Parc Life - Issue 2 - Summer 2013

The Parc Menai Newsletter

Summer 2013 | Issue 2

Inside Supertemps' Sian rescues dog off mountain ledge From Wales to Texas, networking across the Atlantic Gaia 3D: Transforming education with 3D platforms North Wales funding and schemes

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FEATURED PROPERTY UPCOMING EVENTS

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LOTS MORE!

Welcome ISSUE 2

SUMMER 201 3

Welcome to this summer issue of Parc Life Parc Menai is blooming ­ despite our temperamental weather ­ and we have some brand new tenants in the form of cygnets!

It's a busy time on the business park with lots going on, including the quarterly Parc Menai Business Club event. This time we'll be focusing on 'Why Buyers Buy', with Outperform Training & Coaching providing top tips and tools that you can implement immediately to increase sales.

You'd be silly to miss it!

There has been a revamp of design for this bigger and better issue of the Parc Menai newsletter, which I hope you enjoy reading and find useful. Let me know ­ I'd love your feedback.

CONTENTS ON THE PARC Missing dog rescued off mountain ledge by Supertemps' Sian Gaia 3D: Transforming education with 3D platforms Featured Property Learning before lunchtime Further lettings on Parc Menai: Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd expands From Wales to Texas, networking across the Atlantic

Last but not least, a big thank you to all the contributors to this issue.

New arrivals on Parc Menai

See you in Autumn!

­ Editor

Contributors Jane Steen

ETL Solutions

SWEQUITY Exchange Wales winners crowned

FUNDING & SCHEMES Elevate Cymru: Funded skills development for businesses

Jenny Fewings Inventorium

Digital Development Fund

Rachel Jones

Outperform Training & Coaching

Nia Wright­Morgan Bangor University

Llinos Iorwerth

Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd

Wales Property Development Fund

ON THE PARC

Supertemps' Sian rescues Sutty the dog

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ian was climbing with boyfriend Rob Shepherd in the Glyder mountain range when they heard a dog, which turned out to be a missing King Charles Spaniel called Sutty, owned by a climber who fell and suffered serious injuries nearly two weeks prior.

Sian Williams is the branch manager at Supertemps on Parc Menai and with her boyfriend Rob Shepherd, an avid rock­climber.

“We went climbing on Saturday afternoon and chose a quiet and Sutty in Sian's backpack rarely visited area. On the walk in we had noticed the posters stating Sutty was missing following the incident of the fallen climber 10 days prior", says Sian.

“We got to the bottom of our crag, roped up and started climbing. After about 15 minutes we both commented that we thought we heard a dog. It wasn’t a loud noise and with sheep in the valley we thought perhaps we had misheard. However a couple of minutes later, it was clear that it was a dog whimpering and crying. We realised that the noise must have been the dog from the posters.

“We managed to spot it from across the valley and thought it was on a ledge not too far off the ground. However, as we got closer we realised it was in a precarious position and rescuing Sutty wasn’t going to be as straightforward as we initially anticipated.”

Rob made the tricky descent to a ledge where lost dog Sutty was stuck, then he and Sian lowered the dog down in Sian’s backpack using a ropeway.

Sutty was found in a small burrow that he had dug to protect himself from the sun and had no apparent signs of injury. He was very thirsty and was grateful for the water and remaining cheese sandwich that Sian and Rob were able to give him.

“Reuniting Sutty with his family was so rewarding and we were really happy to have been in the right place, at the right time.”

Sutty as he was discovered in his self­dug burrow

Issue 2 Summer 2013

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ON THE PARC

Transforming education with 3D platforms

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arc Menai's Gaia Technologies have been working with educationalists in the UK and worldwide in order to create a PC­based immersive 3D learning platform that conveys not just the facts, but an educational journey that takes education to a whole new level.

They hope to contribute to next year’s First World War centenary by immersing students into the Virtual Trench.

"It is one thing to read about what happened 100 years ago, it's another thing to actually experience it." ­ Michael Christodoulakis, Gaia's marketing executive.

Their vision is to capture, preserve, and communicate the memories of the Great War within a realistic and interactive virtual environment that will allow people to truly experience the reality of it.

The project is using Kickstarter as a crowd funding platform to fund its production.

I wish we had this when I was at school!

Featured Property:

Llys y Fedwen

For more on this immense project, visit www.virtualtrench.co.uk

LL57 4BL

4 Llys y Fedwen Size: 592 sq ft Rent: £8.50 psf Car spaces: 2

8 ­ 9 Llys y Fedwen Size: 3,799 sq ft Rent: £5.00 psf Car spaces: 15

MORE INFO

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Issue 2 Summer 2013

ON THE PARC

Learning before lunchtime

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fter consistently selling out their popular courses in other areas of North Wales and England, Outperform Training & Coaching finally came to Bangor and delivered their 4 most popular half­day sales courses right here at Parc Menai.

Their 'Learning Before Lunchtime' workshops are designed to help you attract new customers and sell more. With role­plays and bite­sized chunks of learning that you can take away and implement immediately, it's easy to see why so many businesses have attended so far.

Rachel Jones Each workshop is delivered by Outperform's Managing Director and Principal Trainer Dawn Roberts (former National Training Manager for BUPA) who is an expert in all things sales and service and a motivating public speaker.

For more information and registration, get in touch with Rachel:  01745 824883  rachel@outperformservices.co.uk

They were with us throughout May and with a growing waiting list they have agreed to come back in July and August to give you more!

The courses qualify for ESF funding which means that companies in Wales can typically attend for just £28.50 +vat per person, per workshop.

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artrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) is a housing association that owns and is responsible for the management of 6,000 homes that were transferred to the association from Gwynedd Council.

Further lettings on park as CCG expands Llinos Iowerth

We have around 275 staff based at different offices and depots across Gwynedd.

As of 1st of July we will have staff at three units in Parc Menai: • HQ at 6 and 7 Llys Castan • The Welsh Housing Quality Standard delivery team at Llys y Fedwen • Our Repairs and Maintenance, and Customer Services Teams at Llys y Dderwen Our teams which are moving into Llys y Dderwen are moving from the former Manweb Depot in Caernarfon – over 50 staff will be based at the new building. Staff have named the building Ty Coch for obvious reasons (because it is red).

Staff based at Ty Coch (Llys y Dderwen) are responsible for repairs and upkeep of CCG’s 6,200 homes. Customer Services staff also based at the new location on Parc Menai take CCG’s customer calls and deal with enquiries.

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ON THE PARC

From Wales to Texas,

networking across the Atlantic Jane Steen

IT

company ETL Solutions, who are based on Parc Menai, have just returned from a very successful conference in Houston,

Texas.

For the second year in succession, the firm had an exhibition stand at the 17th international conference on Petroleum Data Integration, Data and Information Management, where they showcased their data management software and services for the Oil & Gas industry.

In addition to enjoying the warm, sunny weather, the ETL Solutions team met a host of leading IT specialists from oil companies across ETL's Business Development Director, the globe. “The calibre of contacts we made at the conference Karl Glenn, at the exhibition stand was extremely high”, says Karl Glenn, Business Development Director at ETL Solutions. “Since our return to the UK, we have already had relevant, specific enquiries from a number of high­profile companies in the oil industry. We expect a rapid return on our investment by gaining new contracts for our consultancy services and our software tools.”

The company now plans to follow up their work at the conference with a series of free online demonstrations of their software, scheduled to run throughout June. To book a place on any of the demos, visit: www.etlsolutions.com

New arrivals on Parc Menai

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his year's new arrivals are enjoying their first taste of summer right here on Parc Menai, with mum and dad keeping them very close by!

If you're thinking of stopping by the park to see the cygnets or to feed the ducks, be sure to read our previous issue to find a great article with some useful information on taking care of our waterfowl.

For previous issues of Parc Life, visit the Newsletters page on our website.

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Issue 2 Summer 2013

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Parc Menai's new cygnets relaxing in the shade Motorists please take care while on Parc Menai!

Our feathery friends roam the business park throughout the day and sadly there has already been one incident where one of our ducks has been knocked down. Thanks!

ON THE PARC

SWEQUITY Exchange Wales

winners crowned Jenny Fewings

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wo of the brightest entrepreneurs in Wales have been crowned the winners of a ground­breaking business development programme.

The first programme of its kind in the UK, SWEQUITY Exchange Wales marries an idea owner to a bespoke execution

Innovators Gemma Hughes and Rosie Kressman were both victorious at the SWEQUITY Wales Finals where their proposals for new businesses in education and sustainable living wowed a panel of industry experts and an audience of mentors, fellow idea owners and potential investors.

Passionate local produce supporter Rosie was named the judges’ champion with her proposal Fresh Bocs, a website providing a shop window for food producers in North Wales.

Winners Rosie Cressman (left) and Gemma Hughes with Inventorium's Innovation Manager Dyfan Searell

Mum­of­three Gemma meanwhile won the people’s choice award with Mood Mwd, an educational brand to assist emotional development in young children.

The finals, held in Ty Menai, Parc Menai, capped a busy five­week programme that saw the winners transform their exciting ideas into valid business proposals under the watchful eyes of SWEQUITY Exchange mentors.

An innovative programme taking a unique and dynamic approach to developing start­up companies, SWEQUITY Exchange Wales, run by Ty Menai based start­up specialists Inventorium, brings together experts from a diverse range of backgrounds to support early­stage businesses.

team, made up of specialists in a variety of disciplines, to develop a viable commercial opportunity.

The idea owner and associated team then undergo an intense five­week programme to validate a concept in return for an equity stake in a new business.

The programme is based on an agile and lean start up approach so that a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) is achieved very quickly.

For more information, visit www.inventorium.org Issue 2 Summer 2013

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FUNDING & SCHEMES

Elevate Cymru: Funded skills development for businesses Nia Wright­Morgan

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eadership and management training can help enhance the long term success of your business, but in tough economic times investing in training and staff development can seem like a luxury.

This is where Elevate Cymru can help.

Elevate Cymru is a Pan Wales work­based learning programme which provides private (including the self­employed and micro­ businesses) and third sector businesses, based in Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Gwynedd, with access to fully funded* short courses on leadership and management.

The programme is funded by the European Social Fund, through the Welsh Government and in North Wales is led by Bangor University in partnership with Coleg Llandrillo and Glyndŵr University.

“Elevate can deliver courses which are tailored to meet the needs of businesses and their employees. Courses will be as flexible as possible and are designed to be relevant to the workplace, with practical outputs which can be put into practice immediately”, said the programme’s Academic Co­ordinator, Sandra Begley.

Opportunities for you and your employees, to develop new skills and add value to the future growth and sustainability of the business include:

• A programme of short courses in topics such as Marketing, Visual Merchandising and Social Media Marketing, Effective Management to Improve Performance, Finance for Non­Financial Managers, Leadership, Business Development, Customer Service and more • A bespoke training programme which will be developed based on feedback from you and your staff All courses are accredited by the University of Bangor or Glyndŵr University and can contribute to further qualifications.

* If you are a private or third sector company

based in the convergence areas of Wales, or an employee who either lives or works in the convergence areas, then support provided by the programme is either fully or part­funded (subject to conditions).

For more information on the support available to your business, or if you are a branch Chair and would like to discuss the possibility of arranging bespoke training for your branch:  Call 01248 383800  Email s.begley@bangor.ac.uk  Email n.wright­morgan@bangor.ac.uk

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Issue 2 Summer 2013

FUNDING & SCHEMES

Digital Development

Fund

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he Digital Development Fund is a £2 million fund designed to assist in supporting creative industries businesses to exploit new business markets in the global digital economy, through emerging digital technologies.

The fund aims to support projects that can achieve significant commercial returns through international market opportunities. The Digital Development Fund can provide funding up to a maximum of £50,000 and up to 50 per cent of the eligible costs of each project. Support given under this fund is not repayable.

The fund is not intended to be used for start up investment, early stage research and development only projects, or for the digitisation of non­commercial creative products.

business.wales.gov.uk/digitaldevelopment

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he Welsh Government has announced a new fund to support property developers, both commercial and residential, to get projects off the ground.

Wales Property Development Fund

Business Minister Edwina Hart has confirmed that the Property Development Fund will be managed by Finance Wales.

It has been created in response to the strong demand from small and medium­size construction companies that are unable to access finance from traditional sources.

It will operate on a commercial basis and by recycling investment returns, typically within 18­24 months, produce an ‘evergreen’ fund with the potential to provide up to £30m of available finance over five years.

Businesses wishing to apply for investment from the fund should contact Finance Wales on:

0800 587 41 40

More info online here

Issue 2 Summer 2013

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DIARY July

UPCOMING EVENTS

Negotiating and Closing 足 Sales Workshop Learn the skills required to confidently plan and conduct negotiations, and how and when to move sales to closing.

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July

Why Buyers Buy (and why they don't!) 足 Parc Menai Business Club Inspiring and motivating workshop providing you with practical tips and tools to implement immediately to increase your sales, whilst exceeding customer expectations.

July

Showcasing your Products and Services 足 Sales Workshop Whether you want to create attention grabbing marketing material, compose a killer email or build desire during a conversation, this course will help you.

16 30 July

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Beating Competitors 足 Sales Workshop Poor objection prevention and handling can kill a sale. Successful salespeople use objections to their advantage including those about price and competitors.

MORE EVENTS

Contact us We welcome contributions to future issues of Parc Life, as well as your feedback!

Please email us at: social@parcmenai.com

@parcmenai

/parcmenai

Pebble Hill Property Ltd Unit 3 Conwy Business Centre Junction Way Llandudno Junction LL31 9XX Tel: +44 (0) 1492 584343 www.pebblehill.co.uk