Edinburgh, Scotland -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/30/2012 -- With a major new wind farm factory planned for Leith Docks, paving the way for a renewable revolution, business leaders have hailed the "dawn of a new Leith". The facility plans to create 800 skilled jobs, and bring an estimated £125m of investment. Edinburgh fought off competition from Hartlepool and Dundee to become the preferred location for the wind turbine blade factory. Spanish energy giant Gamesa aims to begin construction early next year and ramp up production of the 160-feet blades by mid-2014. Leith docks will be used to ship the components to their destinations. The number of jobs will gradually increase to 800 once orders are allocated to the facility. "I'm really excited that Edinburgh is going to be the location for this fantastic project," said a source from Direct Liaisons, an Edinburgh based sales and marketing company.

Business leaders said the deal was a huge boost to the city economy and would encourage more renewable energy firms to choose the Lothians as a base.Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development convener, said the Gamesa announcement was "fantastic news" for Leith, Edinburgh, the Lothians and Scotland, adding: "This is the opening of a new dawn for Leith. Now it's down to Leith to take advantage of all the factors it has in its favour and build on this."

"A few weeks ago we were talking about the potential for Edinburgh to win the Green Investment Bank headquarters and start building a cluster of renewable energy projects in Leith," said Graham Birse, policy director at Edinburgh Chamber of Commons, "Now here we are with the GIB headquarters confirmed and this Gamesa investment with up to 800 jobs. Now we need to make sure we win more." Our source at Direct Liaisons said, "The whole thing about a project like this is that it can't help but create even more jobs. Of course the original factory will create 800 jobs, but there are plans for those components to be used for wind farms in Scotland too, which creates more job opportunities."

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "This is terrific news. I look forward to the parties moving forward quickly to conclude the MoU [memorandum of understanding], as [the] announcement is a welcome boost to Leith and the wider Edinburgh and Lothians economy, with hundreds of quality engineering and other jobs coming to Scotland's capital."

"It's a sign that Edinburgh is still recognized as a leader in engineering and industry," said our source at Direct Liaisons, "and that's fantastic news. Hopefully this contract will lead to others in the future."

Source: http://www.scotsman.com

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Edinburgh, Scotland -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/30/2012 -- Ambitious new plans for George Street could see the area closed off to traffic, as a major new festival venue including outdoor bars and cafes is created. Where the existing parking bays are located, a Spiegeltent would be built under the proposals, designed to help the city centre fight back against the drift of Festival activity to the south side of the Capital.

A staff member at Direct Liaisons, an Edinburgh-based sales and marketing company, said, "It'd be great if it goes ahead. The city centre really doesn't have the festival atmosphere, and this would really help."

The plans have been proposed by Tommy Sheppard, a local comedy promoter, who will run the new Fringe venue when it is reopened this summer.

Discussions are currently ongoing with transport chiefs to try and close the street off to traffic and divert buses on to Queen Street or Princes Street instead.

"It is an exciting idea," said Mr Sheppard, "and one that will help to put that part of the city back on the map, and help to relaunch the Assembly Rooms with a bang."

Work has begun already, with the council being asked permission to remove around 30 parking bays from George Street, but further talks will need to take place about the necessary traffic changes. It is understood the proposal hinges on Princes Street being reopened to buses following tram works.

"It's by no means completely on track yet," said our source from Direct Liaisons, "But hopefully it will all come together, because it would really be beneficial to the city centre."

Mr Sheppard said: "We've signed the contract to manage the Assembly Rooms during the Fringe and we are determined to make it the biggest and best venue in Edinburgh. We would like to create a hub in George Street when there's a whole lot going on inside and outside, while linking with other people on the street to try to create a centre of gravity in that part of town."

Andy Neal, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, believes the venue will benefit all businesses, despite the new outdoor bar and cafe space going into competition with existing businesses. He said: "There is plenty of business to go around."

"The venue will attract an influx of festival-goers to the city centre, who usually end up elsewhere," said our source from Direct Liaisons, "That translates to an increase in business overall. It will benefit everyone."

Cllr Mackenzie said about eight or nine of the 30 parking bays could be relocated on George Street, adding: "Against that, thousands of people will come over and that will offset the impact of less parking."

http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/festival_to_take_over_george_st_1_2120722

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Edinburgh, Scotland -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/30/2012 -- A new dedicated facility, set to open in the centre of Glasgow, will allow motorists to test-drive and hire electric vehicles. The facility is to open at power firm SSE's Scottish Hydro Centre for Renewable Excellence, alongside a permanent renewable energy exhibition. Motorists will be able to rent cars, electric scooters and bikes from the centre, which will also allow them to charge their vehicles for free. "We're really excited about the centre," said a staff member at Direct Liaisons, a local sales and marketing company, "It should go a long way towards cutting down the carbon emissions in the city."

SSE said the centre, to be built close to Glasgow Central train station, would be the first dedicated centre in the UK offering free electric vehicle charging, as well as hiring and parking. Kevin O'Neill, from SSE, said the centre would help address common "myths" about electric cars. "What we are trying to do with these cars," he said, "is prove to people that if you are living in the city centre or outwith and use one of these vehicles for 20 or 30 miles a day, they are really easy and actually fun to drive. That is why we are inviting people down to try them out." He added, "We also have a hire facility so anyone coming off the train from London, say, can come along and get a hire car for the day and go to business meetings in central Scotland and bring it back."

Our source from Direct Liaisons said, "It's going to be a great resource for the city. As well as the obvious benefits to the environment, it will also be a boost to the local economy. I for one though, am looking forward to more programs like this in the future, and seeing a cleaner, more environmentally friendly city."

The hire facility is just part of the development. Also included will be an interactive renewable energy exhibition, called 'The Power of Now' run by SSE. The exhibition will include a display showing how a hydroelectric dam works, and a simulation of the electricity network, showing how renewable energy makes its way into the grid. There will also be a display of a "smart home", showing the latest technology in heat pumps, electric heating and boilers.

"It's great that there will be an educational component to the development," said our source from Direct Liaisons, "Hopefully it will be a place where local children can be educated about renewable energy, as well as a great resource for the city."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-17236842

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Edinburgh, Scotland -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/21/2012 -- Facebook was unavailable for a number of users mostly across Europe on Wednesday due to "technical difficulties". The social network's smartphone and tablet apps were also affected, users on Twitter reported problems accessing Facebook in many countries, including the UK, for about two hours. A spokesperson for facebook said "Today we experienced technical difficulties causing the site to be unavailable for a number of users in Europe," the company said in a statement"

This has been a constant problem on facebook which is upsetting the many people, who hold facebook accounts, Twitter newsfeed went into over drive on Wednesday with people from all over Europe reporting the problem. A source for Direct Liaisons said "Facebook is a big company of course it will face technical problems, but they also need to learn from them and set up ways to help serve the people when these problems arise"

The site has about 850 million users worldwide and many took to twitter to share information about the down time, with #facebook down quickly becoming a trending topic on the microblogging site. More isolated accounts of inaccessibility were posted by users in further afield places such as Pakistan and South Korea. Most took a humorous view, with users tweeting such things as "Facebook is #down; expect a surge in productivity in offices everywhere today." A source from Direct Liaisons said "Twitter had a field day on Wednesday with many followers sharing their reaction to the latest technical problem to hit facebook, Most of the tweets were in the humorous side however others questioned the technical difficulties, 'Has this been one problem too many'"

Launched in February 2004, last month Facebook announced plans to float on the stock market. It seeks to raise $5bn (£3.16bn) from the move, making it the biggest sale of shares by an internet company, but this latest problem may have many rethinking if this is the way to go, "Facebook two hours down time this morning may make us rethink our login strategy," remarked Tariq Krim, founder of cloud-based service Jolicloud and news aggregator Netvibes."

Facebook has been consistently popular since its launch in 04 but in the last few years the problems that have plagued facebook have raised a lot of questions. A spokesperson for Direct Liaisons has said "Has Facebook lost its peak? Should the company just cut their losses and go out on a high" These are just some of the many questions that have been put into a survey and the results would be a surprise to many, Will facebook let this latest glitch pass or will another glitch be the downfall of this powerful company."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17284437

http://www.prlog.org/11815786-direct-liaisons-comment-on-george-street-festival.html

http://www.directliaisons.co.uk/

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