Chesterfield-based mortgage advice firm Mortgage 1st have continued their ambitions growth plans with the recruitment of two new Mortgage Advisers, despite huge setbacks and disruption to both the financial services industry and the housing market due to Covid-19.

Two new advisers have just completed their ‘virtual’ induction and will be authorised to start looking after clients by the end of May. A further three new Advisers have also recently accepted a position at Mortgage 1st and once their applications are complete the Adviser head count will reach 20 by the end of the year.

Mortgage 1st was established in 2008 by Jon Stones at his dining table. His passion and hard work over the years has seen his team grow from a one-man-band to a strong and capable team of 28 today. Jon has ambitious future plans for Mortgage 1st and even a global pandemic hasn’t stood in his way in continuing with the recruitment and growth of his team.

Mortgage 1st has always offered ‘remote advice’ meaning everything can be done on email, Zoom or over the phone. As well as the Chesterfield based head office team, over half of the advisers work remotely and are based all over the UK. This has meant that they have seen very little disruption and have been able to continue working as normal for their customers during the last few uncertain months.

The Mortgage 1st head office has been closed for the duration of lockdown, their team were set up to work from home safely from day 1 meaning it’s been business as usual for their clients. The team have stayed in touch with one another using video and conference calls and were even able to conduct a virtual 2-day induction course for their new advisers.

Lisa Stones, HR & Marketing Director at Mortgage 1st (below) said: “We are delighted to be welcoming two new faces to the team who bring years of experience with them. Continued growth is a huge part of our company vision and even though we have had to adapt quickly, like all businesses have, during the past few months this hasn’t stopped us, we’ve just become more virtual!”

Since some of the housing market restrictions were lifted earlier this month Mortgage 1st have already seen a large spike in new enquires as the property market safely kick starts. This is great news for the industry, for house buyers & sellers and for the economy in general.

Click here to read more about Mortgage 1st

Chesterfield’s Custom Solar has successfully and safely completed another solar project working closely with Associated British Ports (ABP) at the Port of Southampton.

Despite the impact of Covid-19, the 120kWp solar system was successfully installed on the Ocean Terminal Coach Canopy within 6 working days, incorporating amended safe systems of work and social distancing measures.

The project is an extension to the existing 1.7mW previously installed by Custom Solar across multiple buildings on the port including the main Ocean Terminal, this means Solar is now providing over 20% of annual electrical demand.

The Port of Southampton is the nation’s second largest and most efficient container port, as well as the UK’s number one for cars and cruise. In 2016, ABP and its customers handled 89 million tonnes of cargo. They support 119,000 jobs and contribute £7.5 billion to the UK economy every year.

Custom Solar operate and maintain all of the systems across the port providing live monitoring via their own bespoke monitoring solution, full reactive maintenance and annual scheduled service visits.

Matthew Brailsford, MD of Custom Solar, said: “Once again we are very proud to be supporting ABP in the quest to source the majority of their power from solar energy, it proves what at integral role solar has in our energy future. This project is all the more amazing as we delivered it during a global pandemic and amended the entire way in which we approach our construction sites. It’s truly been a fantastic effort by the team.”

You can find out more about the project on the Case Studies section of Custom Solar’s website here.

Click here to find out more about Custom Solar

Chesterfield Royal Hospital’s Research Team has become one of the UK’s leading figures in the country’s efforts to treat COVID-19.

The team has been recruiting to a number of urgent public health research trials, some of which are designed to explore potential treatments for COVID-19.

Amanda Whileman is the Royal’s Matron for Clinical Research, she said: “We’re recruiting to a number of urgent public health studies, namely a study looking at how our genes play a part in the virus, an observational study to find better ways of diagnosing and managing COVID-19, and ‘RECOVERY’. We are also collecting data for a COVID-19 in pregnancy study using the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) to inform guidance on care for women and babies.”

“For us, the ‘RECOVERY’ trial is particularly significant as we’re looking very closely at several different existing treatments recommended for testing by the Chief Medical Officer. The purpose of the research is to find out whether treatments are effective for COVID-19. Patients are randomly selected through a computer process to receive one of the treatment options or no additional treatment. Our results will be combined with those from other hospitals to assess the effectiveness of these treatments.”

The Research team was able to act very quickly to national calls for patients to become involved in these trials. Their approach has been particularly impressive given that some of the team are themselves in the ‘at risk’ category.

Amanda added: “There are two studies that we are about to embark on, one being the ‘Principle’ trial which takes us out into the community, working with our Royal Primary Care colleagues. This study is about reducing the rates of hospital admission for patients with suspected COVID-19 for those aged over 50 years with certain underlying health conditions and over the age of 65 with or without an underlying condition. Again, it’s about assessing the effectiveness of trial treatments in preventing hospital admissions.”

“It is quite remarkable that we only started on our journey of recruitment to COVID-19 studies on 19^th March, yet have managed to collect a significant amount of data. We commenced recruitment to the RECOVERY trial on 26^th March and the genetics study on 21^st April.”

“We’ve had to split ourselves into two teams; those that are able to be patient facing and those who are in the ‘at risk’ category themselves. Both teams have been working on a rota, seven days a week to ensure we are able to offer the research studies to all eligible patients.”

“The team that is unable to attend the wards has been working closely with critical care in order to enroll patients remotely into studies. They have been liaising with patients’ families to explain the nature of the studies to keep them informed, working tirelessly to input the much needed data onto the databases. We’ve worked around the clock to ensure that the answers we are looking for in relation to COVID-19 and its treatment are found as soon as possible.”

“We are extremely proud that we are one of the highest recruiting sites in the UK for the RECOVERY trial. This, without a doubt, is down to the passion and commitment the research team and our colleagues have shown to deliver a gold standard service to the patients in our community. We also cannot forget that without patients volunteering to take part, none of this research could take place. We are incredibly grateful for their participation and support.”

Chesterfield Royal Hospital