Business

Today, the My Bus free employee shuttle bus service for Central Milton Keynes has officially launched. This new city centre transportation service is being provided by MyMiltonKeynes, the local Business Improvement District, and responds directly to the feedback from employers and employees within CMK. The service will run Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm and the circular route, via Silbury and Avebury Boulevards, has ten stops across the city centre from the Network Rail offices by the station up to the shopping centres and leisure districts. Stops include the Civic Offices, The Hub, 12th Street, centre:mk and intu Milton Keynes. Employees located within the city centre can download the free MyMiltonKeynes app (on iOS and Android) to register, ride for free and access live bus times. Melanie Beck, Chief Executive of MyMiltonKeynes commented, “We are thrilled to finally launch the My Bus service. This tangible benefit for CMK employees..

A Wolverton business has won a national award in recognition of its work in making Wolverton a better place to live. Bridgman & Bridgman won the Best Community Partnership with Business award at the Groundwork Community Awards, hosted by the charity in the Houses of Parliament in London on Thursday 22 November. Groundwork, a national charity who works across the UK to support communities to change places and change lives, launched its awards in 2017 to honour small community groups making a big difference to everyone’s quality of life and to celebrate and reward groups who often get little recognition and support. Bridgman & Bridgman are a commercial landscape and living roof services provider. The company lead on the ‘Don’t Rubbish Wolverton’ campaign, with the first clean-up day taking place in 2013 and engaged over 20 resident volunteers, the local council and refuse contractors to help clean up the streets...

Businesses in Milton Keynes are once again signing up to take part in the Franklins £50 Challenge and use their entrepreneurial skills to raise funds for Willen Hospice. In January 2019 the challenge will begin with each team receiving £50 from Franklins Solicitors. Each team will have eight weeks to invest and re-invest that money to raise as much as possible. Hospice. Amy Shaw, Corporate Fundraiser said “In 2018, teams raised an incredible £32,000 for the Hospice through quiz nights, bake sales, lunchtime yoga and dress down days. We celebrated their achievements at an awards ceremony where the challenge champions were crowned and prizes awarded for best team name and most creative fundraising.“ Willen Hospice is inviting teams from local businesses to take part in the 2019 Franklins Challenge to make this year’s challenge even bigger and better, to support their local Hospice. The Hospice needs to raise £9 every..

Leading Milton Keynes magazine MK Pulse has been nominated in the ‘Best Customer Service’ category as part of the highly prestigious SME MK & Buckinghamshire Business Awards. In a category decided purely by a public vote, the winning business will ensure it exceeds customers’ expectations before, during and after using their services, invest in building long term relationships and provide a service that is consistently outstanding. Kerry Lewis-Stevenson, MK Pulse magazine’s editor, said: “We pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service, so to be nominated in this category is absolutely fantastic. Especially as one of our customer’s entered us for the award and it wasn’t something we consciously signed up for as a business.” A trusted companion to those living locally, MK Pulse is dedicated to Milton Keynes and its surrounding villages. Engaging and relevant content of local news, features and stories combine to create a much-loved magazine that's as..

A taxi company with offices in Northampton and Milton Keynes now has a presence in Bedford after acquiring A6 Cars. The move by Skyline Taxis is part of a wider plan to expand across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. A plan that saw the company purchase both Phoenix Class and Value Cars of Northampton last year. This latest deal will see Skyline Taxis inherit a modest fleet of vehicles and undergo a recruitment campaign to hire staff to run a new Bedford office, for which planning permission has been granted by Bedford Borough Council. A6 Cars has been operating in Bedford for the last two years and providing a service to Bedford, Kempston and the surrounding villages. Managing Director of Skyline Taxis, Gav Soki, said: “We're really excited to take the next step in our expansion plan. Up until now, we have been providing a service in and out of Bedford...

Two leading Milton Keynes companies have become the first to sign up to a new sponsors scheme aimed at supporting MK Museum’s expansion. Law firm Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors, and commercial accountants Tower Commercial Support, have committed funds over the next five years towards the cost of completing the fit-out of the Museum’s new galleries. Once open, the ancient and new Milton Keynes galleries will tell the full story of this area, from pre-history through to the creation of the UK’s biggest and boldest new town. “It’s fitting that the first companies to join our new sponsors’ scheme are both ‘Made in Milton Keynes’,” said Museum Director Bill Griffiths. “One of the major themes in the new MK gallery will be the stories of the schemers and dreamers, the organisations and individuals, who have built their businesses, homes and lives here and are the reason for our new town’s success. “We..

Self-financing charity The Parks Trust has won two prestigious national awards at the 2018 Horticulture Week Custodian Awards. The Parks Trust was the winner of the Best Visitor Initiative award for its events programme and the Best Volunteer Initiative award for its volunteer strategy. It also received ‘Highly Commended’ in the Best Community Initiative category for its Youth Explorers initiative. This year was the first time the Trust has entered the Horticulture Week awards and comes hot on the heels of the charity’s success earlier in the year at the 2018 Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards, where it won the Leisure Entertainment & Arts award. David Foster, Chief Executive of The Parks Trust, commented: “It’s a real honour to be recognised by industry bible Horticulture Week for the work we carry out across the city. “It is brilliant to get this national recognition from experts in the parks and horticulture..

Iain Stewart MP today visited UK Mail, part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, in Milton Keynes to tour operations and discuss the company’s recent growth and contribution to the local community.  Iain Stewart MP visited the UK Mail depot in his constituency in Milton Keynes South to meet over 195 people working on site and delivering parcels in the local area. The UK Mail depot provides a vital service for local businesses and constituents who rely on UK Mail for e-commerce deliveries and collections. It also hosts the UK Mail contact centre offering customers services to the South of England and dealing with all social media enquiries.   The 102,524 sq ft site opened to serve the Milton Keynes constituency and surrounding postcodes in November 2017 with an investment of £11.8m and handles up to 19,000 parcels a day.  Peter Fuller, CEO, UK Mail said: “We are delighted Iain Stewart has..

A staggering 50 per cent of businesses in Milton Keynes say they could only cope for up to 30 minutes without internet, according to new research.  The survey, commissioned by infrastructure provider CityFibre, lays bare how vulnerable many companies are to a loss of digital connectivity and how little it would take to bring the city’s business ecosystem grinding to a halt.  According to CityFibre, the findings make a clear case for bringing an end to the country’s dependence on its aging, capacity-constrained copper infrastructure and supporting an accelerated rollout of a full fibre alternative – which can currently only be accessed by less than 4 per cent of the UK.  The research shows that most businesses thought that better connectivity would equal improved productivity and improved customer service (both 54%). Other perceived benefits included less time spent travelling (40%), more use of remote working (39%) and better collaboration (32%),..

As we navigate through the political ‘mood music’ of Brexit, will the integrity of MP’s be restored, and will they once again be a beacon of trust to the British public? This hard hitting subject was the backdrop to the recent MK Business Leaders Partnership (MKBLP) Quarterly Dinner, as Dr Philip Smith MBE, Chair of MKBLP, questioned why the country’s perception of MP’s today is only just above that of a second hand car sales man. Is it the constant stream of televised debates and media coverage, coupled with the constant, and often reckless use, of social media? One only has to think of the aptly dubbed ‘Twitter President’ to realise the implications of this media platform. But, are our MP’s misunderstood? ‘MP Trust and Integrity – Can we respect them?’ A tough subject for any MP to tackle, but The Right Honourable Dominic Grieve QC MP was certainly up..

Two important organisations with roles in strengthening the city centre vitality, both in terms of visitor experience and increasing footfall, and business engagement focussing on employee satisfaction, the overall impression of city centre through clean up projects, transport services and creating a robust and safer environment for all, have come together to form an influential partnership. Destination Milton Keynes, which has a remit to manage the essential visitor economy across the city and Amazing CMK BID (Business Improvement District), which manages ambitious plans to tackle a number of significant city centre issues, will now work together on key projects to create greater opportunities for businesses and venue operators to promote to employees and visitors to CMK. The partnership will see Amazing CMK take a place on the Destination MK Board to allow more input into future plans for promoting Central Milton Keynes and will see a much closer working relationship..

Lakeview Lodge Care Home on Jersey Drive, Newton Leys is delighted to announce that they are taking part in the initiative, National Care Home Open Day on Saturday 21st of April and will be opening their doors to the local community from 10am – 4pm. The idea behind the day is to encourage local people to visit care homes in their community and to work together to develop better relationships. This important connection is something that Lakeview Lodge Care Home has nurtured since opening in August 2017, when the ribbon was cut by the Mayor of Milton Keynes. Since its inception, Lakeview Lodge has fast become known locally as somewhat of a community hub, hosting fairs, informational events, seminars and open days as an olive branch to the local people of Newton Leys & Milton Keynes. As part of Care Home Open Day 2018, Lakeview Lodge Care Home is hosting..

The wait is over for the more than 100 entrants of this year’s Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards (MKBAA), as the finalists are revealed for MKBAA 2018. Organised by the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership (MKBLP), in association with full service marketing agency Interdirect and event management experts Evolution, MKBAA 2018 promises to be the best awards ceremony yet, having further improved on the successes of previous years. Dr Philip Smith MBE, chair of MKBLP explains: “We have been really impressed by the calibre of entries into this year’s Business Achievement Awards and look forward to finding out more about each of the shortlisted business at the awards ceremony on 8 March. “The awards, which provide the perfect opportunity to celebrate the talent that we have in our city, will once again be hosted by iconic British Sports Star, Gail Emms MBE. “If you haven’t already done so, I would..

Over 80 apprentices and students from a variety of levels and courses kicked off 2018 with a behind- the-scenes tour of the Microsoft building in Reading on 22nd January. They spent the day with a variety of Microsoft apprentices, staff and interns, taking part in multiple activities around how technology can impact your career in the future, digital skills such as coding, the importance of social media to recruiters, and getting a sneak peek behind the scenes at the headquarters. The visit was organised by YouthSpark, a sector of Microsoft that aims to bring computer science and technology to life for every young person, through policy, advocacy and partnerships. One of the main activities of the day was to have a go at coding a micro:bit, a tiny programmable computer that is designed to make learning and teaching easy and fun. The Microsoft team created a challenge to code a..

At Destination Milton Keynes’ first members’ event of the year, its Chief Executive, Steven Gordon-Wilson, named and presented the organisation’s newest Ambassador.  Leigh Strathearn, Managing Director of Perception Public Relations and joint owner of Maaya Indian Kitchen & Bar in The Hub, was presented with the honour that has only been received by four other people in the city. For his support and services to Destination Milton Keynes, the city’s official visitor information body, and for championing Milton Keynes, he was presented with a certificate signed by the organisation’s Chair, Dr Ann Limb, CBE.  “It’s a great honour to have been awarded such a prestigious title,” Leigh said. “Destination Milton Keynes does a fantastic job promoting Milton Keynes and those businesses within it and I will continue to offer my full support.”  Steve Gordon-Wilson commented, “Leigh has been a passionate supporter of both Destination Milton Keynes and the city overall..