The buildings in Station Square have been fenced off since May

The demolition of deteriorating buildings in Paignton town centre is set to get under way in earnest next week. Preparatory works on the buildings in Station Square, which comprise a pub, shops and a takeaway, are due to start this Friday. The demolition itself will begin on Tuesday, July 14.

The square has been cordoned off since May, when masonry began falling from the building’s façade. The main road running through the town centre has also been closed to traffic.

Torbay Council said it was acting in the interests of public safety by securing the site and shutting the road.

Contractor Gilpin Demolition, which previously carried out emergency safety works at the site, has been appointed to oversee the full demolition.

From Friday, its team will be on site to establish a compound and bring in specialist equipment.

As part of the site set-up, the safety fencing line will be extended, but pedestrians will still be able to walk alongside the railway station’s boundary fencing.

The demolition itself will be carefully controlled. Working hours will be Monday to Friday, between 8am and 6pm, with any noisier activities restricted to between 9am and 5pm.

To minimise dust, a water mist suppression system will be used across the working area throughout the demolition.

Subject to progress on site and weather conditions, the demolition is expected to take approximately six weeks, after which the road will reopen.

The building is owned by locally-based firm Solanki Holdings, however concerns regarding the state of the property prompted the council to invoke emergency powers to ensure public safety.

The council says it hopes the owners will put forward future redevelopment proposals that are fitting for the site and in keeping with the area’s conservation status.

Deputy leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) said: “Public safety remains our absolute priority, and these demolition works are an important step in addressing a building that has presented significant concerns. We appreciate the patience and understanding shown by residents, businesses and visitors.

“We are committed to ensuring that disruption is kept to a minimum, with pedestrian access maintained and local businesses remaining open as usual.

“Paignton town centre is very much open for business, and I would encourage everyone to continue visiting, shopping locally and supporting the many fantastic businesses that contribute to the town’s vibrancy.”

A major outage at Australia’s largest telecommunications company has led to cancelled train services, left thousands of customers without mobile coverage, and sparked an investigation into emergency calls that were not connected.

Telstra’s chief financial officer Michael Ackland apologised for the issue which began at 04:30 local time on Wednesday and affected “some mobile calls and data services”.

About six hours later, 90% of the network had been restored, he said. Time-keeping servers at data centres in Sydney and Melbourne were to blame but the exact cause was unknown. It was not a suspected cyber attack.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the outage was “deeply concerning”.

Telstra described the outage as “intermittent” but acknowledged the impact had been “national”.

Ackland said the telecoms company was conducting welfare checks on customers who had called emergency services during the outage.

“We don’t believe this issue has impacted triple zero in the same way as other calls,” he said.

“It uses different network settings, but we are continuing to investigate every angle on where it may have impacted triple zero if that has occurred.”

Asked if the country could still rely on its largest mobile network, Ackland said: “Australia can absolutely have faith in its biggest telco… we take these outages very very seriously.

“Our investment in resilience and cyber security and redundancy in our network is significant but it is a big and complex network and from time to time, issues do occur.”

Communications Minister Anika Wells confirmed that welfare checks were being made for about three dozen calls to emergency services that did not go through but that the “core triple-zero system remains operational”.

She also said the country’s telco regulator, the Australian Communication and Media Authority, will investigate the outage.

In Victoria, all regional train services were cancelled due to the outage while some regional services in New South Wales were also disrupted. National freight services were also affected.

Payment systems were also down with about 80,000 businesses using the Tyro app affected.

Last September, a systems outage at Optus – the second largest telecoms company in Australia – led to three deaths after hundreds of people across more than half the country were unable to call emergency services for 13 hours.

Optus was also fined after an outage in 2023 left thousands unable to call emergency services.

The company attributed the performance to strong operating momentum and healthy same-store sales growth across its key markets in India, despite the entire 28-day Adhik Maas period falling in the recently concluded quarter.

Adhik Maas, which occurs once every three years, typically leads to a slowdown in wedding-related purchases in several parts of the country. Even with this impact, Kalyan Jewellers recorded same-store sales growth of around 28% during the quarter.

The company also said it rolled out its ‘Shine with India’ gold recirculation campaign during the second half of May to increase the share of recycled gold in its business and reduce dependence on imported gold. According to the company, the initiative was well received by customers, taking recycled gold’s contribution to more than 46% of revenue in the first quarter of FY27. In June alone, recycled gold accounted for over 55% of revenue.

Also read: Bought gold and silver at the top? Here’s what experts suggest after prices plunged up to 50% from January

Kalyan Jewellers int’l business

Kalyan Jewellers’ international business posted revenue growth of about 35% during the quarter compared with the same period last year.

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Within the Middle East, revenue rose around 30% year-on-year, driven largely by same-store sales growth despite lower footfall in April due to geopolitical tensions in the region. The company’s international operations contributed about 14% to consolidated revenue during the quarter.
Its digital-first jewellery platform, Candere, reported revenue growth of approximately 112% compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. During the quarter, Kalyan Jewellers opened 12 showrooms in India, while Candere added five new stores.

Store growth

The company said the current quarter has begun on a positive note and that it remains optimistic about upcoming showroom launches, supported by new collections and marketing campaigns ahead of the festive and wedding season.
Read more: Gold prices fall for 3rd straight session; silver dips to Rs 2.30 lakh/kg

As of June 30, 2026, Kalyan Jewellers had a total of 524 showrooms across India and international markets. This included 354 Kalyan showrooms in India, 38 in the Middle East, two in the United States, one in the United Kingdom and 129 Candere outlets.

Despite Wednesday’s rally, Kalyan Jewellers shares remain down 23% so far in 2026. The stock has declined 35% over the past one year and 17% in the last three months. Over a three-year period, however, it has delivered returns of about 130%.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Debate over future of Dominick House has been rumbling for years

The long running saga surrounding the future of Liscard’s Dominick House has taken another turn as plans to demolish the derelict office block have taken a set back.

The future of the Wirral town centre site has been a hot topic for many years with the ‘demolition or refurbishment’ question being a debate within itself. For example, despite many in the community wanting to see the building being torn down, a Manchester based developer recently hoped to turn it into a high-quality apartment block.

An application was recently submitted to Wirral Council seeking to determine whether approval would be required to demolish the 1960s built, former government office building. Documents submitted within the application had claimed the demolition of the building could start as soon as August 10. The application had stated the site could become a car park following the building’s proposed demolition.

However, the council’s planning department has concluded that prior approval will be required for the building’s demolition, therefore putting the brakes on any timeline for demolition.

A council report into the application determined that insufficient detail regarding the method of demolition and potential site impacts were included in submitted plans. The report explains that the council received an objection to the application, which raised concerns with noise, dust and disturbance that will result from the demolition of the five storey building.

The building has fallen into a state of disrepair since its closure in 2018. Currently Prospect Estates Ltd owns the leasehold of the building whilst Wirral Council owns the freehold. However, the council’s Economy Regeneration & Housing Committee last week approved funding to acquire the leasehold for the site.

To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.

Elton Reservoir, Walshaw and Simister Bowlee plans also feature school, local centres and roads

Political bosses have signed off on three masterplans that will see thousands of new homes built in Bury’s countryside.

The documents shape the council’s vision, hopes and ambitions for three huge developments. The schemes, at Elton Reservoir, Walshaw and Simister Bowlee, will see swathes of fields concreted over for around 6,300 new homes.

There could also be three new primary schools, five local centres, a new Metrolink tram stop and two major new roads. The three plans cover 406 hectares of land.

The principle of the developments were approved through the Greater Manchester Places for Everyone allocations which was adopted in the region following examination by the Government’s planning inspectorate.

Leader of Bury council Eamonn O’Brien argued at last week’s cabinet meeting that the masterplans were a way of increasing the Town Hall’s control over those developments, saying that, without them, there is a risk of applications coming forwards ‘below’ council ‘expectations’. The documents will act as guiding principles for the scheme, setting out expectations such as new infrastructure, environmental mitigation and housing provision.

He told elected members: “Ultimately, it’s about trying to win those arguments for if these things are not delivered. We then have the democratic right and power to push back on that and reject those.

“I view these as positive frameworks. I think they are about ensuring places come forward properly with consideration of residents, traffic, flooding, biodiversity. That doesn’t mean we can have no impact on anyone anywhere, but it is about […] delivering alongside it the best possible suite of infrastructure.”

However, not everyone attending the meeting was convinced. One heckler in the public gallery could be heard shouting ‘traitors’ as councillors voted to adopt the masterplans. She had earlier accused elected members of backing the plans in a bid to ensure development ‘does not encroach on their wards’.

The woman said: “If it’s on our doorsteps, it’s fine. The minute it’s on councillors’ doorsteps, they don’t want it.”

Criticism was also expressed by the leader of the authority’s Conservative Group, Shahbaz Arif, who said: “The Conservative Group has always believed that our greenbelt should be protected […] Once greenbelt has been built on, it is gone forever.

“We have listened to local residents and we share their concerns about the impact on traffic, local services and the loss of our greenspace.”

Labour councillor Charlotte Morris said she had argued against Walshaw site being included in the Places For Everyone policy. She added: “We do have to be pragmatic in these scenarios.

“A plan is better than no plan […] My plea, my challenge, my point is that we all need to hold developers’ feet to the fire on this. If we agree [the plans] tonight, we’re saying ‘we back this because a plan is better than no plan’ and we want to see that plan delivered with the infrastructure that’s going to support this development in our communities.”

Planning permission will need to be granted at each site before any development can take place. These will need to prove the scheme will not have unacceptable impacts, including on nature, existing and future residents, local services and the local road networks.

To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.

Midlands group appoints Matt Kirk as property director for the North West

A growing Midlands property management firm has opened an office in Manchester city centre as it pushes into the North West.

Principle Estate Management already employs more than 100 at its bases in Birmingham and London. Now the business says it has invested more than £300,000 into its office in Piccadilly and to recruit four people to lead its rollout.

They include Matt Kirk, new property director for the North West, who has two decades’ experience in property and led and built up Rendall & Rittner’s Northern operation. He has now been tasked with growing Principle in the North West to manage more than 5,000 homes by 2028.

Principle was founded in 2018 to offer property management services and today looks after more than 26,000 units nationally. Its focus is on residential contracts, with high-profile schemes including Charlesworth House and Portman Towers in London, but it has also seen recent commercial property wins including at 12 St George Street in Mayfair.

Joe Jobson, joint managing director at Principle, said: “Manchester boasts outstanding buildings, a growing residential market and real opportunities to make a difference to both clients and residents.

“We know from working in Birmingham and London how important it is to have a local presence on the ground, so the decision to open a dedicated offer in the North West was a natural one to make.

“Taking office space in central Manchester puts us right at the heart of life in the city and we have ambitious targets to grow revenue in the region to £2.5m within three years.”

Matt Kirk, property director for the North West, said: “I’m really excited about this new opportunity with Principle and we are already gaining traction in the region, with a new instruction on Urban Splash’s Albert Mill conversion in the heart of Manchester.

“We are really pleased with this early show of faith and look forward to working with the residents to positively impact their homes and their community and, in doing so, grow our reputation locally”.

Brett Williams, managing director of Principle, said: “This office is an important milestone for our business. We’ve taken the time to find the right person to lead our growth in the North West, and now we have the right base to support him and the team he’s quickly building.

“The Piccadilly office will manage a growing portfolio of residential and mixed-use developments across Manchester and the wider region, with the company continuing to win new contracts through its existing offices in Birmingham and central London.

“We understand that the landscape of property management is ever changing. Our role has never been about bricks and mortar but about the people in the communities we service and the positive impact we can have on their everyday lives. This is the vision and commitment we are bringing to Manchester and beyond.”