Hello and welcome to the latest edition of TFI, bringing you all the latest news and views from the great city of Manchester. This week, CBG Insurance are featured as ‘Business of the Week’; Ruth Ashford is ‘Woman of the Week’; and Peter Donnelly from RSM Tenon tells all in ‘Who Are Yer?’ Read on, enjoy, have a great weekend, and don’t do anything Frank wouldn’t do...

Two huge city development schemes are moving ahead.

The Co-operative Group and Manchester City Council this week launched a competition to find a design team that will create the streets and public squares at the Co-op’s new 20-acre headquarters near Victoria Station.

Their aim is to find a team that can transform the area around Corporation Street and Miller Street.

In a separate move, The Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF) and its partner, London-based developer Argent, have issued a formal request for expressions of interest for the design and build contract for the 270,000 sq ft office block at One St Peter’s Square.

The decisions of both the Co-op and Argent schemes show that developers are preparing for an upturn.

The Editor of business magazine EN, Stuart Anderson, recently interviewed the Downtown Chairman about the past, present and future...

Executive search consultancy, RMG, has appointed Mark Wilding and Sam Meakin to its board of directors.

Wilding will carry divisional responsibility for technology, consulting, consumer and chemicals, while Meakin will be responsible for healthcare. They will join managing director, Andrew Evans, and non-executive director, Maurice Summerson to form RMG’s first board.

The promotions follow a successful first half to 2010 and are the latest in a number of senior appointments over the last six months.

Bruntwood’s Atria scheme in Bolton has welcomed two new customers and has let an additional 2,000 sq ft of space to current tenant MRH Solicitors.

Centric Sports Management, which provides management services to international cricketers including Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, has taken 575 sq ft while Best Practice Group has taken 400 sq ft at the building.

MRH, which specialises in personal injury claims, moved into Atria in December 2009, taking 3,000 sq ft initially.

Sheppard Robson’s innovative design for the £35m Bolton St Catherine’s Academy and Firwood School has received planning permission.

Working with contractor Kier, Sheppard Robson was appointed as architect on the Bolton Academies Programme to design the 16,800m2 Academy, following the firm’s impressive proposals for Bolton’s Essa Academy, the first Bolton Academies Programme scheme.

The proposal has been designed to provide an inclusive and inspirational learning environment for the 3-19 academy and the co-located Firwood special school.

CBG Group – the insurance broker and financial services intermediary – has bolstered its drive into the science and technology sector after being appointed by Nanoco Group Plc, the Manchester-based nanomaterials company.

CBG will provide a package of general insurance cover, which includes asset and business interruption protection, general liabilities and professional indemnity insurance.

Nanoco was spun out from The University of Manchester in 2005 and has since built a successful business based around the development and manufacture of quantum dots and other nanomaterials. These materials have multiple applications, including solid-state lighting, solar cells and biological imaging.

Prof Ruth Ashford is to become Manchester Metropolitan University Business School’s first female Dean.

Prof Ashford, who was previously the school’s Executive Head of Marketing and retail, is to take up the role from next week.

A graduate of MMU, Prof Ashford, 49, joined the university in 1993 as a lecturer and over the past decade has been responsible for launching postgraduate and undergraduate programmes.

Curved Air Global is a provider of customised communication technology and services focusing on mobile marketing and comprehensive business solutions.

Their innovative communication platforms create a multi–media approach to all your marketing and customer service needs. Curved Air Global works closely with all clients to deliver a solution that fits their business need with the provision to improve the customers experience whilst reducing the business costs.

It really is Tomorrow’s Solutions Today!

The Radisson Edwardian has 263 luxurious rooms and suites at this central Manchester hotel, which have been designed for both relaxation and work with richly decorated rooms and marble bathrooms.

Key features include a luxury health spa, two restaurants, business centre and all the facilities expected from a 5 star luxury hotel.

This central Manchester hotel is home to 18 fully equipped meeting rooms and a spectacular event room that can accommodate as many as 550 guests for various types of functions, from weddings and launch parties to seminars and exhibitions.

Join DMIB on the 29th July for our second ‘Sexy Networking’ event to have a closer look at this fabulous 5 star Hotel.

Join Downtown Manchester in Business for our next Sexy Networking event on Thursday 29th July.

Date: Thursday 29th July
Time: 6.30pm - 9.00pm
Venue: Radisson Edwardian

Name: Peter Donnelly

Company: RSM Tenon

Position: Managing Director

Red or Blue: Red Obviously

Labour, Liberal or Tory: Not Tory

Favourite Bar/Restaurant: San Carlo

What’s Your Tipple: Guinness

Favourite Band: U2

Top Tune: Beautiful Day

Favourite Book: Anything about United

Favourite Movie: The Godfather

Who Would Play You In A Film: Jason Bourne

Favourite TV Programme: The Royle Family

Most Visited Website: BBC Sport

Celebrity Crush: Halle Berry

Interesting Fact About You: Competed twice in “The Tough Guy”

Why Downtown: To promote Manchester