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Leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings has placed part of the 580-strong Trust Inns pub empire on the market. Hemmings has instructed niche agency Christie & Co to find buyers for 15 pubs, spread around Yorkshire and the Midlands. Hemmings bought Trust in the 1980s and spent more than £100m buying 102 community pubs from Mitchells & Butlers in 2006. Earlier this year he sold his controlling stake in Pontin's. 
Mott McDonald grows in Alty Engineering consultancy Mott McDonald is to expand its Altrincham premises. Its adviser DTZ and landlord Property Alliance Group have agreed a 15,750 sq ft pre-let at a former pub site next to the company's existing 19,100 sq ft base at Spring Bank House. A new 15-year lease has been signed at £20 per sq ft. Construction work will start immediately on the new building.
LSB seals the deal London Scottish Bank (LSB), the troubled Manchester finance house, has completed the sale of London Scottish Invoice Finance to Hitachi Capital (UK). The company's board received shareholder approval for the sale on Wednesday. LSB will now focus on debt collection rather than consumer debt, following the £80m refinancing of its Robinson Way business in June.
Global recognition for North West architecture The Manchester Civil Justice Centre, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, has made the shortlist in the civic category of the first ever World Architecture Festival Awards, a three-day event being held in Barcelona in October to celebrate architectural excellence over the last 18 months. The international judging panel, headed by Lord Norman Foster and including architect Will Alsop, will announce the winners at the festival. Liverpool's Bluecoat arts centre and the ACC Liverpool have been shortlisted in two other categories. An overall World Building of the Year 2008 will be chosen from the category winners.
From home to office A fire protection company in East Lancashire has made the leap from home business to office-based operation. Poseidon Design Solutions' founder, Craig Griffin, plans to grow the company while keeping a sharp eye on its local roots. Griffin and a trainee employee design and distribute anti-fire programmes, such as sprinkler systems, to be installed in non-domestic buildings. After securing new contracts with high-profile firms, including five major retail stores, Poseidon Design Solutions has moved into The Kingfisher Business Centre in Rossendale, Lancashire.
Canny manufacturers are open to the emerging markets and Manchester-based engineering group Renold this week announced its acquisition of a 75 per cent interest in the industrial chain business of listed Indian company LG Balakrishnan & Bros (LGB), a deal that should complete this month. Renold last year acquired a chain business in Hangzhgou, China, and will raise £5.3m in a placing of new shares this month.
Sanders moves to the fast lane Richard Sanders, the über-salesman from the Manchester International Festival who prised £3.6m in sponsorship from the vice-like grip of Manchester businesses to sponsor such gritty northern delights as a Chinese opera and a conceptual art piece featuring a frisky bull, is leaving. Helen Bowdur, the new head of sponsorship, will be touting free tickets and elaborate tiers of sponsorship, while Sanders will be fending off requests for favours from alpha males as the head of sponsorship at the Honda Formula One team. And yes, ladies, he will be working with Jensen Button.
A load of Rs Clear your diaries, Manchester! On 25 September networking group Rejuvenate is to hold Manchester's first ever outdoor business festival. Not only will there be Pete Waterman as guest speaker, but R-Land will also boast lectures and debates as well as live performances and a funfair in a "thrilling line-up of both business and pleasure based at Bar 38 and the Great Northern Warehouse". Sounds great.
Frankly unbelievable story of the week Insider reported in 2004 that Paul Davidson, known as The Plumber, was bankrupt. He won an appeal against the Financial Services Authority. He has since returned to float a company on the Plus market with backing from a Sheikh in Sharjah, and has now announced the acquisition of Spanish football club Real Mallorca. Insider hears that “El Fontanero” - as he’s been touted in Palma - is planning to make a public appearance this weekend at a friendly with West Bromwich Albion. He’ll even be ball juggling, just like Michael Knighton did when he announced he’d taken over Manchester United in 1989. Whatever happened to him?
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