DQ21 - Winter 2021 Edition by Downtown in Business

ISSUE 21 - WINTER EDITION

FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH LOU CORDWELL PAGE 20

VICTORIA BROWN GARY STYLES ALAN CROSS & MORE

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CONTENTS ISSUE 21 EDITOR: SOPHIE ROONEY

HOW TECH INNOVATION IS LEADING THE WAY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE DAVID HARDMAN

YOUR CULTURE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR 32 STRATEGY - AND YOU REALLY CAN’T AFFORD TO GET IT WRONG BEN WILLIAMS

DESIGNER: JACK HUNTER CONTRIBUTORS: DAVID HARDMAN BEN WILLIAMS ALAN CROSS MARTIN LIPTROT ROSS GREEN KIM LEARY SIMON DANCZUK RICHARD CLAYTON LOU CORDWELL VICTORIA BROWN RICHARD CLAYTON ZAHID CHAUDHRY ZOE WARD LEE CASSIDY CHRISSIE COMMINS NICK JONES JAMIL SHABIR STEPH DOYLE

INNOVATION, AND ALL THE

08 UNIMAGINABLE REVELATIONS AND BENEFITS ALAN CROSS

MORE TECHNOLOGY? NO THANKS MARTIN LIPTROT IDENTIFYING BUSINESSES

12 LEADING THE WAY ROSS GREEN WHY IS HAVING A BOOMING

14 TECH SECTOR IMPORTANT FOR NON-TECHIES? KIM LEARY

COMING TO A BUS STOP NEAR YOU... SIMON DANCZUK

A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO MANAGING AND CARING FOR YOUR WORKFORCE ZAHID CHAUDHRY NEXT-GEN AUTOMATION. IT’S TIME TO TAKE SOME CONCRETE STEPS ZOE WARD SMART PLACES FOR THE FUTURE

34 LEE CASSIDY

THE DIGITAL AGE OF

36 CONSTRUCTION

CHRISTIE COMMINS INNOVATION IN ARCHITECTURE

38 NICK JONES

THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN TECH

40 JAMIL SHABIR

CREATING THE NEXT

42 GENERATION OF DIGITAL TALENT STEPH DOYLE

FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH LOU

18 CORDWELL LOU CORDWELL

ONE PLANET, ONE GOAL, ONEHR

22 VICTORIA BROWN

IS YOUR CURRENT BUSINESS

26 MODEL FIT FOR THE FUTURE? RICHARD CLAYTON

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HOW TECH INNOVATION IS LEADING THE WAY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE WORDS BY DAVID HARDMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR, BRUNTWOOD SCITECH - BIRMINGHAM 4

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“THE RE:GEN IS THE WORLD’S FIRST SMART FITNESS BIKE THAT CAPTURES AND CONVERTS YOUR WORKOUT INTO CLEAN, USABLE, ELECTRICAL ENERGY THAT YOU CAN USE.” In 2018, the UN warned that we had 12 years to limit climate change and prevent environmental catastrophe. Recent predictions made by the IPCC Report about the global warming crisis echo this. The situation is dire. With COP26 having taken place earlier this month and the recent publication of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy, the UK Government has laid down its plans, with bold pledges to become Net Zero Carbon by 2050, championing all areas of clean energy, waste reduction and sustainability. For large scale global change to really happen, we need strong commitments from governments but we also need innovators. People with bold thoughts and ideas to come up with the latest technology and solutions that will support us to move forward sustainably. As the region’s leading digital tech campus, and part of the Bruntwood SciTech network of innovation districts, the Innovation Birmingham Campus is home to a number of the city’s best green tech innovators. Born out of a desire to create smarter, cleaner and safer travel, Conigital is on a mission to disrupt the transport industry with green solutions. Conigital seeks to digitally connect autonomous vehicles, creating seamless transport around smart cities and airports, enabling fluid mobility of people and decreasing congestion. Their technology was designed specifically to reduce carbon footprints, improve energy efficiency and optimise userjourneys; all of which will support

cities around the world to reach targets of zero emissions, zero congestion and zero accidents. This startup has already won a whole host of awards, opened offices in Australia and India and smashed through their £1m crowdfunding target. Likewise, Innovation Birmingham Campus based engineering startup, Energym, creates green energy from one of the more unlikely sources — humans. The patented systems built by Energym are able to harness and generate clean energy from people’s home workouts. The RE:GEN is the world’s first smart fitness bike that captures and converts your workout into clean, usable, electrical energy that you can use. The knowledge that as you cycle you’re generating clean energy is a great added incentive to anyone’s workout. Currently under construction at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, Enterprise Wharf will be the city’s first smart-enabled building. Embedded with smart, Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Enterprise Wharf will collect and have the ability to monitor data from the Building Management System, HVAC, lighting and CCTV. Data from a range of sensors will be displayed in a purpose-built dashboard; allowing air quality, lighting and energy consumption to be managed and optimised, creating a healthy, productive and sustainable workplace.

achievement of Net Zero Carbon; including an A-rated EPC together with 100 m2 of PV solar power, and a combined air source heat pump and chiller system enabling highly efficient heating, heat recovery, and cooling. The building’s facade has also been optimised to provide high thermal efficiency, minimising internal artificial lighting requirements. The UK’s built environment contributes around 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint and as the UK’s leading property provider to the science and tech sector, Bruntwood SciTech is playing its part, committing to developing sustainably as part of a new £95m sustainability-linked loan which includes a number of initiatives including waste and recycling, green energy procurement and a pledge to reduce the energy intensity of our portfolio by more than 10% over the lifetime of the loan. Bruntwood SciTech already holds the ISO 50001 energy management standard and the latest funding will support us in becoming a gold standard low carbon company. Individual efforts to fight climate change can at times feel futile. However, with innovations like these, real change feels possible. And judging by what we see daily from many of the businesses based on our campus, that change seems not only possible, but increasingly likely.

It will also incorporate a number of measures towards the

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YOUR CULTURE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR STRATEGY AND YOU REALLY CAN’T AFFORD TO GET IT WRONG WORDS BY BEN WILLIAMS COO OF LOOPIN AND AUTHOR OF ‘COMMANDO MINDSET’

Workplace wellbeing has always been important, but it took on a whole new meaning in 2020. It’s something that can no longer be viewed as a ‘soft approach’ but a necessary ‘human approach’. Ben Williams, COO of Loopin, shares the story of his start-up, and how good workplace wellbeing starts with leaders asking questions, offering understanding, and showing empathy. A little over a year ago, during the midst of the pandemic, I talked on Zoom with my friend and fellow Marine, Antony. We discussed how the pandemic was negatively impacting the workplace. With hybrid working disconnecting leaders from their teams, and virtual meetings taking away the random run-ins and office pop-ins.

At the time, we were consultants to a number of businesses. Using our 10 years experience as Royal Marine Commandos to help companies nurture and develop their teams and leaders. We saw the emerging problem and knew we could be the ones to provide the solution. A piece of software that would encourage employees and managers to communicate more meaningfully; a tool that measures employee wellbeing and drives a positive workplace culture. Whilst the pandemic sadly shut down so many other businesses, Loopin was just beginning.

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WHY IS GOOD WORKPLACE CULTURE SO IMPORTANT AFTER ALL? A famous quote from Author, Peter Drucker, who was described as ‘the man who invented management’ famously said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” He argued that if you don’t get your culture right, then even the best, most well-formed strategy won’t have the impact you desire. One thing that I learned during my career in the Royal Marines is that when leaders can truly empathise with their team, they unlock a whole new dynamic with unlimited possibilities, and team productivity flourishes. Not because the team is ordered to, but because they truly want to. A workplace with a positive workplace culture encourages people to contribute, develop and thrive.

ENGAGE YOUR PEOPLE AND THEY WILL DELIVER When it comes to creating positive change, managers and leaders have to be aware of what their team is feeling. Asking questions and engaging your people provides you with a true sense of what is happening. Having such awareness doesn’t require specific training in mental health. It’s as simple as being aware that someone is having a bad day, and being able to message or email them saying, “I’m here for a coffee and a chat if you need it mate.” Here at Loopin, we’re on a mission to continuously innovate and improve employee wellbeing, where employees value and respect each other, and relationships are upheld with trust and honesty. We had a saying in the Marines, ‘surround yourself with excellence’. If you empathise with your team and build people up, that’s exactly what you’ll achieve.

“WE DISCUSSED HOW THE PANDEMIC WAS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING THE WORKPLACE. WITH HYBRID WORKING DISCONNECTING LEADERS FROM THEIR TEAMS, AND VIRTUAL MEETINGS TAKING AWAY THE RANDOM RUN-INS AND OFFICE POP-INS.” 7

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INNOVATION, AND ALL THE UNIMAGINABLE REVELATIONS AND BENEFITS WORDS BY ALAN CROSS AMBASSADOR NETWORK, REGIONAL AMBASSADOR - NORTH WEST ENGLAND & NORTH WALES, ESA BUSINESS APPLICATIONS UK 8

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY On a drizzly evening in Manchester, back in 2004, Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov were fiddling around with some cello tape. It was part of their ‘Friday Night Experiments’, in which the two researchers would play around with ideas that were not necessarily part of their day job. Using the cello tape to lift thin layers off a lump of graphite (a lattice of carbon atoms that forms the ‘lead’ in pencils) the two friends were able to produce ever thinner layers until, eventually, they realised that they’d likely reduced the thickness of the lattice to a single sheet of atoms. They had discovered a means to extract the fabled wonder-material ‘Graphene’ from a lump of common Graphite, and it won them both the Noble Prize. This simple experiment was a profound break-through and led to a revolution in materials sciences whose repercussions will likely be felt for centuries to come. A few years ago in Lancashire, an SME specialising in sports events media production took on a teenage programmer as part of a work experience placement. In this highly competitive industry, the standard period to get mid-race photos of marathon runners into the hands of paying participants can be as long as two days. After all, there are an awful lot of photos being taken of an awful lot of people, and that data must be quality checked, assigned, verified, and uploaded. Using coding he had already developed in his spare time, for fun, the work experience student was able to vastly accelerate the speed by which they could process their images. By integrating this as edge computing on the cameras themselves, and in combination with high speed, mobile satellite connectivity, that SME can now deliver images to their customers in as little as two minutes, leaving their competitors for dust. In Liverpool, a researcher attempting to train Artificial Intelligence to automatically catalogue different

species of wild animals via drone based infra-red cameras, wasn’t having much luck. Despondently chatting over the fence to his neighbour, who happened to be an Astrophysics researcher at the same institution, it became clear that the algorithms he needed had already been invented, years earlier, to catalogue distant stars. Applying these same algorithms to his project, his drones were soon able to distinguish, not just separate species from the air, but distinct groups, and even individual animals. Today, the ‘Astro-Ecology’ group has found major applications in combating poaching in Africa, tackling forest fires, tracking and tracing environmental crimes, and search and rescue operations. Clearly then, innovation does not always mean reinventing the wheel. Rather, innovation occurs when seemingly disparate ideas or practices come into contact… more importantly, it occurs when the right people come into contact, and at the right time. Across the nations and regions of Great Britain, we are seeing the development of self-organising, selfidentifying clusters and networks focused on nurturing emerging capabilities across numerous sectors such as Life Sciences, Materials, DARQ (Distributed Ledger/AI/ Extended Reality/Quantum), and Space (yes, Outer Space, not Office Space). This innovation focused, locally led clusters, often supported in some way by both regional and national governments, are essential to the development of new research and industries that have the potential to improve our productivity, to encourage economic and societal development from coast to coast, and to ensure that the UK does not fall into obscurity as the planet faces an increasingly challenging century. In Britain, my sector, Space, has more than tripled in size over the last two decades, with a turnover of £16.4bn in 2018/19, employing over forty thousand people. As a country, we are committed to increasing our share of the global market by focusing on R&D and, increasingly, on enabling

the regions and devolved nations to explore and exploit their own strengths and capabilities. To this end, locally led initiatives like the North West Space Cluster, Space Hub Yorkshire, and the West Midlands Space Cluster, are in development to ensure that our innovative businesses, entrepreneurs, and research institutions across sectors such as manufacturing, digital, cyber, quantum, materials, geospatial, and life sciences, are equipped to understand and capitalise upon their potential regarding the Space economy. It is critical that these capabilities do not emerge in geographic or sectoral isolation. The industrial revolution only occurred once steam power found applications in textiles and transport. The digital age only dawned once the service and entertainment sectors began to understand how their own skills could be enhanced by such technology. The true implications of Climate Change only became apparent once astronomers studying carbon dioxide smothered Venus shared their insights with shocked colleagues across many disciplines. Innovation, and all the unimaginable revelations and benefits that follow in its wake, can only happen when diverse ideas meet, when one sector gets the opportunity to understand another, and when people talk to people.

“CLEARLY THEN, INNOVATION DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN REINVENTING THE WHEEL. RATHER, INNOVATION OCCURS WHEN SEEMINGLY DISPARATE IDEAS OR PRACTICES COME INTO CONTACT… MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT OCCURS WHEN THE RIGHT PEOPLE COME INTO CONTACT, AND AT THE RIGHT TIME.”

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MORE TECHNOLOGY? NO, THANKS. WORDS BY MARTIN LIPTROT COMMENTATOR ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND POLITICS, BASED IN FLORIDA

I’m sure other authors and commentators in this edition of the Downtown in Business magazine will fervently argue for more technology, greater innovation and sizeable investment in more research and development. “Technology is good for you”, they will say. Technology is shiny and new. Common wisdom suggests the ‘left behind’ regions and the ‘forgotten nations’ will get their fair share in the great ‘levelling up’ because they will benefit from the latest technology

being deployed, catapulted by science into a new economic orbit. New biotech science parks, internet enabled everything, driverless vehicles and opportunities in space exploration will all be championed elsewhere in these pages, I’m sure. But I am one of a growing number of voices who are starting to question whether simply adding more technology is necessarily the right road or the only avenue to take. Technology is, by definition, the practical application of knowledge. It

is intended to help us overcome our collective challenges and problems. And the problem the world faces has been well documented. We are dying. Climate Change and Global Warming; Plastic Pollution and Chemical Waste; and Demographic Change and Urbanisation leading to a Food Supply and Clean Water Crisis. These challenges have been around for generations, but little progress seems to be being made in addressing them despite the supposed huge technological leaps forward available.

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Our dependence on fossil fuels remains unabated, our consumer lifestyle and throw -away culture means our landfills and oceans are filled with plastics and our food chain has seen poultry and livestock unwittingly turned into cannibals while chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides have poisoned our land and rivers. I hazard the answer to these dilemmas is well within the reach of our scientists and technologists, but it isn’t in the interest of their paymasters and the big businesses who employ them. From CalTech, MIT, Harvard and Oxford the brightest and best brains working in science and technology today seem to have been diverted from the cause of finding answers to the great ecological, equality, wellness and health challenges we face – and are deployed on more frivolous, but handsomely profitable, pursuits. All their energy seems to be busy deployed working out algorithms to get 99cents hamburgers delivered more quickly, shoving teenage dance videos to mobile phones worldwide or advancing programmatic e-commerce sites to become more dominant than ever before. Where are today’s chemists like Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur, agriculturists like George Carver and public health champions like the creator of London’s sewage system Joseph Bazalgette? In part, the problem may be that technology investment dollars today are largely private funds. Unsurprisingly, therefore, they are largely dedicated to commercial

pursuits. Advancing the reach and monetized range of social media, making online marketing and retail ever more prevalent, developing products which serve little lasting value and supporting or producing apps to capture more of the data we are all creating at record pace. Rather than advancing the search for cures, clean energy solutions and a sustainable world, technology today seems much more inward looking, less concerned with saving the world, just making life more convenient. And in doing this it has, I’d argue, dehumanised our work, social and leisure life - replacing the fun and inconsistencies of human interaction with the predictable efficiency of bots and A-I experiences. Technology’s lasting impact on this generation has been to make social media ubiquitous. Reducing each citizen to a binary code to be connected to another. Whether you want to connect or not. The opinions social media popularizes and spreads have played their part in creating the fractious political debate of our day. Unpalatable and divisive views are aired freely, extreme rumours and mistruths are swallowed whole with uncomfortable consequences. Right wing regimes, totalitarian, and neo-fascist ideas, propagated by presenting seemingly simple answers to extremely complex issues, have found a friend in technology. And science’s archenemy, fundamentalist religion, has harnessed these latest technological advances to spread its own warped ideas about gender, society, creed and culture. It would, of course, be ridiculous to argue nothing good can come from our pursuit of progress.

New medicines have saved millions of lives, education has enriched the opportunities of billions and technological advancements have given new hope to generations of people previously trapped in a cycle of poverty, despair and disease. But this doesn’t seem to be the current goal of progress or the mission of technology. Rather, instead of doing what Harold Wilson suggested nearly 60 years ago and embracing the “white heat of technology” to build a “New Britain”, we have seen that the relentless pursuit of progress and its technological advances have created social and ecological disasters far in advance of the benefits they have delivered. This isn’t a call for a luddite return to a pre-industrial age, nor for a statesponsored Ministry of Science with a five-year plan for tractor production. I think it is a cry to the legislators and regulators who are responsible for shaping our world to harness technology, to recognise it as a tool for solving the challenges of our time, healing nature, contributing to a greater timeless good, rather than being a weapon for mere short-term commercial growth.

“ALL THEIR ENERGY SEEMS TO BE BUSY DEPLOYED WORKING OUT ALGORITHMS TO GET 99CENTS HAMBURGERS DELIVERED MORE QUICKLY, SHOVING TEENAGE DANCE VIDEOS TO MOBILE PHONES WORLDWIDE OR ADVANCING PROGRAMMATIC E-COMMERCE SITES TO BECOME MORE DOMINANT THAN EVER BEFORE.”

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IDENTIFYING BUSINESSES LEADING THE WAY WORDS BY ROSS GREEN MANAGING DIRECTOR EMBRYO Last month, Downtown in Business and digital-marketing agency Embryo launched the Downtown Embryo Index. The index pairs Downtown’s extensive business connections and company data with Embryo’s innovation and creativity. This combination results in a highly powerful tool that showcases leading brands within different sectors and locations, helping them to advance their business profile and brand awareness.

“THE DOWNTOWN EMBRYO INDEX IS AN INCREDIBLY USEFUL TOOL THAT TAKES AN EXTREMELY LARGE SET OF DATA, ANALYSES IT, AND GIVES IT A POWERFUL MEANING. REGULAR UPDATES WILL ENABLE USERS TO KEEP TRACK OF THOSE BUSINESSES WITH THE MOST INFLUENCE AS WELL AS THE ONES TO WATCH.” - JAMES WELCH CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER AT EMBRYO.

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY HOW DOES THE DOWNTOWN EMBRYO INDEX WORK?

WELL ESTABLISHED Businesses that were started before 2000.

The Downtown Embryo Index works by analysing and scoring over 500 companies across three different locations (Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester) and 11 different sectors (Consumer, Design, Events & Hospitality, Finance, Legal, Not for Profit, Professional Services, Property, Public Services, Sport & Education, and Technology).

CREDIT TO THE CITY Businesses that, overall, are contributing to the success of the city in which they are based. This is done by them regularly engaging with events, supporting others, and sharing their knowledge.

Using helpful filters such as ‘location’ and ‘sector’, users of the Downtown Embryo Index can see which brands perform best on a local level or against their direct competitors. Each company is scored against a series of metrics that include but are not limited to:

Birmingham City University is leading the way in top spot with a high score of 120.56. They are big contributors to the city, do lots of charity work, network, and share a huge amount of educational insight.

• • • •

Whether they are a thought leader within their industry. How active they are on social media. If the business is a big supporter of charities and other causes in the city they are based. How established the brand is.

The combination of these scores results in the Downtown Embryo Index Score enabling the businesses to be ranked.

POINTS MEAN TROPHIES Companies are also awarded trophies that are independent of the Downtown Embryo score. The fact that the trophies are awarded independently enables businesses of all sizes to have their efforts rewarded no matter the resources available to them. The trophies businesses can win are: CHARITY KINGS Businesses that are often supporting charitable organisations and causes.

WHO ARE THE ONES TO WATCH?

Thanks to their well-established place in the city, and their contribution to the property industry, Bruntwood takes the top spot in Manchester with an Index score of 110.54. Another company in the property sector is Kier who takes the top spot in Liverpool with a score of 89.14. With this high score on the slightly lower scale, it shows companies in Liverpool still have a few ways they can score points to keep up with Manchester and Birmingham. As we move out of Covid-19, and into 2022, we expect the Index to dramatically change with lots of companies gaining trophies and improving their scores.

HOW CAN YOU FEATURE ON THE DOWNTOWN EMBRYO INDEX? The algorithm that creates the Downtown Embryo Index is regularly updated so companies’ scores and positions can change. If you’d like to feature on the index, please get in touch so we can include you in the next update.

CITY CONTRIBUTOR Businesses that regularly give back to the cities where they are based, through sponsorship, advertisement and donations. GOLD NETWORKER Businesses that regularly attend events, have a large and active network, and are well-known within the cities in which they are based. THOUGHT LEADERS Businesses that regularly publish interesting and insightful content.

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WHY IS HAVING A BOOMING TECH SECTOR IMPORTANT FOR NON-TECHIES? WORDS BY KIM LEARY CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SQUIBBLE

2020 was a bad year, right? Well, not entirely. While it’s true that most industries faced their biggest challenge yet, the tech industry thrived. This is something we should celebrate. It’s been my belief for some time now that the tech sector will, one day, be the biggest contributor to our economy. This is one of the reasons why festivals like Birmingham Tech Week are so important. For those that don’t know Birmingham Tech Week is a festival held across the City in Birmingham. Initially, the idea was to bring all the tech communities together to enable deeper collaboration and to support the tech ecosystem. This would be achieved by shining a spotlight on what Birmingham has to offer and to encourage inward investment whilst celebrating the communities achievements. BTW has 3 pillars: “Celebrate. Collaborate. Inspire”. After the success of its inaugural week in 2019 we have gone on to deliver a

further 2 more having just finished BTW 2021. We also realised that this kind of support was needed across the year as opposed to just one week. Therefore BTW became an arm of Birmingham Tech alongside multiple programmes and accelerators to help tech companies whilst they scale.

BIRMINGHAM HAS A LOT TO CELEBRATE For Birmingham, Tech is really important. The latest reports from Tech Nation show tech companies are on track to raise more venture capital investment in 2021 than they did the previous year. Even tech job vacancies advertised in the region have almost doubled since December 2020. That means Birmingham could add a whopping £2.7 billion to the economy by 2025 along with the creation of 52,000 new roles in tech. These stats alone are pretty impressive and I think it’s more than doable especially with the high startup rates in our region.

AN EXPLOSION IN TECH JOBS As the UK starts to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the digital economy in the West Midlands is enjoying a growth spurt. Analysis by Tech Nation also shows Birmingham is the second top ranked city for cost of living versus salary for tech roles, with these roles making up 22% of all job openings in 2020 growth of 17% from 2018.

BIRMINGHAM TECH WEEK For those outside of Birmingham you may not be familiar with this festival but Birmingham Tech Week is a week of talks, tech showcase and celebration. It was founded on its core principles “Celebrate. Collaborate. Inspire”. “I’m not really a techy person” Do you ever catch yourself saying this? Well, that’s why events like BTW are important. You don’t have to be running a tech company to have an interest in tech and I fear for those

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that don’t want to embrace it. People and businesses are changing. We want quick responses, and we want more automation.

SO WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT FOR NON-TECHY BUSINESS OWNERS? Quite simply, you don’t want to get left behind. Whilst COVID19 has demonstrated how tech can be beneficial, the digital skills gap is widening. As a business owner it’s your responsibility to ensure you and your team members have the opportunity to embrace technology. I’m not suggesting you should go out and start developing a new tech product, instead be open to the opportunity of exploring what tech platforms could do for your business. If you’re not sure where to start, attend some online tech talks and listen to the speakers. I guarantee you will come away inspired.

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There’s a quiet revolution taking place, which you might not be aware of, and it’s primarily focused on the good old bus. Smart cities – the concept of integrating information and communication technology to improve travel, reduce crime, and help the environment – are more commonly associated with places like Singapore or Dubai, but they are also being developed in towns and cities across the UK. Cities in the Middle and Far East have led the way on smart cities because they have the resources to commit, are developing new infrastructure which can incorporate it, or simply have the ambition to drive this agenda forward. So, where does this leave the us? Well, one way much of the technology is being introduced is via the humble bus stop. Some local authorities – such as Plymouth and Oxford – are developing ‘mobility hubs’ which see bus terminals in and around their areas including a whole range of additional services, depending on their location and purpose. It is proposed that some of these hubs can contain anything from changing rooms for cyclists, charging points for electric car drivers, electric bike storage, shared scooter points, through to Wi-Fi connectivity, and USB charging points. Whilst mobility hubs are the grand version of this new approach, bus shelters and, what BT are calling, ‘street hubs’ are providing a more simplistic, but nevertheless, crucial part in the development of smart cities. Whilst mobility hubs require large investment, a good degree of construction and planning, adapting bus shelters is so much easier and simple.

There are a number of players in the UK market now who are proposing to replace traditional bus shelters with smart city shelters which include such facilities as: wayfinding information; air pollution monitoring equipment; CCTV to reduce crime; free Wi-Fi with a range of up to 50 metres; pedestrian and vehicle movement monitoring; USB sockets; solar panels, and crucially digital advertising panels. Councils have traditionally generated revenue from selling the concession for advertising space at bus shelters. That still applies, but with digital advertising panels the revenues can be greater, involve the installation of a whole new shelter, thus providing the opportunity to also install new equipment, and also cover its cost. Some of this agenda is also being driven by one aspect of the Government’s transport strategy, called ‘Bus Back Better.’ With the strong endorsement of the Prime Minister, who is a genuine advocate of the bus, this strategy is really driving this mode of transport, which then feeds into smart city development. So, what we’ll see across the UK over coming months and years is the conventional bus shelter gradually replaced with a state-of-the-art shelter which enable smart city technology to be incorporated into more traditional, often Victorian, infrastructure. Who would have thought that the humble bus, sometimes termed the ‘loser cruiser,’ would be at the forefront of our technological revolution?

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FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH LOU CORDWELL Q: Hi Lou, thanks for giving us 15 minutes of your time today. I wondered if you could start with telling me a bit about how you started your career and how got you into the creative sector?

and yourself as Chief Creative Officer. Could you tell us the importance of achieving a gender balance within the workplace and to ensure that women get a seat at the table?

LC: I started my working life in the ad industry working for some of the big global communications groups like Omincom and WPP. I’d always been drawn to design and brand in particular, but my Dad was keen that I did a ‘proper’ degree (!) before I made any final decisions about my career path so I did Economics at York before then immediately applying to every major ad agency in the UK for a placement! When the internet started to emerge as an exciting new communications channel in the late ‘90s, I was immediately drawn to it and, in the end, starting my own digital design studio, magneticNorth, was the only way I could work for the kind of company I wanted to be part of.

LC: This is a topic I’m particularly passionate about! We still have a LONG way to go in so many sectors, not just design and innovation, and if anything, the pandemic has potentially set us back even further on this agenda. Making sure that the whole spectrum of voices and perspectives we see in the world at large, are represented in the Boardroom all the way through to the product design process, is the only way that we can achieve truly inclusive economic growth. It’s not just about fairness but also, as the evidence now shows us, better business results.

Q: Since magneticNorth’s merger with Fluxx earlier in the year, your new Board advocates a necessary shift for women in leadership, with Jenny Burns as the new Chief Executive Officer

Q: magneticNorth has a very impressive portfolio, working with the likes of the BBC and Hermes. Tell me, what advice would you give to other agencies starting up in the industry, that would help them stand-out and give them opportunities to work with such big brands?

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY Portfolio and reputation are everything. Young agencies and studios need to be very strategic about the work they undertake in their first couple of years of trading, as we were, as this will be the foundation on which they build the rest of their business. So my advice would be to make considered and targetted decisions about the sectors and types of project you want to be famous for. Q: You’re on the board of NP11, could you tell me what the NP11 is and what it’s trying to achieve? LC: The NP11 provides a platform for the LEPs across the North of the UK to join forces and collaborate. It’s very much born out of the original Northern Powerhouse vision that we can be stronger and more successful together as a connected Northern neighbourhood, providing access to a significant pool of talent and an array of world class assets and opportunities. Obviously this kind of platform has a particularly important role to play in the country’s levelling up ambition. Q: In 2018, when asked about Design Manchester you said: “Design, like technology, plays a part in everything we do. We have an unprecedented opportunity to choose how we design the future of Manchester in areas like housing, healthcare, education, and skills. We don’t want to design it by default.” In those three years since, have you seen an increased level of influence from the design sector in these areas like housing, healthcare, education, and skills? LC: Absolutely. At it’s heart, design is about solving problems. There’s a growing understanding across all industries that design processes, and in particular design thinking, have a critical role to play in all

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“PORTFOLIO AND REPUTATION ARE EVERYTHING. YOUNG AGENCIES AND STUDIOS NEED TO BE VERY STRATEGIC ABOUT THE WORK THEY UNDERTAKE IN THEIR FIRST COUPLE OF YEARS OF TRADING, AS WE WERE, AS THIS WILL BE THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH THEY BUILD THE REST OF THEIR BUSINESS.”

sectors and across all sizes and stages of business. This has been hugely accelerated by the pandemic, in which we’ve seen ten years of change in 10 months. Business and business leaders have never before had to respond to such a seismic moment of change, from the digitisation of everything to hybrid working. As a design and innovation studio, mN + Fluxx are using design practices on a daily basis to help organisations to successfully survive and thrive in this extraordinary time. Q: One final question to wrap up the interview, we’re now seeing the introduction of easy-to-use design software, such as Canva and Squarespace. Which gives, (pretty much) anyone the ability to create professional looking designs and websites. What’re your thoughts on this user-friendly, semi-automated software and do you think it will impact the creative sector positively or negatively in the future? One of the interesting trends we’ve seen over this century, enabled by new digital technologies, is the rise of individuals as creators. Creators of their own brands, their own creative projects, side hustles, and in some cases new ventures. This hasn’t dented the growth of the creative industries, if anything it’s helped to create a growing interest and appreciation, plus more people wanting to join the industry so a bigger talent pool. The kind of software you’re describing is just the next phase of that trend, making some of the ‘grunty’ elements less time intensive, freeing up creative professionals to be involved where they can add the most value.

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ONE PLANET, ONE GOAL, ONEHR WORDS BY VICTORIA BROWN MANAGING DIRECTOR ONEHR

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ONE PLEDGE… Did you know that the average office worker uses roughly 10,000 sheets of paper per year? What if I then told you, on average one tree yields roughly…10,000 sheets of paper! Are you comfortable in the knowledge that your own personal consumption may be equivalent to one entire tree per year? When I first heard this statistic, I was shocked and saddened. In the age of technology, millions of trees are still being cut down every year to allow for redundant, paper-based office processes. At oneHR our goal has always been to create a paperless workplace, replacing each HR function with a smart and effective cloud-based solution. This year we have taken an extra step forward with our plans to create a sustainable, digital HR function by teaming up with more:trees. This exciting new partnership allows us to plant trees for all new oneHR sign-ups and client milestones, helping us to offset the carbon used in these day-to-day office processes and procedures. ‘more:trees goal is to help businesses and individuals take impactful climate action to secure the future of our planet now and for generations to come’ – This is a philosophy we share and we are incredibly excited to kickstart this partnership and look forward to watching our virtual forest flourish and grow. Before we talk more about how we plan to help create greater sustainability, why not a take a look at the size of your current carbon footprint:

Although our initial goal when building oneHR was to reduce HR admin time and alleviate the headache that comes with manually managing outdated HR processes, we quickly saw the potential for good that a cloudbased HR platform has when it comes to looking after our planet. This realisation planted the seed of sustainability and kick started our search for an organisation/project that could turn our tree planting dreams into a reality.

HOW DOES ONEHR HELP YOU CREATE A PAPERLESS WORKPLACE? How you will save paper by switching to a cloud-based platform: •

Say goodbye to holiday and absence forms oneHR’s powerful leave and absence calendar is easy to use and provides valuable insight into leave and absence trends within your business

•

No more dusty old personnel files oneHR’s employee database is completely customisable, allowing you capture essential employee details, with the addition of custom sections and fields that are unique to your businesses way of operating.

•

Take your performance management to the cloud. Throw away the out of date KIT or Performance Review forms, through the use of bespoke performance management sections and employee document folders you can keep a clear and transparent online record of your teams development.

•

Unlimited document storage. Policies, handbooks, and contracts are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to essential documentation. oneHR provides you with company wide, department specific and user specific document areas to store all your essential documentation, with no limits on upload.

CALCULATE WHY ARE WE TAKING THIS PLEDGE? With decades of HR experience, our team is not unfamiliar with how quick the paper can stack up. From the onboarding process to manual handling of holidays, you may as well give each new starter an axe and send them off to the forest for their first shift to cut out the middle man.

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HOW CAN YOU MAKE A CHANGE? In addition to adopting a cloud-based solution for your HR, there are a number of essential steps you can be making as businesses to work towards a greener future. •

Make sure you power down Leaving equipment on unnecessarily doesn’t just contribute to wastage but runs up your energy bill. Turning off equipment that isn’t being used helps lower both your bills and your carbon footprint.

•

Stop sending pointless emails How many of the emails that you send are actually adding value to the conversation? As heartless as it may seem, it may be time to do away with the obligatory ‘thank you’ email. Those two words add up. Did you know that an average year of emailing emits about 136 kilograms of CO2, which is equal to the impact of driving 200 miles in a car. It’s time to keep it concise!

•

Recycle Of course, this isn’t a new concept, that being said a lot of businesses are failing to dispose of recyclable waste correctly. Whether that be because they aren’t provided with the appropriate disposal facilities or don’t have a recycling initiative in place, it’s time to make this a priority in the war against growing landfill.

•

Assess transport options You can’t enforce how your team are making their commute into the workplace but you can put in place incentives that promote the use of public transportation. In some cases, with the rise of remote working, you can save on vehicle emissions by removing them altogether!

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE THE PLEDGE? Sustainability and carbon off-setting should be at the forefront of our minds from both a personal and business perspective as we see the growing and impending impacts of climate change. Please get in touch today if you are ready to explore how you can take your HR online and give back to our planet at the same time.

Newcastle

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IS YOUR CURRENT BUSINESS MODEL FIT FOR THE FUTURE? WORDS BY RICHARD CLAYTON PARTNER, ACCOUNTS & BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES, AZETS A robust business model can help businesses keep on track and move forward towards strategic aims and objectives. However, the past 18 months for most businesses has thrown many business models and plans into disarray. Business models that stress test a business through scenario planning and worst case, ‘what ifs’ may have fared better in recent times, but no one could have predicted a global pandemic, whilst navigating Brexit. Even businesses who have seen an increase in sales during this time may have changed how they operate and flexed to the way in which the world now operates – digitally and at a distance. Azets’ first ever SME Barometer Survey highlighted that adapting the business model is a key priority for SMEs and as the UK looks forward with businesses reopening and restrictions being lifted. SMEs may want to review their business models to ensure they are fit for the future and this new way of doing business. Richard Clayton, Accounts and Business Advisory Services Partner,

discusses how to review your business model to ensure business resilience and growth.

NOW, WHERE, AND HOW FRAMEWORK There is a simple but effective framework that can be used when preparing and reviewing a business model: now, where and how. This framework works as a roadmap for where businesses are headed. As part of any growth and management process, businesses need to first focus on where they are now. This puts a peg in the ground and allows for monitoring on improvement and change. While most businesses will dive straight in trying to fix issues straight away, it really helps to first focus on the future and where business leaders want the business to be within a certain period of time. Once business leaders understand where the business is now and where it wants to be, the path will start to appear as to how to get there and the changes and strategies that need

to be implemented to achieve those goals.

CREATING THE BUSINESS PLAN To plot now using this framework, businesses should consider: • • •

What are the key issues and challenges facing the business and leaders right now? What are the urgent concerns in the business in the short and long term? What are the opportunities facing the business?

To plot where using this framework, businesses should consider what the vision is over a set period of time, which could be the next 90 days, one year, or even five years and where the business will be in that time. Bullet points can summarise these aims. An effective business model will contain the strategies involved to get from where you are now, to where you want to be and to achieve the ambitions laid out. The strategies are the how piece of the framework. Within how there should be overall

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“IT IS NOW MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE, AND BUSINESS MODELS SHOULD BE CONSTANTLY AND REGULARLY REVIEWED. SOME BUSINESSES MAY REVIEW EVERY SIX MONTHS, OTHERS MAY BE DOING SO DAILY RIGHT NOW.” strategies to proactively focus on, and some clear and concise action points against each strategy. It is also crucial to lay out a timeframe for these action points to be completed and who will be responsible. This will bring in an element of accountability. Bringing your team on board and giving them specific responsibilities within this can be really beneficial as they will take ownership and feel motivated to achieve the shared goals.

REVIEWING A BUSINESS MODEL It is now more important than ever to plan for the future, and business models should be constantly and regularly reviewed. Some businesses may review every six months, others may be doing so daily right now. A 50-page business plan may be required for a bank loan, but, in reality, a document too lengthy won’t be beneficial to a business owner as it will likely sit in the drawer without being reviewed, adapted, or held to account. A clear, concise business model highlights ambitions to work towards and acts as a to do list – making it easier to tick off and adapt if required. In a world where time is the scarcest resource, we need to make these more regular check-ins quicker and simpler.

As many businesses will attest to right now, fundamental changes to your business and operations serve as a trigger point to review your current business model and how sustainable this is for the future. Regular checks of a business model also lessen the dangers of being purely reactive and changing business models in firefighting mode.

Scenario planning should run alongside the overall business model and be a key focus when reviewing the plan. Understanding what the options are at varying levels of impact can help a business remain resilient and innovative and reduces a firefighting approach should worst case “what if” scenarios become reality.

A RESILIENT BUSINESS MODEL THROUGH SCENARIO PLANNING

Our teams have found this to be a really effective tool for our clients over the last 18 months. Businesses have been faced with many uncertainties and unknowns, and so planning for different scenarios has meant that business leaders have been ready with clear strategies to get through any eventuality.

An effective business model will stress test the business with scenarios that could impact the business and the actions that would be taken to ensure the business can adapt and remain financially viable when change happens. One way to do this is by applying the ‘now, where, how’ framework to a variety of scenarios that would impact the business, with a low, medium and high impact. Low severity would be minimal disruption with the ability to do business as usual. Medium severity could mean there are a few risks and sales, cashflow and capacity would be impacted. High severity would mean a business cannot operate and may have to make difficult business decisions.

PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE Business models can help promote growth and ensure businesses remain resilient in both positive and negative scenario situations. As businesses reopen and the world looks ahead to life after Covid-19, now is a good time to review, alongside a trusted business advisor, your current business model and prepare for the future.

A ONE DAY NATIONAL INNOVATION, HEALTH & TECH CONFERENCE

Hosted by Downtown in Business in association with Knowledge Quarter Liverpool & Sciontec, on Thursday 23rd June 2022 at The Spine, Paddington Village, Liverpool. WWW.DOWNTOWNINBUSINESS.COM

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A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO MANAGING AND CARING FOR YOUR WORKFORCE WORDS BY ZAHID CHAUDHRY MANAGING DIRECTOR SENTINEL TECHNOLOGIES Workforce management (WFM) and lone worker protection (LWP) has never been more important. Whether you’re in hospitality, healthcare, retail, banking and finance, security or other service industries, there is always a need for WFM, and often LWP. Grant Thornton, using Office of National Statistics data, have shown that an estimated five million workers, excluding the self-employed, work alone for at least part of their day in the UK. It was through our need to manage and care for our workforce that we have developed some excellent software which is now used not just by us, but also by a wide range of organisations. Sentinel Group Security have traditionally provided manned guarding but developing a sophisticated WFM software system has meant we have been able to also establish Sentinel Technologies – the demand for our digital approach is that strong. We found traditional human resource management was often not accurate. It was also time-consuming and did not provide the necessary insights. It was cumbersome, often shuffling between spreadsheets, emails, and even paper-based systems. So, we developed a single solution which we’ve called MiSentinel.

This WFM software optimises operational efficiencies and employee satisfaction. It streamlines day-to-day tasks and make it easier for the employer and the employees to keep track of their duties. It is particularly good at eradicating errors, resolving conflicts or discrepancies and most importantly, saving time. It is particularly good for employee scheduling, tracking, lone worker safety and reporting. The benefits you get from implementing a WFM software system cannot be underestimated. With MiSentinel we especially noticed error-free scheduling, costeffectiveness, increased productivity, the ability to conduct real-time evaluations, and better employee engagement. On the safety side, it has made realtime tracking of workers so much easier, managing incidents, making screening and vetting easier, and managing all the related reports. Digitalisation of our processes has also made storing information much simpler, and the mobile app which accompanies MiSentinel also provides a level of convenience which

makes it popular throughout one’s workforce. But it doesn’t end there. With a large team of security officers, we have been especially conscious of how vulnerable they can be particularly when working alone. Therefore, we have now developed MiSOS, an LWP solution, based on mobile technology, which is being launched by Sentinel Technologies soon. There are so many dangerous situations today personal safety apps play a vital role in minimising harm. MiSOS is designed to ensure personal safety and provides a quick response facility which includes incident progress monitoring using our National Security Inspectorate (NSI) approved monitoring station. Not only that, but it also focuses on the safety of lone workers no matter where they are working from. It tracks employees in real-time and supplies immediate notifications to help manage incidents. Whatever sector you are in, lone workers need some form of personal safety app and MiSOS is paving the way in personal safety solutions.

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NEXT-GEN AUTOMATION. IT’S TIME TO TAKE SOME CONCRETE STEPS WORDS BY ZOE WARD MARKETING MANAGER DAL ELECTRICAL The property sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gasses and global warming. Buildings now account for upwards of 40 percent of global energy use and carbon emissions; sector leaders and developers are ideally placed to play a leading role in muting climate change and helping reduce impacts and increase resilience to environmental risks.

refrigeration or air-conditioning. People are already starting to rely on smart-home tech, and the data it collects.

With the global building floor area expected to double by 2060 to accommodate the largest surge of urban growth in human history, achieving zero emissions from new construction will require energy efficient buildings.

Smart home automation offers comprehensive functionality for the protection and monitoring of new buildings too. Smoke detectors, water sensors and temperature sensors ensure that your properties are continuously monitored. Upon detection, an alarm chain will immediately be triggered, offering home-buyers complete peace of mind. Using a weather station for live data, the building can automatically react when the weather turns and the wind picks up, closing roof windows, and retracting external shading. Mould prevention is another cause for concern, often excessive humidity can cause considerable damage to the interior and fabric of a building. Monitoring humidity and controlling airflow can prevent mould growth. Building management is under control with data such as temperature, humidity and air quality are continuously recorded. This data can then be sent to the building management staff collated for monitoring.

Planned projects to take place between now and 2040, we see the vital role embodied carbon plays. Unlike operational carbon emissions, which can be reduced with building energy upgrades and the use of renewable energy, embodied carbon emissions are put into place as soon as a building goes up. It is vital that we find ways to reduce carbon emissions if we hope to achieve zero emissions by 2040. It’s safe to say automation is in greater demand than ever. Developers around the world are now turning to it to programme their large-scale projects. By implementing smart home automation, you can increase the value and attractiveness of your development by offering sustainable living options, whilst simultaneously simplifying the installation process. Homes are increasingly being built “smart” from the ground up. Technology was previously an afterthought, but more recently, people have come to see smarthome technology as essential as electricity,

user-friendly applications and intuitive programming software. Fully-scalable solutions perfect for MDUs, hotels, offices, as well as other commercial and custom applications.

Smart home automation can reduce energy costs for the end-user, enabling shading, heating and lighting to all work seamlessly together which helps reduce overall energy consumption. During set time periods, unused devices are automatically turned off, lights are switched off in rooms no longer in use and the temperature is lowered outside of the schedule; ultimately helping you cut energy usage and running costs.

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY Next-Gen automation will reduce energy waste by incorporating more efficient smart appliances and smart thermostats into new projects.

“IT’S SAFE TO SAY AUTOMATION IS IN GREATER DEMAND THAN EVER. DEVELOPERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE NOW TURNING TO IT TO PROGRAMME THEIR LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS.”

By automating everything, smart buildings can be customised to suit different people’s preferences at different times. From enabling auto-away and home-away settings to monitoring air filter reminders, getting the most out of your smart thermostat. When you make your new building projects ecofriendly and incorporate sustainable solutions into your projects you can have a significant impact on the environment and have more appeal to more markets.

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SMART PLACES FOR THE FUTURE WORDS BY LEE CASSIDY CHIEF EXECUTIVE TACTILE TECHNOLOGY

Tactile Technology has been delivering innovative technology solutions for the last 17 years. Initially providing high performance and fully managed data connectivity solutions with IP Telephony capabilities when most people had not heard of it. We pride ourselves with the ability to provide solutions for businesses of all sizes and giving the ﬂexibility to organisations who have limited resources and skills. The last 5 years we have worked with Aston University in Birmingham, and their Advanced Services Group (ASG), who help organisations to move from standard product offering to advanced services delivering true capabilities to their customers. From the work we have done with the ASG in identifying the pain points for most organisations we have developed a number of solutions which can be delivered as an advanced service eliminating the need for specialised staff and expensive contractors to implement smart services. One area of focus is smart services for construction, commercial properties,

retail premises, manufacturing facilities and residential buildings. These solutions provide some key smart capabilities such as ubiquitous access to cctv across any number of sites, also the integration of cctv with both access control and alarm systems. Property/facility managers are looking to simplify and modernise their property management by combining all physical security needs onto one easy–to–use platform. Property managers are trying to monitor development projects, enhance tenant safety, protect assets, and secure remote sites.

REAL–TIME OCCUPANCY MANAGEMENT With the global pandemic it has become more important than ever to manage spaces to detect crowding, and visualise traffic patterns with heat maps. Reducing the chances of viral spread.

Emergency situations organisations are trying to create custom lockdown events to secure doors in the event of an emergency, this was highlighted with recent terrorist events as key to protecting staff and the public. Construction & Facilities with the ability to oversee all sites from a single central point, easily accessible through any device, construction companies can reduce the theft of expensive materials and monitor health and safety compliance.

VIDEO SECURITY The use of facial recognition and the privacy of individuals has always been a challenge to any video based solution, also the ease of sharing critical video events securely with those who need it can be difficult. Access Control Maintaining security but also allowing easy access for staff, guests and contractors is always a challenge; factor in the number of sites and buildings this becomes diffcult to both manage and administer.

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How many cards, fobs and tags do you really need to carry? What if you work different hours to the main body of staff? How do you deal with contractors who need out of hours access? The ability for staff to use a single mechanism for access and the access tailored to their working patterns is very important, this also needs to be auditable for such things as lone working situations and the possibility of rogue employees.

ENVIRONMENT Another area becoming very critical for both businesses and government is the the environmental impact of pollution and noise.

They can detect for costly and prohibited events such as smoking or vaping. Departments can be alerted to any sudden changes in temperature, noise levels, or air quality.

SECURITY Security is always a high priority especially when buildings are vacant or empty during out of hour periods the integration of cctv, access control and alarm capabilities into one central and scalable service, allows a better insight into situations and for remote monitoring of security.

ALARMS

who are looking to move from the perception of being a boiler manufacturer to offer heat as a service for residential and commercial properties. The challenges being the development of IoT based data capture and environment metrics, through to the automation of remediation of faults.

“THE WORLD WE LIVE IN IS CHANGING FAST AND OUR BUSINESSES NEED TO CHANGE WITH IT. WE ALSO NEED TO CHANGE WITH THE NEEDS OF OUR CUSTOMERS WHICH IS A KEY FOCUS OF OURS.”

We have incorporated environmental sensing into our services to ensure the health of staff, tenants and customers.

Detecting and responding to breakins is challenging and repeated alerts from foxes, cats and badgers can create a “boy that cried wolf” mentality and alerts being ignored.

“WE SHAPE OUR BUILDINGS; THEREAFTER THEY SHAPE US.”

SENSORS

WORK IN PROGRESS!

- WINSTON CHURCHILL

These can maintain optimal conditions for equipment and tenant health.

We are currently working on a project with a leading heating organisation,

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THE DIGITAL AGE OF CONSTRUCTION WORDS BY CHRISTIE COMMINS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, KIER CONSTRUCTION NORTH WEST The adoption of digital technologies is a huge opportunity for the UK construction industry, providing a wide array of potential benefits including improved productivity, increased quality and efficiency, heightened collaboration, and enhanced innovative capabilities. The Centre of Economics and Business Research (CEBR) recently reported construction could see a potential £3bn uplift from continuous digital investment, creating a £167bn industry by 2040. It is widely reported that digital reform has lagged in the construction industry falling short of being ranked lowest worldwide only to agriculture, however, use of digital technology in the industry has doubled in the last decade and is rapidly transforming the built environment. The covid-19 pandemic imposed a significant shift in tech adoption, allowing firms to settle into the ‘new normal’. Working remotely required investment in cloud databases permitting real-time sharing of documents and data between multiple stakeholders. The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), augmented reality (AR) and

drones aided safer ways of working by minimising risk and allowing for better coordination of the workforce to reduce the physical presence and safeguard wellbeing. Yet there are still demands for the industry to further embrace digital technologies, in order to address the many challenges the built environment currently faces. To continue momentum and increase viability, digitalisation needs to become an embedded culture. Recent government guidance, including the Construction Playbook, that stress the importance of digitalisation and promote the use of BIM and digital twins, will help drive this change, compelling companies to evolve and adapt, thus ensuring they remain competitive. Nevertheless, without a true understanding of what these technologies can do and how they should be effectively utilised, progression will be inhibited. There is a real urgency to digitally upskill the industry workforce, and this requires the modification of education and training to equip both current and future employees with the necessary digital and technical skills. With this knowledge a ‘digitally built Britain’ is an achievable prospect. It would

allow us to challenge the traditional methods of working and could provide effective solutions across a broad spectrum of construction processes. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used by construction firms to support tender submissions and pre-construction processes. The technology helps optimise preconstruction programmes through data analysis to provide active identification of risk and potential savings, improving project delivery. Kier is one of the first construction companies in the UK to use AI in this manner. Proactive as this is, the scope of AI is vast and can provide the industry with technical solutions for priority objectives such as sustainability and carbon. AI systems are being created to recommend materials based on predicted embodied carbon. Not only will this technology help combat the climate emergency, but it is also estimated to reduce the required manhours by up to 90%. 3D printing can provide similar benefits. This technology has far exceeded the creation of demonstrative scale models over the last decade with contractors now investing in 3D printed concrete to

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deliver new bridges and commercial offices. At the rate in which this trend is growing, the global market is expected to reach over £1bn by 2024. This isn’t surprising given 3D printing provides design flexibility, material waste reduction (c.40%) and huge time savings (c.60%).

KIER WAS THE FIRST CONSTRUCTION FIRM TO EMPLOYEE DIGITAL APPRENTICES PROVIDING A TWOYEAR PROGRAMME WHICH OFFERS A UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO BIM AND DIGITAL INNOVATION.

Blockchain analytic tools and smart contracts are addressing the immense shift to remote working and the increasing use of cryptocurrencies. This innovative software aims to increase efficiency by decreasing the administrative workload. They can be used as automated bookkeeping systems, alerting teams when individual packages of works or project milestones have been completed and automatically generate invoices. Advances in technology will always present challenges and raise concerns, one being potential workforce reduction and therefore diminished job security. KMPG predicted a 50:50 ratio of humans and machines by 2025. However, given the dynamic nature of construction, an automated ‘one size fits all’ approach isn’t realistic so it is unlikely this ratio will be realised. Industry experts believe digitalisation will dramatically increase the number of job opportunities across construction and could help reverse the negative perception, attracting new talent, a more diverse workforce and greater innovation into the industry. With the growth of digital technology emerges an exciting new era for construction. The future offers great potential to vastly improve the current methods of working for construction professionals and provide solution to many of the key challenges currently confronting the industry. Transformation has never been more within reach and it would be a travesty not to seize this opportunity.

Digital twin technology was utilised on the recently constructed Manchester Museum Courtyard project for the University of Manchester where noise, vibration, temperature and humidity monitoring are critical to safeguard historical artefacts.

During the construction of Rowan View Medium Secure Unit for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Matterport 3D modelling was used ensuring the client, service providers and multi-stakeholders could visualize the schemes progress during lockdown.

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1901 - VICTORIAN & EDWARDIAN BRITAIN In the countryside, the world looks very much like an episode of Downton Abbey. In the cities, however, Britain is just coming out of a seventyyear building boom. Most of Britain’s houses, municipal buildings, pubs and factories were built during this period, and despite modernisation, bombs and the erosion of time, most of these buildings will still stand a hundred years later. Every day, hordes of people – some rich, but mostly poor – slope between red-bricked buildings in the hope of gaining employment, housing, and a better life for their family. This is, perhaps why we would become so attached to these buildings in the future. They symbolise the

first signs of British equality of social mobility through sheer grit. Houses that are now inhabited by burly blue-collar factory workers, cramming their children into four rooms (with a bathroom outside) would later be a sought-after commodity among middle-class families, commuters, and yuppies. The UK has just undergone its most rapid period of technological advancement in history, and the buildings created in this period are to set the aesthetic tone for the next century.

1945 MODERNISM & CHANGE OF DIRECTION

The UK is now holding a fresh copy of The Paris Treaties in it’s elated, but fatigued hands. Due to increased travel and exposure to other cultures, British tastes have now changed. We are now entering the modern era, and as we have a country to rebuild, we experiment with cheaper, expedient means of doing so. Concrete buildings appear, as well as prefabricated housing, and new designs from Switzerland, Scandinavia and USA begin to appear in London, penned by Architects that are no longer bound by the conventions of before. The use of steel begins to become popularised, and the UK’s cities become cultural melting pots as people from all around the globe begin to become repatriated in the UK. Technology now has one key role rebuild the UK quicker than it’s counterparts, and solve the housing crisis created by the new crop of young families.

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INNOVATION IN ARCHITECTURE WORDS BY NICK JONES MANAGING DIRECTOR 2G DESIGN AND BUILD

2021 PRESENT DAY When people look back on this decade, for better or worse, they are going to see it as the decade that started with a pandemic. However, one of the key bi-products of this, is that people have started to spend much more time in their homes, and as a result, started thinking a little more deeply about the spaces that they inhabit. It’s possible, to live in a Victorian house, filled with mid century art and design, with fully up-to-date home automation. Through social media

platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram, home-owners can freely mood-board, dip through the archives and design their dream home without leaving their dining table. Although we owe our existence to the Victorians and the Modernists (and everyone in between), we should take credit for being the most design-conscious and house-proud generation to appear, arguably for the last hundred and twenty years

“THE UK HAS JUST UNDERGONE ITS MOST RAPID PERIOD OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IN HISTORY, AND THE BUILDINGS CREATED IN THIS PERIOD ARE TO SET THE AESTHETIC TONE FOR THE NEXT CENTURY.” 39

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THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN TECH WORDS BY JAMIL SHABIR CHIEF EXECUTIVE BOOTCAMP MEDIA The tech industry is arguably the most innovative of all industries. Every day new and creative solutions are arising to solve common problems and experts in the field continue to pride themselves on their forward thinking. As innovative as the industry is, there is one area that the tech has failed to modernise, the representation of women. The technology industry is still predominantly a male led industry and in this modern age, this is unacceptable.

BOOTCAMP MEDIA BELIEVE IN REPRESENTING WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY Bootcamp Media are very proud to have been this years Diamond Sponsor for the Women in Tech Awards, an award ceremony that celebrates raises awareness and promotes the importance of women in technology. At Bootcamp Media we have always stressed the importance of equal opportunities and we treat everybody the same, regardless of gender, race, culture or socioeconomic background. Which is why we actively sponsor events that promote equal opportunities. The reason I chose to become a Diamond Sponsor rather than a Supporting Sponsor is because women in tech is particularly close to

my heart. My daughter, a very bright girl with the ability to be successful in her career, loves technology. This is the field she wants to dedicate her higher education and her career too and I am very proud of her for making this decision. I was very fortunate growing up, I was given every opportunity to be successful and I grasped every one of these opportunities. I want my daughter to have the same opportunities as I did, to be given the chance to be successful and progress in her career into senior roles.

WOMEN IN THE TECHNOLOGY WORKFORCE A recent study by Tech Nation investigated diversity in the UK tech companies and found that 77% of director roles in this industry are filled by men. This study goes into suggest that only 19% of the tech workforce are women, with 5% of these being Asian women and just 3% black and Hispanic women. These findings are not all that dissimilar to a study undertaken by the AnitaB. org Institute in 2020, which found that women make-up just 28.8% of the tech workforce. A steady increase in recent years, from 26.2% in 2019 and 25.9% in 2018. While this increase is promising, the underrepresentation of women in the industry is still

concerning and more needs to be done to encourage women into the tech workforce. In order to do this, we have to look at the underlying issues, to understand why there are less women in tech than in other industries and what we can do to rectify that.

THE GENDER PAY GAP While the number of women in tech is expected to continue to climb over the coming years, the problem in the gender pay gap will take much longer to close. Womenintech.co.uk conducted a survey in 2019 in which they found that 60% of women agreed that there is a gender pay gap, as opposed to the small 8% who thought pay was equal. More female STEM graduates are expected to join the tech workforce thus improving the problem of underrepresentation; however, they will be entering in junior positions, which of course, are lower paid.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION AND HIRING Another issue we face is employee retention. Research from the Center for Talent Innovation, shows that women in technology roles are 45% more likely to leave the industry within a year than men are.

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This has led to a lack of women in upper management. Moreover, when asked if companies were prioritising the hiring of women in tech, 35% of respondents said it was heavily prioritised, 31% said it was prioritised, but not significantly and 25% of respondents stated that hiring women is not a priority for their company.

SO, WHAT CAN WE DO? There are lots of ways we can help to encourage more women to join (and stay in) the tech workforce. We can: • •

•

“WHILE THE NUMBER OF WOMEN IN TECH IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO CLIMB OVER THE COMING YEARS, THE PROBLEM IN THE GENDER PAY GAP WILL TAKE MUCH LONGER TO CLOSE.”

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Make hiring women in tech a priority across the board and particularly in top companies. Support and encourage women in tech through mentorships, remove the gender bias and help more women to reach senior roles. Ensure equal pay for all employees regardless of gender. By publishing salaries within companies we can also eliminate suspicion of pay inequality. Neutralise gender language both in advertising for roles and in the workforce, avoid words like ‘he’ which make the industry appear to prefer men. Have more female role models in tech and target younger women to encourage them into the industry. Change work benefits to suit women’s preferences, by (for example), providing more flexible work hours, remote working, medical benefits and health insurance.

To be a truly innovative field, the tech industry needs to make changes to ensure women are represented fairly and equally.

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY

CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DIGITAL TALENT WORDS BY STEPH DOYLE HEAD OF THE DIGITAL ACADEMY THE CITY OF LIVERPOOL COLLEGE As our world becomes increasingly digitally focused, digital skills are in demand more than ever, with employers consistently looking to improve their workforce’s knowledge, especially since working from home was introduced. This means that careers in digital are sought after more than ever, and those who study digital-based courses will have fantastic opportunities to develop, with the average salary for a techbased job in Liverpool at £45,000.

Course pathways include coding, graphic design, cyber security, game design, animation and so much more, with the opportunity to join as a total beginner or an advanced learner. There are opportunities for all levels.

Giving our students real-world experience and ensuring they can hit the ground running in their chosen career is our top priority and the perfect opportunity for them to get a head start. Given the current climate, it has never been more important for us to ensure our students are industry ready. Through our strong partnerships with businesses across the city region and beyond, we can be sure that they will get the most out of their experiences.

One of our recent partnerships which we’re particularly proud of, is with virtual reality (VR) developer, VizBox, who we partnered with to create a VR experience for children with additional needs, as a cost-effective solution for use in hospitals and primary schools.

Our £2.5 million Digital Academy in the heart of Liverpool’s thriving Knowledge Quarter boasts unrivalled facilities, including our very own motion capture suite and the latest specialist technology, all designed in partnership with industry experts and partners, to ensure our students gain valuable, real-world experience.

For us, it’s not just about courses, it’s about careers and setting our students up for successful, fulfilling futures, as well as providing businesses with the opportunity to spot future talent.

Students on our Digital Games Design & Development course were tasked with the live brief for Vizbox, to help create a virtual reality app that replicates a sensory room – an effective tool often used to support children with additional needs. Students used our new, cutting-edge motion capture suite and VR studio to develop the app, which will be rolled out in local primary schools. We’re also working with social enterprise SAFE Regeneration, on its

plans for a £33 million neighbourhood in Bootle. As part of the partnership, students from a range of College departments will contribute to the development over the next few years. From construction and leisure tourism, to hospitality, business planning, arts and creativity, digital and graphic design, students will have the opportunity to work on a real life, local project, contributing to Bootle’s regeneration, while gaining valuable work experience, whether through placements with contractors or in local bars and restaurants. Another of our successful partnerships is with The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, one of the country’s leading cancer centres, and construction giant, Laing O’Rourke. The partnership was designed to inspire students with the digital technologies used to develop the brand-new cancer centre and promote the modern careers now available in the construction industry, using digital design skills learnt through games development. For our students to be given the chance to work with a multinational organisation such as Laing O’Rourke and the NHS to develop a truly innovative tool for The Clatterbridge

DOWNTOWN QUARTERLY

Cancer Centre is an opportunity like no other. It has been incredible to see our students using our new state of the art motion capture suite, to create such an important tool that will make a difference to so many people. Nicky Hutton, Advanced Practitioner Therapeutic Radiographer at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “The facilities at The City of Liverpool College are wonderful and the motion capture suite has allowed us to replicate The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre Building incredibly well. I’ve been blown away by the quality of the work the students have created. Their technical skills are excellent, and we will shortly have a brilliant app that will be of massive benefit to our patients.” These projects, among many others, have allowed our students to apply the skills they have learnt at the College to a setting they may not have expected, demonstrating how transferrable the techniques and knowledge they gain with us are and in turn, creating the next generation of digital experts.

“GIVING OUR STUDENTS REALWORLD EXPERIENCE AND ENSURING THEY CAN HIT THE GROUND RUNNING IN THEIR CHOSEN CAREER IS OUR TOP PRIORITY AND THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM TO GET A HEAD START..”

If you would like to find out more about how your business could work with our Digital Academy, contact Steph Doyle, at steph.doyle@liv-coll.ac.uk.

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