Business News

The UK government is considering a proposal that would require landlords to make their properties more energy efficient over the next few years. They say the changes will be "fair and proportionate".

By law, all homes that are sold or rented must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which measures, among other things, how well a property is insulated and heated. Homes are given a grade between A and G.

A derelict piece of land in Blakenall is being transformed into affordable housing thanks to a new partnership between GreenSquareAccord and a local developer. Keon Homes, which was formed four years ago by Richard Williams, Warren Bolton and Noel Sweeney in 2019, will build the £5.3m Canalside Close scheme that will give people access to a 33-strong mix of one, two-bed apartments and two and three-bed houses.

As UK employers look to plug a chronic nationwide skills gap which is holding back growth, thousands of over-50s are being encouraged to ‘un-retire’ and go back to work.

According to government figures, an estimated 630,000 people have left Britain’s jobs market since 2019, with many aged 50+ choosing not to return to the workplace after the Covid pandemic.

A2MAC1 have announced the opening of its first subsidiary in Istanbul (Turkey), a strategic location for the future growth of A2MAC1.

For more than 20 years, A2MAC1 has been supporting the continued success of the Turkish economy as a valued partner to the Turkish automotive ecosystem. Social responsibility is deeply embedded in the mission of A2MAC1: it is also committed to helping the Turkish earthquake victims and hence will donate up to 20% of the growth it generates in Turkey in 2023 to a charity fund.

Almost three quarters of professionals (71%) have stated that they are open to returning to their pre-Covid employer – with half admitting that the reasons as to why they left are no longer applicable in today’s market. 

According to a recent poll from recruiter Robert Walters (of 3,000 professionals), 45% of workers who had left their job after lockdown did so for better pay - with a further 35% leaving for a better workplace culture or more purpose/fulfilment in their role.

Company secretarial (CoSec) business Bruce Wallace Associates is joining West Midlands full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau as part of a shared growth strategy. The union will see Bruce Wallace Associates’ team of five, including its two directors Susan Wallace and Martha Bruce, take on the Shakespeare Martineau brand – bringing the team to more than 13.

The CoSec team at Shakespeare Martineau provides specialist corporate governance advice and company secretarial services to public companies listed on AIM, AQSE and the main market as well as several large private groups.

It must have taken a real lesson in soul- searching for mainstream commercial institutions such as Lloyds Bank, Barclays Bank and other corporate entities, to publicly apologise for building their empire on the abominable slave trade (system) that destroyed millions of lives and left generations of African people scarred; culturally, psychologically and socially.

One of the West Midlands’ best kept manufacturing secrets has capped a record-breaking year by securing two major industrial awards last night.

Brandauer, which produces millions of high tolerance metal pressings/stampings every week for customers in 10 sectors and across 26 different countries, was named the Confederation of British Metalforming’s Company of the Year in front of 200 people at Birmingham’s Grand Hotel.

A trailblazing construction business well-known for creating better places for people to live and delivering positive social impact across the North-West is expanding into Cumbria.

Evolution, which takes pride in delivering quality private housing, social housing, and sheltered housing, is creating jobs for tradespeople to work on a scheme in Barrow.

Businesses across the UK can take advantage of the Chancellor’s capital allowances package from today as the new business tax year begins.

The package, announced at Spring Budget, comprises 100% full expensing and a 50% first-year allowance. It will mean the UK has the most generous capital allowance regime in the OECD worth £27 billion over the next three years, amounting to an effective £9 billion a year tax cut for companies.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd and Shell North America LNG LLC have announced the successful bunkering of the ZIM SAMMY OFER container vessel with LNG. This vessel was bunkered at Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) on 26 March 2023.

This was a milestone operation for a number of reasons:

Genialis, a computational precision medicine company unravelling complex biology to find new ways to address disease, have announced it raised more than $13 million in Series A financing to transform the way diseases are diagnosed and treatment decisions are made. Taiwania Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund co-led the round, with participation from previous investors First Star Ventures, Redalpine Venture Partners, and Pikas. Other new investors include P5 Health Ventures and several Angels. Ita Lu of Taiwania and Hamzeh Abdul-Hadi of Debiopharm will join Genialis' Board of Directors.

More than half (60%)* of landlords are unwilling commit to contributing more than £250 towards the costs of improving the energy efficiency of a rented property, the Social Market Foundation revealed.

The SMF, a cross-party think-tank, said that government targets to decarbonize homes are likely to fail if politicians cannot find ways to ensure private rented sector landlords do more to better insulate rented homes. Polling for the SMF asked landlords and homeowners how much they were willing to pay out of their own pockets towards a government-discounted insulation upgrade.

Plans to give workers more rights to request flexible working could impact on the way businesses operate, a leading employment lawyer has warned.

Joanne Stronach, Head of Employment Law and HR at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, said employers needed to be prepared for the new legislation which will give workers the right to request flexible working from the first day of their employment.

Swedish heat pump company Qvantum today received the German ISH Design Plus award for their brand-new apartment heat pump. The heat pump is so compact that it can be installed, for example, under a kitchen sink and will be able to replace the gas burners that are now to be phased out in the cities of Europe.

“It’s a fantastic acknowledgment for us to be awarded this prize”, says Qvantum CEO Fredrik Rosenqvist. The company has been producing heat pumps for more than 30 years and is currently in a rapid expansion phase.