Cambridge & South Cambs area news

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The Cambridge Building Society will again donate £5,000 to help tackle homelessness in Cambridge. The Society is giving £5,000 to Allia to fund the building of additional modular homes to provide accommodation for more homeless people to benefit from the opportunity to live independently. Allia is working in partnership with It Takes A City to design, build and install three more mobile homes as part of scheme of at least six units to get rough sleepers off the streets of Cambridge. Last year The Cambridge also donated £5,000 to help homeless charity, Jimmy’s Cambridge, kit out two of Allia’s pioneering modular homes – a vital new facility that ensures those who are homeless can live independent lives. The donation equipped and furnished the modular homes with essentials such as kitchen appliances and utensils, beds and sofas. “Our purpose is to support local communities and help provide access to homes and housing,” said The Cambridge’s Chief Commercial Officer, Carole Charter. “It can be difficult for some people to access affordable and safe housing in Cambridge and our donations recognise the great work that Allia does in supporting them. We’re delighted to help fund these mods to provide the accommodation rough sleepers need to live independent lives.” The three new modular homes are currently being built in Cambridge by Allia’s fabrication partner, New Meaning Foundation, a charity which trains disadvantaged young people in modern methods of construction. When completed they will be moved to sites contributed by the University of Cambridge and the City Council. Martin Clark, Allia Group Director of Impact, said: “I’m deeply grateful to The Cambridge for giving funds that help us launch these homes that make a real difference to people’s lives. “This donation helps bring our vision to life. We hope that eventually there will be more such innovative projects to provide enough housing for all who need it.”

Medicinal Chef, Sunday Times bestselling author, and Presenter, Dale Pinnock returned to Cambridge Regional College last month to film a feature for his morning slot with BBC Morning Live, more than 20 years after he attended the college as a student. During his visit, Dale enjoyed a campus tour and trip down memory lane as he reflected on being a student with CRC. “As a young adult, I realised that I had a passion for nutrition, and I needed to find a way of extending my education if I was going to have a successful career. I enrolled on an Access to Science course, and I have never looked back. I had a fantastic time at CRC, and I finally knew what I wanted to do. I started to plan my career by thinking several steps ahead the whole time.” Dale progressed from CRC to university where he completed two Bachelors’ and a Masters’ Degree before starting his own business; a nutrition school which is now operating as one of the largest online nutrition schools in the world with students from every continent. Dale has since gone on to forge a highly successful career in the industry as a best-selling author, and more recently on television as a co-host and nutritional expert on popular shows such as BBC Morning Live and Eat, Shop, Save.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Domino Printing introduced virtual product demo rooms, a laser sampling lab and an augmented reality support application – all providing accessible alternative options to face-to-face contact with customers worldwide. In the US, the Digital Printing team is maintaining its connection with customers by providing virtual product demonstrations of the latest digital printing solutions. These take place live via Microsoft Teams and are fully personalised, offering the customer an experience comparable to attending an in-person demonstration. Virtual product demonstrations are performed using the Domino Virtual Assistant, a combination of devices including main-view and hand-held cameras and a viewing screen that helps connect the presenter to the viewing audience and vice versa. Assistant can toggle between views, zoom in on objects, and provide personalised animations, pop-ups, and additional information at a customer’s request. The Coding & Marking team in France has developed a similar system for demonstrating industrial printing products via Microsoft Teams. The newly unveiled C&M Demo Room is equipped with specialist webcams, a wireless microphone, and a laptop and viewing screen, which allow the presenter to interact directly with the customer. At the Domino Laser Academy in Hamburg, Domino’s laser specialists scientifically analyse substrate samples to determine which of Domino’s extensive range of laser technologies is most suited to meet the customer’s specific requirements. Before COVID-19, customers would attend the labs for an overview of Domino’s laser portfolio and conduct the sample testing in person, together with the company’s laser experts. Now customers are connected to the Laser Academy via Microsoft Teams, where they can view the sample testing process in realtime. A designated camera operative equipped with specialist audio-visual equipment takes the place of the customer to provide a live stream of the sample testing process. Sample test results are also displayed on-screen in real-time. Will Edwards, Director of Channels, Domino says: “The benefits of digitalisation have come to the forefront during COVID-19, with many companies embracing new technologies to keep things moving and Domino is no exception. “Many of our ongoing digitalisation projects were completed ahead of time to help continue supporting customers. The last few months have therefore provided insight into how these types of services can offer additional benefits to customers going forward.” In addition, Domino recently launched a new augmented reality support application, Domino Safeguard AR, which provides virtual customer support via a smartphone or tablet. It has been particularly useful in overcoming limitations to on-site visits by service engineers during the global lockdowns.

Guardtech Cleanrooms have bolstered their talented team with the addition of Design Engineer Elliott Pearce. The Haverhill firm made the move after demand for their turnkey construction services and CleanCube portable cleanrooms continued to escalate over the summer. Elliott, who earned a distinction for his HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at West Suffolk College, is already right in the thick of it at Guardtech, developing his own initial designs, updating ongoing projects and even managing some builds himself. And he is finding life with the controlled environment kings and queens to be challenging, exciting and enriching. “I’m enjoying the fast-paced buzz of the company,” he said. “It’s a place where knowledge grows in abundance as information booms between departments. Of course, it helps that I’ve got such a committed and driven team around me.” Guardtech’s Operations Director Conor Barwise added: “I’m delighted to welcome Elliott to the Guardtech family. He’s an intelligent, hard-working and diligent prospect, and I can see a really successful career ahead of him. “We’re busier than ever at the moment, with several construction projects under way and many more lined up, while the demand for our CleanCube portable cleanrooms and ISOPOD quick-assembly cleanrooms continues to soar.”

Do you have come exciting news to shout about that could be featured on this page? Get in touch. Tel: 01223 237424 email: s.parr@cambscci.co.uk

Young people in East Anglia are getting their first taste of the world of work thanks to a Greater Anglia training programme. The train operator has welcomed 10 young people currently out of mainstream education or employment onto its Customer Service Traineeship course which offers work experience placements for 16-24 year olds. The eight-week programme combines an education and training programme and supports young people who are looking to develop their skills for apprenticeships, sustainable employment, and further learning. It is one of Greater Anglia’s diversity and inclusion initiatives that helps provide young individuals with inspiration and insight towards roles in Greater Anglia and rail careers in general. Viktorija Novikova, Greater Anglia’s Talent & Development Projects Coordinator, said: “Over the last four years we have offered traineeship opportunities to young people who are currently out of mainstream education or employment. “We find that these types of courses can really help to motivate teenagers and young adults through practical work experience and they benefit from getting an insight into the typical tasks they will be expected to undertake in full-time employment. “We’re really pleased that against all odds and throughout three lockdowns, we were still able to welcome 10 young people into our 2021 programme and help them get a great start to their working lives. “Thank you to our partner, Central Training Group, and our brilliant customer service managers and supervisors who took part in the enrolment week and are continuing to support trainees during the work placements.” Trainees spend two weeks learning in the classroom followed by two weeks on a work placement at an allocated station where they can shadow customer service colleagues to gain experience of a variety of roles. At the end of the course successful trainees receive a Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Customer Service, a Level 2 Award in Employee Rights and Responsibilities and a Level 1 Certificate in Foundation Learning and Employability Skills.

The official, free venue-finding service for Cambridge and the surrounding area is celebrating its team being given a Silver Award – and a Certificate of Recognition – for completing a wide range of tasks on its green agenda. Meet Cambridge secured the sustainability accolade in Cambridge University’s annual Green Impact Awards against the background of a challenging year in which all members began working remotely from home, rather than in an office environment. The change in location brought additional criteria to be met, including continuing to go paperless, timing showers at home, using natural cleaning products, focusing on wellbeing and encouraging engagement activities such as walking competitions. All of these were benchmarked to achieve the Silver Award, with the auditors giving Meet Cambridge one of only eight Certificates of Recognition as a commendation of additional actions undertaken. Leah Gibson, Deputy Manager at Meet Cambridge who led the initiative, said: “This last year has been challenging for everyone and with the move to work from home, we needed to re-align our efforts in terms of prioritising sustainability. We devised a new set of criteria that we could all work towards individually and are delighted that our hard work has been recognised.” The auditors added: “We have seen excellent initiatives from the team, especially considering that the staff have moved permanently to working from home. Considerable behaviour change has been achieved which is absolutely fantastic. “In addition to the standard award, this year we would also like to present a Certificate of Recognition to mark the fact that the team has completed 10 or more additional actions from the Working From Home tab. Congratulations!”