West Yorkshire housing association Incommunities has agreed to a £110m funding deal with NatWest to support future investment and expansion plans.
The housing provider, based in Shipley, is embarking on plans to build up to 1,500 affordable homes over the next five years. Funding will also be used to support investment into Incommunities’ current housing portfolio which is made up of more than 22,000 properties.
The package from NatWest includes an additional £50m Revolving Credit Facility.
Andrew Dexter, Relationship Manager, Corporate Real Estate Finance at NatWest, said: “We are delighted to increase and extend our lending relationship to Incommunities.
“The management team at Incommunities are committed to providing quality housing across West Yorkshire and the new funding will enable Incommunities to create desirable housing in a range of communities across the region.”
Chatham Financials, Devonshires and Pinsent Masons supported the latest funding deal.
John Wright, Executive Director of Finance, Incommunties, said: “We are pleased to have continued our long-standing relationship with NatWest as a key funding partner.
“Securing this additional £50m funding is a major landmark for Incommunties and will help us to achieve our ambitions to provide safe, good quality and affordable homes that meet the needs of people across the region, creating places where people want to live.”
Make UK acquires Sheffield-based legal practice
Make UK has acquired fast-growing and dynamic Sheffield-based legal practice Bhayani Law.
As part of its portfolio of business services, Make UK is already one of the country’s foremost providers of employment law consultancy and advice to thousands of businesses across the UK, from FTSE100 companies and hallmark British brands through to innovative startups.
For Make UK, this acquisition forms part of an ongoing strategy to strengthen and grow Make UK’s employment law service regionally throughout the UK and to increase our customer base by acquiring one of the most exciting and dynamic specialist firms in the UK.
This acquisition gives Bhayani Law access to a wide range of support and resources available from Make UK to grow their HR and employment law business to even more effectively support the business community in the South Yorkshire region.
Streets Chartered Accountants’ golf day secures hole in one for Air Ambulance
Lincoln-based Streets Chartered Accountants, a top 40 accountancy practice, has hosted their eleventh annual Charity Golf Day raising a record amount of more than £7,500 for the Air Ambulance.
The total amount fundraised will be divided between three regional charities; East Anglian Air Ambulance, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
The winning team on the day was Bickford Ltd with Martin Sheardown coming in second and Fisher Motor Factors in third place. The winners of the Longest Drive and Nearest the Pin competitions were Scott Park (Mens) and Alice Gray (Ladies) and Rory Colhoun respectively.
Streets would like to say a huge thank you to all those people who sponsored, donated, gave their time and helped in some way, without whom the day would not be possible.
The event received fantastic support with 25 teams taking part and more than 30 local businesses sponsoring the day, including Business Link Magazine, which sponsored a hole at the event. There were Stableford team prizes as well as competitions such as Longest Drive, Nearest the Pin, Beat the Pro, All four hit the Green and Hole in One.
Commenting on the day, Streets Partner Mark Bradshaw said: “The support we have received has been truly overwhelming and has helped us raise a staggering £7,545 for our three local Air Ambulance services. We’re delighted to be able to support our local Air Ambulance Services, who are the true winners of the day.”
Streets’ 12th Charity Golf Day will take place on Friday 4th July at Lincoln Golf Club, Torksey. Once again this will be in aid of the three Air Ambulances for which Streets have raised more than £70,000 for over the last 11 years.
Bradford and Hull are UK’s most entrepreneurial cities, says report
A new report has revealed that two Yorkshire cities are the most entrepreneurial in the UK, with Bradford taking the top spot and Hull snapping at its heels in second place. Leeds is ninth on the list.
However, Sheffield and Leeds can out top for the highest levels of business confidence.
The report from Yorkshire-based marketing agency Wildcat Digital, compares four data sources across 30 of the biggest cities in the UK. Each data point represents a factor which is relevant to the city, based on its entrepreneurial credentials and business innovation.
Wildcat Digital have collated, analysed and ranked this data to reveal the top 10 cities which are the most entrepreneurial. These ranking factors include:
- A Higher Number of New Business Registrations (Business Births) per 100,000 people
- A Higher Business Confidence Score
- A Higher Number of Self-employed Workers per 100,000 people
- A Higher Number of Business owners on LinkedIn (based on profiles) per 100,000 people
Bradford performed well across all four categories, scoring:
- 45 points for new business registrations
- 100 points for business confidence
- 36 points for number of self-employed workers
- 56 points for number of business owners on LinkedIn Chaudhry Mobeen, founder of MealPro, a Bradford-based business that offers ready-made healthy meals, said: “Bradford is an amazing place to own a business because of the strong sense of community here. The togetherness and the support found in the area is unlike anything you’d find in other parts of the UK. If you took the same situation and compared how it plays out in London versus Bradford, you’d see completely different outcomes. “I can personally attest to the unmatched community spirit in Bradford, having grown up in London. This culture of togetherness is evident in how businesses here help each other out. Just yesterday, we ran out of grated cheese on an unusually busy night, and a neighbouring business immediately stepped in to help us out without hesitation.”
College of Building joins PIPES heating network in Leeds
Leeds College of Building’s North Street Campus is set to benefit from the latest expansion of the Leeds PIPES district heating network.
The network uses heat recovered from non-recyclable domestic waste to provide warmth and hot water to buildings in the city. The project is helping businesses and residents to move away from costly fossil-fuel heating systems to more reliable, affordable, and lower carbon heating.
Expansion into the South Bank area of Holbeck and Hunslet comes after £24.5m funding was secured to expand the network. This multi-million-pound investment will be key in delivering Leeds City Council’s ambition of becoming a zero-carbon city by 2030.
David Pullein, Leeds College of Building Vice Principal – Finance & Resources, said: “Joining the Leeds PIPES network was an easy decision to make, given the original gas boilers at our North Street Campus only operate at 75% efficiency. Switching over to the heat network brings several benefits, the most significant being a 3,800-tonne carbon saving over 20 years. “This low-carbon energy source will significantly reduce our costs and help to bring the site in line with our modern South Bank Campus, which already uses air source heat pumps and biomass pellets. “Moving to the district heating scheme is one of our largest environmental actions to date. It is a big step in supporting Leeds College of Building’s sustainability agenda and the city’s greener vision for the future.”Yorkshire Building Society Chief Exec leads sleepout team to raise charity funds
A team of 13 senior leaders from Yorkshire Building Society spent the night under the stars to raise money for the mutual’s charity partner, FareShare, as part of CEO Sleepout’s event at Elland Road Stadium in Leeds.
The group of colleagues, which included chief exec Susan Allen, CFO Tom Ranger and interim CCO Tom Simpson, raised more than £13,000. The group was joined by FareShare’s chief executive officer, Kris Gibbon-Walsh and network director, Gareth Batty.
CEO Sleepout is a nationwide event which sees business leaders sleep outdoors for a night to raise money and awareness for charities that fight homelessness and poverty.
Susan Allen said: “At Yorkshire Building Society, a core part of our purpose is helping people improve their financial wellbeing and find a place to call home. That’s why we’ve partnered with FareShare to support them in their mission to tackle the problem of food waste, and to help lift people out of financial hardship and into the world of work.
“Taking part in CEO Sleepout not only gave us a great opportunity to support FareShare, but also helped us to gain further insights into the challenges facing local people in the grip of financial hardship.”
“Sleeping out for the night was a powerful experience, with all the participants creating such a supportive atmosphere. As well as giving up our home comforts for a night, my colleagues and I learned more about the issues that so many people are facing and how businesses, like ours, can come together to help to overcome some of these challenges.”
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, chief executive officer of FareShare said: “We are hugely grateful to all the Yorkshire Building Society colleagues who took on the challenge of the CEO Sleepout in support of FareShare, and for all the generous donations received.
“I was delighted to be able to join members of the Yorkshire Building Society’s senior leadership team at Elland Road and contribute to raising awareness of homelessness. Through our work redistributing surplus food to thousands of frontline charities across the UK, we witness firsthand the scale of need in communities.
“This partnership with Yorkshire Building Society not only supports our mission to reduce food waste and provide vital meals but also makes a crucial contribution to our employability programme, which helps thousands of people find long-term employment in the food industry. Together, we are making a lasting impact on people’s lives and strengthening communities.”
Yorkshire Building Society’s partnership with FareShare began in November 2023. Through the partnership, the mutual aims to raise over £1 million to fund Building Skills for the Future employability programmes in seven of the charity’s 34 regional centres, including Yorkshire, London, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Merseyside, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. The programmes will offer coaching, support, practical workshops and work experience to help enable participants to secure full-time employment.
In addition, the partnership will fund an outreach programme offering free of charge face-to-face sessions and workshops helping participants overcome financial hardship by supporting the building of important skills such as CV writing, job searching and improving financial wellbeing. It is hoped that the two programmes will help 2,500 people improve their employability and help them become more financially resilient.
Yorkshire leaders meet in Parliament to share “blueprint” to close health and wealth gap that costs UK £180bn a year
Civic, business, and university leaders met in Parliament yesterday (Tuesday 22 October) to show how Yorkshire can provide a “blueprint” for the new Labour government, regional mayors, and businesses to address health and economic inequalities that cost UK plc at least £180bn a year.
The event, sponsored by Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East, heard how Yorkshire and the Humber makes the “perfect test bed” for new, devolved ways of working, as set out in a white paper – Empowering Local Places for Health and Prosperity – which calls on central government to devolve more health powers to local places.
Based on experiences of tackling inequalities in the Yorkshire and Humber region, which has both the third lowest life expectancy and third lowest employment rate in the country, the white paper also provides national, regional, and business leaders with 10 key recommendations to close such health disparities and build a more inclusive economy.
At last night’s event in the Commons, the white paper authors urged attending cross-party MPs, regional leaders, NHS executives, and representatives of influential national bodies to adopt the recommendations as “a valuable blueprint” to address “immediate challenges and unlock opportunity,” in line with Labour government’s five missions to rebuild Britain.
The white paper, originally launched in February and since updated to align with new government policy, aims to prompt action to kickstart growth through a focus on health and wellbeing, taking advantage of opportunities such as enhanced devolution to regional mayors, proposed NHS reforms, and the anticipated UK Industrial Strategy.
MP sponsor of the parliamentary event, Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East and author of the Building Homes for Britain report which examined how poor housing exacerbates social problems such as ill health, said: “Good health and wellbeing go to the heart of our government’s missions. Kickstarting economic growth, breaking down barriers to individual opportunity, and building an NHS fit for the future requires looking at the deep-seated challenges we face through a health and wellbeing lens.
“As a Yorkshire MP, I am pleased to see leaders in the Yorkshire and Humber region leading the way in putting forward practical recommendations, based on evidence from years of partnership-working, to close the health and wealth divide, not just in Yorkshire but across the UK.
“Our government has pledged a ‘devolution revolution’ and I look forward to seeing how the opportunities of further devolution in Yorkshire can help the region’s leaders go further and faster, while also offering examples from which other parts of the country can learn.”
Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and one of the Empowering Local Places for Health and Prosperity white paper authors, said: “Our report focuses on People, Place, Partnerships, Purpose – the 4Ps that we believe can really support the current direction of travel, putting more tools in the hands of local leaders.
“With our diverse economy, and as one of only a handful of regions to be fully covered by mayoral devolution deals from next year, Yorkshire and the Humber offers the perfect test bed for trialling new devolved powers and ways of working that could close health and economic disparities and make a significant contribution to the government’s missions.”
Prof. Liz Mossop, Yorkshire Universities Board Member and Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, said: “Universities across Yorkshire are already driving collaborations to improve the health, productivity and prosperity in their places, working with key partners and academics to build capacity in skills, research, innovation, business support and community engagement.
“Our white paper is a call to action to build on this approach and forge much closer links between universities and policymakers. This will be critical in addressing both the NHS workforce crisis and population health challenges outlined in Lord Darzi’s independent review of the NHS.
“Today has been a fantastic opportunity to share our recommendations with national policymakers and we look forward to continuing these conversations.”
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “There is compelling evidence that locally led interventions deliver better outcomes, which is why we have been calling for some time for government to let local leaders lead.
“Our white paper demonstrates the impact of purposeful partnership-working between the NHS and local leaders and how we can unleash the power of devolution to do even more. Now is the perfect time to help plot a path towards meaningful change and we hope our recommendations provide a useful starting point.”
As well as putting forward the recommendations to national leaders, the parliamentary event was also an opportunity for national policymakers to learn first-hand about how Yorkshire and Humber is leading the way on collaborative, cross-sector approaches to improving health and economic growth.
In a call to action the white paper concludes: “Despite encouraging signs and the firm commitment of regional partners, health and economic disparities between our region and the UK average continue to grow.
“Urgent action is needed, and we look forward to working closely with national, regional and business leaders to take advantage of accelerated devolution, growth investment, and proposed health service reforms. Together, we can begin to turn the tide on Yorkshire’s health and wealth divide and create a blueprint for other regions across the country.”
Work begins on new housing and independent living development in Rotherham
Leader of Rotherham Council, Councillor Chris Read has joined partner O&P Construction Services to break ground on the site of a new housing and independent living development.
Once complete, the site on Warden Street in Canklow will boast Council homes, assisted living accommodation, plus a new state-of-the-art day centre for people with support needs.
Following Cabinet approval in 2023, a total of £11m is being invested into the site, which includes a six-bedroom property and two two-bedroom apartments, both of which support independent living for people with complex needs.
Alongside the accommodation will be Castleview, a purpose-built day centre which will provide modern and accessible facilities for people with high support needs, in addition to 13 accessible properties which will be available for Council rent to people who meet the criteria.
The new council homes will comprise of 12 two-bedroom apartments for older people and those with a health need, along with a four-bedroom home suitable for a family with wheelchair users.
Together, the plans will help meet the council’s commitment to deliver modern, purpose-built facilities that more effectively meet people’s needs, within environments that are more conducive to maximising independent living and are closer to home.
Councillor Chris Read said: “The council is committed to developing services for people with complex and specialist support needs and this development will deliver just that, enabling better life outcomes for people to lead independent lives.
“In addition, we’re providing more new affordable council homes for local people to rent, helping support our pledge to deliver hundreds of new high-quality homes across the borough by 2026 through the Housing Delivery Programme.”
The properties will occupy land which has been unused since the clearance of unsuitable properties in 2009, with the development expected to complete in spring 2026.
Andy Marshall, Contracts Director at O&P Construction, said: “As a local business it’s a pleasure to partner with Rotherham Council on this development, working collaboratively, we can ensure the project meets the needs of the borough.
“We are certain that we can deliver an excellent project that will provide much needed facilities and housing to benefit the local community.”
The partnership with O&P will build on the Council’s work on social value to promote local employment through council spending. Throughout the works, the South Yorkshire-based builders have committed to employing 10 local people on the project.
In addition to Council investment in the project, the delivery of Council homes on the site has been supported by the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF2), part of the One Public Estate programme.
Leeds retail park to be sold for £18m
A retail and leisure development in Leeds that includes Aldi and B&M stores, a Costa coffeeshop and McDonalds restaurant is now on the market, following its recent completion.
St Georges Retail Park – a partnership between Commercial Development Projects and Rothstone Estates – is located on Middleton Ringroad, Middleton, and has transformed this nearly six-acre brownfield site into a new retail-led destination.
Mason Partners and Savills are now marketing the completed development with a guide price of offers over £18 million for the freehold of the site, showing a return of 6.35 per cent.
A wide range of businesses are now based at St George’s Retail Park including B&M, Aldi, McDonalds, Costa, Greggs, Subway, Harrison Family Vets, Card Factory, The Extra Care Charitable Trust, Sbarro and Vendor Guarantee.
The development has regenerated the former Leeds City Council bus depot in Middleton and was granted planning permission in 2019. All the buildings have been built with sustainable features, with extensive landscaping across the site.
Mark Rothery from Rothstone Estates said: “We are proud to have delivered St Georges Retail Park and it’s testament to the great location and quality of the development that we have attracted these fantastic businesses here. It has regenerated a former derelict brownfield site and will provide a major economic boost to the local area.”
Freddie Guest from Savills added: “Savills is delighted to bring this prime convenience and food led retail warehouse investment to the market. The investment offers a highly attractive income profile with a weighted unexpired term of over 15 years and boasting excellent ESG credentials.
“We expect this opportunity to appeal to both the UK and global investor audiences, with the scheme perfectly positioned to take advantage of the strong rental growth prospects being witnessed in the retail warehouse sector at this time.”
New electronics group calls for removal of VAT on electrical repairs
A newly-formed coalition of electronics industry leaders, known as CLEAR – Circular Leadership for Electronics and Recycling – is urging the Government to remove VAT on electronic spare parts, repairs, and labour, ahead of the upcoming autumn budget.
The move is said to be part of a broader effort to promote sustainability within the sector and make repairs more accessible and affordable for consumers.
Chaired by James Rigg, CEO of Huddersfield-based Trojan Electronics, the CLEAR group aims to address the mounting issue of electronic waste and the barriers preventing consumers from repairing rather than replacing electrical items. He says removal of VAT on electronic repairs is a “crucial step” toward creating a more circular economy.
“With the upcoming budget, we believe it’s essential to focus on VAT reduction as the first step toward broader circularity measures. This will make repairs more affordable, reduce electronic waste, and promote sustainability.
“45% of consumers say that it’s cheaper to buy a new item than have their existing one repaired. Many hesitate to repair electronics when costs near the price of a new device. Removing VAT from repair services would make repairs more affordable, encouraging consumers to fix rather than replace their devices,” said Rigg.
CLEAR is advocating for the UK Government to follow the example set by countries like Austria and France, which have introduced subsidies for electrical repairs.
Rigg believes that by removing VAT on refurbished electronics, UK consumers would be more inclined to choose repair options, significantly cutting down on e-waste.
He said a recent survey revealed that 82% of consumers recognise their role in reducing e-waste, highlighting a growing demand for sustainable solutions. However, to make repair a viable option, the government needs to take action, he said. This means removing VAT and creating easy-to-use platforms for consumers to find local repair services.
He added: “Research highlights consumer frustration with the high cost of repairs. More than half of respondents said repair costs deterred them from fixing broken items, with 45% stating it was cheaper to buy new products. Additionally, 85% of consumers supported stronger government action on sustainability in the electronics sector, and 91% backed the removal of VAT on electrical spares and labour.”
