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Report 1 (of 4): D'Arcy Development Limited - Wales
Introduction
Towards the end of the 1980s, the restructuring
of oil and chemical plants in South Wales led to
heavy job losses. One of the local refineries lost
about 750 staff and the demand for local contractors
reduced significantly. The downsizing also resulted
in surplus building and land becoming available.
The oil company, BP, set up D'Arcy Developments
Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1989, with
a brief to create and attract jobs for people within
commuting distance. The objectives of the new company
were to find alternative uses for the spare industrial
land and buildings. Half a million pounds was put
into a Small Business Loan Fund to help former employees
start new businesses and a million pounds was put
into a fund to renovate the redundant buildings.
The Community Fund administered by D'Arcy Development
is looking for more initiatives to back. Only a small
fraction of the original one million capital has
been used. This is due to associated funding from
organisations such as the West Wales TEC, Welsh Office
and European Community. For example, in the Sandfields
2000 project, BP has put in 50,000 pounds sterling
but the total invested from all sources is now in
excess of one million pounds.
D'Arcy Development Limited
D'Arcy Development is now an enterprise agency in
its own right, lending œ1.5 million to 328
local firms. It has assisted with the creation of
600 jobs and is responsible for the creation and
expansion of 70 companies. It has improved local
business prospects through the regeneration of industry
in the area and it encourages self sufficiency. The
rent it accrues from leasing the refurbished buildings
and plots of land, provide sufficient revenue to
make it a self-sustaining enterprise.
The projects that are supported by D'Arcy Development
help create jobs, develop young people or enhance
the local community. It is now actively engaged in:
Fostering the creation of jobs.
Providing industrial units and office suites on competitive terms.
Offering small scale business loan finance.
Contributing to local initiatives.
Managing a special fund to develop community based projects.
Running a fully equipped conference and training centre.
The key for local community regeneration is working
in partnership and joining forces with others to
help achieve far more good than one organisation
could manage by itself. Effective partnerships match
skills available to tasks required, avoid duplication
and make constructive use of available resources.
Business Connect
Business Connect is an enterprise agency and is
the entry point for the entire range of business
services for potential entrepreneurs. The services
it offers includes advice; training; and arranging
loans and grants. D'Arcy Development supports the
service with a 30,000 pound sterling grant and rent
free premises.
Land, finance, property and expert advice are all
available on one site. The D'Arcy Business Centre
contains 39 small industrial and office units. Secretarial,
fax and photocopying facilities are provided on a
rechargeable basis and tenancies can be on a month
by month basis. There are also 20 prestigious, self
contained office suites ranging from 3,500 square
feet to just 150 square feet as well as 12 industrial
office units. About 30 acres of infrastructured land
has been made available to larger industrial companies
and 14 plots have been sold or let to a variety of
concerns.
Training and Conference Centre
The D'Arcy Training and Conference Centre is on
the edge of the BP Chemicals complex at Baglan Bay
and was donated to D'Arcy Development which has added
another valuable asset to the community. It has an
impressive range of meeting rooms, many of them equipped
with state of the art technology. The centre is available
for hire by companies and organisations, including
the seventy or so firms occupying premises at D'Arcy
Development. There is a prestigious boardroom for
top level meetings and a further eleven rooms. The
equipment includes computers, tv and video, overhead
projectors, flipcharts, slide projectors and dry
wipe boards. Charges are competitive and catering
is available.
Small Business Loan Fund
The D'Arcy Development Small Business Loan Fund
is able to provide soft loans (loans with very low
rates of interest) to new and expanding businesses.
Unsecured loans of up to 10,000 pounds sterling are
available, repayable over a period of one to four
years with a repayment holiday' during the early
days. This enables entrepreneurs to gain extra finance
and extra business without having bank charges forced
upon them in the first month and therefore gives
them a good opportunity for growth. Interest rates
are fixed.
Sandfields 2000
The overall aim of Sandfields 2000 is to enhance
the quality of life on the Sandfields Estate in Port
Talbot and raise the self-esteem of the residents
so that the community becomes empowered to identify
and implement its own solutions. D'Arcy Development
has recently joined forces with the founding partners
of the initiative, Neath Port Talbot County Borough
Council and BP Chemicals Limited, to assist future
development.
Early projects include a brand new Young Business
Enterprise Centre which provides 12 high quality
workspaces for people aged 18 to 30 who wish to start
or expand a business. Ideally, the majority of these
will be from the Sandfields Estate.
Also, in Sandfields, local companies are being offered
environmental audits to help them identify business
benefits from proper energy and waste management.
Other Projects
D'Arcy Development is working with two Training
and Enterprise Councils to help finance the creation
of Homework Focus Clubs in secondary schools. D'Arcy
also helps fund 30 modern engineering apprentices.
For further information, please contact:
D'Arcy Development Limited, Britannic Way, Llandarcy,
Neath, South Wales. SA10 6EL. Tel: +44 (0) 1792 321009
Fax: +44 (0) 1972 817747 E-mail: DDL1987@aol.com
Intermediate Technology would like to thank D'Arcy
Development Limited for providing the original
information on its activites.
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