Category Archives: South West

Education, News, South West

Devon primary school voted as a Surprise Supplies winner

Bridgerule CofE Primary School has been voted as a winner of RGB Building Supplies’ Surprise Supplies initiative and now has £1,000 to spend on materials at RGB’s Holsworthy branch.

RGB invited charities, schools, community groups and care homes from across the region to get in touch and explain how a donation of materials would help to complete a project. Alongside Woodside Animal Welfare Trust in Plymouth, Bridgerule Primary School received the most votes following a public poll and each winner has received a donation of £1,000.

Bridgerule Primary School is aiming to transform an area of grass in its playground into an all-year-round sensory and quiet garden where pupils can go to talk or enjoy some calming space. The project will include plants that provide gentle fragrance and some seating for chatting with friends. The £1,000 donation will be primarily used for this project.

Anne Bunning, Principal at Bridgerule CofE Primary School, commented:

“We’re delighted to have been voted as a Surprise Supplies winner and thank you to every parent and member of our community who voted for us, and to RGB for the donation. The new area of garden will be an important part of our school and we have a group of parents who are on standby and ready to help bring it to life – we’re excited to get started with the project.”

Tony Curtis, Branch Manager at RGB Holsworthy, visited the school to learn more about their plans. Tony added:

“This is exactly the type of project that we want to help with Surprise Supplies. Congratulations to Bridgerule Primary School and good luck with the project – we look forward to helping with materials and ensuring the £1,000 goes as far as possible. I can’t wait to return to see how the donation has been used.”

 

News, South West

Best of the South West: Bridge Health & Wellbeing shortlisted in StartUp Awards

Dorset-based Bridge Health & Wellbeing has been named one of the most exciting new businesses in the South West after being shortlisted in the StartUp Awards 2022. It is the only Dorset business to make the shortlist in the Business-to-Consumer Services category.

The StartUp Awards National Series has been launched to recognise the booming startup scene across the UK, which has accelerated since the pandemic began. Supported nationally by BT, EY, Dell & Intel, the programme will celebrate the achievements of the amazing individuals across the UK who have turned an idea into an opportunity and taken the risk to launch a new product or service.

Over 2,500 applications were received in response to the Startup Awards National Series’ first-ever call for entries.

Paul O’Connell, Founder and lead physiotherapist of Bridge Health & Wellbeing said: “When we opened our doors in July 2019, my wife and I were so excited to realise our dream of bringing our physiotherapy and Pilates skills together to create a welcoming wellbeing community in Christchurch, Dorset with state-of-the-art facilities. It’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride since then, dealing with the impact of COVID. But our clients have been amazing and made it all worthwhile. Being recognised for all our hard work in national awards like these is very humbling.”

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, the creator of the StartUp Awards National Series, commented: “New firms are important for generating economic prosperity, employment opportunities and innovation. We’ve been blown away by the standard of entries in this first year and truly look forward to crowning the winners in June.”

The South West final will take place at Propyard in Bristol on 28th June 2022.

Louise O’Connell, co-founder and Pilates teacher, added, “We can’t quite believe that from all the amazing new B2C service companies across the entire South West we made the shortlist of just 4! We will proudly represent Dorset as the only Dorset-based finalists in our category.”

Bridge Health & Wellbeing is a friendly, family-run clinic in the heart of Christchurch in Dorset, with high quality physiotherapy, chiropractic, sports massage, rehabilitation services, expert Pilates and Yoga classes and all under one roof.

News, South West

Batten & Allen announce latest £400,000 Bruderer UK investment at MACH 2022

A specialist in stamping, plating and the assembly of high precision parts is celebrating its 50th birthday in style after announcing a new £400,000 investment.

Batten & Allen, which employs 120 people at its state-of-the-art factory in Cirencester, has signed a deal at MACH 2022 today to purchase a new Bruderer high speed press that can produce six million components every day.

The company signalled its intentions to use the 28-tonne BSTA 280-75B2 to stamp precision parts for use in electrical applications across automotive, aerospace and consumer goods.

Fitted with a high precision mechanical feeder, the machine offers a 750mm bed to accommodate complex press tools and comes with the latest control technology to provide benefits, such as Automatic Ram Shut height adjustment at micro adjustments while the press is under acceleration and decelerated loads.

This guarantees process stability and pinpoint reliability of the bottom dead centre (BCD) position even at 1500 strokes per minute.

“Bruderer presses are known throughout industry for their precise control and repeatable accuracy, two of the reasons why this machine will be our 30th from them,” explained Ian Mackinnon, who joined Batten & Allen as CEO four years ago.

“The components we make are extremely precise, often to a few microns. This means we require a machine that could deliver that level of precision, time and time again – in fact, volumes can run into millions of parts every day.”

He continued: “The BSTA 280-75B2 is a superb press and has been specified to our exact requirements, giving us the flexibility to be able to run pretty much every tool we own on it.”

Established in 1972, Batten & Allen’s stamping capability means it can offer small close pitch components with material thicknesses in the range of 10 microns thick to more heavy-duty single piece stampings up to 2mm.

It exports 85% of its turnover to customers across the automotive, aerospace, electronics and consumer goods sectors and, following a major surge in orders, is expecting sales to hit a record-breaking £20m at the end of this year.

Adrian Haller, Managing Director of Bruderer UK, was delighted that the strategic partnership has been extended even further.

“Batten & Allen’s production facility is built on the power of our presses, dating back nearly 50 years, and involving the installation of more than 30 machines, ranging from 20 tonnes to 50 tonnes.

“The latest BSTA 280-75B2 can operate up to 1500 strokes per minute and the large press tool bed means it is extremely flexible and supports quick changeovers. It is also equipped with Ram Guidance exclusively at strip level, which helps eliminate displacement between the punch and lower die.

“The press will run continuously across three shifts and 24-hours per day – now that is what I call reliable performance.”

Bruderer UK has taken its largest ever presence at MACH 2022 as it aims to build on a record-breaking start to the year.

The company, with bases in Luton and the Black Country, has seen demand for its presses grow rapidly from the automotive, aerospace, construction and electrification sectors and is hoping to cement its position as the leading authority in its field by showcasing its latest technology.

Headlining the firm’s 100sq metre stand (20-602) in the MMMA’s Metalworking Village will be the latest BSTA 510-150 B2, which will be fitted with a state-of-the-art 300mm wide precision high-speed servo feeder.

The machine bed will be an impressive 1.5metres wide, allowing for big press tools to be loaded with ease, highlighting the unique capability to achieve 1050 stroke per minutes on complex material of all shapes and sizes.

To provide the most comprehensive display, material decoiling and rewinding systems have been fitted to deliver a fully operational line – ideal for bringing demonstrations to life during the eagerly awaited exhibition.

 

News, South West

South West builders merchant extending opening hours

RGB Building Supplies is extending its weekday operating hours and will now open at 7am on Monday to Friday throughout the summer.

Now that daylight saving is in place, those working in the trades can take the opportunity to get on site earlier to make use of the lighter mornings. RGB’s earlier opening time allows for more flexibility in when supplies can be collected from the branch.

Richard Jayne, Branch Manager at RGB Penzance, commented:

“By changing our opening times to accommodate daylight saving, we are able to support our customers, particularly those who work in the trades, by better reflecting the hours they are working.”

From Monday 4th April to Friday 30th September, RGB’s summer opening hours will be 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 12pm on Saturday.

Charity & CSR, News, South West

Put the pedal to the metal and help Bristol karting venue raise money for an accessible go kart

Absolutely Karting in Bristol is inviting karting enthusiasts to join them for a team endurance race on Friday 8th April to raise money for a specially adapted twin-seat kart that will be permanently available at the venue.

The event will see teams taking part in a 100 lap Le Mans-style race with drivers switching places to see which team can last the pace and complete 100 laps in the quickest time.

The karting venue is working with the charity Absolutely Together to raise £8,000 to purchase a twin-seat kart. Absolutely Together provides free leisure activities to special educational needs schools and families who have members with disabilities.

The specially adapted kart will be based at the Bristol track and will allow the venue to be part of the charity’s Together Karting programme, which gives those with additional needs the opportunity to take part in free go-karting sessions every Saturday morning. Young people are joined in the kart by an expert Absolutely Karting instructor and can have as much or as little control of the kart as possible by just controlling the pedals and the steering, just the steering, or simply sitting back and enjoy being driven around by one of the instructors.

Naomi Smith, Venue Manager at Absolutely Karting Bristol, commented:

“The twin-seat kart allows those with disabilities to join friends and family on the track so they can all enjoy an activity together. We would love to have one of these karts permanently available so local schools and families can be part of the Together Karting programme.

“We look forward to welcoming teams to our fundraising Le Mans event. Whether a family team or a group of friends or work colleagues would like to take part in the race, it’s a great way to have fun and help Absolutely Together fundraise for the twin-seat kart.”

The event costs £200 for each team with a minimum of two and maximum of five drivers per team. The fee and all the money raised during the evening will be donated to Absolutely Together’s twin-seat go kart fundraising. The race starts at 6pm on Friday 8th April and teams can book a spot on the start grid by emailing c.sirett@absolutely-group.co.uk.

Donations to help Absolutely Together with its fundraising can be made by visiting – https://app.investmycommunity.com/fundraise/absolutely-together-3018.

 

Education, News, South West

Hartpury University and Hartpury College is now using Multiwash™ from Truvox International

Located in Gloucestershire, Hartpury University and Hartpury College are among the UK’s leading specialist education providers in agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing. The 370-hectare campus is home to over 2,000 university and college-level students studying degrees, A-levels and diplomas, as well as undertaking cutting-edge industry research.

Adequate cleaning is crucial for the wellbeing of staff, students and visitors and we spoke to Campus Operations Manager Stephen Parker, to ask why Hartpury has recently swapped to using the Multiwash™ floorcare system from Truvox International.

 Front of house cleaning provides reassurance

“Hartpury is quite diverse, as we have everything from the world’s largest equine educational facility to cutting-edge sports facilities, so maintaining exceptional cleaning is quite a challenge,” says Stephen Parker. “We have 1,100 students living on site and another 300 off-site. We have 370 hectares of land with about 440 buildings, so Hartpury is like a village and my role is to keep the campus running safely and efficiently. We have around 25 cleaning staff who look after all of the public areas, including classrooms, gyms and all of the academic areas, plus the accommodation side across 45 blocks. In addition, there are industrial requirements, such as road sweeping, and window and gutter cleaning.

“The pandemic had a noticeable impact on cleaning regimes. When we returned from lockdown, the focus was on hygiene and cleanliness and cleaning was all of a sudden thrust into the spotlight. It went from being a behind the scenes out-of-hours activity to a front of house publicly visible process. When I started here about eight years ago, most cleaning was carried out between 4 pm and midnight, and that brought its own issues around staff motivation. Now our cleaning teams start early in the morning and are around during the day. Not only is that easier to manage, but it also gives people a focus that we have cleaning operatives, not fairies! It makes cleaning visible and that absolutely reassures people because they actually see that it’s happening. I’m a great believer in perception, so I see no reason not to continue operating this way.”

Reliability is key to success

Achieving the correct levels of cleaning requires a good and well-trained team working with the right machinery.

“We had been using another rotary floor cleaner and it lacked reliability. The machines were constantly breaking down and needing repairs, and the maintenance contract was expensive, with some machines needing servicing three times a year. Our supplier is Lydney, Gloucestershire-based DJB Supplies, and Managing Director Dave Bruce suggested we try the Multiwash system from Truvox International. We ran one for a year and we were impressed. It was easy to use and consistently reliable. We replaced all the existing machines with Multiwash, and we haven’t looked back. We’re now looking to adopt the new Multiwash Pro.

“The Multiwash machines are so easy to use and maintain and DJB Supplies gave our staff training when they first arrived to ensure the units are always working at their best, showing them how to strip the units down and check them over when required. Multiwash provides an exceptional quality of cleaning across a wide variety of flooring types, but for me the best benefit is that I don’t have to worry about them breaking down all the time like our previous machines.

“I talked about the perception that front of house cleaning provides and another benefit of Truvox’s Multiwash is that it looks extremely professional, matching in with its performance.

Multiwash is effective on all floor types

“The Hartpury campus features many different flooring types, from carpets to hard floors. The gyms have a rubberised floor that can’t be swept, and straightforward vacuuming doesn’t work. Multiwash provides the perfect solution, and we even use it on outside areas such as terraces where it does a great job on cleaning decking.

“From reptiles, llamas, and wallabies, to horses, we have a lot of animals on site, so another benefit of Multiwash is that we don’t always need to use potentially harmful chemicals to achieve the cleaning results we need. We can use water and we often just use plain warm water to clean the carpets.

“On a busy campus, reliability is a key issue to ensure success and the reliability of the Multiwash machines from Truvox International means that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to any other educational establishment. I’d also recommend DJB Supplies for their support in a seamless transition to this new cleaning solution. Moving to Multiwash has given me one less thing to worry about and the machines deliver measurably better results than our previous units.”

 

Bristol, Business, Business & Property News, Business News, Cardiff, FInance, Finance News, Law, Legal News, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, News from England, News from Wales, Property, Property News, South Wales, South West, Wales News

GS Verde Group expand Bristol presence at Generator Building

Building upon the recent expansion of their Cardiff headquarters, dealmaking business GS Verde Group has increased capacity in Bristol city centre by more than double, signing a significant lease at the Generator Building, accommodating over 30 staff with capacity to expand further as the business continues to enjoy rapid growth across its multiple disciplines.

 

The new offices, situated in the contemporary and centrally located Generator Building at Finzels Reach, will support the increased staff count across the businesses’ multiple disciplines. The business has made several appointments already in 2022 with more vacancies available following a year of significant growth, as demand for the M&A and business sale specialists’ multidisciplinary approach has soared.

 

Having only recently doubled their Welsh office space, the new Bristol premises underpin the Group’s growing presence across England, Wales and Ireland furthering the team’s reach.

 

This substantial expansion also follows recent success for GS Verde in the Experian Market IQ reports on deal-making in 2021, achieving a unique feat by being the only firm to rank in both the corporate financial and legal rankings in Wales, in first and second place respectively.

 

GS Verde advised on over 100 deals across the UK and Ireland last year, in the business’ best year of trading to date, and expects to see their activity increase even further through 2022.

 

With GS Verde’s complete advisory team across corporate law, finance, tax and communications, these new offices are more than double the Group’s previous space in Bristol, a significant increase that accommodates the fast growth of the business.

 

Speaking of their expansion, GS Verde Group CEO, Nigel Greenaway said: “We are thrilled to be expanding our Bristol office and operations across the South West, augmenting the scope of our offering of unique M&A advisory services throughout the UK and beyond.

 

“Just a few months into 2022, GS Verde has already seen rapid growth in multiple locations, reflecting the value of our multidiscipline approach, and the appetite for corporate transactions.”

 

As GS Verde also progresses plans to expand their EU location in Dublin and expects to continue to acquire as part of its own buy and build strategy, there are still more exciting developments to come this year.

 

 

Charity & CSR, Construction, News, South West

Cheeky calendar raises over £1,600 for South West mental health charities

RGB Building Supplies’ Well Built Builders Bum 2022 calendar has raised £1,610 for Mind charities across the region – Devon Mind, Cornwall Mind and Mind in Somerset.

The calendar features tradespeople from across the region, who put themselves forward to be photographed doing their job and showing a tiny bit of their bottom, all in the name of raising funds to help the charities continue to support people in their area who suffer from mental health issues.

As local charities affiliated with the national Mind association, Devon Mind, Cornwall Mind and Mind in Somerset provide a range of well-being services for people who experience mental health problems, as well as advice, information, support groups and a dedicated youth service.

Andre Pusey, Marketing & Fundraising Manager at Devon Mind, commented:

“On behalf of everyone at Devon Mind, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all the staff, customers and partners of RGB for supporting this unique fundraising idea. As you catch glimpses of the featured bottoms in your home or office over the coming months, remember that in buying your calendar you’ve directly supported frontline mental health services across the South West.”

Paul Reeve, CEO of Cornwall Mind, said:

“Mental ill health affects us all in one way or another and we are seeing an increase in recent months. Unfortunately, Cornwall has a high rate of people who take their own lives, especially in men, so it is especially good to see this initiative from RGB Building Supplies contributing valuable funds and raising mental health awareness within the building trade. Who would have thought that a builder’s bum could be turned to such a great cause! Thank you RGB.”

Paul West, Branch Manager at RGB Exeter, added:

“We wanted to create a calendar that would stand out and make people smile, but more importantly raise money for the three fantastic charities. Devon Mind, Cornwall Mind and Mind in Somerset rely on donations to enable to them to continue to provide their services, so thank you to every who purchased a calendar and showed their support.”

In addition to the money raised from the sale of the Builders Bum 2022 calendar, RGB’s branches raised an additional £508.46 for the local Mind charities by holding festive food days in the lead up to Christmas. Staff invited customers to enjoy a Christmas treat in return for a donation to the charity.

News, South West

Parnall Group Turns To Aqilla for Business Growth

Parnall Group is a family-run, multi-company enterprise based at the historic Trelonk farm and estate in Cornwall, UK. The group has chosen Aqilla cloud accounting software to replace Sage 50 as the expanding group’s needs changed, allowing the accounts team a better user experience when managing entries across multiple accounts.

Aqilla was implemented in early 2020 to replace Sage 50 as the expanding group’s needs changed, allowing the accounts team a better user experience when managing entries across multiple accounts on a daily basis. Standardised reporting for each entity has been set up using Sharperlight – a low maintenance and highly-flexible BI platform, fully-integrated with Aqilla – to streamline the management reporting process.

Finance manager Jonathon Powell explains, “As a group, Aqilla’s interface makes it dead easy for us to use. Once logged in, you can go from one company to another using a simple drop-down menu. With other packages, we would have had to keep logging in and out. Aqilla is a different-looking package to something like Sage, QuickBooks or even SAP, but once you get used to it, it is so easy to use. The more I use it, the more I like it.”

Jonathon and his team use Aqilla for all the usual transactional processes such as invoices, journals and bank transactions. When implementing Aqilla, Custom Attributes can be created as fields in documents such as sales and purchase orders. Multiple fields can be created to enable reporting on things like inventory, batches, serial numbers or indeed whole cost centres. For more complex reporting, a whole new database table can be configured in Aqilla for full Project Accounting, allowing users to include timesheets, expenses and purchases which relate to specific projects.

Summing up on his overall experience of working with Aqilla, Jonathon emphasizes two things, “One of the biggest benefits in working with Aqilla is the fact that you get a real person at the end of the line who can talk you through your problem. Secondly, it’s about how easy Aqilla is to use. Aqilla is a different-looking package to something like Sage, QuickBooks or even SAP but once you get used to it, it is so easy to use.”

News, South West

Glow Karting to launch in Bristol

Absolutely Karting is delighted to bring Glow Karting to Bristol when it launches the new experience on Tuesday 22nd February.

Glow Karting takes all the adrenaline-fuelled fun of indoor go karting and cranks it up. Absolutely Karting has updated the venue by installing hundreds of UV lights to the dual-level track, safety barriers, karts, and helmets, so when the venue lights are turned down, the whole place glows.

Through its Bristol and Maidenhead tracks, Absolutely Karting is the only organisation in the UK to offer Glow Karting.

Naomi Smith, Venue Manager at Absolutely Karting Bristol, commented:

“We’ve added UV lights to the track, which are not noticeable when normal karting is taking place. But, when we turn the venue lights off, the whole place is transformed. The colours change as the racing speeds up and we’ve added music to complete the party atmosphere.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer something completely different and new for the region and we can’t wait to welcome people and families to the track to experience Glow Karting.”

Glow Karting is available for adult and family Race Experience bookings at Absolutely Karting Bristol and can also be added to party packages. Booking can be made online by visiting www.absolutely-karting.co.uk.