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businessupdate Newport News…


Foundergoesback to his roots at store


The Welsh founder of international opticians Specsavers returned to his roots to officially open the new Specsavers store in Newport. Doug Perkins, who started the


£1.6bn chain in 1984, with wife Dame Mary, took abreak from a rapid roll out programme in Australia to visit the new store, located inside the Tesco Extra store in Spytty Road Retail Park. Around £190,000 has been


invested in the new store, which has created ten local jobs. It houses more thaan 1,000 frames and afull range of optical care facilities, including three high-tech testing rooms, acontact lens


fitting area and low vision aid assessments. Llanelli-born Mr Perkins said:


“As Igrew up in Wales and lived here for many years, returning always brings with it some happy memories. “I try to get back to Wales as


often as Ican, so it’s apleasure to come home to see these new stores opening, further showing Specsavers’ commitment to growth in this country.” Operating under Specsavers’ joint-venture partnership model, Mr Griffiths will run the new store along with fellow directors Andrew Bowers and Jason Williams.


in association with


Tuesday April 3, 2012 In brief…


Finding the germs Deadly germs present in drinking water can be detected in minutes by a biosensor system developed by technologists based in Newport and a German company. Research, spearheaded by


Cassidian Systems at its UK headquarters in Newport, has produced asmall, automated unit capable of identifying dangerous pathogens in water which normally would take up to two days to detect in alaboratory. “Growing concern about drinking


Doug Perkins, centre, at the Specsavers store at Spytty, Newport


Acornlaunchesnew ‘Global’business N


From page 1


ewport-based UK-wide recruitment and training company Acorn Group has launched anew business aimed at capturing a major share of the overseas


recruitment markets in Australia, Africa and Asia.


Building on the success of Acorn’s 20 years’


experience and its recent two consecutive record years of growth in the UK, the new business, Acorn Global, will initially operate from bases in Perth and Singapore and is expected to open further offices in Brisbane and Adelaide by the end of the year. Fuelled by asurge in demand overseas for highly-skilled labour –particularly in the mining, engineering and resources sectors –Acorn Global is recruiting staff from across the UK to work in the lucrative minerals, oil and gas extraction industries of Australia, Mozambique, Botswana and Qatar, as well as placing people in the construction, engineering, IT, utilities, energy and logistics sectors. People with engineering skills, such as ex-


forces personnel who are struggling to hold down suitable employment here in the UK, and who may be seeking anew life on the other side of the world are being placed by Acorn Global in an industry across the Asia-Pacific and African regions that is not only generating ahuge demand for skilled staff, but is crying out for personnel with UK qualifications that are highly- regarded across the globe. Following ayear of development and an initial


pilot programme run by Acorn’s Scott Liddle and Lewis Fawsitt together with an international mining business in Australia, Acorn Global’s efforts has proved so successful that they have


Rachel Jones


already placed more than 100 people into new careers, in positions such as project engineers, senior mechanics, technical managers, plant fitters, diesel fitters, geologists and geotechnical engineers, and with another 100 committed to travel over the next six months. Joining the team alongside Scott Liddle and


Lewis Fawsitt is West Walian Wyn James, previously ahighly-experienced business builder


water safety, and the highly distributive nature of water supplies, highlights the importance of being able to detect intentional contamination very quickly, so that it can be put right and the number of people affected by it identified,” said Cassidian’s Robert Aitchison. Mr Aitchison, who has helped


develop the Filter Cytrometry unit with a Munich company, Alois Friedberger, said field trials last autumn with South West Water had confirmed its potential to produce reliable, real-time data during normal operations.


with investment bank JP Morgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Canada, who has spent the last 20 years working in the Far East–Wyn will head up Acorn’s Asia-Pacific region from their office base in Singapore. Servicing clients on the ground, and


developing ‘local’ business in Australia will be new Operations Director, Australia, Mike Otty; a Cardiff university graduate and experienced recruitment specialist who, before moving to Australia to work, was HR Manager for aircraft seating manufacturer Contour in South Wales. Matt Southall, group managing director of


Acorn, which has its headquarters at the Celtic Springs Business Park in Newport, said: “Acorn Global is anew company and subsidiary of the UK group, utilising the fantastic infrastructure, experience and management team we have established here to export people to parts of the world where the economies are booming. “We have visited Australia three times in the


last 12 months, and the clients we have secured have terrific comfort from our UK network and the fact that we are also supported by 600 Synergie offices across Europe. It is really exciting times.”


•Acorn Learning&Development has appointed a newkeymemberof staff at its head office in Newport. Rachel Johns, 29, joins the company as corporate development manager. With nine years experience in the industry including other managerial roles, Rachel hasawide range of experience and expertise in the area. Rachel said: “I’m keen to work closely with Acorn’s recruitment branches in England to promote and sell the work- based learning and trainingweoffer. Ialso plan to continue with the promotion of commercial opportunities within Wales.”


Embracing clouds The number of businesses in Wales taking advantage of the benefits offered by cloud computing has rapidly increased in the last year. Despite Wales as awhole coming


in under the UK average of 135 per cent year-on-year growth, many Welsh regions have seen substantial rises in cloud computing adoption over the last year, including Newport with 94 per cent.


Staying safe Construction companies in Newport and surrounding area are being urged to upskill to create asafer and more competent workforce with the roll out of the new Health, Safety and Environment Test from CITB- ConstructionSkills, the Industry Training Board and Sector Skills Council for construction, which came into place at the beginning of April. This comes at atime when the


Health and Safety Executive has been clamping down on construction site safety.


Anyone taking the Health, Safety


and Environment Test will need to familiarise themselves with the updated question bank and the new features of the test in order to give themselves the best chance of completing it. New revision information is


available, including the video ‘Setting Out’, aunique training video which highlights the required behaviours of both the site management and the workers. For further information visit www.cskills.org/hsanderevision.


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