News: New £4m fund aims to reinvigorate Rotherham's towns and villages

A new £4m Towns and Villages Improvement Fund aims to help reinvigorate town and village centres across the Rotherham borough.

The fund, which was supported by Rotherham Council’s Cabinet as part of its 2021/22 capital budget last week, will be used to brighten up neglected areas in smaller town and village centres, helping to restore confidence and a little civic pride in communities and also support local businesses.

The cabinet paper explains: "Outside of the main town centre, Rotherham has a number of villages and townships that have commercial centres. In many of these, the physical infrastructure has not received investment for a number of years.

"Attractive village and town centres are critical to the wellbeing of the communities who live near to them and use them regularly. They are also key to ensuring that the areas feel welcoming and provide a commercial offer, in order to support businesses and the economic development of communities."

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If the scheme gets the final go ahead when the budget goes to Full Council on 3 March, it could be used to deliver a variety of physical improvements, identified as priorities by local people, organisations and ward councillors, which could include:

- Provision or replacement of street furniture, such as benches, planters, railings to improve the feel of the place, and encourage enhanced use
- Replacement of street lighting columns or improvement to lighting or CCTV to make places feel safe and secure
- Improvement of shrub beds, planting or trees
- Improvements to pavements or other public infrastructure, to improve the look and feel of village and town centres

Councillor Denise Lelliott, Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy, said: “Our Rotherham Town Centre Masterplan and the numerous schemes we’re bringing forward to breathe new life into our main commercial centre are well-known, but as that work progresses it’s also right that where we can we also invest in our local centres.

“Attractive village and town centres enhance the wellbeing of our communities and people who use them day-in, day-out. What we are setting out in our budget proposals is new funding to help these areas feel more welcoming, which in turn will support businesses and the economic development of communities. As the scheme rolls out, we will be keen to hear what local residents would like to see in their areas.”

Councillors in each area will be asked to develop initial expressions of interest for schemes in their area and subject to final agreement of the funding in the Council’s budget, a process for prioritisation will be developed.

Images: Google Maps

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News: Recreating the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival

Organisers of the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival are hoping to still raise much needed money for charity this year by encouraging revellers to recreate the event at home.

Starting at Oakwood School in 1992, the event has gone on to become the largest indoor beer festival outside of London. Usually attracting thousands to the Magna Science and Adventure Centre in Rotherham, 2021's event is to be a "Virtual Beer Festival" on Saturday March 20.

Attracting 5,000 people, last year's event was one of the last large events at Magna, and in Rotherham, before the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.

This year you can watch the live music from the comfort of your own home, with local beer in a festival glass.

Local brewery, Chantry Brewery, has created some special Festival beer and organisers have commissioned a Festival glass. You can pre-order these on Chantry's website and they will deliver your beer and glass for free to anyone with an 'S' postcode (minimum order £25). This can be delivered to anywhere in the UK for a fee if you are outside of this postcode.

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The team at Titan Live Events have organised a couple of fantastic local bands and some special appearances along the way which will be live streamed from the stage at the Cutlers Arms by Richard Ford.

The Grade II listed pub in Rotherham town centre was renovated by Chantry Brewery and is Rotherham's infamous live music venue!

Acts include Bloodlines and At The Arcade (pictured).

Tickets for the virtual event are £5 and will be available from the event website.

Businesses can still get involved with with sponsorship too.

Money is being raised for Maples Cancer Care, the trading name of Rotherham Cancer Care Centre, which is a local charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with cancer in Rotherham and the surrounding areas.

Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival website

Images: Chantry brewery / At The Arcade / Facebook

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News: MetLase secures funding for growth

Rotherham-based MetLase, one of the UK's leading specialists in tooling, intelligent fixturing and components, has secured £400k funding through the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority’s Local Growth Fund.

MetLase, a joint venture between Unipart and Roll-Royce based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, provides bespoke engineering solutions to complex industrial problems.

The funding will be combined with £565k of investment from MetLase to provide an ambitious series of standardised Industry 4.0 digital products that can be taken to market and applied in many areas of manufacturing, both in the UK and globally.

MetLase expects to create up to four new high value engineering careers in the first seven months of the project, whilst also safeguarding a further 10 jobs at the company. Phase two of the project will see MetLase applying its core digital architecture to develop and commercialise a suite of other digital products over a two-year period, including Smart Bench, Smart Cell, Smart Shield, Smart Fixtures and Smart Machining. This will considerably widen MetLase’s digital offering and enable significant business scale-up and global export opportunities. During Phase 2, Metlase is planning to create additional new jobs in the Sheffield City Region over a two-year period.

James Muir, Chair of the Board of Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “We are delighted that MetLase will be able to take advantage of this funding, which was introduced as part of our efforts to deliver an economy that works for everyone. The Government devolved powers directly from Whitehall to local people who know their areas best. Opportunities for growth are best identified by those with detailed local knowledge and the Local Growth Fund enables the Sheffield City Region to tailor transformational interventions to local circumstances.

"We look forward to seeing MetLase build on its expertise to become a world-leading company offering smart solutions to manufacturing problems.”

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Richard Gould, Business Development Manager for MetLase, added: "We’re delighted to receive this investment which will enable us to develop our standardised digital products to manufacturers. We’re really excited about what it means in terms of expanding our offer to the marketplace and ultimately being able to create even more high value advanced manufacturing jobs in our region."

The funding will go towards the purchase of capital hardware and equipment for R&D, prototype testing materials and personnel costs associated with new/safeguarded jobs.

MetLase’s ambitious plan will see the company developing a suite of digital technologies including control automation, industrial robotics, artificial intelligence, software programming, sensing, 3D printing, machine learning and augmented/virtual reality systems, which it then intends to sell into key markets such as automotive and aerospace. In Phase 1 of the project MetLase will apply these technologies to develop one new digital product, Smart Measurement. This innovation will enable manufacturers to digitally measure their components in a fraction of the time taken using conventional methods.

Gould continues: “We have ambitious plans for the future and see significant export potential for our Smart Measurement product in the next few years. We have also identified major market opportunities for this and the other digital products we are developing in Australia and the USA.”

Rotherham Council Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy, Councillor Denise Lelliott, said: “It is fantastic news that MetLase has successfully secured the funding and, as a result, will be investing even more in creating jobs and opportunities in the region. We’re an area that is becoming renowned globally for expertise in advanced manufacturing and technology and Metlase is an important part of this.”

MetLase website
SCR Invest website

Images: MetLase

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News: Get up to Speed with STEM: The Virtual Experience

Get Up to Speed with STEM, Yorkshire’s largest annual employer-inspired science, technology, engineering, manufacturing (STEM) and construction careers spectacular is encouraging schools and individuals to register for this year’s virtual event as soon as possible.

Taking place from March 22 - 26 2021, Get up to Speed with STEM: The Virtual Experience, organised by The Work-wise Foundation and delivered in partnership with Rotherham manufacturer, AESSEAL, will be held virtually to give young people the opportunity to learn about and engage with STEM related businesses. To take part in The Virtual Experience, attendees must register in advance before the deadline on Monday March 1.

The event is usually held at Magna Science Centre, Rotherham.

During the event attendees will have exclusive access to online content, including virtual tours, demonstrations, career stories, inventions, company profiles and interviews, created by over 50 of the UK’s leading STEM businesses. This includes headline sponsors Liberty Steel and CBE+, alongside the likes of McLaren, IMechE, IET, DePuy (part of the Johnson & Johnson Group), Engie, Tecomet, CityFibre and many more.

The majority of the event will be pre-recorded and viewable 24 hours a day throughout the week, with additional live sessions being streamed from The Work-wise Foundation at 9am, 11am and 2pm each day.

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John Barber, CEO of the work-wise Foundation and Chair of the Get up to Speed Steering Group, said: “Get up to Speed is a really popular event and tickets are usually snapped up in a few weeks. As the 2021 exhibition is virtual however, there is no limit on the number of attendees we can accept. We can provide access to teachers so they can work through the seminars with the whole class, to young people wishing to take part independently or even to individual pupils for use in homework or home learning.

“To ensure there is enough time to allocate individual log in details however, we are closing registration at 5pm on Monday 1st March and advise anyone wishing to take part to register as soon as possible. Given the uncertainty around the date that schools will be reopening, we would advise that teachers request a log-in for each pupil just in case remote learning is still taking place during the week of the event.”

All schools or young people taking part will be allocated a unique username and password which will provide access to all planned events, as well as digital activity workbooks for each attendee. The event already has over 5,000 young people registered to attend, with more signing up each day.

For businesses a Virtual Business Breakfast: Networking and Celebration Event is being held to hear how Business Leaders are learning from recent experiences, adapting and developing their businesses to meet future challenges. Speakers include Chris Rea CBE of Rotherham-based AESSEAL.

Over the past ten years, Get up to Speed has showcased STEM-related career opportunities to over 19,000 young people and their families from across the South Yorkshire region and beyond. The event also gives companies the opportunity to showcase their business whilst helping to address the skills gap in STEM-related industries.

Get up to Speed website

Images: work-wise

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News: Next phase of commercial developments in Rotherham

Two planning applications have been submitted for large scale commercial developments in Rotherham.

The last phase of new development at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) has been outlined in the latest plans from landowners and developers, Harworth Group plc, and in spearate plans, a resurrected site that was blighted by HS2 is back on track.

At the AMP - recognised as one of the leading and most innovative engineering, research and manufacturing communities - Harworth has identified that land to the south of Whittle Way and Highfield Spring could accomodate much sought after industrial units.

Around 18 acres, land which has previously been granted planning permission for business and industrial uses, could soon be home to a further 242,000 sq ft of commercial floorspace.

An indicative masterplan shows seven units, ranging in size from 16,500 sq ft to 85,000 sq ft, with access from Whittle Way.

The application, drawn up by Barton Wilmore and The Harris Partnership, states: "This Application Site forms the last piece of AMP expansion land and this outline application builds on the huge success of the AMP to date. It will enable more world class leaders in their fields of research, development and manufacturing to locate on the AMP.

"These exciting proposals will further enhance the AMP and will continue to assist in the economic development and regeneration of this area of the Borough."

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Also in the south of the borough, plans for the rest of the Woodhouse Link development have been updated.

"Sterilised" by previous HS2 proposals, the site of the former Laycast foundry, is now being spearheaded by Network Space Developments that previously submitted plans for four individual units, ranging from 15,800 sq ft to 48,900 sq ft.

The speculative development is being delivered in partnership with Rotherham Council and Sheffield city region (SCR) and the latest plans indicate that end users have now been identified.

Minor alterations have been approved that will allow developers to make changes to the 32,300 sq ft Unit 3 to meet a client’s requirement - window layouts and the types of loading bays required, and alterations to the configuration of the ancillary office space.

A further ammendment around total floorspace would provide greater flexibility for future amendments to the scheme.

The application from planning consultants, Spawforths, states: "The units were designed to be built speculatively and are now subject to strong market interest, with potential occupiers now identified. In order to meet the future operational needs of the occupier, a small number of non-material amendments were required to the approved scheme."

Harworth website
Network Space website

Images: Harworth / Harris / Network Space

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News: Recruitment surge at Bluetree

Following unprecedented growth and an investment of £18m over the past year, the Rotherham-based print and medical manufacturer Bluetree Group is recruiting for 60 new positions to help meet the growing demand of its services.

Roles are available across both the print and medical branches of the Manvers business, including machine operatives and Client Service Executives.

Bluetree Group is the UK’s fastest growing printer and in 2020 became the UK’s first manufacturer of Type IIR Surgical masks.

Since the medical arm of the company was established in April 2020, Bluetree has grown from 360 employees to in excess of 585, and is now looking for more like-minded people to join the business.

The company prides itself on producing high quality yet affordable products through investing in the latest technology, optimising its manufacturing processes, and nurturing its employees to meet the ever-growing demand of its customers.

Successful applicants will be working for an award-winning company that has twice appeared in the Virgin Sunday Times Fast Track 100.

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Specialising in print for 32 years, Bluetree Group recently expanded into the medical field following a rise in demand for Type IIR Surgical masks, building a dedicated manufacturing facility in a neighbouring unit on their Manvers site. Bluetree Medical is now a proud supplier for the NHS.

To keep up with this high level of growth, there are now 60 positions available across the business. As Bluetree prides itself on its people, candidates will be assessed on values such as positivity to ensure a good team fit during the interview process.

Jarred Stone, who recently joined Bluetree Group, said: “I joined Bluetree last September and by the start of the new year, I’d progressed to a team leader position. This just goes to show that if you put in the effort and show that you fit the company values, there’s plenty of scope for progression.

“I love the job, I love the people and I love the attitude – everyone’s working towards the same goal, and knowing that we’re making a huge difference in the community by manufacturing Type IIR Surgical masks is the best feeling of all.”

A number of trainee positions will be available through the Government Kickstart Scheme, which provides funding to create new job placements for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment.

Blutree Group website

Images: Bluetree

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News: Nanoscale materials hold cure for manufacturing and aviation greenhouse gas emissions

Composite researchers at the AMRC are at the heart of a European-wide project to develop self-responsive aerospace composites that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and production costs in the aviation sector as it works toward the goal of net zero by 2050.

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is partnering with 16 industrial partners on the MASTRO project, which is tasked with developing intelligent bulk materials for a smart transport sector as part of Horizon 2020, the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020).

“There are three sections within MASTRO: automotive, infrastructure and aerospace; and the AMRC is leading the aerospace section of the project alongside Embraer. We’re developing three main technologies: self-cure, self-anti-icing and self-sensing,” said Matthew Collinson, Research Engineer in the AMRC Composite Centre.

Based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, the AMRC has a £4.5m state-of-the-art centre supporting the development of advanced composite materials inside the Factory of the Future. The centre works with complex hybrid components and systems, which require manufacturing expertise in both composite and metallic structures.

The AMRC team are developing materials through the integration of carbon nanotubes – measured in billionths of a metre – which can be turned into smart products, and are now in a position to demonstrate the advances they have made.

“For the first year-and-a-half we’ve been working on developing the materials and so the next stage is developing the smart demonstrators. Now we’ve reached a point where we can build a section of a composite leading-edge wing – to show off the self-cure, self-anti-icing and self-sensing we have developed,” added Matthew.

The development of all three technologies centres on the electrically conductive nature of the composite structure, which is vital as the industry moves to more electrified aircraft, with the ultimate aim of one day being fully electric.

“Firstly, self-curing is a new manufacturing technique for these composites. Currently, they are manufactured in an autoclave but they can be slow and expensive to run. Running electrical current through the fibres of the composite to act as the heating element to cure the component can be cheaper, quicker and uses much less energy. It also complements our work on anti-icing,” said Matthew.

Another disadvantage of using autoclaves to heat composite structures, says Dr Betime Nuhiji, Technical Lead at the AMRC Composite Centre, is that engineers are limited by its size: “An autoclave produces high quality parts but it takes a lot of energy, a lot of time and you can only create a part that is as big as the autoclave.

“The Boeing 787 is manufactured in the biggest autoclave in the world, but it is expensive, not sustainable and not practical to build these huge autoclaves. The team has developed a heating system where a power supply is directly connected to the composite structure and a current is run through it; so it heats up, just like a heating element.

“There are so many benefits, but the main ones are low energy output and low equipment costs. There is also the close control of heating, because when you turn an oven off it is still hot, so you are still effectively heating the part; when you turn off the electrical system no more power is going through it.”

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Matthew said similar technology is used to investigate self-anti-icing: “Currently, aircraft remove surface ice by drawing hot air from the engine to melt the ice, but this takes power away from the engine and is less efficient, so we have been developing an electrical anti-icing system that doesn’t require separate heating elements in the component.

“Linked to both these technologies is self-sensing, monitoring the electrical resistance of the part to detect damage. When you get barely visible impact damage (BVID), the resistance changes so you can monitor that and detect where the damage is. BVID is something the aerospace industry is very interested in because it is very difficult to detect through visual inspection, which they currently do, on composite structures.”

Matthew said to enable these smart functionalities, it has required some development of the resin: “Within a composite, the fibres are extremely electrically conductive but the resin is electrically insulating. Part of the project to develop these bulk materials is to make the component more conductive by mixing carbon nanotubes into the resin, so that the whole part is conductive, not just the fibres.

“Doing that should enhance every aspect of the MASTRO project. The self-curing and the anti-icing will perform better because the heat is distributed more evenly. And then we will also get increased response in damage detection because, again, the whole composite is conductive rather than just the fibres.”

Betime said the challenge now is creating panels that replicate how they would need to be used in a real-world environment, on the leading-edge of an aeroplane wing.

“At the start of the project we conducted lots of trials on smaller panels to optimise how to detect damage and cure effectively. Now we need to upscale as the final demonstrator we want to show is the leading-edge, which is two metres long,” said Betime.

Matthew said the Covid-19 pandemic has meant work on the MASTRO project has had to slow down briefly over the summer, but a physical demonstration of the ground-breaking work they have been conducting is imminent.

“We started the latest work package at the start of 2020, which was making the two demonstrators – which have slightly different properties, then finishing the design and starting to manufacture.

“We have been delayed but we have now manufactured our first self-curing, self-anti-icing and self-sensing part and can start testing very soon.”

The overall objective of the MASTRO project is to develop intelligent bulk materials, incorporating self-responsive properties that increase consumer safety, component life-span and performance while reducing maintenance and manufacturing costs, and through-life greenhouse gas emissions.

The EU 2020 Strategy states that Europe needs to turn into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, based on knowledge and innovation. Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument of the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness, driving economic growth and creating jobs.

AMRC website

Images: AMRC

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News: Plans in for new Lidl in Rotherham

A planning application has been submitted to build a new Lidl supermarket on the site of a former fire station and library in Rotherham.

Rothbiz revealed last year that the German global discount chain had begun discussions with Rotherham Council over the site on High Street in Maltby and public consultation began in December.

The application comes after plans for a new Lidl at Swallownest were recently turned down.

The Local Plan allocates the site for Community Facilities based on its historic use as a Fire Station and Library, however applicants state that these former community uses have now been relocated and replaced elsewhere in the area and the site is no longer required for ongoing community facilities use.

The proposal is for a new store with a 13,500 sq ft sales area on the central and northern part of the site, providing an instore bakery, customer toilets and customer recycling facility. 80% of this net sales area would be used for convenience goods sales, with the remaining 20% being used for comparison goods sales.

A "contemporary design including an open glazed shop front" is proposed along with 87 parking spaces and a single access from High Street.

If approved, the plans would create 40 new full time and part time jobs.

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The site is within a defined town centre but applicants say that: "given its status as a Town Centre, the range of retail facilities in Maltby is currently quite limited." Adding: "There are no larger scale foodstores within the centre and these existing facilities, including Tesco, primarily meet top-up shopping needs."

The existing Aldi store nearby is in an out-of-centre location and applicants argue that it has "no relationship with Maltby Town Centre."

Planning consultants, Lichfields drew up the plans and say: "Maltby Town Centre contains a range of retail and service uses which meet the day to day needs of local residents and has a unit vacancy rate which is below the national average, reflecting its resilience in the face of the recent pandemic and wider economic conditions.

"Given its status as a town centre, the range of retail facilities within Maltby is quite limited. Whilst there is a Tesco supermarket, this is relatively small and primarily performs a top-up shopping role. Although there are recently constructed Aldi and Home Bargains stores at Muglet Lane, these are situated in an out-of-centre location and there are no other medium or large-sized foodstores in the town centre."

A study into the impact of the proposal is included, highlighting that the new store "would enhance the accessibility and availability of food retailing to local residents, reducing the need to travel to the above facilities outside of the local area."

Consultants add that there wouldn't be competition between Lidl and the existing provision in Maltby town centre arguing that "the new store would function, in practice, as part of Maltby Town Centre, generating linked trips and spin-off trade for existing businesses there."

The competition would be with the nearby Aldi and a new Lidl would have the biggest negative impact on the stores at Muglet Lane, diverting an estimated £2.4m (23%) of turnover away from the existing location. Lidl says that this Aldi store is situated in an out-of-centre location, and is therefore unprotected in planning policy terms and its viability is unlikely to be affected by the proposed new Lidl.

Images: Lidl / Lichfields

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News: More Council-owned retail premises set to be demolished

Rotherham Council is proposing to demolish an underutilised parade of shops on the edge of Rotherham town centre.

The move follows similar planned demolitions that are making way for development and new green space at Forge Island and on the High Street.

Approved by the Council's cabinet this week, the authoarity's latest budget includes a number of capital projects - including a £200,000 programme for 86 - 102 Wellgate.

A council paper states: "Like many towns, Rotherham is facing a significant and sustained challenge to its retail function. There is a consensus that the retail core of Rotherham Town Centre is too large and widely spaced. As a result, retail units such as those on Wellgate have suffered in recent years with many of the units persistently suffering from void periods or the ones that are occupied often having rent arrears. This has led to a lack of investment and the subject properties have fallen into a state of significant disrepair with no long-term future for commercial/retail use.

"The location of these properties is on one of the main arterial routes into the town centre and adjacent to the site known as Henley’s Garage which is currently under redevelopment to provide 54 new residential units by January 2022. As such this parade of units is considered a blight on the improving area and consideration has now been given to looking at alternative uses."

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Work is underway by council contractors on two apartment blocks on the Henley's Garage site containing 34 homes and 20 two and three-storey terraced houses, with a value of £8.5m.

The adjacent site is not currently identified within any current plans the Council have for residential redevelopment in the wider town centre area. If funding was made available and units are brought forward, they would be additional to current pipeline schemes and help meet the 2,000 homes figure that the Council aims to see delivered within the town centre.

Cllr Denise Lelliott, Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy, said: "This is really crucial. As town centres are shrinking all over the country, not just Rotherham, we need a really good core centre, but also we need fantastic gateways into the town centre. By demolishing the old commercial peroperties on Wellgate it will improve the gateway in, but also, which is really important, is that housing colleagues are developing the Henley Garage site and that will provide really good quality housing for the people of Rotherham. This site is adjacent to it on Wellgate and could potentially unlock another development opportunity."

The paper adds: "It is considered that the demolition and redevelopment of the site for residential purposes would complement the ongoing development of Henley’s and the wider town centre area. However, there is a substantial viability gap in bringing any scheme to the market in terms of the demolition costs and it is considered that the site would not be brought forward for development without intervention. The marketing of the site on a cleared basis, bridges the viability gap and would make the site a much more attractive proposition for development."

It is considered feasible that the site could support the development of a block of 20+ affordable apartments similar to those on the adjoining Henley's site.

In addition, a £163m capital programme also includes an extra £4.1m for town centre regeneration, funding for town centre housing schemes and strategic acquisitions.

Images: Google Maps

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News: Macalloy planning expansion into India

Macalloy, the Rotherham-based manufacturer of tensioning bars, tie rods and cable systems, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is planning to expand its operations in India.

Dinnington-based Macalloy are world leaders in design, manufacture and supply of threaded bar and cable systems to engineering and construction projects across the globe.

The company spotted the opportunity to join the India Growth Champion Scheme, run by Sheffield City Region in conjunction with UKIBC (UK India Business Council), as it wanted to increase its connections with India and secure new opportunities with infrastructure partners.

With over 40 years’ trading history in India, the company’s ‘Macalloy Bar’ is renowned as the industry standard for post tensioning bars for bridges, roads and railways in India. Advisors at the India Growth Champions Scheme carried out an in-depth research project and have been able to provide Macalloy with a database of India’s architects, consulting engineers and construction companies. Macalloy is planning to make meetings with key contacts at this year’s Trade Mission to India.

Macalloy currently has an Indian distributor based in Chennai. Through the India Growth Champion Scheme Macalloy also plans to appoint a new Indian agent and to potentially create a full time sales agent position there, to further expand its market.

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Peter Hoy, Managing Director at Macalloy, said: “India is a key market for us and one where we see huge growth potential because of the major infrastructure projects planned here in the next few years. The India Growth Champion Scheme should help us to open more doors and to get in front of the right people to secure a greater number of product specifications for the Macalloy Bar.

“We manufacture everything we sell at our factory in Dinnington and currently around 85% of our product is exported. We are really excited about the possibilities to extend our market further in India and to maximise on the major bridge building projects there.”

Macalloy products have been used on many high-profile projects including the Royal Jubilee Bridge in London, Bangalore Airport, The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link and a number of other bridges across India. Macalloy has also supplied to metro projects across India.

Sir Nigel Knowles, International Advisor to Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region: “Macalloy already has a proven track record in India and has won some prestigious contracts here. As a forward-thinking business, Macalloy has recognised the great opportunity to extend its market presence in India. With the support and extra resource of our business advisors with expertise in the Indian market, we expect that Macalloy and other similar companies can benefit from new connections to grow in this rapidly developing economy.”

Katarzyna Paciorek, Area Sales Manager for Macalloy, said: “British brands are very strong in India, and UK companies have a great leverage when looking at developing their brand visibility there. Our main goal this year is to tap into market opportunities via buyers, specifiers and consultants.

"We know it’s very important to nurture existing relationships with our Indian partners. It proves to be quite difficult during a pandemic when it’s impossible to mark our presence on the ground in person. We’re doing our best with the help of WhatsApp or Teams Calls. We’re hoping that the India Growth Champion Scheme will help us connect with many new partners who we can cooperate successfully with in the future.”

Kevin McCole, Managing Director, UK India Business Council, said: “There are fantastic opportunities in India for advanced manufacturing and engineering businesses and we are really looking forward to supporting Macalloy further in their expansion into India. Our Trade Mission will be a fantastic opportunity for Macalloy to get face to face with some key contacts to set them on path to future growth in this market.”

Macalloy website
SCR website

Images: SCR

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News: Planet X saddles up with Santander to go for growth

Rotherham-based retailer, Planet X, is on track to realise ambitious international growth plans having secured £3.225m funding facilities following a move to Santander UK.

With a base at Templeborough the specialist bike retailer operates solely online. Its bikes are designed by its in-house team and retail at up to 50% less than equivalent high street prices.

In 2020, Planet X’s 50 employees acquired the business from its founders and set up an Employee Owned Trust (EOT). The business has now moved its banking to Santander UK and is accessing a range of facilities to support its ambitious international growth plans.

Currently Planet X has predominately UK based customers, with around 73% of its turnover coming from UK based sales. It has ambitious plans to increase its international sales from its current levels of 22% of turnover from Europe and 5% from the rest of the world.

Santander UK is supporting the business with a £1.5m trade finance facility, alongside a range of additional support totalling £3.225m.

As an eCommerce retailer, Planet X has been well placed to serve customers during the pandemic. The Santander team will continue to work closely with Planet X as it increases its online sales capacity to help meet the heightened demand both in the UK and internationally. The £1.5m trade finance facility allows Planet X to drive international growth, providing the company with the confidence to manage supply chains knowing that they have full support of their chosen banking partner.

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Trevor Parker, Planet X Director, said: “The Santander team is excellent, their understanding of our Employee Owned Trust busines model gives us great confidence and adds commercial value to our decision making. By listening and understanding our concerns, they were able to present practical solutions to overcome them. With this funding we can react to the changing market, both in terms of Brexit and Covid-19, and our supply chain is now extended.”

Andrew Russell, Relationship Director at Santander UK, added: “Planet X has a proven track record in the cycling world of delivering quality bikes and accessories at competitive prices and continues to be a great success story. We’re delighted to be chosen as their banking partner and look forward to working with them to realise their growth strategy and expand into new territories.”

Originally founded by keen triathlete Dave Loughran in the 1990's, the founder returned as CEO in 2016 and set the company on course for employee ownership (inspired by Sir Hugh Facey of Sheffield-based Gripple). Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) were introduced by the government in September 2014. The aim is to facilitate wider employee-ownership via an indirect holding to encourage employee engagement and participation in the upside of future success.

Planet X website

Images: Planet X

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News: Market cool on Rotherham energy scheme

Rotherham Council has had to change its plans for a Community Energy Switching Scheme after the private sector failed to warm to a second procurement exercise.

An in-house team is now set to help residents lower their bills.

In 2019 the authority concluded a procurement exercise in its bid to create a local energy supply offer "to help reduce gas and electricity bills for residents and provide them with a greater level of customer service and fairer treatment to that which they may be receiving from their existing supplier."

Robin Hood Energy (RHE), a national not-for-profit licensed energy provider that is owned by Nottingham City Council, won the two year concession contract but RHE could not agree to the specification under the terms of the procurement process and so the contract could not be awarded. RHE have since stopped trading.

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The second tender exercise was also unsuccessful.

A recent council report explains: "Only one bid was received from a company that didn’t provide the service required and didn’t have the supply license necessary. The bid was evaluated and deemed to be a non-compliant bid.

"The recent demise of a number of licensed energy suppliers has had an impact on the already volatile energy market and further tender exercises are not currently recommended. The situation is believed to have been impacted further by the pandemic."

Rather than using bulk-buying power to negotiate unique deals from energy suppliers, local workshops and support groups are now to be set up once the current Covid restrictions were removed to assist residents with a scheme.

The scheme would focus on supporting residents to identify a reduced utility tariff and change to a new supplier using OFGEM accredited comparison websites and promote energy efficiency for Rotherham residents, which will include providing support to access available grants to reduce energy consumption, such as the Government Green Homes Grant voucher scheme.

An internally delivered scheme is set to launch in March 2021.

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News: JBM Metal Recycling go the extra mile to raise over £4,000 for Bluebell Wood

A community-spirited Rotherham business has pulled out all the stops to raise over £4,000 for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice through its football scratch cards.

Based at North Anston in Rotherham, Bluebell Wood provides care and support to families who have a child who has a life limiting condition and is not expected to live into adulthood.

Swinton-based JBM Metal Recycling has adopted Bluebell Wood as its chosen charity, and have plenty more plans to help the hospice through the challenging months ahead.

The demand for the football scratch cards exceeded the firm’s expectations, and they plan to continue the popular fundraising initiative alongside auctions, car washes and various other socially distant walking and running challenges.

A spokesperson for JBM Metal Recycling said: “We’re delighted to be supporting such an important local charity that does so much to help local families through some of the most difficult times they’ll ever face.

“It’s been a tough few months for all of us but we’re determined to continue to give something back to the community in these uncertain times.

“Over the next 12 months we’re very much looking forward to working closely with Bluebell Wood and raising as much money as possible to support their life-changing work.”

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Anna Gott, Regional Fundraiser for Bluebell Wood, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to JBM Metal Recycle for choosing to support Bluebell Wood over the coming 12 months.

“It’s certainly been an amazing start to the partnership and we’d like to thank everyone who has helped JBM raise such an incredible sum of money for us.

“It costs over £5m each year to keep our doors open and with much of our planned fundraising activity cancelled or postponed because of the pandemic, the support of local businesses like JBM really is more important than ever.”

JBM website
Bluebell Wood website

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News: Rotherham-made parts herald new era of McLaren

McLaren Automotive has launched the Artura - the first car to be built on an all-new platform architecture manufactured in Rotherham.

McLaren’s first-ever series-production High-Performance Hybrid (HPH) supercar is the first model to be built on all-new McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA), uniquely optimised for HPH powertrains and built in-house at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in Rotherham.

The £50m MCTC was opened on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham in 2018.

All-new from the ground up, the Artura presented McLaren engineers and designers with new opportunities to innovate, chief among these being how to preserve McLaren’s super-lightweight engineering philosophy when adding hybrid powertrain elements including an E-motor and battery pack.

A demanding programme of weight reduction, encompassing every area of the Artura from the chassis platform through the uniquely compact HPH powertrain system to the weight of cabling used in the electrical systems (where a 10% reduction was achieved), resulted in the Artura having a lightest dry weight of 1,395kg. The total weight of hybrid components is just 130kg (which includes an 88kg battery pack and 15.4kg E-motor), resulting in a DIN kerbweight of 1,498kg which is on par with comparable supercars that do not have hybrid powertrains, giving the Artura a super-lightweight advantage.

Jamie Corstorphine, Director of Product Strategy, McLaren Automotive, said: “The new McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) is quite literally at the core of the super-lightweight engineering philosophy that is inherent throughout the Artura. We developed this all-new, High-Performance Hybrid supercar with all of our learnings from decades of working with advanced composite and other lightweight materials, using world-first processes and techniques to deliver weight savings that offset heavier hybrid powertrains, ensuring greater energy efficiency and maintaining the outstanding agility and dynamic performance our customers expect.”

To achieve the very specific aims of the Artura programme McLaren started right at the core of its new supercar, with a completely new carbon fibre architecture. This had to not only be true to the company’s philosophy of super-lightweight engineering for dynamic and performance reasons, but also crucially to offset the extra weight of a hybrid powertrain, as well as being tailored to accommodate the battery pack.

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The new architecture features three elements: an all-new carbon fibre monocoque occupant structure, a new chassis with aluminium crash beams and rear subframe, and a first-to-market domain-based ethernet electrical architecture.

Four years in the making, MCLA is the first architecture to be manufactured at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC). Flexible in application (but physically incredibly stiff and strong) this scalable platform architecture heralds the beginning of a new era of McLaren supercars.

The McLaren Artura marks another revolutionary leap. No McLaren monocoque, whether designed for the road or race track, has ever had to do more: the carbon fibre structure now additionally provides a safety cell for the battery pack and integrates further crash and load-bearing functionality. Yet it remains incredibly lightweight, weighing just 82kg including battery compartment, aero surfaces, B-pillars and door-hinge fixings, contributing to the low overall weight of the Artura, despite its 130kg of hybrid components.

At first glance, the MCLA monocoque may appear similar to other McLaren carbon fibre structures, but the geometry of every surface is new, and it is constructed from four new carbon materials, a new resin system and a new structural core material. These new properties accommodate both the platform requirements and new, bespoke mechanised production processes now on stream at MCTC.

The in-house approach ensures McLaren can constantly innovate monocoques to accommodate new technologies or new models, without compromising the qualities that ensure its chassis are the lightest, stiffest and strongest in their class.

Mike Flewitt, CEO, McLaren Automotive, said: “Every drop of McLaren’s experience and expertise has been poured into the Artura. Our all-new, High-Performance Hybrid delivers all of the performance, driver engagement and dynamic excellence for which McLaren is renowned, with the additional benefit of EV driving capability. The introduction of the Artura is a landmark moment – for McLaren, for our customers who will appreciate and enjoy this car on every emotional and rational level, and for the supercar world."

McLaren website

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News: Rolls-Royce Rotherham redundancies

Rotherham MP, Sarah Champion has written to the Government to call for urgent action to defend jobs at Rolls-Royce in Rotherham.

Last year, Rothbiz reported that Rolls-Royce was planning to shed over 3,000 jobs in the UK as part of a global reorganisation, including 100 at its state-of-the-art Rotherham facility.

Hit hard by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the global aviation industry, the Derby-based engineering giant had announced a reorganisation that is expected to result in the loss of at least 9,000 roles from a global workforce of 52,000.

Sarah Champion said: "As part of huge cuts across its UK workforce, Rolls-Royce has announced up to 79 redundancies at its Rotherham facility, more than 30% of the existing workforce.

"These are skilled, well paid jobs and the impact of their loss across our local economy would be enormous.

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"Ministers are more than happy to visit the site to make their announcements, but are standing idly by whilst one of our most significant employers sheds a substantial proportion of its employees. If they are serious about ‘levelling-up’ the North of England, now is the time for them to act.

"I am engaged in discussions with Rolls-Royce and with trade unions and will be doing everything I can to stand up for my constituents and to defend local jobs. The Government owes it to my constituents to do the same."

Recent reports in the national media talk of Rolls-Royce proposing a summer shutdown of its civil aerospace division.

An update to the stock exchange at the end of last month saw Rolls-Royce state that it had "delivered good progress on our restructuring programme," addig: "During 2020 we removed around 7,000 roles, making good progress towards our target to remove at least 9,000 roles by the end of 2022."

Fully operational in 2017, Rolls-Royce's £110m facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham is the most advanced turbine blade casting facility in the world.

Rolls-Royce website

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News: Rotherham recruiter tops £100m turnover

Nicholas Associates Group has implemented a restructuring of its Board of Directors following the recent departure of the CEO.

The move sees Lisa Gainsford, who joined the Rotherham-based company five years ago as Chief Executive Officer transfer into a new role as Strategic Development Director to further support growth plans.

In a strategic realignment of the Board, the leading talent selection company will now be led by Bruce Allen, FD who has been with the business 22 years, Tony Boorman, Managing Director of Stafforce with 20 years’ service and Paul Brammer Managing Director of Nicholas Associates who joined the business back in 2010.

Following the latest filed accounts, which report Nicholas Associates Group breaking through £100m turnover, the restructure is part of an on-going expansion plan which has seen the business set significant growth targets in terms of geographical coverage, headcount and revenue.

Nick Cragg, founder and owner said the restructure puts the company in a position to realise its expansion plans.

Mr Cragg said: “We have some ambitious plans for our Group of companies and I am a firm believer that those will not be achieved unless we have the right people in the right places.”

Tony Boorman started his career with 8 years in the Fresh Produce industry; his last role being sales and account management for major high street retailers, wholesalers, and caterers. In 1997 Tony moved into the Recruitment Sector and in 2001 joined Nicholas Associates Group. He said “I was asked to join the board in 2008 and in 2013 became the leader of the Stafforce brand. When I started working for Nicholas Associates Group, we turned over £7 million and now we turnover in excess of £100 million. I am so proud of our work family and how dedicated they are to candidates and clients, truly believing that what we do changes peoples’ lives”.

Managing Director Paul Brammer stated, “The business has been on an exciting journey over the last few years and I am privileged to be part of the next period of achieving our growth objectives, working alongside such talent right across the Group.”

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The Group is also strengthening the structure of its Stafforce brand, following the promotion of Alison Cook to Operations Director.

Headquartered in Rotherham, Stafforce has a network of branches in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Woolwich as well as onsite operations within clients that are located from the north of Scotland to the south of England.

Currently Head of the Stafforce Managed Services brand, Alison will now take much wider operational responsibilities with the long term goal of aligning the internal processes, client delivery and the candidate experiences of the Stafforce Branch Network and Managed Services brands.

Typically, a managed services client will have a high volume requirement for temporary and permanent employees, particularly during peaks in seasonal demand. In order to plan strategically, workforce planning is contracted out entirely to a Stafforce Managed Services Account Team who work in-house and deal with everything from forecasting, payroll, HR and recruitment requirements.

Alison is well placed to understand both brands having started her career at Stafforce in 2005 in the Hull branch. Over the last 16 years she has steadily progressed from being a branch manager, growing the team from 4 to 10, before her appointment as senior branch manager in 2009 responsible for multiple branches across Humberside increasing the branch overall performance by 600%. She became head of Stafforce Managed Services in 2018 as a result of her knowledge, passion for customer service and ability to increase the client base.

It is this combined experience of branch and onsite services, her performance successes and her understanding of the trends in the future labour market that have led to her promotion.

Commenting Alison said, “The UK is currently experiencing some major challenges in the labour pool. Brexit has impacted the number of migrant workers in the UK and there are likely to be redundancies in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors. It is vital that we re-position the industries we represent so that opportunities in food, manufacturing and engineering are seen as an attractive long term career choice and attract this highly skilled talent pool. Our aim is to position our clients as employers of choice and help people to retrain or transfer skills so that our vacancies are filled with the right people.”

Alison will continue to report to Managing Director of Stafforce Tony Boorman, who also leads the Stafforce business at Board level on a day to day basis.

Commenting Tony Boorman said, “Alison has the insight and past experience to help Stafforce and Stafforce Managed Services deliver our service in a way which meets both the recruitment needs of our clients and also ensures all candidates feel valued in the workplace. Each recruitment need requires a different approach depending on the industry scenario and location. Our goal is to ensure these needs are met by having the right systems and processes in place to assess candidates quickly and easily so that employers have access to the best quality workers.”

Many household names such as Young’s Seafood, Aunt Bessies, and Quorn trust Stafforce to provide a rigorous and fully-managed recruitment process, including screening, interviewing, skills training, induction and payroll. Key sectors include food and drink, manufacturing, industrial, warehousing, logistics, contact centres, retail, and sea ports.

Nicholas Associates website

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News: Freight firm submits plans for Rotherham rail yard

DB Cargo, the UK’s largest rail freight operator, is planning to upgrade its Tinsley Marshalling Yard on the border of Rotherham and Sheffield.

Established in the 1960s, the site was in decline since by the early 80's given that it served the heavy industry of the region, but rail is now becoming more and more integral to supply chains.

The application would enable the use of land forming the eastern part of Tinsley Rail Freight Yard off Europa Way / Wood Lane as a rail freight terminal. The proposed works will include resurfacing the land, creation of an amended access over an existing route, fencing the site and the installation of a prefabricated gatehouse including washroom facilities.

If approved, the plans would enable the firm to create 15‐20 new jobs, "although it is anticipated that many more will arise in delivery roles as a direct consequence."

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The application states: "Operations are proposed primarily for container traffic. Projected volumes will be significantly lower than those carried in the 1960’s; the reinstated site will handle perhaps five trains each way every day (at around 50‐55 containers per train) once fully operational. Rather like the complementary facility at Doncaster iPort, it will probably take some two or three years to achieve that volume.

"This scheme shows the resurgence of rail freight, itself a key element in the governmental imperatives to reduce emissions, reduce road traffic and create a greener, safer environment for all. It will allow a very significant volume of long‐haul road traffic to be transferred to rail. In doing so it will represent a significant investment in the region, create local employment opportunities and secure other jobs."

Tinsley Yard was constructed by British Rail around 1961 ‐ 65, primarily to consolidate the activities of several smaller yards in Sheffield and the wider South Yorkshire region. It had capacity for almost 4,000 railway wagons at any one time and incorporated a locomotive maintenance depot.

Much of the main body of the yard was sold for redevelopment to become Sheffield International Rail Freight Terminal (SIRFT) and two large rail‐connected warehouses now stand on the land formerly occupied by about 40 sidings. The eastern end of the yard – the subject of this application – still carries traffic for Outokumpo and Aggregate Industries.

DB Cargo website

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News: Progress on Primark pocket park project

Works to prepare the former Primark building on Rotherham High Street for demolition are now underway.

Following Rotherham Council’s purchase of the building in November using funding from the Towns Fund Accelerator programme, the planning application for permission to demolish the building and replace it in the short term with a pocket park and high-quality public space was recently approved.

Local firm, DSR Demolition, has now submitted plans regarding taking down the former BHS store.

Only 0.08 hectares of the 0.24 hectares site are propsed to be used as the park. The remaining area away from the High Street is set to remain closed and unused.

The public space will have a stepped profile and proposals include astrotrufed terraces, seating and trees, as well as branding features such as the red scaffolding with black mesh proposed to encase the site. This could be a space for public artwork, and / or large branding and signage.

Also included in the plans are three "pods" on the site which would be occupied by food and beverage vendors. Illustratively, it is proposed that the pods are to be clad in timber panelling and include a green roof however this is yet to be finalised. It is also anticipated that pods could include internal seating areas for users, thereby offering both an eat-in and takeaway dining experience.

In the planning documents, the Council confirmed that there will be no sale of hot food from the pods except for during special events / periods (e.g. Christmas), Sundays and / or Bank Holidays. It is indicated that this would be no more than ten events in any calendar year.

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Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy, Cllr Denise Lelliott, said: “These are exciting times for Rotherham Town Centre with contracts also being signed between Arc Cinemas and the developers, Muse, to create a new leisure complex on Forge Island.

“The plans for the former Primark building will complement the work that is already underway to create a more attractive area on the High Street and add to the leisure offer that is being developed to encourage families to socialise in attractive and diverse surroundings.

“We are having to adapt and move away from the more traditional use of the town centre, much like other areas across the country. We’re looking at what Rotherham town centre needs to thrive and that means thinking differently and looking at how people will live in and use the town centre in years to come.”

Subject to necessary planning consents, longer term plans include developing the site for new town centre residential living. The Council and its partners are waiting to hear from the Government over its full Towns Fund bid that was detailed by Rothbiz in September.

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News: MD provides additional laptops for Rotherham school children

The boss of a Rotherham-based manufacturer has stepped in to support a campaign to help children who don’t have access to the internet or IT equipment during lockdown.

AESSEAL recently donated £400,000 to the Laptops for Kids initiative and now the managing director of the Templeborough firm, Chris Rea, has put his hand in his own pocket to purchase a further 487 new laptops, as well as donating 99 used laptops from within the business.

Along with the original donation around half of the estimated need for laptops in Rotherham will be met, as well as connecting 10,000 households across South Yorkshire to the internet via dongles.

Working with supplier Wicresoft, who secured the laptops at cost price for the donation, Mr Rea said he believed the Laptops for Kids initiative was hugely important. He said: “I would like to offer particular thanks to Wicresoft who have sold me 487 laptops at cost, for both their professionalism and commitment to the community. We would also like to encourage others to contribute to this initiative as we need an educated and engaged workforce in the future.”

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Paul Wike of Wicresoft, added: “AESSEAL has been one of our valued and loyal customers for the last 11 years. We have worked in partnership to supply them with IT infrastructure solutions and services, including laptops for their workforce of 1200 people for the last 11 years. When we heard that Chris Rea was donating funds to help children who do not have access to a laptop during the current pandemic, which is preventing them from being able to be educated remotely, we were delighted to assist in such an important and worthwhile cause.

"We were able to source and supply 487 laptops at cost, with no admin fee from ourselves, to enable Chris to get the maximum number of devices possible with the funds available. It’s fantastic that AESSEAL and Chris are helping so many children in the South Yorkshire and Wicresoft are delighted to be involved.”

The Laptops for Kids campaign model has now started to be scaled up across the North of England, including Doncaster, Newcastle, and more locations to follow. The estimated need for laptops and dongles is based on detailed survey data supplied by Sheffield schools and extrapolated across Rotherham and South Yorkshire.

AESSEAL is a world-leading designer and manufacturer of mechanical seals and support systems.

AESSEAL website

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News: Companies urged to apply for Covid support funding

New "Open Business" grants have extended support to those losing trade due to reduced footfall or visitor confidence, and other business types are also getting more help as restrictions continue.

The new Open Business Grants will provide between £1,400 and £3,150 to companies that:

- provide goods or services to the public in person
- have not themsleves been forced to close
- have fixed premises costs.

Councillor Denise Lelliott, Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy at Rotherham Council, said: “We recognise that many businesses, which can technically remain open under the COVID regulations, are suffering. Perhaps because the businesses around them have closed or moved to homeworking, or because their customers don’t feel safe visiting. The new Open Business grants will mean more of them can now access financial support.”

This is the latest of a series of regional schemes being delivered thanks to funding secured from the Government by local authorities in South Yorkshire, including Rotherham Council, working in partnership with Sheffield City Region. The £30m fund is being used across the region to establish programmes helping businesses that were not eligible for national schemes.

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To date Rotherham Council has paid more than £61m of COVID support to around 5,000 businesses from the local, regional and central government funding it administers.

The payments available through many of these schemes have also now increased significantly, to help businesses cope with the ongoing COVID restrictions.

Councillor Saghir Alam, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance at Rotherham Council, explained: “There is no need for businesses who have already received funding to re-apply for these increases. So long as their details remain the same, they will receive automatic top-up payments. Businesses who are only now applying for the first time will also be able to receive the increased amounts. If there are any Rotherham-based businesses who’ve not yet received financial help, I urge them to apply.”

Schemes available through Rotherham Council include support to:

- businesses paying rent or rates that were forced to close by tier 2, tier 3 or national lockdown restrictions
- businesses paying rent or rates whose trade was directly impacted by tier 2, tier 3 and national lockdown restrictions
- businesses paying rent or rates that form the supply chain of those sectors directly impacted by tier 2, 3 and national lockdown restrictions
- business with fixed premises costs that provide goods or services to the public in person, but have not been forced to close themselves
- small-enterprises and mobile businesses with significant ongoing fixed costs
- licensed taxi drivers.

Further information can be found on the Council's Covid Business Support pages.

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News: Apprentices make their mark at Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham is proudly supporting National Apprentice Week 2021’s Build The Future campaign.

The annual event showcases the positive impact apprenticeships have on communities, local businesses and regional economies - and urges organisations to give young people that vital first step on the career ladder.

The Trustees which owns the mansion now employs two apprentices and hopes to set on more in the near future. The Woodhead group, ehich has been undertaken much-needed renovation work is also a keen supporter.

Rebecca Vickers began a Finance Apprenticeship at the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust (WWPT) in November 2019 and is aiming for a career in accountancy. The Doncaster 20-year-old had always thought she would go to university, but changed her mind and when she saw the vacancy at Wentworth Woodhouse, she looked into the work of the Trust. "I thought it would be amazing to be part of that," she says.

Rebecca has already completed her Level 2 modules and is now working towards a Level 3 qualification. She has been on furlough for most of the pandemic, but is studying hard online and is learning to play the guitar and piano.

She certainly hits the right note with Finance Manager, Penny Ramsden, who said: "Rebecca shows enormous potential – she is enthusiastic to learn and always keen to take on more tasks. She is exactly what we had hoped for in an apprentice."

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History-lover Victoria Kica knew she had found the perfect apprenticeship when she walked into Wentworth Woodhouse. The 19-year-old from Goldthorpe began her Business Admin Apprenticeship with the Trust in February 2020.

Sadly, just a month later, the UK went into its first COVID-19 lockdown and Victoria has been on furlough since. She's using her time to study for her qualification, train her dog, Willow - and improve her baking skills! She can't wait to get back to work though: "The Trust has lots of potential for growth and it’s an exciting opportunity to be a part of that,” she says.

Office Manager Keeley Stephenson, whose own career began as an apprentice when she was just 16, said: "I feel sure that, had it not been for the scheme, I wouldn’t be doing the role I am in today. I hope to see Victoria flourish in the same way and look forward to supporting her on the journey. I am very keen to have her back in the office. Victoria has great potential."

Employed by contractors working on the mansion’s 18th century roof, further trainees got to work alongside skilled heritage specialists. Owen Nightingale is an apprentice site manager with Woodhead Group and is studying at Barnsley College for a Level 3 qualification in construction and the built environment.

Owen, of Thrybergh, has now set his hard-hat at a career in heritage construction and conservation. “Being a part of restoring Wentworth Woodhouse has been a pleasure. I am eager to work on heritage buildings as a career,” he said.

Specialist Lincolnshire masons Heritage Masonry Contracts were called in to work on repairs and restoration of the roof’s centuries-old stone features - life-size statues, giant urns and hand-carved balustrades and portico detailing. The company’s two apprentice stonemasons enjoyed working alongside their MD, Sean Knight.

Ben Halifax is completing his a Level 3 banker masonry qualification and Oliver Atkin has recently completed his Level 2 banker masonry qualification while at Wentworth.

"Ben and Oliver are our first apprentices. It has been a thoroughly positive experience. A project on the scale of Wentworth Woodhouse has enabled them to learn, experience and hone a plethora of different conservation and restoration techniques,” said Sean.

Heritage Masonry Contracts are soon to take on another apprentice. Louis Harrison will begin a fixer masonry course, this September.

Wentworth Woodhouse website

Images: WWPT / Woodhead group

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News: Close Brothers funding 15 new AMRC Training Centre apprentices

The Close Brothers SME apprenticeship programme has funded a further 15 apprentices who will join the programme in 2021, marking the fifth phase of the programme.

With the support of the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre, the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the manufacturers organisation Make UK, Close Brothers has helped SMEs across the UK recruit and train a new generation of apprentices.

Through the programme employers will be given financial help towards taking on apprentices in the manufacturing and transport sectors, creating opportunities for young people and helping businesses across Britain to thrive in the longer term.

Close Brothers, the leading merchant banking group will cover all training costs, as well as contribute 50 per cent of the wages of the apprentices in the first year and 25 per cent in the second year. Further support will be offered for those on degree apprenticeships.

Close Brothers has been funding apprenticeships since the programme launched in 2015, with 55 of the apprentices having been trained by the AMRC Training Centre in Rotherham.

The 15 new apprentices will learn their skills at the AMRC Training Centre, part of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) group and based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP). Apprentices starting in 2021 will be on track to complete their training by 2023. This scheme helps smaller businesses in the Sheffield City Region to secure the skills they need for future growth.

This continued investment in apprenticeships highlights the company’s continued commitment to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to secure the skills they need for the future growth of their business. The scheme also aims to give young people from all backgrounds a chance to learn a trade and carve a rewarding career for their future.

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Adrian Sainsbury, Chief Executive, Close Brothers Group, commented: “Apprenticeships are an excellent way for UK SMEs to fill skills gaps, develop their future workforce and improve long-term growth prospects.

“We know from experience that SMEs often need assistance to take on apprentices, so over the past six years we have established a programme that aims to help SMEs with the specific issues they are facing. We also want to help businesses establish a diverse and dynamic workforce of young fresh talent with new ideas and an eagerness to learn the new skills and knowledge required to build a rewarding long-term career.

“2020 had a profound impact on the number of apprenticeship courses that are available to school leavers and those looking for a career change. This year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week is to “Build the Future” and now is a perfect time to help more school leavers to consider apprenticeships as a great way to begin their careers. We are proud to be playing our part to help small businesses invest in their future and pass important skills onto the next generation."

Director of the AMRC Training Centre, Nikki Jones, said: “This is a fantastic piece of news to announce at the start of National Apprenticeship Week. Every day we see examples of our apprentices making significant contributions to their employers, adding value to businesses and driving innovation in production processes. The Close Brothers scheme will allow more SMEs, some of which wouldn’t necessarily be able to take on an apprentice otherwise, to benefit from our apprentices’ fresh-thinking, skills and know-how.

“The 15 new apprentices funded by Close Brothers, who are joining the AMRC Training Centre this year, means more employers can invest in their future by developing the skills they need for growth, productivity and profitability. Those three elements will be crucial as the manufacturing sector rebuilds in 2021.”

AMRC Training website

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