Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 3rd April 2025 - video Dailymotion

Insider Media

Laurence and Daniel discuss funding for a £119m scheme in South Wales, an entrepreneur celebrating a landmark anniversary and a new Ikea.

Transcript

00:00Funding for a £119m scheme in South Wales, an entrepreneur celebrating a landmark anniversary

00:08and a new IKEA. That's all coming up in today's Business Briefing.

00:17My name is Laurence Kilgannon. My name is Daniel Zambartas.

00:21Well, morning Dan. So, we've got some interesting news coming from Wales about a major sort

00:27of investment financing deal, so perhaps you can tell us more.

00:29Quite an exciting investment. Aviva Investors are going to be funding the construction of

00:34two new campus developments for the Cardiff and Vale College in South Wales. The campuses,

00:39which will provide specialised education facilities to about 3,000 students each year, are going

00:44to be built at two locations, the Barry Waterfront Campus and the Advanced Technology Centre

00:49near Cardiff Airport. The campuses will include classrooms, dining areas and specialised facilities

00:54for subjects like manufacturing, robotics and renewable technologies. Construction

00:59is expected to finish by the 2027-28 academic year, so that's quite an exciting investment

01:04for Wales and for Barry, which I'm actually planning to visit in July.

01:08Oh, fantastic. You're going there, are you? Yeah, for the first time. I've never been.

01:12Are you Gavin and Stacey fans? I know that's a huge fan.

01:15Me and my girlfriend both are and that's why we're going. We're actually going to do the

01:18Gavin and Stacey tour. Oh, magnificent. I actually wonder if the

01:23show helps the university, because I remember there was talk back in the day that Cream,

01:27the nightclub in Liverpool, had a major impact on people putting applications in to go to

01:32the university there. I wouldn't be surprised. It's got such a cult following that I bet

01:37it has had an impact. Exactly. Well, they'll be getting great facilities

01:40for whoever does go there, so good story. Well, as you know, entrepreneurialism is sort

01:45of at the heart of everything we cover here at Insider. I spoke to a really interesting

01:50entrepreneur recently for a story that's run today, and that was Rob Oates of ArbTech,

01:57an ecology consultancy, sort of tree surgery, biodiversity surveys, that sort of thing.

02:03And he told me how the company which he established 20 years ago is on track to turn

02:08over £100 million by the end of the decade. But it was remarkable. He said that, you know,

02:15obviously very passionate about the business that he does, the ecology, the surveys, the work

02:22they do with housing developers, etc. But his biggest sort of enthusiasm was the actual process

02:29of building a company, which I think you often find that with entrepreneurs, the excitement of

02:33setting objectives and achieving them. Because he actually said that when he was starting out

02:3820 years ago now, he would be delivering pizzas in the evening to pay the rent. But now with

02:45the £100 million turnover target in sight, it's all come to fruition. What a journey he's been on.

02:50Yeah, no, absolutely fantastic. And also gives you an idea of the companies that are out there,

02:54you know, someone who's doing ecology surveys. Of course, you know, all the reports that we cover

03:01on planning applications, they all need to have these various bits of reports to identify what

03:07needs to be done for any particular scheme. So that's what his business works on.

03:12Well, fantastic. That's a really good piece, actually.

03:14Yeah, no, really interesting. Now, away from that and into the world of sports,

03:19something that we've spoken a lot about on the briefing.

03:21It is a good old paddle. Plans have been approved for Sheffield City Centre's first indoor paddle

03:28club. The co-operator, Club de Paddle, will bring the facility to the historic Cannon Brewery site

03:33in Neepsend. The project, developed by Capital & Centric, has received approval from Sheffield

03:39City Council and will transform the brewery into five indoor paddle courts, a club shop and a

03:44coffee bar as well. So I'm actually quite familiar with Club de Paddle. When I played

03:50paddle in Manchester last month, they got a site in Manchester as well.

03:53Ah, right. So you do get smaller ones, but you get ones who've got a national life

03:57footprint. So are you a good player?

04:00I wasn't that good, to be honest. But I think it's something that you need to practice a lot

04:03to really get into.

04:04Tell me, and I'm sure many of the audience, is it power, sort of finesse? What's the key skills?

04:09Well, what I've learned is it's all about anticipation because the ball, it's quite a

04:13small court, but it's got these walls and people can hit it straight into the wall quite flat,

04:18and you've got to anticipate where it's going to bounce.

04:20So quite like squash then in that way.

04:21It is quite similar, which I've never played either, so no surprise I struggled.

04:25Well, great to see it expanding and great to see, because of course, indoor court's key to the UK

04:30with, unfortunately, our weather's absolutely glorious at the moment.

04:33It doesn't last forever.

04:36Well, to finish, are you a fan of Ikea, Dan?

04:40I am, actually. I quite enjoy going around, the different designs.

04:43I think most people do. Here in the North West, we've got the one in Warrington, and you go for

04:50one item, I don't know, maybe a sort of stool, and then come back with a new cabinet.

04:54But it's always a good day. It's a day out, often. But there is going to be a new,

05:00actually, a smaller store. So maybe not the full day out, but certainly-

05:04Half day out.

05:05Yeah. It's a good experience, and it's opening up in Chester.

05:09The Swedish retailer is opening on the Greyhound Retail Park,

05:12and that's in a former home-based site. So great news for home improvement people,

05:16people moving house-

05:18Boys ain't excited.

05:19In the Chester, North Wales, North West area. So that'll be good to see.

05:25Anyhow, to find out more about the stories we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com.

05:29There you can find out how to subscribe to our newsletters, you can subscribe to our magazines,

05:34and you can also find out about upcoming events. That's all from us. See you next time.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 3rd April 2025

Category

Transcript

Recommended