Building Skills For A Changing Economy

Craig Mitchell: Craig Mitchell: Why Buying a Home Is Harder Than It Should Be

Walking away from a senior construction career is one thing. Doing it to build a fresh, community-first estate agency in Falkirk is another. We sit down with Craig Mitchell, founder of Pop Homes, to talk about what he learned during 13 years at Persimmon Homes and why the home buying and home selling journey so often feels confusing, stressful, and harder than it needs to be. We get into Craig’s path from trainee sales adviser to Sales Director for the North Scotland region, including how the pandemic disrupted transactions and raised expectations around communication and certainty. Craig breaks down the real-world difference between buying a new build and purchasing an existing home: the structure, the pace, and why the legal process can feel similar even when the experience is not. If you are a first-time buyer, a first-time seller, or simply trying to make sense of the Scottish property market, you will take away practical ways to stay informed and reduce overwhelm. Craig also shares what comes next: launching a local business podcast designed to spotlight Falkirk entrepreneurs, start-ups, and well-known brands, helping them build brand awareness through stories people actually want to hear. We talk guests, marketing, networking through groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the role of social media, and why he is choosing steady, scalable growth instead of chasing constant content. If you enjoy the chat, subscribe, share it with a local business owner, and leave us a review so more people can find the Stirling Business Podcast.

Building Skills For A Changing Economy

AI in the 1980s. The early days of OCR and intelligent character recognition. A stint with the people who helped build the internet as we know it. Then, in mid-life, a decision that many would call reckless but Tina Covielllo calls necessary: stepping off the corporate treadmill and going to art school. That pivot becomes the foundation for two very different but closely linked ventures, both rooted in one idea: people can grow, and industries can change, if we train for what’s coming next. We talk through Progressive Pathways in Stirling and its focus on human growth through training, coaching, mentoring and organisational development. Tina shares how employability programmes work in practice across the Forth Valley, why personal development is not a “nice to have”, and how strengths-led learning can help people who are unemployed or stuck find a route into work. We also explore what it takes to scale training with technology, moving from face-to-face delivery into hybrid and on-demand learning without losing the support that makes it real. Then we shift into the Green Skills Training Academy and the fast-moving world of renewable energy training and retrofit skills. From internal wall insulation, heat pumps and solar panels to Global Wind Organisation-aligned health and safety for onshore and offshore wind, Tina explains what’s required, why credibility matters, and how to avoid greenwashing by measuring impact. We get into EPC pressures, the shortage of domestic energy assessors, and the careful balance needed when retrofitting traditional and listed buildings, where cost, performance and planning rules collide. If you’re building a business, changing careers, or hiring for the green transition, you’ll take away practical insight and a sharper mindset. Subscribe to the Sterling Business Podcast, share this with someone planning a pivot, and leave a review with your biggest question about green skills or entrepreneurship.

Stirling’s Boutique Apart Hotel

Too many people treat Stirling like a quick photo stop: Castle, a coffee, then straight back on the road. We wanted to challenge that with a simple idea, build the kind of boutique accommodation that makes you want to stay the night and use the city as your base. Mark Wallace sits down with us at Studio King Street to unpack how King Street Apart Hotel came to life inside our 45 King Street development, and why we built something closer to big-city standards without pretending to be a full-service luxury hotel.  We get specific about what an apart hotel actually is, where it sits between serviced apartments and traditional hotels, and how we deliver comfort with practical details like kitchenette areas, fridges, and in-room coffee, while partnering with brilliant local businesses for breakfast, dinner, and extras. We also share what we’ve learned from VisitScotland, tour operators, and the travel trade about international tourism demand, especially from the US, and why heritage features matter so much to the guest experience.  From themed tours and the FIT traveller market to the Stirling Stay proposition and our digital concierge, we talk about turning overnight stays into longer, richer trips across Stirling and the Forth Valley. We also explore the bigger picture: how the hotel complements our co-working space, events offering, and recording studio, plus why corporate travel and the MICE market can help fill the quieter months. If you care about hospitality, destination marketing, or building a locally connected business, there’s plenty to take away.  If you enjoy the conversation, subscribe to the Sterling Business Podcast, share it with someone planning a Scotland trip, and leave us a review with your favourite thing to do in Stirling.

Flexible Workspaces That Actually Work

A city-centre workspace can be more than desks and Wi‑Fi. Mark Wallace joins us for a role reversal and puts the questions to us about how we’re building two connected brands at 45 King Street: Working Flexi Spaces and King Street Events, right in the heart of Stirling. We get specific about what people actually want from flexible office space after Covid: private offices on a licensing model rather than long leases, coworking membership that works day-to-day, and an “all-in” approach that includes furniture, utilities, business-grade internet, 24/7 access, a business lounge, and even an on-site gym. If you’re searching for coworking in Stirling, serviced offices, or a hybrid working setup that doesn’t slow you down, you’ll hear the practical details that make the difference. Then we talk about the pivot that sparked King Street Events. When larger office suites weren’t in demand, we repurposed the space into meeting rooms and an event venue for everything from client meetings and networking groups to exhibitions, culture-night talks, and comedy nights. We also share how collaboration extends beyond our own walls through partnerships with other King Street venues, giving us the ability to scale events up to larger capacities and build corporate packages aimed at the MICE market (meetings, incentives, conferences and events). If you enjoy honest business building, local entrepreneurship, and smart use of space, subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

How Stirling Builds Organisational Learning For The World

Stirling is not just a beautiful place to visit, it is a place that can teach businesses how to learn. I’m joined by Alaa Gerad from the Stirling Centre for Strategic Learning and Innovation, a Scotland-based think tank and act tank working with organisations across more than 20 countries to build real capability in organisational learning, innovation, and futures foresight. We talk through Alaa’s practitioner-academic path, from quality management in industry to consultancy and assessment work with major organisations, and why that experience convinced him that learning has to be designed as a system. He explains the centre’s LIFE model: Learning, Innovation, Futures Foresight, and Excellence, and why excellence should be the outcome of consistent learning practices rather than a separate initiative. If you lead a team, run an SME, or support performance in HR and L&D, you’ll hear how different roles need different learning interventions, not one-size-fits-all training. A highlight is the centre’s work with the British Standards Institution (BSI), including a newly launched organisational learning standard and the practical support around it: certificated programmes, capstone projects tied to real business needs, and six months of mentoring to help people actually implement. We also get into partnerships with universities and colleges, immersive learning through visits and retreats, and what it takes to connect academia to industry problems at pace. To finish, Alaa offers a direct challenge to the local business community on customer service and responsiveness, and a practical way for listeners to get involved through the centre’s membership and events. Subscribe, share the episode with a founder or manager who cares about culture, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.