Manufacturing companies across the West of England have increased output and investment over recent months, resulting in new jobs and a brighter outlook than most other regions of the UK. The upbeat picture emerged from a major survey published today which also showed the slump in the oil price has had little impact so...
Barclays has become the latest blue-chip company to sponsor Business Showcase South West 2015 – the region’s biggest business exhibition which returns for a second year in May. Barclays joins First Great Western and Enterprise Rent-a-car in sponsoring the event staged again at Bristol’s Colston Hall. Following last year’s successful debut as a one-day...
Intellectual property law firm EIP is hosting an evening seminar in Bath next month on how to plan an effective innovation strategy from product concept to commercialisation. Speakers include EIP partners Gary Moss, Paula Flutter and Richard Gordon-Brown. They will be joined by James Lamb of Bath-based industrial designers Lamb Industries and Graham Maile...
The Indian market will be demystified and the commercial opportunities outlined at a seminar for West of England firms next week. Speaking at the event in Castle Combe, near Chippenham, on Thursday March 5, will be Siddharth Mukne, business adviser at the UK India Business Council, and Waseem Hussain, internationally renowned expert on doing...
A future Labour government would support business in the West of England – not damage it – by creating a more prosperous Britain and investing in skills and new technologies, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said this week. Launching the party’s business plan for the region, he dismissed suggestions that Labour was anti-business, insisting it...
Alliance Pharma, the Chippenham-based speciality pharmaceutical company, has started the search for a new finance director following the announcement that Richard Wright, who has been in the role for nearly eight years, is to leave. Mr Wright, pictured, who will remain at the highly-acquisitive company until May 31, is to pursue other interests, the...
Business West, the organisation behind Bath Chamber of Commerce, will continue to be responsible for helping firms across the West of England to export after being awarded the contract to run the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) services in the region for another five years. Business West, which has held the contract for the...
Bath firms are greeting positive economic news, such as the latest fall in unemployment, with “faint alarm bells rather than celebratory cheers”, according to the region’s largest business organisation. Business West, which runs Bath Chamber of Commerce, said politicians should now focus on the “significant hurdles” that remained to achieving a lasting recovery. Today’s...
The South West Innovative Manufacturing forum (SWIM) has been relaunched after the regional office of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO forged a new collaboration with Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. Lloyds Bank has joined founders BDO and existing partner EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, to drive forward the regional initiative that promotes and celebrates the...
Research from the University of Bath’s Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering has resulted in the UK’s first affordable straw homes going on sale this week. The houses are an affordable, low carbon and fuel-efficient means of housebuilding with fuel bills up 90% cheaper than an equivalent brick-built house. Part-desinged by Bath-based Integral Engineering...
