A Scottish company has set up a suite of safety measures designed to help sports fans get back into grounds to see matches.

Solutions experts Eco, which hit the headlines by delivering one million items of PPE to UK care homes in seven days, said it believes it has found the answer to helping fans back into grounds safely and is in discussion with two professional football clubs to test its technology.

It says it is moving to ensure stadia are operating a virus-free environment so crowds can be welcomed back.

Eco, which is based in Scotland and Cumbria, has assembled a full range of contamination control technologies including hygiene portals, testing pods, thermal imaging cameras, biometric face recognition, pre-book scanning systems, and pop-up polytunnels with club colours and crests, to channel the correct flow of people in a one-way crowd control system on the approach to stadiums.

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Eco is in discussion with English side Carlisle United, and Scottish club Annan Athletic about testing the technologies at their grounds, before moving to roll out their solutions to other football clubs and stadiums "across the UK and beyond".

Eco managing director Eddie Black said: “Our solution is to do everything feasible to prevent a virus from getting into a stadium.

“We are looking at long-term, flexible solutions which will provide contamination control and peace of mind.

“We will achieve this with a combination of future-proof and adaptable technologies situated outside grounds.”

He added: “The health and well-being of people is our number one priority and anyone running a football club, or any business, knows they are going to have to spend some money to ensure they are doing everything they can to provide a safe environment.

“I also know that they want to put in a solution which is future-proofed so they only have to spend the money once.” 

He said: “The first line of defence are thermal imaging cameras situated at a location outside the ground which can detect someone’s temperature 

“If the camera picks up a high temperature then that person would need to go to a nearby testing pod.

“Tests will be carried out at the pod and the results will be available within 15-20 minutes.

“If a person tests positive they will have to comply with all government and public health restrictions which are in place at that time, such as self-isolating.

 “People who test negative, or who aren’t picked up as having a temperature by the camera, will then proceed to the entrance. But before they get into the ground they will enter a final sanitisation stage.

 “They will walk up to a hygiene portal which will have a touchless hand sanitiser  dispenser which will also activate a fine sanitising mist when people walk through, which will also have a tray to ensure the soles of people’s shoes are sanitised. 

“Then fans will be able to continue into the ground knowing that they and fellow supporters have all gone through the same processes to help keep everyone safe.”

Eco is building its own 3,000-square-metre headquarters for 80 employees at Annan, where Mr Black is deploying the technologies to protect the health and well-being of his own team.

He plans to use all the technologies outside the building, as well as keyless entry, intercomms, and antivirus coverings on furniture, to help keep any virus at bay.

Mr Black said: “We can reduce the risk massively if we use all these technologies. It’s all about looking after people, and making sure people are as safe as possible.”

HSBC UK says it has re-started offering buy-to-let mortgages to landlords and cleared a backlog of physical property valuations in England and Scotland.

The bank previously had to temporarily halt some mortgage applications, such as for buy-to-let deals or low deposit borrowers, due to the coronavirus lockdown, while physical valuations had not been possible.

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But it said the easing of lockdown rules has enabled the bank to make buy-to-let mortgages available again to landlords through online or telephone applications direct from HSBC UK.

HSBC UK also confirmed it will resume physical valuations in Northern Ireland from Monday, and also in Wales when lockdown rules ease.

Michelle Andrews, HSBC UK's head of buying a home, said: "The restrictions on the movement of people and access to property meant that we had to change the way we approached the valuation of properties, an essential part of the home buying process, to ensure we are providing responsible lending.

"Where we could we expanded our use of desktop and automated valuations, so mortgage applications could continue.

"In some cases, like higher LTV (loan-to-value) applications and buy-to-let mortgages it is an essential part of the process, so unfortunately those applications had to be paused.

"I am pleased to say that we have now, with the help of our corporate valuations partners, addressed our backlog of physical valuations in England and Scotland and those mortgages that were on hold are progressing, taking those buying a home one step closer to a potentially dream move.

"Plus, as we are now in a position where we can satisfy our requirement for a physical valuation in a safe compliant way, we are also able to provide buy-to-let mortgages again for landlords.

"We have shown we can work with our valuers at pace when physical valuations become possible, with appointments already in the diary in Northern Ireland for Monday.

"We are looking forward to being able to progress with physical valuations in Wales as soon as the lockdown rules ease."

Waste management firm Biffa has raised £100 million from equity fundraising in a bid to put its finances in a "position of strength" amid the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Shares in the company dipped after it sold just under 50 million shares at around 200p each, representing a 5% discount on its closing price on Thursday.

The company said it believes the cash injection will help to provide the "flexibility and confidence" to allow it to pursue growth opportunities.

It said chief executive Michael Topham subscribed for 37,500 shares and chief financial officer Richard Pike for 25,000.

Shares were 3.1% lower at 204p.