Celebrate Chesterfield

Chesterfield technology company launches Virtual Graduate Fair to support students and universities

Inspired to find a solution for graduates and students affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Chesterfield technology company Oasis Studio have developed the ‘Virtual Graduate Fair’, allowing students to showcase their skills online to visitors around the world.

The online system allows students to display videos, images, and documents within their own custom CGI exhibition stands, all of which can be viewed by potential employers at the click of a button.

Up and down the country, the coronavirus pandemic has forced cancellations and postponements of everything from exams to graduation ceremonies. As a result, students are missing out on one key element of graduation – an end of year show and the opportunity for students to showcase three years of hard work to friends and family, the community, and most importantly, potential employers. A recent report found over 60% of students now have reduced confidence in their post-graduation job prospects.

The event also allows universities to promote the high standard of work created within their halls and allow their graduates to stand out from the crowd as they prepare to leave education and enter the competitive world of work.

Paul Deakin, Director of Oasis Studio, explains: “Competing for your first job after leaving university is difficult at the best of times. The Virtual Graduate Fair allows universities to continue offering the typical end of year shows and graduate fairs which have been threatened this year by COVID-19”.

Paul added: “We hope more universities will see the value in helping their graduates to promote themselves to a much wider audience – and add a bit of an extra boost to their career prospects!”

Oasis Studio is currently in talks with a number of universities, with graduates of creative degrees expected to be among the first to trial the platform.

Click here to find out more about Oasis Studio

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield, Development, Featured, Home, Manufacturing

Work to begin on Chesterfield’s Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre

Work is set to begin on the new Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre next week (27 April), to ensure the site is available for local businesses to move in to at the earliest possible opportunity and benefit the local economy.

Chesterfield Borough Council’s contractor, Robert Woodhead Ltd, will take control of the site and begin groundworks on part of the Holywell Cross (Donut) Car Park in Chesterfield town centre as preparation for the construction of the new Enterprise Centre.

Developing a thriving borough continues to be a priority for the Council and that includes supporting the business community during the COVID 19 outbreak and into recovery. Robert Woodhead Ltd have completed assessments ahead of the work beginning and have confirmed they will follow strict COVID 19 social distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of employees and the public.

Councillor Terry Gilby, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for economic growth, said: “We appreciate there may be concerns around any construction activity starting in the town centre right now, given we remain at a key stage of the national response to the COVID 19 outbreak.

“The contractor will be working to the latest Construction Site Operating Procedures published by the Construction Leadership Council in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

“With these essential works progressing safely we hope to minimise any delay to the start of the main build and ultimately its completion. This major construction project will also help contribute to Chesterfield’s post COVID 19 recovery with the council’s requirement for Robert Woodhead Ltd to source local labour, supplies and equipment.

“The project will result in high quality, flexible, office space being made available on easy-in and easy-out letting terms to businesses just starting out or looking to grow their company here in Chesterfield.”

Tom Woodhead, Business Services Director at Robert Woodhead Ltd, said: “Over the last few weeks, we have been working with our industry peers, government and industry bodies to understand how the government guidelines and CLC Site Operating Procedures can be implemented on construction sites.

“We have developed stringent operating procedures, risk and method statements to enable us to start on site to deliver this exciting project in collaboration with Chesterfield Borough Council.”

Groundworks are likely to take around eight weeks to complete, running from the end of April onwards. Whilst these works are taking place the building design will be finalised, supplies of materials ordered and sub-contractors hired. These activities will put the project in a good position to proceed to full construction later on in the year.

The new Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre will accommodate a range of businesses within 32 office suites. It will also offer access to outstanding shared facilities and local business support services.

The new centre is an important addition to Chesterfield Borough Council’s commercial property portfolio and will hopefully be a key component in Chesterfield’s post COVID 19 recovery.

The Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre project has benefited from grant funding support from the Sheffield City Region Investment Fund.

To find out more about your business being based in the Enterprise Centre email either claire.cunningham@chesterfield.gov.uk or hannah.ramsdale@chesterfield.gov.uk.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield, Development, Featured, Home, Leisure, Manufacturing

Chesterfield Borough Council reaches over £15 million paid in business support grants

Under the Government’s business grants scheme, Chesterfield Borough Council has paid more than £15.7 million to over 1,300 Chesterfield businesses in order to support them through the COVID-19 outbreak.

The business rates team are working hard to process applications as fast as possible, including working in the evening and at weekends.

Chesterfield Borough Council have stated that a number of eligible businesses still need to provide information before they are able to pay the business support grant. If you are eligible for a grant and you have not yet completed the application form, please apply as soon as possible, so the council can process the grant and make payment to you.

You can download the application form here (opens in new tab).

The council has also produced a new FAQs sheet about the business support grants, which aims to highlight which businesses are eligible and what the funding can be used for. Currently the following grants are in place to support businesses:

  • a small business grant of £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief
  • grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property where the rateable value is between £15,000 and £51,000

You can find more information on the council’s website here: www.chesterfield.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Click here to see the Detsination Chesterfield Coronavirus (COVID-19) business support page

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield, Development, Featured, Home, Manufacturing

Chesterfield manufacturer CBE+ becomes Apprentice Town ambassador

Local manufacturer CBE+ has become the latest Apprentice Town Ambassador, aiming to boost the number of young people participating in apprenticeships in the Chesterfield area.

Apprenticeship Ambassadors are businesses and organisations which sign up to actively promote and celebrate apprenticeships in Chesterfield and their benefits in strengthening the workforce.

Chesterfield is the first town in the UK to declare itself an ‘Apprentice Town’, demonstrating a commitment to growing the careers of young people alongside the economy. Chesterfield Borough Council is at the forefront of the Apprentice Town initiative which, with support from Ambassadors, is raising awareness of apprenticeships and advocating cooperative working across the education, business and learning community.

CEO, Marie Cooper, said: “Becoming an apprentice town ambassador is important to the future of Chesterfield and for the manufacturing industry in general. Failure to address the constant need to feed new people through a business and train them with job specific skills has led to a skill gap which has caused problems in the sector in the past. Therefore, initiatives like this are so important to bridge the gap between education and the business sector and is why we are proud to be a part of them.”

CBE+ have multiple apprentices on the shop floor studying mechanical engineering, as well as office apprentices in production, marketing and finance. When their course is finished, the business has a fully trained member of staff with both experience and the appropriate qualifications.

This decision is an extension to CBE+ becoming a cornerstone business in January 2020 to support the North East Derbyshire District Council to strengthen the area and ensure it is a great place to live and work.

Marie continued “Ten years ago, we were instigators in setting up a successful apprenticeship programme and have since worked with schools, colleges and young people to help them develop and enhance their employability skills. We believe the key to this was engaging with them on projects, recognising their strengths and how experiences develop certain strengths like confidence, resilience and commitment.”

“Most of the young people we have met, do not know what they want to do because they do not know the extent of what careers are available and are not fed the ideas which should inspire them to take a certain path. They can only get so much career advice from within schools and parents, so it is up to us as businesses to showcase what those opportunities are, to engage with them, talk to them and show them.”

Click here to find out more about the Apprentice Town initiative

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Manufacturing

The Tickled Trout provides meals for frontline NHS staff

The Tickled Trout, a Gastro pub & restaurant based in Barlow, has brought together local businesses in order to provide meals to the frontline NHS staff at Chesterfield’s Royal Hospital.

The staff have teamed up with Chesterfield Community Food Hut to cook restaurant-quality meals and together with their suppliers Delitalia, Highfield House Farm and Country Fresh Foods, they are supplying portioned meals for the NHS workers in the ICU and Covid-19 wards.

Any surplus meals are donated to the Chesterfield Community Food Hut, a project that coordinates donations, identifies people in need and arranges essentials to be distributed to them.

Chris Mapp, Owner of The Tickled Trout said: “We vaccum packed it into portions so that they could either have them on a break or just take them home after work.”

He added: “We hope it helps them when and if they find time to have a break and refuel or just to take home after their gruelling day so they can have some respite. We are already doing hampers for our local community with the addition of Owen Taylor to the other suppliers which is working really well but we collectively wanted to show our gratitude to the incredible staff and medics who are working hard to save lives and will no doubt have very little time to relax and cook, never mind go shopping! Dear NHS, this is on us. Thank you.”

You can hear Chris talking more about their work to support the NHS in a video on the The Tickled Trout Facebook page.

They now plan to expand their meals service into other nearby hospitals such as the Sheffield Northern General Hospital.

Click here to find out more about The Tickled Trout

Images credit: Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS FT & Royal Primary Care

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield, Featured, Home

Derbyshire County Council waives Trusted Trader member fees

Fees are to be removed for businesses and individuals registered with the Derbyshire County Council  Trusted Trader scheme.

Following the outbreak of coronavirus, Derbyshire County Council has made the decision to waive fees to the scheme for all current members for 12 months. Members of the scheme pay a yearly fee of either £75 if they are sole traders or social enterprises or £110 for all other businesses.

The scheme, which has more than 1,000 members, was set up to help Derbyshire residents find honest and reliable traders who commit to doing a good job for a fair price, and to protect older and vulnerable adults by making it easier for them to avoid falling foul of rogue traders.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Carol Hart said: “We know this is an anxious time for many businesses and sole traders and we are working hard to support them however we can.”

“We greatly value our Trusted Trader members and one way we can help them is by waiving the fees to the scheme for the next 12 months.”

“We realise that in some cases this may not make a huge difference to their finances, but I’m sure they could all do without any added expense at this time.”

“We will be contacting all our Trusted Trader members in the next few days to let them know about this change.”

Click here to be taken to our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Business Support Page

Meet the buyer

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Home, Manufacturing

Chesterfield tea-blender collaborates with local traders to launch gift hamper deliveries

Gail Hannan, owner of Chesterfield-based Cup & Saucer, is collaborating with local businesses to produce tailored gift hampers that can be delivered to those who are isolating.

Cup & Saucer, who blend and sell quality loose tea with a Peak District twist, won the title of Food Producer of the Year at the Chesterfield Food & Drink Awards 2018. The company has traded at various markets & events and expanded in early 2020 by opening their own shop.

The shop is temporarily closed but now offer online sales and local contact-free delivery. Gail realised this was not an option for many of her fellow market traders so contacted a number of local companies in order to offer support and promotion.

Gail said: “It has all happened really quickly, but the gift hampers are proving to be really popular with our customers! I am working closely with many food & drink producers who I have met primarily through local markets, to create bespoke hampers for people to either order for themselves as a treat in isolation, or to send as a gift to a loved one.”

“Our most recent hamper aimed at chocoholics sold out within a day of advertising! This includes products from ourselves; Rate Good Brownies; Cacoa Elora; Jades Delights; Urban Flamingo and Homemade at Haslemere.”

She added: “It’s actually a really great opportunity for us to showcase our products to a wider audience. It obviously won’t change the fact that this will in no doubt be a devastating year for our businesses, but I am determined to not let this destroy what has taken me so much time and energy to build.”

Hampers include a Totally Tea Hamper, a Chocoholics Dream Hamper and two Derbyshire Producers Gift Hampers and can be ordered directly through the Cup & Saucer website. For a full list of products, or for more information, visit www.cupandsauceronline.co.uk/shop

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure, Manufacturing, Visiting

Chesterfield Borough Council staff redeployed to support the community

Chesterfield Borough Council has reprioritised and reorganised staff resources to ensure essential services are maintained and to deliver additional community response activity to support Chesterfield residents and businesses at this difficult time.

In the community, staff have been redeployed in support of local pharmacies to deliver medicines to residents’ homes, have made regular food parcel deliveries to those in need, and are working with local community groups and charities to support a range of activities. Staff have also been redeployed around the council to support the rollout of small business grants, to work at the crematorium and to help ensure the Careline service can keep running for the benefit of the borough’s elderly residents.

Councillor Tricia Gilby, leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “I’m proud of the way our staff have quickly responded to this crisis and the way in which they are continuing to adapt to new roles and responsibilities as required. It’s really important that we use all our resources to effectively support the local community and any residents who may require additional support, especially those who are particularly vulnerable at this time.”

Staff have been learning new skills in order to support essential service delivery. For example, some of the Town Hall’s clerical staff are now working at the crematorium where they are assisting by helping to run services and providing administrative support.

Members of the housing repairs team have been using council vehicles to support the delivery service of several local pharmacies. This small team has delivered around 650 prescriptions in the last week and will continue to assist pharmacies and their customers for the foreseeable future.

The council has also redeployed staff to support its Careline service. Careline supports around 2500 residents, many of whom are extremely vulnerable to coronavirus. The service has handled more than 40 call outs because of slips and falls in the last week. The falls recovery service helps to reduce the number of non-injured fallers being referred to the emergency services, which in turn reduces the pressure on the NHS.

Careline staff have also been working closely with local food banks to identify those in need of support and are helping deliver food parcels to vulnerable residents. The service has also been contacting around 200 residents a day to check on their wellbeing and to help them to obtain further support via the Derbyshire-wide Community Response Unit. To access help from the Derbyshire Community Response Unit please call 01629 535091 or register on the website: www.derbyshire.gov.uk/gethelp

anzacs chesterfield

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home

Chesterfield’s MTM Products supplies the NHS with lifesaving equipment

Chesterfield manufacturer, MTM Products, is supplying nurse call handset overlays to a leading NHS equipment supplier to support them during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

The label and signage company is making large quantities of front fascia overlays for the nurse call handsets used in the temporary hospitals..

In total, the firm is manufacturing more than 14,000 overlays for one of its longstanding medical sector customers. The first 5,000 have already been delivered following a quick turnaround thanks for the company’s efforts.

MTM has a variety of customers which are also supplying products to the NHS and emergency services. These customers have asked MTM to continue trading so they can fulfil their responsibilities and supply essential equipment to health services in both the UK and mainland Europe. MTM plans to continue manufacturing at both of its Chesterfield sites for as long as possible, while observing Government advice around social distancing and hygiene.

Ian Greenaway, Managing Director at MTM Products said: “We are proud to be able to play our part in ensuring that the NHS and emergency services receive supplies necessary to fight the COVID-19 virus. We are part of a supply chain for many essential medical and life safety products and will do everything we can to maintain continuity of supply.”

Images: MTM Products

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure, Manufacturing

Geeks Headquarters producing mask straps for key workers and NHS staff

Chesterfield-based independent retailer, Geeks Headquarters, are using their 3D printer to create straps for face masks to support local key workers and NHS staff during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Staff member Massimiliano Naso has produced over 450 mask straps for medical facilities such as Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Barnsley District General, Whitworth Hospital Matlock, Walton Hospital, Royal Derby Hospital plus numerous care homes and care agencies.

Massimiliano said: “We are keen to help cause it is the right thing to do! We are doing everything free of charge, because making a profit out of this wouldn’t be right. If we receive any payment, because people insist on contributing, the sum will be donated to support NHS. Everyone has to play a part in this and we just want to help, in any way we could.”

The Geeks Headquarters store, located on Soresby Street in Chesterfield town centre, is currently closed following Government advice, however the staff are still working behind the scenes to fulfill product orders. A list of available products is shared on a regular basis to their Facebook page and delivery or curb side collection can be arranged.

The team has also created an online hub using Discord to organise online versions of tournaments and games as well as offering a welcoming environment to prevent loneliness during the coronvirus outbreak.

To request mask straps, check product availability or see more of their upcoming events, please contact the Geeks Headquarters team through their Facebook page here – www.facebook.com/geeksheadquarters or email geeksheadquartersltd@gmail.com.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure, Manufacturing

Whittam Cox Architects use 3D printers to produce PPE for NHS staff

Whittam Cox Architects are pleased to be supporting the UK’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by producing face masks for NHS staff and key workers at Sheffield’s Teaching Hospitals.

The practice is 3D printing head bands and chin supports for single use face visors, which are then delivered to a central hub in Sheffield to have plastic visors fitted. Once assembled, the masks will be sterilised and packaged, and put into the NHS supply chain.

Ashley Turner, CEO at Whittam Cox Architects said, “It is logical for us to use our resources to help NHS staff and key workers in this national emergency. We are very willing to contribute our time, equipment and materials for this special purpose. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do, and this is an important way for us to be able to do our part by providing these essential pieces of equipment to those who need it most.”

The initiative is being run by 3DCROWD UK, who are asking for volunteers and crowd funding to help support those on the frontline. Over 5500 volunteers have now signed up to the initiative and between them have provided 345,000 shields.

If you’d like to get involved, please visit https://www.3dcrowd.uk/

Click here to find out more about Whittam Cox Architects

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Manufacturing