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Jennifer and Laurence talk about a major investment in Northern Ireland, a new hotel at a site with links to a pioneer in land speed records and an energy services deal in Northern Ireland.

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00:00A major investment in North Yorkshire, an energy services deal in Northern Ireland and

00:05some positive news from the wider economy. That's all coming up in today's business briefing.

00:16My name is Lawrence Colganan. And I'm Jennifer O'Keefe.

00:19So morning, Jen. How are you today? Very good, thank you. How are you?

00:23I'm fine, thank you. And I understand you've got some really exciting news from North Yorkshire

00:27to tell us about. I do indeed, yes.

00:29So Schneider Electric, that is a French multinational company in North Yorkshire that specializes

00:38in digital automation and energy management. So they have announced today that they're

00:43investing £42 million into a new manufacturing site in Scarborough. So the investment would

00:51create 200 jobs, which the company said is needed to meet the increased demand for electric

00:58equipment to drive the UK's move towards cleaner energy. The site is almost triple

01:06the size of Schneider's existing facility. Right, so they are already based there, are

01:10they? Yeah.

01:11This is a big expansion. Exactly. The plant is expected to be net zero

01:15in scope one and two emissions when it's open early 2025.

01:19Right, OK. And I saw the government were on there hailing the news. So positive all round.

01:24Exactly, yes. Absolutely. Good to see. Well, yes, here at Insider, we cover major

01:30sort of investments like the one Jen's just described, but also some smaller investments

01:33catch our eye. And one of those was in Southport, where JD Weatherspoon, everyone knows is the

01:39major pub chain. Well, they're investing in a new hotel in the town. They have a current

01:45pub, the Sir Henry Seagrave, and they're going to develop above that, develop about 30 rooms.

01:52And the reason the story caught my eye was actually because of Sir Henry himself. He

01:58was one of these sort of, you know, from the 1920s, sort of adventurer, pioneer. And he

02:04set a new land speed record on Birkdale Sands, which is near Southport. So the pub sort of

02:10recognises his achievements. That was in the interestingly named Sunbeam Lady Bird. Yeah,

02:17so it's great to see his legacy living on. And I'm sure that will help with Southport's

02:21tourism offering and so on. Now, away from Southport, over to the Irish Sea, Jen, you've

02:28got some news from Northern Ireland for us. I do indeed, yes. So up in Belfast in County

02:33Antrim, Refresh and I, that is an energy services business, and they call themselves a one-stop

02:39shop for homeowners in reducing their carbon emissions. So they offer products and services

02:44to homeowners across Northern Ireland to help with making their homes more energy efficient

02:51and to reduce their carbon footprint. Is that things like solar panels, heat pumps? Exactly.

02:56Yeah. So the company announced that it has secured a £200,000 loan from the investment

03:03fund for Northern Ireland. And the deal was facilitated by White Rock. Our friends of

03:08Insider. Excellent. Exactly. So the company said the loan would help to accelerate growth

03:14and to be able to maintain the momentum it's kept since opening in 2021. So in the last

03:20two years, it has gone from a startup to now employing over 35 people and with an annual

03:27turnover of £4 million. Fantastic. So hopefully that will provide a platform to go even further

03:32up. Well, great news. Great news. Well, Northern Ireland theme to the next item, actually, because

03:39in some good news for the wider economy, the Halifax has announced that August was the

03:45highest amount for house prices in two years. And that growth was actually at its fastest in

03:51Northern Ireland. So it's good to see that house prices going up. So I think that's an indicator

03:56of the wider economy, how it's performing. Wales also enjoyed growth and the most expensive houses,

04:02Jenny, are you going to guess where the most expensive houses were? I would say London. Yes,

04:06by some significant amount. But they were also on the rise as well. So some good news there.

04:12Anyhow, to find out more about the stories we've been speaking about today,

04:15go to insidermedia.com. You can also go there to subscribe to our newsletters,

04:20find out more about our upcoming events, and you can also subscribe to our magazines.

04:25That's everything from us today. See you next time. Bye.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 9th September

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