Spring 2013 TheParc MenaiNewsletter

Issue 1

www.parcmenai.com

InsideMorgan's Financial joins Parc MenaiFund helps Gaia Tech grow

Keeping our ducks in fine featherIntroducing: Access to Masters ProgrammeComing soon to Parc Menai

...and more!

Two Major Hearing LossResearch Charities Merge

ction on Hearing Loss and DeafnessResearch UK confirmed (2/4/201 3) that

the two charities have merged.

Both charities are known for their ground-breaking work in biomedical research.

The merger wil l raise the profi le of biomedicalresearch, which wil l in turn boost funding forfurther programmes.

Economic Growth Fund helpsGaia Technologies grow!

arc Menai-based IT company hasincreased its turnover by £3m and

created 1 7 new jobs over the past 1 2 monthsafter receiving support from the WelshGovernment's Economic Growth Fund.

Gaia Technologies, whichspecial ises in multi l ingual 3Dsoftware for primary andsecondary school students, wasawarded a £1 20,000 grant fromthe fund in Apri l 201 2.

"The support from the Economic Growth Fundhas allowed the company to take greater risk indeveloping an innovative 3D learningenvironment with a variety of content across allthe curriculum subjects." - Anas Mawla,managing director at Gaia Technologies.

"This enabled us to successful ly competeinternational ly against companies from the USand India. As a company based in North Wales,we are grateful for the support from the WelshGovernment, and we would encourage otherWelsh companies to apply for the support. "

The second phase of the 201 3 Economic GrowthFund wil l open later this year for projects with afunding requirement of more than £1 00,000.

Article from Insider News Wales here Full article on the Action on Hearing Loss

website here

P

A

WelcomeFirstly, I 'd l ike to welcome you to the first issue of the new Parc Life - the Parc MenaiBusiness Park newsletter! After the coldest March in 50 years, spring has final ly sprungfor North Wales businesses. SprintSSecondly, I 'd l ike to introduce myself. I 'm Sam - and as well as the editor of Parc Life, Iam the new website, marketing and social media coordinator at Pebble Hil l Property Ltd.I f you’re fol lowing any of Parc Menai, Pebble Hil l Property or St. Asaph Business Park onTwitter, you may (or may not) have been reading my tweets for the past month!

I t’s a great pleasure of mine to be bringing the new Parc Menai newsletter to you. My goal is to keep youinformed, bring you news and keep you up-to-date with developments in and around Parc Menai. I also hopeto teach you a little bit more about the multitude of fantastic organisations about the park – your neighbours.

This is the first Parc Life with many more to come. Big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this firstissue and I hope you find the information useful!

A big welcome to Morgan's Financial Services,

financial planning special ists, who are now located in

Unit 1 2, Llys Castan!

"We cover the whole of North Wales and the North West"

commented Sarah Morgan, "we chose Parc Menai

because of its location

and easy access to the

Lleyn Peninsula, A55

and beyond."

Morgan's Financial Services joins us atParc Menai______________________________________

2 Issue 1 Spring 2013

Attention: Parking on grass vergesAn ongoing problem at Parc Menai isparking on grass verges. Doing so causesdamage and can cost thousands of poundsper annum in unnecessary repairs. I urge alloccupants and visitors to please make useof the car parks at all times, thanks!

any people find feeding the ducks and

the swans at Parc Menai to be an

enchanting way to interact with the wildlife

around the park.

However, while we may have grown up believing

that feeding the ducks was an environmental ly

responsible and humane way to dispose of our

mouldy or stale bread; l ittle do most people know

that it is actual ly potential ly dangerous for them!

Junk food!Bread and similar products such as crackers and

chips are great sources of carbohydrates but they

offer l ittle other nutritional value for waterfowl and

other birds. In fact, bread is the equivalent to junk

food for birds. Offered in moderation, bread isn’t

harmful, yet too much of it can lead to excessive

weight and several other problems.

Why is it so bad?Not only can bread be fattening to ducks, it can

also lead to overcrowding, duckling malnutrition

and other dietary issues caused by a

carbohydrate-rich diet. Furthermore, it can also

cause the loss of natural behaviour. When birds

become accustomed to our handouts, they lose

their natural fear of humans and become

dependant on them. They may also become

aggressive in order to get more food.

M Alternatives to breadDucks and waterfowl can live longer, healthier

l ives by relying on natural food sources such as

aquatic plants, seeds and insects rather than

taking handouts from well-meaning humans. I f

you sti l l want to enjoy the enchanting experience

that is feeding the ducks and swans at Parc

Menai, there are many healthier alternatives to

bread that you can offer them! These include:

• Soft peas

• Cut grapes

• Duck feed pellets

• Cracked corn

• Grains

Following these guidel ines, not only can

occupants and visitors continue to enjoy

interacting with the wildl ife, but our resident

waterfowl wil l be healthier and

happier too. I t's as easy as a

duck takes to water!

Keeping our ducks in finefeather

Our resident ducks & swans outside Ash Court / Llys Onnen

Issue 1 Spring 2013 3

ccess To Masters is an opportunity for a

student to work on a specific short term

project related to your business.

The ATM programme supports taught masters

students on courses which are l inked to the

Welsh Government’s priority sectors:

• Advanced materials and manufacturing

• Creative industry

• Energy and environment

• Financial & professional services

• Information & communication technologies

• Life sciences

• Construction

• Tourism

The project is led by Swansea University and has

been part-funded by the EU’s Convergence

European Social Fund through the Welsh

Government.

The benefits of participating include the

opportunity for the company partner to improve

their competitiveness by undertaking ‘project

solving’ or ‘technical scoping’ projects, and using

the company project as a work trial for potential

future employees. I t is also a chance to build on-

going l inks with academic groups and accessing

other collaborative funding.

For full details on Access To Masters, visit

www.bangor.ac.uk/atm

Access To Masters (ATM) Programme

A

Introducing

A number of the footpaths around Parc

Menai have undergone a refurbishment.

Footpaths Resurfaced!

Local dog walker & dog enjoying our new footpaths

The Wales Coaching Initiativerganisations with 1 0 or more employees have the

opportunity to receive fully-funded training for

coaching skills with The Wales Coaching Initiative.

The initiative works to provide the opportunity for individuals in the private and third sector to develop their

coaching skil ls and implement a coaching culture throughout their organisation.

Director of Leadership & Management Wales, Dr Barrie

Kennard, explains: “I t is important that the ‘train the trainer’

aspect of the initiative to encourage a coaching culture is not

forgotten. As we found in our organisational impact research,

when coupled with classroom learning coaching allows for

more effective implementation of training and development

courses.”

Learning to Inspire and Worth Consulting jointly del iver The

Wales Coaching Initiative. Dates for training events throughout

Wales and more information about their programmes can be

found on their websites.

Individuals who attend the programme wil l require senior

management agreement for them to attend and need to be in a

role that enables them to take their coaching skil ls back into the

workplace and develop others to become coaches.

O

Full details here

4 Issue 1 Spring 2013

artrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd, a Parc

Menai-based social landlord with homes

across Gwynedd, has recently launched their

new web site.

Working closely with fel low Parc resident WiSS

Limited (Intec) the new site was designed to be

visual ly attractive and accessible to as wide an

audience range as possible.

Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd is a housing

association set up in 201 0 fol lowing a ‘yes’ vote

from Gwynedd Council tenants.

They provide quality, affordable homes and

services to their tenants and strive to protect and

develop the culture and heritage of the

communities they serve as they do so.

As a registered social landlord, their primary

purpose is to provide affordable rented homes to

those in housing need. Cartrefi Cymunedol

Gwynedd are an independent not-for-profit

organisation registered and regulated by the

Welsh Government. Being not-for-profit means

any surplus income is put back into the business

so that they're able to continue providing homes

and services and achieve set objectives.

Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd has around 6,300

homes and is responsible for the management

and maintenance of those properties. Much of

their stock is located in Bangor, Caernarfon,

Pwllhel i , Blaenau Ffestiniog, Dolgel lau and Bala

while also having property across the county in

towns, vi l lages and rural areas. Part of the stock

consists of 400 sheltered units for older and

more vulnerable individuals.

Achieving Welsh Housing Quality Standard is an

important part of CCG's work and they wil l spend

a total of £1 36mil l ion on improving homes and

ensuring al l properties reach the standard by

201 5.

Ll inos Iorwerth, Communications Manager at

CCG said: “We are very pleased with our new

website www.ccgwynedd.org and have already

had positive feedback from staff and tenants. I t's

great to have worked with local company WiSS

and it made the process of updating our site

much easier as they, l ike us, are based here in

Parc Menai. ”

“We develop close working relationship with our

cl ients and working with Cartrefi Cymunedol

Gwynedd has been a real pleasure. We sti l l have

lots to do with the site and continue to strive to

provide the very best in web site design and user

experience. We’re also making final amendments

to ensure its usabil ity across a broad range of

devices including mobile phones.” said David

Waller, Managing Director of WiSS limited.

WiSS has been building web sites since 1 995

and special ises in multi-cultural web sites, having

recently completed an Arabic/English site for a

PhD student at Bangor University.

C

The all new www.ccgwynedd.org designed by WiSS

Working together is success

We urge all dogowners to bag andbin their dogs' waste.We need yourcooperation to keepthe business park andsurrounding areasclean. Thanks!

Bag it 'n' bin it!

5 Issue 1 Spring 2013 Issue 1 Spring 2013 5

____________________Promoting the park ____________________

We are privi leged to be working with

the guys at The Laundry Studios,

Colwyn Bay on a promotional video for Parc

Menai. I t wil l feature footage of the park and

some of the tenants and wil l be displayed on our

home page. Keep an eye out for updates!

The business directory on our

website is currently being revamped.

The new directory wil l provide each business

with their own profi le page, giving more options

for tenants when listing their business. There wil l

be 3 different

types of profi le

plans to

choose from.

Business directory

Mat from TheLaundryStudiosinterviewing Rhysat OutlookExpeditions'head office onParc Menai

Preview of how therevamped profilesare likely to look

Featured PropertyAsh Court, LL57 4DF

From £86 per week exclusive

Various units from 330sq.ft. - 2,575sq.ft.

We welcome contributions forfuture issues of Parc Life.

Please email your articles tosocial@parcmenai.com /parcmenai

@parcmenai

Pebble Hill Property LtdUnit 3 ­ Conwy Business Centre

Junction Way, Llandudno JunctionLL31 9XX

Tel: +44 (0) 1492 584343

Tel: +44 (0) 1492 584343

Llys y Fedwen, LL57 4BL

From £97 per week exclusive

Various units from 595sq.ft. - 3,799sq.ft.

www.parcmenai.com6 Issue 1 Spring 2013