Author: Rhys Gregory

DEVELOPERS, homeowners and the public sector are digging a new company that aims to reduce environmental damage and construction costs. [aoa id=”1″] Stop Digging! North Wales and North West is the latest venture from award-winning entrepreneur Gareth Jones, managing director of the Carbon Zero Group. The group, which also includes UK Leisure Living, has had a busy start to the year, notably in hot tub and composite decking sales. [/aoa] This new firm centres around the installation of ground screws rather than traditional methods such as concrete and cement, the manufacturing of which reportedly accounts for more than 5% of…

Brave hospital staff whose actions ensured the safety of patients during a devastating fire have received a surprise award. It was announced during the Swansea Bay University Health Board Chairman’s VIP Awards on Thursday evening, prompting a standing ovation from the audience. [aoa id=”1″]The workers from ward 12 at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital were told by Chairman Professor Andrew Davies their “calm, composed and effective training from fire marshall Pat Howells (now known as Fireman Pat)” saved patients from potentially serious injury.[/aoa] Professor Davies said he and Swansea Bay’s Chief Executive Tracy Myhill decided to honour staff as they had been…

Proud Rhondda 70-year-old wins an Inspire! Award for changing his life through learning A seventy-year-old from South Wales who spent years in a mental health institution has won a national award for adult learning. Gwyn David, from Gilfach Goch, was a resident of Hensol Hospital for more than two decades and has painful memories of a time he said left him ‘without a voice’. Now he’s picked up an Inspire! Award after discovering a passion for learning later in life. [aoa id=”1″]The Inspire! Awards are hosted each year ahead of Adult Learners’ Week – initiatives coordinated by Learning and Work…

Andrew Dix, 50, from Hay-on-Wye, Brecknockshire is taking part in the Drover Cycles Gospel Pass Everesting Challenge to help raise money for leading men’s health charity, Prostate Cancer UK. On Saturday 15th June, Andrew is hoping to raise over £1,000 by riding up and down the Gospel Pass (the highest pass in Wales) sixteen times until he has ridden the height of Mount Everest. In total Andrew will ride 8848m and 250km, that will be done as a single ride, with no sleep, taking around twenty hours to complete. [aoa id=”1″] [/aoa]Andrew, a furniture maker by trade, will be riding…

House prices in Wales continued to edge upwards according to the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Residential Market Survey for May, but surveyors remain cautious about the outlook for the next three months. [aoa id=”1″]A net a balance of 21 percent of Welsh respondents to the latest survey said the house prices had risen since March. However, the data regarding price and sales expectations over the next three months is more subdued.[/aoa] Surveyors expect price activity to be broadly flat in the three months ahead, meanwhile the net balance for sales expectations is +10, indicating that surveyors on balance…

With views over the stunning Pembrokeshire coastline, Pointz Castle Ice Cream’s new on-farm parlour offers a unique ‘cow to cone’ experience to visitors. [aoa id=”1″]Pointz Castle Ice Cream is a family collaboration spanning four generations, located on the Lawrence family’s farm located between the fishing village of Solva and the expansive sandy beach of Newgale, on the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.[/aoa] Richard and Gill Lawrence and their son William, daughter Rachael, daughter-in-law Lydia, and son-in-law Thomas all bring a range of skills which enabled them to establish and run the new business. While the critical job of tasting the final…

The University of South Wales (USW) has opened the Wales’ first dedicated university incubator at its Cardiff Campus. [aoa id=”1″]The new facility – the Startup Stiwdio (Stiwdio Sefydlu) – has been established at the former Students’ Union to help encourage and support entrepreneurship among its student population, and provide a safe haven in which they can test and develop enterprising ideas.[/aoa] Through initial financial support from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ (HEFCW) Civic Engagement Fund, it is aiming to deliver pre-commercial incubation facilities to 150 graduate-led SMEs over the next five years, through the provision of 18 desks, …

Students will be able to take advantage of learning on both sides of the Atlantic as a pioneering partnership between Swansea University and colleagues at Trent University in Canada is extended. [aoa id=”1″]The latest collaboration between the two institutions follows on from the development of a dual Law degree – which welcomes its first cohort of students in September – and will open up opportunities in the fields of Science and Engineering.[/aoa] It sees students spending two years of their first degree at the Ontario university before coming to Wales to study Chemical Engineering and going on to graduate with…

Food and drink businesses will be among those who can apply to have a place on the Aberystwyth Promenade this summer. The council’s Cabinet approved proposals to tender out parts of the promenade and beach for a trial period during the summer of 2019. [aoa id=”1″]After negotiating changes to the exclusivity of use of a section of the Promenade, the council has received a number of new enquiries for longer term use of the prom for seating areas and food and drink sales. There have also been enquiries for selling seafood; a food van and ice-cream sales on the beach.[/aoa]…

Welsh law firm, Berry Smith, is celebrating the success of its commercial property team, which has recently been shortlisted for the third time in the Property Law Firm of the Year Award category as part of the Insider Wales Property Awards, set to take place on 13 June. Led by partners Martin Pursall and Chris Jones plus consultant Roger Berry, the commercial property department has a total of 15 team members. Speaking of the nomination, Berry Smith partner, Martin Pursall, said: “We are delighted to be nominated for this award for the third time as I truly believe that this…