Author: Rhys Gregory

Innovative design and pioneering technology helped Swansea University scoop for a top award for one of its highest-profile new buildings. [aoa id=”1″]The Active Office, which demonstrates the Active Building concept developed by SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC), was officially opened a year ago, and won the Innovation in Delivering a Sustainable Education title at the prestigious Education Buildings Wales Awards which celebrate excellence and achievement in the field.[/aoa] The building at the Bay Campus is a daily example of how to integrate innovative technologies that generate, store and release solar energy and challenges current construction methods. Designed by SPECIFIC,…

Aldi, Britain’s fifth largest and fastest growing supermarket, is set to celebrate the opening of a brand new store in Gabalfa on Thursday 4th July at 8.00am. [aoa id=”1″] Standing at 1,310 sqm of retail space, the Gabalfa store will be the seventh Aldi store in Cardiff and will be run by Store Manager, Joe Scanlon. Exclusive offers will run throughout the opening day and the first 30 customers through the door will receive a complimentary bag of fresh fruit and vegetables from Aldi’s fantastic Super 6 range. [/aoa] The new store will bring a number of job opportunities to…

Catalan Ombudsman and President of the European Ombudsman network, Rafael Ribo, addressed a seminar at Aberystwyth University last week (21st June). The event took place in advance of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ new powers coming into force in July. The event, hosted jointly by the Ombudsman Association and the International Ombudsman Institute, explored how the new powers could help improve the delivery of public services in Wales and shared best practice from other European nations. [aoa id=”1″]In July a new law comes into force which will make it easier for vulnerable and deprived members of society to complain…

Talyllyn Railway is offering free train journeys to residents of Abergynolwyn wishing to travel to or from Tywyn during the temporary closure of a road due to roadworks this week. The roadworks on the B4405 between Abergynolwyn and Bryncrug has resulted in the local bus service being curtailed between Abergynolwyn and Tywyn from Wednesday to Friday this week. Whilst the bus service is curtailed, trains are still running on the world’s first preserved railway. Stuart Williams, Talyllyn Railway’s general manager, said: “Having heard of the road closure and the temporary suspension of most of the daytime bus services between Abergynolwyn…

Winners of the 2019 Cardiff Business Awards have been announced at a lavish ceremony held at City Hall. Hosted by the broadcaster Jamie Owen, the event celebrated the achievements of many of the capital’s businesses from across a range of sectors. [aoa id=”1″]With a full house of over 400 people, 16 awards were handed out with the Cardiff Business of the Year accolade going to architectural metal building solutions business, the Euroclad Group while the Outstanding Contribution to Cardiff award went to Dr Drew Nelson OBE who, through his company IQE PLC, is building a world class compound semiconductor cluster…

In some respects, the Australian dollar (AUD) may not seem like a candidate to be one of the most popular pairing currencies for forex traders. After all, Australia is hardly one of the world’s largest countries in terms of GDP, whilst it only ranks 19th in terms of the value of its exports. However, the AUD is currently ranked as the fifth most traded currencies in the world, whilst the AUD/USD is considered to be the fourth most popular pairing in the whole of the forex market (we’ll touch further on this later). In this post, we’ll explore the economy…

Estate agent’s fees form a considerable part of the expenses of selling your property, and you might find yourself with a bill of around 2.5% of the selling price. With the average house in the UK now valued at around £220,000, this could be as much as £5,500, so selling your house without using an estate agent sounds like an attractive idea. If you are well-organised, experienced and have enough time, you can certainly sell a property yourself, but the task is not one for the fainthearted! The advantage of selling a property yourself The main advantage of selling your…

Eligible new enterprises in Caerphilly are to receive another year of grant support, thanks to UKSE and Caerphilly County Borough Council. [aoa id=”NaN”] The highly successful  Business Start Up programme, which helped 12 new businesses to launch last year, will be continuing to provide grants for qualifying ventures in 2019/20. Tata Steel subsidiary UKSE has provided a further £5000  for this year as part of its community support programme, and the organisation is looking forward to another year of working with the council to give start-ups a helping hand. [/aoa] Martin Palmer of UKSE said: ”We are very pleased to…

Ceredigion councillors have supported a motion to make Ceredigion County Council a net zero carbon local authority by 2030. The councillors supported the motion in a meeting on 20 June 2019. [aoa id=”1″]The agreed motion was based on Councillor Mark Strong’s initial motion which raised concerns about a Climate Crisis. An amendment was made to commit the council to an ambitious and specific target. Councillors also agreed that a clear plan should be developed within 12 months to achieve the net zero carbon status.[/aoa] Councillors also called on Welsh and UK Governments to provide the support needed to achieve effective…

Wales’s creative industries sector is set to benefit from a £1.8m EU funding investment in a high-level skills programme led by Aberystwyth University. The funding will support the Advanced Media Production programme, which aims to raise innovation and productivity by working with professionals in the sector, including recent graduates. As part of the programme, 155 people will be trained to exploit new technologies in media production over the next four years, including 100 to Masters or PhD level. [aoa id=”1″] The training will support a more intensive approach to research and innovation within the sector, and will help employers address…