Lincoln means business: We take a look back over Lincoln’s biggest business stories of 2013 to give you a taste of the city’s progress and achievements.
As 2013 draws to a close, we take a look at the year’s biggest business developments and present a concise breakdown of new openings, planning, investment and achievements.
From January to December, here are The Lincolnite’s best business picks of 2013:
Waterside Shopping Centre brings H&M
In April, the owners of Waterside Shopping Centre in Lincoln submitted a planning application for a £9 million redevelopment project. The plans included the addition of fashion retailers H&M and Next to the city centre. You can see the initial plans, provided by NK2 Architects in the story here.
Work officially began on the multi-million development in July. The reconstruction plans were officially launched when City of Lincoln Council Chief Executive Andrew Taylor took a sledgehammer to a wall.
The first section of Waterside’s ‘new look’ was revealed when the fashion chain New Look re-opened its doors in December. You can see our gallery of that revamp here.
Siemens complete move to Teal Park
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
April saw Siemens officially open its new gas turbine service workshop at Teal Park in Lincoln. The centre includes a new workshop with a high-speed balancer, new modern offices and dedicated customer facility. The Lincolnite went on a tour of the centre. See the gallery here.
The Lincoln UTC designs by John Roberts Architects
Proposed designs for the first Lincoln University Technical College (UTC) behind the Greestones Centre on Lindum Road were unveiled in April.
The £7.5 million investment will see the construction of a bespoke building at the rear of the Grade II listed Greestone Centre, and the Watkins Building on site will be reconditioned as well.
The Lincoln UTC is set to open in September 2014. Read the full story here.
Still no progress at The Lawn
At the start of 2013, the City of Lincoln Council invited tenders for a lease to operate The Lawn in Lincoln, after one bid was rejected from a local businessman.
By the time the summer season came around, The Lawn was planned to go back up for sale after the bid for a lease was proved unsuccessful, but there has been no progress with the sale since, and The Lawn remains a disused jewel in Lincoln’s crown.
New student flats complex built
Mock views of the new student flats complex, flush with the RSPCA shop.
A new student development on St Mark’s Street made way for 120 student rooms, with studio apartments, cluster rooms and ‘buddy rooms’. The project, by JR Pickstock Ltd and Elements Europe, meant an eastbound-only closure of the road for eight weeks to allow for the build.
Lincoln Broadgate Premier Inn opened
After several months of delays, the Premier Inn on Broadgate in Lincoln opened in June, with hopes to boost the local economy by £6.5 million. The chain created 50 new jobs for residents of the city.
Lucy Tower revamp
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Structural work at Lucy Tower Car Park in Lincoln, meant that the site was closed from March 2013, for a planned 20 weeks.
But in June, further delays to opening were announced as engineers discovered more repairs were needed than originally anticipated.
When September came around, the City of Lincoln Council made the announcement that the car park would not be ready in time for Christmas. The delay on site resulted from the discovery that large areas of steel within the concrete on each floor were far more corroded than initially thought.
Developers submitted plans to build a new £28 million student accommodation block by the University of Lincoln in December. The development, called The Gateway, will provide a large number of high quality student homes, plus commercial frontage on the ground floor. Read the full story here.
Wyvern House opens for business
Wyvern House, located on Kesteven Street, is a new office space development by Lincolnshire County Council ahead of the East West Link Road development. Businesses were invited to view the new commercial space on December 2. Read the full story and see our gallery here.
Eco homes proposed at Lincolnshire Showground
Proposals are in place to bring a number of eco homes to a plot of land at the Lincolnshire Showground near Lincoln. The eco housing development by Gusto Group will see 18 homes built, constructed to the highest standard of sustainability, which won’t need a central heating system to keep warm. Read the full story here.
Plans for Lincoln Agricultural College campus
Image: CAD Associates
Lincoln-based architectural consultants CAD Associates have also submitted a planning application on behalf of Bishop Burton College for a £13.5 million Agricultural College Campus adjacent to the Lincolnshire Showground. Read the full story here.
Project to turn Red Arrows home into tourist attraction
In October, ambitious plans to transform the home of Lincolnshire’s Red Arrows into a worldwide tourist attraction were being drafted. See the full story and plans here.
Lincoln’s first Sainsbury’s Local opened
In February, The first Sainsbury’s convenience store in Lincoln opened its doors on Carholme Road. The shop, which cost £1.4 million to build, created 25 new jobs and a much needed cash point in the city centre.
In March, local company Lindum were named as the top construction employer in the UK and 6th overall in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list 2013. Read the full story here.
Carluccio’s opened in Lincoln
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Making a grand entry on to Lincoln’s ‘Little Italy’, Carluccio himself attended the opening of Lincoln’s addition to the chain restaurant in April. The restaurant and deli shop replaced the building that previously traded as Lamb and Flag pub.
Lincoln green energy supplier Freewatt split its business into three in April following. Freewatt owner and previous Managing Director Julian Patrick became the company’s CEO so he can focus on business development.
In August, the company proposed to build a solar farm in Branston, which would provide electricity for 6,000-8,000 houses.
The company continued to work with Lincolnshire Co-op on an energy investment project that saw photovoltaic panels added to the roofs of stores around the area.
Moka and Shack nightclub opened
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The popular club, formerly Ritzy, JJ’s and Pulse, closed for redevelopment on June 29. On August 13 The Lincolnite went on a firs-look tour of Lincoln’s new club Moka and Shack. Read the full story and see the gallery here.
Dogma goes Craft Bar and Kitchen
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The Lincoln High Street bar and restaurant, which used to be Dogma, had a makeover and reopened as Craft under new owners. Craft Lincoln officially opened to the public on September 6, creating 27 jobs. Read the full story and see the gallery here.
Former footballer opens Italian bar
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
On November 15, the city met its newest family-run bar and deli. The Lincolnite visited Bar Unico after launching and went on a first-look tour of the business. See the full story and gallery here.
Fresh look for Walkabout
Lincoln’s Aussie-themed Walkabout bar was the third in the country to get a £500,000 refit.
Opening its doors officially on November 21, The Lincolnite visited Walkabout on the High Street for a first-look preview of the revamped space. See the story and gallery here.
The Rest on Steep Hill
The Rest Hotel is a new boutique bed & breakfast accommodation, in the heart of the city’s Cathedral quarter. The business opened in time for the Lincoln Christmas Market 2013 and created 12 new jobs.
The Lincolnite visited The Rest just before their grand opening for a special tour. See our full story and gallery here.
New American-style restaurant
Back in January, diners in the city welcomed new American smokehouse Ribs ‘n’ Bibs to The Strait in Lincoln. The restaurant opening created around 11 new jobs in the city and inspired meat-lovers far and wide.
Calendar boys (L-R): Mark Bradshaw, Chris Hubbard, Mark Poplett, David Holmes, Andrew Manderfield, Jason Robinson, Alex Thompson, Daniel Rippon, Ben Halstead and Paul Tutin. Also to appear, but not in this picture James Pinchbeck and Ben Robinson.
Of course we had to include the dashing boys from Streets Chartered Accountants in our Year in Business roundup. In October 2013, 12 brave partners and staff posed for a charity calendar in aid of St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice. See our story and sneak peek gallery here.
Spotted an error? Please notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
City of Lincoln Council has approved a 1.9% tax hike despite a series of cuts for 2021-22 due to the financial uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 1.9% rise will take city council’s share of council tax for a Band D property in Lincoln to £285.39 – an increase of £5.31.
The executive committee agreed on increasing allotment charges, council house and garage rents.
Council bosses predict a budget gap of £1.75 million and said it must close the hole for financial stability.
Allotment charges will also see most tenants pay between £58.70-£78.30 per year from 2022, an increase of between 38p and 51 pence per week.
Council housing rent will increase by an average of 1.5%, while council garage rents will increase by 3%.
Attendees at City of Lincoln Council’s executive on Monday.
The authority said it faces a number of ongoing challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and requires a substantial reduction in all of its budgets.
Cllr Ric Metcalfe, Leader of City of Lincoln Council said: “It’sareasonablymodestincreaseformostpeople,andwewill support lowincomegroups stillwiththeconcessions.”
The council has saved more than £9 million annually over the past decade, however will have to increase savings by £850,000 next year, rising to £1.75 million by 2023/24.
Due to the pandemic’s impact on government funded reliefs, empty properties and business closures, the authority estimates it will only retain £5.1 million of the £42 million of business rates generated in the city.
The draft budget will go to consultation and return before the council later this year for a final decision.
There have been 372 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 325 new cases in Lincolnshire, 30 in North Lincolnshire and 17 in North East Lincolnshire.
Some nine deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in North and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported nine new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust on Monday. Hospital deaths have now surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic started in Greater Lincolnshire.
National cases increased by 37,535 to 3,433,494, while deaths rose by 599 to 89,860.
Leader of South Holland District Council, Cllr Lord Gary Porter, put the spike down to outbreaks in two care facilities, one being a children’s care home.
A group of urban explorers who travelled from three different counties to look around derelict buildings were caught and fined in Grantham for breaching lockdown rules. Two groups of revellers in the woods near Woodhall Spa have also been fined.
In national news, Public Health England have confirmed 4,062,501 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Those in England aged 70 and over, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week.
Ten hospital trusts across England consistently reported having no spare adult critical care beds in the most recent figures available.
It comes as hospital waiting times, coronavirus admissions and patients requiring intensive care are rising.
All UK travel corridors, which allow arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine, have now closed until at least February 15.
Travellers arriving in the UK, whether by boat, train or plane, also have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to be allowed entry.
Supermarkets face increased inspections from local councils to ensure they are COVID-secure amid a push from the government to clamp down further on coronavirus transmission.
Local governments have been asked by ministers to target the largest supermarkets for inspection to ensure companies are enforcing mask wearing, social distancing and limits on shopper numbers.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to January 17 according to the government dashboard:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 11 to Jan 17. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, January 18
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
44,374 cases (up 372)
30,784 in Lincolnshire (up 325)
6,927 in North Lincolnshire (up 30)
6,663 in North East Lincolnshire (up 17)
1,686 deaths (up nine)
1,196 from Lincolnshire (up nine)
268 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
222 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,006 hospital deaths (up 10)
612 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)
30 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
363 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
3,433,494 UK cases, 89,860 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
Eight people were fined for two separate COVID-19 rule breaches over the weekend, after being found partying and camping near Woodhall Spa.
Officers were called to two different incidents at Ostler’s Plantation, a woodland area near Woodhall Spa on Saturday, January 16 and on Sunday, January 17.
Five people were issued with £200 fines after a report of partying at around 11.08pm on Saturday.
The next morning, police were again called to the area at 8.21am after people were seen camping at the location.
Three people were fined as a result of this, again valued at £200 due to being first time offenders.
If these fines are paid within 14 days of the offence, the cost will be cut in half to £100.
On the same weekend, but this time in a different location, six urban explorers were fined after travelling from three different counties to try and gain access to an abandoned hospital in Grantham.
The behaviour of COVID-19 rule breakers has been described as “dangerous” by Lincolnshire Police’s assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, who referred to them as “Covidiots”.
Whatsapp
