As part of its ambitious three year business development plans Cimex will open a number of offices in key locations to support its increasingly geographically diverse client base.

Supported by MIDAS, Manchester’s Investment and Development Agency, Cimex is one of the first businesses to open an office in Manchester through the newly-launched ‘Hello’ soft-landings service for investors. Cimex has taken space in Portland Tower.

“With the ongoing move of the BBC Children’s, Learning and Future Media departments to Manchester we wanted to be able to offer our contacts there the level of support they have been used to”, explains Managing Director, Steve Puxley. “We will be developing strategically effective partnerships with a number of our other clients in and around Manchester.”

Leading Cimex’s Manchester office will be Phil Horn who was formerly with 3T Productions / Lightbox. “Manchester has always had a vibrant creative scene and is now an exciting digital hub, perfect for Cimex to expand its footprint,” he says.

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive of MIDAS, said: “Manchester’s creative, media and digital sector continues to grow, with Cimex the latest addition to this flourishing sector. The Hello Manchester scheme is already proving a great success, and we look forward to continuing our close working relationship with Phil and his new team as they establish themselves in the city region.”

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, said: “The Hello Northwest scheme is proving to be very popular and I am delighted to welcome Cimex to Manchester. By giving overseas investors the opportunity to test what the region has to offer we can secure even more overseas investment and build on our position as the leading region for inward investment outside of the South East.”

Cimex is a multi-award winning digital agency which offers a 360 degree service from consultancy through to digital design, technical and hosting, but also offers Europe leading services in mobile, usability and accessibility, social media and search marketing. Cimex works in the corporate, public and e-learning sectors, and focuses on user-centred design to create unique solutions.

The Hello Northwest scheme, launched this year, has been developed through a partnership between the NWDA, investment and development agencies for the Manchester City Region and Liverpool, MIDAS and The Mersey Partnership, and leading serviced office providers.

Hello Northwest offers new overseas investors to Manchester (Hello Manchester), Liverpool (Hello Liverpool), and the Northwest (Hello Northwest), free desk space for the first 12 months of their relocation to the area as part of the region’s continued drive to attract investment and jobs.

Source: Cimex

The state-of-the-art facility, being opened this week by London-based Trimega Laboratories, will test hair samples from around the world to provide accurate historical records of someone’s intake of drink or drugs up to 12 months prior. The technique is already widely used throughout the UK to help Local Authorities and family lawyers diagnose any form of dependency among adults involved in child care orders. The number of these applications has leapt 46%* nationwide in the wake of the Baby P case with hair test requests in the North West and Wales, for example, increasing from an average of 40 to 70 a month in the past year (out of around 800 a month nationwide).

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “This cutting-edge lab reinforces Manchester’s reputation as a city at the forefront of the scientific and research industries. It shows Manchester is an attractive place to invest and is, of course, great news for the local area. I’m pleased to welcome Trimega to Manchester.”

So advanced is Trimega’s new Manchester lab that it will also be the first in the world to test the hair samples of HIV and TB sufferers to see if they have been taking anti-retroviral drugs prescribed to them. Tragically, in countries such as South Africa, these drugs are frequently sold on to the black market by patients or even smoked to obtain a ‘high’ instead of being swallowed.

The new lab, which has been established with assistance from MIDAS, Manchester’s Investment and Development Agency, is also using new techniques that will enable samples to be returned in as little as 36 hours, smashing the existing turnaround time of a week or more.
Other reasons why hair samples are sent from all over the world to Trimega Laboratories for testing include:

• Employee screening for safety-critical jobs such as commercial aviation
• ‘Fit to practice’ employment tribunals (eg Nursing & Midwifery Council)
• Professional sports organisations to identify steroids and recreational drugs
• To determine whether sedatives have been used in cases of child abuse
• To support child custody decisions being made in divorce proceedings
• Pre-requisite for convicted drink-drivers re-applying for their licences
• Surgeons assessing a patient’s suitability for an organ transplant
• To confirm cases of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome among newborn babies

Avi Lasarow, managing director of Trimega Laboratories, commented: “There are very few labs in the world that have the equipment and expertise to produce hair tests to a standard sufficient to be accepted in a Court of Law. Our innovations, such as the first ever commercialised hair alcohol test, have helped in setting these standards. Now, with the investment we’ve made in the new lab, we can firmly establish Manchester as the recognised technical hub for all hair testing worldwide. What this means to the local area – and in particular to law firms in the North West – is that the most accurate and immediate analysis of substance abuse is at their fingertips.”

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive at MIDAS, Manchester’s Investment and Development Agency added: “Manchester has a long-established reputation as a pioneer in the field of Life Science and Biomedical research. Trimega’s decision to establish their state-of-the-art facility in the city region bears testament to this. We’re delighted to welcome Trimega to Manchester and Sarah Iles and the team at MIDAS look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their ground-breaking operation.”

How Hair Testing Works: Since hair growth is fed by the bloodstream, the ingestion of drugs or excess alcohol in the blood is revealed by analysing chemical markers absorbed by the hair. As the hair grows, it absorbs these markers into its structure and the more markers there are, the more has been consumed. A tuft of hair about the diameter of a pencil is required and the industry standard is to test a length of 1.5 inches, which provides a 90 day history. If no head hair is available, body hair can be used instead. Not only can hair trace back consumption for months but, from a practical point of view, is much easier to handle in the ‘chain of custody’ than urine or blood samples which need to be stored under special conditions. Taking hair samples also avoids the embarrassment of ‘observing’ urine collection.

Case Study: Merseyside law firm, Burd Ward Solicitors, has used hair alcohol tests in a successful bid to reunite children with their parents. In early January, hair samples were collected from both parents who had admitted excessive use of alcohol. Both adults reported abstinence in the few days period prior to hair samples being collected, but it was too short a timeframe for the hair alcohol test to yield a negative result. Further testing one month later did however give a negative result, showing that the donors had significantly reduced their alcohol intake. A third and final hair alcohol test carried out one month after that yielded a negative result of less than 4ng/mg, which is typical of teetotalers.

Source: Trimega

This striking glass fronted building on the A6 comprising a total of 51,402 sq ft provides the first Grade A office space in the town centre for seven years and is the first to achieve green status with its BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.

St Peter’s Square and Stockport matched Sky’s criteria. The building satisfied its corporate social responsibility policy in terms of its green credentials, that is, sustainability, quality of construction and high specification, which together with the town’s excellent public transport and incomparable demographics proved a winning combination.

Chris Stylianou, who runs Sky’s customer centres, said: “Sky is excited about finding a new home in Stockport and I’m delighted to be able to announce these new opportunities. We look forward to recruiting a great team here in Stockport and to making a real contribution to the local community.

Neil Mort development manager of Salford based BAM Properties said: “To have secured half the space at St Peter’s Square to Sky certainly justifies BAM’s commitment to building this development speculatively. It’s a great start to 2010 and we are actively working with Sky to complete the opening of its customer service centre. We are further encouraged by the level of interest in the remaining accommodation.”

Councillor Dave Goddard, Leader of Stockport Council, said: “We are delighted to welcome Sky to Stockport. This is fantastic news, and will boost the local economy and employment opportunities. Stockport offers a first rate business location with great transport links and skilled workforce, and to attract such a prominent company to the borough only confirms this, especially during such tough economic times. This great news is just the beginning, and goes to show that Stockport is well and truly open for business.”

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive at MIDAS, Manchester’s Investment and Development Agency said: “This investment is fantastic news for Stockport and will serve to kick-off the town centre redevelopment in great style. We are delighted to welcome such a high-profile brand to the city region and MIDAS will continue to work with the firm as it establishes its presence in the city region.”

This six storey landmark office scheme, designed by HKR Architects features cutting edge design and column free floor plates of 11,800 sq ft. The high standard of finishes, impressive double height entrance, flexible air-conditioned space and secure parking has certainly set a new standard for the town. The remaining office accommodation is available in suites from 2697sq ft.

Source: BAM Properties

The agency, with offices in London and Barcelona, has taken space in 111 Piccadilly in one of the first Hello Manchester soft landings service deals – a new initiative offering investors 12 months free desk space.

Milk plans to recruit up to 15 staff for its Manchester base and aims to use it to launch a new e-recruitment product called Recsite later this year.

Oliver Gibbs, Sales and Marketing Director for Milk, said the availability of Hello Manchester was one of the key reasons for Milk selecting Manchester ahead of Cape Town, South Africa.

He said: “We were attracted to Manchester because the Hello Manchester offering made our search for suitable office space that much easier but also because the city has a booming creative, digital and media sector and competitive office and labour costs.”

MIDAS played a key role in bringing Milk to Manchester and is working with the agency on the recruitment of its staff, networking and usability testing for the new e-recruitment product.

And Oliver added: “MIDAS showed an understanding of our business needs in relocating. The team facilitated excellent office space in a great location and helped to connect our business to Manchester networks.”

Hello Manchester was developed in partnership between the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), MIDAS, and leading serviced office providers – Avanta, Bruntwood, Manchester Science Park (msp) and Orega.

Hello Manchester offers new investors to the Manchester City Region free desk space for the first 12 months of their relocation to the area as part of Manchester’s continued drive to attract investment and jobs.

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive of MIDAS, said: “We were delighted to bring Milk to Manchester as the latest addition to the City Region’s thriving creative, digital and media sector.

“The fact that we were able to offer them the Hello Manchester soft landings service highlights the potential is has to bring significant economic benefits to Manchester City Region.”

Source: MIDAS

The paper data capture operation is being managed and run by UK Data Capture (UKDC) on behalf of ONS. The 180,000 square foot secure facility in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester will be the centre of all the data capture activity behind the next census on 27 March 2011.

The Trafford Park location was selected after a nationwide search by UKDC. Stephen Meyler, Director of UK Data Capture Limited said: “The Manchester processing centre will be critical to the successful delivery of the 2011 Census. This is an exciting project for UK Data Capture and we are looking forward to fulfilling our role in this vital and important programme, with Manchester as our base.”

The investment has been supported by local partners including the NWDA, MIDAS, LSC, Jobcentre Plus and Trafford Council.

The two year operation will create 1,300 new jobs in the Greater Manchester area. UK Data Capture will start recruitment for the roles in late summer this year.

ONS Census Operations Director Ian Cope said: “Securely capturing all of the information from the returned census questionnaires is a vital part of the census process. We’re very pleased that the site has been confirmed, it is a significant milestone in our planning for the next census which is now just over a year away.”

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, said: “This is a significant investment for Trafford and testimony to increasing business collaboration. The NWDA has worked very closely with local partners and together have created a very strong team which has helped secure this investment and 1300 new jobs for Trafford and the region.”

The census provides an estimate of the population of England and Wales and is carried out every ten years by the ONS. The information given is confidential and is protected by law.

The statistics derived from the census underpin the allocation of billions of pounds of public money on local services like education, transport and health. They are also used by policy makers in central and local government to understand the needs of communities.

In March 2011 each household in England and Wales will receive a questionnaire either through the post or delivered by hand. The questionnaires can then be completed and returned by post or using the new secure online questionnaire. The paper questionnaires that are completed and returned by post will be delivered to the secure Manchester site to be processed.

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive at MIDAS, Manchester’s investment and development agency said: “We are delighted that UK Data Capture has chosen Manchester City Region as the location from which they will run the Census 2011 programme. The creation of up to 1,300 jobs is a fantastic win for Trafford and the wider city region and serves to further strengthen Manchester’s reputation as leading location for large-scale outsourcing operations.”

Phil Lowthian, Jobcentre Plus District Manager for Greater Manchester Central said: “Jobcentre Plus welcomes the news that 1,300 new jobs will be created in Trafford as a result of next year’s census. We are ideally positioned to match these jobs to people with the right skills and are keen to work with employers to unlock the talent of the local community. I am delighted that UK Data Capture has agreed to work with Jobcentre Plus and I would urge other employers to do the same.”

Kirsty Evans, Skills Development Director at the Learning and Skills Council, said: “This is fantastic news for the Northwest. The Learning and Skills Council and our partners will play a key role in both supporting the local community and beyond to gain the necessary skills to be able to take up the opportunities that this investment will bring to the region, and ensuring the training needs of future UK Data Capture employees are met.”

Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Economic Growth Mike Cornes said: “I am delighted that Trafford has been chosen as the base for this project, especially as we will see the creation of 1,300 jobs for people across the region. This further demonstrates how well placed we are in Trafford for businesses to invest, with our skilled workforce and excellent links to the whole of the Manchester City region.”

Source: Northwest Regional Development Agency

The firm selected Piccadilly House in Manchester because of its “outstanding commercial, creative and cultural sectors”, explained Richard Mairs, Falling Pixel’s Chief Operating Officer.

Mr Mairs said: “We’re extremely excited to be in Manchester – a truly modern city and one of Europe’s premier business locations.

“With its outstanding commercial, cultural and creative sectors it’s a place we’re looking forward to establishing ourselves in and with new developments such as MediaCityUK happening in and around Manchester it’s a great time to be locating here.”

“Although trading internationally we’re a relatively small company with high growth plans. The support and help from Katie and MIDAS in general was amazing, introducing us to other organisations, companies and individuals in the areas that made us feel welcome whilst we explored various locations”, added Jonathan Lloyd, CEO of Falling Pixel.

Falling Pixel, which has offices in London and Colwyn Bay, North Wales, operates as a platform for digital artists to distribute, promote and sell their content worldwide. The firm supplies content to a range of industries that demand high quality 3D content from architectural visualisation to interactive education and even military simulation.

Using Falling Pixel service saves companies time and costs in the development process, and allows smaller companies and studios to actively compete on a higher level, enabling them to create bigger and better projects.

Katie Gallagher, MIDAS Business Development Manager for Creative Industries, said: “Businesses such as Falling Pixel represent the future for the Manchester City Region as it strengthens its reputation as a centre for creative, digital and media excellence.

“We were delighted to show Falling Pixel suitable properties, make introductions to key people and provide expert advice on various schemes and initiatives available to facilitate their move to Manchester.”

For more information visit: www.FallingPixel.com

Source: MIDAS

Nulife, which is also moving its head office from the West Midlands to Irlam, chose to build its plant in Manchester City Region after working closely with MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, and Salford City Council.

The partners provided support and advice to Nulife during the site selection process, and also with accessing supportive funding and with planning and environmental licensing.

The new plant will use pioneering techniques to safely recycle televisions. The varied roles available include industrial electricians, team leaders, office staff and at least eight people to carry out the therapeutic role of smashing TVs.

Simon Greer, Managing Director at Nulife Glass, said: “We are proud to have developed a truly world-leading technique to safely recycle televisions, and we are pleased to be delivering this project in Greater Manchester. MIDAS and Salford City Council provided important advice and assistance over the last few months, and we are now looking forward to recruiting our full team and starting work.”

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive of MIDAS, said: “With at least one other UK site under consideration, it is fantastic that Nulife Glass has chosen Salford as home to its new industrial plant. The 30-plus new jobs are a significant boost to the borough and wider city region, and provide further evidence of the effective working of MIDAS and our partner organisations.”

Councillor John Merry, leader of Salford City Council said: “Salford welcomes this new investment into our city, and we will continue to support Nulife all we can. We are always keen to help new businesses locate in the city and are committed to ensuring all will receive bespoke, professional support from our dedicated business and investment team.”

Nulife Glass has resolved the recycling problem of how to extract lead from the glass in waste televisions, which is a worldwide first. Until now there has been no long term solution to recycling TVs as it has been impossible to safely recover the lead content in the glass that makes the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) – through which the picture is created in older televisions.

The UK, Europe and USA have all experienced problems with discarded TV screens because new legislation means old sets must be recycled and not land filled.

In February, Nulife will be ready to show the equipment in full flow with both molten lead and glass pouring from the furnace’s separate discharge points. Many companies from around the world have already booked early viewing appointments with a view to buying plant from the company and taking advantage of being first to market with this innovative technology in their own countries.

Source: MIDAS
Image courtesy of Salford Advertiser

Surrey-based The Listening Company has more than 4,000 people at eight UK centres, including over 300 in Manchester handling customer service calls for mobile phone giant O2.

Chief operating officer Adrian Ingham said The Listening Company plans to expand its Manchester workforce to between 600 and 700 full-time equivalent employees over the next three years, and will look to add insurance and media firms to the list of clients served from the Arndale Tower.

“Manchester can easily become our biggest site because of the quality of talent in the catchment area,” he said.

Neville Upton, the firm’s chief executive, said: “We are excited by expanding our geographical presence in the Northwest and we look forward to being able to bring a significant number of new jobs to the area and develop existing talent within the business.”

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of MIDAS, said: “The Listening Company is dynamic, fast-growing organisation and a great example of the type of business that we want to attract and encourage to expand in Manchester City Region. MIDAS is working closely with the company to help them grow their business and take full advantage of all the opportunities that Manchester has to offer.”

The Listening Company has grown turnover by 40% year on year and now has annual revenues of £73 million.

Customers include Toyota, BSkyB, Travelodge and Orange as well as O2.

Its other centres are in Portsmouth, Richmond,Glasgow, Newcastle, Tonbridge and Brora, Scotland.

Source: Manchester Evening News

Quantiv currently occupies 3,300sq ft at Station House and will increase this immediately with an additional 2,200sq ft – with an option to take an additional 5,500sq ft over the next five years.

With support from MIDAS, Manchester’s investment and development agency, the deal with Manchester-based Bruntwood means the business will now not relocate to London as it was considering.

MIDAS put together the comprehensive business case demonstrating to Quantiv the real benefits available to them in Manchester City Region. It highlighted that Manchester offers a much lower cost base for the firm to grow their business than London, yet has the large, highly skilled talent pool for them to tap into.

MIDAS is now working with Quantiv to support them in building their business base in the Manchester City Region, ensuring they have access to relevant recruitment and training schemes as well as facilitating introductions to the right networks and client bases.

Founded in Manchester by Oldham-born CEO Mike Cribb, Quantiv has spent the past ten years in R&D developing a new software system, the Q5 platform, which is now market-ready. Clients include the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and clothing retailer Jack Wills.

Quantiv currently employs 32 people in Altrincham, but is planning rapid growth over the next five years. The business is taking on additional employees every month and a conservative growth estimate is that they will have 200 staff in 3-5 years.

Mike Cribb, CEO and founder of Quantiv Ltd, said: “Manchester has a large and growing ICT sector, an excellent catchment area for good technologists and good infrastructure for our future expansion.

“I am also a proud Mancunian who wants to see Manchester back on the technology innovation map. By keeping our HQ here, we hope we can help to achieve this.”

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of MIDAS, said: “We are very pleased we have been able to secure Quantiv’s future in Manchester. To keep such an innovative company here is a real coup for the city, not just because of the jobs the company will be creating in the next five years, but also to ensure the growth of the ICT sector.”

Andrew Butterworth, sales director at Bruntwood, said: “We’re delighted to be able to accommodate Quantiv with increased space at Station House. Bruntwood is committed to providing high quality offices alongside the flexibility for customers to grow within the terms of their lease, not only in the buildings they occupy, but across any of our 90 properties across the north of England. We look forward to continuing to work with Quantiv in providing their long term office space solutions. ”

Source: MIDAS

Four miles from John Lewis’s Cheadle shop, the contact centre will be located at Scotscroft on the Towers Business Park, Didsbury, south Manchester, and is set to open in September 2010. It is expected that approximately 240 Partners (staff) will be based at the site once it is fully operational.

The new contact centres will allow John Lewis to centralise some of its branch operations in order to improve efficiency as well as maintain and build on its position as the UK’s leading retailer for customer service.

The second contact centre will be established in Hamilton, south east of Glasgow. Both contact centres will be staffed by John Lewis Partners.

Maggie Porteous, Managing Director of John Lewis Trafford and John Lewis Cheadle said: “We’re pleased to be able to announce the location of our contact centre in south Manchester and look forward to welcoming new Partners to the Didsbury operation when it opens next year.”

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s investment agency, said: “We were delighted to assist John Lewis in its decision to select Didsbury for its contact centre for the North and the creation of 240 important jobs.

“This excellent news underlines the strength of the Manchester offer of a skilled and flexible workforce, great connectivity and a diverse and attractive property portfolio that meets the needs of business and continues to attract such key investors to our city region.”

Source: John Lewis