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 ...

Argos to recruit 12,000 temporary workers over Christmas

Argos has launched its annual Christmas recruitment campaign and will be seeking to employ 12,000 festive helpers to work in its stores across the country this festive season. With unemployment figures reported as reaching 2.49 million, the announcement is welcome news in a struggling job market. With...

thecentre:mk have been recognised for groundbreaking sustainability initiatives, being ranked 15th in the UK as one of The Sunday Times Best Green Companies. thecentre:mk also picked up two awards for Best Small firm with higher environmental impact and outstanding environmental performance. The Sunday...

thecentre:mk has announce that its anchor store, House of Fraser, will undergo a complete refurbishment due to complete in the Autumn. House of Fraser will be subject to a £4.5 million investment, which will create a premium shopping environment. The existing store will be significantly upgraded,...

Woodfines Solicitors held a charity fundraising event at Girton College on Thursday 12th May to raise funds for the Cambridge Fund for the Prevention of Disease (CAMPOD). Performing to over 100 guests from both the Cambridge business community was the highly acclaimed all male acapella group Out of...

After five years as CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust Simon Greenish will be retiring later this year. In his five years leading the Trust, Simon has transformed what was a badly performing organisation into a thriving business with a high and growing profile and now recognised as one of the most important...

Wayside open new BMW and Mini dealership

The Wayside Group opened a new BMW & Mini dealership in Milton Keynes on March 8th. The new development, at the junction of Childs Way and Northfield Drive, features a 16 new car showroom for BMW, together with a used car facility displaying over 100 cars inside and out. The Mini showroom extends...

Milton Keynes has two firms featured in a list of Britain’s top 100 private equity-backed companies, measured by profit growth over the last two years of available accounts. Schools operator Cognita, based in Fox Milne, was the top Milton Keynes business, weighing in at number 31 on the Sunday...

Plans to close Tesco’s Fenny Lock distribution centre could put hundreds of jobs at risk, a union has warned. The supermarket is closing its site and transferring the work to a new centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire. All the existing 764 staff will be offered the chance to work at the new centre,...

Direct Golf open new store in Milton Keynes

Direct Golf UK, the leading multi-channel golf retailer, has expanded their portfolio to 17 stores with the acquisition of four new sites across the UK. Following the purchase of Tramgear Limited, a Nevada Bob’s franchisee, Direct Golf UK will open their newest store in Milton Keynes with a Grand Opening...

Adrian James, The President of Milton Keynes Rotary Club, has joined Cellular Trade Accessories, the Aylesbury-based handsfree car kits and accessories wholesaler, as the company’s new Sales Director. Adrian has extensive experience in the mobile communications industry, having held senior positions...