Offering a key opportunity to reinforce your business’s position and reputation in the property and construction industry, enter the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022 now! The annual event, organised by East Midlands Business Link Magazine, is an independent awards and publicity programme recognising development projects and people in commercial and public building across the region – from office, industrial and residential schemes, through to community projects such as leisure schemes and schools. The prestigious awards attract leaders from across the region and are the perfect way for businesses to promote themselves and those they work with. Indeed winning one of these awards will add considerably to a company’s or individual’s brand and enhance their commercial reach significantly. Award categories include: most active estate agent, commercial development of the year, responsible business of the year, residential development of the year, developer of the year, deal of the year, architects of the year, excellence in design, sustainable development of the year, contractor of the year, and overall winner. Winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony on Thursday 15 September, at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground – an evening that will also provide plenty of time to forge new contacts with property and construction professionals from across the region. Henry Brothers, winners of Commercial Development of the Year at the 2021 East Midlands Bricks Awards, reflected on the event: “Henry Brothers was absolutely thrilled to have won the Commercial Development of the Year award at the East Midlands Bricks for the delivery of the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility at Nottingham Trent University’s Clifton Campus. “The Henry Brothers story began in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and the company has grown to become a leading UK construction company. However, this award for Henry Brothers Midlands cements our position as a significant member of the East Midlands construction sector and we are very proud to have been recognised for our contribution. “We enjoyed the informal atmosphere of the East Midlands Bricks Awards ceremony and hope to nominate projects next year, as we’d very much like to be part of the event in 2022.” To submit a business or development for the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022, please click on a category link below or visit this page. Thanks to our sponsors:                                      

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The latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs: Midlands survey highlighted a further increase in the number of permanent staff appointments during May. The rate of expansion remained marked, yet was the slowest seen in the current 15-month sequence of growth. Temp billings also continued to rise, albeit at the softest rate since last November. Stronger demand for permanent staff amid a sustained lack of availability of suitably skilled workers coincided with the sharpest uptick in permanent starting salaries for six months.

The KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs: Midlands is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to around 100 recruitment and employment consultancies in the Midlands. Permanent staff appointments rise at softer pace The number of permanent placements across the Midlands rose for the fifteenth consecutive month in May. The rate of increase softened from the previous survey period and was the slowest in the current sequence. That said, the rise remained marked overall. According to anecdotal evidence, companies kept up hiring amid stronger demand for staff, however some recruiters noted a lack of suitably skilled workers. Across the four monitored English regions, the Midlands saw the second-slowest upturn in May, ahead of the South of England.

As has been the case in each of the last 23 months, temp billings in the Midlands rose during May. The rate of increase was robust, yet eased to the softest for six months. Firms generally commented that additional candidates were taken on in response to rising demand.

The rise in temp billings in the Midlands was also the second-sharpest of the monitored regions, behind the North of England.

Recruiters across the Midlands signalled a sustained increase in the number of permanent vacancies in May. The rate of expansion quickened for the fourth month running and was the strongest since last August. That said, the rise in vacancies in the Midlands was the second-softest of the four monitored regions.

Concurrently, temporary vacancies rose at a slower pace in May. Despite this, the increase was rapid and the strongest among the four monitored regions.

Downturn in permanent staff availability accelerates A fourteenth consecutive monthly decrease in permanent staff supply was recorded in May. Moreover, the pace of the fall quickened and pushed the respective seasonally adjusted index to the joint-lowest level since last October. Recruiters commonly attributed the downturn to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates amid strong demand. All four monitored regions saw staff availability fall, with the Midlands reporting the second-strongest reduction.

The availability of temporary staff across the Midlands fell for the fifteenth month running during May. The rate of decline was robust, though eased from the previous survey period to the softest since March 2021.

All four monitored regions recorded falls in temp staff supply in the latest survey period, with recruiters in the Midlands reporting the second-softest decline, behind London. Further rapid rise in permanent starting salaries Salaries awarded to permanent new joiners across the Midlands increased at a substantial pace in May. The rate of increase accelerated from the previous survey period and was the quickest recorded for six months. According to respondents, stronger demand for skilled workers amid shortages was a key factor in higher starting salaries. Recruiters in the Midlands recorded the second-slowest rise in average starting salaries of the four monitored regions.

Latest data highlighted an eighteenth consecutive monthly increase in average pay rates for short-term staff in the Midlands. The rate of wage inflation softened to a one-year low, though remained marked overall.

All four English regions reported strong rises in temp rates, however Midlands-based recruiters reported the softest pace of wage inflation. Kate Holt, people consulting partner at KPMG UK, said: “The confidence of businesses to hire in the Midlands remained robust in May, as the region saw a further uptick in the number of permanent job placements – its fifteenth consecutive monthly rise. But while the strong demand for candidates continues to outpace supply, there are signs that appetite could be easing, as the rise softened to its slowest rate in that sequence.

“Businesses need to ensure they keep a close handle on cost pressures, whilst still trying to attract new talent. This is no mean feat, especially considering they’re also facing the sharpest rise in starting salaries for six months, and firms will need to show the resilience of the last two years while they wait for the turbulence to ease.”

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, added: “These numbers show a hugely positive jobs market if you are looking for work. While the pace of growth has dropped after a stellar first quarter, by any normal measure there are still lots of vacancies out there, offering improved wages. “For companies, they emphasise again that hiring is a challenge in this market, and getting it right matters – the help of professional recruiters will be vital. Demand for temporary workers is stabilising faster than for permanent staff, which could suggest a little caution creeping into employers’ thinking in the face of high inflation.

“But compared to pre-pandemic, labour supply is still the big issue we have to solve. With over half a million people missing from the jobs market, and demand still growing strongly, this is a big, strategic issue for the UK. “Growth is essential to funding public services and paying higher wages sustainably. Any plan for growth must include action to help people into work from inactivity, skills reform, support for innovation on productivity and targeted immigration reform.”

UK rail depot maintenance firm MTMS has been given the supportive task of ensuring some of the country’s most iconic trains remain clean, fast and reliable after it won a major contract with Hitachi Rail. The firm, based in Swadincote, Derbyshire, has been chosen by Hitachi Rail to provide comprehensive and round-the-clock maintenance and servicing support at all of its Train Maintenance Centres (TMCs) which are home to the company’s Class 800 Inter City series. The Class 800s comprise several fleets, including 65 trains which operate on the East Coast Mainline as well as 93 trains on the Great Western Mainline. MTMS will provide equipment and support the maintenance of the depot infrastructure to keep the state-of-the-art trains operating at the highest levels of excellence and reliability. This includes maintaining carriage washing facilities, the servicing spines and fuel arms – all of which are service critical service systems for Hitachi Rail. MTMS will also provide 24/7 call out support for service critical equipment as part of an initial three-year deal, and has also already undertaken depot improvements such as the winterisation of servicing equipment and installation of footpaths across several Hitachi Rail TMCs. Malcolm Prentice, chairman of MTMS, said: “After three years of building our partnership with Hitachi Rail Europe, the new contract is a big vote of confidence in our people and in the MTMS way of doing things. “It shows that we’re now a market leader in providing the kind of depot services that are vital to train fleet owners and operators in ensuring the reliability and attractiveness of services to bring back passengers as the pandemic recedes.” Sean Denington, head of facilities of Hitachi Rail, said: “MTMS is part of the great tradition of rail businesses based in the East Midlands and we’re delighted to be working with the company to help us in delivering excellence through our train fleet to operators, passengers and the communities on the routes that we serve.”

A Northampton-based domestic cleaning business has reached a major milestone after securing its 150th UK franchisee.

The milestone comes after a record start to the year, which saw 10 franchisees join Time For You in Q1 alone.

Curiously, Time For You franchisees don’t actually do any cleaning, instead, they access a business model that attracts the cleaners, whilst they focus on running a profitable franchise.

Meanwhile, the team at Time For You’s franchise headquarters help to drive demand from the local customer base via marketing and administrative support.

It was set up by husband and wife team Freddie and Ruth Rayner in 2001 and has grown sustainably ever since, with global expansion now on the cards as son Sam Stawarz takes over as Managing Director.

Sam says: “It has been an incredible start to 2022. There are many reasons behind the boom in our franchisees but there is no doubt that more and more business-minded people are exploring new opportunities post-pandemic as they seek to take control of their future.

“The demand for reliable, professional domestic cleaning is huge. It sounds odd that you can own a cleaning franchise without actually doing any cleaning yourself but we operate a different model and it is very successful. We are already up on last year’s total, have reached 150 franchisees in the UK and are now exploring opportunities in Europe, Canada and Australia.”

The idea for the business came when co-founder Freddie Rayner was at one of his lowest points in his professional life.

Freddie explains: “I’d run a successful commercial cleaning company for many years but suffered from a series of major contracts failing. I knew I had a good core business, I just needed to tweak the offering. I switched to the consumer market but kept the focus as B2B by selling to franchisees and then helping them sell to the public with a robust system they can ‘plug and play’.

“It has paid off as we now clean over 45,000 homes a week across the UK.

“On paper we are a cleaning business but we’re actually in the ‘free time’ business when it comes to what we actually deliver for our clients who hire our cleaners through our franchise network. I’m delighted that Sam is stepping up to lead this exciting new era and that we remain a strong, successful and sustainable family business.”