green skills, construction, engineering or digital, thousands more people can now gain the skills they need to secure good jobs closer to home. These are long-term plans that will ensure every area can have a brighter future.”
Law firm recruits Leicester financial litigation partner
Howes Percival has added Leicester financial litigation partner Alistair Haggerty to its Dispute Resolution team in the city.
Alistair specialises in financial litigation with an emphasis on secured asset recovery, including property, plant and machinery and domestic and commercial vehicles, and has a wealth of experience litigating claims in the County Courts, High Courts and Court of Appeal as well as appearing as Solicitor-Advocate in County and High Courts across the country.
Howes Percival partner Katie Summers said: “We are absolutely delighted to bring Alistair to Howes Percival. He has a wealth of experience in secured asset recovery, including property, plant and machinery and vehicles.
“He also has significant expertise in the area of enforcement, in particular receiverships. This is a specialism we are looking to develop and provide clients with a holistic approach to their secured assets and the recovery of the same as and when required.
“We are looking to work with commercial lenders, funding houses and brokers who may know of companies who would benefit from the recovery expertise Alistair is able to provide.
“Conditions in the property market, particularly, have been difficult of late and those who have lent money in return for security over property, need to act quickly in these scenarios. Having people who know this market and how best to realise an asset, is key to ensuring a safe return for any sums loaned.”
Sixth win for John Pye at insolvency industry awards
John Pye Auctions has been named Asset Valuer/Auctioneer of the Year for 2023 in the Turnaround, Restructuring and Insolvency (TRI) Awards, in a record breaking six-time win in the category.
Established over 15 years ago, the TRI Awards are the only awards programme that recognise and reward excellence across the turnaround, restructuring and insolvency sector. Independently judged by a panel of leading industry professionals, the awards cover the breadth of the profession, with winners named across 20 categories.
John Pye has worked on some of the UK’s largest insolvency cases in the last 12 months, namely MADE.com and Moore Large and Co. which saw the firm auction off over £35m RRP worth of bike and cycling stock.
Trevor Palethorpe, director at John Pye, says: “This is a fantastic achievement for the team and I think we’ve set an industry record with our sixth win in this category! It has been a phenomenal year for our business in terms of receipts, registered bidders and turnover. This month we’ve also announced a record profit share with our staff of £2m.
“Winning this award from the TRI recognises the hard work of everyone in managing a number of high-profile cases this year including Wilko, Made.com and Moore Large and Co. It’s great that the team has been recognised in this way.”
Topps Tiles sees third consecutive record year of revenue
Topps Tiles, the Leicester-headquartered tile specialist, has recorded its third consecutive record year of revenue, with sales per store up 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
According to unaudited consolidated annual financial results for the 52 weeks ended 30 September 2023, group revenue hit £262.7m, increasing from £247.2m last year.
Pre-tax profits, however, slipped to £6.8m from £10.9m, which the company says reflects the impact of inflation on its cost base.Rob Parker, Chief Executive, said: “This has been a further year of strategic progress for the Group and we are delighted to have delivered a third consecutive year of record sales and to have achieved our ‘1 in 5’ market share goal two years ahead of schedule.
“While profitability for the year reflects the impact of inflation on our cost base, particularly during the early months of the period, these pressures began to abate in the second half, with the smaller store estate and the cost reduction plan at Parkside providing further mitigation.
“As we enter our new financial year, it is clear that there has been a weakening of discretionary consumer spending. The business is well positioned to deal with this period, our established brands are market leading, we are competitively advantaged and we are confident that we will continue to take market share.
“When combined with a strong balance sheet, this will support the Group’s ambitions over the medium term. Topps Group continues to develop and diversify and we remain excited by the opportunities ahead of us.”
Deal secured on Derby City Centre retail premises
A former furniture retail premises has been sold for mixed-use redevelopment.
BB&J Commercial have secured the sale of the redevelopment opportunity within Derby City Centre, having disposed of the freehold interest for the store on Babington Lane.
Mark Richardson of BB&J Commercial said: “We had a lot of interest in this unit, particularly from developers looking to convert the upper floors for residential use.
“The layout of the unit is such that it proved to be a significant challenge so well done to the purchasers for coming up with an imaginative scheme that allowed both residential and commercial uses to operate together.
“The repurposing of city centre buildings to provide such mixed-use developments is gathering pace and I believe will help to bring a number of buildings back into use.”
New owner Sam Berry, director of Berry Homes UK Limited, said: “We are thrilled with acquiring 5 Babington Lane and the subsequent planning permission which has been successfully secured.
“This approval allows us to introduce new, affordable accommodation to Derby’s City Centre while preserving the commercial aspect on the ground floor of the building. We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with BB&J as they assist in securing a new tenant for this space.”
Manufacturing business fined following failure to protect workers from hazardous substances
A manufacturing business in Lincolnshire has been fined for failing to protect its workers from hazardous substances.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection of W.S. Barrett and Son Limited’s site at Riverside Industrial estate in Boston, Lincolnshire, found the company’s workers were being potentially exposed to welding fume and dusts from powder coating.
Welding fume is carcinogenic and can cause other serious illnesses such as occupational asthma. Exposure to coating powders can also cause occupational asthma and skin irritation.
The inspection on 25 March 2022 found that an on-tool extraction system on the welding tools was in a poor state of repair and that Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, provided to capture welding fume and dusts from powder coating in order to protect employees’ health, had not been thoroughly examined and tested.
A subsequent HSE investigation found W.S. Barrett and Son Limited, a specialist manufacturer for the agricultural and horticultural industries, had failed to ensure that its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, which controlled workers’ exposure to welding fume and dusts from powder coating, had been thoroughly examined and tested.
The company had already been warned about its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, during a previous HSE inspection on 13 February 2018, the company was served with Improvement Notices following issues with Local Exhaust Ventilation systems. The company failed to comply and was prosecuted as a result.
W.S. Barrett & Son Limited, of Marsh Lane, Boston, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) and Regulation 9(2) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,625.20 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 22 November 2023.
HSE inspector Stacey Gamwell said: “W.S. Barrett & Son Limited could have ensured that its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems were thoroughly examined and tested to ensure that they were working as intended to protect the health of its employees.
“This case highlights the importance of regular maintenance and inspection of control measures including Local Exhaust Ventilation, to ensure equipment remains in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Jonathan Bambro.
Marketing agency strengthens management team
Marketing agency Purpose Media has made a series of promotions to bolster its operational management team after a strong performance by the business during 2023.
The move – designed to strengthen collaboration between key disciplines – sees experienced champions appointed to ensure the firm’s creative, brand and technical capabilities are fully exploited on behalf of its growing client base.
As part of the changes, senior designer Alan Chaffe steps up to creative lead, senior front-end developer Josh Donnell becomes technical lead, and senior designer/front-end developer Danny Painter takes on the role of creative technologist.
Purpose Media managing director Matt Wheatcroft said the promotions supported the business’s mission to deliver comprehensive and impactful solutions for clients across web, creative, video and digital marketing.
“Our team brilliantly combines insights, technology and creativity to bring our customers’ visions to life and help them achieve their marketing and business objectives,” he said.
“These appointments will ensure that, as we continue to grow, experienced, innovative and passionate voices are always fully heard during all internal and external collaboration, allowing us to continue to produce solutions which exceed client expectations.”
South Normanton-based Purpose works regionally, nationally and globally, with a client list which includes football clubs Derby County and Rotherham FC, aerospace supply chain giants Incora and international commercial refrigeration specialists True.
Matt said the new promotions reflected the significant contributions made to the business by Alan, Josh and Danny over a number of years.
Josh, who began his career with Purpose Media as an apprentice eight years ago, is delighted by the opportunity to drive performance through even greater collaboration.
“This new role will enable me to form closer working relationships with the senior Purpose team to push the boundaries of our technical and creative outputs to deliver the best solutions for client needs,” he said.
“Having started out as an apprentice, it is also important to me to help the next generation grow in their careers and I look forward to sharing my experience as they develop their skills and understanding.”
Danny, who joined the business eight years ago from creative agency Revolver Revolver, has a background in both design and development which will help inform the creation of effective strategies for clients.
“I have been fortunate to work alongside talented leaders over the past decade and to soak up as much of their knowledge as I can,” he said.
“This has helped shape me as a creative thinker and problem-solver and I plan to use those attributes and the understanding I have developed of both creative and technical disciplines to aid my colleagues and the customers we serve.”
Alan, who joined the Purpose team in 2019, is also looking forward to the new challenge.
“We have a dedicated team of talented people who I’ve been lucky to work with over the last few years, and who have positioned us as the go-to strategic marketing agency in the Midlands,” he said.
“I’m excited to collaborate with our clients, both existing and new, to listen and understand their needs and to develop brave, bold work that really delivers for them.”
Along with the trio of management promotions, Purpose has also promoted Georgia Weston from account executive to account manager.
“We’re committed to helping talented individuals like Georgia, Danny, Alan and Josh to develop their abilities and to provide them with a platform to go on to achieve even greater success,” said Matt.
“We look forward to seeing them channel their passion and abilities on behalf of our clients.”
