This is the Business Village People Podcast.

 

Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the very first edition of the Business Village People Podcast. Why The Village People Simple. This podcast is not just about the businesses and the services based at the Village, it's also about the people who work on-site, the people who've based their companies here, and the team who run, clean and administer the businesses at the village. And we've got some very clear aims for the podcast. It's gotta be informative. So by the end of the episode, you'll have discovered something that will benefit you, your job, and your business. We want to showcase and celebrate the business success stories and share 'em with the rest of the world. The very fact that you are here at the Village makes you part of a wider business community. So let's collaborate, share ideas, and support each other. Great things can happen when we work together. We want you to be part of the podcast. And finally, we want this podcast to be entertaining. Uh, drum roll, please. Ah, I said a drum roll and next time will you use your mouth to blow it. Okay, let's 

 

Go. In this episode of Business Village People,

 

As the home of Net Zero in Barnsley, we find out what the business village is doing to save the planet and save cash. Plus we will meet the woman who thinks being made redundant was the best thing that could happen. Eventually 

 

Being Made redundant was one of the worst things ever because you know, you the financial insecurity and just, just generally, you know, but it's actually turned out to be the best thing ever. I would never have got the courage. Um, so yeah, it's been really good.

 

That's all on this first edition of The Business Village People Podcast. I'm David Markwell. Ah, pathetic.

 

This

 

Is the Business Village People podcast.

 

So what do you know about the business village and the team that run the place? I've been chatting to business development manager Kevin Steele, to discover more about its past, present and what's planned for the future.

 

So I'm Kevin Steele. I'm the business development Manager here at the Business Village in Barnsley.

 

I previously used to work extensively in sales and marketing, selling advertising and publishing and worked for the Barnsley Chronicle for almost 20 years. I moved out of that and got into business support by accident. Really. I was working on a project called Smart Start, which then morphed into the launchpad. This is all about helping startup businesses in the Barnsley area. It was based here at the Business Village and I was working on that project. I also worked on Enterprising Barnsley, delivering a project called Non-P two. And I was offered a role here full-time around about 10 years ago if I'm not mistaken. And I've been here ever since. The need for a new business centre in Barnsley was stimulated by pit closures, ultimately repositioning the skilled workforce and the lack of skilled workforce in Barnsley, particularly in digital creative technology type sectors. 

 

The site here at Wilthorpe is getting much bigger. We now have four buildings. About two and a half years ago, maybe three years ago, we took the plunge to build a new building, which we call Building four. And that is a new stable in addition to the three existing buildings which we built in the 1980s. Here at the Business Village, in willful particular you'll see software engineers, you'll see web designers, you'll see accountants, you'll see social media experts. It's a wide and very cross-section. What we have seen particularly in the last two to three years is an increase in the types of businesses providing care and domiciliary care services. As the older population is living longer, new businesses are kick-starting up because of that. As a consequence, as businesses grow, they do require expansion space. Here at the business village, we do provide that. 

 

So what can start out as a relatively small office, let's say a couple of hundred feet can very easily turn into 500 square feet and then up to a thousand square feet, which is some of the biggest space business is booming. It's great to see that there is a heck of a lot of entrepreneurialism taking place here. The offer that we have, our license is three months in, three months out. So we are very flexible. Businesses come and go, but on the whole, we are seeing a heck of a lot of growth on-site from existing businesses. Well, one of my favourite businesses, we've gotta be Genius Division who looks after my website. We've been working with them for around about 10 years now from when they very first started. We've got a good online retailer called Love Lux who specializes in luxury ladies' wear and some gens wear. 

 

But we've got a ladies' gymnasium and a personal trainer and that's always really nice to see people walking around and enjoying themselves and adding to the well-being and mental health benefits that we offer. You will find that people do collaborate and swap services and goods. So for example, we have website designers who use the social media platform from the Lady on the corridor. We have people who work with the building trade and they use the architects on site or they use the fabricator on site. The network that we have helps people collaborate and work together. The pandemic was a very, very difficult point for us initially, but what we did find is that more and more people who were working from home then started looking for business support and business premises as a consequence of the pandemic.

 

This is the Net zero accelerator.

 

Net zero is a project we got involved with around about 18 months ago. It's a project delivered by the South Yorkshire Mayor Combined Authority. We've been working with around about 40 businesses in the borough to help them get on the road to net zero by 2045. And this is an agenda that Barley Council are supporting very, very heavily. Our new building back in 2020 had to conform with Bri's standards that included the fitting of solar panels of PV photos or take installation on the roof. We made the decision a couple of years later to start installing PV on every roof, and on every building that we have. And we currently have it in every building apart from one. But that is gonna be happening in the summer of 2023 and it's contributing significantly to our savings in the cost of electricity. 

 

We didn't allow dogs until very recently and in fact we've, we've recently held a survey to see how many people would actually bring a dog into work at the business village. What we did find is that we're receiving several inquiries over the internet and face-to-face for people asking to bring a dog to work. We didn't bring those businesses into the business village as a consequence of our No-dog policy. So I'm delighted to say that you're gonna be allowed to bring a dog to work. It helps a heck of a lot with well-being and mental health. Talk to reception and they will send you all the necessary information and procedures.

 

How

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