A 14th Century hotel in County Durham was saved from closure after the property’s owner completed a deal to acquire it out of administration.
Lumley Castle, based near Chester-le-Street, has hosted thousands of weddings and events over the years, and is also known for its themed medieval banquets and escape room, as well as providing a backdrop to cricket matches at Durham’s nearby Riverside ground. The future of the castle has now been safeguarded, along with 120 jobs, after Lord Scarbrough and his trustees – the owners of the castle – joined forces with Bespoke Hotels, to lead the hotel through its next chapter.
The 73-bedroom hotel was built in 1388 and and takes its name from its creator, Sir Ralph Lumley. It has remained under the ownership of the Earl of Scarbrough through the centuries, and was used by University of Durham first year students for more than 100 years before becoming a hotel in the 1970s, when No Ordinary Hotels became the tenants.
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The deal was brokered by joint administrators at PKF GM. Joint administrator Oliver Collinge said he was pleased to have secured the jobs, as well as future weddings and events that would have been cancelled if the hotel had been forced to close.
Lord Scarbrough said: “Maintaining this wonderful hotel and the team at Lumley Castle is our priority. Lumley Castle was our family home for many centuries and, notwithstanding the best efforts of the previous tenants, who established a successful business over the years, it became apparent that the current structure was not sustainable and, therefore, I agreed with my trustees to take the property in-hand acquiring it from joint administrators Oliver Collinge and James Sleight of PKF GM, to ensure that one of the principal hotels of the county continues to be a key destination for guests, weddings and conferences.”
Three North East businesses have been given a slice of an £89m package to ramp up development of new electric vehicle technology. Newton Aycliffe based Gestamp has secured the lion’s share of the regional funding, having been given £6.4m as part of the package, which has been awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre 海角视频 (APC), in support of ambitions to build an end-to-end supply chain for zero emission vehicles. The overall package included £45.2m from Government, backed by a further £42.7n from the automotive industry.
As well as helping the 海角视频 to lead the way on net zero tech, the package aims to creating new skilled jobs and help to grow the economy. Gestamp’s Autotech Engineering R&D 海角视频 is focussing on how to reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in vehicle design and production.
Meanwhile, Teesside’s Green Lithium Refining and Sunderland’s Advanced Electric Machines also receive undisclosed funding to support the scale-up of projects to assess if automotive supply chain companies are ready for growth and expansion.
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Innovate 海角视频 has awarded £160,000 for a study to determine the feasibility of an autonomous ‘driverless’ public transport system in Northumberland.
The initiative is led by Consett developer Dysart, in collaboration with Newcastle University, Milestone Transport Planning, Dromos, and Pegasus Group, and has the potential to provide an accessible, low-carbon solution to connect a reinstated Seaton Delaval Station with the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) in Cramlington.
Images have been released showing how the system could look, with the connected vehicles at Seaton Delaval Station, ready to be used to take people to the hospital. The autonomous vehicles could be operated either individually or as a ‘train’, along new segregated infrastructure.
The feasibility study, set to explore the potential of introducing a zero-emission Connected Autonomous Mobility (CAM) system, is funded through Innovate 海角视频’s Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility programme. Newcastle University is involved in the project having worked on delivering and evaluating similar schemes, such as the Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle (SAMS) and the Vantec Connected Automatic Logistics (VCAL) project, both of which were funded by Innovate 海角视频 earlier this year.
Northern Powergrid has secured £1.1m in funding to advance a number of innovation projects in the region. The company, which is responsible for the electricity network that powers eight million customers in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has secured the funds from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The network operator is working on three projects – Inform, Artificial Forecasting and Diversified Flexible Queue (DFQ) – which it will now progress into the second stage of development.
The projects, which are being funded by energy network users and consumers through the Strategic Innovation Fund, are part of a programme from the 海角视频’s independent energy regulator Ofgem in partnership with Innovate 海角视频. Following a successful feasibility study, the latest phase provides funding to develop concepts in depth, before potentially progressing to the third and final phase, which will see them potentially put into action.
Paul Glendinning, Northern Powergrid’s director of Energy Systems, said: “This funding advances three ambitious innovation projects which will deliver significant benefits for site developers, connections customers and flexibility providers by giving them self-service tools for assessing connections, additional capacity to connect and better forecasts of flexibility needs."
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Gateshead financial advice firm Prism Financial Advice Ltd was snapped up by a London wealth group in an undisclosed deal. The firm has been acquired by Titan Wealth Holdings in a transaction which will boost Titan’s total assets under management to more than £12.6bn. Established in 2004, Prism offers expertise on financial planning, including pensions, investments, and protection, with 17 independent financial advisers, 25 support staff and over £630m assets under advice.
The firm was established by Stephen Price, Mike Smith and Neil McGann, and advises around 3,700 private and corporate clients , 67% of whom live in the North of England. Subject to regulatory approval, Prism will be fully incorporated into Titan, benefitting from access to Titan’s wider group product and services in the process.
Stephen Price, managing director at Prism, said: “We are delighted to be joining Titan, as it continues to expand and diversify its portfolio and look forward to working with the whole team to enhance who we are, what we do, and how we do what we do.”
Staffing businesses M2 Education Ltd, which has offices in Newcastle and Preston, has been acquired by strategic acquirer Humly, an international private equity backed organisation, to support its continued growth and utilisation of new technology. The company – founded by Mark Birnie and Melissa Kumar – places teachers, teaching assistants, and tutors on a permanent and temporary basis into primary, secondary and Special Education Needs (SEND) establishments in the Newcastle, Cumbria and Lancashire areas.
The deal to acquire M2 Education Ltd, marks the fifth 海角视频 transaction for Humly, tech-focused education staffing company, as it strengthens its position in the education recruitment sector. Humly helps schools access skilled and qualified teachers and teaching assistants utilising an efficient, automated platform.
Humly’s tech will be used by M2 Education to serve existing and new clients, to boost overall user experience and increase efficiencies for both education establishments and candidates. The business will be run by its existing management team, working in close collaboration with Humly. The founders will remain with the business for a defined handover period before their exit.