Business Eye September October 2020

Issue 200 Sept/Oct 2020 ÂŁ2.50 Voted best Business Magazine in Ireland 2005 and Magazine of the Year for Northern Ireland

HSBC

Leveraging Global Strength To Help NI Companies Through Crisis Features:

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NI’s Family Businesses Weathering The Pandemic

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Nimbus - A Decade Of Growth For Top Tech Firm

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Ulster Orchestra Keeping The Music Going

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Contents

Sept/Oct 2020 ISSUE 200

RSM Establishes New Financial 06 Shared Service Centre

– A Decade 54 OfNimbus Growth

Audit, tax and consulting services provider, RSM has established a Financial Shared Service Centre (FSSC) in Belfast as part of a £1.3million investment in its outsourcing practice, creating 24 jobs.

Gareth McAllister set up his own IT consultancy firm, Nimbus, in the teeth of the financial crisis ten years ago. Over recent months, the Belfast company passed its tenth anniversary milestone but hardly noticed it. Why? Because it was so busy helping its customers through the challenges of the pandemic.

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Gareth Macklin & Obbi – Solutions For The Covid Era

Obbi Solutions came into being almost five years ago to plug a gap in the market for a software product able to combine health and safety, operations, HR, compliance and training. It’s a product tailor made for the Covid era.

HSBC – Leveraging Global Strength 20 To Help Local Companies The global strength and financial might of HSBC has never been as important as it has been during the pandemic. NI Area Director Gillian Morris and Deputy Area Director Chris McQuay talk to Business Eye about responding to the needs of business customers here during the Covid-19 crisis.

Legal 500 – Northern Ireland’s 25 Top Law Firms & Lawyers Northern Ireland’s legal sector, despite the work from home challenges of the pandemic, is in robust health. The annual Legal 500 provides an in-depth look at the top performing law firms here, as well as the leading individual lawyers, across a comprehensive range of legal sectors.

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Family Businesses Weather The Pandemic

A new survey of Northern Ireland’s family businesses has been launched by the NI Family Business Forum alongside Ulster University and two of its partner universities. It has produced some surprising views on how local businesses here are surviving the challenges of the pandemic.

Business Eye Regional 41 Economic Focus

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Women In Business – Virtual Challenges For Member Organisation

When your organisation has been built around membership engagement and events, the current era of Covid restrictions presents a unique set of challenges. Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive at Women In Business, remains upbeat about the organisation’s key role and its future.

Mailsync – How Local Companies 60 Are Gaining A Marketing Edge Two local organisations talk about how they used RW Pierce’s unique Mailsync product to streamline how they keep in touch with, and manage their interaction with, their customer and patient base.

Control 62 InIncreasing A Crisis The global coronavirus pandemic has, for many businesses, seen one of the most rapid evolutions of business processes in recent history. This gives rise to an important question - have risk management and internal control systems developed at the same pace? Audit and Forensic Accounting experts from GMcG Chartered Accountants examine the key considerations.

Ulster Orchestra – Keeping 66 The Music Going The Ulster Orchestra’s activities ground to a temporary halt at the start of the pandemic. But the Orchestra didn’t go into hibernation. From playing music from the homes of the musicians through to entertaining residents of care home from their gardens, the music hasn’t stopped. We catch up with Managing Director Richard Wigley and his senior management team.

As the economy moves through the pandemic and into the future, our local councils will have an important role to play when it comes to supporting their business communities, helping to safeguards jobs, and mapping out an economic future at a regional level. Business Eye takes a look across the region.

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Back in the heady days of summer, when Covid numbers were falling rapidly and we were all happily staycationing in Donegal or the Causeway Coast, there was an expectation that the autumn months would mark a gradual but steady to return to city centre offices and something like normal working.

Comment

“It’s crucial that the NI Executive doesn’t rush into imposing the severest of restrictions, a full lockdown. Unless it’s something that simply can’t be avoided, it really should be avoided.“

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las, it’s not to be. Covid is still with us, in fact the number of positive tests have risen alarmingly during late September and the early days of October. The NI Executive has had to impose strict new restrictions on some areas and looks set to extend the same restrictions to others.

There’s also plenty of talk, at least at the time of writing, of a second full lockdown, perhaps a temporary one known as a ‘circuit breaker’, another new term for the lexicon brought to us by the Covid era.

What’s also changed since the optimism of the summer months is that we’ve had to accept not only that we won’t be heading back in any numbers to our city centre offices any time soon, but also that the pandemic looks set to be with us for a few months yet. Certainly until Christmas and most likely well beyond that.

Dr. Michael McBride, our chief medical officer and not a man given to brazen optimism, said recently – whilst trying to add some hope to one of his gloomier press conferences – that Northern Ireland would be a very different place come next Spring. Let’s hope that he’s right.

In the meantime, it’s crucial that the NI Executive doesn’t rush into imposing the severest of restrictions, a full lockdown. Unless it’s something that simply can’t be avoided, it really should be avoided. Another lockdown would be catastophic for the economy, and devastating for so many people’s livelihoods.

There’s another reason why the NI Executive has to hold back from imposing a lockdown.

That’s because it doesn’t have the money to pay for one. A lockdown means that business support measures have to be put into place and put into place quickly. Those business support measures, mirroring those introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak at the start of the pandemic, are

Richard Buckley EDITOR Irish Magazine Editor of the Year 2005

hugely expensive. And, not to put too fine a point on it, our government has no money.

Lockdown funding will be Boris Johnson’s call.

At the time of writing, the Republic of Ireland was teetering on the brink of a lockdown after its scientists decided to do a bit of Sunday headline grabbing, called for a full lockdown and left the coalition government stuck somewhere between the devil and deep blue sea.

Northern Ireland has to learn to live with the virus over the coming months. That much is abundantly clear. We can’t do that by closing everything down, opening it up again, closing it down and repeating the process.

There’s also little doubt that the numbers have been on the rise not as a result of schools going back, not as a result of pubs and restaurants being open, but clearly as a result of our universities being back. It’s not the only net cause, of course, but it’s clearly a major factor.

That said, closing down our universties is the kind of nuclear option that we all have to work hard to avoid.

An optimist’s view would be that the current high level of positive cases has more to do with universities being back in action and a corresponding high level of testing and that levels will settle down to something much more acceptable – and manageable – over the coming weeks.

In the Covid era, mind you, it’s hard to be an optimist.

Northern Ireland’s businesses know all too well what they have to do. They have to survive, they have to keep the lights burning and they have to work hard to protect jobs, save jobs and look after their people.

There’s an increasing acceptance that we’re in this for the long haul and that we have to make the best of it. There’s not a lot else for it.

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Eye on News

Denroy Launches State Of The Art New Face Mask

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ne of the world’s leading innovators of high-tech, critical components for the aerospace and medical industries, Bangor-based Denroy, has launched its solution to making face coverings more empathetic.

Denroy has designed a transparent filtration mask, a first in the UK market with a unique transparent component, coupled with a replaceable eight-hour filtration system, making it 100% reusable.

The ergonomic design means the mask fits snugly around the bridge of the nose, cheeks and chin. It is also designed to a high spec allowing the wearer to breathe easier. The transparent visibility allows for natural, empathetic communication by reducing barriers caused by traditional masks. The benefit of being able to see facial expressions, read visual cues or even lip read, is a huge benefit. The newly awarded CE mark gives consumers confidence that bubl conforms with health, safety, and environmental protection.

Bubl was born out of a time of uncertainty for Denroy due to the devasting effect the current pandemic has had on the aerospace industry. As a team of innovators and solution focused creators, bubl has been able to harness the passion of its team and secure all jobs within the business.

Speaking on the development of bubl, Kevin McNamee CEO of Denroy said: “Lockdown has challenged us to pivot

the business in a slightly different direction from what we are used to. But what a fantastic product to do it with! Our design team has poured the same passion and invention into creating the bubl, as they would have for any other highly engineered product. It is comfortable, reusable and most importantly transparent. Seeing someone simply smile behind their mask, could make a real difference and positively impact many industries who may consider swapping their tradition mask for the bubl.”

Lead designer of bubl, Marcus McCay adds: “We are delighted to launch bubl, a product that we are really proud of and something that was developed out of the COVID-19 crisis. From fighter jets to front-line heroes, we have diversified within the business to create a barrier mask that eases communication and fits snugly on your face. During lockdown, we also collaborated on the ‘Hero Shield’ visor that has already been supplied to over 1 million NHS workers. Now, the bubl mask is available for everyone and it will eradicate some of the pressures that those working in person facing occupations are up against.”

Bubl is a type II medical mask and comes with 60 filters to be changed after eight hours of use. It retails at £29.95 and replacement filters are £9.95 per pack. bubl can be purchased online via: https://denpro.co.uk

Initiative Encourages Public To Gift The City And Support City Centre Businesses

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n initiative aimed at encouraging the public to #GiftTheCity and support Belfast city centre businesses has been announced by the Business Improvement Districts: (BIDs) Belfast One, Linen Quarter BID and Destination CQ. Funded and managed by the BIDs, the initiative is a call to the public to support the local economy through the Belfast City Centre Gift Card.

Over 145 businesses, from across the BIDs locations, are taking part with many more being added on a regular basis. The versatility of the Belfast City Centre Gift Card means cardholders can choose to spread the spend wherever and whenever they like across a variety of places ranging from retail, health & beauty, bars, restaurants, and hotels. Safe and easy to use, the card is the perfect gift for friends, family and colleagues for all occasions as well as giving the gift of support to participating businesses.

The Belfast City Centre Gift Card is a Mastercard-based gift card that works in the same way as department store /

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shopping centre gift cards. To purchase a card visit www.belfastgiftcard. co.uk, choose the amount, load it onto the card, purchase and #GiftTheCity.

Cards are valid for a year and can only be used at the business location.

Kathleen McBride from Belfast One said: “Working together on this joint BID’s initiative is essential during these difficult times. With over 145 shops, restaurants and businesses already taking part, and more signing up, we hope the gift card will encourage visitors and shoppers to support all those involved.”

Chris McCracken from Linen Quarter BID added: “The Belfast City Centre Gift card is a fantastic way to experience our vibrant city. With its versatile use and access to a wide variety of venues; we are certain customers will enjoy the experience of being able to ‘spread the spend’ safely across our city centre.”

Damien Corr from Destination CQ commented:

Jonathan Topping from Clayton Hotel Belfast, Jennifer Lemon from Jigsaw Arthur Street Belfast, and Paddy McGurgan from Make-up Pro Store Royal Avenue.

“Now more than ever it is important to encourage people to support city centre businesses. The Belfast City Centre Gift Card is a win-win for customers, allowing you to give someone a great choice in a gift while at the same time making sure your money is spent in the local economy.”

Belfast City Centre Gift Card is available to purchase at www.belfastgiftcard.co. uk. Details of all the businesses taking part and full terms and conditions are available on the website. Follow Belfast City Centre Gift Card on Facebook and Instagram #GiftTheCity.

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Eye on News

RSM establishes new Northern Ireland Financial Shared Service Centre Audit, tax and consulting services provider, RSM has established a Financial Shared Service Centre (FSSC) in Belfast as part of a £1.3million investment in its outsourcing practice, creating 24 jobs.

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he centre will provide outsourced financial services to the company’s UK and international clients, including financial processing, bookkeeping, reporting and analytics services.

Announcing RSM’s decision to expand in Northern Ireland, Suzanne Willmott, Associate Director and head of the Large Corporate Centre for Outsourcing, said: “A key part of our growth strategy is to increase our global service capabilities and this new FSSC centre in Belfast will be crucial to this.

“We are always striving to better understand our clients’ requirements and know that there is a need to simplify, standardise and automate financial processes. This is especially important with

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George McKinney, Director of Technology & Services, Invest Northern Ireland with Suzanne Wilmott, Associate Director and head of the Large Corporate Centre for Outsourcing, RSM.

the challenges businesses are facing at the moment. The new team in Belfast will mean we can now offer a complete end-to-end outsourced service to our global RSM clients through our NetSuite platform, and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

“The combination of highly skilled talent on offer in the local financial sector, and support from Invest NI, made Northern Ireland the best choice for this new team over far-shore locations.”

George McKinney, Invest Northern Ireland’s Director of Technology & Services, said: “Northern Ireland’s financial and professional services sector has a strong global reputation, with Belfast ranked as the world’s top destination for financial technology investment projects*.

“We have a longstanding relationship with RSM and our support over the years has helped it to build its presence here through job creation and staff training. We have continued to work closely with the company and are pleased to have helped secure this reinvestment for Northern Ireland.

“This new outsourcing team in Belfast will help RSM to broaden the service it offers to its clients, and play an important part in plans to expand into new international markets. Once in place, the jobs will generate over £650,000 in additional annual salaries which is welcome news for our economy.”

Along with strategic business advice, Invest NI has offered the company £98,400 of support towards the creation of the new jobs. Job opportunities include a Finance Operations Manager and a range of Financial Bookkeeping Specialist roles.

Recruitment is underway and the Centre’s teams continue to successfully deliver bookkeeping and management reporting services remotely from home.

Invest NI’s resources are focused on assisting our clients to improve competitiveness, increase innovation, promote a stronger international focus and create more positive attitudes to enterprise.

Eye on News

Bloc Blinds finds a match with leading UK designer Magherafelt based Bloc Blinds has collaborated with UK printed textile designer Laura Slater on an exclusive collection of designs.

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aura, who established her design studio and print workshop in West Yorkshire after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2007, has an impressive client list including Heals, Harvey Nichols and John Lewis.

Last year, Bloc Blinds invested over £100k in the installation of bespoke fabric printing facilities at its manufacturing headquarters. The move was in response to consumer demand for custom patterns and personalisation when selecting fabrics.

Cormac Diamond, Bloc Blinds Managing Director said: “As a forward thinking and innovative company, we strive to keep our finger on the pulse of changing consumer needs – and

that is exactly why we made this investment in fabric printing and partnered with Laura.

Our new printing capability means we can offer customers new designs, which have been created exclusively for Bloc Blinds by contemporary artists such as Laura Slater. We are delighted to share this collection with our customers exclusively from our online site.”

Laura Slater added: “I enjoyed the process of designing and creating new prints exclusive to Bloc Blinds.

The unique collection of designs reflects the impact nature has on our modern lifestyle.

I hope to offer people the opportunity to incorporate natural colours and prints into their living space and enjoy bringing the outside in.”

Energy and business experts converge for firmus energy’s Energy Market Briefing Over 90 delegates, businesses leaders, elected representatives, stakeholders and media joined firmus energy for its 10th annual energy market briefing in late September.

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articipants joined the live session to hear from some of the leading voices in the energy and financial sector who provided an insight into current energy trends, opportunities, challenges and the wider impact on the local economy. firmus energy has over 50,000 customers in its Ten Towns network area and currently supplies more than 100,000 domestic and business customers across Northern Ireland. The gas supply and distribution company held its first firmus energy market briefing in 2011 which has since become a highlight in the energy sector’s business calendar. firmus energy Chairman, Dr David Dobbin CBE hosted a panel of industry experts including Bord Gais traders Joe Egan, Niamh O’Dwyer and Stan Linehan who spoke about energy market trends, European gas storage levels and the impact of geopolitical events as well as Northern Ireland’s gas prices.

Ulster Bank Chief Economist Richard Ramsey was also present to provide commentary on the Northern Ireland economic recovery, government interventions and the financial impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of the event Michael Scott, Managing Director at firmus energy provided an update on the business. He said: “Our energy market update provides an important opportunity to hear from some of the leading industry voices in the energy and economic sector and we are pleased that participant numbers continue to grow.

We are also delighted to have been able to use the event to launch our first annual stakeholder report.

“In recent months firmus energy’s business has reached some significant milestones – supplying our 100,000th customer and growing the Ten Towns natural gas network to over 1,700 km.

“We have delivered sustained growth on an ongoing basis. Our original business plan was to connect around 2,000 customers a year but we’ve more than trebled that and are currently delivering in excess of 6,000 new gas connections each year.

“By the end of 2022 Northern Ireland’s natural gas infrastructure will have passed over 550,000 properties. This presents an opportunity to expedite the conversion to natural gas of a further 230,000

Michael Scott, Managing Director, firmus energy

properties and realise a total carbon reduction saving of 1.7million tonnes of CO2 each year. “firmus energy also has multiple opportunities to extend our network into new towns and villages such as Crumlin, Glenavy and Portstewart, all of which represent significant investment.”

Key themes of the briefing included the role of natural gas in a zero carbon future, the impact of the ongoing pandemic on energy supply and demand, and the growing importance of LNG in the global gas market.

Delegates also had the opportunity to take part in a Q&A hosted by firmus energy director Paul Stanfield.

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Eye on Technology

Gareth Macklin & Obbi …

Solutions For The Covid Era

Gareth Macklin is a pretty clear example of that rare breed – the serial entrepreneur. From a strong family business background, he’s involved in a family run hotel and care home businesses but he also leads a company which is an emerging force in the tech sector here.

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bbi Solutions came into being four and a half years ago to plug what Gareth saw as a gap in the market.

“Companies here and elsewhere were working with different systems across functions like health and safety, operations, human resources, compliance and training,” he says. “Our vision was that they could combine all of those under one resilient and strong software solutions to help companies save time, money and mitigate risk.”

And so Obbi was born. Its first client was signed up in London,

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setting the agenda for a business focus within as well as outside of Northern Ireland. Since then, it has signed up clients in healthcare, construction, retail, manufacturing and across other sectors.

“We’d enjoyed a really good first quarter to this year, we had the 1st of April marked down for the launch of a new product, and then Covid kicked in,” says Gareth Macklin.

Having weathered the initial shock of lockdown and moved to remote working, Gareth and his team set about working out how

they could find opportunity from the mayhem around them.

“We knew that companies would be trying get their people back to work as quickly as possible, so we started to design a software solution that could help companies to be Covid compliant whilst getting staff back to work safely.”

The Obbi Lite solution provides access to pre-loaded Covid safety content for all staff, who can then sign off electronically that they have seen it. Company specific documents, checklists and training materials can also be uploaded for access by staff. Individual Covid health screening checks can be created and distributed and the system also gives access to posters and handouts promoting safe working practices.

“We’ve had a lot of interest, many organisations are struggling with

what they see as the risks involved in safely bringing staff back to work and the various challenges that surround managing that. Our job through Obbi is to make it easier for them.”

“Our core solution documents and logs all the processes and procedures that companies have to adhere to in areas like compliance, safety and training, and it does it all remotely,” he explains.

“Obbi digitises companies manual processes onto one integrated platform that is tailored to their own specific needs and rules of their business.

It gives the right people the right information to fulfil their obligations in a more timely and productive manner.

Quite simply, we increase productivity, mitigate risk and reduce costs.”

Obbi’s 12-strong team of tech professionals is on hand to present their platform and to roll it out remotely to companies anywhere, anytime. There has already been international interest in the Obbi software, with enquiries as far as Dubai, the USA and Australia.

“There are lots of software solutions on the market that will help with compliance, HR, health and safety, and operations.” adds Gareth. “But we are delighted about being recognised both from our clients and the numerous awards we have won for our unique platform which ultimately helps companies.

Obbi, he says, is best suited to organisations with the majority of their staff in a manual labour role such as manufacturing, construction, with local customers including Decora Blinds in Lisburn, Creagh Concrete and Lagan Construction.

“In a nutshell, it’s about saving money, saving time and minimising risk,” says Gareth Macklin. “Our entire senior team all come from operational backgrounds, so we understand the challenges our customers have and we’ve worked hard to design the software to be intuitive and easy to use as a result.”

“It’s just a better way of doing things, and that’s something that will make sense to almost every company.”

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Eye on Charity

Business Eye Fund Boosts Simon Community NI Simon Community NI, Northern Ireland’s leading homeless charity, has received a boost for its ‘Welcome Pack’ initiative through funding awarded from Business Eye in partnership with the Community Foundation.

Kirsten Hewitt, Director of Homelessness at Simon Community and Frances Black, Accommodation Manager at Simon Community’s Saintfield Road base, with Brenda and Richard Buckley of Business Eye

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he charity which supports around 3000 people across 21 accommodation projects each year, will use the funding toward the provision of welcome packs for young homeless people who are entering its services. The £3000 will cover the costs of welcome packs containing new towels, facecloth, basic clothing (where required), a holdall, sanitary items and essential food and toiletries for new clients for over two months.

Jim Dennison, Chief Executive of Simon Community NI explains, “For someone experiencing homelessness during the Coronavirus pandemic, existing feelings of anxiety and worry can be heightened during a time when individuals are being asked to isolate further from society and remain on housing waiting lists for longer. Thankfully, during such an unsettling time, we can provide those with no family to turn to with a small gesture that can provide a level of dignity

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for someone arriving to us without even a toothbrush in their pocket.

The feedback we receive about our welcome packs is overwhelmingly positive with staff highlighting their uses in developing the trust needed to build relationships with new clients. The packs can greatly speed up the process of support with young people by making them feel welcome at Simon Community on their very first night, which can often be filled with doubt, loneliness and fear.

“For many of the young people we support, they’ve come from the care system or childhoods filled with trauma and to transition them towards health and wellbeing initiatives, training classes and employment programmes takes time and patience. The welcome packs are the first step in a long journey out of homelessness.”

Business Eye partnered with the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland in early 2019 to

establish a fund, using the money raised at its annual Business Eye Awards. The Community Foundation then matches the funds raised.

Last year, Business Eye and the Community Foundation supported 10 young leaders (aged 16 to 22) to complete a TAMHI Tackling Awareness of Mental Health Issues, training programme in advancing mental health. TAMHI uses peer leadership training and sport to generate conversations among young people in their schools, youth groups and sports clubs about mental health.

Richard Buckley, Editor of Business Eye explains, “Working with the Community Foundation has connected us to organisations which can make a real difference to young people. We’re delighted to be able to provide support to Simon Community NI for its welcome pack initiative, the far-reaching effects of which we could never have imagined.”

Síofra Healy, Director of Philanthropy

at the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland said, “Our valued partnership with Business Eye allows us to do what we do best, which is connecting people who care with causes that matter. We have already seen the benefits to the young people engaged with TAMHI from the funding awarded by Business Eye in 2019 and we’re delighted Business Eye have chosen to support Simon Community with this latest funding award. We look forward to working with them to support more future initiatives which positively impact the lives of young people.”

To learn how you or your business could support the organisations the Community Foundation Community Foundation for Northern Ireland works with, click on www.communityfoundationni.org

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Eye on Insurance

New Name in Local Insurance is a Big Deal Two of Northern Ireland’s most established home-grown insurance brokers, Abbey Insurance and Autoline Insurance have joined forces to become AbbeyAutoline.

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restige Insurance Holdings, the parent company of Abbey Insurance, acquired Newry-based Autoline Insurance at the end of 2018.

With the coming together of the two local broking names, the newly combined business now has 22 branches and employs 470 staff, making it the biggest insurance broker in Northern Ireland.

Julie Gibbons, Managing Director of the newly combined broking business, AbbeyAutoline, said: “This is one of the most significant developments in the insurance industry here for decades. Both of these broking businesses were started by local entrepreneurs in the 1970’s and they have developed side by side for almost 50 years: Autoline from its base in Newry and Abbey in Newtownabbey. It is testament to both companies that they have grown so much over this time.

“To see them coming together heralds

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the start of not only a bigger and stronger insurance broking business, but greater choice for all our customers, with an expanded panel of insurers.”

Julie Gibbons is firmly focused on the growth opportunity for commercial insurance that comes with the increased geographical footprint, scale and buying power. She said, “Business insurance is an area of particular focus under the new AbbeyAutoline brand. As a broker our success lies in our passion for building relationships with both clients and insurers, which gives us the buying power to secure the most competitive and bespoke solutions for our clients.

“With over 45 years’ experience, our team of commercial Account Executives get under the skin of their clients’ business so they can fully understand their insurance requirements and provide a tailored business insurance package. In so doing, we give our clients the peace of

mind to continue running their business, safe in the knowledge that their insurance needs are in the hands of the right people.

“On the personal insurance side, we can now offer our customers a broader range of products, alongside our core Car and Home Insurance, including Young Drivers, Travel, Van, Motorbike, Taxi and a fantastic offering for Farm Insurance, making AbbeyAutoline the one stop shop for all insurance needs here in Northern Ireland.

“Customers will start to see our new name rolled out in our high street branches across the province in the coming weeks and whilst our name may have changed above the door, our customers can be reassured that our commitment to quality, friendly, local service remains firmly in place.

“The extensive research we carried out ahead of this rebrand revealed that one of the key things that united both of our brands was the importance of our

staff, their knowledge, expertise and relationships with customers. Being local means we understand the importance in Northern Ireland of “people buy from people” and we are very focused on the importance of human relationships.

“As AbbeyAutoline, while we will be bigger, the same trusted, expert, personal customer care that has successfully grown our two businesses will continue to be at the heart of our new brand.”

Looking ahead, Julie Gibbons’ focus for the future lies on consolidating the culture of the new brand under her leadership and developing the broking model, whilst driving the modernisation and innovation strategies of the combined business.

She said, “We want to see how we can continue to be innovative and what else we can offer clients. We are still very interested in growth both here and in other markets, and we wouldn’t rule out further acquisitions if the fit is right.”

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Eye on Infrastructure

Sewer capacity is putting Social Housing at risk

The need for social and affordable housing in Northern Ireland is undoubtedly on the rise and is increasingly important with the number of people here in ‘Housing Stress’ currently totalling almost 28,000, a rise of more than 5,500 people over the last 5 years or so.

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Eye on Infrastructure

Wastewater capacity issues

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he need for social housing is well recognised, the New Decade, New Approach agreement for the restored Executive states as one of its priorities, “…the Executive will enable housing associations to continue building new social housing and intermediate housing…Housing will be included as a specific priority in the Programme for Government.

The Executive will also enhance investment and agree a target for new social and affordable home starts”.

The Social Housing sector, with grant aid from Government, is currently targeted to deliver some 1,850 new housing units per annum and demand, unsurprisingly, is highest in many of our cities and main towns with Belfast and DerryLondonderry being amongst those with the most acute need. Indeed, Councils’ Development Plans, each of which sets their local growth strategy for the next decade and beyond, all identify their ‘hub’ or ‘main’ towns as the required locations for increased Social Housing. But Housing Associations are encountering a significant barrier to building new social housing needed in these areas.

Sara Venning, NI Water CEO, explains, “Councils’ Development Plans identify 28 cities/towns that are central to their future growth strategies, including much needed new social housing. Currently well over 20 of these cities/towns have either no or seriously limited capacity in the local sewer system and NI Water cannot, in many instances, allow the additional sewer connections needed for new housing and business development, including new social housing.

Sara continues, “The scale of sewer capacity issues across Northern Ireland is eye-watering.

Currently large parts of our cities and over 100 towns have little or no capacity left in their sewer systems. Allowing more sewage and wastewater into these systems through additional sewer connections for new housing or business will cause the local sewer network to be overwhelmed, resulting in increased ‘out of sewer’ flooding and pollution to the environment. Just to add to

PC21 Wastewater investment

the scale, we expect a further 30 towns to be in the same situation by the end of 2027.

“NI Water is all too aware of the serious implications for social and private housing development, new business, new hospitals, new schools etc. and we continue to work closely with planners and developers to identify individual solutions where possible, but the only realistic answer to addressing Northern Ireland’s failing sewerage and wastewater infrastructure is to fund it properly. ‘Drains and Cranes’ are needed to kick-start NI’s economy.”

The level to which NI Water can invest in its infrastructure is not the result of its commercials and finances, but rather, it is set according to what Government decides to allocate from within its Capital budget. And for many years Government has not allocated what has been needed for both water and wastewater.

Sara explains, “NI Water will always prioritise its treated drinking water infrastructure to ensure that every household, business, hospital and school has a reliable supply of safe, clean water, so when inadequate investment levels are set by Government it’s the sewerage and wastewater infrastructure that suffers”.

The impact of inadequate levels of capital investment can be no surprise to Government. During NI Water’s last funding round in 2015, the company identified the need for a £1.7bn capital programme, but Government allocated just £990m. In NI Water’s published Business Plan for the period 2015-21 (called PC15), in response to the highly inadequate level of capital being made available, the company stated, “NI Water has had to make difficult decisions on the allocation of capital to enhancement projects during the PC15 period. Whilst upgrades to 19 large Wastewater Treatment Works will progress during the PC15 period, it has been necessary to defer upgrades to 81 large Wastewater Treatment Works.

This will increase the number of sewerage systems which will reach their capacity during the PC15

period. As a result NI Water will not be able to permit new connections, which may result in development at locations across N Ireland being constrained”.

Business commentators have described NI Water’s funding model as “sub-optimal”. The weaknesses in the model are firstly, the requirement for NI Water’s expenditure to fall within Government budget limits and secondly, that Government can decide a level of spending for NI Water that differs from that determined by the independent Utility Regulator.

In practice, this means that, despite a professional regulatory assessment resulting in a recommended capital spend, Government can subsequently set a level of capital spend well below this recommendation, often as the result of other Government projects to be funded from the same Capital budget.

Sara concludes, “The scale of the sewerage and wastewater capacity issues across Northern Ireland will likely take more than a decade to remedy. Over £2bn of capital investment is required in our next Business Plan period 2021-27 (called PC21), it will maintain the drinking water network and while it not fix everything, it will also make good inroads into addressing the capacity issues in our sewerage and wastewater infrastructure and will enable much of the new housing and new business needed for economic recovery and future economic growth. We have listened to our customers and worked extensively with our key stakeholders in preparing the right PC21 Business Plan for Northern Ireland, however, unless Government urgently invests sufficiently in Northern Ireland’s failing sewerage and wastewater there will be difficult choices ahead about our economy and our natural environment. It is imperative that an adequate level of capital investment is secured”.

“Like the Social Housing sector we welcome the priority commitment made in the New Decade, New Approach agreement which states, “The Executive will invest urgently in wastewater infrastructure which is at or nearing capacity in many places across Northern Ireland, including in Belfast, limiting growth.”

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Eye on Cover Story

HSBC –

Leveraging Global Strength To Help NI Companies Through Crisis Like every other business in Northern Ireland, HSBC UKs Corporate & Business Banking operation in Belfast city centre found itself having to adapt to a brand new way of working six months ago.

A

rea Director & Head of Corporate Banking Gillian Morris and her 18-strong team of relationship managers and support staff moved to home working at short notice. “Like everyone else, we’d been watching the progress of the pandemic very closely but I suppose it was when Leo Varadkar announced the closure of the schools in the south that we really saw the writing on the wall,” she says.

Deputy Area Director Chris McQuay found himself in the role of last man standing. “I was still in the office when Gillian called and told me that I had to get myself off home,” he says. “It was a very strange feeling, effectively being the one who turned the lights off and headed up the road.”

“But we had always had the ability to work from home in any case, so it really wasn’t too big a learning curve for us as an organisation,” he adds.

The Belfast team’s move to remote working was being mirrored throughout the vast international machine that makes up HSBC. Particularly impressive was the speed at which HSBC’s large-scale customer contact centre were able to up sticks and move to effective

20

and efficient remote working... something that few would have thought possible pre-Covid.

“So we were ready and waiting to help our customers very quickly,” says Gillian Morris. “And we started reaching out to those customers immediately. Across the UK , colleagues across the Bank including our agriculture relationship managers (HSBC UK is a big player in the agri marketplace here) volunteered to help out with the effort to make sure that our business customers were being looked after.

“There was a lot of distress and anxiety out there. Some companies had immediate cash flow needs to address, but there were lots of others who just needed some emotional support and to be reassured by the fact that we were here and ready to help if need be.

“So we were calling customers asking if they were alright, if they had the facilities that they needed, if they needed to talk. That was what everyday banking was all about suddenly. And, for many customers, it was about short term funding requirements.”

The senior team at HSBC UK agree with almost everyone else about the huge importance

of the immediate government assistance schemes announced

by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

“They made a big difference and had an enormous role to play,” says Chris McQuay. “The job retention scheme in particular was instrumental in saving many jobs in the early days of the crisis.”

HSBC UK was one of the banks authorised from the start to administer the government CBILS and Bounceback loan schemes and was quickly involved in securing the government-backed funding for its customers.

“We were seeing really solid businesses with good management teams trying to wrestle with the huge negative effects on those businesses,” adds Gillian Morris. “So we saw it as our role to be pragmatic, but also to be supportive.

“But it was really hard to talk to very good businesses, who had been performing well before Covid, suddenly facing real, serious problems.”

Gillian Morris and Chris McQuay both reckon that HSBC UK in Belfast stepped up to the mark.

“In a nutshell, across the Bank we lent roughly the same amount of money that we’d expect to lend

“There was a lot of distress and anxiety out there. Some companies had immediate cash flow needs to address, but there were lots of others who just needed some emotional support and to be reassured by the fact that we were here and ready to help if need be.�

Gillian Morris and Chris McQuay, HSBC. Regional Director and Assistant Regional Director.

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Eye on Cover Story

in 10 years within the six-month period. That puts it into perspective.”

On a national level, the bank’s lending figures during the Covid crisis to date are staggering. Its total loan approvals topped the £12 billion mark – including £5.87 billion on Bounce Back Loans.

“We’ve always said that we’re very fortunate to be part of one of the world’s biggest and best capitalised banks. But I don’t think any of us could have imagined just how important the bank’s global liquidity would be,” says Gillian Morris.

Both Morris and McQuay have been touched over recent weeks and months by the levels of gratitude being shown by their customers.

“To be honest, it’s more than we’re used to,” smiles Chris McQuay. “Banking plays a vital role in the economy which isn’t always acknowledged fully. But not during this pandemic. Our customers have been genuinely grateful for the speed at which we responded, and how we were able to help them.”

They’ve also been pleased at how the bank managed a seamless transition to home working using digital technology.

“I do think that quite a few

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“Banking plays a vital role in the economy which isn’t always acknowledged fully. But not during this pandemic. Our customers have been genuinely grateful for the speed at which we responded, and how we were able to help them.”

businesses have weathered this storm better than they might have anticipated,” Gillian adds.

“Our own research shows that 83% of UK businesses have been impacted in some way by Covid, but a lot have turned out to be stronger than they thought.”

Moving forward, the HSBC leadership team stress that the priority is to continue to ensure liquidity in the market and to encourage companies to look closely at how they are leveraged and at transforming their cash flow positions.

“We want to play our part in building back better,” says Chris McQuay.

“Our message is that we’re open for business and that we have funds to lend. We’re here to support our

customers during a period that’s not going to be easy. We might be a small team in Northern Ireland terms, but we’ve a global bank behind us.

“Recovery will come. We just don’t know what kind of shape that recovery path is going to take.

But the odds are that there will be plenty of headwinds until a vaccine for the virus is rolled out.”

Companies, Gillian says, should consider new international markets as recovery begins, and that’s an area in which HSBC, with its global reach, is well placed.

“As recovery begins, companies should look at where they’re positioned and be forward-looking.

It’s important to make the most of the disruption caused by this pandemic.”

Eye on News

BELFAST CITY AIRPORT Restores Flights To East Midlands And Leeds Bradford

The portfolio of new routes from Belfast City Airport, announced earlier in the year by airline partner Aer Lingus Regional, is now complete with the resumption of flights to East Midlands Airport and Leeds Bradford Airport.

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oth routes will operate up to three times per day, further enhancing Northern Ireland’s connectivity and providing passengers with more choice and convenient connections to the North and East of England.

Commenting on the inaugural flights, Ellie McGimpsey, Aviation Development Manager at Belfast City Airport, said: “East Midlands and Leeds Bradford have always been popular routes served from Belfast City Airport and we have no doubt that their return will be welcome news for many.

“These inaugural flights complete the series of new routes with Aer Lingus Regional following launches to Birmingham, Edinburgh,

Exeter and Manchester.

“Having these high-frequency connections across the UK benefits both business and leisure passengers and it has been great to work with Aer Lingus and Stobart Air to secure these essential links.”

Direct flights from Belfast City to East Midlands and Leeds Bradford not only facilitate a convenient commute for business travellers but also offer choice to university students, sports fans and adventure seekers throughout Northern Ireland.

Ciaran Doherty, Stakeholder Liaison Manager at Tourism Ireland, commented: “In what has been a truly awful year for travel and tourism, today’s launch is some good news for overseas

Ellie McGimpsey, Aviation Development Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport, joined

by Ciaran Doherty,Stakeholder Liaison Manager at Tourism Ireland, to launch inaugural Aer Lingus Regional flights from Belfast City to East Midlands and Leeds Bradford.

tourism to Northern Ireland. As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – and the restoration of air connectivity is essential in restoring growth in overseas tourism.

“Tourism Ireland is committed to working with Belfast City Airport, Aer Lingus Regional and our other key partners, through co-operative marketing, to drive demand for flights to Northern Ireland.”

Passengers who choose to fly from Belfast City Airport with Aer Lingus Regional will not only benefit from award winning service and convenient flight times, but can also avail of the Aer Lingus’ loyalty programme, AerClub, where Avios reward points can be collected and redeemed against future Aer Lingus flights, purchases or products.

Stobart Air, following guidance from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and

the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has implemented a number of enhanced health and safety measures to protect staff, crew and passengers.

These include enhanced aircraft cleaning, mandatory face coverings/ masks on all flights with the exception of children under the age of six and those who are unable to wear a face mask for medical reasons as well as boarding and disembarking in small groups.

Enhanced sanitisation and social distancing are also in place at Belfast City Airport where face coverings/ masks are also mandatory. Guidance for passengers can be viewed at www.belfastcityairport.com For more information and to book flights from Belfast City Airport to Birmingham, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Exeter, Leeds Bradford, London Heathrow or Manchester, visit www.aerlingus.com

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Eye on News

£2 Million Investment Creates 30 Jobs At Bangor Dementia Home

A £2 million private investment by Dunluce Healthcare in Bangor has created 30 jobs with the opening this week of a dementia wing at its Oakmont Lodge nursing and residential home.

D

esigned specially around residents’ needs, the new 24-bed dementia wing will provide the highest quality of residential and nursing care, housed in the most modern of surroundings. It now brings the total number of beds at Oakmont Lodge to 80.

Situated in Bangor West, the new development also includes a large sensory garden which has

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Dunluce Healthcare Asset Manager Dianne Hunter and Chief Executive Ryan Smith join Oakmont Lodge residents Dean JC Combe and Ann McKillen at the opening of a new 24-bed residential and nursing dementia wing

been designed specifically for those living with dementia, with leading pathways, ambient lighting, and fragrant flowers and shrubs.

Ryan Smith, Chief Executive of Dunluce Healthcare said: “When we began planning our new dementia wing, we looked at current best practice, and to the future, in order to develop a centre of excellence.

“The feedback from interested families and our nursing and auxiliary teams has been fantastic and we believe we have created a centre, offering the highest quality of care in an environment that all residents can regard as their home.”

Each of the new 24-bedrooms has been beautifully designed and furnished, with large lounges and dining rooms overlooking the gardens.

Annette Martin, Residential Manager at Oakmont Lodge said: “Choosing the right care home is one of the most important decisions you can make for yourself or for your loved one.

“While staying at Oakmont Lodge, we place you and your family at the heart of everything that we do. We understand that the requirements of our residents are unique, and we focus on identifying their individual needs, and then ensuring they have the right nursing and care teams.

“From delicious and well-balanced meals prepared by our executive chefs, to fun and therapeutic activities, we ensure that residents are central to everything we do at Oakmont Lodge.”

Eye on Legal 500

LEGAL 500... The Leading Individuals

Northern Ireland’s Law Firms Adding Value To Business Clients Northern Ireland’s legal sector, or the key part of it serving business in the region, continues to play a crucial role, nominally as key advisers to business decision-makers but in reality much more than that.

I

f Northern Ireland itself is a place apart, then its legal sector also has to be that little bit different, populated by lawyers who are well aware of the region’s unique geographical and political position.

Add to that the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that almost every law firm is now working, at least in

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large part, remotely...and there are plenty of challenges out there.

That’s before we even start considering the post-pandemic economic landscape and the many legal challenges that will bring.

The authors of the annual Legal 500, considered by many to be the authoritative guide to the top law

firms and individual lawyers across each UK region, talk each year about

in law on the island of Ireland.

It all adds up to a fascinating mix,

Northern Ireland’s combination of cost competitiveness and legal excellence.

That’s what has attracted a very different legal sector to our shores, the Belfast offices of big multinational law firms like Herbert Smith Freehills, Allen & Overy, Axiom Law and Baker McKenzie. And it’s also drawn legal investors to the region, with big UK firms snapping up local law firms.

But Northern Ireland has long had a really strong indigenous legal sector, populated by firms with a long and distinguished history of serving clients in the region, as well as by some of the bigger names

but, a bit like Premier League football, the big names, the key players, the league leaders in Northern Ireland business and corporate law don’t tend to change to much, at least not on a year to year basis.

The listings below show a top cohort of half a dozen or so big firms whose names crop up with regularity right across the key areas of practice, and an expanded group of 10-12 firms who effectively dominate the marketplace.

Here are the key lawyers and the key firms for 2020:-

Employment

Commercial Property

Corporate and M&A

HALL OF FAME

HALL OF FAME

HALL OF FAME

Anna Beggan, Tughans

Phyllis Agnew, Tughans

Richard Gray, Carson McDowell

Adam Brett, Jones Cassidy Brett

Kathryn Collie, Clever Fulton Rankin

Kevin McVeigh, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Beverly Jones, Jones Cassidy Brett

John Mills, Tughans

Alan Taylor, Arthur Cox

Orlagh O’Neill, Carson McDowell

Tracey Schofield, A&L Goodbody

John-George Willis, Tughans

Adrienne Brock, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Mark Tinman, DWF

James Donnelly, Tughans

Fiona Cassidy, Jones Cassidy Brett

Rowan White, Arthur Cox

Hilary Griffith, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Julie Anne Clarke, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Rosemary Carson, Carson McDowell

Chris Guy, Mills Selig

Rosemary Connolly,

Emma Cooper, Carson McDowell

Alastair Keith, A&L Goodbody

Rosemary Connolly Solicitors

Jim Houston, Keystone Law

Lynsey Mallon, Arthur Cox

Jan Cunningham, Millar McCall Wylie

David Jones, Tughans

Paul McBride, Arthur Cox

Ciara Fulton, Jones Cassidy Brett

Joe Marley, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Damian McParland, Millar McCall Wylie

Paul Gillen, Pinsent Masons

Peter McCall, Millar McCall Wylie

Neasa Quigley, Carson McDowell

Rosemary Lundy, Arthur Cox

Dawson McConkey, Carson McDowell

Peter Stafford, A&L Goodbody

Rachel Penny, Carson McDowell

Andrea McIlroy-Rose, Pinsent Masons

Mark Thompson, A&L Goodbody

Gareth Walls, A&L Goodbody

Anne Skeggs, Mills Selig

Eye on Legal 500

LEGAL 500... The Leading Individuals Construction

Banking and Finance

Personal Injury & Clinical

HALL OF FAME

HALL OF FAME

Negligence: Defendant

Brendan Fox, A&L Goodbody

Stephen Cross, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

HALL OF FAME

Michael McCord, Tughans

Avril McCammon, McKees

Amanda Wylie, Kennedys

Andrea McIlroy-Rose, Pinsent Masons

Kieran McGarrigle, McGarrigle Legal

Andrew Anthony, Tughans

Adrian Kerr, Mills Selig

Sinead McGrath, Carson McDowell

Peter Campbell, BLM

Tim Kinney, Tughans

Kevin McVeigh, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Kenneth Chambers, Johnsons

Stuart Murphy, Carson McDowell

Fearghal O’Loan, Tughans

David Craig, Johnstons

Louse Bailey, A&L Goodbody

Lester Doake, DAC Beachcroft

Dispute Resolution

Judith Brown, A&L Goodbody

Claire Harmer, Carson McDowell

HALL OF FAME

Stuart Mansfield, Arthur Cox

Sean McGahan, DAC Beachcroft

Brendan Fox, A&L Goodbody

Ciaran McAlinney, A&L Goodbody

Kathy McGillie, Tughans Roger McMillan, Carson McDowell

Catriona Gibson, Arthur Cox

Alastair Wilson, Tughans

David Kirkpatrick, Pinsent Masons

Insolvency and Corporate Recovery

Declan Magee, Carson McDowell

HALL OF FAME

Michael McCord, Tughans

John Gordon, Napier & Sons

Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate

Patrick Brown, Tughans

John Kearns, Mills Selig

HALL OF FAME

Patrick Fleming, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Kieran McGarrigle, McGarrigle Legal

Neil Bleakley - Carson McDowell

Emma Hunt, Mills Selig

Michael Neill, A&L Goodbody

Jonathan Forrest, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Katherine Kimber, TLT

Jeanette Donohue, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Michael Graham, Cleacwe Fulton Rankin

Marie-Louise Lowry, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Toby McMurray, Tughans

Stewart Nash, Elliott Duffy Garrett

Chris Ritchie, Arthur Cox

Brigid Napier, Napier & Sons Planning and Environment

Paul Tweed, Gateley Tweed Personal Injury & Clinicial

HALL OF FAME

Energy, Project Finance & PFI

Negligence: Claimant

Karen Blair, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

HALL OF FAME

Oonagh McClure, Thompsons

Gary McGhee, Carson McDowell

Stephen Cross, Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Nikki McConnell, Worthingtons

Maria O’Loan, Tughans

Adrian Eakin, Pinsent Masons

Andrew Ryan, TLT

Ciaran McAlinney, A&L Goodbody Richard Murphy, Pinsent Masons Neasa Quigley, Carson McDowell Andrew Ryan, TLT Mark Thompson, A&L Goodbody

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Eye on Legal 500

LEGAL 500... LEADING LAW FIRMS *Firms are listed A-Z within tiers

Commercial Property BAND 1

A&L Goodbody

A&L Goodbody

BAND 1

Arthur Cox

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Carson McDowell

Carson McDowell

Pinsent Masons

Tughans

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

BAND 2

Arthur Cox

Millar McCall Wylie

Eversheds Sutherland

Mills Selig

Millar McCall Wylie

Pinsent Masons BAND 3

Elliott Duffy Garrett

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Pinsent Masons Tughans BAND 2

Davidson McDonnell

Elliott Duffy Garrett

DWF

Keystone Law

Elliott Duffy Garrett

TLT

Millar McCall Wylie Mills Selig

Davidson McDonnell

TLT BAND 3

Eversheds Sutherland McKees

Keystone Law

Napier & Sons

Shoosmiths

Banking & Finance

TLT

BAND 1

Worthingtons

Worthingtons

A&L Goodbody Arthur Cox

Construction

Carson McDowell

BAND 1

Tughans BAND 2

BAND 3

A&L Goodbody Carson McDowell Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Tughans

Millar McCall Wylie TLT

BAND 2

Arthur Cox

Elliott Duffy Garrett

BAND 3

Mills Selig

McKees Mills Selig Pinsent Masons

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A&L Goodbody

Arthur Cox

Mills Selig BAND 3

BAND 1

Dispute Resolution

Carson McDowell

Tughans BAND 2

Corporate And M&A

Pinsent Masons

Eye on Legal 500

LEGAL 500... LEADING LAW FIRMS *Firms are listed A-Z within tiers

Energy, Project Finance & PFI BAND 1

A&L Goodbody Arthur Cox

Insolvency & Corporate Recovery BAND 1

A&L Goodbody

BAND 1

Carson McDowell

BAND 2

Arthur Cox

BAND 2

A&L Goodbody

Carson McDowell Pinsent Masons BAND 2

Cleaver Fulton Rankin TLT

BAND 3

Planning & Environment

BAND 3

Carson McDowell

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

TLT

Tughans

Tughans

Elliott Duffy Garrett

Millar McCall Wylie

Mills Selig

Tughans

Napier & Sons

Personal Tax, Trusts & Probate BAND 1

Cleaver Fulton Rankin

TLT

Elliott Duffy Garrett Millar McCall Wylie

Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Defendant BAND 1

BLM Carson McDowell

Carson McDowell

BAND 2

Arthur Cox Elliott Duffy Garrett Mills Selig

Tughans BAND 2

Arthur Cox McKees

BAND 3

Cleaver Fulton Rankin Johnsons Lacey Solicitors Napier & Sons

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Eye on Legal 500

Weathering The Storm: The ALG Way

PHOTOGRAPHED JANUARY 2020 The Partner team at A&L Goodbody Belfast. (Front row L-R) Peter Stafford, Tracey Schofield, Gareth Walls, Barbara Creed.

(Back row L-R) Sam Corbett, Ciaran McAlinney, Micaela Diver, Mark Stockdale, Mark Thompson, Alastair Keith, Michael Neill, Judith Brown, Brendan Fox, Louise Bailey, David Rowan.

A&L Goodbody (ALG) once again ranks number one across all four principal areas of corporate law in this year’s Legal 500. It’s a trend which has continued for over a decade since the opening of its Belfast office in 2007 and aligns with the firm’s commitment to delivering excellence across the areas most important to its clients.

M

ichael Neill, Head of Office at ALG in Belfast, explained: “Our strategy is focused firmly on quality rather than quantity – that is, we’re putting our efforts into delivering a high-quality service across those practices we determine as being of strategic importance to us and our clients, both locally and internationally,” he said.

“In addition to maintaining our top ranking in the four core practices – Corporate, Banking and Finance, Litigation and Commercial Property – it is pleasing to be ranked in Tier One in those areas most crucial to

30

support Northern Ireland plc through the repercussions of COVID-19 and Brexit – Employment, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, Public and Regulatory, and Construction.”

With the firm’s team of 120 lawyers and business support professionals in Belfast effectively blending working from home and in its city centre office, Michael says COVID-19 has reaffirmed ALG’s ability to support clients through even the most challenging of times.

“I think our clients were surprised at just how seamlessly we were able to operate as a firm during the lockdown period – owing

principally to our continued investment in people, processes and technology in recent years.

“A culture of flexible working has been embedded in the firm for quite some time already,” he continued.

“We incepted the IT systems and infrastructure to enable remote working two years ago, meaning that our people were already well used to this more agile way of working. This ensured that our clients experienced no interruption whatsoever to the high-quality service they have come to expect from ALG.” Michael explained that ALG’s client base has also continued to reap the rewards of a number of innovative collaborations with other international law firms across the UK throughout the Coronavirus crisis.

“Our ability to work ‘as one’ with other international law firms – both in terms of shared client projects and firm-to-firm secondments – really sets us apart and continues to add significant

value to clients with complex needs and a footprint in multiple jurisdictions in particular,” he said.

Despite the dual threat of COVID19 and Brexit, Michael is confident that ALG will continue to enhance its market-leading reputation.

“ALG in Belfast grew rapidly throughout the last recession. We quadrupled our headcount and focused on building out a unique blend of specialist expertise in order to respond to the needs of market at that time. In that sense, one of our key strengths lies in having the experience and skills required to properly service clients facing into a challenging market”.

For more information about A&L Goodbody, visit www.algoodbody. com/belfast. To contact Michael Neill, please call 028 9031 4466 or email mneill@algoobody.com

Weathering the storm: The ALG way ALG proudly supporting NI businesses through unprecedented times To find out how we can assist your business, please contact: Michael Neill Head of Belfast Office +44 28 9072 7433 mneill@algoodbody.com

Top Tier 2020

DUBLIN / BELFAST / LONDON / NEW YORK / SAN FRANCISCO / PALO ALTO

www.algoodbody.com

Law Firm of the Year 2020 Legal 500

tughans.com solicitors since 1896

Trusted for our business acumen and relied upon for market insight by our clients.

We offer clear, strategic legal advice and guidance with a business partnership approach.

For further information or to get in touch, visit www.tughans.com

Ranked No1 Experian Deal and Advisor League Table 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019 Northern Ireland M&A and Real Estate Activity

Winner Law Firm of the Year 2020 Northern Ireland The Legal 500

Winner Insider Media Dealmaker of the Year 2020 Northern Ireland Dealmakers Awards

Eye on Law

Leadership appointments at BLM set to steer momentum and future growth

With consistent growth and expansion of service provision at law firm BLM, new appointments, notably in senior positions are set to position the insurance and risk experts as market leaders in Northern Ireland for 2021 and beyond.

John Guerin, Head of Office for BLM NI

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Eye on Law

I

n a significant boost, former Law Society President John Guerin has been appointed to lead BLM’s Belfast and Derry offices as part of a wider leadership restructure in Ireland and Northern Ireland with high profile legal expert, Cormac Fitzpatrick promoted to BLM’s strategy setting Executive Board.

Cormac also has overall leadership of the firm’s Irish offices working closely with the Operations Board, Managing Partner, Vivienne Williams and Senior Partner, Matthew Harrington. The new leadership team follows the appointment in April of Partners Sinead Connolly and Olivia Treston as Joint Heads of Office for Dublin.

BLM has seen significant business growth in its Northern Ireland office since a merger with Campbell Fitzpatrick Solicitors in 2014. The firm has continued this momentum throughout 2020, with more than 110 people now employed in total across Ireland and Northern Ireland. The firm has plans to increase headcount further with a recruitment drive to strengthen its offering.

The firm, which specialises in insurance risk and commercial law has seen specific growth in areas including; health and safety, regulatory, fraud prevention and large loss and complex litigation.

John’s vision: John Guerin, Head of Office for BLM NI commented on his appointment and the new leadership team: “Our clients’ needs are complex and have been compounded by the evolving environment in which we are all operating. I am honoured to be leading such a dedicated team that have our clients’ full confidence. The promotions announced today speak to the depth of talent within our team and the growth opportunities in the service areas in which we excel.”

Digitisation: Across the island of Ireland and in the UK, BLM is also advancing its digital transformation strategy (a key element of BLM’s long-term

“Having on the ground, dedicated experts with local knowledge is essential as we support our clients across Northern Ireland. We manage cases in the Courts in the West and Northwest of NI as well as Donegal Sligo Cavan and Monaghan.”

strategic aims) with an accelerated move towards becoming paperless within its Belfast and Derry Offices. This strategy, which has been expedited in recent months by COVID-19, has augmented BLM’s journey towards more agile and virtual ways of working whilst at the same time retaining local links across the areas in which it operates.

Future proofing and talent sourcing: In addition to leadership appointments, BLM has appointed two newly qualified solicitors this month, with further promotions planned in the near future. Eimear Cathcart, who trained in BLM’s Belfast office and Niamh Fielding who trained in BLM’s Derry office have both accepted offers to join the firm as full time solicitors.

Both Eimear and Niamh will work within the firm’s defence litigation department, specialising in all aspects of defence litigation including motor, employers’ liability, public liability and insurance company recoveries.

Cormac Fitzpatrick added: “As BLM and the wider law and business sectors adapt to the current challenges of the pandemic, our innovations and new leadership team position us strongly to deliver great outcomes for clients in the coming months and years.

“Undoubtedly there have been operational challenges, however, our talented workforce has embraced our digital transformation strategy and we are confident that we will maintain momentum and our exceptional service provision across the island of Ireland in the period ahead.”

BLM is an insurance risk and commercial law firm with both a domestic and international focus, operating in 13 locations across the UK and Ireland.

Fundamentally, BLM helps clients to reduce the time and money spent on managing risk and resolving disputes, whilst offering a practical, commercial and solutions driven approach to non-contentious business law.

The provision of legal services to all of the major insurers trading within NI is complemented by the resource and information sharing across the four jurisdictions of England and Wales, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The growth profile and range of services on offer within BLM NI has underpinned the reputation of the firm as a key player in this area of legal services provision.

We have seen seismic changes in the way we work throughout 2020, with a clear focus on digital first. We will grow our firm by focusing on key business areas which offer growth whilst supporting existing clients across all lines of business. In Northern Ireland this means a particular focus on areas such as large loss, property, catastrophic injury, casualty, occupational disease, professional indemnity, healthcare, commercial dispute resolution and motor claims.

“We have circa 70 experts all dedicated to supporting our clients with bases in Northern Ireland, with a firm focus upon risk and insurance litigation. What’s unique is that, not only do we have the right local and technical know-how to help our clients’ businesses thrive, we’re also backed by circa 800 legal experts spread across 13 locations in the UK & Ireland.”

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Eye on News

Senior Appointments For Arthur Cox Belfast Team Arthur Cox Managing Partner in Northern Ireland Catriona Gibson has described two senior appointments as a “further strengthening” of the firm’s already market leading legal offering.

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ynsey Mallon has been named as the new Head of the Corporate and Commercial team while Stuart Mansfield will lead the Banking and Finance team.

Both among the most respected lawyers in Northern Ireland, their new appointments cement Arthur Cox’s position as one of Northern Ireland’s leading corporate law firms.

Welcoming the promotions, Arthur Cox Managing Partner Catriona Gibson said: “It is a great pleasure to announce the appointments of Stuart and Lynsey as the new heads of our Corporate and Finance teams in Belfast.

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“Both already long standing and esteemed members of our Partner team, their new roles reflect their exceptionally high standards of professionalism that has seen each of them attract a reputation as being among the leading experts in their chosen legal specialism.

“In Stuart and Lynsey, we are privileged to work with legal minds that are both pragmatic and innovative. Each of them brings to their role an exceptional record of leadership within the firm, further strengthening our senior team.”

With extensive experience advising global organisations on domestic and crossborder transactions, Lynsey

(L-R) Lynsey Mallon, Alan Taylor (Chair), Catriona Gibson (Managing Partner) and Stuart Mansfield.

is among the most respected Corporate and Commercial lawyers in Northern Ireland.

Regularly acting on behalf of clients in some of the most highprofile mergers and acquisitions, Lynsey provides expert advice on a wide range of matters including investments, and corporate reorganisations and restructuring.

Providing counsel to financial institutions and corporate borrowers in Northern Ireland and beyond, Stuart advises on often complex transactions, including secured lending and refinancing.

His experience in structured finance transactions, such as loan mortgage portfolio acquisitions and disposals, securitisations and bond issuances, ensure Stuart is one of the most sought-after financial lawyers operating locally.

Arthur Cox Chair in Northern Ireland Alan Taylor said: “The appointments of Lynsey and

Stuart cement our reputation as providing market leading advice on corporate and financial legal matters.

“As a group, our senior Partners represent an exceptionally talented team of professionals each of them working to deliver real value on a diverse range of legal issues for our broad client base.”

Geoff Moore, Managing Partner at Arthur Cox in Dublin added: “The promotions at Arthur Cox in Belfast illustrate the tremendous depth of the team of Partners that we have in Belfast. It is pleasing to see the continued growth of the Belfast office, firmly recognised as the natural adviser to leading organisations across the region.”

In addition to Belfast and Dublin, Arthur Cox has offices in London, New York, and San Francisco.

Specialist legal expertise.

Unbounded potential.

CLEAN ENERGY DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES LEISURE PUBLIC SECTOR REAL ESTATE RETAIL Navigating complexity and uncertainty demands not only leading-edge legal advice but also in-depth sector expertise and fresh thinking. At TLT, we’ve always focused on how we deliver the best solutions for our clients.

We’re committed to using our market-leading expertise and strategic approach to support continued growth and investment in Northern Ireland’s business community.

When it comes to solving problems, we focus on possibilities rather than constraints. We’re ambitious, responsive and pragmatic, so whatever your challenge, we believe the power of new ideas will help pave the way for future success.

For more information visit our website: tltsolicitors.com

Belfast | Bristol | Edinburgh | Glasgow | London | Manchester

Eye on Family Business Forum

NI’s Family Businesses Weathering The Pandemic

Just over a year ago, Northern Ireland’s Family Business Forum held a breakfast event at Corr’s Corner Hotel in Glengormley showcasing the story of one local family business, the McKeever Hotel Group.

Business Eye’s Richard Buckley, who interviewed Eugene & Catherine McKeever at the event, returned exactly one year on to another McKeever property, the Dunadry Hotel & Gardens, to talk to Darren McDowell and Ian Smyth of the Family Business Forum.

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he contrast between Corr’s Corner in late September 2019 and Dunadry in late September 2020 could hardly be more stark. Last year, the function room at Corr’s Corner was well filled by more than 120 business people enjoying a hearty breakfast and listening to Eugene & Catherine McKeever’s business story.

This year, it was four of us in a room built for a couple of hundred.

Oddly, though, that’s something we’re well used to six months on from the announcement of lockdown for the UK. We’re in the elegant surroundings of the Dunadry to talk about a comprehensive new survey which

shows that Northern Ireland’s family businesses are weathering the worst of the pandemic.

The study, carried out on behalf of the NI Family Business Forum

by Ulster University in association with Dublin City University and the University of Central Florida, was timed to coincide with Family Business Day in late September.

It shows that nine out of 10 family businesses here are worried about loss of revenue over the next six months. Six out of 10 firms say that insufficient cash flow is their prime concern, whilst around the same number cite the negative impact on the local economy.

But local family businesses

are less concerned about losing key employees (23%) or loss of business reputation (12%).

And, despite the economic challenges that lie ahead, 77% of respondents aren’t concerned about the possibility of losing their businesses.

Interestingly, in terms of interfamily relationships, a convincing 7 out of ten aren’t worried about the potential for family conflict, indicating that senior teams are pulling together as local companies face the most challenging business climate in living memory.

“It’s a multi-level and multifaceted survey that gives us a real insight into how the family

Eye on Family Business Forum

business community here is working its way through this crisis,” says Ian Smyth, co-chair of the NI Family Business Forum and a lecturer at Ulster University.

“It is a unique study for a number of reasons. The international collaboration between three universities adds a significant layer and we have effectively produced two different surveys, one focusing on the views of employers and business owners, the other seeking the views of employees in family businesses.”

The results of the employee survey will be announced at a later date.

“The family business community is a very resilient bunch of people,`” adds Darren McDowell, Senior Partner at Harbinson Mulholland, the founders of the

Forum. “Our mission as a Forum is to help them to navigate the current environment by offering as much practical help and guidance as we possibly can.

“The survey shows that there is a lot of concern out there over what the coming months will hold, but it also shows the resilience of this sector, how management teams have pulled together, and how there is still confidence and optimism out there, despite the depth of the crisis that we’re all facing.

“There’s no doubt that firms with a strong family ethos are better placed to face up to crisis situations like this one. It’s also important that a lot of these businesses are firmly rooted in their communities. For me, that’s one of the key finding of this survey.”

Ian Smyth agrees that resilience is more evident among family firms. “We’ve come through a lot over the years here in Northern Ireland and a lot of our firms were already squaring up to the Brexit challenge before Covid came along.

“So I think that it’s evident there

is a level of confidence that firms can get through this without losing many staff and without being forced out of business.

Entrepreneurs, by their nature, tend to be optimistic and that shines through in this study.”

The NI Family Business Survival Survey is complemented by the launch of a brand new membersonly digital platform that aims to bring together Northern Ireland’s family business community at a time when continuing to connect is increasingly important.

“Our events programme, an important part of what we do, has had to go on hold,” says Treena Clarke, Harbinson Mulholland. “So we’ve come up with an online platform that will make sure that our members have the opportunity to continue to network with each other, share experiences and offer mutual support in an exclusive and private online space.

“We’re also keen to encourage local family businesses to work with each other, sell to each other, buy from each other and, most importantly, communicate during the crisis and beyond.”

Harbinson Mulholland, in common with most other firms, has had to face up to plenty of challenges of its own since March, not least the challenge of transferring a 50-strong staff to home working.

“But what was most important for us and remains most important for us is to be make sure that we’re available to help and advise our clients as they adapt to circumstances which are changing and developing all the time,” adds Darren McDowell.

For further information on the new Family Business Forum platform, contact Treena Clarke – tclarke@ harbinson-mulholland.com

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Eye on Motoring

Independent audit describes CRASH Services as ‘best in class’ CRASH Services, Northern Ireland’s leading accident management company, have spoken of their delight after an independent external audit of their vehicle repair and hire management practices described the Belfast, Newry and Derry/Londonderry based company as ‘best in class’.

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ndependent auditors from Fusion Management Support Limited carried out the review of the claims handling processes, focusing on the company’s hire and repair services.

The onsite section of the examination was carried out over three days in July with two additional days of desk analysis in August 2020.

Fusion Management Support Limited has been providing industry-specific auditing for the last decade and has experience of dozens of companies competing with CRASH. Highlights of the report include the auditor describing CRASH as “without doubt, one of the most efficient credit hire and repair service providers we have encountered.”

CRASH Services can take away all the hassle from the claims process and provide a ‘best in class’ service which; arranges vehicle recovery, collision investigation, organises repairs, provides a replacement vehicle, liaises with insurance companies and offers legal and medical assistance.

The independent consultant also found that CRASH Services’ average hire duration period in repair cases was an impressive 43% shorter than those assessed in other similar businesses.

The report will also be welcomed by insurance brokers and car repairers who appoint or recommend CRASH Services to handle their customer’s motor insurance claims.

CRASH Services has a partner network throughout NI, and Claims Manager Lisa Gribben spoke of the importance of these critical relationships to the company’s success.

Lisa commented, “The faith of those companies such as car repairing garages and insurance brokers, as well as our past customers who proactively recommend our services has been shown to be well placed by an assessment that damaged vehicles are repaired and returned back on the road over

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40% quicker with CRASH than if the person had gone to another claims handling provider.”

Speaking about the efficiency of the CRASH Services claims process, the auditor noted: “a very high level of energy by the claims handlers and other actors when seeking to progress claims.”

This was, according to the auditor, “unquestionably higher than has been witnessed in other organisations.”

The independent report added, “Rarely has the consultant observed such a comprehensive control of the claims processes supported by an unerring commitment towards efficiency through procedures, systems, documentation and staff development, all embraced within an inclusive working culture.”

Summarising his findings, the auditor stated unequivocally, “It is the Consultant’s opinion that the Client [CRASH Services] provides a ‘best in class’ credit hire and repair claims solution.”

A delighted Jonathan McKeown, Chief Executive Officer at CRASH, described the results as “fantastic”.

Paying tribute to his team, Jonathan commented, “It really is a testament to the hard work of all of our people, who go above and beyond every single day to help our customers.

In nearly twenty-five years, CRASH Services has continued to grow, dealing with tens of thousands of accident victims in their time of need,” he continued.

“This is made possible by our vast network of partners; repairers, insurance brokers and legal advisors and the motor engineer assessors they work with, who together help CRASH Services be a one-stop-shop for collision victims.

As we grow, we’re also keen to forge new relationships, and we would encourage anyone in the industry who wants to, to get in touch to see how we can improve outcomes for your customers.” he added.

Michelle McGahan, Quality and Compliance Manager at CRASH Services commented, “We’re committed to following robust claims processes that promote claims management efficiency.

Ultimately, this is to ensure our customers and partner network get the best possible outcome after being involved in an incident.

And we are ecstatic that we now have an impartial affirmation of all the great work that we do.” she concluded.

Paul Cooney, Fleet & Repair Director at CRASH Services, spoke of his pride at the findings of the audit.

“We’re so proud of the team who have worked tirelessly to ensure repairs are carried out as promptly as possible.

Being described as ‘best in class’ is a real boost; we knew our service was one of a kind but reading the auditor’s report really confirms it.”

Paul continued, “As the auditor noted, we only enlist the help of repairers that we’re familiar with, so we know that work is always carried out to the highest of standards.

This provides peace of mind to drivers as well as to our partners, who know that when CRASH Services is involved, work is always carried out not just to the highest quality but also in the quickest time.

Whether you or one of your customers has been involved in a collision, by appointing CRASH Services you’ll reap the rewards of our vast experience and ultimately take the stress out of the process for all involved.” he added.

For more information, visit: http://www.crashservices.com

Eye onRegional Economic Focus

Eye on Business Recovery

Derry and Strabane launches dedicated Covid recovery drive

This time last year local Councils were on the countdown to Halloween and planning a packed programme of events leading in to Christmas, with Christmas switch ons galore, Christmas markets and plenty of opportunities for businesses and traders to piggy back on civic events.

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020 has undoubtedly been a challenging year for local businesses left to deal with the unprecedented scenario of a lockdown on regular retail and trade conditions that turned city centres into virtual ghost towns over the busy tourist season.

Like other local government organisations, Derry City and Strabane District Council is now facing the uphill struggle of restoring public confidence, supporting businesses as they rebuild trade and encouraging customers to shop local at a time when once again we are being asked to curtail our movements in response

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to Covid-19. While safety is paramount, economic recovery is also vital to sustain both employers and their staff through the difficult months to come.

With that in mind the Council has been busy working with local businesses to help them adapt and diversify to meet the safety expectations of customers, as well as creating a welcoming environment that will reassure local people that their concerns are being adequately addressed.

Much work has gone into liaising with statutory and business stakeholders to identify new ways to

breathe life back into town and city centres in Derry and Strabane. The result is a range of measures tailored to meet both the necessary safety requirements and also provide the information and tools for local businesses to protect their staff and customers.

As restrictions began to ease in July, Derry City and Strabane District Council applied to the Department for Communities for grant support under its COVID-19 Recovery Revitalisation Programme. The initial application sought to support local businesses by delivering a number of interventions in Council’s two main urban centres (Derry City & Strabane Town) as well as its expansive rural district, to help address the many challenges and negative impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Business Support, Physical Infrastructure and Marketing were identified as the key themes to be progressed through the Recovery Revitalisation Programme. Early priorities were the introduction of a number of physical streetscape and public realm enhancement measures, and also providing direct financial grant support for eligible businesses, equipping them with the necessary tools to conduct business in the new COVID-19 trading environment.

As well as the £350,000 of support from the Department for Communities, DCSDC has benefitted from additional funding contributions from both DAERA and DfI to the sum of £148k and £373k respectively, increasing its capacity to address need across a broader spectrum.

This has already enabled the launch of the Council’s COVID-19 Recovery and Revitalisation Grant Scheme, confirmed the schedule of interventions for the physical infrastructural improvements identified including urban design concepts, and initiated a supporting marketing campaign and animation activities. All of these plans remain fluid and subject to change in keeping with the government guidance but they are the first steps towards reimagining a new post pandemic economy.

Stephen Gillespie is the Council’s Director of Business and Culture, two areas which have been hard hit during the pandemic. He and his team have had little downtime since March as demands for support and advice have flooded in, and they have had to come up with some new and creative ways to help individuals from both sectors adapt to ever changing demands, as he explains.

“Since the lockdown we’ve faced many challenges in adapting our own ways of working and offering support to ensure they are meeting the urgent needs of businesses and cultural organisations facing the very real possibility of closure. Obviously there are limitations on our own resources so the funding support from government has enabled us to be more proactive in our approach and to activate this vital programme of intervention quickly on the ground.

“The overall objectives of the campaign are to help footfall levels return to 70% of what would be expected

Eye on Business Recovery

Performers and artists pictured at the first instalment of the ‘Inside Out’ programme on the streets of Derry and Strabane. This new programme has been designed to help breathe life back into the streets and support local hospitality businesses in a safe but engaging way.

prior to this public health crisis and to assist business sales figures in returning to at least 70% of expected levels.

“One of the first measures introduced was a Business Grant Scheme to assist in covering a variety of costs associated with the practicalities of reopening in a very different post-Covid working environment.

Grants ranged from £500 - £3,000 and were open to businesses within both the urban and rural area.

The funds could be used to help equip businesses with things like awnings, seating and heating to facilitate outdoor opening, as well as deliver health and safety training for staff returning to work.

“In addition to this support, Council has channelled its own direct investment into a vibrant animation programme designed to support the above measures through a programme of on-street activities. Inside Out

aims to encourage increased footfall back onto our streets in a safe but engaging way running from September through to December, subject to the latest guidance from government. The programme successfully kicked off in September on Culture Night and will return for Halloween, the Christmas switch on and in the run up to Christmas.

“A COVID 19 public information campaign will be initiated to include promotion of local commercial areas, make the public aware of the new physical interventions in place and enable people to make informed travel choices on how best to visit commercial areas.”

Infrastructure was also identified as a priority as growing numbers of people took to the outdoors, with increasing volumes of walkers, runners and cyclists seeking solace in outdoor exercise during lockdown.

A range of interventions to help with

Castle Street, Strabane - An urban design vision illustrating proposals to create an attractive and pedestrian friendly streetscape, through environmental improvements, new outdoor cafe/dining opportunities and animation. (image courtesy of OGU Architects & MMAS)

challenges such as ‘pinch points’ on walkways, pedestrian and vehicular conflicts and limited trading space had to be initialised quickly.

Karen Philips is Director of Environment and Regeneration with Derry City and Strabane District Council, the department tasked with redesigning urban spaces and thoroughfares to reflect the growing focus on socially distanced, outdoor living. “A range of needs soon became apparent as the pandemic pushed more and more people and businesses to the safety of the outdoors,” she explains.

“Businesses were telling us their customers needed more space, more outdoor seating, better public realm design, temporary closure of streets, enhanced city dressing and other improvements which would make it better for both the public and business owners.

“Cleansing was also a major concern, and throughout the pandemic despite pressures on resources, we have maintained a high standard of services and introduced specialist cleansing equipment to ensure our streets have remained clean and people feel safe when out and about.

“I have to acknowledge the contribution of all Council’s stakeholders who have engaged with us from the outset through the two groups established in Derry and Strabane in mitigating against the worst impacts of Covid-19 and promoting and supporting the Recovery Action Plan.

“Obviously this is a fast changing landscape, and we’ve had to learn to adapt our approaches, which we will continue to do as long as we have the capacity to do so,” Karen stresses.

“The thing to remember is that we are all in this together and we should continue to support local businesses in a safe and responsible way - we can all do our bit help sustain our economy through the challenging times ahead.”

For more information on the Recovery Plan visit www.derrystrabane.com/recovery

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Eye on Recovery

Belfast:

Our Recovery

Belfast City Council has set out an extensive plan detailing its targeted support for communities, businesses and vulnerable people.

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he plan, themed around our city, our services, our communities, our environment and our digital innovation, ‘Belfast: Our Recovery’ maps out a wide range of considered, practical programmes to boost the city’s recovery and resilience Chair of Belfast City Council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee Councillor Christina Black commented: “As civic leaders, we’re bringing together our resources to work with the NI Executive, its departments, key city partners and communities so that we can keep citizens safe, whilst continuing to safely deliver high quality essential services for our residents during this pandemic.

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“At the same time, we’re working to build business resilience, community capacity and digital innovation. We’re investing in jobs-led growth of our key sectors, concentrating on developing people’s skills, regenerating and animating our city centre and building connectivity between it and our arterial routes; and we’re harnessing the opportunity to accelerate our path to a zero carbon future. “The last six months have demonstrated once again just how resilient Belfast’s people are – and how much we can achieve if we all pull together. We’re focused on getting our great city back on the road to recovery – on protecting our communities, improving their

quality of life - and realising our ambitions for Belfast’s inclusive growth and prosperity.�

The frameworks centres on partnership with communities and public and private sector stakeholders to deliver a series of medium and longerterm interventions which will lay the foundations for Belfast’s sustained recovery.

Actions include: t 8PSLJOH XJUI UIF %FQBSUNFOU for Communities, Department for Infrastructure and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to implement a ÂŁ3m Revitalisation Fund to assist

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the city’s recovery efforts and support the planning and safe reopening of the city and key arterial routes. %FMJWFSJOH UIF b N 'PSUI Meadow Community Greenway project funded by Peace IV to create new opportunities for people to safely use outdoor space and improve connectivity %FMJWFSJOH B QSPHSBNNF PG weekend cultural and arts animation until January 2021.

"EBQUJOH TFSWJDFT UP NBLF sure they are as safe and accessible as possible. *OWFTUJOH b N JO UIF redevelopment of Avoniel Leisure Centre and ÂŁ17m in the restoration and extension of Templemore Baths.

Eye on Recovery

(L-R) Dr Jayne Brady MBE, Belfast Digital Innovation Commissioner is pictured with Belfast City Council Chief Executive, Suzanne Wylie.

t 8PSLJOH XJUI DFOUSBM HPWFSONFOU and other funding bodies to bring forward further financial support packages for communities and the third sector to help address many of the social challenges that will be amplified as a direct result of the impact of the pandemic. t 8PSLJOH XJUI MPDBM DPNNVOJUJFT and partners to bring forward an ambitious, unique and significant programme of investment in tourism assets, infrastructure or products that will attract additional footfall and expenditures into our neighbourhoods – including plans for a major transformational visitor destination that would serve as a catalyst for the economic, social and cultural regeneration of the city centre. t 8PSLJOH XJUI UIF %FQBSUNFOU for the Economy and other partners to ensure people gain the necessary skills to remain in or enter the local workforce. t #SJOHJOH GPSXBSE B OFX b N neighbourhood regeneration fund to drive recovery and transformation in communities. t 3FWBNQJOH UIF CVTJOFTT TUBSU up offer and supporting social

enterprises and co-operatives t #PPTUJOH LFZ HSPXUI TFDUPST through the £850m Belfast Region City Deal investment. t 3F JNBHJOJOH UIF DJUZ DFOUSF including addressing the need for increased city centre living. t *EFOUJGZJOH JOWFTUNFOU opportunities for the development of clean energy infrastructure and exploring zero-emissions transport infrastructure. t &OIBODJOH EJHJUBM MJUFSBDZ BOE skills development to support people to access employment. t " 3FOFXFE "NCJUJPO programme with private sector partners – Team Belfast. t $SFBUJOH B XPSME DMBTT JOOPWBUJPO district, smart port and smart city core to showcase our global ambition and digital capability to attract investment, talent, businesses, and create new and better jobs.

Digital innovation is becoming an increasingly pivotal area for the city’s recovery, led by Belfast Digital Innovation Commissioner at Belfast City Council, Dr Jayne Brady MBE. Dr Brady is responsible for leading the city’s digital innovation investment to help achieve inclusive

economic growth, in partnership with business, government and education locally, nationally and internationally and brings a strong commercial focus to her role.

Suzanne Wylie, Chief Executive, Belfast City Council, added: “We’ve set out a clear plan for Belfast’s recovery – and we’ll be drawing on Belfast Region City Deal investment, our public land assets and digital innovation amongst other levers to help sustain and create better jobs, provide relevant skills, employment and apprenticeship programmes and support much needed community facilities and local businesses. “Thankfully, Belfast’s rock-solid history of research excellence, grassroots tradition of hard work and entrepreneurship, highly skilled workforce, and our flourishing knowledge economy sector mean we are punching well above our weight at national levels. Our digital innovation sectors have shown remarkable resilience over the last six months – and they have an incredible contribution to make to the economy’s COVID-19 recovery. “We’re making great progress through our Belfast Digital Innovation Partnership, which brings together local government,

our universities, Belfast Harbour and Catalyst to harness digital innovation so that we can massively increase the city and region’s productivity. “We’re focusing on effectively commercialising the outputs of our research base, weaving digital innovation into every aspect of our economy and creating new and better jobs. Recently, fDi Intelligence ranked Belfast as the only UK city aside from Cambridge to make the top 10 ‘Tech cities of the Future’ for 2020. We want to be number one – and with the right level of resources, we can make that happen. “This is a seriously challenging time, but as a city, we’ve proven our resilience time and again – and now, with collaboration stronger than ever before between Belfast’s key institutions, we’ll work together to achieve the very best outcomes for our city and people. Our ambitions for Belfast remain undimmed.�

For more information, go to www.belfastcity.gov.uk and follow @belfastcc on Twitter.

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Eye on Recovery

A Catalyst for Economic Progress in Newry, Mourne and Down How Newry, Mourne & Down District Council’s Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2020 to 2025 paves the way for a prosperous future.

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Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Laura Devlin.

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aking Newry, Mourne and Down a great place to live, study, work, invest in and visit is the focus of a new strategy and action plan for the region soon to be launched.

Newry, Mourne & Down District Council Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2020 to 2025 will create the right conditions for all businesses to flourish by building on the expertise in its most successful sectors and addressing any deficits which are holding back the broader business base, the Council said.

The soon-to-be-released report delivers on the Council’s Corporate Plan by outlining economic priorities and supporting actions to regenerate and revitalise the District, support business growth and boost economic performance.

Its main aims are to increase infrastructure investment to enable future economic

growth of the district, to create opportunities for local people and to help communities thrive by supporting sustainable economic development. It will also strive to support businesses in their response to Brexit and Covid-19, to invest in and support new and growing businesses, to create jobs and further employment skills and to promote the revitalisation of the region’s city, towns, villages and rural communities.

Chairperson of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Councillor Laura Devlin, said the strategy will allow Newry, Mourne and Down to reach its full potential.

“We are hugely proud of how our economy has flourished over the last few years to become a vibrant, innovative and exciting place to start, grow and invest in a business but we know we can achieve even more. Newry, Mourne and Down

District Council Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2020 to 2025 has carried out deep analysis of the local economy to find out where investment can be most effective in addressing any barriers to growth or in boosting already strong sectors.

“This strategy will set out how we, as a Council, can act as a partner to the private sector and create the right conditions for our remarkable businesses to flourish and for Newry, Mourne and Down to cement its place as a major player in the global economy.”

She said the strategy, when launched, will help the region achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth; to address economic inequalities; to create more and better jobs; stimulate productivity through new technologies and innovation; develop our infrastructure and regeneration and to become more internationally competitive.

Eye on Recovery To reach those aims, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council will focus on three strategic priorities:

Supporting Entrepreneurship, Business Growth and Innovation A healthy start-up community is the foundation of every strong economy, so Council will focus on supporting the growth and creation of new business starts by providing the right conditions to encourage entrepreneurship.

It will also support the growth in innovation and digital technologies by enabling access to digital infrastructure and expertise and the creation of a new digital innovation hub. Council will also build its international relationships further to maximise global trade potential while also engaging with the global diaspora to build a network of ambassadors.

Finally, the strategy will focus on strengthening business engagement to ensure Council is providing the right type of support to allow companies to flourish.

Improving employability and skills Addressing the skills gap and anticipating the future skills need is a key priority. Council will undertake a sectoral analysis to inform where gaps exist while also creating a forum for business, education providers and government to deliver on that need. It will also work to attract appropriately skilled labour to the area, while working with partners to deliver both upskilling and reskilling opportunities that are aligned to current and future business need.

Investing in regeneration and modern infrastructure In order to create a truly connected region, Council said it will lead the way in supporting businesses and residents to exploit opportunities arising from digitalisation, while lobbying for ultra modern and futureproofed digital infrastructure.

It will also focus on the regeneration of our city, towns

and villages by implementing priority projects that ensures the District is developed as an attractive and encouraging place to live, visit and invest.

The strategy will also focus on strategic investment proposals to develop a number of key projects including the Southern Relief Road, the regeneration of Newry City Centre, the regeneration of the former PSNI station in Downpatrick, the regeneration of Warrenpoint Baths, delivery of the Belfast Region City Deal, creation of a world class visitor attraction on Slieve Donard, and the roll of fibre infrastructure through the Full Fibre NI partnership.

Launched later this autumn, the Newry, Mourne & Down District Council Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2020 to 2025 will help transform the region’s economy in the years to come, Councillor Devlin said. “We are confident that this strategy and action plan will provide a launch pad for the next stage of growth for the Newry, Mourne and Down economy. While the last few months have been difficult for many businesses, this strategy will not only help in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic but maps a course for economic prosperity across the District in the coming years.�

Newry, Mourne and Down District has an estimated population of 180,012, a coastline of 150 kilometres and encompasses an area of 1,634 square kilometres.

Its economy provides 57,618 employee jobs, 75% of which are in the private sector amongst a total of 8,745 VAT or PAYE registered businesses.

Nearly 50% of the business base is accounted for by the services sector followed by agriculture, construction and production.

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Eye on Recovery

Collaborating for a strong economic future for the Mid South West Region How co-operation between the three councils which make up the Mid South West Region led to the development of a Regional Economic Strategy to supercharge the growth of the region’s economy.

Pictured at the launch of the Mid South West Regional Economic Strategy are, from left: Nigel Manley, Balcas; Cormac Diamond, Bloc Blinds; Damian Heron, Heron Bros; Darragh Cullen, Edge Innovate; Roger Wilson, Chief Executive of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council; Diane Dodds MLA, Minister for the Economy; Alison McCullagh, Chief Executive of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council; Anthony Tohill, Chief Executive of Mid Ulster District Council; Adrian McCoy, Severfield; Brian Irwin, Irwin’s Bakery; Cathal Mallaghan, Chair of the Mid South West Region Governance Steering Group; Liam McCaffrey, Mannok; Kevin Holland, Chief Executive of Invest NI; Ethna McNamee, Regional Manager Invest NI; Councillor Robert Irvine, Vice Chair of the Mid South West Region Governance Steering Group.

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new strategy designed to supercharge the growth of the economy of the Mid South West (MSW) will create the right conditions for companies located in the region to flourish in the coming years.

The Regional Economic Strategy is focused on boosting productivity across the three council areas of

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Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Mid Ulster District Council - which make up the Mid South West Region and will require businesses to play their part in helping to realise its ambitious goals.

The strategy, which was developed following extensive

research and analysis of the region’s economy and was informed by engagement with the region’s major employers, identifies challenges and opportunities and sets out four pillars to guide investment and grow the collective economy.

The pillars are: future proofing the skills base, enabling infrastructure,

boosting innovation and digital capacity and building a high performing tourism economy.

By focusing on those areas, the overriding goals of increasing productivity, driving business growth, fully realising sectoral strengths and opportunities, creating more and better-paid jobs and ensuring the ongoing internationalisation of MSW

Eye on Recovery can be achieved, Councillor Robert Irvine, Chair of the Mid South West Region Governance Steering Group, said.

“Our ambitions for the Mid South West economy are far reaching, but we are confident that with the support of all stakeholders in the region they are wholly achievable. The analysis of the region’s economy was honest both in terms of identifying its strengths but also the areas where support and investment in a range of strategic interventions can have the most impact.

“Through the Regional Economic Strategy, we will

strive to create the conditions that the private sector needs to grow their businesses, employ more skilled staff and become internationally competitive. We are unashamedly ambitious as are our businesses and so by working together we can raise productivity and create a better future for everyone.”

The strategy will enable the Mid South West Region to leverage financial investment from a range of sources – such as the Growth Deal funding announced by the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive, the PEACE PLUS Programme, the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity

Fund, Innovate UK and other central government funding.

Following the recent launch of the strategy by First Minister Arlene Foster MLA and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA at a socially-distanced event held at EDGE Innovate near Dungannon, Minister Dodds MLA, who also attended the launch said its overriding aims are more relevant than ever as the region recovers and rebuilds, adding that the support of the business community has been and will continue to be crucial. “This strategy provides an excellent framework to support the identification of

Growth Deal projects and the councils are to be congratulated for coming together and working constructively” for the betterment of the region.

She said sustained industry engagement will be key to its successful delivery.

The strategy sets out several areas where growth is being impeded and how those impediments can be removed.

Boosting productivity, connectivity and infrastructure, skills and making more of the region’s tourism offering are the focus of the strategy, which is structured around four intervention pillars.

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‘Future Proofing’ the Skills Base

Enabling Infrastructure

Boosting Innovation and Digital Capacity

Building a High-Performing Tourism Economy

Future proofing the skills base is becoming ever more important.

It’s a top priority emerging from MSW’s engagements with business and the strategy aims to ensure that the requisite skills are available in scale and profile to underpin the region’s ambitions and those of its businesses.

Investment in infrastructure is critical. To boost productivity MSW needs to have the strategic road infrastructure that enables businesses to access all areas including ports and distribution points, as well as better broadband and mobile coverage, access to industrial land for development and improved investment in electricity supply.

The future MSW has engaged extensively with businesses and key sectors, with politicians locally, regionally and nationally, with central government, with education and the wider stakeholder community, and this engagement, particularly with businesses will continue.

“We will continue to welcome the input and guidance of our industry/business base,” Councillor Irvine said.

“Their ongoing engagement with this initiative is critical as we move to the next stage of development.”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to supercharge the Mid South West economy

We aim to support businesses to be more productive by helping enhance their capabilities in crucial enabling technologies such as data analytics, robotics, automation, Industry 4.0, machine learning, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, advanced materials and production techniques, and to exploit the growth opportunities these technologies hold for our region.

Finally, the strategy is focused on building a high performing tourism economy which capitalises on the region’s tourism assets including the Fermanagh Lakes, the Sperrins, Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark, MSW’s literary heritage as well as the cultural significance of Ireland’s oldest city Armagh to name a few.

and cement the Region’s position as Northern Ireland’s engine room.”

For further information visit www.midsouthwestregion.org or email info@midsouthwestregion.org

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Eye on Recovery

Helping Mid Ulster Businesses Recover and Grow Effective, timely communication and the provision of speedy, targeted and tailored support have characterised Mid Ulster District Council’s response to help businesses recover from the pandemic.

Now the priority is to support companies through these difficult trading times and look towards future growth.

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rom the beginning of the pandemic, Mid Ulster District Council has prioritised the needs of its business sector, adopting a responsive approach which mirrored those needs as the pandemic progressed from the initial lockdown to the early stages of recovery and beyond.

In the sudden, almost wholesale shut-down of the economy, there was never a more urgent requirement for effective communication, providing timely, accurate advice and information, while crucially signposting to and interpreting the myriad of financial support mechanisms available.

As restrictions eased, the Council shifted its focus to the very practical help that businesses needed to get their doors open again safely for their staff and customers, while also working to promote a sense of confidence among local people and encouraging them to reconnect with their local traders, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors.

A social media campaign ‘Reconnect with Confidence’ showcased town centres and

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Economy Minister Diane Dodds, MLA with Council Chair, Cllr Cathal Mallaghan, Deputy Chair Meta Graham and Paul Coote Director, PJD Safety Supplies, a programme participant, formally launching Council’s £1m package of business support programmes at PJD’s premises.

their unique offerings, giving local businesses a platform to talk about being open again, and told the stories of ‘place’ through people.

At the same time, businesses could avail of branded online retail packs with useful materials to download, from social distancing posters to ‘reconnect with confidence’ window stickers for that visible reassurance to retail customers that their local traders were putting their safety first.

Webinars on a whole range of issues enjoyed particular success with the tourism sector, while online signposting and regular ezines to businesses aimed to keep everyone up to speed in a fast-changing trading environment.

A significant part of the recovery mix was the efficient distribution of COVID-19

business recovery grants which saw Mid Ulster become the first council area to open, assess and award funding of £529K to more than 230 local commercial premises in less than 3 weeks.

The fund offered grants of between £500 and £3,000 for adaptions and adjustments to premises which would help provide a safe environment for customers and staff, and was awarded via the Department for Communities (DfC) for town centres and by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) for smaller settlements, with further investment by the Council directly.

The speed of the turnaround meant much-needed funding went directly to where it was needed. A new round of COVID-19 business recovery grants is being worked up and will be available soon to Mid Ulster businesses.

While the Council strove to deal with the immediate need, it also had a very firm focus on what the future held economically – and it went beyond the economic shock which was being experienced universally.

Economic report after economic report showed the concentration of manufacturing, engineering, construction, agri-food and retail in the region, which accounts for more than 25% of employment locally, was going to have severe consequences – as early as April, one analysis predicted that Mid Ulster’s GVA would drop by 45%.

While lobbying for bespoke interventions by central government for Mid Ulster, the Council also took direct action to mitigate the economic forecast, launching a re-purposed business support programme worth more than £1M over 2 years.

Part funded by Invest Northern

Eye on Recovery David Thompson (Owner, Thompson’s Footwear, Cookstown) with one of his new Free Standing Hand Sanitising Dispensers funded by a Covid-19 Recovery Grant.

Council Chair with Stephen Mohan (Cuba Clothing, Dungannon & Cookstown) displaying one of Council’s ‘Reconnect’ stickers.

Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth & Jobs Northern Ireland (2014-2020) Programme alongside the Council, the re-focussed package of programmes is intended to help micro and small businesses in the area recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, growing and sustaining employment in more than 690 local firms.

Long-term support is also continuing via the unique

MEGA (Manufacturing and Engineering Growth & Advancement) Network in Mid Ulster which the Council and Invest NI supports and which, as the name suggests, targets that specific sector. Given the impact on those industries, tailored initiatives for them took place during lockdown, from essential information provision to webinars, and MEGA continues to implement its strategic action plan, with an Apprenticeship

Model most recently launched to all schools providing details of apprenticeships that will be available in MEGA companies in 2020/21.

And in a broader strategic context, Mid Ulster is part of the

collaborative partnership with Fermanagh and Omagh and Armagh, Banbridge Craigavon Councils, which has just launched a new Regional Economic Strategy for the Mid South West, which sets out the vision and ambition to invest over £252M of growth deal funding in what is the economic engine of Northern Ireland.

Mid Ulster District Council recognises that for many businesses, the challenges are only beginning. The Council is committed to continuing to lobby for gaps in funding and support to be filled, for sole business owners, for example, and for rates relief schemes to be extended. Equally the local authority wants to see on-going support for town centres to help them transform and will continue its drive for re-training and reskilling staff from those sectors that have suffered the most severe economic shocks.

For more information on business recovery and support programmes in Mid Ulster, please contact Council’s Business Team on 03000 132 132, email business@midulstercouncil.org or visit: www.midulstercouncil.org/business

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Eye on News

Concrete firm on solid ground with £700,000 investment

Wilbert Moore, Moore Concrete Managing Director, with Graham Whitehurst, Chair of the Manufacturing Task Force

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oore Concrete, a Ballymena based precast concrete firm, has created 35 new jobs as part of a £700,000 investment in its operations.

The majority of the roles have been put in place since the start of March this year, including positions such as graduate engineers, project management, sales, apprentices in civil engineering

and construction management.

With some posts still to fill, the plans will bring the company’s headcount to 158.

When all the posts are in place, they will “strengthen the company’s technical and management capabilities,” according to managing director Wilbert Moore.

The Mid and East Antrim business manufactures a wide range of standard

and bespoke products for use across the construction, civil engineering and agriculture sectors across the UK. The investment comes as the company remained open for business throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, despite production falling by 40% in the immediate aftermath of lockdown.

“Our people have always been our greatest asset,” said Mr Moore.

“During the worst of the pandemic, our aim was to remain open, supporting essential industries including several major infrastructure projects and the wider agricultural sector.

“However, we gradually increased output back to pre-lockdown levels to the point where our manufacturing output is now at the highest levels yet this year. We’re now looking to further enhance our service offering by investing in our technical, commercial, management and production skills base.

“The farming sector is a key part of our business and, as everyone is aware, agriculture has been operating at full capacity throughout the

pandemic. This has been reflected in the continuing investment taking place on farms throughout the UK, all of which is causing a wider ripple effect on the sector’s supply chain.

“We have also seen a resurgence in civil engineering and house building activity right across the UK in recent weeks,” he said.

The firm already has a strong foothold in Great Britain, having recently contributed to the development of offshore clean energy farms off the Scottish coastline, a number of coastal protection schemes and rail infrastructure projects in London, but plans to expand its reach further across the UK. Whilst welcoming the government’s commitment to major infrastructure projects as well as unrestricted access to customers across the UK, Ireland and EU markets post-Brexit, Mr Moore still believes Brexit presents a level of uncertainty, especially around supply chain elements. Yet he remains optimistic especially as the company sources the “vast majority” of its raw materials locally.

FREE Support For Mid Ulster Businesses Four business programmes providing one-to-one expertise to help build your business capacity and resilience Gearing for Growth

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To build your business capacity in key business areas including financial management, access to finance, effective pricing, business planning and marketing.

To help your business adopt digital technologies and strategies to grow your online presence, increase traffic to your website and drive sales.

Tender Ready

Transform

To improve your ability to source new work, identify supply chain opportunities and prepare high quality tender bids.

To work with your business to help you implement tailored and sustainable measures to recruit and retain staff.

For more information or to discuss how your business can avail of this support please contact Mid Ulster District Council’s Business Team.

03000 132 132 52

business@midulstercouncil.org

The project is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Northern Ireland (2014-20) Programme and Mid Ulster District Council.

AC T I V E LY, P R AC T I CA LLY, W E ’ LL H E LP YO U T H R I V E AG A I N The last few months have been extremely challenging.

But we’re here to reignite your plans − with expert support from our industry specialists, to help you get your business back where you want it to be.

Eye on Technology

Nimbus...

A Decade of Growth: From the Financial Crash To Covid

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Eye on Technology If working through adversity and turning it to your advantage is one sign of a true entrepreneur, then Gareth McAlister’s credentials shouldn’t be in any doubt.

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eel back ten years and Gareth left a secure job with Global Tech Giant, Fujitsu to take a step into the unknown and start his own IT consultancy business...right in the teeth of the financial crisis.

Nowadays, Nimbus is based in its own offices at Heron Wharf in the Airport Road area of Belfast, and it’s grown to become one of Northern Ireland’s leading managed IT, Cloud and Security companies with a highprofile client list including FinTrU, Linden Foods and Titanic Belfast.

Looking back on his decision to leave Fujitsu and start Nimbus Gareth recalls reactions from those around him at that time. “I can vividly remember my boss calling me into his office and telling me in no uncertain terms that I must be mad,” he smiles. “And there were times when I thought that perhaps I was!”

But he established Nimbus in humble surroundings just as recession was gripping the country, built the company up over the succeeding years and now, a decade later, he finds himself in the midst of a very different crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it’s a contrasting kind of crisis. Nimbus, in its role as a technology lifeline for its customers, has seen its turnover and its staff numbers grow during the six months of the crisis so far.

“We’ve doubled our turnover month on month compared to last year, we’ve recruited new staff and we’ve been delighted to welcome new clients” says Gareth. “We’re very confident about our growth plans for the future as a company.

“Like everyone else, we’ve had to change the way we do things. Almost overnight, we were mobilising our Business Continuity Plans and had all our staff working from home. But that wasn’t something unusual for us, we’ve always had that kind of flexibility for our people, and our team has responded brilliantly. As

IT experts, if we can’t do it, there’d be something badly wrong!”

“In fact, we had everyone working effectively from home before the Prime Minister announced the national lockdown. As a result, once the lockdown was announced, we were prepared and ready to help our customers” he says. “Our clients were desperate to get remote working plans in place so our phones were non-stop for days.

With Remote Working solutions being one of our core services, many were already set up for working from home but still needed assistance and advice on next steps; others were venturing into Remote Working for the first time, and our team worked hard to get many set up and working effectively in very short spaces of time.

“We quickly set up a dedicated crisis team and we set about proactively advising our customers, sorting out their concerns and providing solutions all day every day, seven days a week. At the height of the crisis, our phone calls were up by about 200% from normal levels and, from supplying 50 or 60 laptops a

“At the height of the crisis, our phone calls were up by about 200% from normal levels and, from supplying 50 or 60 laptops a month to customers, we found ourselves supplying more than 100 every day which often proved challenging given the global surge in demand for laptops at the time.”

month to customers, we found ourselves supplying more than 100 every day which often proved challenging given the global surge in demand for laptops at the time.

FinTrU, one of Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing companies, was quick to turn to the Nimbus team for help at the start of the Covid crisis.

“In mid-March FinTrU took the decision that all 500 employees should switch to remote working so we took swift action after a request for support on the Friday helping them achieve this over a weekend and by the Monday morning their people were

working remotely, effectively and securely from home. It was a huge challenge for us, as well as for FinTrU, but one that through a good customer partnership we were able to facilitate quickly.”

The pandemic hasn’t just been about supporting clients to work from home though. Customers in key sectors, like Linden Foods, found themselves busier than ever as they worked to keep food supply chains moving. The team at Nimbus were instrumental in supporting the IT Function to ensure no downtime during this critical period and indeed were pivotal

in the smooth implementation of major change projects undertaken by the business, even during such busy times.

As customers settled into a new way of working, Gareth McAlister and his team started to work hard on streamlining systems to assist with improved productivity and security. “We started to look at how we could improve remote working for our clients by leveraging new hardware and cloud & security solutions, but also by making significant investments in cutting edge software tools to enable us to monitor, automate tasks and protect our clients IT systems 24/7, whether their people were working in the office or remotely.”

“While a lot of businesses, even in IT, found themselves furloughing staff, we found ourselves continuing to recruit. We had just had one of our busiest quarters at the start of the year but there was no time to pause, with a huge surge in demand for our services in establishing remote working and continuing to support our clients who were still working on site in key industries.

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Eye on Technology

“We’ve expanded on our areas of expertise by bringing in new staff,” says Gareth. “It’s not so easy to recruit when you can’t meet people face to face, but we’ve been able to bring in new talent very effectively and we’ve also added new clients at the same time.”

In fact, the Nimbus team was so busy over the period that it completely forgot the fact that it had notched up the ten-year milestone. “One of our clients congratulated me over the phone around our tenth anniversary, and it came as a bit of a shock to me,” Gareth smiles.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Nimbus continues to look ahead for new opportunities and has developed a potentially lucrative new aspect to its business over the past six months. It’s been busy working alongside one of the World’s largest tech giants, on a relatively new Dublin operation, which will see the development of a European cloud platform to rival that of Microsoft.

“In the height of lockdown we were tasked with building out and configuring all IT equipment within two Datacentres for our

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“In mid-March FinTrU took the decision that all 500 employees should switch to remote working so we took swift action after a request for support on the Friday helping them achieve this over a weekend and by the Monday morning their people were working remotely, effectively and securely from home.”

client for what is set to be a major tech player in Europe. With the amount of restrictions in place we were up against a lot of obstacles but our team’s dedication meant we met the expectations of our client and we’re excited and looking forward to playing our part as the project goes on.”

As the pandemic moves into the autumn and winter months, and companies start to realise that they’re in this for the long haul, Nimbus has been busy re-evaluating its strategy to cope with the demands of a changing working environment, not only for clients but also for the Nimbus team.

Security is a key aspect to the wider remote working picture. It’s one thing for an organisation to move rapidly to remote working. It’s another to make sure that they’re not making any compromises when it comes to security.

“We were already one of the market leaders when it came to cyber security and we’ve beefed up our offering over the past few months, investing close to £200,000 in state of the art toolsets that will offer our clients additional security no matter where their people are working.

“What’s more, we’re able to deploy software solutions from our own cloud platforms to wherever

our clients and their people are working. That’s quite a challenge.

When 200 people are working in one office building, it’s a simple matter of deploying the software to a central server. When 200 people are working at 200 different locations, it gets a bit more difficult.”

Looking past the current crisis, Gareth McAlister is clearly proud of the fact that the company he set up against the odds ten years ago and has reached its anniversary milestone.

“We’ve shown a lot of resilience and we’ve continued to thrive during economic downturns and now a global pandemic, so I think we can look forward with some confidence,” he says. “As we enter our second decade, we’re working on a brand refresh to suit the changing landscape of the business across the UK and Ireland.

“Now, more than ever, the business landscape is changing and we see ourselves actively working with existing clients and new clients to build and adapt to whatever becomes the new normal.

“We’re taking the positives out of the current climate and we see a positive growth path ahead of us.”

Eye on Women In Business

Women In Business Membership SupportMore Important Than Ever

When your organisation has been built around membership engagement and events, the current era of Covid restrictions presents a unique set of challenges.

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oseann Kelly MBE, Chief Executive of Women In Business, acknowledges that the past six months have been challenging for everyone. However, Women in Business have adapted very well to the virtual world and are determined that the organisation won’t lose any of its focus.

“We had to be agile and flexible as soon as lockdown kicked in. Like everyone else, we moved to a new way of working,”

says Roseann. “In our case, that meant pivoting our events and membership teams online.”

Right from the early days of lockdown, Women In Business was offering plenty of online contact to its members. A series of evening events hosted by Pamela Ballantine proved particularly popular, as did a series of business-focused webinars offering practical help and advice to members wrestling with Covid-related business issues.

Now, for the autumn and early winter months, the organisation has lined up a full programme of online events, ranging from round table discussions on issues like HR, finance, construction and energy through to events focused on mental wellbeing and a wide range of other issues.

Full details are available on Women In Business website – www.womeninbusinessni.com

“It’s been really important for us to stay engaged with our members, even if we can’t have them in the same room as us,” adds Roseann. “But it’s also been great for our staff to be able to be of practical help to members as well.

“The whole period has been all about resilience, leadership and effective communications.

It’s been crucial to be able to give a voice to women out there, to provide them with an opportunity to talk to us and to others, many of whom are working through the same kind of problems.”

Not surprisingly, she highlights childcare as one of the major issues of the Covid crisis for WIB members. “A lot of our members found themselves balancing childcare, home schooling and work during the height of the lockdown, and it really wasn’t easy for them.

“Even as schools have returned, the childcare issues haven’t completely gone away, so it’s something that we have to continue looking closely at.”

Roseann Kelly and Women In Business also continue to fly the flag for women entrepreneurs, many of whom run small businesses which have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic.

“Quite a few are self-employed and sole traders and they’re among those who’ve been left out of the funding picture. We have a number of members who are sole traders and who’ve found themselves having to apply for universal credit just to try to make ends meet. Government assistance has been crucial, but it just hasn’t helped everyone.”

Going forward, she says, women entrepreneurs must be given more of a voice. It’s a message

she’s already driving with the Department for the Economy, in an effort to make sure that its stays on the agenda.

“There is always a real danger that gender diversity could be lost in all the immediate Covid crisis reactions and that big economic decisions could be pushed through without diversity being considered. It’s something that Women In Business will continue to highlight in an effort to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“We’ve all heard the mantra that we need to ‘build back better’.

Gender diversity has to be central to that wider effort and, within that, effective childcare is crucial.”

Women In Business launched a new Young Womens Network over recent months. Sponsored

by Ulster Bank and available to all young women under 25, it sets out to provide an exclusive platform for young businesswomen to come together to connect, network and support each other.

The organisation has other issues to consider as we head into the autumn months and towards the end of the year. There’s the small matter of Brexit, now very much back on the radar and potentially hugely damaging to the Northern Ireland economy.

“But there’s also the tailing off of the furlough scheme, the challenges that will bring, and the fact that our businesses will have to start paying back government support loans. So, there are a lot of issues to be dealt with.

“There’s no doubt that women could be hit hard by the ending of the furlough scheme. I’ve even read predictions of a tsunami of redundancies over the horizon.

“So it’s all the more important that Women In Business is here and ready to help our members.”

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Eye on Energy

Power NI: Championing a Green Recovery

Mark Liggett, Commercial Manager at Power NI, reflects on the energy supplier’s efforts to become one of Northern Ireland’s key players at the forefront of action on the climate emergency.

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s Northern Ireland’s leading energy supplier for almost 90 years, we have a duty to provide our customers with greener energy choices, not just to households, but our local businesses and farms too.

“Our mission within Power NI and our parent company, Energia Group is to provide our customers with innovative, technology-led solutions that will help make their lives easier, while contributing strongly to decarbonisation and the protection of our environment.

“As a Group, our aim is to grow sustainably, with over €1 billion invested in the energy market

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across NI and ROI, focusing on renewables, flexible generation and customer solutions. We believe that by giving customers access to a range of greener energy options, we can positively impact their lives and the lives of everyone on this planet.

Taking action on the climate emergency “We are delighted to build on our established partnership with responsible business network, Business in the Community NI, by becoming an official Champion in the Business Action on Climate

campaign. The recently launched campaign challenges organisations to address the climate crisis by working to achieve ambitious reduction targets for their greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.

Géraldine Noé, Head of Environment at Business in the Community NI, commented: “The COVID-19 crisis has shown that, even in a world stopped in its tracks, our GHG emissions have not decreased enough to meet the Paris Agreement and limit global temperature rise under 1.5°C. “Addressing climate breakdown and reducing our GHG footprint is integral for business, to enable us to build back responsibly after COVID-19 for the benefit of business, our communities and the economy. There’s no time to waste - now is the time for business to collaborate and take action on the climate crisis, and the responsible business network can help.”

Mark continued: “We encourage other businesses to join us and get involved in signing the Business Action on Climate pledge. It is time for us all to play our part in the Green Recovery, and this campaign is a way for Power NI to demonstrate to our communities, stakeholders, staff and customers that we have made a serious commitment to reducing our environmental impact. We’re delighted to be working with a team of climate champions and the wider BITC network to inspire other businesses to do the same”.

Evolving to be more than just your energy supplier Power NI, once only a supplier of electricity, continues to grow as a modern, customer-centric utility. The company now offers a wide range of energy saving technologies for the business and farm sectors as well as providing new Electric Vehicle charging solutions for commercial fleets.

Mark continued: “As the largest supplier to both domestic and business customers in Northern Ireland, we aim to lead the market by innovating our products and services for the future digital and decarbonised economy, developing solutions in collaboration with our customer base to meet their needs. We will work together with customers on their sustainability journey, from the basics such as recommending energy efficiency measures and assisting with grant funding, through to reducing the carbon intensity of their business by supplying green energy. Not only do we provide Zero Carbon energy to our customers, but we source it from a wind farm in their area, using our extensive network of relationships in the renewables market to support sustainability locally.

“As a Group, we are constantly seeking new sustainable opportunities and are very proud to be working together with Translink and their Wrightbus hydrogen double-decker buses, as well as part of the Belfast consortium, led by Artemis Technologies, revolutionising maritime transport in the development of a zero-emissions electric hydrofoil ferry. The businesses of the Energia Group have a real commitment to customers and the environment, encouraging the discovery of intelligent energy solutions and accelerating innovation for a brighter future.”

Find out why over 40,000 businesses are trusting NI’s leading energy supplier by visiting www.powerni.co.uk/ letsgrowtogether

Eye on Marketing

Mailsync – How Local Companies Are Gaining A Marketing Edge Last month, we met with John Pierce & Chris Baird, and gained an insight into how RW Pierce providing clients advantage with its Mailsync service. In this edition, we take a closer look at how two local organisations are putting the service to good use...

Shane Lilly - Codec

C Chris Mackey - Mackey Opticians

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ackey Opticians are Northern Ireland’s largest independent optometrists and still a family run business.

Christopher Mackey, the group’s Financial Director, explains that the Mackey philosophy is to provide tailored high quality optical care.

“Although we use multiple channels to engage with our patients, posted appointment reminders generate the appointment bookings at our 13 practices. For years, we generated these letters in-house – our Practice Management System simplified this process, but the whole process was still taking several hours each day.

“Mailsync promised that they could save us time, so we took Mailsync for a test drive. We needed to standardise the layout of our

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different letter templates to ensure compatibility and then install special print driver software.

“Now, it takes us minutes to generate and upload appointment letters to Mailsync each day and RW Pierce does the rest.

We can check progress in the Mailsync portal at any time.

“Our staff love it because printing and posting letters was a bit of a chore, and a time consuming one at that. I love it because we are spending more time being the best for our patients.”

odec is an Irish, full-stack IT solutions consultancy, headquartered in Dublin but with offices in Galway, Cork and Belfast. Shane Lilly (Practice Leader of the Dynamics 365 team) tells of the firm’s experience with MailSync.

“We empower businesses in the public and private sectors by making technology changes work for them. Over the past 10 years, our achievements have received both Microsoft and Oracle award recognition.

“One of our solutions is the Azure based CRM system used by the two organisations licenced to issue EU Model Parking Permits here in Ireland.

“Both issuing organisations were using Mailsync to generate off-line permit reminder letters and application letters.

We became involved when integration (between CRM & Mailsync) was required.”

“Previously, RW Pierce had integrated with our CRM for Permit Production, using Web Services technology, so we understood their technical capability.

“After scoping possible solutions, stakeholders agreed on Mailsync’s

SFTP transfer facility, as it was already available and offered the fastest & most cost effective upgrade path.

“The process involves a scheduled talk to SFTP transfer XML data to RW Pierce at specific times. In return, RW Pierce send XML data containing the printing/ posting timestamps for each letter, to the Azure system.”

“Integration with Mailsync was quick and easy. In the CRM, users can see confirmation of mailing/e-mailing.

And, for compliance, stakeholders have full audit trail of all posted/e-mail sent through the Mailsync portal.

“It just worked, my customers are happy…. Which makes me happy.”

If your mailing equipment is reaching end of life, a chat with RW Pierce could be time well spent. Mailsync normally maintains/reduces postage costs, while avoiding the need for capital re-investment. Smart business sense.

The smarter way to print & post business mail especially for home-working.

028 9037 2504 www.rwpierce.com

Secure Print & Mail Solutions

Eye on Business Risk

Internal Controls in a Coronavirus World

GMcG’s Nigel Moore and Duncan McGregor.

The global coronavirus pandemic has, for many businesses, seen one of the most rapid evolutions of business processes in recent history. This gives rise to an important question - have risk management and internal control systems developed at the same pace? Audit and Forensic Accounting experts from GMcG Chartered Accountants examine the key considerations.

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s an increasing number of local businesses are being forced to adapt to comply with new regulations, or to simply survive in a challenging economic and operating environment, an examination of risk management controls and processes should find itself close

to the top the boardroom agenda.

The UK Corporate Governance Code places an obligation on directors to ‘carry out a robust assessment of the company’s emerging and principal risks’ and it is critical that company directors understand their duties in this area. Very often such matters

Eye on Business Risk

are far down the list of a busy company director’s priorities, with customer demands, managing staff, monitoring cash flow and operational issues very much at the forefront of the mind.

Has your business satisfied itself that risk management and internal control systems are sufficient to ensure you meet your obligations?

A health check on your internal control environment has never been more critical than now.

Perhaps your risks and controls are well-documented, but unless they have been reviewed within the past few months, they are most likely outdated or incomplete.

In the first instance, the existing control effectiveness must be reviewed. It is essential that this is done objectively with particular focus on any control breaches or ‘near misses’.

It is then important to consider all the changes that have taken place in your business processes since those previously identified risks and controls were established. An updated risk assessment will take account of all these factors and will often highlight a number of control gaps.

Added to this are the new and emerging risks that have arisen due to the pandemic, which will undoubtedly impact on the risk landscape faced by businesses.

In many cases there will have been a large shift in business processes to operate in the ‘new normal’ whilst for others, changes may be more limited.

systems at its usual business premises, the effectiveness of these controls is likely to be compromised by an increase in off-site working.

“GMcG can provide a robust, objective and cost effective review of your control environment.”

Risks are emerging as a result of increased remote and home working, with the associated increased use of remote Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems.

For some businesses, new home working arrangements may impact on segregation of duties and require a review of monitoring and review processes. Other considerations include increased risks related to the physical safety and security of employees, customers and suppliers, as well as an increased risk of fraud arising from the implementation of government support schemes and other measures.

In addition, if the business’s control environment is reliant on the physical presence of employees or physical control

It is crucial that control deficiencies or gaps in the control environment are identified and steps are taken to address such deficiencies.

This may require the design and implementation of additional controls or amendments to the operation of existing controls to sufficiently manage risk.

Careful attention should be paid to the effective implementation of any changes as they will be critical to the success of your risk management and internal control system. Implementation may be more challenging in the current climate as a result of changes to normal business processes.

It is clear that the rapid change in business processes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the challenges faced in responding quickly to new and emerging risks, has

presented a real opportunity to those wishing to exploit any resulting deficiencies in your control environment. Reducing the time taken to identify any deficiencies in, and to implement any changes to, your control environment is key to reducing the opportunities that others have to exploit such weaknesses.

The dedicated team at GMcG Chartered Accountants has extensive experience working with businesses across a wide range of industry sectors and can provide a robust, objective and cost-effective review of your control environment. Their leading edge expertise and combined skills in Audit and Forensic Investigations can identify areas that require urgent attention to reduce the risk of fraud, ensure compliance and, most importantly, safeguard the assets and earnings of the business.

Nigel Moore, Audit & Business Advisory Services mooren@gmcgca.com Duncan McGregor, Forensic Accounting & Investigation mcgregord@gmcgca.com www.gmcgca.com

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Eye on Cloud Communications

Business advantage will go to those who embrace change If there is one word that has occupied boardroom and meeting agendas in 2020, it is change.

Management consultants will write and rewrite books about change management to account for what we have experienced during the coronavirus pandemic for years to come.

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hange is an uncomfortable prospect for many businesses and organisations – it often sits on the precipice between disaster and opportunity.

It is something that is often foisted upon us, either because technological advancement makes the status quo no longer viable or because we risk being left behind by others who have embraced new ways of doing things.

For many organisations, particularly larger businesses working in offices across Northern Ireland, the challenge of equipping potentially hundreds of workers with laptops, work phones and remote access will be the single biggest technological transformation of their career to date. For others, who had already embarked on a process of digital transformation and agile working, this change will have been much less stark. But it is far less important to question how we got here compared to where we are going.

The CIPD has been researching the impact of change and technological developments in workforces for some time. Its research suggests that most organisations were already in the process of transforming their businesses in some way. Their People Profession Survey 2020, carried out pre-pandemic, found industry changes and organisational agility to be the key motivating factors behind change within the human resources sector. This was significantly more important to those within the private sector

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Stuart Carson is Sales and Marketing Director at Rainbow Communications, Northern Ireland’s leading cloud telecom and IT provider. For more information on its full range of services, including bespoke solutions, visit www.rainbowcomms.com

(40%), compared to public (30%) and voluntary sectors (24%).

Given what we have all been through in the last number of months, it is likely that these figures will have increased significantly and reflected throughout the boardroom.

to have changed markedly.

CIPD’s research suggests that 75% of employers expect an increase in demand for homeworking once social distancing measures are relaxed.

In Northern Ireland, we have a particular advantage because

“In Northern Ireland, we have a particular advantage because digital transformation in both infrastructure and skills is at the core of our economic strategy and recovery efforts. In many areas, we are already ahead of the curve. However, there are other big changes ahead.”

With half of employers saying that 50% or more of their workforce is continuing to work from home throughout the crisis, the expectations of employees around how, when and where they work, are likely

digital transformation in both infrastructure and skills is at the core of our economic strategy and recovery efforts. In many areas, we are already ahead of the curve. However, there are other big changes ahead.

In the telecoms sector, for example, the way we speak to our colleagues and clients is also fundamentally changing. ISDN/ PSTN lines, which permeate throughout the office buildings of Northern Ireland, are being phased out. With the sale of these services beginning to be phased out in summer 2021 and eventually being turned off entirely in 2025, businesses will have no choice but to make the switch.

In its place comes Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), delivering all the benefits of ISDN/PSTN lines, whilst offering huge savings, additional functionality, higher resilience, and greater flexibility; by sending voice traffic securely over the internet in digital packets.

Whether it is in telecommunications or any other area, the advantage will go to those businesses who embrace and accelerate change before it is forced upon them.

Eye on News

KAINOS CEO HONOURED At IoD Director Of The Year Awards

Brendan Mooney with Gordon Millington, Chairman of IoD NI.

The leader of one of Northern Ireland’s largest companies has been honoured at the annual Institute of Directors Northern Ireland (IoD NI) Director of the Year Awards, sponsored by AIB.

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR - THIRD SECTOR

sponsored by Capita Managed IT Solutions Lynn Carvill, WOMEN’STEC DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR FAMILY BUSINESS

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ainos Group CEO Brendan Mooney, was presented with the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Director and Board Practice at the ceremony, held virtually for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firm, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2015, is headquartered in Belfast and provides digital technology services for organisations within the public, healthcare and financial sectors across the globe.

Brendan, who joined the firm as a trainee more than 30 years ago was presented with the award along with 11 other business leaders who were recognised across various categories.

Other recipients included Michael McCormack of Musgrave Group who was named the Large Business Director of the Year award while David Henry of Henry Brothers received the Family Business Director of the Year Award.

THIS YEAR’S FULL WINNERS WERE:

sponsored by BDO Northern Ireland David Henry, Henry Bros

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR –

IN DIRECTOR AND BOARD PRACTICE

INTERNATIONAL

sponsored by AIB Brendan Mooney, Kainos Group

sponsored by Invest NI Brian Reid, Deli-Lites

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR -

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR -

NON-EXECUTIVE

SMALL TO MEDIUM BUSINESS

sponsored by Deloitte Diana Fitzsimons

sponsored by Ulster University Business School Sinead Higgins, Decision Time

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR – INNOVATION

sponsored by KPMG Daniel Crawford, Axial3D

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR – INCLUSIVITY

sponsored by ABL Group John Healy OBE, Allstate

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR – YOUNG

sponsored by Carson McDowell Glenn Speer, Fane Valley DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR -

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR LARGE BUSINESS sponsored

by Amplifi Solutions - Michael McCormack, Musgrave Group

PUBLIC SECTOR

sponsored by Capita Managed IT Solutions - Professor Nola Hewitt Dundas - Head of Management School, QUB

The inaugural Philanthropist of the Year, Community Foundation Northern Ireland award, which was awarded to Alan Nappin of the ARN Foundation.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Gordon Milligan, IoD NI Chairman, said: “Now employing over 1,700 people, Kainos is one of Northern Ireland’s most successful and progressive companies.

“I am therefore privileged to present the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Director and Board Practice to Brendan Mooney to acknowledge the tremendous contribution he has made to not just Kainos, but the entire local economy over more than three decades.

“A huge congratulations to all this year’s winners, once again proving that the economy here in Northern Ireland benefits from a wealth of leadership talent across the private and public sector, each of them performing to the very highest standards.”

In 2019, Kainos became the first tech company from Northern Ireland to be promoted to the FTSE 250 index and in January this year, reached a stock market valuation of more than £1 billion – a huge milestone for one of Northern Ireland’s home-grown companies.

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Eye on Events

Ulster Orchestra –

Keeping The Music Going

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an effect on every business, every family, every walk of life. But, for some organisations, it’s not just about what’s happening now, it’s about what the future holds.

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he Ulster Orchestra, part of the fabric of cultural life here and an institution of which many here are justifiably proud, had to meet the pandemic head on like every other organisation.

“We’re an orchestra, we’re musicians, we provide entertainment...but we’re also a business in our own right and we’re an employer of 63 musicians and 17 support staff,” says Ulster Orchestra Managing Director, Richard Wigley.

“Like everyone else, when Covid struck, we had to go home and stay there. That’s one thing when all you really need is your laptop and wifi. It’s another thing entirely when you’re a musician and part of a professional orchestra.”

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A number of Europe’s leading orchestras simply put their operations into a deep freeze and intend to stay there until performances can start to resume.

The Ulster Orchestra took a very different approach. “Within days of the start of lockdown, we were planning how we could keep the music going,” says Richard Wigley. “It didn’t take us too long to start organising live music, with members of the orchestra playing online from their own homes. And it was incredibly popular with our audiences, who loved hearing live classical music even in this strange format.”

As the lockdown period progressed and some restrictions were lifted, the orchestra

progressed to sending small groups of socially distanced musicians out to play in the grounds of care homes, for example. From August, the orchestra has had permission to be together once again at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

“We have to follow strict protocols, especially around social distancing, but we have the space at the Waterfront to do that and it allows us to play together once again as an orchestra, and our players have really loved being able to do that. In some ways, the whole experience has maybe even boosted our creativity.” says Head of Artistic Planning & Operations, Patrick McCarthy.

McCarthy and Wigley form part of a tightly-knit five strong senior management team at the Ulster Orchestra, a team whose obvious passion for the Orchestra and what it does has brought them through the dark days of the pandemic and lockdown.

“We were never tempted to take the deep freeze option, we always wanted to keep the music going, however we had to do it,” says Patrick McCarthy.

Eye on Events

Michelle Baird

These days, the Orchestra is rehearsing at the Waterfront Hall and playing live online.

The only thing missing, of course, is a live audience in the seats around the auditorium.

“We don’t know when that will happen,” says Richard Wigley. “We’re hoping that it won’t be too long before limited, socially-distanced small audiences are allowed to return and that we can build from there. We have January pencilled in for that but we’ll have to wait and see how things develop. Most importantly, we have to adhere to government guidelines and government advice. We also have to stick rigidly to our protocols. One positive test and we’d be in a very difficult position.”

The absence of audiences and cancelled performances means, of course, that there is no revenue from ticket sales. That’s a major blow for an organisation which is partially funded by government and partially by ticket sales.

“We’ve been able to get through and pay everyone during the crisis to date,” says Head of Finance Auveen Sands, who joined the orchestra at a critical juncture back in 2014 when it faced the prospect of closure due to lack of funds. “At the moment, we’re trying to look forward. But we’re having to look at about 10 different possible scenarios around how things will pan out – ranging from the most optimistic to the most pessimistic.

“But what’s most important is that we continue to look to the future. We’re a £4.1 million turnover business. We’re going to come out of this crisis at some stage and we have to be ready when we do. The roots of our success going forward can be put down now when we have a chance to look at all aspects of how we do things.”

The other two members of the senior team are Lucy McCullagh, Director of Learning & Community Engagement, and Michelle Baird, Director of Marketing. Both face obvious challenges.

“We’ve got a lot of plans in place to start continue bringing Ulster Orchestra music out to the community, and we think that is something we can do safely and carefully as we move through the winter months. It’s a case of waiting for official approval for some of the community-

Patrick McCarthy

Richard Wigley

Auveen Sands

Lucy McCullagh

based plans that we have,” says Lucy.

Richard Wigley and his team have changed the Ulster Orchestra, pretty much beyond recognition since the New Zealander took over the hot seat just shy of five years ago. Once a professional musician himself (he was a bassoonist with Manchester’s Halle Orchestra) he joined from the BBC Philharmonic where he was General Manager.

Alongside his team, he’s moved Northern Ireland’s very own orchestra away from what he describes as a “band that people felt played only on Friday nights in the Ulster Hall”.

“We’ve changed a lot about the Orchestra and how it operates to get away from that image,” he says. “We’ve brought in new musical programmes, we’ve added new venues, we’ve moved around the country and we’ve worked hard on our community links.”

Marketing Director Michelle Baird says that she’d normally be rolling out the Orchestra’s Christmas programme and marketing campaign around this time of the year. Clearly, that’s not happening.

“What we’ve concentrated on doing is keeping in touch with our supporters, our fan base if you like,” she smiles. “We have a remarkably loyal band of supporters and it hasn’t been too difficult to make use of technology

and to keep in touch with all of them.

“Our message is that we’re still here, we’re still playing music, that we’re already back on stage again and that it won’t be too long before we’re playing to live audiences once more.”

Michelle is also responsible for building and maintaining the Orchestra’s relationships with corporate sponsors and the wider business community here, something which will be increasing importance as and when performances resume.”

The unofficial sixth member of the top team is the Orchestra’s principal conductor, Daniele Rustioni. The 36-year old Italian, who has had his tenure in Belfast interrupted by coronavirus, is ranked as one of the best conductors of his generation. He also holds the baton for the Opera National de Lyon in France and Orchestra della Toscana in his native Italy.

“There’s a remarkable spirit right through this organisation,” adds Richard Wigley. “We’re a bit more flexible than some in our field, we’re more entrepreneurial as a business. We work hard to energise our people and look to future challenges. That explains how we’ve risen to the challenge of a global pandemic, and it will stand us in really good stead in the future.”

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Eye on News

To work from home, you need a Sperr Room This week’s Government instruction to ‘work from home if you can’, means that many employees are preparing to see out the rest of 2020 and beyond working from kitchen tables, conservatories and spaces not much bigger than broom cupboards which are often disrupted and getting in the way of normal family life.

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o a new mid-Ulster manufacturing business, Sperr Rooms, has come up with a cost effective solution which doesn’t require planning permission and can see people moving from their kitchen to an A-grade office in their garden in less than an hour.

Sperr Rooms garden studios provide an alternative to house renovations which can be a costly and lengthy process.

Even before COVID-19, luxury garden rooms had become a must-have for many seeking to make better use of their garden space with a private studio or a shared room to enjoy with friends and family. Sperr Rooms multipurpose garden rooms can be used all year round, as an

office, gym, play space, therapy room or even an outside cinema without any requirement for planning approval.

While there are many timber and PVC options on the market, Sperr Rooms provide a superior solution to withstand the elements, manufactured using new, high-grade steel containers and completed with a full turnkey finish to the customers specification.

Glass doors to the front of the studio fill the interior with natural light, creating an ambience with your garden surroundings, the perfect combination of contemporary elegance and practical functionality.

Starting from £10,500 with three models in their range and finance options available, Sperr Rooms Garden studios come with an extensive 5-year structural guarantee, as well as additional manufacturer guarantees for any fixtures and fittings such as windows, lights, doors, handles and heaters. Various solid wood cladding and paint finishes are available, designed to be completely maintenance free, with insulated walls and double glazing

creating a highly secure and economical studio space.

Sperr Rooms Director Conor Ward said “It is clear now that we will not be returning to what we understood to be normal so providing a quality workspace at home is a must to ensure people are productive and can separate work and family life.

Following a pre-site survey, Sperr Rooms luxury garden studios can be installed in under one hour and are built to last a lifetime with our unique anti-corrosive steel construction. Customers can book an appointment to view our range and meet with our expert design team and create a Sperr Room solution tailored to their needs.”

Based in Toomebridge, Co. Antrim, Sperr Rooms is owned by the Sperrin Manufacturing Group, sister to Jamdac Developments who are a wellknown developer in the residential and commercial properties industry and MAW Engineering who are specialists in the manufacture of commercial vehicle bodies and bespoke engineering solutions.

£20m premium parking facility opens at Belfast’s Grosvenor Road A new premium multi-storey parking facility officially opened this week on the Grosvenor Road in Belfast City Centre as part of a £20 million investment.

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Value Car Parks Directors Stephen McCausland, Jonathan McCausland, Emma McCausland and Peter McCausland.

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he new state-of-the-art facility, which has 575 car parking spaces, was opened by Value Car Parks, part of the McCausland Group of companies, which is also marking its 100th year in business.

The development also includes 7,000 sq. ft of new Grade A office space which will be occupied by the group at 19-35 Grosvenor Road on the site where the business was originally established.

The McCausland Group said it was confident that the investment would provide a vital boost for Belfast city centre during what continues to be a challenging time for the local retail, hospitality and tourism economy.

The twelve-level facility promises a new, efficient

and more spacious design which includes wider spaces, driveways and ramps and with no obstructing bollards for a more user-friendly and accessible experience. To complement other measures across the city and Northern Ireland, the facility also includes charging points for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Christopher McCausland, Managing Director at Value Car Parks and McCausland Group, said: “We know that the availability of affordable and accessible parking is hugely important for workers, shoppers and visitors and at a time when people are beginning to safely return to the city we’re confident this additional capacity will provide a much-needed boost.”

“We are also delighted that after creating new Grade A office space, we can return our headquarters home to the Grosvenor Road, a site where our business has operated since 1920.

“Value Car Parks will embed the same ethos of quality, service and value that has made Value Cabs a success. In what has been a difficult year for many people, we’re delighted to say we’re now open and ready to welcome customers old and new.”

Eye on News

Belfast Port Weathers The Covid Storm The Port community in Belfast has demonstrated remarkable resilience during the past six months, which has enabled it to operate successfully through the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Chair of Belfast Harbour.

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peaking at Belfast Harbour’s Annual Stakeholder Meeting, David Dobbin said that while its business had not been immune to the impact of COVID-19, it continues to be vitally important that the Port remains open, as two thirds of what comes into Northern Ireland by sea comes through Belfast Harbour.

“Belfast Harbour and its Port facilities have remained open for business and continued to operate safely and effectively, throughout the entire pandemic, operating every day, on a 24/7 basis.

“I want to thank and pay tribute to the work of Belfast Harbour staff, our logistics partners and customers, and the wider port community who together have showed real resilience in keeping the port open for business and supply chains running,” he said.

Chief Executive Joe O’Neill also confirmed at the meeting – which was held virtually for the first time - that Belfast Harbour remained committed to the £115.7m of investments in significant projects announced previously, as these

Pictured at the Harbour Commissioners Office are Belfast Harbour’s Chief Executive Joe O’Neill and Ellvena Graham, Chair of the Northern Ireland Economic Advisory Group.

projects would be critical enablers of Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 recovery.

The meeting also heard from Ellvena Graham, Chair of the Economic Advisory Group for Northern Ireland, which has been created to work with Economy Minister Diane Dodds on plans to rebuild the economy.

Ms Graham told attendees that the 11-member group was taking in a broad spectrum of views from the business community on the economic challenges facing Northern Ireland and the measures that need to be taken to get it back on track.

Employers Warned On Furlough Deadline

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mployment lawyers Jan Cunningham and David Mitchell from Belfast firm Millar McCall Wylie have underlined the urgent need for employers to disclose and correct any furlough payment errors made in relation to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ahead of the HMRC deadline of 20th October 2020 in order to avoid fines and potential criminal proceedings.

The CJRS was introduced in March to support employers whose operations have been detrimentally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and will close at the end of October.

HMRC has provided employers with a deadline for disclosing and correcting overpayments, after which they will be subject to penalties.

“HMRC reports that approximately £3.5billion has been incorrectly paid under the CJRS – equivalent of around 10% of all payments,” explains Jan Cunningham, Partner and Head of Employment at Millar McCall Wylie. “A review of payments made to employers is now underway and, inevitably, those who received payments and were ineligible for the CJRS, or those who received more than they were due, will be issued with financial penalties. “Employers now have until 20th October 2020, or 90 days from

the receipt of payment, to disclose or correct any issues or errors. It is worth noting that HMRC has up to 20 years to pursue investigations in relation to deliberate non-compliance, six years to pursue any careless non-compliance claims and four years to investigate claims in any other circumstances,” Jan Cunningham said. In addition to repayment of CJRS monies, HMRC has introduced a penalty regime to sanction employers for overpayments. In particular, HMRC will take into account whether or not the employer knew they were not entitled to the CJRS grant when it was received. Employers found to have deliberately defaulted may be subject to HMRC’s ‘naming and shaming’ online and in media.

“It is imperative that employers seek advice immediately to assess their entitlement to the CJRS and avoid penalties which could have significant impact on their business,” David Mitchell added.

Millar McCall Wylie’s Employment Tax Dispute Team is providing advice and assistance to employers around their eligibility for CJRS monies or appealing HMRC decisions in respect of their entitlement to the scheme. Employers seeking support can contact the Employment Team at Millar McCall Wylie on 02890 200050.

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Eye on News

BBC Apprentice Star Opens Newry Store Apprentice semi-finalist and Newry native, Grainne McCoy, opened the doors to her own store on Saturday 26th September, exactly four years to the day after her debut on the hit BBC One show.

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ive Us Beauty launched initially as an online makeup store in April 2020 and following its success plus significant investment, the retail store will this month create seven local jobs .

The Give Us Beauty store is an all-encompassing beauty emporium, providing not only a retail store for cosmetics but a blow-dry bar, a makeup studio and beauty clinic all under the one roof. The store will house global brands such as INGLOT, Note Cosmetics, Maybeline, Revlon, SOSU by SJ, P. Louise and much more.

Customers will also be able to avail of services including makeup applications, 1-to-1 lessons, facials, massages,

hair styling and spray tanning.

Speaking on the new business venture, founder Grainne McCoy said, “I am absolutely delighted to finally be opening my own store which has been four years in the making. It was in my initial business plan to Lord Alan Sugar to have a retail store for cosmetics that could survive online and also physically be a one-stop-shop for all your beauty needs. We launched GiveUsBeauty. com back in March 2020 and the response has been phenomenal. We were planning to launch the retail store at the same time however obviously things were delayed due to covid-19.”

Grainne added, “Covid has presented a difficult time for our industry but

I am confident now is the right time to introduce the retail store. I was also conscious to work with and support local designers to create an innovative space for the city with quirky features throughout to establish an ‘instagramable’ destination for Newry.”

In the months ahead the new store will be housing its very own make-up training academy, where budding make-up artists can avail of innovative lessons in the artistry of make-up, learning complex

techniques from Grainne McCoy and a team of highly trained artists.

Grainne adds, “I am extremely excited for the people of Newry and beyond to see what we have done with this space. This is more than a retail store, it is a space for training the next generation of makeup artists, for socialising with likeminded people to connect over cosmetics and to indulge in some pampering. I can’t think of a better place to initiate the Give Us Beauty journey than my hometown.”

Gilbert-Ash named in Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table An NI-based construction and fit-out company, which has been responsible for a number of landmark buildings across the world, has been named in the annual Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table for the first time.

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ilbert-Ash was ranked 129th in the league table which ranks Britain’s leading mid-market private companies with the biggest sales before the pandemic struck.

The rankings, published in this week’s Sunday Times Business Section, recognised Gilbert-Ash’s growth over the last number of years to sales of £179million and a profit of £7million in 2018.

Gilbert-Ash works throughout the UK and has undertaken numerous projects worldwide in a total of 41 countries from Poland and Bahrain to China, Japan and Australia, many on behalf of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Managing Director, Ray Hutchinson said: “We are very proud to be named in the 16th annual Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table for the first time.

“It is testament to the outstanding work of

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our teams, working as one with our trusted supply chain partners and clients.

“Over the past twelve months we have completed a broad portfolio of successful construction projects across sectors including arts and culture, workplace, hotels and leisure, science and technology, retail and residential. From landmark buildings including The Royal College of Music, The Mayhew Theatre in London to numerous embassies for the Foreign and Commonwealth office across the world.

“Earlier this year we moved into our new £5million headquarters in Boucher Place, Belfast.

“Gilbert-Ash’s ‘As One’ ethos ensures a culture of respect and togetherness, which underpins our relationships with our colleagues and, clients through to our supply chain network and wider public.

“While 2018 was indeed an exceptional year of incredible growth for Gilbert-Ash, this accolade reflects work we have put in over the last five years.

Similarly, 2019 was a year of strong consolidation and investment for Gilbert-Ash and this is reflected in our latest financial results with pre-tax profits of £5.7million compared to £7.6million in 2018. I am delighted we have continued to maintain both healthy turnover and profit-levels. This consolidation, coupled with a strong pipeline, puts us on track for the future. “

Eye on Office Space

Flexible office working could be the way forward post COVID-19 With many companies striving to find a practical way forward to suit both their staff and business needs in this post COVID19 era, Donna Linehan, Client Services Director at VenYou claims that serviced offices could provide the perfect solution whilst helping to boost the city centre’s economy by bringing employees safely back to the office. Donna writes…

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survey conducted by the Belfast Chamber found that only five per cent of workers have returned to the office in recent weeks and it’s forecast that the decline in footfall could end up costing the city centre a £200m loss in business per year. It begs the question; how do we encourage companies to return to the office and consequently boost Belfast’s local economy?

All businesses are established and operated differently which means that a ‘one size fits all’ approach just isn’t feasible. It’s safe to say that the majority of Belfast’s business community is keen to see the return of our bustling streets and to office working, but it’s imperative that businesses and their staff feel secure in doing so. The restoration of office working could also be regarded as an important move when it comes to staff’s mental health after months of isolation from their colleagues.

At VenYou, in order to facilitate businesses’ needs especially in the current climate, we believe that flexibility is key. The Scottish Provident Building, which is managed

by VenYou alongside Northern Court and Ascot House, has seen a steady increase in the number of tenants retuning to the office while others are continuing to alternate between

office and home working. This has all been made possible by VenYou and the extra measures that have been put in place to ensure the comfort and safety of our tenants.

In addition, flexible, short-term leases, which VenYou offers, means that businesses will only pay for what they need and additionally, making blended working between the office and home that little bit easier. This has seen half a dozen new tenants arrive in the last two months. We’ve noticed those in a ‘conventional’ office set-up, that have a break-out clause in their contract soon, have visited SPB for a viewing to review the many options available.

In terms of safety, the current social distancing guidelines can also be adhered to as each business will have its own private office thanks to the Scottish Provident Building’s traditional layout. Most of our offices have the capacity to cater for between three and eight members of staff, however some of our offices have space to accommodate up to 20 desks.

Furthermore, the Scottish Provident

Building also has a spacious outdoor terrace area which allows our tenants to relax on their lunch break or even have a meeting whilst maintaining social distancing. Recently, the team at VenYou has noted an increased interest from companies that are having to find alternative premises in order to accommodate social distancing within their own offices.

Since the beginning of lockdown, technology usage has increased enormously in terms of conducting virtual meetings and this is a sphere where serviced offices can provide great support. The meeting rooms in the Scottish Provident Building come fully equipped with video conferencing capabilities and additional technology such as laptops can also be arranged.

The heightened emphasis on cleanliness that most businesses are taking at the moment is encouraging. These extra precautions are what ultimately will continue to keep businesses operating and keep staff members safe.

Many businesses may find

themselves having to take on the bulk of the cleaning themselves or are hiring an external company to complete it on their behalf. At the Scottish Provident Building, we have a team of housekeeping staff who clean the kitchens, bathrooms and all communal areas at regular intervals throughout the day with an electrostatic handheld sprayer. Hand sanitising units have also been installed on each floor and outside the lifts and a one-way system for tenants has been put in place.

Looking to the future, it may take some innovative thinking for businesses to find a workable system to encourage staff back to the office and into the city centre. For many who are having to re-evaluate their business requirements due to the impact of the pandemic, serviced offices may provide the perfect solution.

For more information visit: www. venyou.co.uk or call: 028 9091 8500.

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Eye on Young Enterprise

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Carol Fitzsimons MBE, CEO of Young Enterprise NI reflects on what we have learned about the importance of skills development over the last few months…

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wanted to be a photographer.

My school’s online career tool, an innovation in technology in those days, suggested I would make an excellent librarian (I doubt it!). Instead I ended up as a graduate trainee in textile manufacturing, before specialising in learning and development, then finally moving to the role of Chief Executive of a charity.

It would be an impressive careers teacher that could have mapped that career journey. Yet it’s not unusual to work in a variety of roles and sectors over our employment lifetime. I meet people daily who have moved between different sectors and work in jobs that didn’t exist 20 years ago when they were at school.

I can clearly track my career pathway based on my skills set.

Manufacturing taught me project management & problem solving; learning and development taught me the importance of developing people to their full potential and helping them realise skills they didn’t even know they had; and the role of charity Chief Executive continues to challenge me to this day to achieve a social mission whilst pulling together the funding to support the delivery aspirations.

Maybe it’s time we stopped asking the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most adults say they still don’t know.

Maybe it’s time for some

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new questions - What are you passionate about? What challenges you? What do you want to learn more about? What problems do you want to solve?

The recent crisis has taught the best employees are those that are resilient and able to transform the skills that they have to the needs of the business. Organisations in all sectors have had to pivot and employees have had to reskill and retrain. In Young Enterprise that has meant trainers who are passionate about facilitating learning face-to-face with students have had to turn their hand to developing online content for our new digital learning management system, allowing the charity to continue develop the enterprising mindsets of young people.

What does it mean for your business? Do you know what jobs and skills you will need three years from now? Maybe not. But you probably do know that your best and brightest employees will be those who continue to rise to the challenge and use their problem solving and creativity skills to achieve your goals.

The new OECD Skills Strategy for NI includes creating a culture of lifelong learning as a priority.

We have already started that work and need to continue this drive in order to rebalance skills in the economy for areas of growth.

The linear career path has gone, if it ever really existed. People move across sectors and job roles multiple times in their careers.

Let’s aim for lifelong employability rather than lifelong employment.

Be part of developing the skills ecosystem . Create a culture of lifelong learning. Across Northern Ireland we have started on this journey that is being forced on us through the last months.

Let’s build on the shift and make skills development a key part of all our businesses.

Eye on News

Rainbow Communications Secures Microsoft Silver Partner Status

Northern Ireland’s largest independent cloud telecommunications and IT provider, Rainbow Communications, has been accredited as a global Microsoft Silver partner, putting it in the top five percent of companies in the world which holds the award.

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he Belfast-based company, which has more than 100 staff secured, the award following a rigorous audit of its operations by Microsoft which determined its top ranking for providing the best solutions for its customers.

Its newly-acquired silver status puts Rainbow Communications ahead of its competition, demonstrating a specific,

proven skill set to clients alongside high quality, consistent delivery. It also means its staff are now part of Microsoft’s global network and support hub, sharing resources, training, and best practice advice.

Sales & Marketing Director at Rainbow Communications, Stuart Carson, said: “With more people working remotely, companies need to know they have the best technology solutions in place which provide the capacity, security and flexibility they need to thrive. That is why we are committed to delivering an exceptional, market-leading service for the clients we work with to help them get the very best out of their organisations at a time when they need it most.”

“Like many companies, we are continuing to invest in our people, products and digital skills to ensure everyone in Northern Ireland has access to a range of powerfully transformative software and communications technology to meet all challenges in the future. Securing Microsoft partner status is a significant milestone for our business, and it provides all our clients with the reassurance they need to know that we have everything covered.”

Since March, Rainbow Communications has been working directly with hundreds of businesses across Northern Ireland, helping to reframe their internal processes so that communications with staff and clients can continue without any loss of service and to support continued remote working needs.

“Now that businesses have moved beyond initial crisis management, companies are focusing on rebuilding revenue and reshaping business models to meet a new economic environment,” Stuart said. “The new realities of working may be different, but they can be easily overcome and improved with the right advice and the best technology, saving everyone valuable time and money.”

Operating for more than two decades and with more than 10,000 customers across the region, Rainbow Communications counts Harry Corry, Shelbourne Motors, La Mon and the NI Civil Service among its growing client base.

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Eye on News

Avison Young expands operations in Northern Ireland as GVA NI becomes Avison Young Mark Rose, Torontobased Chair and CEO of Avison Young today announced a strategic affiliation with GVA NI in Belfast, which will now be known as Avison Young.

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he affiliation builds on a well-established relationship between the firms, which have collectively worked together for more than two decades across Ireland, the U.K. and Europe.

“This is a natural evolution of our longstanding partnership with the team in Northern Ireland who have built on their fantastic heritage to become leading advisors delivering a full range of transactional and consultancy services to clients,” said Rose. “They have prided themselves on their challenger mentality, as does Avison Young; our teams wrap themselves around our clients and their success, which is especially important as we navigate times unlike any other.”

More than 40 professionals from GVA NI and GVA Donal O Buachalla in the Republic of Ireland, including nine Principals, join 5,000 colleagues around the world under the Avison Young brand. The professionals in Ireland will continue to offer property services across all sectors, drawing on the right mix of expertise to align portfolios and projects to clients’ business needs – whether assets are single properties in Ireland or global portfolios.

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Jago Bret, Principal and Managing Director Avison Young in Northern Ireland (left) is pictured with Principals Scott Adam (centre) and Gavin Weir (right).

“We are well known for providing exceptional property consultancy and transactional services to our clients; now enhanced by the services and technology of Avison Young,” said Jago Bret, Principal and Managing Director with Avison Young in Northern Ireland.

“Our team in Belfast brings a wealth of experience and market knowledge with a diverse client base – local, U.K. and international corporates – across the private and public sectors. Formalising the relationship with Avison Young allows us and our Dublin colleagues to serve our existing clients with the same level of service, backed by the platform,

best practices and technology of a global firm,” added Jago.

In strengthening the relationship with Avison Young, teams will work even more closely with global colleagues across consulting, transactions, valuation, and landlord and tenant services; leverage the firms’ innovation tools; as well as be an access point for Avison Young colleagues for the Northern Ireland market.

Avison Young creates real economic, social and environmental value as a global real estate advisor, powered by people. As a private company, our clients collaborate with an empowered partner who is invested in their success. Our

integrated talent realizes the full potential of real estate by using global intelligence platforms that provide clients with insights and advantage. Together, we can create healthy, productive workplaces for employees, cities that are centers for prosperity for their citizens, and built spaces and places that create a net benefit to the economy, the environment and the community.

Avison Young is a 2020 winner of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies Platinum Club designation, having retained its Best Managed designation for nine consecutive years. www.avisonyoung.com

Eye on News

CITB & Women In Business Join Forces To Develop Careers For Women Roseann Kelly of Women In Business with CITB’s Barry Neilsen

Construction Industry Training Board NI (CITB NI) and the Women in Construction Network (WICN) hosted the inaugural Women in Construction Summit in March 2020.

During this Summit mentoring was identified as a key area of development for women in construction, and an area CITB NI’s Chief Executive committed to deliver.

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entoring is seen as a valuable way to help women develop their careers, providing support with tackling specific issues by utilising the skills and experience of the mentor to help work through problems and new ideas. It can also be useful for the mentor as it provides them with a new skill set and it increases the network of both parties.

CITB NI has therefore joined Women in Business NI as a corporate member which will provide access to the WIB NI mentoring scheme for members of

the CITB NI Women in Construction Network as well as an opportunity to attend free virtual events and avail of discounted development programmes.

The WIB NI mentoring programme is well-established and well-respected which will allow members of the WICN to match with mentors from outside the construction industry. This will provide a wider perspective than an industry-based mentoring scheme and will allow for cross-sectoral learning. WICN members are also encouraged to become mentors as they have valuable experience in the

construction sector that may be useful to women working in other areas.

Barry Neilson, Chief Executive from CITB NI, said: “The Women in Construction NI Summit came about because we listened to what the women in our network told us they would like to see.

Similarly we have listened to what they asked for at the Summit and are delighted to become members of Women in Business NI as this will provide great opportunities for mentoring and networking, not just for the Women in Construction Network, but also for our own female staff.”

Chief Executive, Roseann Kelly from Women in Business NI commented: “We are delighted to have CITB NI as a Corporate Member. Along with a fabulous mentoring programme, Women in Business provides a wealth of opportunities for CITB NI members to develop their personal and professional growth through the Centre of Learning. We are also supporting our members development

through online webinars and networking events. We have a packed schedule of free online events in the months ahead offering a mix of business development, industry based online networking and a focus on health and wellbeing.”

Spaces are limited per mentoring cohort, and to participate in the mentoring programme you must be a member of the CITB NI Women in Construction Network which is open to anyone working in the construction industry. The WICN runs seminars and site visits throughout the year and these are beneficial networking opportunities.

A construction sector networking event has been planned by WIB NI on Tuesday 3rd November and WICN members are encouraged to register.

For more information on the CITB NI Women in Construction Network contact Karen Hunter karen.hunter@ citbni.org.uk.

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Eye on Training

ApprenticeshipsNow Is the Time to Invest

By Aidan Sloane, Head of Skills | Apprenticeships | Employer Engagement at Belfast Metropolitan College

Living in these unprecedented and challenging times, it is important now more than ever that we continue to support the development of the Northern Ireland skills pipeline, which supports the needs of both employers and our economy whilst also providing valuable employment for our young people.

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elfast Met is accelerating its efforts in collaboration with employers across a range of industries to ensure the retention of existing apprentices in employment, as well as the recruitment of new apprentices to new employment opportunities. We are delighted with the recent announcement from the Department for Economy that decisive action has been taken to overcome the potentially devastating impact of the crisis on the apprenticeship market, with over ÂŁ17.2million in additional financial support now available for employers to help retain and recruit apprentices.

Apprenticeships and traineeships improve the employability of young people and prepare them for the jobs

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that employers and wider society need, and so employers have a pivotal role to play.

Businesses are the contributor of employment opportunities and have the influence to provide work-based learning opportunities across a range of professional and technical areas.

In this context, it makes good sense for employers to recruit young people in order to mitigate the risk and leverage the opportunity, creating new apprenticeship opportunities that will enhance their workforce and deliver both economic and social impact. Employers can develop their skills and talent pipeline and develop innovative workforce development, by supporting young people through tailored and fully funded apprenticeship solutions.

At Belfast Met’s Centre for Skills & Apprenticeships we are fully committed to supporting employers to provide training and apprenticeship opportunities for young people across Northern Ireland. Amidst the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have further developed our online blended learning solutions to ensure the continuity of our training and apprenticeship provision. We also continue to work collaboratively with employers at a national, regional and local level to create new apprenticeship opportunities that are helping young people develop the skills and attributes they need to be successful in the world of work.

The current crisis requires a comprehensive and collaborative response to support economic

recovery efforts. We need to skill, reskill and upskill our people to support our economic recovery and to provide a sustainable path out of the crisis.

Belfast Met’s Centre for Skills and Apprenticeships provides a tailored responsive approach for employers, identifying and responding to individual employer needs. We are seeking employer partners across a range of industries to support economic recovery and development, and to ensure we maintain and grow the supply of apprenticeship opportunities in Northern Ireland.

We are here to help and to find out more please contact a member of our team apprenticeships@belfastmet. ac.uk oremployerengagement@ belfastmet.ac.uk.

Eye on News

MAC Launches New Café Bar Belfast’s award-winning arts venue, the MAC, has launched its new Café Bar which has been carefully planned to enable visitors to eat, drink and work in a safe and stimulating environment.

Head Chef, Gareth Curran launches the Autumn Menu at the MAC’s new Cafe Bar.

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ith many employees working from home, the MAC provides a space where workers can take a much needed break from the home office or meet with a colleague in a socially distant and controlled way.

A specially curated Autumn menu has also been designed by Head Chef, Gareth Curran - formerly of Mount Charles who has over 30 years experience in the catering industry - and features a range of tasty options for all the family.

Speaking at the launch of the new MAC Café Bar, Gareth said: “We’ve spent the last few months, whilst we’ve been closed, revamping and refreshing our Café Bar and developed a menu that is in keeping with the warm welcome visitors have come to expect here at the MAC. “Our new Café Bar is a friendly place for visitors to think, work, hide, unwind and of course indulge, so we look forward to welcoming everyone here to enjoy what we have on offer.

The new menu features affordable children’s lunches, all-day brunch and home-baked buns and cakes, all made daily by the team here.”

Since its opening in 2012, the MAC has become a cultural hub and a beacon for the ongoing regeneration of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. The venue is a registered charity

and reinvests the revenue generated through the cafe bar to produce its eclectic programme of visual art, theatre, dance, family workshops and more, for arts and culture lovers across Northern Ireland.

Gareth added: “All revenue raised through the MAC’s Café Bar goes into creating connections between people and art. So when you next visit for a coffee or bite to eat, know that you are doing your bit to secure the future of Northern Ireland’s leading cultural venue.”

Safety of customers, staff and visitors is a priority at the MAC and the team has put in place a number of measures to ensure a comfortable and safe visit for their customers, including carefully planned social distancing tour routes.

“We’ve made some changes to how we do things, but visitors can expect the same warm welcome and great hospitality during their time with us. As the only arts and cultural venue to reopen in the Cathedral Quarter so far, we believe the visitor experience at the MAC is more important now than ever,” Gareth concluded.

The Café Bar is open alongside the MAC galleries from 10am to 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday so pop in for lunch, brunch, coffee or pastries to sit in or to go, walk-ins are encouraged and booking is not required.

To view the MAC’s Café Bar menus, visit themaclive.com/cafe-bar. You can also review their Covid-19 safety measures at themaclive.com/keeping-you-safe.

Eye on News

Silver Diversity Award For Danske Bank

Danske Bank has become the first bank in Northern Ireland to be awarded the Silver Diversity Mark by awarding body Diversity Mark NI. Silver is currently the highest level available and only one other company to date, Allstate NI, has received the award.

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he award recognises the bank’s commitment to embracing diversity and creating an inclusive culture where differences are seen as a strength and where people feel valued and realise their full potential.

Diversity Mark applications are assessed by an independent panel of experts.

Danske Bank demonstrated significant improvements in female representation at Board level and in senior roles as well as a strong commitment to wider diversity through clear targets and new initiatives around sexual orientation and disability.

Danske Bank has three employee networks – a Gender Diversity, a Rainbow Network and a disability network, Enable.

Commenting on the award, Caroline van

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Christine White, Head of Business at Diversity Mark NI, presents Danske Bank chief executive Kevin Kingston and Caroline van der Feltz, HR Director, with a Silver Diversity Mark award.

Danske Bank is the first bank and only the second company in NI to receive the award.

der Feltz, HR Director at Danske Bank said: “At Danske Bank people are at the heart of everything we do and we want to ensure that every colleague and customer feels supported, accepted and included.

“As part of our Danske Belong strategy we have very strong employee networks which are driven by passionate volunteers with the focus and ambition to make Danske Bank a place of work where people feel they can be their true selves. The networks have been instrumental in opening up debate, introducing new initiatives and challenging for change, and they have the full support of our senior management team.

“Of course, working life has transformed since the pandemic and we will continue to listen to colleague feedback, collaborate to introduce new policies or initiatives where necessary, and also step up our focus on wellbeing.

“The Diversity Mark underpins our commitment to drive diversity and inclusion and be a force for good in Northern Ireland, and I would encourage other organisations to show their commitment by applying for it.”

Christine White, Diversity Mark NI, added:

“Our assessment panel commended Danske Bank for its strong commitment to diversity and inclusion and the progress it has made. This is an organisation with a laser focus on measurement, using data and employee feedback to drive strategy and to set clear and ambitious targets around diversity and inclusion. The panel found it particularly encouraging to see the marked increase in female representation at Board Level, Senior Manager level and Graduate level, which is evidence of what can be achieved through focused effort.”

Danske Bank is also a signatory of the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and UK Disability Confident scheme, was the first company in Northern Ireland to sign up to the Valuable 500 and is signed up to be a Stonewall Global Diversity Champion.

Diversity Mark NI was established in 2016 and has more than 70 signatory organisations from all business sectors across Northern Ireland. All organisations registered with the Diversity Mark NI join at the bronze level and earn higher recognitions based on their progress and inclusive diversity achievements.

For when business success needs admin support

Eye Moving On Genesis Bakery has announced the 1 appointment of Mark Mitchell as general manager at the Magherafelt bakery.

Mark is a former Managing Director of Wrightbus’ international branch and has a wealth of experience in the food sector.

UK & Ireland specialist building products company, AG (Acheson & Glover), has 2 appointed Ross Telford as its new Head of Marketing. Ross has more than 15 years of experience in marketing management roles. Most significantly, Ross spent 10 of these years leading the marketing department in a builders merchant and a construction manufacturing company.

1 Mark Mitchell

2 Ross Telford

3 Nicola Morris

3 Nicola Morris has been appointed as Office Manager and Assistant to the Chief Executive at Ards Business Hub. She formerly worked in finance and with a digital software company.

4 Reach has announced that Ryan Smith is the new Editor of Belfast Live, its only digital news site in Northern Ireland. At 26 years old, it makes Ryan (pictured) the youngest editor of a major news brand in Northern Ireland.

He started his career as a reporter with the Fermanagh Herald in 2012 before moving to Belfast Live and the Daily Mirror NI in 2015.

4 Ryan Smith

5 Laura Nolan

6 Cathy Mullan

5 Laura Nolan has been appointed as Employee Relations / HR Consultant with BeyondHR. Laura has more than 15 years’ experience in the HR industry, most of which was spent in the HR department at Henderson Group.

6 Also at Beyond HR, Cathy Mullan becomes an HR Consultant. Cathy has 3 years’ experience working in the HR department at Belfast International Airport.

7 ABP Food Group has appointed Chris Martin as a non-executive director to its Board.

Chris has over thirty five years’ experience of working in retail and consumer facing businesses in Great Britain and Ireland.

Formerly CEO of Musgrave, he was best known for operating the Supervalu, Centra and Musgrave marketplace brands in Ireland and Musgrave’s retail and food service operations in Spain.

7 Chris Martin

8 Gemma Reilly

9 Jillian Hoy

8 Gemma Reilly becomes Spa Manager at the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa. She has been with Hastings Hotels since 2017 when she undertook the Trainee Manager Programme. During this time she has worked across various properties within the group before she was appointed Assistant Spa Manager in August 2019.

9 Jillian Hoy has been appointed Research Manager with the research body, AgriSearch.

She was previously employed with the Scottish Wildlife Trust where she was responsible for project managing the development of the Peatland Code, a voluntary certification scheme to encourage peatland restoration.

10 Richard Lusty

10 Richard Lusty has been appointed as Regional Performance Manager to the Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking team at Ulster Bank. A Chartered Accountant, Richard joined Ulster Bank from KPMG and has held a number of senior positions during this time. Most recently, he was responsible for driving the alignment of Corporate & Commercial Banking NI into the NatWest Group.

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Eye on News

Survey Reinforces Need For Better Online Public Services

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he first post COVID-19 public survey released by Civica, a global leader in software for public services, has reinforced that: t "MNPTU IBMG PG /PSUIFSO Irish adults (49%) say they want to use digital tech more frequently following lockdown t POF UIJSE PG DJUJ[FOT TVSWFZFE believe the public sector could make better use of digital technology to enhance their lives.

Led by a national impetus for better digital technologies and reliable online services, the survey shows the ‘need to connect’ is now embedded. Public appetite for use of technology and online services has undergone a distinct shift and public sector organisations need to recognise and work with this change.

The research is revealed in a new Civica Changing Landscape report, ‘Passing the tipping point for digital: the nudge effect of the pandemic’.

The report is based on key findings from senior leadership forums and two new sets of research from more

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than 2,000 citizens across Northern Ireland. It explores how public sector organisations throughout the region must recognise and capitalise on this digital momentum to re-shape the delivery of public services for the future.

The report also found: t "MNPTU IBMG PG TVSWFZFE citizens believe digital technologies can connect the community or improve the lives of citizens following the pandemic t DMBJN UIFZ USVTU government services more following the pandemic Mark Owens, Managing Director at Civica Northern Ireland explained: “This is a comprehensive survey of attitudes to online engagement with public services. It shows that the government can respond in record time to deliver effective software such as the COVID-19 NI symptom tracker information app and recent track and trace version.

“But we cannot wait for a crisis to deepen before we recognise, we

have the technology to give remote access to vital services such as GP appointments, manage socially distanced out-patient services or provide personalised benefits support. Plus, the public is clearly telling us that they want these services online and will use them.”

The report also calls for the Northern Ireland government to support affordable and reliable broadband, as well as fast tracking procurement of user-friendly government software and apps.

This will make it easier, particularly for older people, to access the services they need online.

“Previous surveys showed slow progress in older generations embracing technology to access public services, but the current pandemic has shown a dramatic change in attitudes.

“Last year we brought together digital leaders in the public and private sectors to discuss how we could speed-up government and private sector collaboration.

“Our public sector leaders

agreed that more strategic digital programmes were crucial as digital communications are central to our lives. But to successfully lead these, we need collaboration, closer partnerships with digital suppliers and a procurement framework that puts the citizens’ needs above all else.

“The challenge now is for public and private sector leaders in NI to continue to invest in initiatives designed to meet the growing demand in all areas of life. To support communities, people and employees on the difficult road ahead.”

‘Passing the tipping point for digital: the nudge effect of the pandemic’ is the latest instalment in Civica’s Changing Landscape series of reports.

To read more about the new report, please visit www.civica.co.uk/digital-ni-2020.

Eye on News

NIE Networks announces PIPS as its new Charity of the Year

NIE Networks has announced that PIPS will be its charity partner for the coming year. The new partnership will see NIE Networks employees from across its 13 regional sites fundraise for the charity.

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IPS (Public Initiative for Prevention of Suicide & Self Harm) is a grass roots, community-led organisation founded in 2008, which delivers suicide prevention and bereavement support services, counselling and therapies to individuals who are considering or have considered ending their own lives, as well as family and friends that have been affected by suicide.

The team at NIE Networks plans to fundraise

Pictured (L-R) is Renée Quinn, Executive Director at PIPS; Peter Mullan, Secretary of the NIE Networks Charities Fund; and Paula Leathem, Senior HR Business Partner at NIE Networks.

through payroll giving, as well as organising company-wide events throughout the year, including a number of smaller fundraising initiatives which will be run at a regional level across Northern Ireland, provided it is safe to do so.

In recent years, NIE Networks has demonstrated a strong track record of charity work, and through both financial donations and volunteering, it has donated tens of thousands of pounds to local charities that are in need of support.

Paula Leathem, Senior HR Business Partner at NIE Networks, said: “As part of our ongoing employee engagement strategy, we placed the decision regarding our Charity of the Year into the hands of our employees, and I am proud that we have chosen to support such a worthwhile cause in PIPS. “There are strong synergies between our positive culture around mental health and wellbeing and PIPS, and we recognise the importance of promoting and supporting mental health

and wellbeing, both at work and at home.

“With that in mind, we have asked all of our employees to make a monthly donation to the NIE Networks Charities Fund, which will go towards the crucial work PIPS undertakes in our local communities. For every individual that signs up to the monthly donation scheme, NIE Networks is committed to donating an additional £1 to the fund per month.”

Renée Quinn, Executive Director at PIPS, added: “Given the current global crisis we are all facing, now is more important than ever to continue placing a strong emphasis on mental health and wellbeing.

“Therefore, it is crucial that we continue to get buy-in from corporate sponsors like NIE Networks, in order to help us drive the important work that we carry out in communities across Northern Ireland.

“We are thrilled to have NIE Networks on board and we look forward to collaborating with them over the coming year.”

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Eye on Management

Covid19 Gamechangerif embraced effectively!

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n June 2020, Business Eye featured UrCare’s proposition in assisting businesses and organisations create a platform for stability and what they referred to as ‘recalibration’ with the predicted escalation of the COVID-19 situation intensifying. In comparing how Red Adair approached a fire spreading out of control, they highlighted that the cinders behind the front line were the unseen risk with our current challenge and had the potential to accumulate and develop a more intense, uncontrollable, situation.

Since June, UrCare has been working with organisations and governments, globally, in a response to operations and activities in a sustainable and informed manner. The summer period presented an opportunity for many to address short term wounds to operations and longer-term realisation that the economy may tread water for some time in this decade. Ongoing government economic support is not a realistic option and we must now look at tactics to get ahead of the emerging situation and ensure businesses and delivery of public services can create a platform to stabilise. A particular concern for Northern Ireland that stayed in 2nd gear since 2008 across may sectors and faced with uncertainty over Brexit.

Test, test, test is core to UrCare’s approach and they now have a “gamechanger” emerging in the form of rapid Antigen testing, as opposed to PCR. The speed of result and appropriate application is essential to ensure an effective approach is adopted.

Antigen tests are immunoassays that detect the presence of a specific viral antigen, which implies current viral infection. Antigen tests are currently authorised to be performed on nasopharyngeal or nasal swab specimens placed directly into the assay’s extraction buffer or reagent. They have the benefit of: 1. Ease of use by general operatives; 2. Speed of results i.e. c15 mins; 3. Not diverting staff from operational matters to testing centres; 4. Test is a fraction of the cost of lab-based tests, thus more sustainable solution in longer term and repeat testing; 5. Availability and reliability by manufacturers in the diagnostics market; 6. Capacity for ongoing supply and quality control processes in place.

Roger Alexander, CEO of UrCare, stated the problem is that testing for Covid-19 is expensive, inconvenient and the laboratories required time for transport and analysis to process results, within a backdrop of restricted capacity. COVID-19 tests are mostly done using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based tests, which require clinical samples, often obtained by self-test at testing centres, to be delivered to well-

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resourced laboratories staffed by highly skilled clinical technicians. The World Health Organisation have now recognised the benefits of a reliable Antigen test and view it as one of the ways to get ahead of the virus.’

WHO have stated rapid Antigen testing is beneficial where testing capacity has ‘proven inefficient and slow’ in the face of a rapidly spreading virus, where the new diagnostic tests could be used to investigate localised outbreaks when demand exceeds the capacity of PCR testing facilities. They have recommended that appropriate scenarios for use of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests include; i) To respond to suspected outbreaks of COVID-19 in remote settings, institutions and semi-closed communities; ii) To support outbreak investigations (e.g. in closed or semi-closed groups including schools, carehomes, cruise ships, prisons and work-places); iii) To monitor trends in disease incidence in communities, and particularly among essential workers and health workers during outbreaks or in regions of widespread community transmission; iv) Where there is widespread community transmission, may be used for early detection and isolation of positive cases in health facilities, COVID-19 testing centres/sites, care homes, prisons, schools, frontline and health-care workers and for contact tracing. v) Testing of asymptomatic contacts of cases.

Roger stated, ‘In the past few months UrCare have now developed partnerships with reliable manufacturers of rapid Antigen test and currently in discussion with administrations in Middle East, Africa, South America and Europe. Both the Rapid Antibody and Antigen tests are also being considered by the Irish Government. Rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 infection will also help healthcare professionals to identify patients and control the disease more efficiently and effectively. The Antigen tests are relatively inexpensive, compared to PCR, and can be used at the point-ofcare with results in approximately 15 minutes.

Antigen tests are generally less sensitive than viral tests (RT-PCR) but the clinical performance of rapid antigen diagnostic tests largely depends on the circumstances in which they are used and administration of the clinical sample. Rapid antigen tests perform best when the person is tested in the early stages of infection with COVID-19 when viral load is generally highest. This is the benefit in quickly assessing the risk and avoid speculation or doubt, meaning no disruption or uncertainty.

‘If you get those cases out of the community quickly, they’ll expose even fewer people and that’s how you get ahead of an epidemic’ Dr Michael Ryan, WHO As a previous Non-Executive Director on a Health Trust in Northern Ireland and operational adviser to health stakeholders in London and Saudi Arabia, Roger reflected, ‘particularly in the health environment there is significant disruption to routine procedures, which presents a significant risk moving forward for the region. A test which is black and white, there and then in my view changes the dynamic. Tactically, getting ahead of a potential raging fire and also suppressing the cinders is so essential, instead of commentating retrospectively on its emerging impact. The window of opportunity is closing, which will have social, economic and destabilising political impact on society for decades. The rapid Antibody tests also play a critical part, especially the economically active and younger generation who may have been asymptomatic but developed antibodies. The cocktail of both, as long as reliable, are a step change in getting ahead.

Peter Tait, Operational Director for UrCare stated ‘we are now working at a senior level with many organisations and governments globally in developing their operational risk plans to establish a clear strategy & implementation plans. This includes: t " SFBM UJNF QFSTQFDUJWF PG XIFSF the risk currently sits, t 4DFOBSJP BOBMZTJT GPS VODFSUBJOUZ BOE UJNFMJOFT t 3FDPOGJSN ZPVS PSHBOJTBUJPOBM PQFSBUJPOBM NBSLFUT vision and actions to maintain momentum;

Eye on Management t 4USBUFHJD QMBOT BOE SFTPVSDF NBOBHFNFOU that are relevant across scenarios; t .PCJMJTF BOE CF QSFQBSFE UP NPSQI to emerging circumstances; t %FDJTJWF HPWFSOBODF TUSVDUVSF UP BDU quickly with technical support.

business case to governments and commercial clients.’

UrCare have identified this will be an emerging complexity and sustainable solutions need to be found. The UrCare model, combining both the Rapid Antigen and Antibody Testing is anticipated to be a ‘gamechanger’ in assisting to provide capacity and capability, to inform decision making and avoid repeated mistakes, ultimately costing lives of those most vulnerable.

For organisations, UrCare will continue to collaborate to establish principles that ensure optimal planning and outputs. This will ensure that the spaces are functional, safe and promote staff, student, patient and user confidence that their environment is safe, informed by a testing protocol.

UrCare interventions will promote and create operational momentum for organisations, who are faced with complex decisions over the next year.

UrCare’s core approach is based on motivating and changing behaviour being critical to reinjecting momentum.

UrCare are partnering with leaders to create a strategic vision by: 1. People first approach; 2. Short-term momentum and leadership; 3. Redefining objectives, customers and other stakeholders; 4. Establish a change management team and develop a resilience plan; 5. Operational restructuring, embracing more effective performance; 6. Developing with HR and Boardroom a clinical and technical implementation plan.

Peter reflected, ‘by way of example, as part of the testing strategy, and in response to that need, UrCare propose to conduct an antigen and antibody testing trial at a number of secondary and third level

education facilities. The aim is to prove concept, to build trust in the teacher, student, parent and guardian sphere, to showcase the impact of rapid point of care testing and build statistical data to support our

To discuss how UrCare can assist your organisation, contact momentum@urcare. co.uk or visit the website www.urcare.co.uk.

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Eye on News

Maxol And Henderson Group Renew Contract With £425M Deal

Maxol, Northern Ireland’s leading forecourt and convenience retailer, has today announced the renewal of its strategic alliance with the Henderson Group, the company that owns the SPAR franchise in Northern Ireland.

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he new deal, worth £425m over five years, strengthens the partnership between the two family-owned businesses which was forged more than a decade ago in 2009.

Under the terms of the new deal, Maxol will supply fuel under the Maxol brand to 30 Henderson Group owned service stations over the lifetime of the deal.

Meanwhile Henderson Group will continue to supply 24 Maxol service stations under the SPAR brand, with its strong emphasis on supporting local suppliers, over five years.

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Maxol will introduce SPAR dailyDeli to enhance choice and convenience for their customers throughout the day, at six new sites by the end of April 2021, including Glenabbey, Townparks in Antrim, Eglinton, Scarva Rd in Banbridge, Portrush and Saintfield.

Maxol will also invest in Henderson’s on-the-go coffee brand as new Barista Bar coffee equipment will be installed at each of their 24 company owned sites and further in store refreshes are planned over the next two years at 15 locations across Northern Ireland.

Pictured (l-r) at Maxol Glenabbey Service Station are Brian Donaldson, CEO of The Maxol Group, Ron Whitten, Chief Financial Officer with the Henderson Group and Paddy Doody, Sales and Marketing Director with the Henderson Group.

Brian Donaldson, CEO of The Maxol Group, said: “This contract renewal demonstrates the great strength of our long-term relationship and the success of our partnership with the Henderson Group.

“As a fourth generation family owned business it means we are able to deliver on our commitment to supporting local producers and to providing our customers with quality, choice, value and convenience – whether that’s with every day fresh ingredients to cook at home or being able to enjoy food on the go with meals that have been freshly prepared on site – right where they need it, in the heart of the local community.

“I am delighted that today’s announcement marks a milestone in an enduring alliance that continues

to benefit our independent retailers and customers right across Northern Ireland and we look forward to continuing to build on our success.”

Paddy Doody, Sales and Marketing Director, Henderson Group, said: “We have enjoyed a strong strategic partnership with Maxol which has brought huge benefits to both brands over the past 11 years. As two locally owned, family run businesses, we’re proud to collaborate and bring further opportunities to our network of retailers across Northern Ireland.

“Barista Bar and dailyDeli are two of our most popular services and we’re excited to see this partnership facilitate their growth even further throughout the local towns and communities in which we operate.”

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Eye on Motoring

Volkswagen Unleashes HighPerformance Hybrid Volkswagen has introduced a high performance plug-in hybrid version of the big Touareg model.

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t tops off the range in place of the old Touareg V8 TDI, a sure sign that high performance big diesels – or those that are left – are living on borrowed time.

The new R becomes the first model in Volkswagen’s flagship SUV lineup to wear the R badge since the memorable 345 bhp twin turbo 5.0 litre V8 model launched way back in 2007 The new Touareg R’s petrol-electric driveline is the same as that used in a number of upmarket Volkswagen Group models, including the Porsche Cayenne

E-Hybrid, Audi Q7 TFSIe quattro and Bentley Bentayga Hybrid, albeit with some small tweaks aimed at providing the car with its own unique character.

Power comes from a twinturbocharged 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine developing 335bhp and 332lb ft of torque as well as an electric motor with 134bhp and 295lb ft. Together, they provide a combined system output of 456bhp and 516lb ft.

This is 80bhp and 74lb ft more than the same driveline develops in the altogether

milder Touareg eHybrid, which is planned to see UK deliveries at the same time as the Touareg R by the end of 2020.

Drive is sent through a standard eight-speed torque-converterequipped automatic gearbox with Tiptronic manual shifting capability via steering wheel mounted paddles and a Torsen torque-sensing four-wheel drive system engineered by Audi. The latter is capable of transferring up to

70% of drive to the front wheels or alternatively 80% to the rear wheels depending on prevailing traction.

Energy for the electric motor is supplied by a 14.3kWh lithium ion battery mounted beneath the boot floor. It can be charged either on the run using part of the combustion engine as a generator or via a plug at up to 7.2kW on an AC system, at which Volkswagen claims a charge time of two and a half hours.

Toyota Facelifts The Trusty Hilux

Fans of the old Top Gear (the ones with Clarkson, May & Hammond) will remember the episode where the presenters did their level best to destroy an old Toyota Hilux pick up....but failed.

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n a memorable final scene, the Toyota was placed on top of an old block of flats which was then demolished. But, once it was recovered from the rubble, it started once again.

On that note, Toyota has updated the hard working

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and durable Hilux pick-up for 2020, and its on sale in the UK now with prices starting from £26,895 for the entry-level Active Single Cab model and climbing to £40,475 for the range-topping Invincible X Double Cab variant. Quite a lot for a pick up, it has to be said.

Standard equipment for the entry-level Hilux Active includes automatic headlights, a locking rear differential, air-conditioning, a CD player and Bluetooth connectivity. Buyers also get a few driver assistance systems, such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and road sign assist.

The mid-range Icon model is priced from £31,795 and adds 17-inch alloy wheels, an automatic limited-slip differential, electrically folding door mirrors, privacy glass, LED front fog lamps and side steps. Inside there’s an eight-infotainment system with smartphone connectivity which is linked to a reversing camera system.

The Active model is available in a standard cab, double cab or extended cab body styles, with the latter two options carrying a premium of £750 and £1,500 respectively. Icon models and up are only available as a double cab pickup – although every model shares the same one tonne payload and 3.5 tonne towing capacity.

The upper mid-range Hilux Invincible has a starting price of £34,925, for which buyers get 18-inch wheels, heated front seats, front and rear parking sensors, and a de-icing function for the pick-up truck’s windscreen wipers. Toyota has also thrown in keyless entry and automatic air conditioning.

The flagship Invincible X model is priced from £38,975 and is more generously equipped, sporting a styling package that includes a unique radiator grille, a new front bumper, flared wheel arches, different door handles and a restyled tailgate.

Inside, the range-topping variant gets some new black metallic and chrome trim, perforated leather upholstery, an ambient lighting system and an electrically adjustable driver’s seat. To finish the package off, Toyota has also added a premium JBL stereo system, comprising a 224mm subwoofer and an 800W eight-channel amplifier.

Buyers can also choose from a few optional extras, such as hard bed covers, roller bed covers, a locking tailgate and a 12-volt power supply mounted in the load bed. Toyota also offers a choice of nine body colours, including a new Titan Bronze finish which is exclusive to the range-topping Invincible X model.

Oh, and Cosmetic tweaks for the facelifted Toyota Hilux include a new front bumper, a new radiator grille and a pair of revised LED headlamps.

The flagship Invincible and Invincible X variants also feature a set of new 18-inch alloy wheels and redesigned LED rear light clusters.

As part of the update, Toyota also now offers a new turbocharged 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, which sits above the Hilux’s existing 148bhp 2.4-litre powertrain. The new unit develops 201bhp and 500Nm of torque, which gives the pick-up a claimed 0–62mph time of 10 seconds flat – 3.2 seconds faster than the less powerful engine.

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Eye on Motoring

Latest McLaren Breaks Cover

The very latest road car from McLaren has been revaled.

It’s the longtail 765LT, the third model to be launched in the Longtail series.

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he team at McLaren’s Surrey plant are magicians when it comes to weight saving, just about the most important discipline for car engineers at this level.

And they’ve somehow managed to squeeze a weight saving of 80

kilograms for this particular model.

Mind you, sacrifices have to be made if you want an ultra light car. Buy one of these and you’ll have to live without air conditioning and an audio system.

So you’ll need to be an out and out enthusiast, happy to sweat it out on warm days and enjoy listening to the sound of the engine and nothing else. It’s even got thinner windows, for heaven’s sake.

All this to eke as much power as possible from the engine. It’s a twin turbo 4.0 litre V8 producing, wait for it, 755 bhp. That’s good enough for 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds and a top speed, should you ever require it, of 205 mph.

Punchier, on paper, than a Ferrari F8 Tributo and in the same league as the V12 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. And about 300 kg lighter.

Meanwhile, its suspension specification and tuning makes

it very clear that, when McLaren talks in general terms about the new levels of driver engagement it targeted for the car, and the limit handling exploitability it aimed for, the departure point was a key rebalancing of the 720S’ grip levels.

The car rides some 5mm lower than a 720S at the front axle, and has a front track that’s 6mm wider.

Those two changes alone – inclining the car’s roll axis towards the nose and creating more grip and mechanical advantage for the front wheels – provide much of the extra bite perceptible in its handling. The car’s interlinked ‘active’ damping system has been overhauled, too, although less widely; it’s been given steelskinned gas accumulators for better track robustness, and recalibrated with new software.

All very technical, but it points to huge lateral grip and body control.

Greener Than Green...Jaguar Land Rover Goes For Recycled Waste Interiors Those of you out there determined to do your ultimate for the environment might be interested in this one.

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uying a big, expensive Jaguar and Land Rover might not seem like an obvious way to help the earth, but think again.

JLR has announced that future models will use new materials created with recycled waste land and ocean plastic, as part of a new company-wide sustainability drive.

Yep, you read it right. Part of your brand, spanking new Jag or Land Rover could well have been made from old Tesco bags, maybe a few Coke bottles and those plastic things that tie your beer cans together.

The car maker has teamed up with Italian fibre and polymer giant Aquaful, with next generation cars set to be offered with floor mats

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and interior trims using Econyl.

It’s a patented yarn produced using waste plastics including recycled industrial materials.

The synthetic material is used widely in interior design and has apparently been used in fashion and watchmaking, too.

Its use in the automotive industry is already well established - BMW has used it in the all-electric i3 since 2016, Volvo turned to the material for the V90 Cross Country Ocean Race special edition in 2017, while much more recently the fibre is used in the floor mats of luxury vehicles like the brand new Mercedes S-Class limo and the all-electric Porsche Taycan.

JLR and Aquafil say that creating the reclaimed fibre over newly

synthesised nylon is around 90 per cent less impactful on the environment. Byproducts, such as non-nylon, metallic materials or copper sulphate (found on discarded fishing nets) are removed and sent to

alternative recycling industries.

JLR says that the resulting product is hardwearing and premium to the touch, but has not identified which specific parts of its next interiors will be trimmed in Econyl, aside from the floor mats.

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