Further evidence of an impending skills shortage among West firms that could threaten to derail the economic recovery has emerged from a report predicting the strongest jobs growth since 1998. The national survey by accountants BDO shows businesses’ hiring intentions rose sharply last month to surpass their pre-recession figure...
Bristol firms are facing a looming skills crisis – yet there are thousands of young people desperate to work, new research warned this week The study by the Prince’s Trust and HSBC reveals that 69% of businesses across the South West believe a significant skills crisis will hit their...
Bristol & Bath Science Park, with its state-of-the-art innovation centre, has again been used as the setting for a film promoting advanced technology. It stars in a promotional film for the new Samsung Galaxy S5, which tells the story of a designer who uses the smartphone across Bristol in...
Transport operator FirstGroup and accountants KPMG have signed multi-million pound agreements to support Bristol’s year as European Green Capital in what was today described as among the largest private-sector sponsorships in the city’s history. The deals, a mixture of financial and value-in-kind support, make up the strongest private-sector commitment...
International provider of professional services to the resources and energy sectors WorleyParsons has relocated its Bristol office to position itself for further growth. The firm has taken just over 4,300 sq ft of recently-refurbished space on the second floor of the waterfront Bull Wharf office building on Redcliff Street....
Bristol aerospace giants Airbus and GKN received a boost today when British Airways group International Airlines Group (IAG) converted options to buy eight Airbus long-range A350-900 aircraft into firm orders for its Spanish airline Iberia. The airline becomes a new customer for the fast-selling A350 XWB (extra wide body),...
By Colin Skellett, Chair, West of England LEP Since the Government announcement a couple of weeks ago of the local growth deals awarded to England’s 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), there have been a lot of big numbers bandied about. Unless you’re close to the deals, the figures and...
A strong performance by Bristol in attracting business investment from overseas has helped the UK achieve the highest number of inward investment projects since records began in the 1980s, new figures show. There were 27 new investment projects by overseas companies in 2013/14 across the area covered by West...
Innovative advanced engineering group Alderley has celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert and picnic for staff and supporters in the gardens of founder and chairman Tony Shepherd’s home. Mr Shepherd, a fervant supporter of UK manufacturing, formed the business in 1989 with a single workshop and Portacabins offices...
Airbus has landed another potential order for 50 of its revamped A330 wide-body airliner, taking commitments to buy the aircraft to 105 just a day after its official launch. Plans to build the fuel-efficient A330neo (new engine option) were unveiled by Airbus on Monday at the Farnborough Airshow. The...
Aerospace giant Airbus this week deployed world-leading wing technology developed in Bristol to launch a new, more fuel-efficient version of its dated A330 long-range aircraft. Engineers based at its Filton plant have already played key roles in designing innovative ‘winglets’ for Airbus’s all-new A350 mid-range jetliner and the highly-successful...
Business West, the organisation that runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Bristol Initiative, has welcomed the £86.2m of Government investment to accelerate economic growth and create 5,000 jobs in the area. But it said the city’s business community still needed to make sure future funding was secured under...
The Government has announced funding of £86.2m for the West of England under its Local Growth Deal. This money is for projects to start in 2015/16 and 2016/17. The key projects to benefit will be: Terabit West – £15m A world-first project to ensure that the West is positioned...
