Steve Perez, Chairman of Global Brands and owner of Casa Hotel and Peak Edge Hotel, is to be awarded an Honorary Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Derby.

Each year, notable people with a strong connection to the University, the city and county, who have made a valuable contribution in their field, are chosen to receive an Honorary Degree at the annual Award Ceremonies – a highlight of the University’s calendar.

Steve Perez is chairman of Global Brands, a leading independent drinks business, and owner of Casa Hotel and Peak Edge Hotel in Chesterfield. In 2002, Global Brands was the UK’s fourth fastest growing company and Steve was voted CBI Entrepreneur of the Year. Since then, Steve has expanded into property, farming and hotels.

Steve is amongst a number of notable people to receive an honorary degree including the Bishop of Derby Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern and international rugby star Jonathan Joseph.

Thousands of students, guests and VIPs are expected to attend the Award Ceremonies, which will take place from Wednesday, July 18 to Friday, July 20, 2018 at Derby Arena.

Professor Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Derby, said:-

“I am looking forward to welcoming all of these special guests to our Award ceremonies in July, where they will have the pleasure of sharing the stage with our fantastic, hard-working students.

“The standard of Honorary Award recipients this year is excellent. Each one of these notable people has made an exceptional contribution in their field and to our region, and I am delighted to confer them with these honorary awards alongside our graduating students.”

Central Technology (CT), a leading IT Managed Services, Cloud and Security Compliance organisation based in Chesterfield, is celebrating a move to a brand new fully refurbished 11,500 sq. ft. location following major growth and success.

A stone’s throw from its current office space, CT will be operating from the newly named building, ‘Quantum Point’, Sheepbridge Works, from the 1^st June.

The new location is laying the foundations to accommodate the continued growth of mid-market customers and partner businesses, providing a stronger presence in the region, and a more flexible venue for meetings, events and training.  Universal Office Products, alongside OPUS 4, Classic Lifts, Electron TSL and ASI Security Systems have collectively waved their magic wand and transformed the old GKN building to deliver a refreshingly brilliant office space with open plan office work stations, breakout rooms and a large training centre.

Flooded with natural light, fresh new interiors and over 50 parking spaces, the new CT location demonstrates the organisations investment to provide the right work environment for its talented teams, loyal customers and partners.

Ian Snow, Managing Director at CT, commenting on the move, said:-

“Moving to this new office is a very proud moment for me. It’s amazing to see just how quickly we are growing and that is evidence of our success and hard work. The new office substantially increases the amount of desk space we have, providing the opportunity for both future growth and the strategic acquisitions we have forecast.

“We are continuing a huge recruitment drive in operations and sales in readiness for the delivery of our future plans and we believe the impressive new office space will help us continue to attract the best talent nationwide.”

CT will be having an official opening later this summer where they will be offering customers and partners a chance to visit the offices and raise a glass as they move forwards to exciting times together.

Chesterfield based businesses Evolution Funding and eBECS have been announced as number 25 and number 97 respectively in the North’s Fastest Growing Tech Companies, compiled by Tech Nation.

Chesterfield based manufacturer , Cathelco, are to extend their geographic footprint and expertise in cleantech systems following acquisition by Evac Group.

Cathelco, a leading global manufacturer of equipment for ships and offshore installations, today announced that it has been acquired by Finland-based Evac Group, the world’s leading provider of integrated waste, wastewater, and water management systems for the marine, offshore, and building industries.

Cathelco has established relationships with Evac’s existing customer groups in the marine and offshore industry, including ship owners, shipyards, fleet managers, rig owners and operators, oil companies, navies, and marine architects and has an excellent product fit with Evac’s portfolio. The acquisition gives Cathelco the opportunity to further expand its geographic footprint and expertise in cleantech systems while also opening up new business opportunities.

With the acquisition, Cathelco’s pipework anti-fouling, hull corrosion protection, fresh water generation, and ballast water treatment systems will become part of the Evac Complete Cleantech Solution. This includes both standard and customized vacuum collection, wastewater treatment, and dry and wet waste management systems, as well as fresh water generation systems for environments ranging from the world’s largest cruise vessels and naval and cargo vessels to small work boats.

Justin Salisbury, Group Managing Director of Cathelco Group, says:-

“Our already broad geographic footprint and expertise in cleantech systems will be augmented considerably by Evac’s broad portfolio, which will enable our customers to meet all their needs from a single reliable partner.”

Tomi Gardemeister, Evac Group CEO and President, says:-

“An extended cleantech system offering, together with an enlarged sales and service network, will allow us to offer a more comprehensive range of solutions and services to our customers. This acquisition also provides a tremendous opportunity for Evac and Cathelco to work together to become a leader in the field of ballast water treatment systems.”

Small to medium Chesterfield businesses are being invited to access expert help to attract, select, recruit and train graduates through a city region-wide funded scheme.

The Sheffield City Region RISE graduate recruitment programme is delivered in partnership with the SCR Growth Hub, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the private sector.

RISE is a free graduate recruitment programme to help SMEs based in in the nine regions of the SCR (including Chesterfield, Dronfield, NE Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Dales) to find the best graduate talent for their business. The project will write an advert for the graduate placement, advertise the role across the UK and put candidates through a variety of recruitment tasks. Businesses can also access line manager training, interview guidance and toolkits.

It aims to connect growing businesses with ambitious graduates – and take the hassle out of recruitment. Local organisations that have been involved in the project to date include Chesterfield Champions Casa Hotel,  Global Brands and BHP  Chartered Accountants.

Rachel Moss, Regional Head of Projects, Today Translations, said:-

“RISE took the time to understand our requirements and provided excellent candidates and an extremely positive interview experience.”

Sinead O’Neill, HR Manager, Magtec:, said:-

“At Magtec we have used RISE to recruit several outstanding graduates.  The whole process was so simple, from helping understand our skills need to writing the job descriptions in a way that would attract graduates, we got the right mix of candidates through the selection process.  We had a great experience and I hope to see RISE continue into the future to help other SMEs too.”

Business can participate in RISE, whether they want to appoint a graduate to a six month internship or a permanent post with a six-month probationary period. The only eligibility criteria is that they have less than 250 employees and are based in the Sheffield City Region.

The organisation must commit to an excellent induction, management support, salary and appraisal package. In return, they can access a fully-funded recruitment programme to help manage the process and ensure the best possible result for both employer and employee – plus there’s a £1,000 wage subsidy available.

To find out more about the RISE project click here. The deadline for applications to get involved is June 19th.

Thanks to help from Sheffield City Region Growth Hub, a much-loved potted beef – created by Chesterfield food producer Granny Mary’s Original Recipes – is being sold nationally, aided by a combined £30,000 in grants and intensive business advice.

Eddie Sutherland started selling his wife’s potted beef when he worked as a travelling salesman for Lyon’s tea in the Twenties. Sacked when a supervisor noticed, he and his wife Mary decided to make it a full-time business – and it became a multi-million-pound brand stocked on supermarket shelves.

In the 1980s the business was sold to a European food giant. But in 2012 William Sutherland, Eddie’s great grandson, persuaded his father Alistair to start up commercial production again, calling the business Original Recipes.

The Chesterfield business quickly discovered two challenges –  the limited capacity and the standard of the premises they used initially did not appeal to national clients. As a result Original Recipes had been focussed on low volume retail sales.

Advised by City Region Business Growth Specialist Darren Buxton and Access to Finance Advisor Steve Errington, they reviewed their strategy and went into the wholesale market with a fresh approach – creating a new upmarket terrine range, ‘Prochef’, and focussing on wholesale outlets.

Prochef, which took off immediately, is designed for chefs in busy pubs and restaurants: the recipes are of exceptional quality and sold in modern bespoke moulds that make life easier in a hectic professional kitchen.

With this new approach and by investing heavily in new high quality premises at the Storforth Lane trading estate in Chesterfield, the business is now winning national orders.

Alexa Greaves, Chair of the SCR Growth Hub Board, said:-

“I’m delighted to hear this success story and I’m very pleased that we have been able to work with the company to help it reach the right market with the right product.

“The Sheffield City Region is all about innovation and business expansion, and it’s good to see a family enterprise working with the Growth Hub to bring out new products and to take a lead in modern food production.”

The factory, which the firm designed and had built within 12 days, has been supported by a £25,000 grant via the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub Business Investment Fund, plus another £5,000 support via the Growth Hub Enhancement Project, an ERDF funded project, to look at extending the shelf life of the terrines with new packaging. It’s ultra clean and has been designed to exceed even the very rigorous hygiene requirements of the British Retail Consortium.

Alistair Sutherland said:-

“It’s wonderful that as a family we have been able to revive my grandmother’s tasty sandwich filling – her potted beef is still our customer’s favourite of all our 30 different lines.

“It’s lovely to work with my son William, and I’m very impressed with the help and support we have had from the Sheffield City Region Business Growth Specialist Darren and Steve.

“They guided us through all the paperwork, helped us see how to target the right markets, and now we’re looking forward to beating the sales made by Eddie and Granny Mary!”

Firm foundations laid over the past four years have paved the way for an even brighter and more secure future for tourism in the Peak District and Derbyshire.

That was the message from the incoming Chairman of official tourist board Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire, Paul Jones, as he took over the helm from outgoing Chairman Paul Roden this week (Friday May 25).

“Since Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire was reorganised in 2014, so much has been achieved to keep it moving forward to address the ever-changing demands and challenges of the competitive tourism industry,” said Paul, Marketing & Communications Director of The Camping and Caravanning Club, one of the tourist board’s Patrons.

“During Paul Roden’s chairmanship, huge progress has been made in putting the tourist board on a sustainable financial footing, creating a responsive infrastructure to take it forward and devising and taking part in creative and innovative marketing campaigns to attract more staying visitors from both the UK and overseas.

“I’ll be looking to consolidate and build upon the hard work that has already been done, by supporting Managing Director Jo Dilley and her outstanding team to offer an even more effective service in the future.”

Since 2014, Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire has:

• Secured £1.49 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to fund a comprehensive, three-year business support programme, currently being delivered until March 2019
• Successfully bid – with a range of other tourist boards and partners – for around £5.2 million from VisitBritain’s Discover England Fund to bring in more staying visitors from key overseas markets such as Australia, China, Germany, The Netherlands and the USA
• Revamped and relaunched its website to make it more customer friendly and responsive when searching for accommodation, attractions, activities and events in the area
• Run carefully targeted multi-media marketing campaigns, such as ‘The Land to Forget Time’ (aimed at affluent 25- to 35-year-olds) and the current #Unique District (aimed at a variety of audiences, including millennials, empty nesters, groups and camping and caravanning enthusiasts)
• Organised scores of educational visits for national and international media, online influencers and travel trade buyers across the UK and in key overseas markets – including leading titles such as The Times and Sunday Times, The Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian, plus growing markets such as China, Germany and the USA
• Restructured its skilled and committed team to heighten the area’s profile at home and abroad and provide an even better service for visitors, members, Patrons and public and private sector partners

Added Paul: “I’m delighted to take over the role of Chairman at such a pivotal time for the tourist board. Our two organisations have had a long and mutually beneficial relationship – we work very creatively together and complement each other.

”Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire was the first tourist board we actively partnered with, and our strong working links have been so successful that we have used them as a blueprint for working with other destination management organisations across the UK.

“I will be aiming to bring added value in areas such as membership, finance and partnership working. I’m also keen to actively support the tourist board’s mission to encourage more people to come and stay here and to extend their stays, so that they spend more in the local economy to support jobs and boost overall prosperity – that’s very important.

“I want to be an effective ambassador for the organisation and for the Peak District and Derbyshire, and am both excited by, and very much looking forward to, the challenge.”

Outgoing Chairman Paul Roden, owner of Losehill House Hotel & Spa, Hope, who took up the post in June 2014, said: “The past four years have proved to be a busy and rewarding phase for Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire, as it successfully negotiated a period of transition after reorganisation in late 2014 to keep pace with the constantly evolving tourism market.

“It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to be part of this crucial phase in its development, and I would like to thank all the members of its small, but dedicated team for their  hard work and commitment, as well as all our public and private sector partners, Patrons and members for their continuing loyalty and support.

“I wish them and my successor, Paul Jones, every success as they embark on another exciting phase to further develop and grow the tourism sector for the benefit of local businesses, residents and the local and regional economy.”

The new Fairplay Gift Emporium opened its doors following an official opening in May 2018.

The Chair of Fairplay, Cllr Peter Barr and Steve Shipp, MDS Ultra Marathon runner and Fairplay supporter, officially opened the new shop at Chesterfield Market Hall, alongside Fairplay young people and staff.

The aim of the Gift Emporium is to give young people the opportunity to learn valuable employment skills in a safe, supportive environment.

Fairplay has looked for suitable premises for many months and jumped at the offer of unit 21 on the side of the market hall. A grant from the National Lottery Awards for All has helped to get the project off the ground.

‘’The shop is in a great location as there is a lot of footfall around the market hall. We hope that our lovely range of gifts will encourage people to shop with us and support the young people in this exciting new venture’’.

‘’There is a lovely range of products for sale including cards, scarves, unique prints by Dave Draws based in Manchester as well local artists.’’