Scott Challinor

New working procedures brought about by necessity because of the Covid-19 pandemic have yielded significant changes in the security industry. The lockdown has seen supply chains run down, the temporary closure of offices has seen demand for property management security services decrease, and the challenging landscape has seen Cumbernauld security firm Portal Security have little alternative but to turn to the government’s furlough scheme. However, while there have been adverse impacts, the firm’s managing director Michael Goldie has noted a significant upturn in demand in the construction industry.

The Peepul Centre social enterprise based in Belgrave, Leicester, has been forced to close most of its facilities due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation locally, prompting uncertainties over its financial future.

While many manufacturers have seen output decline during the Covid-19 pandemic, LEEC Ltd has experienced the opposite. A Nottingham-based specialist in both facility design and the design, manufacture, installation and preventative maintenance of bespoke equipment for laboratory, pathology, forensic, anatomy and research fields, LEEC is a niche manufacturer with a global presence.

As the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forces continued restrictions on international travel, British holidaymakers are abandoning the prospect of heading abroad and are opting instead for a UK staycation, with Britain enjoying some of its hottest temperatures of the year in August.

The demands of the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that by necessity, technology has become a greater part of our day to day lives than ever before. Technological means of maintaining contact remotely, via mediums such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, have replaced more traditional face-to-face encounters, as individuals have swapped the workplace for their own homes during lockdown.

Despite all the years of business experience one may have under their belt, they could be forgiven for initially being taken in by the panic and inertia which ran rife during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier in 2020. Speaking to the Leaders Council, Mark Turner, who set up Dover based medical device laboratory testing service Medical Engineering Technologies [MET], discusses how the early onset of panic was a challenge his business was forced to negotiate. Meanwhile, the government has announced a revamp of the NHS Test and Trace system which will see 6,000 of its 18,000-strong workforce laid off, with the remainder being redeployed to local public health teams in the hope that it will increase success rates.

London based online market research agency FlyResearch has been issuing weekly polls to its research panel of over 3000 people throughout the coronavirus lockdown in the UK, in order to project how the outbreak and the implementing of social distancing has been impacting the daily life of UK citizens. This week, managing partner Greg Ward discusses the findings from the nineteenth wave of the Covid-19 tracker survey with the Leaders Council, published on August 5 and sourced from data collected on July 31.

The shift toward home working which has come about out of necessity during the Covid-19 lockdown period has sparked major consultation between firms and employees over their respective needs and how working practices in the UK may alter in future. Any long-term shift toward remote working, however, is likely to have a significant impact on the commercial real estate side of the property sector.

QHi Group Ltd, a Harpenden-based global specialist in thermal monitoring of electrical infrastructure, has been honoured with the receipt of a 2020 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.

As the government brings in temporary VAT cuts and the 'eat out to help out scheme’ to incentivise consumers to return to frequenting local business premises and spend money to get the UK economy on the road to recovery post-lockdown, Jillian Thomas, the managing director of Sheffield firm Future Life Wealth Management, has issued her own plea for people to play their part.

Speaking on the Leaders Council podcast, joint managing director of Essex construction firm Acclaim Contracts, Ian Duggan, stressed the need for a change in the perception of the construction industry to inspire more youngsters to pursue careers in the sector.

The challenge of adjusting to the Covid-19 pandemic has proven a difficult and sensitive one for businesses and their executives, but it has also come as a significant learning curve. Speaking to the Leaders Council, integrative psychotherapist Lorraine Tindale opens up about the impact of the crisis on her profession and how she has embraced the need to adapt her approach as a learning opportunity. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office’s measures to repatriate British citizens during the height of the pandemic have been criticised by the Foreign Affairs Committee which is now urging the government to learn from its shortcomings.

The British Veterinary Association [BVA] has issued new advice to pet owners after the virus responsible for Covid-19 was detected in a pet cat in England.

The Louvre Hotels Group has selected NSF International to provide an external independent review of its Covid-19 safety protocols through the "Checked by NSF™" programme.

Hardy Signs has now completed its full office signage re-brand project at Alexander Accountancy, which first began in February but was initially delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.