Logistics warehouse specialist readies Wakefield site for 490,000 sq ft facility
Delin Property, the European logistics warehouse specialist, has started readying a 22.8-acre site in Wakefield Europort business park for the development of a 490,000 square foot cross dock facility.
Duncan Jarvis, Delin Property’s head of portfolio & asset managament, said: “Switch Wakefield is a signature project for us, showcasing all our strengths in value creation as an owner, developer and manager of logistics warehouses.
“The building will provide a best in class facility in Yorkshire’s premier logistics location. We’re very excited about a project that will be one of the largest for the industrial sector in Northern England.”
Contractors are demolishing the existing 375,000 sq ft building, previously occupied by
DHL, and clearing the Whitwood Common Lane site. Reserved matters planning permission
is in place for the construction of a cross-docked logistics unit of 490,000 sq ft.
Switch Wakefield will be constructed to Net Zero Carbon standards, a BREEAM “Excellent”
rating and an A-rated Energy Performance Certificate with 2.5 MVA power supply. The
warehouse will have up to 56 dock level doors, eight level doors, and truck yards of 50
metres and 35 metres.
Internally, the building will provide 15 metres clear height, and 22,500 sq ft of office space. The new facility will also provide parking for 62 trucks and 384 spaces for cars, including 79 EV charging spaces, as well as 110 covered cycle spaces.
CPP, Colliers and Knight Frank are the leasing agents for Switch Wakefield. The
development manager is Firethorn Trust.
More affordable housing announced for York
100% affordable, energy-efficient homes are to be delivered across York by the council and social housing partners.
Affordable housing is to be increased to 100% on the council’s Ordnance Lane Passivhaus site in Fishergate which the number of affordable homes can be doubled from around 50 to 100. 100% affordable homes have also been agreed for the site of the former Willow House on Walmgate homes where around 40 new energy-efficient homes are planned alongside improvements to the neighbourhood.
Other plots ready for development are at the former 68 Centre in Heworth and the former Woolnough House care home site. These will be offered to registered social landlords to deliver 100% affordable housing which aim to meet the emerging Future Homes Standard.
To influence the development of the type and number of affordable homes in the city and region, City of York Council has joined the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership and is working alongside the co-owners of York Central.
Also tackling homelessness, the report details how 10 homes will be bought using the Local Authority Housing Fund to support former rough sleepers into living independently, and to house Afghan refugees.
Cllr Michael Pavlovic, Executive Member for Housing and Safer Communities at City of York Council, said: “The average home in York currently costs 10.9 times the average earnings, rents have risen 10% in the last year and energy costs continue to rise.
“To tackle this, a core commitment of the new Council Plan ‘One City, for all’, is to increase the supply of good quality, affordable housing with high energy efficiency and low emissions.
“Creating 100% affordable homes meets that commitment. Now, on our Ordnance Lane site alone, we’re doubling the high-quality Passivhaus housing which will be affordable to rent, buy and run, from around 50 to 100 homes.”
Four get jobs with Andrew Jackson Solicitors
Andrew Jackson Solicitors has appointed four newly-qualified solicitors, who have taken up roles across the firm following successful completion of their training contracts.
With several years’ experience advising clients across a broad range of commercial property transactions, senior solicitor Yasmin Fenton, along with Emily Vint, remain in the real estate and property department. Rebecca Forder has worked in the shipping and transport department for several years and will continue to act on behalf of UK, European and international banks on ship finance transactions, including mortgages and flag registrations, as well as assisting the team on large scale shipping and transport projects. Jon Croft remains in his corporate role, advising clients across a range of due diligence procedures for company acquisitions and disposals, in addition to the preparation of ancillary documentation and advising on company formations. Managing partner Mark Pearson-Kendall said: “Yasmin, Emily, Rebecca and Jon have already developed strong client relationships and have shown their commitment to providing them with trusted, commercial legal advice. “I know they will continue to make a valuable contribution to Andrew Jackson and we are delighted to offer them these roles.”Finalists look forward to awards announcement
The Big Sky Beer Festival hosted by Wold Newton-based Wold Top Brewery has reached the final of the Event of the Year award in the Yorkshire Post Tourism Awards.
Director Kate Balchin said:”The Big Sky Beer Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years and is a great platform to showcase great beer from all over the UK plus local musicians and food producers. We’re very excited to have won a place in the final and look forward to the dinner next month.”
The Big Sky Beer Festival faces competition from HERD, ‘A Night Under the Stars’ – Yorkshire Children’s Charity and Grantley Hall, Harrogate Autumn Flower Show and JORVIK Viking Festival. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at New Dock, Leeds on 4th December. The judges include Wayne Topley, MD of the Cedar Court Hotels Group and Chef Consultant, Steph Moon.
Wold Top was founded in 2003 and is located on the Mellor family farm at Hunmanby Grange. The team use home-grown barley and water from the farm’s borehole to produce a range of award-winning cask, keg and bottled beers that are available throughout Yorkshire and nationwide.
Keep backing British farming, NFU tells Government in renewed call to action
The NFU has called for government to deliver on its promises to back British farming by ensuring fairness in food supply chains.
The Farm to Fork Summit was the result of months of campaigning on the part of the NFU, following a series of pledges made by the Prime Minister.
Key among the announcements made at the summit were commitments to hold reviews into the horticulture and egg supply chains. The latter of these was launched at the end of October.
NFU President Minette Batters says food security should always remain a top priority for any government and adding that a perfect storm of challenges currently facing farmers including, crippling input costs, volatile supply chains and extreme weather events, set against a backdrop of changes to farm support and agricultural policy.
She met the newly appointed Defra Secretary of State Steve Barclay the day after the Prime Minister’s cabinet reshuffle. Following the meeting she said: “I pressed the need for urgent action on the vitally important sector reviews taking place.
“They must have a tangible impact on the relationship with farmers and the supply chain. Currently farmers and growers bear the brunt of the risks and cost within the food supply chain and this is unsustainable for all involved.
“This reality is playing out in real time with a fractured sugar supply chain – an acute example of the burden put on primary producers.”
At the beginning of the month, British Sugar sent out a document to all growers which asserted to contain details of the 2024/25 Sugar Beet Contract Offer.
The NFU Sugar Board believes that this aggressive action – in circumventing NFU Sugar – was undertaken in the hope that individual growers will accept a contract that gives them significantly less value than they should receive given anticipated market conditions.
“It has been six months since I sat down at the Farm to Fork summit with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and I appreciate the positive steps that have been made,” Minette added.
“We called for a national food security summit and a government commitment to work towards 60% self-sufficiency, both of which have happened, as well as the new agri-food attachés to help sell more British food abroad.
“But I have urged the new Secretary of State to ensure Defra’s supply chain reviews within the dairy, horticulture and poultry sectors deliver much-needed improvements to the operation, fairness and transparency for all farmers and growers, so we can continue what we do best – provide high-quality, climate-friendly food for the nation.”
Siemens tests London Underground trains that will be built in Goole
New trains for London Underground’s Piccadilly Line are undergoing extensive testing by Siemens Mobility in Europe, both on the test track and in the climate chamber, in readiness for the company’s Goole factory to start building them.
Siemens Mobility is building 94 Piccadilly line trains for TfL, with around half to be assembled at the new train manufacturing facility in Goole, where work will start next year. Up to £200m is being invested in developing the rail village, which will create up to 700 skilled jobs, as well as up to 1,700 in the supply chain and 250 during construction. Some of the parts for the new trains will also come from local suppliers in Yorkshire, including LPA Lighting Systems who will provide the LED interior lighting.
The first-newly built state-of-the-art test train is at the Test and Validation Centre in Germany, where it is being put through its paces on the test track during dynamic testing to demonstrate acceleration and braking functionality along with noise and vibration trials. Intensive testing is taking place in the build up to the first train arriving in London next summer for further testing and integration before the new trains start entering service in London in 2025.
Meanwhile, a three-car formation of the Piccadilly line carriages has been put through testing in a special climate chamber to ensure the trains will be able to endure extreme weather conditions. Tests focused on the effects of extreme ambient temperatures from -15°C to 40°C, solar load of 600W/m2, ice and high wind speeds of up to 100km/h to check the train can still operate in extreme weather conditions. Monitors were used to understand what passengers would experience, measuring humidity and temperatures in the carriages.
The Piccadilly line trains are based on Siemens Mobility’s Inspiro family of metro trains and offer passengers an improved customer experience with walk-through, air-conditioned carriages and improved accessibility. The new metro trains will increase capacity by around 10 per cent and are also lighter than existing designs which will mean the trains are more energy efficient as well as providing a smoother ride for passengers. All trains will be fitted with CCTV in the carriages.
Sambit Banerjee, Joint CEO for Siemens Mobility UKI, said: “It is quite something to see the first of the new state-of-the-art Piccadilly line trains being tested. Although we are still in the early stage of testing, we are learning a lot about this test train and its future performance. As well as testing on the track, we have also been using our climate chamber to ensure the trains can operate safely in extreme weather conditions. These vital tests mark an important milestone for the project.”
Make UK welcomes news of Government financial boost of SME in manufacturing
The CEO of manufacturers’ organisation Make UK has welcomed news of a financial fillip for SMEs across the country with the government announcement of £4.5 billion in funding for British manufacturing to increase investment in eight sectors
He’s Stephen Phipson, who said: “Make UK has long campaigned for Made Smarter to be a fully national scheme so that all SME manufacturers can benefit from the expertise the programme delivers and we are delighted at today’s decision from government to commit to a national rollout.
“Made Smarter has already transformed thousands of companies in the North East, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire & the Humber and now it can help turbo-charge industrial digitalisation in SMEs across the whole of the country.
“The end-to-end specialist support the programme delivers has successfully helped smaller businesses dramatically boost productivity, improve energy efficiency, drive growth, upskill roles and deliver new jobs in digital skills to create workforces of the future which will allow Britain’s smaller manufacturers to continue to grow and remain globally competitive.”
The funding will be available from 2025 for five years, providing industry with longer term certainty about their investments.
Over £2 billion has been earmarked for the automotive industry and £975 million for aerospace, supporting the manufacturing, supply chain and development of zero emission vehicles, and investment in energy efficient and zero-carbon aircraft equipment.
Alongside this, the government has committed to £960 million for a Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support clean energy manufacturing, and £520 million for life sciences manufacturing to build resilience for future health emergencies and capitalise on the UK’s world-leading research and development.
With the entire manufacturing sector making up over 43% of all UK exports and employing around 2.6 million people, this funding is targeted at the UK’s strongest, world leading sectors; including where the industry is undergoing fundamental changes to remain at the forefront of the global transition to net zero, like the move to zero emission vehicles in the automotive industry.
The Green Industries Growth Accelerator investment will support the expansion of strong, home-grown, clean energy supply chains across the UK, including carbon capture, utilisation and storage, electricity networks, hydrogen, nuclear and offshore wind. This will enable the UK to seize growth opportunities through the transition to net zero, building on our world-leading decarbonisation track record and strong deployment offer.
The funding forms part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to grow the economy, and his focus on making decisions for the long-term, ensuring this funding doesn’t just focus on the most successful sectors today but looks ahead to how to keep pace internationally and build the UK’s expertise for the industries of the future.
Quality Bearings Online wins Employer of the Year at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards
Leeds based SME, Quality Bearings Online, was awarded Employer of the Year at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2023. Held at London’s Grosvenor House on Tuesday 14th November, this prestigious event shone a light on businesses and entrepreneurs who have truly made an outstanding contribution to British Business.
The Employer of the Year award celebrates organisations that go the extra mile through all stages of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to inclusion and development.
Sam Moss, Chief Operating Officer at Quality Bearings Online, commented on the win: “We were honoured to be shortlisted in the Employer of the Year category, standing among some exceptional UK Businesses. Going on to win the category, at these prestigious awards was truly remarkable! We are so proud of the whole QBOL team, who embrace our culture and values every day and share this incredible success.”
Founded in 2012, Quality Bearings Online are a multi-award-winning ecommerce business who supply precision bearings, engineering spares, and technologically advanced lubricants to customers in over 110 countries.
The company takes pride in offering trusted brands, expert knowledge, excellent customer service, and swift global delivery. Serving a wide array of sectors, ranging from Manufacturing, Aerospace and Defence to Oil and Gas, as well as Precision Engineering, Quality Bearings Online is a backbone of the UK business landscape.
Quality Bearings Online is constantly looking for ways to break barriers and drive change. The company encourages women to work in the engineering sector and employs new talent from Graduates and Apprenticeship schemes across Yorkshire. From a company which started with 2, the business now consists of 22 talented and driven individuals with 65% of the workforce being women.
Sarah Austin, Director of British Business Excellence Awards, commented: “Quality Bearings Online has created a culture of learning and personal development, not only nurturing ambition, but demonstrating how best use of technology can help employers to upskill for the future and scale profitability.
“They’re recruiting from outside the sector for diversity of ideas to drive innovation and also investing in talent for long-term loyalty and growth – this is why they are truly deserving of this honour.”
The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards ceremony was one of pure delight and celebration. The star-studded ceremony was intertwined with entertainment and speeches from Sarah Austin, Director of the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards and the UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. British news personality Naga Munchetty and A-list actor David Harewood also featured in the entertainment section of the evening, with The Lionesses receiving the honorary award for Inspirational Leadership off the back of their success at the Women’s Football World Cup.
Meghan Say, Digital Marketing Executive at Quality Bearings Online, said: “It was such an honour to go down to London and represent our amazing team back in Leeds. To be announced the winner of the Employer of the Year Award was the best surprise, and I’m so proud of everyone at QBOL for making it happen! Thank you to the judging panel for recognising our successes and to Saira Demmer CEO at SF Recruitment for presenting our award to us.”
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists of the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2023.
Building Society sets sights on raising £1m to support 2,500 people getting into work
Yorkshire Building Society has announced FareShare as its charity partner for the next two years, aiming to raise £1million to support the charity’s Building Skills for the Future programme to help 2,500 people enter the world of work.
Currently one in five people in the UK are experiencing food poverty and demand for food has skyrocketed due to the cost-of-living crisis. The food provided by FareShare acts as a gateway to these charities’ services, enabling individuals to access vital wraparound support to tackle the root causes of poverty.
The partnership between the mutual and FareShare will see the creation of employability programmes in seven of the charity’s 34 regional centres, including Leeds and Barnsley, London, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. The Building Skills for the Future programmes will offer coaching, support, practical workshops and 12-26 weeks of work experience to help enable users 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 Building Society will support FareShare through fundraising and cause collections across its branch network and through volunteering opportunities across the charity’s regional centres. Colleagues from the Society will also use transferrable skills to deliver employability sessions and financial resilience lessons as part of the outreach programme.
Susan Allen, chief exec at Yorkshire Building Society said: “Our partnership with FareShare will help thousands of people improve their employability and financial wellbeing.
“As a member-owned organisation, supporting our local communities is an important part of our purpose. We want to provide Real Help for Real Life and help build financial resilience. We have been so impressed with how FareShare not only provides much needed immediate help to vulnerable people but also reduces food waste, and works to improve the root causes of food poverty. We want to help them reach and support even more of those in need of help.
“Our fundraising target is £1million, and we know our colleagues will really get behind this partnership, whether that be through raising money, volunteering at FareShare’s regional hubs, running foodbank collections in-branch or delivering employability sessions.”
George Wright, CEO at FareShare said: “Our employability programmes support people, who may be vulnerable, into good, sustainable work, addressing one of the root causes of poverty. The services offered help individuals maximise their strengths, overcome barriers to employment and take advantage of opportunities that can transform lives.
“The partnership with Yorkshire Building Society will enable us to deliver these programmes to thousands of people via our sites across the country. In areas where the cost of living crisis has hit hard, these opportunities will be instrumental not only in improving outcomes for individuals, but also in helping FareShare get more good to eat surplus food to people.
“Yorkshire Building Society will make a vital contribution to our employability programme and help thousands of people seek long-term employment in the food industry, as part of our vital work to provide a hand up not a hand out.”
FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. The charity redistributes quality surplus food from the food industry – that would otherwise go to waste – to over 8,500 local charities across the UK. In addition to providing food, these charities help tackle the root causes of poverty and provide vital services including lunch clubs for older people, community kitchens, breakfast and after school clubs, domestic violence refuges, and homeless shelters.New grant scheme for small and micro businesses in North Yorkshire
Businesses which form the foundations of North Yorkshire’s economy are being given the opportunity to benefit from hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding.
A new package of capital grant schemes is opening up £450,000 in funding for small and micro firms across the county.
The fund, administered by North Yorkshire Council through the North Yorkshire UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF), is focused on increasing business growth, productivity and resilience. Grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are available.
Micro businesses, with less than 10 employees, and small firms with less than 50 employees can also access free support beyond the grant through the business advisory teams at the council and the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub.
Council leader and chair of the SPF Board, Cllr Carl Les, said: “We are delighted to open up this funding stream, which we hope will be accessed by all – sole traders, start-ups, home businesses and social enterprises as well as landlords and people looking to diversify their farm businesses and limited companies.
“We want businesses to think about the simple changes that could create a sustainable difference to the way they work, reach customers, and improve their bottom line for profits. Our ambition is to reach deep into the business community to see a broad range of innovative applications across the different sectors and disciplines and especially welcome first-time applications.”
North Yorkshire’s economy is heavily slanted towards smaller businesses and there is a total of more than 32,700 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises alongside 90 large businesses in the county.
The chair of the SPF Business Thematic Group, Sue Jefferson, added: “The parameters of the grants on offer have been designed by business for business as we want to see the funds accessible to all and overcoming the barriers that small businesses all too often face.
“With over 98 per cent of our local economy being made up of micro and small businesses, the ability to offer a grant programme that also encourages all applicants to take advantage of wider business advice or support, is really important to us.”
Funding for the 2023/24 scheme amounts to £450,000, with feedback and learning from this initiative set to influence the further development of grant pots in the pipeline for 2024/25.
