News
Coventry business born in a bedroom celebrates 21 years in 2021 Craig Tracey MP welcomes Chancellor’s £15 million Levelling Up Fund allocation for key Bedworth project
Craig Tracey, local Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, has welcomed today’s announcement at the Budget by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at Bedworth being awarded £15 million to build a Physical Activity Hub, as part of the first tranche of funding allocations from the Government’s new Levelling Up Fund. The brand-new facility will provide Bedworth with a new 8 lane 25-metre swimming pool (along with a teaching pool), a larger fitness suite and a fourcourt sports hall. The funding will also support plans for a new MUGA pitch and a skateboard park, which builds on Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council’s strong commitment to create a new mountain biking track in the park, which is currently under construction. In addition to this, this funding will also create a green connectivity corridor to connect Bedworth Town Centre and the new physical activity hub, therefore kickstarting the regeneration of Bedworth Town Centre. Commenting immediately after the announcement in the House of Commons, Craig said ‘’I am absolutely delighted to see our joint efforts at securing muchneeded investment for Bedworth pay off. Since being elected as a Member of Parliament back in 2015, it has been a huge frustration for me that the previous Council Administration always knocked back my plans for regenerating Bedworth, choosing to prioritise their focus on Nuneaton instead. It has been a breath of fresh air working with the new administration and the much magnified local representation for Bedworth on the Council has really shone through. I have been lobbying Ministers, and the Chancellor himself for months now about backing the bids put forward for the constituency and so it’s fantastic to see this proposal will be coming to life. It’s great to see the that the Chancellor shares my ambition for our Town, however, this is only a starting point for what I know can be a very bright and exciting future for Bedworth." Cllr Kyle Evans, Cabinet Member for Public Services at Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council and leader of the application bid said “This is a great example of what Bedworth can achieve under new management. Bedworth has never received substantial Government funding on this level before, and the new Conservative Council has managed to secure this major investment just six months into office. I want to publicly thank all of our Council Officers who have been working with us, sometimes very late into the night, to help us secure this funding”.
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A Coventry design agency that started in a bedroom using a business grant is celebrating a milestone 21 years in 2021. JADE Brand Agency was started by childhood friends Jason Dickens and Matthew East in 2000 using a grant from the Prince’s Trust. Initially run from Jason’s bedroom at his parents’ house, the studio has been based at Electric Wharf for over 15 years and works with organisations across the country from Premiership Football Clubs to some of the biggest names in music. JADE, which offers a range of graphic design, print and media solutions, celebrated its 21st birthday at the start of November, marking a major milestone for the business, who focus on recruiting locally and championing all things ‘Coventry’ while simultaneously working on a national scale. In its 21 years, the business has completed more than 24,000 projects, with Coventry City Council as its longest-standing client. JADE, which rebranded itself from The Jade Studio to JADE Brand Agency in 2020 to reflect the agency that they’ve become, helped produce the bid documents that brought the 2012 Olympics to Coventry, then did the same for City of Culture 2021, playing a key role in helping Coventry win the title. In fact, JADE have worked with the Trust since day one.
JADE has won multiple awards, including ‘Creative Communications and Digital Business of the Year’ at the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards in 2018, as well as winning a shared FirstPro ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ for its work on the City of Culture 2021 bid. The company also beat over 100 other UK agencies to be named a University of Warwick framework design agency, and have created more than 5,000 pieces of artwork for them to date. The agency works with eight Premiership and Championship football clubs and with some of the UK’s biggest and best venues such as Warwick Castle, Bristol Zoo, M Shed and the Imperial War Museums. It has also created artwork promoting some of the biggest names in music, including Coldplay, Take That, P!nk, Oasis, Muse and Kings of Leon, as well as creating a healthy eating brand for a wellknown celebrity chef. On top of that, JADE was named Key Partner to Positive Youth Foundation and the company is a member of Coventry and Warwickshire Champions as well as an Associate Member to Coventry BID. Co-founder and Business Development Director Jason Dickens said: “Matt and I have been friends since childhood. We both went to ‘The Butts’ [Coventry
JADE Brand Agency team Sara Simoés, Barrington Simon, Matthew East, Jason Dickens, Mikey Baxter and Armani Conway.
Technical College] and back then had talked about starting a design agency one day. We started JADE with a grant from the Prince’s Trust and initially ran it from my bedroom at my mum and dad’s house. “Maybe some people thought we wouldn’t last but here we are 21 years on having worked with some of the biggest names and projects in the country. We are incredibly proud of our portfolio of clients but we’ve never forgotten our roots. We’re proud of where we’re from which is why we try to recruit locally where we can, including from Coventry University.” Managing Director Matthew added: “We’re not standing still - in 2020 we rebranded and have plans to spread our wings even further, moving even more into the digital arena. “We’re looking to recruit again in the new year, and purchase a larger studio in the next couple of years to meet the needs of our growing team - in Coventry of course!”
Project Warwickshire launches to help tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses A £557,000 contract to help the county’s small businesses in the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors bounce back from the Covid pandemic has been awarded by Warwickshire County Council to Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. The contract, with £320,000 of County Council funding supplemented by a further £230,000 of European Regional Development Fund money, will enable the Chamber to implement a wide range of support through to April 2024 to boost the sector and help small businesses take advantage of a potential rise in home vacations. Project Warwickshire will provide a package of help across the sector, including 1:1 advice, networking and a range of masterclasses. The project will support businesses to seek and access grants and funding, as well as co-ordinating a series of networking events and webinars to share good practice and links. The tourism, leisure and hospitality industry was among the hardest hit sectors when the country went into lockdown in 2020. Tourism previously translated into significant economic value for the local economy, with Warwickshire’s tourism sector contributing £858 million towards local GVA (approximating to 6.7% of the county’s total economic value) (Economic Modelling Specialist International, 2021). Warwickshire’s tourism sector employed 22,123 people as of 2019, equating to 8% of Warwickshire’s total workforce (EMSI, 2021). Many small businesses were supported through the crisis with the Government’s furlough scheme as well as a series of grants and business support schemes,
including many funded by the County Council. Among these was the county council’s Survive, Sustain and Grow programme which engaged over 600 businesses and awarded over £400,000 of recovery grants to a selection of these businesses. It marked the shift in getting through the immediate crisis and focused instead on the bounce back, helping small businesses to review and adapt their practices to make themselves more sustainable in the future market. Project Warwickshire will involve partners including Shakespeare’s England and Northern Warwickshire Tourism to look at the future wants and needs of the sector’s previous, current and potential customers and how businesses can best be advised to make changes to their practice, such as increase digital presence and engagement. In all, Project Warwickshire will look to engage 300 businesses across Warwickshire in the sectors, supporting 1,200 jobs, safeguarding 100 and creating a further 50. It will deliver an increase of £1.29m in GVA (Gross Value Added) for Warwickshire and maintain £2.58m GVA in Warwickshire’s economy with a return yield of £7.51 for every £1 invested up to the end of March 2024. Cllr Kam Kaur, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for economy and
place said: “There has been money available to businesses through the Government’s Restart grants and there has been other short-term support available through the County Council and our partners. "Project Warwickshire takes us beyond that point and will help small businesses to establish themselves in the changing market place so that they can do more than just get by but flourish, offer employment opportunities, particularly to our young people, and get back to the point where they were making such a significant contribution to our local economy. I’m delighted that we will be working with such experienced partners as the Chamber to push out this package of innovative support.” Keely Hancox, Operations Manager for the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce said: “Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is delighted to be working with Warwickshire County Council and our partners to deliver a comprehensive package of support for our Tourism, Hospitality and leisure businesses across Warwickshire. Our advisors are able to offer practical advice, technical support and that all important sounding board for Business owners within this sector. The aim to support businesses in their recovery, enabling them grow and thrive post pandemic.”
For further information, please email the Chamber on chamberbusinessprograms@cw-chamber.co.uk or call 02476 654321 For information about other support available to grow your business or general information and enquiries, contact the Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub on 0300 060 374 *This project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, forming part of the CW Business: Start, Grow and Scale Programme
www.cw-chamber.co.uk
