Swindon’s economic performance has failed to keep pace with its population growth, a major new report out today shows – leaving the town struggling to compete with the UK’s largest towns and cities. While the town’s population increased by 14.8% between 2004 and 2013, it was one of the worst performers for jobs growth...
Alternative finance provider South West Investment Group (SWIG) has appointed two non-executive directors to the board of its fund-holding arm as it looks to raise its profile in the West of England. Malachy McReynolds and Graham Miller join the existing directors at the group which since 1996 has invested £15m in to more than...
Confidence among West of England businesses petered out at the end of 2014 and has started the new year lower than at any time over the previous 12 months, new research shows. Domestic sales, cashflow and recruitment expectations all fell during the fourth quarter, according to results of the latest business survey by Business...
Visitors to Wiltshire College Chippenham’s open evening this week will also be able to sign up to tour the new campus in-the-making. Due to open this autumn, the £21m building is the UK’s biggest skills funding project and will transform the site into a state-of-the-art facility boasting the latest equipment for vocational study in...
Thrings has become the first law firm in Swindon to include an interactive, 3D virtual tour of its office in the town on Google – a move it believes gives it a commercial advantage over its rivals. Anyone searching for Thrings on Google will see high quality, 360-degree photographs of the firm’s main client-facing...
North Wiltshire businessman and social housing champion David Ashmore and master arrowsmith Hector Cole have been appointed MBEs in the New Year Honours list. Mr Ashmore, pictured, a board member of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and until January 2013 chief executive of housing group Greensquare, was recognised for “services to housing...
Ian Larrard, director of the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative at Business West, looks back at the past 12 months and considers why next year’s General Election is set to be one of the most important in recent memory. “The noise and glare of fireworks this New Year must not mask the fact that we...
Vastern Timber, the Royal Wootton Bassett-based sawmill, is using two restoration projects it completed at the Tower of London this year to showcase its use of English oak and to make the case for British timber. The firm supplied wood for the reinstatement of the historic building’s drawbridge as well for furniture for the...
Swindon success story Oak Furniture Land is to enter the highly-competitive sofa business with a new retail brand called SofaStore, it revealed today. Already the UK’s fastest-growing furniture retailer, Oak Furniture Land will launch SofaStore on Boxing Day across its 57 UK showrooms, including four dedicated stores. The new brand will sit alongside that...
Swindon-based thermal imaging firm Thermographic Consultancy has become the latest business partner of the town’s University Technical College (UTC), which opened in September. Thermographic Consultancy will raise awareness of the UTC’s courses and its achievements. The company’s founder and managing director Stuart Holland is also supporting college representatives at events over the coming year....
