Week Commencing 10th August 2015 Tourism, Food & Drink There has been further excellent media coverage this week of the North Coast 500 route following triple cycling world record holder Mark Beaumont's amazing non-stop circumnavigation of the route. We watched him flash past us in Thurso on Tuesday morning on his way to completing the journey in 38 hours! As recently reported the route has been voted one of the world's top six tourist drives.
New locations announced as three million UK superfast broadband milestone is reached. More than 10,000 homes and businesses in Caithness can now access next generation fibre broadband through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) roll-out.
Weeks commencing 27th July and 3rd august 2015 Energy & Business Services Further good coverage this week for the ongoing activity at Scrabster Harbour, which has had a record month for Oil & Gas traffic through the port. This increased level of business for Scrabster Harbour Trust is also having a welcome impact on Wick John O' Groats airport, which oil & gas crews are using for crew transfers.
A ceremonial turf cutting ceremony marked the official start of building work on the new archive that will store nuclear records from across the UK. David Flear, chairman of the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, dug into the ground at the Wick site where the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's Nuclear Archive will start to take shape over the next 12 months.
Opportunity, quality of life and strong community links have been cited as some of the positive reason young people are choosing to stay in the Highlands and Islands. This is according to a new report on the recent Young people and the Highlands and Islands: Attitudes and aspirations study commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
DSRL have announced the new managing director designate, Phil Craig. With more than 20 years' experience in the nuclear industry, Phil’s career has focused on supporting the UK nuclear decommissioning, defence and existing power generation sectors.
UKAEA has been selected to supply the Hot Cell Remote Handling Facility for the new €1.8 billion European Spallation Source (ESS). ESS is currently under construction in Sweden.
Week Commencing 20th July 2015 Energy & Business Services The Ministry of Defence's Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) at Vulcan saw its test reactor shut down for the last time this week, marking the first time in around 60 years that there has not been an operational reactor in Caithness. The facility beside the Dounreay site is operated for the MoD by Rolls Royce.
Week Commencing 13th July 2015 Energy & Business Services Good to catch up this week with Louise Smith of Caithness Renewables, and to hear the welcome news that the project she has been working on with Caithness Voluntary Group and Transition Black Isle has taken a big step forward. ACTION Highland Highway has been awarded £35,000 from CNSRP partner Scottish Government's Local Energy Challenge Fund in order to help establish a network of electric vehicle charging points, using an innovative link with Denchi Power, who supply batteries for use by the Ministry of Defence.
The contract applies to twelve sites throughout the UK managed by the decommissioning company Magnox Ltd as well as the nuclear site at Dounreay in Caithness, Scotland, Radioactive Waste Management Limited's site in Harwell and the Low-Level Waste Repository in West Cumbria. A number of segments make up the contrac.
Caberfeidh Court. Caberfeidh Court is situated in a quiet residential area in Wellington Avenue in Wick and is available for people aged 50 or over.
A series of key appointments have been made to Wave Energy Scotland (WES) as the new research and development organisation sets up an Advisory Group. WES received over fifty applications from interested parties keen to be involved in the group.
Digital connectivity is changing forever on the Outer Hebrides with the announcement today (Tuesday 7 July) that high-speed fibre broadband is live in Stornoway. Around 3,600 premises in Stornoway will be the first to have access to the new services thanks to the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project.
Week commencing 29 June 2015. Energy & Business Services A reminder that next week will see Marine Scotland colleagues in the area to run consultation events on the Pentland Firth & Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan.
Thirty-eight businesses across the Highlands, islands and Cairngorms National Park area have been shortlisted for the area's most prestigious food and drink awards. Finalists ranged from new businesses to established producers; family-run restaurants to Michelin-starred establishments and demonstrated the strength and diversity of food and drink businesses across the region.
Pupils from Wick High School and Lamlash Primary School on the Isle of Arran have been announced as winners of a dragon's den style competition to design apps that solve real-world problems. The Highlands and Islands ‘Apps for Good' final took place today where schools from across the region pitched their products via live videos to a panel of judges based at UHI’s executive office in Inverness.
Week Commencing 22 June 2015. Energy & Business Services Following their attendance at last week's Wick RNLI Open Day this week's Caithness Courier carries a piece on the team from Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL), who took a stand at the event to promote the project.
Week commencing 15th June 2015 Energy & Business Services Good to meet representatives from SSE Power Distribution in Thurso this week as they undertook a final consultation on the proposed route for the new high voltage overhead line from a new substation at Thurso to a new substation at Philips Mains near Mey. The project has been the subject of three separate consultation phases since June 2011, and this phase shows how previous comments on the route have been taken into account before an application for consent is submitted to Highland Council this summer.
Week commencing 8th June 2015 Energy & Business Services Good to see today's John O'Groat Journal piece welcoming the current survey work being carried out at Wick Harbour using a jack-up barge. The survey work is being used to support the design of onshore Operation & Maintenance (O&M) facilities for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) project in the Moray Firth.
Social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands are helping Scotland tackle social issues, promote equality and achieve economic growth, a major summit on the sector heard today (Wednesday 10 June). Social enterprises trade like any other business, but at their heart they have a social purpose; trading for social, community and environmental benefits and reinvesting their profits to deliver their social purpose.