00:00Expansion Deloitte, handover for a supercomputer facility and a new coffee chain launches.
00:06That's all coming up in today's business briefing.
00:15Well Ben, morning.
00:16Morning.
00:17So we all enjoy finding out about new coffee shops that are opening in our region.
00:23You've got news of a new chain that's launching in Wales.
00:26Yes, so we've got a catering entrepreneur.
00:30He's created 600 jobs in 10 years and he's revealed his latest venture, which is Square and Fair.
00:38So it's a coffee and sandwich outlet and that will be starting with an outlet in Cardiff's historic arcades.
00:47Oh yeah, they're a very historic, lovely looking building.
00:51Yes, so Nick Collins, he set up Workplace, Wedding and School Catering Company Clever Chefs in 2015 and he's built it up to sales of £16 million.
01:03Right.
01:04Across 100 sites last year.
01:06So already successful.
01:07In that area.
01:08And now he's planning to add to it with his coffee and sandwich outlet and he's told inside of the eatery would provide square sandwiches and fair trade coffee.
01:19And the first brand is expected to open in Royal Arcade Cardiff in the summer.
01:24Right, OK.
01:25And the second will then open at the Smash Padel Sports Facility, which is set to open in Calendaft Fields later this year.
01:34Right.
01:35And he was speaking at an inside a round table discussion and he's also a rising star as well.
01:41I see, so some real good pedigree there.
01:43And just starting out in Wales, but of course I'm sure there's scope there to expand.
01:47Yes, absolutely.
01:48Yes, absolutely.
01:49There's actually a new coffee shop opening at our building.
01:51Yes.
01:52Which seems you've got tongues right in, doesn't it?
01:53I must try that.
01:54I know there's a couple around Manchester that we both enjoy, like Kat Sawries and Philpots as well.
02:00Philpots as well.
02:01So if they can sort of, if this venture can match them.
02:05Yeah, I do feel like, you know, they can really tap into the office market.
02:08And on that note, I believe you have another story involving Deloitte.
02:13I do, yes.
02:14So Deloitte, they're investing, big four accountancy firm, of course, they're investing in their
02:21tech capabilities, identified a niche there, I suspect.
02:24And they're going to create four new tech hubs in Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle and also in Belfast.
02:33Yes.
02:34Now, the firm has said that they're going to initially have about 750 employees, sort
02:41of tech talent in those sites.
02:43But they're going for it because they say that they plan to get that up to about 1,500
02:47in three years' time.
02:48So it's a big investment there.
02:51Yeah, big investment and clearly identified somewhere they think they can stand out.
02:54I think it follows on from the news announced last week about the civil service jobs.
03:00Yeah, more jobs to the regions.
03:02More jobs in the regions, yes.
03:03Absolutely.
03:04So that was really good to see.
03:05Yes.
03:06And all this talk of tech, you've got sort of the high end of tech with the news of a
03:11supercomputer facility.
03:12Yes.
03:13So are you familiar with Daresbury Laboratory?
03:16Yes.
03:17A lot of science research development goes on there.
03:19Yes.
03:20For those who might not know, it's midway between Liverpool and Manchester.
03:22Yeah, it's kind of Cheshire, Liverpool City region border area.
03:26Yeah.
03:27Kind of like M56.
03:28Yeah.
03:29So it's been handed over following its completion.
03:33And the main contractor, Russell WBHO, big name, has completed the construction of the
03:39facility.
03:40It's 33,000 square feet and it's been brought forward on time and budget.
03:45And it's now ready to host what is described as the latest supercomputing, artificial intelligence,
03:52AI and quantum technologies.
03:55So the 210 million Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation programme is supporting
04:02the centre.
04:03And Arcadis are the project consortium.
04:07You're struggling with a word salad there, Ben.
04:10I must say they are quite sort of grand titles.
04:13Yeah.
04:14But really exciting news from Northwestern.
04:16It's obviously a big area as well, isn't it?
04:18Yeah, definitely.
04:19Around AI.
04:20And it's also something I think it's important that the UK has sovereignty on so that we can
04:24sort of rely on our own supercomputing talents and so on.
04:27Yes.
04:28So that's great to see.
04:29A lot of these stories touch on property and this week it's going to be really sort of
04:33property focused with UK Reef starting out in Leeds today.
04:37We'll have a team of reporters on the ground so please do go and badger them if you're also
04:42there, tell them your news.
04:44And the festival's got underway with UK Reef itself has sort of done a survey, a huge survey,
04:50more than 10,000 respondents.
04:52And they found that despite all the turmoil, you know, with the conflict in Ukraine, we've
04:59had the cost of living crisis.
05:01All sorts.
05:02More recently we've, you know, we've had the tariffs.
05:05But despite that, apparently the property market confidence is, is, is, is, is let up
05:11in terms of.
05:12Good to see.
05:13I know, I know from my own patches, like Southwest, there'll be a great Southwest pavilion
05:18there and they'll be looking at the Celtic Sea.
05:23Right.
05:24Okay.
05:25Floating offshore wind.
05:26So there's all sorts going on across the region.
05:27And what gets me as well Ben is they've all got different specialties, you know, so that's,
05:32as you say, there's offshore wind, that then there'll be people who'll be roasting about
05:36their, you know, the sort of tech talent that they have, regeneration, devolution.
05:41So lots going on.
05:42Yeah.
05:43And that probably explains why this survey was so resoundingly sort of positive and by
05:47the same sentiment.
05:48You've got 16,000 delegates there as well.
05:50Yeah, 16,000 delegates.
05:51So it's, it's, it's growing year on year.
05:53So it's great to see.
05:55Well, arguably bigger than Mippin as well.
05:57Well, you know, I think that maybe they're sort of different targets now.
05:59Yeah.
06:00Maybe the UK audience is looking at UK Reef thinking whether it's a train ride or a plane
06:05ride.
06:06And, um, but clearly, uh, appetite there for both of them.
06:09So yeah, keep your eye out.
06:10We're doing newsletters each and every afternoon of the festival.
06:13So keep your eye out for those.
06:15Uh, and to find out more about the stories we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com.
06:19There you can subscribe to our newsletters.
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