Author: Rhys Gregory

Cardiff headquartered MSS Group, who operate environmental, facilities management and compliance contracts across the UK, have filed their year-end accounts, showing record growth in profit and turnover across the group. For the year ending 31st March 2020, the company returned a gross profit of 34% with a record pre-tax profit of £5.2m, the results were further boosted by an 89% increase in annual turnover on the previous year, from £15 million to £28.5 million. The growth has involved significant client wins across both public and private sectors in Wales, and across the South West of England. Speaking on the results,…

Plans are being made for significant work that will help deliver Swansea city centre regeneration plans. The overnight course of work will switch eight key roads from one-way traffic to two-way. The improvement, being planned and managed by Swansea Council, will mean that the £12m Kingsway Infrastructure Project will be closer to completion. Corresponding work is seeing the carriageways resurfaced at night. Council leader Rob Stewart said: “The major overnight operation to make The Kingsway area largely two-way is due to take place – weather and other circumstances permitting – on the Saturday night/Sunday morning of July 25/26. “Council project…

National Dance Company Wales (NDCWales) have announced that on Friday 24 July – the day that should have been the Opening Ceremony for the 2020 Olympics in Japan – the Company will be showing its heartwarming, joyful, highly acclaimed dance piece Dream, by renowned choreographer Christopher Bruce CBE, on Facebook and YouTube. NDCWales will be broadcasting on Facebook and YouTube the 23-minute film of Dream, which was originally commissioned as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. NDCWales wants to mark what would have been the start of the 2020 Olympics by offering an Olympics experience through dance. Dream is full…

New research has revealed when it comes to flying the largest of birds don’t rely on flapping to move around. Instead they make use of air currents to keep them airborne for hours at a time. The Andean condor – the world’s heaviest soaring bird which can weigh in at up to 15kg – actually flaps its wings for one per cent of its flight time. The study is part of a collaboration between Swansea University’s Professor Emily Shepard and Dr Sergio Lambertucci in Argentina, that uses high-tech flight-recorders on Andean condors. These log each and every wingbeat and twist…

Restaurants and other establishments serving food for on premises consumption can now sign up to a new government initiative aimed at protecting jobs in the hospitality industry and encouraging people to safely return to dining out. The Eat Out to Help Out registration page went live yesterday morning on GOV.UK, allowing businesses to join the scheme announced last week by Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Restaurants, bars, cafes and other establishments who use the scheme will offer a 50% reduction, up to a maximum of £10 per person, to all diners who eat and/or drink-in throughout August. Customers…

Since COVID-19 appeared, we have had to adapt our lifestyles almost overnight, but as lockdown restrictions begin to ease, many of us will be heading out more. If you are driving your car to go shopping or to go to work during the pandemic, then you need to make sure you keep the inside of it clean and germ-free. This will reduce the risk of the disease spreading to you, amongst your household, to loved ones, and to the people you pass on the street. Today, we will be taking a look at the things you should do in order…

An artist impression showing the new, outdoor, covered, eating area planned for Cardiff’s Castle Street has been released by Cardiff Council.  The scheme is part of a wider range of measures being put in place in the city centre to increase useable, outdoor space for the hospitality sector which is trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The new hospitality area will allow businesses to trade safely insocially-distanced outdoor settings. Visitors will be able to order food and drinks for delivery from a selection of restaurants and cafes in the city centre via an app. Work on asphalting…

The Welsh Government has today published updated guidance to support schools prior to the return of all pupils in September. Last Thursday, the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced that all learners would be able to return to schools in the autumn. The guidance will supports schools, local authorities and settings to implement full operations in the autumn, including new guidance on contact groups. The Welsh Government will make £29 million available to ‘recruit, recover and raise standards’, in response to the pandemic. Kirsty Williams, the Minister for Education, said: “This updated guidance reflects the latest medical and scientific advice, striking…

Wales must have full borrowing powers from Westminster to build a green recovery, says the Future Generations Commissioner. Sophie Howe wants Welsh Government to use the money it could have borrowed for the scrapped £1.6bn M4 Relief Road and invest it in green housing, jobs and infrastructure. This week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to build the 13-mile motorway around Newport, despite the issue being the responsibility of the Welsh Government. Wales’ First Minister announced the project wasn’t going ahead more than a year ago. Mark Drakeford rejected the proposals last June, over environmental concerns after the…

Welsh medtech firm awarded Welsh and UK government grants to aid Covid-19 test development Leading Welsh medtech firm Bond Digital Health has received more than £200,000 in government grants to help it develop its connectivity and data platform for a new Covid-19 test. The Cardiff-based company was awarded two major grants in the space of a month for its innovative Transform technology – £177,979 from the Welsh Government and £49,796 from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency. Bond is part of an international consortium that is producing a new diagnostic test for patients suspected of having Covid-19. The company…