Week Commencing 17 June 2018 Energy & Business Services: Representatives of Sykes @ Home were in Caithness this week to begin a recruitment process for Homeworkers, beginning with a well-supported drop-in recruitment event in Thurso. CNSRP partner Highlands and Islands.
Up to 100 new homeworking jobs are set to be created in the Highlands and Islands. The jobs will be for people with excellent customer care skills looking for the flexibility of working from home.
Roc Technologies today announced it has been awarded a 5-year contract to transform and manage IT services by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd(Dounreay). Dounreay is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Cavendish Dounreay Partnership Ltd, a consortium of Cavendish Nuclear, Jacobs and AECOM and funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to deliver the site closure programme at Dounreay.
Weeks commencing 4th and11th June 2018 Energy & Business Services: I'm looking forward next week to meeting with representatives of Sykes @ Home when they come to Caithness to begin a recruitment process for Homeworkers. CNSRP partner Highlands and Islands Enterprise has continued to work on attracting business services opportunities to the north, and this one will be of interest to many people in the area.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has appointed a new regional head of innovation and technology. Based in An Lòchran, Inverness, David Howie is responsible for a dynamic portfolio that includes all HIE activities on innovation, technology and advanced engineering.
Tourism: Interesting to note that Whitbread have this week confirmed an intention to submit planning application to build a Premier Inn in Thurso. The proposal is for ground near Thurso railway station, and the news has been given a cautious welcome, with some questions about effects on existing hotel businesses.
More than 200 people packed into the Weigh Inn hotel in Thurso this week as Dounreay Site Restoration Limited and supply chain partners shared plans and ideas about the decommissioning of the site. Leading nuclear firms mixed with numerous small and medium sized enterprises for the event which was attended by those who either support the site through existing framework contracts or have registered for the innovative ‘LINC with Dounreay' scheme.
Weeks Commencing 7th - 21st May 2018 Energy & business services: As the first towers for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm arrive in Nigg this week, Crown Estate Scotland has begun looking ahead to the next generation of offshore wind projects in Scotland. The Moray Firth has been a real focal point for offshore wind in Scotland, with the Beatrice project set to enter its operation and maintenance phase in 2019 and the Moray Offshore project currently moving towards financial close during 2018.
A new report has called for more promotion of Scotland's aquaculture sector and supply chain as a rewarding long-term career choice, particularly for young people and for women. The ‘Skills review for the Aquaculture Sector in Scotland' was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) on behalf of the Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group (AILG), and in collaboration with Skills Development Scotland.
Business Gateway workshops to be held in Thurso and Wick. The Paths into Public Procurement workshop is new and is being held in the evening for clients' convenience..
More than half (53%) of Highlands and Islands businesses plan to take on new staff in the coming year, and most plan to recruit them from within the region, new research has revealed. Over 1,000 firms took part in the latest quarterly business panel survey carried out by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in February.
Scotland's leading creative industries festival, XpoNorth, has unveiled the next wave of speakers for the one-of-a-kind event this summer in Inverness. Taking place 27-28 of June 2018, XpoNorth 2018 will see a range of leading voices from across the national and international creative industries gather in the Highland capital to deliver one of the most exciting, inspiring, informative and unique events of its kind.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) welcomed Lord Duncan of Springbank, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scotland Office, to its Dounreay site to see decommissioning progress. Lord Duncan travelled to Caithness to learn more about work on Scotland's largest nuclear clean-up and demolition project.
Week commencing 16th April 2018 Tourism: In the week that we celebrated World Heritage Day it is good to see Highland Council advertising for a fixed term post to progress the long-held aspiration that the Peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland become a UNESCO World Heritage area. You can view the job description and background to the appointment at https://www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/highland-council/jobs/world-heritage-project-co-ordinator-114206 Enabling activities: Recruitment continues this week for the successor to CNSRP Independent Chair Sir Anthony Cleaver, whose last meeting as Chair of the Partnership's Executive Board will be in June this year after ten years successfully leading CNSRP's programme of work.
Individuals, businesses and community groups in and around 14 communities in the Highlands and Islands have an extra two weeks to take part in an online survey on rural banking services. Among other things, the survey asks about the importance of being able to withdraw and deposit cash locally, experiences of using Post Office and mobile banking services, and the perceived impacts of local branch closures.
Decommissioning a nuclear reactor is about more than removing the core itself and, around a decade after work started to pull apart a host of support facilities associated with Dounreay's oldest reactor, they have all gone. Radioactive facilities, including a cooling pond, storage compound and examination cells assisted Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) during its operational life.
Businesses in the Highlands and Islands looking to grow and become more competitive are set to benefit from a new initiative for entrepreneurs. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has teamed up with Entrepreneurial Scotland (ES) to enable more enterprising individuals in the region to access its full range of activities and services.
The University of the Highlands and Islands is inviting applications for a new North Coast 500 studentship. The PhD opportunity has been developed by the university's Centre for History in partnership with the North Coast 500 initiative.
If your business is already selling online, or you're thinking about starting an online sales operation, why not be business brave and consider the international marketplace? With the right information, set-up and skills, your business could capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available beyond the UK!. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) invites you to attend a FREE one-day workshop, 'Selling Online Internationally', where you can learn how to increase international sales through your website.
Gavin Mackay, HIE's head of energy industries, reflects on the opportunities and challenges facing the region's energy sector. At the launch of Oil and Gas UK's 2018 business outlook in March I was invited to use their event portal to pose questions and give my ‘multiple choice’ view of the future of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).