▲ Barnfield Construction has finished the installation of windows, doors, wall cladding, and solar panels for Kerakoll UK’s new plant in Preston. Phase One of this landmark project includes a state-of-the-art distribution centre and research and development centre.
Miranda Barker OBE Chief executive
@elancschamber
▲ VINCI Building has been named as the main contractor for the next stage of the design development and construction of Eden Project Morecambe. The announcement adds significant momentum for the highly anticipated project.
▲ Blackburn-based temperature-controlled van company CoolKit is reaping the benefit of investments in its manufacturing and assembly operations. Turnover rose to £24.5m in the year ended June 30, 2025, up from £21.2m. The company’s pre-tax profits also climbed from £928,702 to £1.5m.
FIRMS PLEAD FOR ACTION AS
▲ The latest multi-million-pound phase of the ambitious Mill Farm masterplan on the outskirts of Kirkham is nearing completion. Toy manufacturer HTI Group is creating its new headquarters and manufacturing and logistics facility on the Sports Village site. Preston headquartered architecture, design and masterplanning practice FWP has been involved since day one, working with entrepreneur David Haythornthwaite to shape the plans for the mixed-use development.
COSTS SPIRAL Pressure on businesses from energy pricing is mounting yet again.
Conditions were already uncomfortable for our firms. Stresses have been high since the last election and, at the end of last year, 65 per cent of UK businesses said they were concerned about energy costs.
Cost hikes through National Insurance and minimum wage policies are also in play – all superheated by President Trump’s latest folly.
Warnings across the economy of tipping points must be heeded, not brushed off. Westminster says businesses hedge against energy prices. To a point. At any given moment at least a fifth of businesses are facing energy contract renegotiations, and the longer this continues the more firms face the abyss, with prices rocketing and standing charges doubling. The logistics sector is under pressure; hospitality firms are underwater.
▲ Clitheroe heating and insulation retrofitting company Eco Providers has been named Partner of the Year at the Octopus Trusted Partners Awards 2026, recognising its contribution to the UK’s transition to clean energy.
Homeowners have price caps to offer some protection, but that doesn’t help if their employer has to make redundancies.
DOWN
▼ Rising energy costs, supply chain disruption and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty linked to the Middle East conflict are impacting the majority of UK businesses, according to the latest Barclays Business Prosperity research. Two thirds (66 per cent) say they’re experiencing energy and fuel cost pressures, while shipping and logistics costs (43 per cent) are also weighing on margins.
▼ A Preston company and its director have been ordered to pay more than £142,000 for illegally exporting contaminated plastic waste across the world to Malaysia. 3R Technology UK, based at Longridge Road, and Yulin Wang, 56, of Haighton Drive, Preston, pleaded guilty to 16 charges when they appeared before city magistrates.
The court heard the company exported
waste falsely described as clean plastic, when it was actually contaminated with electrical waste, including wiring and circuit boards and other mixed waste.
The company was fined £80,000, ordered to pay costs of £45,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000, while Wang was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work in the community, and ordered to pay costs of £15,000 and a victim surcharge of £114.
▼ New data from the Liquidation Centre has revealed the parts of the UK hit hardest by business liquidations by analysing official figures from the Insolvency Service and ONS. It says the North West of England has the highest regional liquidation rate overall, at 3.26 per cent, with several towns in the region appearing in the top 10, including Chorley and Burnley.
The wider call should be for a commitment to UK energy self- sufficiency, based on renewables. This would offer real security, and we need a long-term cross-party plan to achieve it and buffer against global fragility.
For now, SMEs need consideration from Government; an understanding of the cliff edge and the need to stabilise and support. So let’s flex some Government muscle, show some nerve, and fight for the UK’s business community and economy.
We shouldn’t need to ask. It should be a given.
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