Milton Keynes business news | mkcommerce.co.uk

Caldecotte Business Park to welcome Rightmove

Rightmove plc has signed up for new headquarters at Turnberry House on the Caldecotte Business Park. 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 ...

Spirit Health Club plays matchmaker

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 ...

Rita Spada resigns from MK Chamber

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 ...

Sir Philip Green using new Milton Keynes development to merge brands

Sir Philip Green's Arcadia retail group has signed up for its first new store to combine its Bhs homewares range with his Arcadia brands. 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 ...

£56m plan announced to increase Stadium MK capacity

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 ...

Vettel and Webber to drive through MK city centre

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 ...

Whitbread appoint Milton Keynes agency to overhaul brands

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 ...

MK leading as UK house market bounces back

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 ...

Wolverton Park scoops international award

Wolverton Park has beaten competition from across the world to land the Urban Land Institute Global Award for Excellence at a ceremony in Los Angeles. 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 ...

Interdirect re-design charity website

Salford-based media agency Interdirect has re-designed the website for local grant-making charity, Milton Keynes Community Foundation. 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 ...

Ultra-fast broadband trials in Milton Keynes

BT is inviting businesses in Milton Keynes to take part in a trial of its up to 100Mbps fibre optic broadband service. Companies served by the Bradwell Abbey exchange are being asked to test drive its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) product, which also offers maximum upload rates of 15Mbps. Employers in 12...

German solar company opens offices in Linford Wood

German company SMA Solar Technology has opened its first operation in the UK, settling in new offices in the Linford Wood Business Centre. For over 30 years, SMA has been the worldwide market and technology leader for solar inverters – the most important component of every photovoltaic (PV) solar power...

Milton Keynes Council have deferred plans to build a casino in the Xscape building. At a development control meeting on October 13th, the Council stalled on a decision as details it asked for two years ago had not been presented. Outline planning permission was granted back in 2009, though this was subject...

Domino's Pizza turnover £1m in one day's online trading

Kingston-based Domino’s Pizza had a record day in online sales on Saturday [October 8, 2011], taking over £1million in sales through its various web platforms. Of the £1million of orders, 13% were taken through mobile devices. Domino’s Chief Executive, Chris Moore, said: “When we launched...

Bletchley Park Trust Secures £4.6M Heritage Lottery Fund

A landmark victory for the Bletchley Park Trust is today announced with a grant of £4.6 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards the regeneration of Bletchley Park. The investment will enable the restoration of iconic Codebreaking Huts 1, 3 and 6 and create a world-class visitor centre...

SEMPLEP appoints Dr Ann Limb as new Chair

After an extensive search and high profile recruitment programme, Dr Ann Limb has been appointed as the new chair of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP). Rod J Calvert OBE who led the Nominations Committee said that, “ SEMLEP were impressed by Ann’s leadership abilities...

MK restaurant Taipan in 2012 Good Food Guide

The Good Food Guide has recently contacted local Chinese restaurant ‘Taipan’ to inform them they have been included in their prestigious 2012 book, apparently the only restaurant in Milton Keynes to be in the Guide this year. The Good Food Guide has been written by restaurant / food critics since...

Habitat, the home & furnishings brand, acquired by Milton Keynes based Home Retail Group, has announced the appointment of Clare Askem, to a new role as Managing Director. Clare was previously Director of Strategic Development for Home Retail Group. As Managing Director, Clare will have overall...

Network Rail to create over 3,000 jobs in MK

Milton Keynes MPs Iain Stewart and Mark Lancaster joined Network Rail today to kick off a year-long recruitment campaign to fill hundreds of new roles at the company’s new national centre. More than 3,000 people will be based at the landmark building when it opens next summer. While many of these will...

A number of major events held during July have really helped to boost the Milton Keynes economy. From the Foo Fighters’ concerts at The National Bowl and the JLS concert at Stadium:MK, to the Super Bike World Championships and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Milton Keynes welcomed an exceptional...