David Beckham has signed a long-term agreement with Sky Sports as an ambassador in an effort to get more people involved with sport at the grassroots level.

The global sports star will support Sky Sports Living for Sport – a free initiative for secondary schools that uses the stories and expertise of athlete mentors to inspire young people to learn new skills.

Around 30,000 young people from around Britain and Ireland participate in the programme each year.

Beckham says of his involvment: "I've always been passionate about the importance of sport in the lives of young people. It's not all about winning; just getting involved in sport gives you confidence and skills for life.

"I was lucky to have some amazing role models when I was younger, and I'm excited about the opportunity to work with Sky to pass on some of that knowledge to the next generation."

The partnership was announced shortly before Beckham retired from professional football, playing his last game at a professional level for Paris St Germain on 19 May.

Other athletes who work with Sky on the Living for Sport initiative include Jessica Ennis, Dave Brailsford, Bradley Wiggins and Darren Campbell.

Michel Smit, inventor of a dance floor that converts people’s dance moves into useable energy, is preparing to launch a new product designed to widen its appeal to the market.

“The Sustainable Energy Floor is especially designed for walking in high footfall areas,” says Smit. “This highly efficient and sustainable module is designed to be placed in public spaces and to convert the energy available in footsteps into usable electricity.”

The Sustainable Dance Floor was originally created by Smit for nightclubs, with the earliest model being launched in 2008 in Club Watt in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Modules in the floor flex slightly when stepped on, which creates a movement that can be transformed into electric power by a small internal generator. The electricity created is used to power the dance floor’s LED lights, and can also be fed back to the grid or used for other energy applications.

Over the past few years, the floor has been used in a wide variety of projects, including permanent installations in Miami’s Science Museum and the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia and pop up events in Canada, China, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates. In 2012, the Rotterdam-based company changed its name from the Sustainable Dance Club to Energy Floors, with the aim of appealing to new markets.

“Our aim is to motivate and enable as many people as possible worldwide to make a positive impact,” says Smit. “By stepping or dancing on one of our floors, people create energy which we use to create unique experiences. These experiences lead to fun, awareness and efficiency around the use of energy.”

Energy Floors organises a wide variety of events designed to create awareness about energy production and consumption. Recent events have included a kick off event for Earth Week at Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, US, which included a battle between the two locations to see which one could create the most. “Those events generated a lot of attention and positive energy,” said Smit.

“More than three million people have stepped or danced on our floors and generated over 8 billion joules,” says Smit. "There's a lot more ground to cover, but we're moving in the right direction."

Smit describes himself as a cultural developer. Smit and his business partner Denise Geerlings founded Cultural Developments BV in 2000. The company launched Rotterdam nightclub Off_Courso in 2001, and has organised music festivals. Cultural Developments launched Energy Floors in April 2007.

Time Out’s UK business development manager Ray Jones has launched the Time Out Card, offering a range of benefits, offers and discounts across London’s cultural and dining attractions.

Attractions and venues that partner with the Time Out Card will create exclusive benefits for cardholders and will provide discounts in line with other schemes that they operate. In turn, the card will give businesses access to “millions of socially engaged Londoners.” The card will cost £49 a year.

“Time Out’s audience has its finger on the pulse when it comes to the best places to eat, drink and make the most of their free time in London,” says Jones.

“By signing up to the Time Out Card, partners will benefit from the most socially active customer base in the country, and will reach a hugely relevant pool of Londoners who love to eat out and discover more about the capital.”

Businesses already signed up to the scheme include Merlin, Busuba Eathai, Paradise Wildlife Park, Battersea Park Children's Zoo, the Houses of Parliament, The Ritz, Dollar Grill, Grand Union and Martinis. The card will also offer savings on West End shows and special offers at the Italian Cultural Institute (ICI) and British Film Institute (BFI).

“We're bringing businesses closer to consumers, promoting them to Time Out's five million strong audience through our targeted channels: emails, magazine, apps and website,” says Jones.

Time Out was founded in 1968 in London by publisher Tony Elliott and has since grown into a global media group that spans 37 cities across 25 countries. Time Out London relaunched as a free magazine in September 2012, and saw its distribution increase to just over 300,000 copies per week.

Jones says he is often described as 'Mr London' by friends and colleagues, after a career spent promoting London as a destination. He has worked as head concierge for several London hotels including The Cadogan Hotel and The Mountbatten, and founded his own company, Centre Stage, in 1988, providing theatre and concert breaks to London in association with Radisson Edwardian Hotels.

Jones served as non executive director at Visit London for seven years, as well as executive director of West End Theatre Bookings, and joined Time Out as business development director in June 2012.

Luxury holiday property rental company Sheepskin has launched what it describes as the UK’s first ever tree tent.

The Red Kite Tree Tent, in Powys, Wales, is the latest addition to Helen Shaw and Adam Lloyd’s collection of unique holiday properties. Shaw and Lloyd launched Sheepskin in 2009, with the aim of bridging the gap between a self catering holiday experience and a stay in a boutique hotel. The collection has been kept deliberately small, with just 25 properties on its books, all hand picked to meet the criteria of combining "stunning and secluded locations with unique character and attention to detail."

“Red Kite Tree Tent offers guests a unique experience in an amazing space,” says Shaw. “Close to nature yet not quite camping as you know it, as the Tree Tent has some essential home comforts: a log burning stove, a cosy double sleeping bag and fantastic views from your secluded hideaway in the trees.”

The Red Kite Tree Tent is set high among the trees in extensive woodlands and features a lightweight, hybrid aluminium and ‘steam bent, green ash’ static airframe. The 3m diameter structure has been designed by UK design studio Luminair, and is wool insulated, meaning it can be used all year round.

The Red Kite Tree Tent is hidden in woodlands surrounding another Sheepskin property, the Red Kite Barn, but the two properties are completely independent from one another.

“We included the Tree Tent in our collection as it's a distinctive, special and quirky place that allows us to offer a glamping experience, which seems to be very much the trend of the moment,” says Shaw.

The construction of the Tree Tent was featured on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces on Channel 4.

Lloyd and Shaw met while they were both working for Kraft’s global research and development department, and created Sheepskin after being frustrated with their experience of holiday cottages.

“We are very much still at the early stages of putting our collection together, so 2013 is all about growing the collection,” says Shaw. “We are maintaining strict selection criteria for all homes to be added to our collection, so growth is slow but sure, enabling us to preserve our personal, tailored service."