In retail news, grocery giant Asda plans to create 4,500 jobs in its online operations this year and will look to re-hire staff who’ve been let go under the restructuring plans.

Roger Burnley, Asda CEO and president, said: “The pandemic has accelerated change across the retail sector especially the shift towards grocery home shopping and our priority is to serve customers in the way they want to shop with us.

“Our plans to transform the business will result in more roles being created than those we propose to remove and our absolute aim is to ensure as many colleagues as possible stay with us, as well as creating the opportunity to welcome new people to our business.”

More new jobs are set to be created in a suburb of Sheffield under plans for a new supermarket. Property developers Morbaine Ltd and Ackroyd & Abbott have submitted detailed plans to Sheffield City Council to construct a new Lidl food store off Lane End in Chapeltown, following the granting of outline planning permission by the authority last year.

In addition to the new store, which would create 35 jobs, a new fenced woodland area will be created on the site.

And Yorkshire online meat company Farmison & Co is expanding with the creation of more than 80 new jobs. The Ripon-based company has doubled its sales in the last 12 months, introducing seven day and next day delivery options, and invested £1m of capital expenditure in cold storage capacity.

Work is beginning this week on the first project at a former Redcar ironmaking complex, which could create up to 18,000 jobs. 

Demolition work at the former Redcar Steelworks Coal Handling Facility is due to begin today (1 March), and is set to become one of the free zones in the ongoing Freeports bid. The first stage of the project is set to create 20 jobs, with contractors from MGL Demolition now on-site to begin the 15 week programme. If the Freeport is approved by the government as part of the budget later this week, up to 18,000 jobs could be created in the area, delivering £3.4bn to the region’s economy. 

The first phase of a £5.5m business park set to create 80 new jobs has been completed in Yorkshire. Marrtree Investments, a developer based in Harrogate, has completed the first phase of its Marrtree Business Park in Thirsk.

This first phase is expected to create around 80 jobs in the area, with further jobs to be created with the completion of phase two, which is due to begin this year and will represent an additional £2.5m investment from Marrtree.

Maslife, a financial and wellbeing banking app based in London, is aiming to recruit up to 50 new employees following a seed capital raise of £3m. The investment will bring its total funding to more than £5m, financing its plans to recruit 50 staff across its London, Munich, Marbella and Monaco offices. Maslife is set to launch fully in spring 2021.

London tech company Vivacity Labs is aiming to double its headcount after securing £5m funding. The company, which uses sensors and artificial intelligence to improve traffic insights and safety, received the £5m funding from an investment round led by Mobeus, with additional funding from existing investors Downing Ventures and London Co-Investment Fund.

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