Sunderland independent holiday company Hays Travel acquired franchise partner Just Go Travel in an undisclosed deal.
Wrexham based Just Go operates 46 branches across the North West and North Wales, and has worked with Hays Travel as both an Independence Group member and franchisee. Hays Travel has now snapped up 45 of its shops. The Sunderland business has swooped for the North Wales travel company in a deal which sees its owner and founder Don Bircham leave to focus on his leisure portfolio, the Fat Boar Group.
Dame Irene Hays said the addition of Just Go Travel comes at a ‘perfect time’ for the business. She said: “Don Bircham is a true entrepreneur and among the most experienced people in the travel industry. Just Go is an outstanding business and we are all delighted with this latest acquisition.
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Entrepreneur Don Bircham, who was chief executive of Wrexham football club until 2016, said Just Go will retain its very first shop in Mold. He now plans to focus on helping the growth of local tourism, which has been boosted ever since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham FC.
Better digital connectivity for Sunderland AFC fans and esports audiences in the city is coming thanks to a £5.7m grant from Government.
A consortium including Sunderland City Council, Sunderland AFC and British Esports - which is opening a multi-site campus in the city - is one of 19 projects to successfully bid in the Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) competition, part of the £250m 5G Telecoms Supply Chain Diversification Strategy.
The ‘Sunderland Open Network EcosysTem’ (SONET) Project will bring faster, more reliable 4G and 5G mobile connectivity to the Stadium of Light and the new British Esports National Performance Campus. And the connectivity is intended to usher in digital facilities and services such as easier and faster ticketing, seat-finding capabilities and speedy food and drink ordering.
Liz St Louis, director of smart cities and enabling services at Sunderland City Council, said: "Enabled by grant funding from the Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) competition, we are delighted to launch the SONET Project. This innovative project will create a more immersive and engaging experience for Esports players and fans at British Esports new National Esports Performance Campus in Sunderland, as well as evolving the football ground of Sunderland FC, the Stadium of Light, to meet the needs of future generations, by providing engaging event content and interactive digital experiences.
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County Durham developer The Banks Group announced plans to build a new care home at the Mount Oswald development in Durham City.
The group has signed an agreement with Yorkshire based Torsion Care to provide a care facility on The Drive, as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Mount Oswald site. The care home will have 74 ensuite bedrooms within a three and a half-storey development in a facility designed to provide a high quality of care and wellness for residents and staff.
A planning application for the project has now been submitted to Durham County Council, with a view to it coming before the planning committee before the end of the year. Subject to planning approval, Torsion is expecting to start work on site early in 2024 – and the company is looking to make further investments in the region by using the Mount Oswald facility as the centre for a network of further care facilities in other North East locations.
John Ruddick, senior property development manager at Banks Property, added: “Mount Oswald is continuing to develop into the kind of outstanding, high quality, low density, accessible neighbourhood that we described at the very beginning of the project, and we’re very pleased that Torsion has chosen it as its first North East investment location.
The Ministry of Defence topped up its order of bullets from engineering giant BAE Systems by a further £130m.
The deal brings additional work to the firm’s factories in the North East and Wales, coming on top of a £280m supply contract announced in July. At the time, the MoD said it had the option to increase the deal to £410m – an option it has now decided to exercise.
The full order with Defence Equipment and Support will be supplied by BAE Systems’ facilities in Washington, Tyne and Wear, and Glascoed, South Wales and the overall contract will create more than 200 new highly skilled jobs, boosting the company’s 1,200-strong 海角视频 munitions workforce. In all, the deal is creating 101 production operative roles at the firm’s site at Washington, Tyne and Wear, as well as 65 jobs at Radway Green, Cheshire, and a further 45 at Glascoed, South Wales.
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The new orders build on its existing £2.4bn 15-year partnering agreement, and will significantly increase the production of defence stocks of 155mm artillery shells, 30mm medium calibre rounds and 5.56mm ammunition. BAE Systems said that, as well as bolstering the British Army’s heavy munitions stockpile, they will enhance the Army’s latest weapons systems and satisfy the increased demand for small arms ammunition.
Glynn Plant, managing director of the munitions business at BAE Systems, said: “This contract builds on our extensive relationship with the 海角视频 MOD as a strategic partner for munitions supply. Our teams are increasing production rates, investing in people and new facilities and maximising shift patterns to meet the enhanced demand whilst ensuring every shell meets our exceptionally high standards.”
A specialist County Durham engineering firm announced plans to expand across the 海角视频 and Europe after securing a five-figure investment. DT LPG Technology specialises in the installation, repair, testing and maintenance of telemetry and monitoring systems used in the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) sector, and it is now looking to increase its presence within the 海角视频, Ireland and mainland Europe.
The Stanley based firm has worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to bring in a £50,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund Supported by The European Regional Development Fund, which will give it the resources to grow, as well as develop into other industries that require telemetry systems.
It is expecting to add at least five new recruits to its existing team of 15 engineers, while also looking to expand the volume of work it carries out on clients’ telemetry systems. DT LPG Technology was set up three years ago by director David Thomas, who had worked in the sector for more than 14 years.
He said: “We already work with clients right across the 海角视频 and Europe, but there are real opportunities to grow our presence and will be allocating resources to these locations to make sure we can do so."
Communications tech firm Filtronic secured nearly £170,000 for a project that aims to deliver cutting edge components for radar systems. The County Durham and Leeds-based firm is one of two innovators to secure funds through the Government's £16m Defence Technology Exploitation Programme that is designed to boost competitiveness in the 海角视频's defence supply chain. As part of a £339,000 project, Filtronic is working with an undisclosed, major aerospace firm to manufacture and test specialist transmit receive modules (TRMs) for airbourne radar systems.
Engineers at the component maker have designed the TRMS which uses high power density compound semiconductor materials and are much lighter and cheaper compared to ceramic alternatives. It is hoped the technology can also be applied to other detector, sensor and communication systems for defence and commercial uses.
Tudor Williams, director of technology at Filtronic, said: "This opportunity not only demonstrates our technological expertise but also strengthens our commitment to supporting the 海角视频’s defence industry, its sovereign supply chain and future radar programmes. We are excited to be part of this programme."