Alice and Robyn discuss rising turnover at a Liverpool sportswear brand, a major new neighbourhood in Birmingham, which features a 49-storey skyscraper, and plans for a £1.2bn cancer research district which could create thousands of jobs.
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00:00Plans for a cancer research district in Sutton, an employee ownership move for a
00:04design firm and rising turnover at Liverpool headquartered sports company.
00:08That's all coming up on today's Business Briefing.
00:17Morning Robin. Morning Alice. So what have you got for us today? Well exciting
00:21news first of all about a new cancer research district. So this has the
00:25potential to provide 1.2 billion in GVA every year once it's been built.
00:31Yeah. So yeah, really major proposal here. And it's going to be a life sciences
00:36district in Sutton that would create 1 million square foot of new lab and
00:39research space. And it's all focused around that research and treatment side
00:43of things. So the scheme is being brought forward by Aviva Capital Partners and
00:47Socius and it's going to transform a 12 acre site into a global centre for
00:51oncology. So the proposed London Cancer Hub is designed to unite pharmaceutical and
00:56life sciences companies along with start-ups, researchers and things like
01:00that. Kind of all in one ecosystem. So I feel like we have similar things here
01:04don't we with life sciences hubs and campuses. And obviously it's taken off in
01:08the south south east as well. So the project is forecast to deliver over a
01:12billion pounds in gross value added to the economy every year once it's
01:16operational. So be exciting to see how that progresses. Really good for like all the
01:20kind of spin out companies as well you know from universities because they've
01:23often said that they don't have enough lab space so it's good to have somewhere
01:27else that they can move to. Definitely. Well over in Liverpool sportswear brand
01:32Montereyx has revealed turnover of more than 70 million pound and it's now iron
01:37international growth. I don't know if you've heard of the brand. Yeah well I don't think I do but in the
01:43Northwest they're one of our 42 under 42 where we sort of compile the most
01:47exciting entrepreneurs across the region. So they've been in the list for a few
01:51years and apparently if you walk down the street in Liverpool everyone's wearing
01:54Montereyx. That doesn't surprise me because they're actually only established
01:57the brand was only established six years ago
01:59by Daniel Yuan and Kieran Riddle Austin who were best friends.
02:03So kind of a big feat that now in the most recent financial year
02:07turnover reached 76.7 million pounds so in six years. Very impressive.
02:11Pretty good. Now they've already got partnerships with retailers such as JD and Foot Asylum which
02:18has obviously contributed to the success but they're now in the European market so they want
02:24to expand across the continent within the next three years and they also want to move into the
02:29North American market by 2030. So yeah doing really well. Wow amazing. So over to the Midlands now
02:35for a story from Birmingham. So a decision is due on a new neighbourhood from Vita Group which
02:40would feature a 49 storey skyscraper. So we're familiar with Vita Group up here as well.
02:45Yeah they're kind of changing the skyline of Manchester. Oh exactly yeah and they have this
02:49house of social brand which is their student accommodation and it's quite a new concept I think
02:54for them. So this would be included in the designs in Birmingham as well and the proposals for goods
03:00station scheme have been evolving over the last few years and the company is lining up the
03:04redevelopment of the former Axis square sites. So the master plan includes three residential
03:10buildings creating 990 homes, service apartments and also the student accommodation which is the
03:17house of social brand and so similarly to the one in Manchester it'll also have a giant food hall.
03:21Yeah. So 17 000 square foot food hall as well for the students. That's massive a food hall actually.
03:27Yeah I mean students and their families are going to love that. I feel like my parents used to take
03:31me to Pizza Hut in Leeds. So this is probably a little bit more up market for these students.
03:37So the planning committee considered the application on the 10th of April but voted for deferral to
03:43allow for further consideration of the proposed housing mix so affordable housing contribution and
03:48things like that. Yeah so hopefully it's good news for Vita Group next week. Yeah hopefully pretty
03:52exciting on that. Well finally Newcastle headquartered design practice Rider Architecture has become
03:58employee owned. Now Rider they're headquartered in Newcastle but they are a really prominent
04:03business. They have schemes across the UK as well as as far afield as in Canada and Australia. They're
04:09working on some really big developments in Newcastle such as Bank House, the Pilgrim Quarter area which
04:15is just basically transforming the city. Now the business also celebrated its 70th anniversary so it's
04:22kind of a nice time for this change. Yeah. And Mark Thompson who is managing director called it an exciting
04:28and positive step in its journey and he also said that this more importantly maintains all of the
04:33elements that have made the business so successful to date. So following their transaction mark and
04:39the current leadership team will still be in charge of kind of strategy and business decisions and a
04:44small board of trustees has been established to represent the employee ownership trust and provide
04:49oversight on behalf of everyone at the business. And some prominent advisors worked on that deal
04:55including UNW and Womble Bond Dickinson. Now if you want to read more about that story or any of the
05:01stories we've discussed today you can do so on insidermedia.com and while you're there feel free to
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