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Top story
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Manchester toasts good health
Grangefield Estates has been granted outline planning approval by Manchester City Council for Chancellor Place, a 4 million sq ft mixed-use development near Piccadilly station. The scheme will include offices, hotels and residential areas, but will be anchored by HealthCity, the first multi-purpose healthcare complex to be delivered by the private sector in the UK. Healthcare has been a key area for inward investment agency MIDAS following the relocation to the city of bodies such as the National Instuitute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Gerry Hughes, director at GVA Grimley, which advised Grangefield, said: “This is one of the most exciting and ambitious projects in Manchester. It is certainly not ‘more of the same’ for the city.”
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Deals
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Buyer sought for surfacing expert
Manchester-based Recomac Surfacing, manufacturer of specialist surfacing for motorways, roads, car parks and footpaths, has appointed KPMG Restructuring as administrator. Hit by ongoing volatility in the housing market, Recomac is continuing to trade while a buyer is sought for the business and assets. A total of 16 people have been made redundant. Established in 1992, the company provides a full contracting service, as well as the ability to work alongside local authorities and major contractors to surface motorways, roads, car parks and footpaths. It also provides surfacing to the sports sector, including the installation of synthetic grass pitches to cater for a variety of sports, with previous clients including Premiership football clubs across the region.
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Business
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NetServices secures US agreement
As demand grows for high-quality videoconferencing to replace the need for costly and environmentally damaging corporate travel, Manchester-based network solutions provider NetServices has expanded its UK reseller network by signing an agreement with desktop videoconferencing expert Avistar Communications Corporation, which is headquartered in California. The deal will see Avistar offering its C3 desktop conferencing software as part of NetServices’ integrated networking, voice and converged solutions packages.
McIntosh defends ballot paper
The design of the ballot paper has been released ahead of Greater Manchester’s public vote on whether to accept the proposals of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities on pursuing £3bn of Transport Innovation Fund investment. Sir Neil McIntosh, returning officer, said: “I regret the continuing suggestion in some quarters that the question is biased because it does not mention the congestion charge. The wording on the ballot paper quite clearly mentions the congestion charge twice, just at it mentions the proposed investment in public transport twice. This approach is in accord with Electoral Commission guidelines.”
PKF appointed as Micap administrator
Wigan-based encapsulation and coating technology business Micap, which operates in the food, agrochemical and pharmaceutical sectors, has been placed into administration with the appointment of PKF as administrator. The AIM-quoted company applied for administration after negotiations with creditors needed to stabilise the company’s financial position failed and one creditor issued a winding up petition. Subsidiary Micap Encapsulation, which operates in Ireland, was unaffected.
MSS announced good trading
Managed Support Services, formerly troubled Wilmslow-based air conditioning installer Worthington Nicholls, has announced that first-half trading has been good and that full-year results to 31 March 2009 will exceed market forecasts. Cost-cutting measures have improved margins more than anticipated and net cash balances to the end of September improved to £7.9m, up from £5.2m in mid-June.
RDA to boost business growth
A new high-growth business support programme has been launched by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Northwest European Regional Development Fund Programme to help businesses in the region that demonstrate high growth potential. The NWDA aims to deliver the £10m programme to assist 1,000 businesses. High-growth companies are defined as either new businesses that have the scope to grow to £500,000 within three years or established enterprises that have the ambition and capability of achieving a minimum of 20 per cent per annum growth.
Lawyers launch women's think tank
Law firm Hill Dickinson has launched a new think tank specifically aimed at women in senior positions in the North West. The Think Tank Forum for Women in Business will target different sectors including banking, media, corporate and financial services to create a strategy to generate more work across these sectors and consider ways to tackle the effects of the credit crunch. The forum first originated on the golf course at Portal in Tarporley during an event organised by banking partner Elaine Charrôt. Other attendees included Sue Woodward, former head of ITV Granada, and representatives from BDO Stoy Hayward and The Co-operative Bank.
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Property
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‘Shawe thing as Leese looks to boost regeneration
Real Lives Wythenshawe, an exhibition that forms part of a £30,000 image campaign funded through a partnership including Manchester City Council, Wythenshawe Forum Trust, Parkway Green Housing Trust, St Modwen and Marketing Manchester, was launched yesterday. Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said of the campaign by Creative Concern: “This is not about glossing over Wythenshawe's problems. We recognise that it still faces many challenges. It is about sharing the people of Wythenshawe's sense of pride and community spirit. A positive image encourages regeneration.”
Edward Symmons swoops for Knight Frank man
Edward Symmons’ Manchester office has appointed Gary Rafferty as partner in its building consultancy division. Rafferty was previously head of building consultancy at Knight Frank’s office in the city. Prior to that he worked for CB Richard Ellis and as a surveyor for retail chain Dixons.
LSH joins docks rates battle
Property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has joined the chorus of outrage over the government’s intentions to separately assess port-based businesses for business rates and retroactively charge rates back to April 2005. Mark Saunders, head of rating at LSH’s Manchester office, said: “Most businesses that operate in ports try to budget intelligently. They could not have foreseen this unexpected imposition of a steep retrospective tax.” Saunders says LSH has doubts about several areas of the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) policies and that “we take issue with the VOA opinion that land areas alongside docks are worth considerably more than that of similar land on industrial estates within the same town”.
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Events
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An audience with Michael Oglesby
Tough times require wise heads. And Bruntwood boss Michael Oglesby is to speak at a special business event next month at which he will impart his thoughts on dealing with the ups and owns in a long career in business. The event is being held to promote the Many Hands Campaign in support of the Manchester New Children’s Hospital Appeal. The evening at Manchester Town Hall on Wednesday 5 November will start with a drinks reception at 6.30pm and will be hosted by Michael Taylor, editor of Insider.
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