Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 4th February 2025 - video Dailymotion

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Dan and Simon discuss investment in a cyber security firm, major relocation for EY in Birmingham, and plans for a new hotel next to Rotherham's New York Stadium.

Transcript

00:00Cyber security funding, the big falls on the move, hotel plans for a former

00:05foundry and I pay a visit to Wigan. That's what's coming up in today's Daily

00:09Business Briefing.

00:15Hi, I'm Simon Keegan. I'm Daniel Zambartas. So Dan, it's a big week for us here

00:21at Insider. It's the first UK dealmakers on Thursday night, so obviously deal

00:28makers has been going for 30 years now, but this is the first time all of the

00:33regional winners are going to come together and it's in Birmingham to

00:38be crowned the first ever national champion, so we're really excited.

00:43That's great, isn't it? But you've got some some deals news as well, haven't you?

00:48I do. I'm not sure if I'll qualify for this year, but maybe next year. So a cybersecurity

00:53provider based in Abingdon has secured major investment from BGF. E2E

00:57Assure was founded in 2013 and they specialise in managed threat detection

01:01and response. BGF's backing will enable the business to bolster their R&D

01:05operations and consequently advance capabilities in areas such as AI and

01:09anomaly detection for responding to cyber threats. It's not the first time

01:13BGF have invested in them. They also invested back in 2021 with a ten and a

01:17half million pound boost and it seems they're expecting healthy returns again

01:21because over the last 12 months the business has increased sales

01:25wins by 40% from the previous financial year, which their chief executive Rob

01:29Domain hailed as an exciting period of growth for the business. So I'll be

01:33interested to see how they scale up following the investment.

01:35Certainly will, and BGF have definitely got good form when it comes to these sort of...

01:39Very strong track record. Absolutely, absolutely. So I mentioned that Dealmakers is going to

01:45be in Birmingham, UK Dealmakers, and we've got some some more news from

01:50Birmingham, which is EY, one of the big four. They've got a 1,200 strong team and

01:57they're going to be relocating in Birmingham. They're going to a 70,000

02:02square foot, 10-storey, Grade A office at 3 Chamberlain Square, so I think that

02:09definitely shows real commitment to the region, doesn't it? There's a huge

02:13amount of them. Yeah, and I guess they're not all working from home anymore.

02:18So you've got some news for us as well about a hotel, haven't you? A really

02:23interesting one this. It is, so plans have been lodged to redevelop a factory next to

02:27Rotherham FC's New York Stadium into a 138-room hotel. So I had to look into this

02:32a bit, and the area is called New York because at the site there used to be a

02:36foundry which made New York's distinctive fire hydrant, so that's what

02:39the football stadium is named after, and I never knew there was a link between

02:43Rotherham and New York, but there you go. Stuart Developments has submitted the

02:48application to Rotherham Council to redevelop the former Guest and Crimes

02:52Works, which was a listed former foundry, into the hotel. The front portion of the

02:57building was damaged by a fire in 2018 and demolished, and now further demolition

03:02is being planned to create this new hotel, which in turn will create a total

03:05of 60 jobs, so that'll be great for the area. A large new build element is

03:10proposed to the south of the Northern Range with a raised walkway connecting

03:13the two elements of the hotel, and that Northern Range would be converted into a

03:16restaurant and bar, and a public square with a water feature in the shape of the

03:20Guest and Crimes tap would also be included in the scheme, so a lot of

03:24thoughts go into this. A live music venue was previously proposed, but that scheme

03:28was later abandoned, so it'll be interesting to see at this time if the proposals go

03:32all the way. But I understand you've got some news from Wigan? I have, yeah, I was

03:37over in Wigan a few days ago, and I got quite a few good stories out of it

03:41really. I saw Randy Burnham in the morning, the Mayor was over at, it's the

03:47old Eckersley Mill, which is run by Wigan Pier, obviously Wigan Pier

03:52immortalised by George Orwell. It's a really, really kind of iconic address. So the

03:57the old Eckersley Mill is being redeveloped as the Cottonworks, and it's

04:02one of, if not the biggest, brownfield redevelopments in the region, and there's

04:08going to be, as well as offices, and they've already got tenants, there's

04:13going to be bars, restaurants, clubs, that sort of thing, and it looks really good,

04:18looks really, really vibrant. It's going to be really nice. So I got

04:23a chance to speak to John Heaton from the Heaton Group, who's the kind of mastermind

04:28behind all of that, which is really exciting stuff. I also spoke to Alison

04:34Mackenzie Folen, who's the Chief Executive of the Council, and she let me

04:38into the news that Wigan is looking at its own sort of sports village. So a

04:45little bit like Man City has got the Etihad, where there's the academies and

04:50all those sorts of... It's like cycling academies nearby and stuff. Yeah, exactly, it's like a

04:53whole kind of area, isn't it? So they're looking to have that in Wigan as well,

04:58because they've obviously got Wigan Athletic Football Club there at Robin

05:02Park. They've also got the Wigan Warriors rugby ground, and the owner of the Wigan

05:09Warriors, also I believe an investor in the football club, they're working with him

05:15on those plans. So that's going to be really exciting. I also got a chance to

05:20look at Capital and Centrix's new project in Wigan, which is called Civic, which is

05:28going to be a sort of co-working space where it will enable businesses that are

05:34kind of scaling up to have somewhere flexible where they can work.

05:41Separate from that, I also went over to the Pemberton area and saw what Peel is

05:48doing there. So many exciting things happening in Wigan,

05:54and people are going to be able to read more about that in the next issue of

05:58Northwest Business Insider as well. It's a special regional feature. Very exciting

06:03time for Wigan. It is, it is, and so if anybody wants to look at any of these

06:08stories, they're all on our website, insidermedia.com, and check us out on

06:14LinkedIn as well. You can give us both a follow on LinkedIn, can't you? And we'll see

06:18you next time. Thank you.

06:23you

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 4th February 2025

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