The 18,000 sq ft accommodation, secured for a ten year term, offers the company Grade A accommodation and a central location for its 130 staff.

Capita Symonds advised on the transaction and undertook building surveying work on the new property to prepare the premises for Rightmove’s occupation. The work included a building survey and ensuring that a number of landlord works were undertaken to a specified standard.

Jonathan King, Director of Occupier Services for Capita Symonds said: “Rightmove is a valued client for Capita Symonds and we were very pleased to be able to provide multiple service lines for this instruction to best meet their property requirements. Our market knowledge of regional hubs, including Milton Keynes, ensured we were able to deliver accommodation to the client’s brief within tight timescales.”

Spirit Health Club, located at the Holiday Inn Milton Keynes, have acted as matchmakers for two of their members.  Milton Keynes Women & Work, the local charity based across the road from Spirit, were looking for a keen runner to enter the first Milton Keynes Marathon and raise sponsor money for the charity.

Janice Jones, Office Manager at Women & Work is a member at the gym and asked them to spread the word amongst their members.  The cause appealed to young runner Estevan Silva, as he was recently made redundant and knows how demoralising it can be.  He was surprised to find that Women & Work, despite their name, will also support men, so he made an appointment with a Women & Work adviser!

Women & Work’s prime focus is providing assisted job search in areas such as restructuring CVs and interview techniques to support disadvantaged women into paid employment.  With unemployment in the city currently higher than the rest of the South East region their services are becoming stretched and underfunded.  

Estevan is awaiting the outcome of his latest job interview and this time the outcome looks promising.  He is still keen to raise as much money as possible though and the easiest way to sponsor him is using a mobile phone – just text the code MKWW22 and the amount to 70070 and it gets added to your phone bill.

A less strenuous way Women & Work is raising funds is through their new Spend and Raise eStore – www.spendandraise.com/womenandwork. By shopping with the usual online retailers through the eStore, commission on purchases is paid to the charity but the cost to the buyer remains exactly the same.

Following a strategic review, Silvia Vitiello, President of Milton Keynes and North Bucks Chamber of Commerce has announced changes to the structure of the organisation, to enable it to evolve and enhance membership services at every level.

Having played an important part in the Board’s review process, Rita Spada resigned her post as Chief Executive. She had led the executive team at the Chamber for the last five years and will continue her career by developing personal business interests.

The elected Board Members of the Chamber of Commerce are directly supporting the staff at the Milton Keynes office, to deliver seamless member services, until a new Chief Executive is appointed. They are also assisting in the development of a strategic plan as a foundation for long term sustainability.

Silvia Vitiello said; “In a volatile financial climate it is essential that the Board of the Chamber of Commerce steps in to provide stability and enhanced service levels following the departure of Rita Spada. We are very proud to be accredited as part of The British Chambers of Commerce and we share their mission to make the Chamber an essential part of growing business by sharing opportunities, knowledge and expertise. Our Chamber sits at the heart of the community and our work is to provide businesses of all sizes, representing all sectors, with practical support, useful connections and valuable access to new ideas and innovations.”

Silvia continued;” There is a lot to do now and in the forthcoming year but, with the support of our current members and a drive to increase membership with improved services, we will be stronger and fitter to face the challenges ahead. We are grateful for the support of important, local business groups and working together we will make a real difference in the Milton Keynes and North Bucks area.”

It will open in the new development at Stadium MK, joining retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Primark.

Sir Philip has been closing some of his Bhs stores to reduce costs. He sold the lease to its Aylesford store in Kent to Irish toy chain Smyths Toys recently. He sold 10 Bhs stores in January 2010 to Primark and has held talks to sell another batch but no deal has yet been done.

He is also moving Arcadia brands such as Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Evans into existing Bhs stores to save rent by closing the smaller shops where leases are coming to an end.

The second phase of the Stadium MK development will be completed by the start of next season, MK Dons have confirmed.

The work, which will increase the ground’s capacity from 22,000 to 32,000, is being funded by a new £56m retail development on the site.

Stadium MK has remained a work in progress since it was opened in 2007.

The average attendance this season is 8,111 – with thehighest crowd of 10,554 – against Scunthorpe in October – over 21,000 seats short of the ground’s proposed capacity.

Northampton Saints have played Heineken Cup games in front of crowds of 21,309 and 18,231 against Ulster and Perpignan respectively.

The retail park, which will be called MK1, will include spaces for four major retailers, with Primark, Marks and Spencer, and River Island tipped to be amongst them.

Formula 1 double-world champion SebastianVettel and his Australian team-mate Mark Webber will drive through Milton Keynes to celebrate Red Bull’s back-to-back world championships.

On Saturday December 10th, both drivers will perform a demo run through the centre of the city, with team principal Christian Horner saying: “It’s great news to be able to go ahead with this event in Milton Keynes with both drivers and two cars.

“It’s been home for our factory since Red Bull entered Formula 1 in 2005 and we get excellent support from the city. It will be fantastic to be able to put on a show and give something back. I think most of the staff will be attending with their families, which I’m extremely pleased about.

“I’d like to thank the council for all their efforts and I’m looking forward to the event. It will be the first time we’ll have two cars and both of our drivers at a running show car event, so it will be a great way to finish the year.”

The drive will start at Saxon Gate, moving along Midsummer Boulevard and down to the railway station.

Whitbread has appointed Milton Keynes-based creative agency BBH to lead the overhaul three of its brands – Beefeater Grill, Brewers Fayre and Table Table, which is reported to be centring around younger customers.

David Murdin, restaurants marketing director at Whitbread said: “We are looking to build our portfolio of already successful restaurant brands to make them ‘best in class’. We want to have the best support team in place and as such have appointed BBH as we believe they are excellently placed to help us deliver this objective.”

Richard Smith, managing director of BBH Milton Keynes said: “This win provides an exciting new brief and an innovative new way of working, with Whitbread benefiting from the efficiencies of Milton Keynes delivering against the strategic framework conceived by London.”

At present Whitbread has 378 restaurants across its four well-known brands; 130 Beefeater Grill sites; 130 under the Brewers Fayre brand; 111 Table Tables; and 7 fixed-price Taybarns eateries.

According to data released from the Agency Express Property Activity Index, the UK’s residential property market bounced back in October, and Milton Keynes is leading the way.

More than half of the twenty two individual cities monitored on the Property Activity Index experienced increases in month on month house sales in October, with Milton Keynes topping the city ‘hot-spots’ with an increase of +39.3%, followed by Bristol up +35.8%, Southampton up +30.0% and Cardiff up +27.8%.

Regionally, East Anglia topped the table for new ‘For Sale’ listings, up +6.9%, the South West was up +5.8% and the South East, up +5.5%. At the other end of the regional ‘not-so-hot-spots’ table for new ‘For Sale’ listings were the North East, down -11.5%, Scotland was down -7.7% and the West Midlands, down -3.4%.

Stephen Watson Managing Director, Agency Express, said:

“In recent weeks the UK property market has been drowning in negative publicity and market speculation. Our October Index is evidence that the current ingredients of low interest rates and the low supply of well presented, realistically priced properties, can be a real recipe for success.

“Whilst I believe the UK property market still has stiff challenges ahead in 2011 and 2012, these figures reveal some encouraging signs for many regions and cities across the UK and should go some way to installing a little more consumer confidence in the housing market.”

It was the only British winner and picked up the prize alongside four other developments – three in America and one in Singapore.

The success comes after the development picked up Urban Land Institute’s Excellence Award for Europe, Middle East and Africa earlier this year.

David Cowans, Chief Executive of developer Places for People, said: “What has been achieved at Wolverton Park is a credit to all those involved and something we are extremely proud of. To win the ULI’s Global Award, beating fantastic international projects and putting Wolverton on the world stage, shows what can be done to create a truly inspirational place. I know this award will mean a great deal to the community and as the only British winner, will help reinforce the message that Milton Keynes is an area of innovative development.”

The ULI judges praised the ‘wonderful blend of old and new’ homes on offer at the scheme and particularly admired the 3-story homes built inside the Royal Train Shed building, noting the ‘quite incredible’ construction and the ‘original character and superb lighting.’ They were impressed with the way in which many of the building’s historical features have been incorporated into the new homes.

Joseph E. Brown, 2011 ULI Global Awards for Excellence jury chair, added: “The 2011 ULI Awards for Excellence recognise an exclusive set of visionary work. These projects, including Wolverton Park, adapt to existing urban environments and overcome economic challenges through creativity, demonstrating an elegant courage and grace that transcend preconceived notions and embrace the future, engage people and energize communities.”

Milton Keynes Community Foundation, an independent charity, has been awarding funding to community groups and disadvantaged people across the region for 25 years. To fund its grant making, Milton Keynes Community Foundation relies on donations from both local families and organisations who have made a long term commitment to support the city, so it is a vital link between people in Milton Keynes that are able to give and those who are most in need.

Interdirect has supported Milton Keynes Community Foundation for a number of years, with managing director and founder Nicholas Mann standing as a proud ambassador for the foundation. The redesign, which has been completed over a twelve month period, refreshes the former rigid and structured site to provide increased functionality for users and administrators. With SiteMachine, Interdirect’s bespoke content management system, providing the building blocks, Milton Keynes Community Foundation now has complete control of its website; from structure and content management to the capability to crop, place and resize images.

The Milton Keynes Community Foundation homepage has been built with ease of navigation in mind and has a fresh feel and innovative look. The design focuses on the brand’s vibrant colours, which aim to captivate and engage the charity’s audience.

With the latest stories now on the homepage, users can see what the charity is up to across the region at first glance, as well as donating to the foundation at the click of a button through the new integrated ‘Donate Now’ option displayed on each page throughout the website.

Nicholas Mann, managing director and founder of Interdirect says: “We have always supported projects across Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas that give something back to the communities in which we live and work in. Interdirect has a valuable relationship with Milton Keynes Community Foundation and will continue to support the foundation with future website developments.”

Sarah Sweet-Rowley, marketing manager at Milton Keynes Community Foundation says: “We are delighted with our new site.  We refreshed our brand at the start on this year to mark the celebration of our 25th birthday and our new website completes the final stage of this project.  We wanted a new website that was fresh, easy to use, campaign driven and on-brand, and we’re very pleased that we now have all these things and more. We greatly value our relationship with Interdirect and we extend very grateful thanks to the team behind our site.”