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A new coating plant is to be installed at Pilkington's Greengate Works in St Helens to produce speciality glass for a number of eco-friendly applications. The £37m investment represents one of the biggest developments for the Greengate site since 1992 and positions the facility as one of the most advanced manufacturing sites in the Pilkington Group. The investment has attracted a £3m industrial development grant from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, following support from The Mersey Partnership, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and St Helens Council. The facility is scheduled to come on stream in Spring 2009. 
Melting for Liverpool In an inspiring example of a major urban company commissioning a local rural business, Liverpool One, the city's exciting new retail scheme, chose a Lancashire candle company to make a bespoke corporate gift to commemorate the unveiling of the first phase of the project. Melt, in the Ribble Valley, which was founded by Cheryl Hook, produces handmade candles that each take up to 36 hours to produce. The news coincides with the release of a Commission for Rural Communities report earlier this month that suggested unfulfilled potential from rural business could amount to up to £347bn a year.
Heading for Downtown Liverpool Downtown Liverpool in Business, the private sector business and networking club founded by Frank McKenna, next week launches its inaugural Business Week event in association with the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The week will involve a series of individual events including lectures, debates and networking with local entrepreneurs, leading decision makers and business providers. Highlights include an audience with Derek Hatton, hosted by journalist and broadcaster Jim Hancock, and a debate with Phil Redmond and Joanne Jennings, chief executive of Liverpool One, entitled Beyond 08.
New HQ for All Foundations Civil engineering specialist All Foundations is set to open a new northern divisional HQ in Rochdale, after winning a string of lucrative contracts in the region. The expansion comes after the Derbyshire-based company reported a 30 per cent increase in turnover to £10m in its last set of accounts and is on target to achieve £12.5m for the current financial 2007/08 year. John Robins has been named as the new northern division managing director.
Losses widen at Byotrol Manchester-based microbial technology company Byotrol has recorded losses of £2.77m for the year end to 31 March 2008 on revenues of £947,873. The company saw losses widen from £1.74m and admitted that progress is needed in key markets such as health care. However, the board assured shareholders that it is "extremely confident of success" and stressed that it was looking to secure more lucrative deals in the long term, rather than short-term revenues.
ULive, the University of Liverpool's intellectual property (IP) exploitation company, has received £2.5m of funding from Alliance Fund Managers through the MSIF Liverpool Seed Fund. The company originally tried to float on AIM in June 2006, which was expected to raise around £20m, but market conditions were not in its favour. This latest funding follows an initial investment of more than £1.5m by the university and sees the Liverpool Seed Fund take a 25 per cent share in the business. ULive, based at Liverpool Science Park, is responsible for the identification, protection, maintenance and commercialisation of all IP owned and created by the university.
Crossland sells Traveljigsaw in MBO Manchester-based worldwide car rental broker TravelJigsaw, which trades as Carhire3000.com, has been sold to its management team in a £27m deal that gives control to the team that founded the company in October 2004. Yorkshire Bank provided an £8m funding package for the transaction, which was also backed with private equity investment from ISIS. The company, which is the third largest car rental broker in Europe and has been sold by Airtours founder David Crossland, clocked profits of £2.2m against a turnover of £37.3m in the year to 31 December 2007. While the deal is expected to provide Crossland with a small fortune, he is thought to be retaining a small stake in the business moving forward.
Swinton takes Lancaster Clitheroe-based Barrie Lancaster Insurance Services has been acquired by high street insurance retailer Swinton for an undisclosed sum. All of the firm's 800 clients will be taken on by Swinton, while owner Barrie Lancaster exits the business he founded in 1993. The deal marks Swinton's third acquisition in as many months after it snapped up Preston-based And Insure and Yorkshire-based Rockford. Pierce and Forbes Solicitors advised on the deal.
A high-profile report is calling for major reform and formal regulation of estate agents, letting agents and managing agents, news that will lighten the heart of weary buyers and sellers in today's sluggish housing market. The Carlsberg Report, commissioned by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents, proposes: a revision of the transaction process and a review of Home Information Packs; formal regulation schemes to replace the current voluntary regime; and a move to place consumer interests at the heart of policy making. "The processes for regulation and redress do not go far enough to protect the consumer," said Gillian Charlesworth, RICS director of external affairs. "We need action not words."
Ask the people Property developer Ask is to press ahead with a planning application to Stockport Borough Council to convert two former cotton spinning mills in Compstall, near Marple, into 122 residential apartments and creative workspaces. The company held an exhibition of the plans over three days last week. The application will be submitted with consultancy Drivers Jonas and will address serious concerns from residents over peak-time traffic levels in a notorious local bottleneck. Ann-Marie Duffy, marketing manager of Ask, said: "Over the three days of consultation last week we had around 140 visitors. There was a great deal of interest in the scheme."
Residential developments on hold Two North West residential schemes have been put on hold due to the continued lack of confidence in the residential property sector. Countryside Properties has confirmed that there is no scheduled start date for its massive 600 apartment Linen Buildings development in Preston while it undertakes a strategic review of its property portfolio, while Modus Properties has said that its ambitious Tower Grand scheme in Wigan is on hold for six months given the current market conditions.
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