Spotlight on Watford and insights from companies based in the borough

Watford is a fantastic place where businesses are welcomed and supported to invest, grow and succeed. It is incredibly well connected to the rest of the country by road, rail, bus and London Underground – Watford businesses can reach over half the UK economy within one hour.

Today, it is home to UK and regional headquarters of UK industry leaders including: KPMG, Wickes, JD Wetherspoon, Majestic Wine and Camelot and global businesses such as TJX Europe, Beko, HCL, Hilton, Ralph Lauren and Costco.

• It has 2.3 per cent medium and large businesses (higher than the Hertfordshire average) and a £5.4 billion economy (ONS, 2019).

• 42,736 GVA per head (2019) – in the top 10 per cent in the UK.

• It is the number one commuter location to London (Zoopla, 2020).

Over the next 10 to 15 years, more than £1.5 billion worth of investment will be leveraged by Watford Borough Council as part of an ambitious plan, which will create thousands of new homes and jobs.

Town Hall Quarter

The Town Hall Quarter programme will transform the area around the Town Hall, with a revitalised cultural and heritage offer along with new homes, employment and public space. It includes an innovative overhaul of the Grade II listed Town Hall and the town’s premium venue, Watford Colosseum – which reopens next year under the management of world-renowned AEG Presents.

Riverwell

The council’s long-term regeneration programme, Watford Riverwell (located near Watford General Hospital), has made significant progress, with new affordable and private homes built and more underway. The ambition to support West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s plans for a new hospital on the existing site are also coming to fruition.

Watford and Croxley Business Parks

The council’s £20 million cutting-edge redevelopment project (which includes a £5 million grant from Hertfordshire LEP) to transform Watford Business Park is underway. The 30-hectare site is one of the borough’s key employment hubs, with over 100 businesses employing 1,200 people. There will be 14 new commercial units with associated parking and landscaping, as well as a new access route into the site delivered.

Pioneering greener ways to travel

In 2020, the council launched Beryl Bikes, the first bike-share scheme in Hertfordshire. Over 308,000 journeys covering over 900,000 kilometres have been taken on the 200 pedal and 100 electric bikes accessed from 59 bays across the town. The council is also continuing to roll out low-cost EV chargers across the borough and will launch the town’s first car club this summer.

Fully-funded SME support programmes

The council is launching two new fully-funded SME support programmes which are funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.The first is a two-year programme aimed at helping SMEs measure and reduce carbon emissions which will be delivered with local social enterprise organisation Wenta (email info@wenta.co.uk).

The second is a supplier development programme aiming to help local businesses master the art of bidwriting, and to submit bids to council procurement, construction and infrastructure projects, as well as large private sector buyers and suppliers.

Businesses can join the programme, which is being delivered with partner Branduin Business Support by completing the Bid Skills Assessment at www.fittobid.co.uk/watford.

Watford is an “outstanding” location for businesses

With strengths in financial, professional and business services, pharmaceutical and life sciences, creative, digital and IT, and as a centre for corporate headquarters and functions, Watford offers a great combination of factors that make it an ideal business and investment location. Along with its brilliant transport connections, it has a qualified and skilled local workforce. It provides a quality commercial property offer, strong business networks and has a great track record as the business location of choice. The 2023 UK Vitality Index ranked Watford third out of the UK’s 100 largest urban areas, marking it outas an outstanding place to live and do business.

The annual health assessment of the UK’s largest towns and cities outside London, (by Lambert Smith Hampton), highlighted that, “Watford is the only location to achieve a Top 10 placement in all three [assessment] pillars”, one of which is Economy and Business.

Watford is home to a young, diverse and growing population who enjoy excellent employment opportunities, access to great schools, leisure activities and award-winning green spaces, including three of the nation’s favourite parks –Cassiobury, Oxhey Park and Oxhey Activity Park. From a thriving town centre ranked in the top 20 (CACI’s) for its shopping, nightclubs and restaurants to a great football team and theatres, there is something for everyone.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said:

“We take pride in our proven track record as a successful business centre, attracting global, UK, and regional headquarters of industry leaders. Our educated and skilled workforce, combined with a vibrant work-life balance offered by Watford’s cultural offerings, shopping hub, and outstanding schools, creates an ideal setting for businesses to thrive, individuals to prosper, and the community to flourish.”

Hillier Hopkins, Chartered Accountants & Tax Advisers

“We believe that everyone should have opportunities to enhance their lives through creative and educational activities in environments that are positive and welcoming to all, regardless of people’s background or abilities,” said HIT Director Caroline Stevens.

The charity provides fully inclusive arts and theatre activities throughout Hertfordshire and North London including Borehamwood, Harrow, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Stevenage, Watford and online. Anyone can take part - around 90 per cent of the people the charity works with have learning and physical disabilities.

Prism Power Group

Prism Power Group, a power systems manufacturer and supplier, was founded 18 years ago by its Managing Director, Keith Hall. The company designs, builds and maintains power solutions to every type of industry and organisation, from schools and hospitals to commercial properties and data centres, both public and private sectors. Keith and his senior team have been in the switchgear and power systems business for over 30 years. All the firm’s operations including production, design, sales, and administration function under one roof at its facility in Watford. Lesley Hall, marketing manager, said: “Watford has had a long-standing reputation for industry and employment, and with its proximity to London and excellent rail and road transport links, our premises are easily accessible for client visits and facilitates the efficient servicing of our customers’ sites both locally and nationally. The company’s founder is also locally born and started out his career completing his engineering apprenticeship training just a stone’s throw from Prism Power’s site in the Watford Business Park on Greenhill Crescent.”

Prism Power’s prime location for transportation has helped the company to grow nationally and internationally. While they have a substantial global footprint of customers, their company remains deeply rooted in Watford and they take great pleasure in providing solutions for local businesses and organisations who support their community with their much-needed services.

“As well as being in a fantastic area to recruit over 50 skilled local employees, each year Prism Power works with neighbouring colleges to bring through the next generation of talented engineers on apprenticeship schemes,” added Lesley.

“We are always eager to network with more likeminded organisations and to support the growth and success of our local infrastructure and economy. Nothing makes us prouder than having the privilege to work on projects for our clients whose organisations make a positive difference to people’s lives locally, be it those in health, education, entertainment, or critical local services.

“We currently have a variety of exciting employment opportunities in engineering, production and design and we welcome enthusiastic and talented individuals in the area to apply to join our growing team.”

This year, Hillier Hopkins celebrates its 90th birthday. From their beginnings in Luton in 1933, they have expanded to become one of the UKs top 50 firms with offices in Watford, London and Milton Keynes. Marketing Manager, Karen Winrow believes the firm’s growth over the years has in part been fuelled by Watford’s vibrant and dynamic economy. “The firm has been in Watford since 1954 and it’s a great place to do business. We have the great rail and road links to London and the rest of the UK. It’s such a dynamic business hub and one that we are very much committed to.”

Karen continues “We owe a lot to Watford and it has always been important to our Principals to give back and support our local community through fundraising, sponsorship and donating our time”.

Hillier Hopkins regularly raises money through fundraising events like charity lunches, football tournaments and fun staff challenges. The firm also sponsors youth sports teams and other local initiatives. Each of their 200+ team members can also spend one day per year volunteering for a charity of their choice, giving a boost to the local voluntary sector.

Staff also get involved in local tree planting events and teams of staff take to the streets on regular basis armed with litter pickers to clean up local parks and green spaces.

Hillier Hopkins also supports the local economy by providing residents with employment, training and a great place to work. The firm offers work placements, trainee accountant apprenticeships and vacancies in tax, audit, accounts and administration.

If you are looking for an exciting career working with businesses of all shapes and sizes then take a look at the careers section of their website www.hillierhopkins.co.uk.

If you are a local business and would like to find out how Hillier Hopkins could help you, visit their website or get in touch on 01923 232938 or hi@hhllp.co.uk.

They provide out-of-school and holiday activities for children and young people and a programme of drama groups for adults with learning disabilities. They also work with other organisations, local councils and businesses to deliver bespoke arts workshops working with marginalised and vulnerable groups. These have included art therapy with people with mental health problems, drama in specialist hospital units, sensory workshops to support relaxed theatre performances and drama with women experiencing domestic abuse.

HIT, which is celebrating its 21st anniversary, started delivering work in Hertfordshire in October 2001, first in Bushey, then expanding to Watford, Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage and most recently Hertford.

“In 2001, a need was identified to continue providing inclusive theatre opportunities in Hertsmere, after the local council and Chickenshed Theatre Company ran a pilot project,” added Caroline.

“As these activities thrived, other areas of Hertfordshire were identified as needing a similar provision.

“We have recently launched Inclusion Training in the workplace which uses the arts to support businesses to implement inclusion within their workplaces. We aim to be the county’s leading organisation focusing on inclusion.

“We are always looking to expand our pool of talented freelance arts facilitators, as well as our volunteers.”

Penman Sedgwick LLP – Solicitors

A town centre law firm with a long history of providing legal services in Watford… so long, that they are fast approaching their second centenary! (See the next page for more information.)

Penman Sedgwick is a regular contributor to Inspire magazine, via their Legal Property Experts column. In addition to providing legal services for those looking for help with commercial or residential property matters, the firm delivers a wide range of private client legal services such as drafting wills, obtaining grant of probate, administration of estates, and powers of attorney, as well as providing legal advice and support in respect of family law matters, employment law (acting for both employees and employers), private criminal defence work and a broad range of litigation and dispute resolution services.

See their website for more information: www.penmansedgwick.com