Leeds Business Review Jan 2015

LEEDS BUSINESS REVIEW

JAN 15 | LEEDSHACKS.CO.UK

How a relic from the Industrial Revolution is being transformed for the 21st Century

HOLBECK HIGHLINE

IN THIS ISSUE

TOUR DE FRANCE: LEGACY Six months on, how has Le Tour changed Leeds?

3D PRINTING And the future of Robotics DAVID ISRAEL Upping the ante on charitable giving TOP 10 MONEYLENDERS The biggest names in Leeds’ Financial

Quarter PLUS Rise of the Discount Supermarkets Profile: Daniel Fairburn The End of the Beer Tie How LinkedIn has Changed Recruitment Leeds Art Gallery Rental Scheme

Editor’s Letter

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR L hh

As we begin a new year, it’s time to review the ups and downs of the Leeds business world in 2014, and what a massive year it was. July saw Leeds experiencing some of its highest ever figures for tourism, as people flocked to the city to watch the Tour de France Grand Depart leaving from our very own Town Hall. In this issue Elliot Ryder takes a look at the legacy of the event that put Leeds centre stage.

With Leeds firmly on the map, the city played host to its second annual business week and with Trinity shopping centre still thriving almost two years on, businesses have seen a number of big developments in 2014. From the return of Danish supermarket Netto, to the recent news that the House of Commons has voted ‘Yes’ to scrapping beer and cider tax-Olivia Newby takes a look at how this will help publicans to raise their earnings and add diversity to their bars.

Last year saw businesses becoming ever more tech-savvy, and this issue we look at how businesses in Leeds have used digital technology to their advantage. Holly Hill

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learns more about the exciting arrival of one of the first 3D printers in the world to our city and we keep you up to speed with the digital shopping and dining experience of the future.

As January has arrived and the Christmas spending is over for another year, financing and saving for the next twelve months is a hot topic this month. Nassr Adris takes a look at the top ten financers in the area and gives you tips on where to find the best moneylenders.

Amidst all the exciting new growths and developments it is important not to forget about the people behind them. We get up close and personal with some big names in the industry, to find out what makes them tick and what the secret is to their success.

The review is a celebration of the city’s many successes, and the team and I hope that you enjoy reading it, as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Aimee Robinson Editor

Contents

CONTENTS LAW

4- Manuel Bravo Success as charity becomes independent

CREATIVE & DIGITAL

4- Duke Studios Plans to open a second creative space in Leeds

DEVELOPMENT

5- Hilton Hotel Next generation hotel in city centre set to bring about 300 new jobs for locals

LEISURE & CULTURE

6- Art rentals for local community Leeds art gallery offers unique new art rental scheme for businesses

THIRD SECTOR

Tour De France- Elliot Ryder takes a look at the legacy of July’s Le Tour Grand depart from Leeds city centre. Has the world famous bike race put Leeds on the map for good, or will it soon be nothing but a distant memory? Page 14

8-James Paterson A man on a mission to eradicate food poverty.

LAW

10-Sainsburys and Netto team up First of revamped Danish supermarket opens its doors.

LEISURE & CULTURE

RETAIL

RECRUITMENT

12-Geoff Shepherd Founder of the Yorkshire mafia talks big business.

TOURISM

14-Tour de France A look back at Le Tour’s legacy.

HEALTH

17-Leeds to become European health hub Leeds set to become the centre for health research

MANUFACTURING

18-Daniel Fairburn Set to turn over his first million, Daniel talks about his success.

FINANCE

20-Top ten financers Where to find the best moneylenders in Leeds.

FOOD & DRINK

22-Digital dining New app that brings dining into the future.

28- Student prison clinic Cartwright King launches student prison clinic.

30-David Israel Family man, David Israel fills us in on fundraising for the museums and galleries of Leeds

RECRUITMENT

33- LinkdIn Social network’s impact on the recruitment industry.

TRANSPORT

34-Holbeck Highline Plans to change 19th Century viaduct into city highline.

RETAIL

36-Cathy Barnes Head of the Leeds Retail Institute fills us in on the future of shopping.

FOOD & DRINK

38-End of the beer tie After House of Commons voted ‘yes’ to scrapping beer tie, does this mean more freedom for pubs?

RECRUITMENT

39-Tips for the Interviewer Tim Collins gives us the lowdown on how to conduct a brilliant interview from the employer’s side of the desk.

CREATIVE & DIGITAL

24-Crowdfunding Leeds business magazine, The Professional approaches modern methods of funding

MANUFACTURING

26-University research programme Universities team up with Engineering and Physical science research council to change world of data communication.

PRINTING & PUBLISHING

27-3D Printing Leeds becomes home to one of the world’s only 3D printers.

Holbeck Highline-New York city is the inspiration behind Leeds redevelopment of 19th century viaduct into highline. Rachel Noon talks with project developer Ed Carlisle to find out more, page 34.

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Creative and Digital/ Law

DUKE STUDIOS EXPANDING TO SHEAF STREET FACTORY SPACE Carris Boast Creative and Digital

CREATIVE SPACE, Duke Studios, is set to open a second office in a former belt factory on Sheaf Street this year.

Currently being refurbished, the 10,000sq ft factory will be transformed into a variety of different sized studios, offices and co-working spaces. It will have a 250 venue capacity and meeting spaces for up to 25 people which is aimed to inspire people to step away from traditional form of business and think differently.

“We will be thinking of different things that can happen there; we want Sheaf Street to be known as a venue that is putting on great things by both the internal Duke team and the creatives in Leeds, we’re looking forward to seeing what can happen and hearing the ideas on what other people want to do in the space.”

The original Duke Studios was launched in 2011 by Laura Wellington and James AbbottDonnelly in Munro House.

Their collaborative nature has welcomed 45 companies to reside in Duke’s 6,500 sq ft. Amongst the many creative facilities, Duke Studios offers desk rentals, meeting room hire and services such as vinyl and

“We want Sheaf Street to be known as a venue that is putting on great things by both the internal Duke team and the creatives in Leeds”

laser cutting as well as access to a photography studio. The company is well-known for its unconventional cardboard studios and has seen a 45% growth year-on–year.

Wellington adds: “Beyond our unique and interesting workspaces, Duke is constantly evolving and striving to do things differently. We regularly act as a creative agency, facilitating projects and expanding our network; we provide a vital link between the creatives and a range of other sectors – which is making things happen in the city”.

Duke Studios Sheaf Street is expecting to be up and running from March.

Co-founder Laura Wellington said: “An additional space will help with our goal of talent retention within the city, as there will be more options and facilities which will hopefully keep both the talent and the growing creative companies here.

MANUEL BRAVO GO INDEPENDENT After receiving independence from the Leeds Christian Community Trust (LCCT) in 2013 the organisation now have full charitable status.

Dan Golder Law

LEGAL AID charity Manuel Bravo has confirmed that their new found independence has been of great benefit to the organisation and could lead to future growth.

Project manager Catherine Beaumont said: “We have been better financially since becoming independent. Now, we do not have to compete with other projects funded by the LCCT. If other projects needed funding when we did, it would often be detrimental to us.”

Manuel Bravo has since altered their governance structure and is looking towards the future.

In the 2013 annual report the chairman, Ben Chastney stated:

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“We have been financially better since becoming independent.

Now, we do not have to compete with other projects funded by the LCCT”

“In the coming year we will not only be grappling to most effectively manage this independence, but also with the question of future expansion or development.”

The legal aid charity is funded by grants and donations and is linked to funders such as comic relief, Esmee Fairbairn, St James Woodside Church and the Allen Lane Foundation.

The project was set up in 2007 and is named after a Leeds’ Asylum seeker from Angola, who tragically took his own life in September 2005 after he failed to get legal aid at his asylum hearing which he subsequently lost.

Construction and Development

LUXURY HILTON CHECKS INTO LEEDS CITY CENTRE

Sarah Muscas, marketing director of GB Building Solutions, said: “With the Hilton Leeds Arena project we are actually both the client and the contractor. The hotel is going to be owned by us but operated by Hilton Hotels. Our aspiration is to potentially sell it to Hilton in three to four years, so as it stands the hotel acts as a high value asset to us.

“Overall, it is a good place for us to be in.

The fact that they are building another Hilton Hotel in Leeds says a lot about the city.” The chief executive of Hilton Worldwide said on a recent visit that this is the first Hilton Hotel outside of the M25 to be built in six years.

A FIVE STAR “next generation” Hilton Hotel is being built in Leeds city centre, The hotel will feature a Sky Bar for guests creating 300 construction jobs and a to enjoy luxury meals and drinks with a further 100 full time jobs upon view overlooking the city. “The Sky Bar completion.The £32 million hotel is located next to the Rose Bowl on Portland will be open to the public and have a 360-degree view overlooking the stunning Crescent, a short distance from the First skyline of Leeds,” said Sarah. “Leeds City Direct Arena. The 206 bedroom, Council wanted the hotel to be highly 14-storey hotel is set to be complete this summer and aims to become the premier sustainable, and it therefore features a green roof and vegetation on top of the business and leisure hotel in the city. building to attract birds and insects into

This will become the third Hilton city centre to hopefully live. This was one

hotel in Leeds when finished in environmental measure we took, and having no car park essentially acts as

early 2016, it will become the another as it will encourage guests to travel

tallest hotel in Leeds. by more economically friendly forms of The hotel is designed by hotel transport such as bus or train.”

specialist Dexter Moren Sarah was keen to highlight the thriving

Associates and constructed by

GB building solutions, with the construction sector in Leeds, which she has witnessed develop dramatically due to

co-operative bank reportedly

providing part of the funding via large projects such as the Hilton Hotel taking place. “It is great that there is

corporate banking centers in currently so much opportunity in the Leeds. construction sector in Leeds,” she said.

“It is not just the big suppliers that get their fair share, but also local suppliers.

This great time for the construction sector should be felt throughout local companies in Leeds.

“The project is raising the profile of business in Leeds, in a key area where there is a large amount of investment”

“We’ve made it part of the contract that the plumbing and electrics apprentices are to be Leeds-based, so that opportunities are definitely going out to local people, which is vital. We personally encourage apprenticeships as they eventually possess a cultural knowledge from simply spending so much time on building sites.”

The Hilton Leeds Arena Hotel is only a five minute walk from the 13,500 capacity First Direct Arena and will be an ideal form of accommodation for event-goers.

Scott Anderson Development and construction

Photograph from Sarah Muscas

January 2015| LeedsBusinessReview | Page 5

Culture and Leisure

SMART ART: MEMBERSHIPS DOUBLE AT LEEDS ART GALLERY’S UNIQUE HIRING SCHEME FOR BUSINESSES “Some companies come to the selection day using it as a team building exercise” For corporate organisations it is £800, which includes ten works for the year that can be swapped and the works are also available to the third sector such as GP practices or care homes, which is £300 a year for five works.

With a strong focus on the public sector and individuals, Theodore Wilkins, the assistant curator of fine art at the gallery, explains that they are starting to think about aiming the scheme at corporate accounts. “We have legal firms, financial advisors and banking firms that hire our art work, but this isn’t something we’ve necessarily marketed. However, at the moment we have six corporate accounts that are all within the LS6 area.”

The selection days take place four times a year at the gallery, however for those members who can’t attend the selection days there is a catalogue available for those people to come and choose their works in between those set dates.

Picture from Theodore Wilkins

the amount of members involved in the scheme has increased, leading to a rise in the volume of works shared going from 600 to 1000 by popular demand.

Gwyn Parry Culture and Leisure

In previous years Sheffield, Wakefield and Bradford have had their own hiring schemes that have disappeared over the years, however Leeds have kept a firm grip on theirs.

Propelling Leeds to the forefront of the market with no competition, the members now come from all over West Yorkshire to enjoy the artwork as it is no longer just exclusive to Leeds residents.

A unique art-hiring scheme at Leeds Art Gallery offers businesses around Yorkshire the chance to display some of its most admired works.

The picture library has been running since the 1960s and in the last four years

Memberships are a maximum of 12 months, with the public and corporate paying annually, allowing them to swap works as many times as required during the yearly period.

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The business selection process is an interesting one as Mr Wilkins explains: “Some companies come to the selection day using it as a team building exercise, sending different groups down into the events and taking it in turns to choose the pieces of art to go up in their offices.

This gives the employees a chance to take ownership of their office and be proud of it. Other organisations have the directors come down to the event to pick pieces for their boardrooms.”

Sheel Douglas, administrator at the gallery says: “The upcoming selection day is looking to be particularly busy because you can now sign up online as a member of the public before the event. We’ve already had a great response to this, with nine people coming and taking the works away before the selection day, which is a new thing for us.”

The scheme currently has 435 works of art out on loan and during the past 12 months 335 members of the public, 31 primary schools, six organisations, from both the private, public and third sector have borrowed art from the scheme. The next selection event is this weekend on Saturday the 24th 11am-3pm and Sunday the 25th of January 1pm-4pm.

Third Sector

Photo from Unity and Poverty action Leeds

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ONE MAN’S STAND AGAINST POVERTY

Dave Paterson is on a mission to eradicate food poverty in Leeds. Here he talks about how his Chistian beliefs shape his activity.

James Keighley Third Sector

WHAT DOES a typical week look like for Dave Paterson, project co-ordinator of Unity in Poverty Action? The question seems quite comical to someone who answers his work phone even on his day off. “Everyday is different, I don’t have a set working pattern”, he chuckles. “I get up and I usually come here or a meeting associated with Unity in Poverty Action or I go to St George’s Crypt. The two roles compliment each other.” For the work Dave is involved with it is all about adapting: “You’ve got the front line stuff, so I’ll be on a reception later on today dealing with people with chaotic needs who have either been homeless or are connected to people who are homeless.”

It’s easy to get the impression that Dave’s drive and interpersonal skills could have easily translated into a career as an entrepreneur, a broker or even a business executive if his motivation wasn’t so focused on helping the poor.

He displays a likeable, helpful, pleasant demeanour but there is also something about his character that seems disaffected: “I’m from a nice little part of Yeadon. I remember going to Agnes Stewart school.

It was very different to the school I went to. I went to Guiseley School, a great comprehensive. The teachers at Agnes Stewart would work really hard but kids had come from very difficult and challenging backgrounds. It’s important to have your eyes open to whats going on.”

Working with the poor and vulnerable,

the fruits of his labour may not be immediately obvious to other people but there is no doubt that he has a passion for what he does. But where did this affintiy for less fortunate individuals begin? Dave isn’t coy about his faith; UPA began as a network for different Christian groups to tackle food poverty, these groups often meet and pray together. His work also sees him collaborating with other groups and individuals from different religions and of no faith. Although he wears his faith on his sleeve, he seems to keep the details of his religious practices seperate when questioned about his professional work.

“It’s important to have your eyes open to what’s going on” To say that Dave’s Christian beliefs are the sole reason for his philanthropy would perhaps be a discredit to his character.

He still remembers as a boy being with his family and seeing someone that appeared to be homeless, a moment that has stayed with him. “I was probably seven or eight years old. I think that really stirred something in me to say actually I need to do something. I didn’t really do anything until I was 18. I’d go to Sheffield to see my grandma and I’d get the train back from Sheffield to Leeds. I’d go out to see this woman called Freya, she used to sit where Caffe Nero is on Albion Street and I used to go and get her a coffee. From that I started to do more street outreach. Then about a year later I started volunteering at St George’s Crypt.”

Outside the shared offices where Dave is based it’s raining hard. Just off Wellington

street, it is a stone’s throw away from Leeds’ financial district. A middle-aged man is clutching hold of two canvas bags trying to get shelter in a door way. He appears to be destitute. There is much being done to attempt to tackle poverty in the city but at the moment is it enough?

As part of Leeds City Council’s state of the city summary, health and wellbeing were recognised as a key priority. The council will focus on better lives through enterprise, care and support, housing, and integrated services. Leeds is a city on the up, its ambition is to be the best city in the UK. But how big a task is dragging the marginalised up with the rest of the city?

The council recognise that Leeds is a great city but that not everyone is prospering here. This from 2012’s State of the City report hints at how the council’s strategy will utilise the third sector: “Many of the neighbourhoods within Aire Valley are within the country’s 10% most deprived, and the key is to link residents to the current and future economic opportunities within the area.”

This idea of integration can be seen in the Leeds Food Aid Network which Dave chairs alongside Mary Halsey: “a lot of the heartbeat of it is to help anyone involved in tackling food poverty in the city to become more co-ordinated and joined up.” The network aims to communicate and spread awareness between groups and individuals, those involved and not involved in working with food poverty, and to co-ordinate help to individuals more efficiently. “So if someone is working with someone in the east of Leeds, where food parcel provision is quite minimal, it can be a real challenge. So to try and deal with that one of the things you want to be able to do is distribute more food where it is needed.” Dave sees a lot of inequality in society but his ambitions tend towards changing this by collaboration rather than subversion: “The council have helped to stimulate the Food Aid Network... ex-councillor John Hardy was very pro-active in stimulating the network and and we probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him and Steve Carey who heads up the welfare and benefits team.”

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Recruitment

WELCOME TO TH

Meet Geoff Shepherd: Yorkshire

Charlie Baker Recruitment “I’M GOING to sit on this side if that’s OK, that view makes it hard to concentrate.” Shepherd says, sitting in the conference room of iSource’s new offices at Brewery Place, overlooking the canal.

He’s right as well, the view is very off putting. He goes on to tell me that they only moved to these premises three weeks ago.

“We’ve got enough for 50 in here and there’s only 21 of us, so feel free to come down anytime, we’ve got the space!”

to sit here and say we started the Yorkshire Mafia because we wanted to start a more utopian business platform. But that’s nonsense. The truth is that Sat and I, we didn’t really have a business, we had an office in Leeds, but our clients were all over the place. We actually didn’t have any Yorkshire clients, we had very few UK clients as well! We were always on the train down to London, which cost us a fortune and took a lot of time. It was a long way to go to be told, ‘thanks lads, see you later.’

we had about 800-900 members. I just put a note in the group saying ‘does anyone fancy getting a beer?’ I got to Granary Wharf and I thought I’d walked into someone’s event because I was just supposed to be going for a beer, there were 60 people there!

“That’s where the Yorkshire Mafia came from, as a group for people that our business would want to talk to. Once we started exploring that idea, it all seemed very selfish. We started thinking it out and we built the business community, so everyone gets value from it and everyone gives value to it. That becomes a much bigger job. While also running and growing the day job, working till the small hours and getting up very early growing the Yorkshire Mafia.”

Before starting the iSource group, Shepherd was with Demanding People, which he described as, “just me and three cats overlooking a cemetery! It wasn’t the world’s biggest business but we did very nicely out of a bedroom.”

“I was looking out of the window and seeing people walking around and wondering, ‘what do you do? Why aren’t you giving me any money? Why aren’t I asking you for any money?’ In a city the size of Leeds, everything that you need to be successful is here and slightly further afield in Yorkshire. So we came up with All that work has certainly been worth it. this mantra: ‘Everybody needs to spread The YM now boasts over 16500 members their wings, but very often the best deals and runs two of the largest business events are on your doorstep.’ So I started this in the UK, with last year’s conference atgroup called tracting over 5,000 the Yorkshire “In the city the size of registrations, as well as Leeds, everything that having an eight million Mafia.” you need to be succes- pound economic impact It was very nice ful is here in Yorkshire” over two days. “We now to hear him say have a commercial arm that, a straight up honest reason for creatof the Yorkshire Mafia, Yorkshire Mafia ing a platform that has gone on to help Events Limited, which runs the conference thousands of professionals in Yorkshire. and Leeds Business Week. It’s now an No reverse engineered mission statements, employer and online it’s become an brutal honesty. advisory and support network. It’s become a lot of things we never anticipated.

Starting the Yorkshire Mafia to gain Leeds and Yorkshire based clients has worked, “The Yorkshire Mafia isn’t a commercial with the previously mentioned new offices, growing is on the cards. “We’ve just trebled our space by moving into this office.

We’re in massive growth mode, because we can see an opportunity and at the moment and everything is on the up.”

Since 2008, Shepherd has seen his stock rise considerably. His current titles include founder and chairman of the Yorkshire Mafia as well as founding director of the iSource group, which he founded with his business partner, Sat Mann. Since then the Yorkshire Mafia has become the premier business social platform in Yorkshire, or ‘a big society for business’ as it is described on their website, bringing together 16500 selected professionals. The most glowing report of the group came in the Sunday Telegraph in 2011, when it was described in this way.

“Facebook is cool, the Yorkshire Mafia is downright dangerous.” Impressive, especially for a group Geoff conceded was started purely for personal gain.

“Self-interest mostly. It would be very nice

However, for Shepherd his attention has turned more to the Yorkshire Mafia as the group has become so large it needs so much time and effort, something that back in 2008, even late 2009, he never expected to happen. “It was a bit of a surprise really, because none of it was supposed to happen.”

He remembers the first time the Yorkshire Mafia met to talk about the future of the group. “At this point

Straight away Shepherd comes across as a personable and relaxed guy. His success has come from hard-work and good networking in the recent years, especially taking a liking to LinkedIn, on which he is user number 34,014 on a platform that now boasts over three hundred million.

With his background in executive recruitment, it is something that Shepherd confesses he just fell into. “Do you know anybody under the age of 30 that had a plan? I graduated in 2001, which I think was one of the worst years ever in terms of graduate jobs, recruitment is a thing a lot of people just think ‘I’ll give it a go’. A lot of people just fall into recruitment.”

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HE FAMILY, BOSS

e Mafia’s networking godfather entity, it just exists, but because there are people that work in it, it has overheads.

Whatever comes out of the conference goes into running the YM for the rest of the year. I don’t see the point of turning the YM into a commercial thing.”

whether you have enough money or not.

They don’t care who they let in. We don’t select on how much money is in your bank account. There are many idiots with money and lots of nice people without money.

“I love seeing the personal connections stick, people have not just made business contacts, people have made lifelong friends and they met on the Yorkshire Mafia. It fantastic to see those relationships grow. I feel a bit like Cilla Black!

“People have not just It seems there Not having a cost for made business contacts, was a plan to people have made lifelong expand the joining is still friends” important for the Yorkshire Mafia Yorkshire Mafia, to other sections something that keeps the group pure and of the country, Geoff mentioned getting differentiates it from other similar things. notes from Manchester asking for someSomething the YM have had some probthing to be set up. However, with everylems with over the years is the selection thing on the YM’s plate at the moment it process, Shepherd mentioned that they doesn’t seem that is a plan anymore. “The turn-down six out of every seven applicants conference takes nine months of the year and that if they had taken everyone, they to plan, the business week takes six. The would be in the hundreds and thounext challenge for us is to grow the Leeds sands of members. He mentioned it was Business week out. We’re not done with the cause of some grumbling, but it’s Yorkshire yet.” something he is happy with.

“We don’t charge but we do It certainly seems Shepherd and his team select. People has changed the face of business in Leeds that say have with the connections made on his group an open door being a focal point of the Leeds policy and do economy. However, the success charge, they of the reputation of the group are selecting is not his proudest moment. to, they select on

For Shepherd personally, long term plans aren’t his thing. “Anybody making a 5-year plan is an idiot. No one knows what’s going to happen in five years, I don’t, you don’t and Barack Obama doesn’t. In terms of the Yorkshire Mafia, I’d like to think I’d be able to see its demise, I think it came a puff of smoke and it’ll leave in a puff of smoke. You can only plan for what you can see, the world changes very quickly.

Geoff Shepherd is now one of the more recognisable names in Leeds business circles. Having forged his life here, taking everything as it comes has certainly paid dividends for the father of three. Being more than happy to continue progressing in Yorkshire, with the new office and hundreds of applicants to join YM, Shepherd is certainly an asset Leeds economic strength.

The mafia image has been rebranded for the era of business socialising. Below: Geoff Shepherd and business partner Sat Mann

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview | Page 13

Tourism

TOUR DE FRANCE: THE LEGACY What impact has the Grand Depart had on Yorkshire?

PHOTO BY ALEX NORTON

PHOTO BY STEPHEN FLEMING

Around £330m worth of media coverage was generated during the time the Tour de France was in Leeds and Yorkshire.

Elliot Ryder Tourism IN THE summer of 2014, Leeds and Yorkshire played host to the largest annual sporting event in the world, the Tour de France. A frenzy of athletes, media and spectators swept across of Yorkshire for two days as the 101st Tour de France departed from Leeds in spectacular style. Whilst Yorkshire may have won the yellow jersey for the most impressive Grand Départ to date, the question now is what legacy has the tour left upon the region?

Speaking at a lecture at Leeds Beckett University, Peter Dodd, of tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire, explored the idea of the footprint the Tour de France has left upon Leeds and Yorkshire. In terms of tourism, Leeds experienced some of its highest figures of tourists thanks to the many spectators who descended upon the city to witness the beginning of the

PHOTO BY IAN USHER

iconic bike race. It is estimated two to three million spectators lined the route of the tour through Yorkshire. Peter Dodd said: “Bringing the tour to Leeds and Yorkshire is an amazing achievement; the only events which could top the amounts of spectators and tourism for the area would involve bringing the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, this speaks volumes about the size of the Tour in Yorkshire’’.

The legacy of the 2014 Tour de France can be noticed in a number of ways, however the most obvious may be the creation of the Tour de Yorkshire.

Confirmed by the world cycling governing body, UCI, the bike race is set to take place from the first to the third of May 2015, however details of the events route have yet to be disclosed and are expected to be revealed in early 2015. The Tour de Yorkshire will be another opportunity for the county to showcase its breath taking landscape to the world. Deals are being put in place to the have the inaugural bike race televised. Tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire have high hopes for the event in the coming years, proclaiming “we plan to have this be the major event for Yorkshire, the event which is known nationally and internationally as Yorkshire’s flagship event.” The race will be the second collaboration between Welcome to Yorkshire and Tour de France operators, Amaury sports organisation. According to Welcome to Yorkshire, the event is set to be a key attraction for tourism in the summer of 2015 with the creation of the event outlining the huge influence the Tour de France in Yorkshire has had.

Speaking about the newly scheduled event, Graham Poucher of Welcome to Yorkshire believes the Tour de Yorkshire has a lot to owe the Grand Départ of the 2014; he said: “It may have been possible to create the event without the Grand Départ being such a success, but not on the scale that we’re planning. The reality

is that it is happening – on such a major scale – directly because of the Yorkshire Grand Départ. The teams are excited about coming back, and can’t wait, as are Amaury sports organisation.” Although the Yorkshire bike race is not expected to replicate the economic draw to that of the Tour de France, economic opportunities will not be sparse over the course of the event. Local businesses are likely to benefit from the sporting event as large numbers of spectators will come and

PHOTO BY NATALIE MARCHANT

watch one the fastest growing sports in the UK at its highest level. Referring to the potential of the event in economic terms Poucher added “it’s an event that will cover large parts of Yorkshire each year, bringing opportunities to the doorstep of thousands of businesses – it’s then up to them how they work to benefit from the opportunity and we hope they will.”

Leeds cycles supplier “The Bike Shop” believes that cycling is going to continue to grow across the region for the next four years thanks to Yorkshire bike race,

Page 15 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

Tourism PHOTO BY D BRAMHALL

‘‘Surveys state that 25% of the UK population would now want to visit Yorkshire’’ a spokesperson said: “I don’t think the Tour de Yorkshire will have the same effect on people as the Tour de France did, but it is good for cycling, we expect to maybe only sell a fifth of what we sold leading up to the beginning of the Tour de France in Leeds.”

‘‘The global advert which the tour provides, no value can be put on it”

The 2014 Grand Départ consisted of the bike race’s first stage travelling from Leeds city centre to Harrogate. As well as hosting the inaugural stage, the newly built first direct arena was the venue of choice for the opening ceremony as the highly attended event was deemed to be an unequivocal success.

The main tourist body working in Leeds, Welcome to Yorkshire, played a vital role in bringing the tour to Leeds and Yorkshire. The initial bid generated up

PHOTO BY ADAM BOWIE

to £36m worth of media coverage which is a stark contrast to the London Grand Départ in 2007 which generated 35m worth of media cover for the entire tour.

This shows clear intent by Welcome to Yorkshire to ensure that the tour acted as a global advert for Leeds and Yorkshire, encouraging more people to visit the region. Reports suggest that £102m was generated for the local economy due to the event; however Mr Dodd expressed ‘‘the global advert which the tour provides, no value can be put on it’’.

Figures suggest that for the entire event, around £330m worth of media coverage was generated during the time the Tour de France in Leeds and Yorkshire.

The Tour de France Grand Départ perfectly highlighted the attractions of Leeds and Yorkshire from a tourism point of view. Bringing the tour to the county provided the opportunity to attract tourism from parts of the world that would not usually consider visiting Leeds and the surrounding areas. For example, the official website (letouryorkshire.com) was visited by users from 190 countries and received two million page views in the week of the tour starting. Hotels were one of the many winners aside from Marcel Kittel, opening stage winner, when the tour rolled into Leeds. For five days prior to the tour beginning in Leeds, up to 4000 hotels rooms were fully booked up until the tour moved on across the rest of Yorkshire. Furthermore, aside from the masses of personnel associated with the cycling team, the tour was swarmed with up to 2000 journalists for the duration of the event following the tour every step

Page 16 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

of the way. Local business capitalised on the economic opportunities that were provided by bringing the tour de France to Yorkshire. “The Bike Shop” were one of the fortunate business who benefited from the cycling buzz that swept the

PHOTO BY PETER MOOSE

county; they said: “we had a big increase in bike sales leading up to the event, predominantly people were coming in to purchase road bikes more than anything”.

However, it would be presumed that tourism would falter and decline after the Tour has left Leeds and the millions of spectators and economic opportunities have departed with it. Yet, the trend of boom closely followed by bust has not been followed by Leeds and Yorkshire, aside from masses of bunting, the only thing which is being left behind is a lasting cycling legacy upon the county. ‘‘Advanced bookings for next summer have already been incredible’’, Boasts Peter Dodd, ‘‘Surveys state that 25% of the UK population would now want to visit Yorkshire’’, he added.

Health

REGIONAL DEVOLUTION COULD IMPROVE HEALTH CARE LEEDS NEEDS MORE POWER TO TRULY BECOME THE CENTRE OF HEALTHCARE event organisers believes that, “[Leeds] is an innovation hub, we are committed to furthering that belief”.

by the government at Westminster.

Leeds is ideally placed to become a centre for health research due to a profitable health sector.

NHS England has earmarked the Leeds City Region to become a testing ground for The health sector accounts for 193,000 health innovation that will later be rolled jobs in leeds which makes the health and out across the UK. innovation sector in leeds an economic powerhouse.

However, regional devolution is needed Health

to drive the funding necessary to make it This high concentration of health profeshappen. sionals is aided by there being 9,000 gradu According to Rob Webster the chief exec- ates in healthcare from within the Leeds utive of the NHS Federation, “Devolution city region. from the treasury would be the single most The main healthcare employer in Leeds important thing for the health economy”. is the local NHS primary care trust which REGIONAL DEVOULTION will help accounts for 14,000 jobs.

He continued, “We need certainty for at Leeds become the European centre for

least five years health research according to plans laid out The NHS over how much “The key is to give patients at the International Health Symposium. however money we have”. more control over their own needs major Held at Wheetwood Hall on the 13th of investment if Regional devoluhealthcare” November, the organisers suggested Leeds it is going to tion is currently a has the potential to become a European cope with the hot topic centre for health innovation. politically in the wake of the no vote in the rising demands of the 21st century.

Scottish Referendum, as more power is to Lurene Joseph, Chief executive of the As Beverley Bryant, director of strategic be devolved to the Scottish government there has been calls systems and development for NHS England, put it, “We are frantically dragging for similar devoluthe NHS into the mid 1990’s in comparition to be granted to the major British son with other industries. regions.

The main issue is ensuring that the whole

NHS is ready to meet the needs of today”.

Lurene Joseph agrees with this and The Leeds city region will be used as a believes that, testbed for what the NHS is calling citizen “Devolution is driven health according to Giles Wilmore, something that the director of Public Voice NHS, “We the health system believes in to drive have huge potential as an NHS that we don’t take full advantage of, how do we innovation and ideas that can drive break the shackles that the system imposes innovation across on us? How do we tailor the system to meet the patients needs?” the UK”.

Aaron O’Hegarty

Devolution would mean that each individual region would be able to decide where it wants to spend its money rather than money being allocated

The key he says is to give patients more control over their own healthcare, to develop apps that can help monitor a patients health and find ways to make healthcare more beneficial to the patient.

The health industry sees pioneering and developing these concepts in Leeds will help make the city a national centre for healthcare, the funding for this however may only come from devolution, something that does not seem likely any time soon.

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview | Page17

THE TOP TEN MONEYLENDERS

For a budding entrepreneur who can’t gain may be an option. Here are Leeds’s top 10 Yorkshire Bank HQ Merrion Way, LS2 8NZ

Nassr Adris Finance

8.

We all know the best of many things is from Yorkshire but is the best financial service? Online, Yorkshire Bank is 57 places behind Plusnet at 657 on the list of most popular UK websites so it’s at number 8 on our top ten list.

10.

So w hat do they offer you? Business loans are no smaller than £25, 001 and can go up to £1,000,000. They give you up to 15 years to pay the loan back on a variable interest rate.

Yorkshire Building Society 150 Briggate, LS1 6BR The only building society to make it on to the top ten list was ranked the 2,993rd most popular website in Britain.

Although they don’t do business loans as such, they do provide remortgages so if you already pay mortgage on a property and want to release its equity to fund projects, although it may not be the best, this is an option. In essence, you swap your current loan for a bigger one but at lower rates which would take you longer to pay back.

The building society received a 66% customer satisfaction score for their mortgage services from Which? in 2014, higher than any bank.

9.

Virgin Money 51 Briggate, LS1 6HD Virgin have a not-for-profit company called ‘Startup’. A successful online application can get you a loan of up to £25, 000 with support and a mentor to help you with your idea.

Entrepreneur Darcy Ida received £5800 and has used it for marketing Ida Pod - a company that supplies staffed high tech photo booths for events and by 2016 they aim to supply at least 30 venues in London.

Being the 1,434th most popular site in the UK, Virgin Money needs more Yorkshire applicants to top our list.

They’ll negotiate the interest rate with you taking your circumstances in to consideration but it will definitely be above the Bank of England’s base rate of 0.5%.

There is no limit on what they are willing to charge.

The bank doesn’t seem to be doing too well with its current customers though as only a mere 10% of online reviewers would recommend their services calling them “incompetent” and “bloody useless”.

7.

Royal Bank of Scotland 27 Park Row, LS1 5QB It’s a good thing this top ten is based on online hits and not business practices as RBS would probably fail to make it in to the top 50.

Last week, the 80% state backed bank admitted to mis-selling Enterprise Finance Guarantee business loans - loans that the government back 75% of the lenders liability in case the customer goes in to default. But their customers were led to believe that it would be they and their businesses who would be backed by the government rather than the bank.

If you’re business isn’t struggling for credit, they offer small business loans under £25,000, fixed rate and variable loans over £26,000 and LIBOR loans over £500,000. As always interest rates will vary. RBS is the 322nd most clicked on website in the UK.

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview |Page 20

Photo by Tom Blockwell

6.

Halifax 32 Commercial Street, LS1 6EY Halifax - giving extra to people who deserve it, but do they really? Their Halifax communities reward scheme seems to be somewhat successful as they try to build bonds with their customers.

67 account holders from around the country will win £300 through nominations and one lucky national winner will receive £2,500 with another £2,500 to donate to a cause of their choice - pretty attractive, especially if you think you ‘deserve better’.

On the loan front though, they provide loans of up to £25,000 although the interest rates are, well, 29.9% up to £3000.

Their best rate is 4.9% if you borrow between £7,000- £15,000 and anything above is 7.9%. It’s a quick online application so if you feel the interest rates aren’t too ridiculous and you could comfortably make the repayments, one question remains - do you deserve it? halifax.co.uk is the 174th most visited site in the UK.

Photo by Hitthatswitch

FOR BUSINESS IN 2015

Finance

financial backing, high street moneylenders financiers according to internet popularity

4.

NatWest 8 Park Row, LS1 5HD National Westminster is, of course, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been since 2000. They are high up on our list because they’re the 75th most visited site in the UK - maybe because they have 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business customers whereas RBS is primarily based in Scotland and has fewer customers.

Both RBS and NatWest are easily accessible in Leeds.

Lloyds 6-7 Park Row, LS1 1NX

5.

Being one of the bigger banks, also partly owned by the government, Lloyds cater to businesses with colossal turnovers that range in the millions - it’s the 97th most visited site in the UK. They also provide ‘financial backing to nurture your ambitions’, offering smaller loans from £1000 to £500,000 to smaller businesses.

The only loan options that will benefit start ups and emerging businesses are the base rate and fixed rate loans. The fixed rate allows you to borrow up to £50,000 unsecured and gives you up to 10 years to repay at a constant interest rate, the base rate allows you to borrow much more but you’ll risk losing your valuable goods if things don’t go as planned because of the waveing Bank of England base rate.

3.

2.

Santander 11-12 Park Row, LS1 5HD Initially being ranked the worst bank in the UK on customer satisfaction, it has slowly grew to achieve their goal of getting on our top ten financiers list.

Barclays 1 The Headrow, LS1 1JS Barclays is the third most popular financier site in the UK and 56th most popular website. This may be because it’s is a major sponsor of the Premier League.

As you can see, a trend is forming - all the major banks offer loans under £25,000 with fixed interest rates and loans over £25,000 with fixed interest rates that turn in to variable rates after 10 years of repayment up until 25 years of repayment. Interest rates are not always clear until you meet a representative of the bank - they could range from 2% to 15% or even higher per annum.

Coming in as the 52nd most visited website in the UK, they narrowly missed out on first place. They provide loans between £1000 and £25,000 at an interest rate between 7.9% and 12.9%. Their larger loans are aptly called ‘commercial mortgages’ where they’d lend you up to £250,000 over 5-10 years at, you guessed it, variable or fixed interest rates depending on your financial circumstances.

HSBC 29 King Street, LS1 2HL

1.

The ‘world’s local bank’ is the most visited financier website in the UK. As the 50th most visited site, it loses out to social networking and shopping sites such as Twitter and Amazon.

Photo by Scott Maxwell Photo by Image is Money

Photo by Simon Cunningham

As we can see, all of the listed financiers don’t really give anybody much of an option when borrowing money and HSBC isn’t any different. There are no real competitive rates nor truly beneficial perks (apart from Virgin’s not-for-profit side company). Furthermore, HSBC was fined £1.2bn in 2012 to settle money laundering accusations, yet another bank with poor business practices.

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview |Page 21

Creative and digital

Above: John Macleod, founder of The Professional - Photography from The Professional Page 24| January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

PROFESSIONAL CROWDFUNDING Can an innovative funding app provide the modern answer to the business investment? adds: “It will be a combination of marking and recruitment. We will hire editorial journalists who are local to the city they are writing about; I think that is really important.”

Carris Boast Creative and digital CREATIVE DIGITALISATIONis beginning to uproot tradition. Instead of page turning adverts, advertising is now video or digital. Rather than relentlessly handing out business cards, networking has now taken form on social media on websites such as Linkedin.

Crowdfunding is the alternative approach for both start-ups and established businesses to get their projects off the ground. Fundraising campaigns rely on people who believe in a product or business to invest as much as they can afford. A recent study by business support and research charity Nesta and The University of Cambridge found that there are 9.4 million active investors who have invested in one or more projects in the UK in 2013; one of those projects was created by Leeds business magazine, The Professional. The content-driven magazine produces locally tailored business advice, features and profiles with entrepreneurs and like-minded people.

The publication has recently successfully reached their fundraising target of £40,000 by using an online platform called Seedrs, which is a popular alternative funding website. Their campaign has the ambition to see the quarterly magazine grow by opening up several publications across different cities starting with a Manchester office next March.

Entrepreneur and managing director of The Professional, John Macleod, explains why he chose to crowdfund the magazine’s growth to Manchester: “Crowd funding has been a good experience because if we just got an investment from a private investor, you just get the money, but with crowdfunding you get a marketing aspect around that. We have had nearly 60 investors, so there are 60 people that believe in what we are doing and support us. It almost confirms what we are doing is the right thing.”

The Professional is planning to spend the capital created to ensure it continues to produce relevant content by hiring Manchester-based editorial staff. Macleod

A further study by Nesta and The University of Cambridge found that over 647,493 projects, businesses and individuals have raised alternative finance in the UK in 2013. The report states that ~donation based funding - which has no legally binding obligation to provide rewards to investors -produced £310 million alone in 2013.

Seedrs - Europe’s top equity crowdfunding company - provides a platform for new businesses, tailored support and efficient access to engage with investors. Macleod adds: “For startups it [Seedrs] is probably the best crowd funded platform. They are well-known in the crowd funding world so by going on there we were more likely to get investors because it is a more popular platform with more people registered.”

Kickstarter Investing in a new business via websites such as Seedrs and Kickstart can be exciting and straightforward but it does, however, like most things in business, come with a potential risk.

Iain Marsh from the UK Crowdfunding Association explains the risks: “The investment here is social and to support a purpose, the only real risk to the people providing the money is the possibility that the project ultimately fails to achieve its aim. And this is an entirely realistic outcome, so even for donation and rewardbased crowdfunding; people should try to think objectively about whether their money is likely to really make the difference that they hope it will.”

“Not all investors will receive a return of equity; other rewards may be given instead such as discounts on a particular product, recognition on a company’s website or a vote in how the company is run”.

Marsh explains the ways investors can reduce their risk of losing money: “Firstly, the crowd-funders have to provide lots of information about their company and how they plan to use the money - it’s really important that this is read and understood fully before committing to invest. Secondly, potential investors can ask the crowd-funder questions that haven’t already been answered and responses to other people’s questions can also be read.

“Thirdly, many equity crowdfunding projects qualify for EIS or SEIS, which are tax incentives for investing in start-up

or young businesses, meaning the investor can get some of their money back in tax relief. And finally, crowdfunding is not about putting all your eggs in one basket on many sites, minimum investments are as little as £10, which means investors can spread their money across a high number of investments, so if one fails, all is not lost”.

A study based on investors’ return on start-up businesses between 1998 and 2008 analysed by the British Business Angels Association showed an internal rate of return (IRR) of 22%. Nevertheless these statistics are not an indication for the success of future businesses. John Macleod advises: “I think if you are planning to do something interesting and exciting and are willing to grow, then crowdfunding is a really good way because people would be buying into the excitement of your next step or developing a new idea. Say you have invented a product, I think crowd funding is a really good thing for that.

“If it is just a general business loan for capital, I am not sure crowdfunding is that great because you need to get inspired and engaged with what you are doing so traditional forms like banks are probably still more relevant for that type of funding.”

Trailblazer A number of businesses have joined The Professional with successful fundraising different campaigns using crowdfunding.

Huddersfield based, Experience Community are a photo therapy community project who create aerial disable access films. Chaple Down Group want to produce and sell English sparkling Wine and beer, they achieved more than their three million pounds target in October. Leeds for Change raised more capital than their target for a new ‘hub’ website which will help encourage social change in the Leeds area.

Iain Marsh adds:“Unlike traditional routes, crowdfunding can connect an investor directly with how their money gets used - it is not just about getting a financial return, it is also (and in many cases, primarily) about making a positive impact on the world. But equally, making a difference shouldn’t and doesn’t have to come at a financial cost; crowdfunding can empower an investor to both see better financial returns and help make the world a better place.”

Crowdfunding comes with benefits for both investors and the crowdfunders, the benefits can be seen in Nesta’s latest prediction. They predict that this year’s alternative funding will reach a financial total of £1.6 billion and £840 million or startups in the UK.

Manufacturing Photograph by Steve Jurvetson

£5.2m RESEARCH PROGRAMME TRANSFORMS DATA COMMUNICATIONS Leeds University developing chip to move at speed of light Joe Turton Manufacturing correspondent THE UNIVERSITY of Leeds is piloting a £5.2 million multi-university research programme that is set to transform the world of data communications.

backing will allow us to manufacture on a sufficient scale to prove the commercial readiness of the technology. This will allow Leeds to become the hub of this emerging technology.”

The multi-university aspect of the project is set to benefit the research greatly, according to Professor Thomas Krauss of the University of York, one of the partners.

“This is all very complex research and no single university has the experts who The manufacturing project, backed by the can pull all of this together,” he stated.

Engineering and Physical Science “For example, the people at Leeds will be Research Council (EPSRC), will be based growing the material, while we at York will in Leeds and will bring together be making the light emitting devices, and researchers from a number of universities Cambridge has the systems expertise to including Leeds, Cambridge, York and try it all out in a real-world scenario. So, Sheffield. you need leading expertise in a number of different areas to succeed, and to put it all The ultimate aim is to create a silicon chip together.” Professor Krauss said. that can emit light. This chip will allow data to be processed electronically and The project will be funded mostly by the sent optically, something that has never EPSRC, who have offered up £3.7 million. been done before. £2.5 million of that will cover the cost of the collaboration under its Manufacturing “Many of the concepts have already been of Advanced Functional Materials demonstrated in the lab,” explained programme and the other £1.2 million Professor Gin Jose, of the Institute for comes in the form of an equipment grant Materials Research in the University of that will pay for the ULPI manufacturing Leeds’ Faculty of Engineering. “This facility in Leeds. The rest of the funding

Page 26| January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

will come from the participating universities and 11 other partners.

SeaMatics will be the official acronym for the project, which stands for Seamless Integration of Functional Materials for Advanced Photonics.

The University recently announced the opening of another special facility.

A £4.3 million premises for the design and construction of robots was unveiled back in October. The National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems hopes to advance artificial intelligence technologies and become the leading centre for robot building equipment in the UK.

“This is all very complex research and no single university has the experts who can pull all of this together”

Printing and Publishing

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS HOSTS LATEST 3D PRINTER: THE OBJET1000

The Objet1000 Multi-Material 3D Printer at the Innovative Robotic System facility at the University of Leeds

Photograph from: Robotics at Leeds

Holly Hill

Printing and Publishing

Did you ever think you would see the day that it would be possible to print a robot and have it operate on your body? Well the technology is in place and the reality of this might not be too far away.

In the last few months Leeds became home to one of the only 3D printers in the world to be able to print both hard and soft materials. The brand new Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems facility has recently opened at the University of Leeds and arguably, one of its most exciting additions is the Objet1000 Multi-Material 3D Printer.

Dr Rob Richardson is the director of the £3.4 million facility, he said: “One of the things we do is create fairly small numbers of robots. We need to do this is to be able to make lots of different types of robots quickly and efficiently and one of the things that is very import to us is the fact that we need to make functional proto-

exploration of previously unseen chambers types, this means that we are 3D printing to make things that work rather than just to in the pyramids in Egypt. show an example of The multi million pound facility specialises something.” in many forms of robotics and engineering and houses a lot of technology that many Over the past decade there have been of us wouldn’t even knew existed. When vast advances in the 3D printing industry both domestically and industrially. When asked about what advances he hopes the facility would have on Leeds and asked about these advances Richardson Yorkshire, Richardson explained that explained: “About 10 years ago it was all the facility hoped to build upon existing about justshowing shape and form, now it’s much more about making things with capabilities in the area. He expressed his awareness that the region has an excellent better properties and functional systems so you can print them off and use them as reputation for manufacturing and commented how the facility would they are intended to be used.” particularly like to really enable the Yorkshire region to have better techniques in The printer works by using PolyJet terms of more complex devices. printing to build up multi layered copy within in a large and adaptable working Richardson also expressed how the facility space. The materials that the printer would be working within the surrounding produces can range from hard, rigid plastics to soft silicones. The combination communities and industries: “We are alof these properties makes the printer one ready working with loads of local companies and now that we have the machines, of the world’s largest multi material 3D this is the start of progress and we are printers. looking forward to working with the local The facility hopes to work closely with lo- industries and getting the most out of the technology.” cal industries; one of the most fascinating uses for their 3D printer is the advances they hope to make in the medical field. When asked about their work on these projects Richardson commented; “We have a broad range of things that we do in the facility, one being making devices that can go inside the body and do some kind of surgery such as laparoscopic surgery, we will make small devices that can actually walk around your body.

Obviously there is a push to make these devices as small as possible so they are less invasive.”

However, it’s not just the medical field that will benefit from the facilities research and manufacturing, the facility has already printed robots that have been used in the

“The facility hopes to work closely with local industries; one of the most fascinating uses for their 3D printer is the advances they hope to make in the medical field”

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview | Page 27

Law

DO STUDENTS HOLD THE KEY TO HELP PRISONERS APPEAL? New prison clinic for law students at Sheffield Hallam University seeks to enable inmates a chance to appeal their case

Dan Golder Law

to be approached by Sheffield Hallam University about working in conjunction with them to set up a prison law clinic.

The idea is that students will be able to put forward the client’s case to the prison, and correspond with the prison, to try and help them achieve their objective; which is essentially what we would have done when there was legal aid available.”

In essence then, students can do what law firms used to do - when funding was available - and prevent many prisoners from being left without representation in the toughest situations.

THE RECENT merging of Solicitors Cartwright King and Sheffield Hallam University who have collaborated to launch the first ever student prison law clinic has at least posed a possible solution - if not the answer - to the question of how we should deal with the substantial cuts in legal aid for prison law.

Can Students fill the void?

So, before jumping to conclusions about what sounds like a very good idea, surely one must first pose a few questions with regard to the practicality and reasoning behind the initiative which are at least threefold. The first being: despite the massive cuts in the area of prison law, why should new initiatives focus on this particular specialism?

Now, many Universities have pre-existing “innocence projects” which are designed to deal with innocence pleas but within the Sheffield Hallam law department this just wasn’t quite enough. When Lauren Peacock – whose previous occupation saw her gain experience working in the Sheffield magistrates court – was employed by the University the route for expansion became a whole lot easier.

Using her contacts within the law industry, Peacock contacted Rachel Baldwin of Cartwright King Solicitors who became the enabler - as it were - for the whole initiative.

The first response to this question has to be to highlight just how severe the cuts in this sector have been. The lack of funding in prison law has left inmates – unless they can privately fund themselves – with no access to free advice about sentence progression, home detention curfew appeals, re-categorisation and transfers which is precisely what the student prison clinic aims to change from 01 Febuary 2015.

Baldwin explains: “We were very pleased

Baldwin states: “I have plenty of clients who have been left without help, and they desperately need it.” She went on to highlight exactly what kind of effects this

Page 28 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

negligence is having on the prisoners by using re-categorisation as an example.

“Re-cat is just not possible anymore for many and this massively effects their experience of the system, prisoners can spend 23 hours a day in a cell on B -category whereas C-category is majorly different.”

“I have plenty of clients who have been left without help, and they desperately need it.”

This said, critics might argue that we are wasting our time and money and depending on their crime, the prisoners deserve this kind of punishment. However, surely inmates should be in these categories due not to negligence but because they deserve to be there and thus, one would find it hard to argue that this project will not help to make this the case.

The second of the three questions that could be posed as a potential difficulty facing the initiative is linked to how students will cope with dealing with what will here call ‘interesting’ characters as they will inevitably encounter some during this line of work.

Third year Law Student Rosie Hamson of Leeds Beckett University doesn’t think this will be an issue: “I think the more interesting the character the better. It would be fascinating to see whether rehabilitation of the prisoners actually works and the process they have to go through to get there. As long as procedures were in place to ensure the security and protection of the students I would see no problem in being involved with them.”

It would appear then, that as long as they are safe, students are all for the clinics.

However, can undergraduates really be equipped to deal with real life prisoners?

If we are going to judge it by Sheffield Hallam’s law degree then the answer is yes. Their students will be trained properly in this area as it is an accredited part of their degree and they will therefore possess all the necessary skills needed to deal with clients. Adding to this, despite the fact that Sheffield Hallam University will be primarily working independently of Cartwright King Solicitors the law firm will always be at the end of the phone or an email if any difficulties arise, ready to help.

Two out of three boxes proverbially ticked then, which leads us on to the third and final difficulty facing the project. This relates to the idea that law degrees - as more of these types of initiatives are popping up around the country - appear to be becoming more of a “hands-on” course than ever before. If so, what does this mean for students and their prospective employers?

Above: Third year law students are to launch the first ever student prison law clinic

Photograph from Sheffield Hallam University

provides the answers.” Seemingly then, these kinds of projects not only help people but they also effectively provide invaluable work experience within the university degree.

students fill the void?” that was left by the harsh government cuts in this sector, is an overwhelming yes. Students can gain experience and thus enhance their prospects of future employment whilst simultaneously helping real life people who otherwise will have no way of getting their voices heard.

But, what do the students think?

Briony Nowell, also of Leeds’ Beckett

will be very “Itfascinating to see the process of

It could be argued that if more similar projects do become part of law student’s degrees then they must replace a different section of the course, thus leading to a deficiency in another area. That is not to say however, that if a perfect equilibrium could not be reached that this could not be considered as an additional workload to the existing syllabus – this notion though, may not go down too well with students.

With regard to the issue, Rachel Baldwin says: “It can only be a good thing.

Employers ask ‘hands on’ questions in interviews and this type of experience

“

prisoner rehabilitation, and whether it actually works

law School states: “It is a great thing that students are being offered practical work experience. Law degrees can become very theory based, and often a lot of the theories learnt have no relevance in practice. Experience sets one student apart from the next and I’m sure prospective employers would welcome any practical experience along with a good degree.”

It would appear, in answer to the first question asked in this article, “Can

This is not where it ends however. After university law students are thrown into a highly competitive environment where winning the race for a solicitor training contracts is of paramount importance but extremely difficult to make reality. Those seeking a contract often fill paralegal opportunities in the hope that such an appointment may be a gateway to the obtaining of a training contract. Invariably, they are disappointed as the experience gained is so limited that consideration for a training contact is uncommon. Bearing this in mind, would it be too bold to suggest that these types of initiatives could help law graduates to become much more equipped and therefore much more likely to be offered training contracts? Only time will tell.

Page 29 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

Culture and Leisure David is a big supporter of Leeds becoming the city of culture in 2023 and was eager to raise the profile of it at last year’s business week. He says: “Leeds for many years has hidden its light under a bushel, when you start looking at just how much history there is in Leeds, just how many stories there are, take a look at the waves of immigration coming to Leeds over the last hundred years. Huge companies have grown up and been based around Leeds and yet we don’t talk about it, we don’t shout about it and we don’t celebrate it.”

David states that becoming the city of culture will give the city the uplift it so rightly deserves. “The capital of culture is all about us showing that we have the balls to go for it, that we have the courage and the tenacity, the ability, the desire to say you know what, we can have this, we’ve come a long way and are able to achieve - that is the kind of accolade the European capital of culture can bring.”

“If I’m lucky enough I will get a chance to work on the bid, because we can recreate the collaboration between the business world, the cultural world, and the council, that organised the three day phenomenon, the Tour de France in Yorkshire, when the world’s eyes were upon us and we out performed everyone’s expectations. I believe we can do that again through the capital of culture.”

One thing that came across in the time I spent with David was his passionate enthusiasm for the city of Leeds and in particular the job he is doing for the council. He would not appear to me to be a stereotypical council employee, his whole approach is exciting and he is not prepared to accept old arguments and ideas, but prepared to challenge people. He is very good company and he gave me some of his father’s wisdom on selling, “Sell the Future plans for David’s fundraising seem sizzle not the steak” and “Never assume set to be exciting, “I had a meeting at the anything, cause you’ll make an ‘ass’ out of end of last year, which if we get the chance ‘you’ and ‘me’”, he laughs and says, “I’ll be to fundraise for this … thing, which is the a salesman till the day I die.” only clue I can give you. However if this project does come about it would be an It was a pleasure to spend time with him amazing boom for Leeds and it would be and I expect his donors feel the same, an incredibly fun fundraising project to even if they have parted with more money work on. This is certainly one I’m very than they envisaged after meeting him. excited about.”

Photograph by Becky Joy Photography ­ Page 32 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

David Israel [below] again speaking at Leeds Business Week.

Recruitment

THE WEBSITE THAT’S FILLING THE MISSING LINK FOR RECRUITMENT The online business social networking site reveals net revenue of over $1.5bn as number of users is set to pass four hundred million

Photograph by LinkedIn and his CV includes Michael Page and Lorien. He founded ISource group with his business partner in 2008 and has grown the company to become one of the biggest in Leeds. I asked him about any changes he had noticed since LinkedIn came into the sector.

Charlie Baker Recruitment

LINKEDIN, THE online business social network, celebrated its 10th year in 2013 with a net revenue of over $1.5bn and is expected to surpass four-hundred-million members this year. With this format now making finding applicants a lot easier for employers, what effect has it had on the recruitment industry in Leeds?

In 2012 Forbes online published an article titled, ‘LinkedIn is disrupting the corporate recruitment market’. Describing how features such as LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn Job Posting, LinkedIn Employment Branding and LinkedIn Talent Pipeline were having a detrimental effect on the industry.

Sat Mann is a recruitment expert who has been in the business for over 15 years

specifically to this candidate, will appeal to them and build a rapport.”

Mann disagrees with Forbes magazine on the effect it has had on the industry however, saying it is mainly positive if businesses use it correctly. Despite big corporate companies like Microsoft saying they had saved over £60,000 on recruitment costs during 2013, aided by the fact over 22% of Britain’s population have a LinkedIn profile.

‘What LinkedIn has done is help shift the focus of the market towards the relationship based approach. You can contact people discreetly without cold calling them. You can also use LinkedIn as a database, finding people that may not be “I think it’s aided the industry. When I looking for a job, but could be interested started, you didn’t have this accessible netby the opportunity. work, I just had CV’s of people that were looking for jobs in front of me. Like any “In terms of getting in touch with tool though, you have to use it correctly. It candidates, you have to be a lot more hasn’t changed the fact that, in my personal now. There’s no point contacting experience, they will only do business with them with a very standard ‘hey I’ve got a you if they trust you, for that you need to great opportunity and I want to talk to you build a relationship. We are a growing about it’ message. You need to think what, business and have continued to grow, we haven’t seen our demand drop.

Over 22% of Britain’s population have a LinkedIn profile

“The one danger LinkedIn could offer is that people get comfortable hiding behind social media, they don’t pick up the phone and they don’t go out and meet people.

You just can’t do business that way.”

In 2014 the recruitment industry in Britain saw its best year. After a large decline in the economic recession, annual revenues hit £28.7bn, the highest ever. If this figure and Mann’s expertise are anything to go by, clever agencies are using LinkedIn to continue the growth of the industry.

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview | Page33

Food and Drink

END IS NIGH FOR THE BEER TIE AFTER ‘YES’ VOTE TO SCRAP IT

Photography by Olivia Newby thus leaving them much more room for profit. It will also give the customer a wider choice of product at a much more realistic price.”

Olivia Newby Food and Drink

The law would allow tied pubs to buy their supply from wherever they please, increasing struggling profits A recent vote in the House of Commons was ‘Yes’ to scrap the beer tie, allowing publicans to buy their beer and cider from the open market, instead of being obliged to buying from their pub company owners.

The vote was a result of the amendment to the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, which was tabled by Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mullohand.

This could be great news for pub owners as they now have the option to “market rent only”, meaning they are not tied into buying alcohol from their pub company owners. Traditionally, the pub companies rent at a reduced rate under a deal that commits the pub owner to only buying beer and cider that the company dictates.

Pub companies have been accused of using the ‘beer tie’ to commit pub owners to buying alcohol at huge prices.

Rob Clayton, owner of The Shipley Pride pub in Bradford says: “If it is made law, it will benefit tied houses on the prices they have to pay for the product they buy,

Fearn’s Grandad, Ronnie Theaker, has owned The Station for nearly 40 years as a free house. “My Granddad wouldn’t have been so successful if he wasn’t a free house. Pubs and clubs shut down nearly Tied licenses are paying around 77% more every day because they can’t earn a decent on beers such as Fosters, Heineken, San living from paying the extortionate prices Miguel and Guinness. An 11 gallon keg of the pub companies charge. The pubs are Fosters is £150.22 when bought from pub bound to these prices and it isn’t fair.” companies, but only £84.99 on the open Ronnie commented: “Times are hard why market. However, the British and Pub make it harder for the willing? I’d be glad Association said the proposed to see these proposals made law, allowing amendments were ‘hugely damaging’ to a others to make the profit they deserve.” practice which had been done so well for over 400 years.

So, to try and combat these problems, Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland said the The beer tie means that publicans can run reform would “simply bring back martheir pubs relatively cheap when starting ket forces into a sector that has frankly up, costing around £20,000 compared to become grotesquely anti-competitive.” He the £250,000 required to set up also said that the old tie system has been independently. Despite this, research abused by pub companies; the supposed from Camra (independent group Cambasic deal of lower rent and higher alcohol paign for Real Ale) shows that tied licenses prices has been abandoned, and claims that the average tied rent is often higher are still around £13,000 worse off a year than rent paid by than their unnon-tied tenants. So in titled rivals. a sense, the tied pubs Research also are being overcharged shows that 60% twice. of pub owners are earning less The new proposals than the national which have been set minimum out means that a pub wage salary of tied to a large company £10,000 a year. (one of which owns more than 500 pubs) Fearn Theaker, 24, who works in The Sta- would have their rent rate individually assessed. A tied tenant can also choose a tion pub in Castleford says: “I personally rent only agreement if they want to. Rob think it should be compulsory for a business to buy their supplies from where ever Clayton also commented: “Pub companies they like in able to make the business suc- will always find a way to get their pound of cessful. You wouldn’t tell a butcher where flesh. If this was to become law they will without a doubt find a way to reclaim that to buy there meat from or sweet shop where to buy there sweets so why should a lost revenue.” pub have to buy their supplies from a corporation. Buying using the free market Campaigners backing the change even admit that some pubs could find it difficult makes a bigger profit. If you rent a paying market rate rent and some pubs business you shouldn’t have to do so on could close because of this; meaning even the beer tie policy, it could mean you are less competition on prices. unable to make a decent living.”

Page 38 | January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview

“Tied licenses are

paying 77% more on Fosters and Guinness

”

Recruitment

TOP TIPS FOR THE INTERVIEWER Charlie Baker Recruitment

Interviewees tend to get a lot of help from magazines and online articles. Always posting ‘How to stand out in a job interview’ and ‘How to get your first job’.

But what about the people conducting the interview, for them messing up is almost more costly than for the interviewee.

Our reporter, Charlie Baker, spoke to Tim Collins who has over 30 years of experience, including 16 years recruiting for No.6 Barristers Chambers. He now runs The Tim Collins Consultancy, here are his ten tips for the interviewer.

Before the interview 1. Headhunt:

“Selecting from CV’s can be wasteful as people write them in very different ways. Making sure you are interviewing a group of people that are best fitted for the job will make the interview easier. This makes you worry less about the interview. Target certain Universities that you have visited and researched.

This is a sniper approach rather than a shotgun approach, make sure you’re only interviewing the best candidates.”

2. See them in different scenarios

“Finding out a person’s fit from just a piece of paper and a 40 minute interview is near impossible. Seeing people outside of the interview in other scenarios is very important to finding the right person. Target people you know would be great assets for you. Going into universities and just speaking to groups can show who is interested and hands-on and who is more hands-off. Run challenges and scenarios in universities. Be involved in projects, check out all the angels.”

3.Have a very clear Job specification

“It’s important know what you’re looking for. Rank the necessary skills in order and think of questions that can bring out these skills in people. Be very clear on what you are wanting. Identify your competencies, lay them out on an application form and ask for evidence. Having an application form will cut down the number of applicants for you, saving time.”

4. Get them to spend time in the company

“Get them to come in for two or three hours before the interview, let them see how the company works. Don’t try and catch them out or put loads of pressure on them, it’s the wrong way to do it. If they get a chance to see the company they’ll get a chance to decide if that is really where they want to go. It’s also a good way to informally on seeing how the person responds.”

candidate has applied for the job.”

7. Establish a rapport

“Ask easy questions early on, find out more about them.

Make them feel com fortable. The more you make conversation the more they will feel comfortable and ultimately you will find out the most about them.”

“Get them in before the interview, let them see how the company works”

“It has to become a two way thing. If they are the type of person you want and they have impressed you, spend the end of the interview selling the company and the role to them, it’ll make them feel more comfortable and confident to ask you questions. Also to the candidates that didn’t quite make it, you don’t know where they’ll be in the future, make sure they thought the process was fair.”

9. Use silence

“See how the candidate handles long pauses.

Watch their body language, do you think they are being honest with you? Do they flush when you ask a question? Are they holding eye-contact or dodging it? Gather evidence from their answers but also their body-language.”

During the interview 5. Think about good interviews you have had

“Use previous experiences of being on the other side of the interview table. If you’ve had bad interviewers that were too tough and some that were too easy, try and find a middle ground. What was good, bad or indifferent when you were in interviews? Analyse them, everyone has been in interviews with a good interviewer and a bad one, it’s easy to tell.”

After the interview 10. Be sharp

6. Ask consistent questions

“Make sure it is fair, ask the same questions to every candidate. Get people that will be immediately involved in work with the position in the interview process. Even very junior people, allow them to ask questions of the person, then allow the candidate to ask questions to that person, this will give you a big indication of the personality type and why the

8. Sell the company to them

For more on recruitment see page 33

“Usually after an interview process the decision can be made in 48 hours. Even if there are multiple candidates still in the mix, ring them, tell them you were impressed and ask for feedback on the selection process. Speed is important, if you want them, tell them straight away.”

“Ultimately recruiting badly is costly, both for the individual as they get a black mark, but especially for your time and effort. The more transparent you are the better.”

January 2015 | LeedsBusinessReview |Page 39