“We have played our part, but ASLEF now need to play theirs by calling off strikes and the rest day working ban, putting the very fair and reasonable pay offer to a democratic vote of their members.”
Under operator of last resort, services will run as normal with no changes to tickets, timetables or planned services with the department committed to ensuring a seamless transition for passengers.Government says it won’t renew Transpennine Express contract at the end of the month
Transpennine Express won’t have its contract renewed or extended at the end of the month, Transport Secretary Mark Harper will announce today though he insists it’s a temporary measure, and it’s the government’s intention that it will return to the private sector.
This will bring the company into operator of last resort status from 28 May, a decision taken after months of significant disruption and regular cancellations across Transpennine Express’s network, resulting in a considerable decline in confidence for passengers.
Alongside the train operating company, the Department for Transport put the operator on a recovery plan in February and met local mayors to discuss a way forward.
While some improvements have been made over the past few months, it has been decided that to achieve the performance levels passengers deserve, and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset.
While making the decision to bring Transpennine Express into operator of last resort, the department recognises that a significant number of problems facing TPE stem from matters out of its control. These include a backlog of recruitment and training drivers, reforming how the workforce operates and most notably, ASLEF’s decision to withdraw rest day working – preventing drivers from taking on overtime shifts and filling in gaps on services.
In light of this, today’s decision will not instantaneously resolve the challenges being faced on the lines, but will provide an opportunity to reset relationships between the operator, staff, trade unions and passengers.
As part of this and in response to stakeholders’ calls for action, the Transport Secretary has asked the Department for Transport to review services in the north to help drive efficiency and find better ways to deliver for passengers across the region. He also asks all interested parties including the northern mayors and Transport for the North to engage with the government on this work.
The government continues to urge the union to call off upcoming strikes and the rest day working ban.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:”In my time as Transport Secretary, I have been clear that passenger experience must always come first. After months of commuters and Northern businesses bearing the brunt of continuous cancellations, I’ve made the decision to bring Transpennine Express into operator of last resort.
“This is not a silver bullet and will not instantaneously fix a number of challenges being faced, including ASLEF’s actions which are preventing Transpennine Express from being able to run a full service – once again highlighting why it’s so important that the railways move to a 7-day working week.
JV purchases and invests £1m into Sheffield office building
Six floors of open plan office space in central Sheffield are undergoing total refurbishment after new owners GPF (NOH) Ltd invested up to £1m in the prominent site.New Oxford House on Barkers Pool has been bought for an undisclosed sum by joint venture GPF (NOH) Ltd as an equity investment purchase from Nationwide Building Society, who will continue to lease the ground floor along with health and wellbeing store Holland & Barrett.The quality open plan office accommodation above the retail space, totalling more than 21,000 sq ft, is available to rent, after previous occupiers Nationwide and Arup, relocated.Wake Smith Solicitors acted for GPF (NOH) Ltd on the purchase with corporate director Rebecca Robinson dealing with the equity investment details while commercial property director Neil Salter handled the building acquisition.GPF (NOH) Ltd director Jonathan Vardy said: “This is a fantastic location and we believe a quality office refurbishment scheme will fill a gap in the market for this type of space. We are also keen to secure an exciting retail occupier for the vacant part of the ground floor.”Neil Salter, director in the commercial property team at Wake Smith, said: “It’s fair to say that there were a number of challenges in achieving exchange and completion, but we believe that we worked well with GPF and Nationwide’s solicitors to get to where we needed to be: the location of the property is remarkable.”The refurbished offices, being marketed by Tim Bottrill at Colloco, are available on a floor by floor basis or a whole, and benefit from a city centre location, internal kitchens, double glazing, and toilets located in the central core of the building. Additionally, New Oxford House will receive a new fully glazed office entrance and refurbished reception area. The building is also linked to the District Heating Network offering a green and cost effective method of heating offices.Tim Bottrill added: “The refurbishment started immediately following the acquisition and the space will provide modern, contemporary office space in arguably one of the most exciting locations in Sheffield City Centre.“The space is able to accommodate a range of businesses, offering suites from 1000 sq ft up to the full floors of 3600 sq ft, or multiple floors and we have already agreed terms with a well known financial services company, who will be moving into the first floor in August.“We have strong interest in other floors and are confident that our client’s investment and commitment to the building and Sheffield will be a success.”New Oxford House is a recognisable building with frontage on the Barkers Pool area, adjacent to the new Heart of the City regeneration project, Fargate and Leopold Square.
Yorkshire estate agent races into new offices in York
Less than 12 months after expanding into York, estate agent Dacre, Son & Hartley has relocated into new city centre premises on Micklegate and has marked the opening by supporting grassroots sport and sponsoring City of York Athletics Club’s junior teams.
As part of the sponsorship, the company is providing the club’s championship winning junior teams with distinctive warm up shirts for the 2023 UK Youth Development League campaign.
Dacre, Son & Hartley opened in York last summer and its new double fronted showroom, which is in a prime position within the city walls, offers highly visible display facilities, as well as valuable support for the firm’s other 19 offices across North and West Yorkshire.
Led by experienced estate agent Nick Udovicic, the Micklegate office specialises in selling all types of homes across a wide area, spanning York city centre, the North York Moors, out to the Yorkshire coast and all the city’s surrounding towns and villages including the likes of Malton, Pickering and Helmsley.
The York team have recently sold homes in central York, Huby and Sheriff Hutton.
Nick said: “York has been very welcoming to us since we opened last year and we’ve enjoyed plenty of early successes. We’re already building a reputation for marketing every type of property across the city and beyond, which has been key to Dacre, Son & Hartley’s longevity in Yorkshire.
“Expanding into Micklegate will enable us to continue growing in York and gives us a superb base in a busy and central location on one of the city’s most attractive and best-known streets.
“We’re also very excited to be supporting the local community through this latest sponsorship agreement. We’ve been very impressed by everyone at City of York Athletics Club which is undoubtedly one of York’s most successful grassroots sports teams and we’re looking forward to building a lasting relationship with them.”
Nick visited the club’s state of the art facilities at the University of York on a busy training night and was welcomed by a group of highly talented young athletes, who attend schools across York and North Yorkshire, and the club’s chair and team manager, Craig Pounder.
Craig said: “We pride ourselves on offering sporting opportunities for both beginners and elite athletes and giving young people the opportunity to learn, develop and compete in a full range of athletics events.
“Sponsorship from successful local businesses is a key part of this and welcoming a longstanding Yorkshire business in Dacre, Son & Hartley is a coup for us. The new warm up kits look fantastic and will hopefully add to the confidence of our athletes.
“Both teams have won their opening matches comfortably and I’m sure the new shirts have given them a boost!”
Start on site for new industrial/warehouse development in West Yorkshire
Following on from securing planning consent, BentallGreenOak and Equation Properties have started on site with two new industrial/distribution warehouses, comprising 153,323 sq ft and 56,360 sq ft, to be completed during Q4 2023.
IFCO Systems UK Limited has agreed a pre-let deal on the largest unit, as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The general contractor Winvic will deliver the scheme which will be constructed to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC A ratings. Primed for the needs and requirements of modern occupiers, the development has EV charging points and enhanced Biodiversity Net Gain credits.
The Industrial and Logistics team at CBRE in Leeds, alongside Avison Young, advised BentallGreenOak and Equation Properties on the acquisition and subsequent pre-letting. The 10-acre site was bought from Homes England in 2022.
Rob Vaughan, development director at Equation Properties, said: “We are thrilled to get this development underway with a pre-let to IFCO Systems UK. They are an expanding global business and are an essential part of the UK food supply chain requiring high-quality premises.
“This is yet another construction start across the BentallGreenOak and Equation Properties portfolio, demonstrating our joint commitment to developing in strategic locations despite challenges in the economy.”
Dirk Schaich, director Supply Chain & Operations at IFCO Systems, said: “With Equation and Winvic we have found an experienced project developer and construction partner who shares our commitment to sustainability, implements our high environmental and efficiency standards in building development and supports our ambitious time and growth plans.”
Danielle Raunjak, associate director at CBRE, said “We are delighted this site has commenced construction having advised on the acquisition.
“It will deliver high quality logistics space that will meet the needs of a vast range of occupiers looking to boost their business activities in Yorkshire and the rest of the UK. The pre-let of 153,000 sq ft to IFCO Systems UK Ltd is testament to the prime location and quality of the space to be delivered.”
TaylorWessing solicitors advised BentallGreenOak and Equation Properties on the pre-let to IFCO Systems UK.
New phase of employment space delivered in Lincoln
Local contractor and developer, Stirlin, has completed a new phase of employment space on their development in Lincoln: Kirk’s Yard.
Kirk’s Yard is a commercial business park located just outside the village of Branston, approximately 4 miles from Lincoln City Centre.
Stirlin completed the first two phases of the development back in March 2019, with all units occupied by a variety of established local businesses, including Gateway Automation, Lincolnshire Radiators Direct and TL Electrical Engineering.
Following the success of these phases, Stirlin has now delivered a third phase, to provide 10 industrial units suitable for a variety of business uses, ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft.
Sustainable elements of the scheme include energy efficient lighting, bike racks to encourage the cycle to work scheme and the recycling of existing topsoil from the land, which has been used for the landscaped areas around the site. Stirlin also offer buyers the option to include a renewable energy solar system on the units.
Managing Director of Stirlin, Tony Lawton, says: “Our Kirk’s Yard site has proven very popular, particularly due to its location, so it’s great to provide further employment space to meet the demand and facilitate business growth in the area.
“In addition to this scheme, we have several other projects in the pipeline for 2023. We are also open to contractual work, and we encourage people to get in touch to discuss their requirements.”
With the completion of the third phase, Stirlin have transformed 2.2 acres of vacant land on Mere Road into over 33,000 sq ft of new employment space.
Government set to approve longer lorries for use on Britain’s roads
Lorry trailers more than two metres longer than the existing maximum size are to be allowed on Great Britain’s roads to support the government’s priority to grow the economy, boost productivity, slash road emissions and support supply chains.
Legislation will be laid before Parliament today to roll out the vehicles on roads from the end of the month.
Subject to the current 44-tonne maximum weight limit, the new lorries will move the same volume of goods, but will use 8% fewer journeys than current trailers. This will generate an expected £1.4 billion in economic benefits and take one standard-size trailer off the road for every 12 trips.
As part of efforts to grow the economy and cut emissions, government is changing regulations to allow longer trailers on GB roads, which it estimates will save 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
The development follows an 11-year trial to ensure LSTs are used safely on roads, and operators will be encouraged to put extra safety checks and training in place. The trial demonstrated that LSTs were involved in around 61% fewer personal injury collisions than conventional lorries.
Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Everyone around the country depends on our haulage sector for their everyday needs – from loo rolls to sausage rolls – and a strong, resilient supply chain is key to the government’s priority to grow the economy.
“It’s fantastic to see this change for our supply chain come into law, resulting in a near £1.4 billion boost to the haulage industry and driving economic growth. Let the good times roll as we reduce congestion, lower emissions and enhance the safety of British roads.”
Operators will be legally required to ensure appropriate route plans and risk assessments are made to take the unique specifications of LSTs into account. In addition to these new legal requirements, operators will also be expected to put in place extra safety checks including driver training and scheduling, record keeping, training for transport managers and key staff, and loading of LSTs. With over 300 companies in the UK having already taken part in the trial, and almost 3,000 on the road, some of the biggest brands will be rolling out the extended use of these longer semi-trailers including Greggs, Morrisons, Stobart, Royal Mail, and Argos. Gavin Kirk, Supply Chain Director at Greggs, said: “We welcome the introduction of LSTs into general use. Since 2013, Greggs has been operating LSTs from our National Distribution Centre in Newcastle. We were early adopters of the trial as we saw significant efficiency benefits from the additional 15% capacity that they afforded us. “We have converted 20% of our trailer fleet to LSTs, which was the maximum allowable under the trial, and these complement our fleet of double-deck trailers. Our drivers undertook additional training to use these trailers and we have monitored accidents, finding that they are as safe as our standard fleet.“Due to the increased capacity, we have reduced our annual mileage by 540,000km, and saved 410 tonnes of carbon per year from LSTs.”
Verdion gets green light from planners for further iPort development
Verdion has been given the go ahead for two further buildings at iPort by Doncaster Council’s planning committee.
The outline resolution to grant covers buildings iP4 (extending to around 848,250 sq ft) and iP5, of 323,500 sq ft. Both buildings will be developed to high environmental standards, with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability.
Their delivery will follow the current phase of speculative development which is due for completion in May and June this year. iP7 extends to 165,800 sq ft and completes next month. iP6 (82,250 sq ft) and iP8 (328,500 sq ft) will complete in June.
Jamie Young, Asset Manager at Verdion, said: “This is a welcome decision and an important step forward as we move towards the final phases of development at iPort. We are continuing to see high levels of demand for space in the area and considerable interest in the park from new occupiers.”
Gent Visick, CBRE and Colliers are the retained leasing agents for iPort.
Step forward for Altalto Immingham Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project
Velocys, the sustainable fuels technology company, has revealed that further to the award of the grant from the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT) Advanced Fuel Funds of up to £27 million for the Altalto Immingham Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Project, announced on 12 December 2022, Altalto Ltd has completed the work necessary to claim the first tranche (£7 million) of the grant up to 31 March 2023.
In addition, the project has obtained the first tranche of private funding for the period from 1 April 2023 from its existing private sector participants.
The Altalto project’s aim is to deliver a commercial waste-to-SAF plant in Immingham. The DfT grant and matched funding will enable Altalto to complete the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage of the project. Following the completion of FEED and a successful final investment decision, construction will commence in 2025 with full commercial operation expected in 2028.
Since the award of the DfT grant in December, the Altalto Immingham Project has entered into a number of technology license and engineering services agreements with project technology licensors and the FEED contract with Bechtel Limited, utilising the first tranche of grant funds provided by the DfT. Pursuant to the terms of the grant, further draw down of the grant is subject to demonstration of project milestones with matched funding requirements to be met over the two years to 31 March 2025.
In March 2023, the company announced the appointment of a leading global investment bank to advise on the financing of Velocys’ Reference Projects and to assist in obtaining the matched funding from private sector investors, which is on track to be in place during Q4 2023.
Velocys’ cash contribution to the Altalto Project over two years from April 2023, including its contribution to the first tranche of private funding of £1 million, is not expected to exceed £8 million, with Velocys intending to recover any funding it provides at the earlier development stages (as from 1 April 2023 onwards) following receipt of third party project investment.
Spencer Group makes engineering first by using app to monitor employee wellbeing
Hull-based Spencer Group is is the first engineering company to adopt the Hapstar app to support employee wellbeing by enabling them to track their mental and physical health, set happiness actions, access support and resources and provide anonymous feedback.
The app holds no identifying information about the user, but Spencer Group can use the data to gain a clearer understanding of its workforce’s wellbeing, identify and respond to trends.
Every employee has a Hapstar login and is encouraged to use the app as little or as much as they want. Data is collected on teams, rather than demographics, to ensure anonymity.
HR Director Yvonne Moir said: “The engineering industry must think outside the box, embrace new initiatives and, where possible, new technologies to address the issue of mental health. At Spencer Group, we’ve always taken a proactive approach as industry leaders in employee wellbeing. This means seeking out innovative solutions that help break the silence around mental health in engineering.
“We’re using a data-driven, people-centred approach with Hapstar. The data is all completely anonymous. If a Spencer Group employee asks a question via the app, it will be sent through to the HR team who can respond, without identifying the user.”
If the question affects others in the workplace, Spencer Group might create an internal blog post to address the issue. If questions or data indicates a particular team is feeling underappreciated, Spencer Group can look at ways of addressing the issue.
Hapstar CEO Adam Campbell said: “Innovating in the world of wellbeing, with the goal of changing the way businesses support their people, is no easy task.
“We’ve been developing the concept and technology of Hapstar for over four years and our approach to a truly data-led wellbeing strategy has evolved immensely in that time. A large driving force behind that evolution has been the insights and support of the team at Spencer Group.”
Administrators of 4D Pharma secure sale of manufacturing subsidiary and intellectual property as employees in Leeds made redundant
The administrators of 4D Pharma plc have sold 100% of the share capital of its wholly owned subsidiary, 4D Pharma León, S.L.U. (León), to Bacthera AG, and the intellectual property of 4D Pharma Group to CJ Bioscience Inc (CJ), while 30 employees based in Leeds, Aberdeen and Cork have been made redundant.
Bacthera is a Joint Venture of Chr. Hansen A/S and a Lonza Group Affiliate and was set up to serve the needs of the emerging LBP industry.
The site in León, Spain, is a GMP-certified, proven live biotherapeutic product (LBP) manufacturing plant, equipped with bioreactors of various sizes up to 3,500 L.
The sale preserves more than 40 jobs at the site, and provides León with a new parent company which is keen to invest in the long term future of the facility, such as upgrading the site infrastructure and downstream processes, including the introduction of state-of-the-art filtration and spray drying technologies.
James Clark, Managing Director at Interpath and a joint administrator of 4D Pharma plc, said: “Achieving a solvent sale of León is a great result for all involved. It sees more than 40 jobs saved, and allows León to continue to serve the LBP manufacturing market. This was a complex sale of a Spanish entity with a UK parent to a Danish and Swiss joint venture firm. Successfully navigating these complexities has led to a good result for creditors.”
Lukas Schüpbach, CEO, Bacthera, said: “This acquisition allows us to bridge our capabilities in development with our solutions for commercial manufacturing, adding capacity for the entire LBP market. Additionally, offering the direct transfer of clinical manufacturing into the León site will allow our customers to accelerate their products on the path to commercialisation.”
In a separate transaction, the intellectual property of 4D Pharma Group, including its patent library, pipeline assets, and bioinformatics platform technology, was sold to CJ Bioscience Inc.
CJ is an independent corporation of CJ CheilJedang’s RedBio (pharmaceuticals and healthcare) and is interested in accelerating the development of microbiome-based novel drugs.
However, as it was not possible to sell the Group solvently, the Group’s 30 employees based in Leeds, Aberdeen and Cork have been made redundant. However, the sale will ensure that the drug development expertise and innovative technology of 4D Pharma developed over the past ten years will contribute to accelerating the development of microbiome-based drugs under CJ.
James Clark said: “The sale to CJ is a success for science and will see the continued advancement of the research and development that the 4D Pharma Group pioneered. This was a complex, cross-border sale to a multinational buyer and, while it is has unfortunately not been possible to transact on a solvent basis, it can still be considered a successful result for creditors.”
A spokesperson for CJ Bioscience official said: “Through this contract, we have acquired global-level competitiveness in the development of new drugs based on microorganisms, and we will continue to explore new drug candidates through follow-up clinical trials, in addition to the existing candidates that are awaiting FDA clinical trials this year.”
