Contact - February-March 2013

NECC: Making the North East a success

FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

necc.co.uk - necontact.co.uk

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5

On the deck

time to grow NECC’s Manifesto for Growth 2013

Your favourite vinyl classics

nurturing talent National Apprenticeship Week in focus

in the fast lane

inTerview

the circle of life

Sir John Hall: “My family are in the business; it’s their time now. It’s time for me to smell the roses with my wife”

With our own (54-year-old!) karting champion

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Welcome...

Welcome to the latest issue of Contact.

There is something reassuring about working to a plan, whether it’s a document setting out the ambitions of your company or an A4 sheet with assembly instructions for a flat-pack chest of drawers.

The NECC Manifesto is our plan, setting out our lobbying priorities for the year following thorough consultation with member businesses.

Each December we wrack our brains to name the Manifesto and have, in the past, come up with titles such as “Taking the Lead” and “Delivering the Recovery”, but this year it’s fairly simple: “NECC’s Manifesto for Growth in 2013”.

Nothing is possible without economic growth and the Manifesto spells out how the North East could spearhead the UK recovery, if its economic potential is realised.

As we enter 2013, NECC launches its Manifesto for Growth, focusing on how the region can spearhead the recovery for the UK

The Manifesto calls for Government to do more to strengthen the North East by championing regional business; developing regional infrastructure to build on export success; supporting business by improving information on available finance; and removing barriers to local public sector contracts.

With the UK focused on creating sustainable economic growth we must work together as a region to maximise our potential and our message to the Government is no longer, “what can you do for us?”, but “this is what we can do for you!”

The region stands on its own feet, attracting inward investment, exporting across the world and developing home-grown businesses. To continue our progress, we require action by local, regional and national bodies, including Government.

We also need businesses to work together in the interests of the region. NECC will strive to encourage partnership between these organisations to create conditions for growth.

The Manifesto priorities come from the 4,000 businesses we represent, and is therefore a uniquely important collective view of the region’s diverse private sector. We believe the success of these businesses in 2013 is vitally important for the region and for the whole of the UK and the issues that affect their growth must be given very close attention at all levels.

editor Jane Pikett jane@offstonepublishing.co.uk editorial team Laura Emmerson Alastair Gilmour Liz Hands Owen McAteer Paul Robertson Contact is the magazine for NECC members. News and press releases should be sent to submissions@necc.co.uk Advertising Contact our commercial team 01661 844115 sales@offstonepublishing.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY Kevin Gibson www.kgphotography.co.uk Nicky Rogerson www.nrphotography.co.uk Peter Skelton www.photo-psp.co.uk

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John Mowbray, NECC President

what they say this issue...

Offstone Publishing, Unit 1, Bearl Farm, Stocksfield, Northumberland, NE43 7AJ 01661 844 115 enquiries@offstonepublishing.co.uk

When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it

Sir John Hall

Sarah Stewart

Steve Mills

“You can learn from the past, but you can’t live in it. We have to open ourselves to change. I’d like to see an independent structure... with the money and leadership to make change happen. We need the public and private sectors to lead the region forward in a new kind of thinking.” p28

“Attracting inward investors to help grow the local economy will be an important priority. We’re focusing on sectors where we have the most to offer investors and which will have the greatest impact on the area. These are offshore, digital and creative and science and health.” p54

“I might not be the world’s greatest businessman, or the best educated, and some might accuse me of being a bit soft as a boss, but I believe that if you treat your employees right and with respect then they’re a happy workforce and you get it back in spades.” p36

Life president, NUFC

Chief executive, NGI

MD, Pyemetric Refactories

©Offstone Publishing 2012. All rights reserved.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

All information contained in this magazine is as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Offstone Publishing a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part. Although every care is taken, Offstone Publishing is not liable for resulting loss or damage. Offstone Publishing endeavors to respect the intellectual property of owners of copyrighted material reproduced herein. If you identify yourself as the copyright holder of material we have wrongly attributed, please contact us. Offstone Publishing does not guarantee the insertion of any particular advertisement on a specified date or at all.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 3

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Contents

From lunch under the brooding stare of Marco Pierre White to a lifetime’s wisdom of Sir John Hall, all North East business life is here..

News 10 N’ice and easy Northumbrian Water’s putting ice to good use

11 investment boost

TRW ploughs £15m into its Sunderland site

12 done deal

Zodiac Training sold

14 double win

National awards for NECC network

16 set in stone

Stone Technical Services on the up in the south

18 THE appliance of apps Switching to the cloud with Appamundo

Features 6 Live and kicking

60 seconds with actor Chris Conel

24 Manifesto for growth A quieter life: It’s time to relax now that the family can take care of business interests, says Sir John Hall, p28

NECC’s plan for the region to lead UK recovery in 2013

28

20 beware the law New employment legislation in focus

22 looking up

Commercial property looking good for 2013

54

26 driving seat

Darchem Engineering MD Graham Payne on life in the fast lane

28 FULL CIRCLE

Sir John Hall on a life in business

36

32 BREAKING BARRIERS Barrier Ltd, a worldwide force

36 hot metal

The Teesside invention revolutionising steel production

38 made in britain

The manufacturing businesses bringing industry back home

41 nurting talent

Apprenticeships soaring as North East business reaps the benefits

The world according to: Sarah Stewart (above), Steve Mills (top right), Les Walton (right) Obituary: Alan Reece (far right)

52

63 FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 5

60 seconds

❝ My 14-year-old son is great.

He’s inspired me to be a better person

❝

Chris Connel starred in the critically-acclaimed The Pitmen Painters and returns to the Live Theatre in White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in March

Live and kicking 6o Seconds: Chris Connel Interview: Laura Emmerson

N

orth East Actor Chris Connel has long been associated with Live Theatre in Newcastle, one of the cultural organisations appealing for support in the light of budget cuts. One of the original cast members of The Pitmen Painters, Paul toured with the production in the UK and internationally, and has performed in many Live Theatre productions including Close the Coalhouse Door (a co‑production with Northern Stage), The Prize and Nativities, all in 2012. He will appear at Live Theatre on March 17 in its latest production White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour.

Welch. Tim tried to persuade me to pick red but I’m glad I went for black!

Q You’re meeting someone for the first time in a busy place – how will they recognise you?

Undeniably my massive eyebrows – they quite often cause problems on set, casting shadows on my face and generally having a life of their own!

Q What do you believe?

You get back from people what you put in.

Q What is the best job you’ve ever had?

When I was young I worked as a fleece wrapper for some sheep shearers. It was a hot summer and I would look after the sheep and the wool after the shearing, though one downside was that I had to pull any debris from the sheep as they went up the ramps. I always got a seat on the bus to myself on the way home!

Q Who or what has most inspired you in your life?

My 14-year-old son, because he’s great; it’s good to watch someone as they change and grow up in the world. He has inspired me to become a better person.

Q What most motivates you?

Injustice gets me going more than anything else.

Q What’s the best decision you ever made?

How ironic that I can’t decide! Probably the one and only time I’ve ever played roulette when I picked black and won £100 in Greys Club in Newcastle. I was out with Tim Healy and Denise

Q What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Become a blues guitar player for a living.

I’ve got a few guitars and am quite obsessed with them!

Q How would your closest colleague describe you?

As a bit of a factoid freak. I tend to know lots of things about things that most people wouldn’t bother learning.

Q What would you be doing if not this?

A marine biologist.

Q Which word or phrase do you most overuse?

Basically.

Q Is there anything you find really scary?

Bizarrely, lions! And going through the Tyne Tunnel used to be a problem, but I conquered that one by going back and forth until I conquered it.

Q What would be the title of the movie version of your life?

Nearly, But Not Quite.

Q What’s your greatest ambition?

I’m not a tremendously ambitious person, but on a personal level to be able to keep working - and for my son to be happy and have a good life.

Q Tell us your best joke An old Bobby Thompson one: A man knocked at me door, I went and answered and he said he was from Littlewoods. I said, “have we won the Pools?” He said, “No, your wife’s been arrested for shoplifting.”

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 7

inbox

inbox...

Have you got something to say about the magazine or about business in general? Then inbox may be the perfect home for you. Send your views, comment and gossip to inbox@necontact.co.uk

Never too old!

Age Inclusive, the business and people improvement specialist, concurs with the Aviva Real Retirement Report, which claims one in four 65-74 year olds continues to earn a wage. Age Inclusive MD Cynthia Bartley says: “The enlightened employers are making adjustments in their employment practices to retain these skilled and experienced workers.”

Obviously, here at Contact HQ, the workforce is in the first flush of youth, as you can see from this photo of our editor.

something we said?

Two Contact interviewees in the last two editions have resigned suddenly just as the magazine hit desks.

The first was Rob Lawson, editor of the Sunderland Echo, featured in the Sept/Oct 2012 edition, and then the cover star of Nov/Dec edition, Ken McMeiken, CEO of Greggs resigned on publication also. Neither hinted at their intentions when we interviewed them, which leads us to ask the question, was it something we said?

8 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Flexing creative muscle

There was a time when Contact magazine HQ lived upstairs from the crazy creative minds at the then-newly formed Hedley McEwan.

The communications agency moved in one weekend and instantly transformed what had been an uninspiring downstairs space into the very essence of creative cool.

There was slick white furniture, blood-red rugs, a big screen showing a roaring fire (which, bizarrely, made you feel

Congratulations!

Well done to the team at Tharsus and their chief exec Brian Palmer (above), named

all warm and toasty), angle poise lamps and the ultrasoave silver foxes #1 and #2, Tom Hedley and Duncan McEwan, directing operations with the style and panache of latter-day Madmen. Clearly, they were far too cool for us, because soon after that, they moved again, to the uber-cool Toffee Factory in the Ouseburn Valley, where they’ve now created a funky space they call The Brain Gym. Here, the team and their clients can gather, cocooned in giant egg-shaped chairs, and share the ideasgenerating joy that is life at Hedley McEwan.

Clearly, it’s working, because the Hedley McEwan client base is growing rapidly and now extends UKwide.“We’re thinking beyond advertising,” says Hedley, “with art installations, social media hype and brand invention.”

Large SME Manufacturer of the Year by The Manufacturer magazine and shortlisted in the Financial Mail’s Made in Britain competition. In 2012, Tharsus was entered into six awards, including ranking top of the Ernst & Young Manufacturing League’s exports board as a result of a 200% increase in exports over the last six months.

Is it just us… ...Or did people get to work

come hell or high water (or drifts) when it snowed years ago?

One member of our newsroom has a copy of the Daily Express from November 1965 which features a photograph of her father, the late Dr Idris Waller of Staindrop Surgery, Co Durham, skiing some five miles over high Teesdale country to attend a home labour.

“And we went to school, no matter what the weather,” she says, “and come to think of it, so did the teachers.”

Ah, the teachers. Can you remember your school being closed for days on end when it snowed?

We can’t, yet at the time of writing thousands of schools are closed nationwide, which forces hundreds of thousands of workers to stay at home to look after their kids. The effect on the economy of this, plus transport chaos, is threatening an unprecedented triple dip recession. Does it really have to be like this? *Please email us your stories of workers going beyond the call of duty to get to work during the snow and restore our faith in human nature!

W

In my view NECC chief executive James Ramsbotham applauds the continuing growth of apprenticeships in the region and nationally

ith January behind us and the business year well underway, we have reached that time again when our focus turns to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship Week, which this year takes place March 11-15 is always an important occasion on which to highlight the value of the apprenticeship programme to our region.

Over recent years there has been a marked increase in the profile of apprenticeships across the UK, and rightly so.

New data released by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), highlights the continued popularity of apprenticeships among both employers and the public.

Analysis of NAS apprenticeship vacancies figures shows there were more than 1.1m apprenticeship applications submitted, and more than 106,000 vacancies advertised online during 2012.

Regional apprenticeship starts have increased by almost 10% from last year and NECC’s own figures show a significant 21% rise in the number of online apprenticeship applications.

It looks an altogether very healthy picture for apprenticeships.

Perhaps the natural order of things is changing? With the highly publicised changes to tuition fees, more young people are identifying apprenticeships as the most achievable way to gain career progression. And more employers are realising the value of developing their own workforce rather than bringing in already skilled workers.

in my view It stops just short of being our moral obligation, but I do feel we have a duty not only to our youngsters but to the future of our business community to ensure that the apprenticeship programme progresses.

You will read plenty more about the great work taking place across the region with apprenticeships.

And, while it is only right to acknowledge these efforts, it should not be cause for us to rest on our laurels.

At the end of last year, an independent review conducted by entrepreneur Doug Richard drew up a raft of changes required if we are to develop the apprenticeship programme to its full potential.

The report concluded that there are a number of fundamental issues with the way apprenticeships are currently delivered.

Mr Richard has called for more accessible and correctly incentivised funding for small firms, an independent testing and validation process and a shift in focus to ensure that the delivery outcome of apprenticeships meets industry standards.

I, for one, welcome these recommendations which will help to ensure apprenticeships are seen as a high quality training option by employers.

Clearly then there is still plenty of work to be done to evolve apprenticeships.

For now though, let’s all get behind Apprenticeship Week and help it to be the fantastic catalyst with which to offer the opportunity to the next generation that all important first step.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 9

NEWS

TELECOMS With Andrew Edgar, MD Russell 8020

Mobile marketing: Should it be a priority?

Priority Moments from O2 is the UK’s biggest digital reward scheme.

Delivering more than £30m of savings for consumers in 2012, the service is now open to independent businesses allowing you to contact thousands of O2 customers in your area for free.

To make it even easier, businesses no longer need to be approved by O2 before they start creating offers.

Priority Moments is simply a self-serve portal that allows businesses to create, edit, track and manage their offers online. The service has been designed to be quick and easy to use and it’s completely free. You can access the portal via http:// www.o2priority.co.uk/local To qualify, a business must operate from valid business premises such as a shop, cafe, high street service, leisure outlet or hotel and have a Business2Consumer offering.

This is not available to large chains or franchises.

Through this service you can: • Reach new customers • Boost revenue and footfall • Be more effective in your marketing by targeting interested customers in your area • Introduce your business to the world of digital marketing For more information or advice on any aspect of developing your business through mobile technology contact Russell 8020, tel 01914614210 10 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

COOL KIT

N‘ice and easy While motorists are cursing the big freeze, Northumbrian Water is investing millions in a new ice pipe-cleaning system.

It’s investing £66m in cleaning 400km of trunk water mains which transport water around the region’s vast 16,965km water network.

Operations director Graham Neave says: “Using ice is quick because we don’t have to empty the section of pipe we are cleaning and refill it, as with other cleaning methods. The holes we dig to access the pipes and enable the cleaning are also much smaller.”

It usually takes us up to three weeks to clean a 2km section of pipe using the usual pressure jetting method, but it takes just a few hours to clean the same area using slushy ice injected into the pipe.

The pressure of water on the slush compacts the ice and it scrapes sediment, which can discolour water, off the pipe walls. The dirty ice is then flushed from the water main and the water is sampled and put back into supply.

The trial clean of a 2km section of pipe between Pegswood and Ashington in Northumberland was a success, says Neave.

“We’re very pleased with the trial and this will hopefully revolutionise the way we clean our trunk water mains. We hope to be able to clean around 75km of pipe using this method.”

Into the Valley Tees Valley’s bid for a City Deal has taken a major step with the publication by Tees Valley Unlimited of the first phase of its case to the Government.

The Expression of Interest

by TVU, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley, sets out the area’s economic landscape and highlights the positive impacts of City Deal status. Tees Valley Unlimited MD Stephen Catchpole says:

“A Tees Valley City Deal would give us greater control over our economic destiny and enhance TVU’s range of strategies to attract private investment, boost skills and create jobs.

“There are numerous untapped opportunities that a City Deal would allow us to harness. It would give us greater control locally to exploit our strengths and tackle our barriers to growth.”

NEWS

Mining support Plans for a proposed new surface mine in south east Northumberland have won the backing of the local parish council.

Widdrington Station and Stobswood Parish Council has written to Northumberland County Council to express its support for Banks Mining’s proposed Ferneybeds scheme three miles north west of Ashington.

Banks is looking to extract around 752,000 tonnes of coal over a three-year period, directly supporting around 40 local jobs.

NEWS

Eye, eye! £15M investment boost TRW in Sunderland has announced a £15m investment in its plant following the success of its bid to the Regional Growth Fund for £1.75m.

The investment will fund two new lines and enable TRW to build the next generation of power steering motors at its Houghton-le-Spring factory, The company, which employs 250 at Sunderland, has also won Renault as a customer and is growing its business with Coun Harry Trueman, Sunderland City General Motors.

Council with Paul Willson, plant controller TRW says the investment underpins at TRW Sunderland the long-term future of the Sunderland plant, which currently produces power steering motors for VW, GM and Ford, with smaller contracts with Fiat and Volvo. TRW plant controller Paul Willson says: “This investment means we can secure international customers such as Renault and GM and look at other opportunities with new products. We’re achieving success in new markets, including supplying motor companies in China to complement the work of TRW Asia Pacific.”

Sunderland City Council’s business investment team worked with TRW on the successful Regional Growth Fund submission and supported the company in developing a laboratory.

Other lines of enquiry North, part of Dipsticks Research Ltd, is now marketing eye-tracking technology which records the eye movements of people looking at screenbased media to measure visual attention, engagement and the impact of video, images and web pages.

This allows businesses to see how consumers view products and advertising messages on web pages, and use the information to make decisions about web page design, placement of banner ads and sponsorship activity.

Spooky stuff!

To see the eye tracking in action, visit: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TsScIQgFoxI

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 11

NEWS

NEWS

Cheers!

Tavistock Leisure has taken ownership of the former Lambton Worm pub at Chester-le-Street which will reopen in early March after a £500,000 refurbishment.

The pub will be re-named the Lambton Worm Sonnet 43 Brew Pub and Restaurant and is the first of four planned pubs bearing Tavistock’s Sonnet 43 brewery name.

“The success of other initiatives such as our pub partnership has given us the confidence to launch this new brand,” says Tavistock director Jonathan Graham.

“This will be a traditional English pub serving quality food using ingredients sourced from local suppliers wherever possible.”

NEWS

City website revamp With unique visitors up 42% in 2012, NE1 Ltd has re-launched its www.getintonewcastle.co.uk website with enhanced offers and information and improved functionality across smartphone/tablets.

A new location map function allows users to view content relevant to certain geographic areas of the city and visitors can view a business on the map and see all associated offers and events connected with it.

The website now has more than 12,700 pages housing a wide range of offers with thousands of profile pages for individual businesses and restaurants across the city.

12 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Done deal Zodiac Training has been sold by its founder Lilian Mains to Ingeus, one of the UK’s leading providers of employability training.

Zodiac, which was founded 16 years ago and now employs more than 140, is the region’s largest independent apprenticeship training provider and helped more than 2,400 people complete apprenticeships and other qualifications in 2011.

Mains (pictured above with the RMT team) worked with RMT to identify the sale

option that would meet both her personal objectives and those of the business. She says: “Exploiting the synergy between the two businesses made a great deal of sense, and the commercial momentum that this deal creates will help the Zodiac team take its high quality service offering to the next level.”

The RMT team which worked on the deal was led by directors Maxine Pott and Anthony Josephs, who has acted as an adviser to Zodiac for the last 16 years.

In safe hands A newly launched Stockton-based health and safety training company is enjoying national success after being invited to speak at oil giant BP’s safety seminar.

Just months after setting up, World Class Safety launched a dedicated asbestos training division which was invited to present the dangers of the hidden killer at the conference in London.

“We were delighted to be invited by BP and we’re already benefiting from the exposure,” says director Chris Devlin (pictured). “We’ve worked all over the world delivering training and consultancy so we are well placed to deliver the right information and advice so the threat of legal action can be avoided as well as preventing workers and members of the public from being exposed to it.”

World Class Safety offers flexible training packages with minimum disruption to

productivity in the workplace. “World Class Safety is built around a highly flexible model where training packages can be delivered with minimum disruption to productivity; and that includes through the night if necessary,” adds Devlin.

WCS is working in conjunction with Newcastle-based Safer Asbestos Solutions, which offers in-depth investigations and surveys and allows WCS to offer a complete asbestos and health and hygiene solution to businesses.

Contact KITE to explore European collaborative projects

ncl.ac.uk/kite Find us on:

A New Perspective

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NEWS

Charitable Start to 2013 for Sintons Law

S

left to right: Kingsley Smith, Chair, and Andy

taff at Newcastle-based law firm Sintons have presented a cheque for £7,400 to the Charlie Bear Cancer Appeal, one of the North’s leading cancer charities, and the firm’s Charity of the Year in 2012. This money will go to support the introduction of Cyber Surgery at the Freeman Hospital’s Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC). The ‘Cyber Surgery’ service will be equipped with the next generation technology and will be the first of its kind outside London.

Sintons LLP are also co-sponsoring Street Spice @ Life, which will take place in a huge marquee at the Centre for Life between the 28th of February and the 2nd of March 2013.

Organised by Newcastle’s popular Sachins restaurant the festival will bring together hundreds of spicy food experts to create the North East’s largest Spice Food Festival, with a fusion of different tastes, cultures and experiences. – a must for gastronomes everywhere. The event will be free to enter and will raise money for the charity Brain Tumour UK in memory of Urban Bhangra Legend Kuly Ral. Kuly’s wife Geeta Ral is the sister of Neeta Arora Sachins restaurant.

Welch, Medical Director (elect), of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Amanda Maskery and Jim Dias, Partners at Sintons LLP

Legal Support for Science Network Members of one of the fastest growing networks for science and technology businesses in the UK now have access to legal expertise and guidance thanks to a new programme. It comes with North East law experts Sintons LLP being the latest company to join NETPark Net under its Affinity membership programme.

Anthony Evans, Partner at Sintons LLP, which specialises in providing legal servicers for companies across the UK, said: “It was clear from our first visit to NETPark that it is a place where world class science and technology companies and individuals come together. The Affinity package provides us with a great opportunity to contribute to the community with our specialist expertise and technical skills.”

14 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Double award win for NECC Network We have a huge network of Entrepreneur Sarah support in my family, our Pittendrigh, whose fastfranchisees and the hotels and growing business Simply brides we work with, who are all Bows and Chair Covers now instrumental in the success of numbers 11 franchises, has the business,” she said. received national recognition NECC Chief Executive with a major business award.

James Ramsbotham She picked up the award said: “Sarah has shown for Most Promising New an immense amount of Business at the British determination. The level Chamber of Commerce of her success is Awards, where NECC testament to her also won the Award “sarah vision and drive for Excellence has shown and she has gone in Membership an immense on to support Services. amount of employment This follows determination’ people across success at the UK.” the North East NECC was Business Awards awarded the Excellence where Consett-based in Membership Services Simply Bows and Chair Covers accolade following its was named Newcomer of efforts to improve its range the Year. of member services and The idea for the business for implementing a model was born when Pittendrigh spotted a gap in the market for to segment its business membership. Eight stylish chair covers and linen businesses from the North when she helped to organise East made it through to the her brother’s wedding. finals. Sarah is pictured The business now has 11 above with Charlie Nettle, franchises, a figure Pittendrigh head of marketing at NECC plans to grow to 30 by 2015. and their awards.

“I’m thrilled with the award.

NEWS

First class award for NRG

sound investment NECC’s final Quarterly Economic Survey for 2012 reveals that North East firms are investing more than at any time since the recession began.

A rise in the number of companies recruiting also continued into the fourth quarter, reflecting the downward trend in regional unemployment statistics.

However, despite marginal positives in both domestic and export sales, orders fell into the negative in the second half of 2012.

The QES, produced in partnership with Barclays, also showed a marked increase in results for investment plans. Despite sales and orders looking a little weaker, businesses are reporting investment plans growing more quickly than at any point since before the recession began NECC director of policy Ross Smith says: “We know a number of businesses have decided they cannot put off investment in vital equipment and machinery any longer, and perhaps the launch of the Funding for Lending scheme is also helping.

“If businesses are starting 2013 with greater confidence to invest, and greater confidence they will secure the funding to do so, that must bode well for the year ahead.”

The Quarter 4 QES demonstrates that regional service sector growth continues to outpace the North East’s successful manufacturers for the second quarter running.

“The pattern of manufacturing growing much more strongly than services we saw in 2010 and 2011 has evened out,” says Smith.

“Service sector firms have begun to grow much more quickly, while manufacturing has

found it tougher to keep up the strong gains of 2010 and 2011.

“Cashflow continues to be very weak and energy costs remain a major concern. Overall, the survey shows that pre-recession growth remains out of reach for the economy, though some firms are seeing significant success.

But the continuing positivity on workforce numbers seen throughout 2012 and the recent upturn in investment plans shows that confidence is creeping back.”

The Quarter 4 QES includes a comparison between Local Enterprise Partnership areas that has previously demonstrated a slightly healthier picture in Tees Valley on several indicators. However, the latest survey shows significant gains in the North Eastern LEP area, bucking the 2012 trend.

The indicators demonstrate that businesses in the North of the region have much more robust profitability, workforce and turnover expectations plus healthy rises in UK and export sales.

Lanchester Group - which comprises Lanchester Wine Cellars, Lanchester Wine Sales, Greencroft Bottling, Lanchester Gifts and Lanchester Energy Company - created 100 new jobs last year and invested in the £2.8m installation of two wind turbines at its Anfield Plain plant.

Group MD Tony Cleary says: “Ultimately, our goal is to be the greenest liquor company in the world and this should be a reality in early 2013. We are committed to ongoing investment to constantly upgrade the infrastructure, efficiencies and quality of the facility and its operation and to improve customer service.”

Wild move EastCoast Taxis has become Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s latest bronze category corporate member.

EastCoast’s tours co-ordinator Alan Fidler will now be working closely with the charity to offer tailor-made

wildlife drives in Northumberland.

Trust chief executive Mike Pratt says: “Wildlife is facing more challenges than ever before, which is why support from our corporate members such as EastCoast Taxis is so important to us.”

Northern Recruitment Group (NRG) has retained its prestigious First Class, One Star award for this year’s Sunday Times Best Companies Accreditation, making it one of the UK’s best employers.

It is the third time NRG has achieved a one star status. MD Therese Liddle says: “This is a fantastic accolade, given that it’s our staff who complete the anonymous Best Companies survey. “NRG is committed to having a positively engaged and enthusiastic team which provides our clients and candidates with an exceptional service.”

NEWS

Durham team up to the challenge A team of students from Durham University beat six other UK institutions to win a challenge set by global financial services firm Morgan Stanley, landing £5,000 for charity in the process.

The university team worked with Durham Area Disability Leisure Group (DADLG), which provides sports, leisure and social opportunities for children and young people with disabilities.

The charity asked the students to explore the feasibility of establishing a service helping young adults with disabilities into employment and the students came up with detailed recommendations.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 15

NEWS

Award for Eldon Eldon Financial Planning has scooped its fourth award in 15 months, winning the Citywire New Model Advisors of the Year award for the North of England this month.

The firm of six chartered financial planners based in Bishop Auckland was up against firms from Manchester, Cheshire and Leeds, but scooped the prize for a second year in a row.

Director Joss Harwood says: “Over the past year, we’ve consolidated our position. We have a small team of young financial planners who are on top of the game. So we think we’re ready to develop now and expand in the North East.”

Employee Gemma Langlands, 29, won the national accolade of Paraplanner of the Year 2012, and is one of the youngest in the industry to be qualified to the highest possible level, while the firm was also awarded the national Chartered Financial Planners of the Year title in 2011.

Harwood adds: “We look after approximately £100m worth of client’s money at present, and have built our business on word of mouth referrals alone.

“The changes that the Retail Distribution Review brought about this month were radical in terms of ramping up the basis of adviser’s qualifications in the industry, so it’s good for people to know that financial planning has changed and that there are already people out there who can give the expertise that they need within the region. We are small but perfectly formed.”

16 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Set in stone Stone Technical Services has started 2013 with further growth in London and the south.

In Shoreditch, Darlington-based Stone’s surveying division completed a condition survey on the spire and tower of St Leonard’s Church, as in ‘the bells of Shoreditch’, which feature in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons.

In Twickenham, Stone has been carrying out concrete repairs for Thames Water, and in Richmond, conservation works at a grade II-listed art-deco residential block.

In Brighton, Stone has completed lightning protection installation work at a residential care home and at St Hugh’s Charterhouse monastery in Parkminster, Sussex (pictured), Stone is completing maintenance and repairs.

Sir Bob’s new job Sir Bob Murray CBE has been installed as Leeds Metropolitan University’s new Chancellor As an alumnus of Leeds Met, Sir Bob’s links with the university go back to 1969 when he moved to Yorkshire to study accountancy part-time at the university’s predecessor institution, Leeds Polytechnic. Some years later, in 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in business administration by Leeds Metropolitan for his contribution to business and sport.

Thanks to its reputation as one of leaders in its field in the UK, Stone Technical Services has seen continued year on year growth.

The company’s London office, close to Piccadilly Circus, has seen increasing contracts following the successful completion of projects on high profile buildings such as Westminster Abbey and Selfridges on Oxford Street as well as ongoing work on the Royal Courts of Justice and St Paul’s Cathedral.

MD Dave Stone says: “London is an important growth area for our business and we’re looking to increase the variety of projects so that we can increase our workforce.”

Stone hopes to create around five new jobs this year to add to its 30-strong workforce.

337200T_CONTACT AD_Layout 1 17/01/2013 11:12 Page 1

GREAT BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS START WITH A CONVERSATION. LET’S TALK. To see how we can apply our expertise and experience to support your business, start a conversation.

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18 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

‘App’liance of science The way we work now is changing more rapidly than ever, but how to keep up?

You will hear many theories and you may find it horribly confusing, but a clear leader in organisational tools right now is Google docs.

But how to switch to it without causing an implosion in your business? And what do you do when you don’t have in-house teccies to help?

Michael Smith, MD of Teesside-based Appamondo, which provides migration to Google docs and on-going support for businesses using the service, says we are in the midst of a major change.

“For the first time people can buy functionality rather than buying the IT and then

having to pay people to make it work,” he says. “That was a bit like buying a car and having to pay the salesman to move you around in it..”

IT support, Smith says, should be proactive, so you don’t only talk to these guys when it goes wrong. Rather, they come to you with suggestions for using it smarter.

Appamondo came about because, says Smith, he was fed up with seeing businesses struggling to work without unified communications.

As a Google Apps for Business Authorised Reseller, Appamondo is all about helping business to do business better using complementary apps together

in the cloud, improving work-flows and dialogue with customers, or simply making life easier for your people all using web-based tools.

Thus, Smith finds himself in the business of selling change into businesses which often imagine that their blend of numerous softwares and expensive external IT support is the only way to go, dissatisfying as it is.

Smith plans to expand the business quickly, growing alongside the SMEs Appamondo is supporting to work smarter. “The cloudbased working provided by Google apps gives you a pop-up office wherever you are and access to everything,“ he says. “It’s liberating.”

Squid’s in The first ever film footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat has been achieved, thanks in part to Analox Military Systems (AMS) of Stokesley, which supplied specialist equipment.

AMS supplied Sub Aspidas to monitor the atmosphere inside the submersibles used in the project, ensuring safe conditions for the crew and scientists on board.

Footage of the giant squid was premiered on Discovery TV’s Monster Squid: The Giant is Real in January.

The submersibles used for the project were organised by Mark Taylor of Manned Sub International, who has worked with AMS for a number of years.

More than 55 submersible dives were required and more than 285 hours underwater, some at depths greater than 3,000ft. Two deep sea submersibles with panoramic views were used to film the giant squid.

NEWS

Seeking overseas expertise

manufacturing support Accountancy practice Tait Walker has called on the Government to increase its commitment to SME manufacturing and engineering after joint-hosting a roundtable event focusing on the sector.

A total of 14 SME manufacturing and engineering firms gathered at the event and its key findings were delivered to Vince Cable with an appeal for Government to do more to advance the industry. The event was held under the umbrella of The MHA Manufacturing Group, which includes respected independent accountants and advisers. North East-

Ford Aerospace chairman based manufacturing Geoff Ford says: “There is companies Ebac Group and a strong manufacturing Ford Aerospace supported body at the North East the report’s key Engineering and findings. Ebac Manufacturing Group’s Pamela “the Alliance Petty (above, manufacturing (NEEMA). The with Geoff sector private sector Ford, Ford Aerospace, requires brand can make a and Alastair development” difference by sharing ideas.

Wilson, Tait There is a powerful Walker) says: “At case for considering Ebac we feel strongly a UK-wide version of NEEMA about changing the view of to coordinate these ideas.” manufacturing within the Read the MHA Manufacturing education system. The sector Roundtable Report at: requires brand development www.mha-uk.co.uk/futureand long-term investment makers-supporting-uk-smeto ensure it is seen as an manufacturers attractive career option.”

video of the month

http://goo.gl/kGQ0u

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action In another fantastic TED talk, Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership, starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers.

Sinek, author of Start With Why, contributes to several non-profit organisations, writes and comments regularly for several major publications and teaches strategic communications at Columbia University.

To find the talk, scan this QR code or search You Tube for ‘TED talks Sinek leaders’

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is encouraging businesses to join the UKAN network to advise overseas companies locating here and UK companies overseas.

UKTI is supported in this strategic role by a growing range of private sector partners providing professional, financial, and business services to companies looking to establish operations in the UK. Key to this private sector participation is UKTI’s UK Advisory Network (UKAN) which comprises commercial providers who offer support to investors setting up in the UK and to UK companies doing business overseas.

Network members include accountants, lawyers and specialist consultants with specific sector expertise. To qualify for UKAN membership, service providers must have a proven track record in assisting inward investors/ UK companies to develop their business overseas, with an active engagement in these processes.

UKAN also runs UKAN networking events throughout the year in partnership with members.

UKTI does not charge for Network membership and members are expected to commit to offering up to two hours free consultation to clients referred through the UKTI network.

For more information, visit www.ukti.gov. ukinvestintheuk/ ukadvisorynetwork.html

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 19

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20 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

New employment legislation is ill-conceived and could lead to confusion, says a leading employment lawyer in the region.

Robert Gibson, managing partner with Samuel Phillips Law Firm, was commenting on various new laws, including the forthcoming cap of 12 months’ salary on compensation awards for unfair dismissal cases (or £72,300, whichever is lower).

He says people will now be trying to shoe-horn their claims into a discrimination case to increase the value of their claim. Settlement agreements will also be introduced, allowing employers to initiate discussions with employees

to bring their employment to an end with agreed terms.

Any such discussions are not admissible in unfair dismissal claims in court.

“The problem is what is meant by ‘improper behaviour or undue pressure’.

The employer could believe they’re acting appropriately, but could get it wrong,” he says.

An early, four or six-week conciliation period is being introduced to encourage both parties to come to an agreement.

“There will be confusion about when the conciliation period started and ended, and when the cut-off point to make a tribunal claim is,” says Gibson.

NEWS

Artistic eyes

Big adventure PD Ports has welcomed the world’s first PD Ports says the arrival of the purpose-built wind turbine installation MPI Adventure highlights its capability vessel into the Port of Hartlepool. to handle large industry-class The MPI Adventure arrived at the Port to offshore vessels. commence work on the Teesside Offshore PD Ports has also successfully Windfarm Project, for which the Port of installed a new terminal operating Hartlepool has been appointed the system at Teesport. The more than main construction logistics hub. new system built by Navis, 100 involved The Teesside Offshore a software development in the Windfarm Project, being company specialising offshore developed by EDF Energy in terminal operating construction Renewables, requires the systems, was introduced MPI Adventure to transport 27 to further improve customer turbines some 1.5km offshore and efficiency and the speed and is expected to complete in early spring. agility of operations at Teesport’s More than 100 people are involved in the container terminal. offshore construction programme operating PD Ports says the platform will out of the project supply base established facilitate growth in its container business at Hartlepool. for years to come.

Blog of the month

http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/default.asp

The brilliant Seth Godin is a mega blogger and author who just keeps delivering.

Be warned, however; you could lose days exploring his online archive. Having said that, you might just learn something.

We particularly enjoyed his Eleven Things Organisations Can Learn from Airports blog, posted on January 27. Apart from reminding us how lucky we are to have good regional airports, and how unpleasant the world’s giant airports can be (ref Heathrow in the snow), there’s plenty here to get us all thinking about how good organisations work.

The judging panel for a new national art prize from Northumbria University has been announced.

The Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize, launched by Northumbria graduate Wee Teng Woon in 2012, offers final year students of fine art the opportunity to win one of five annual prizes valued at £40,000.

The judging panel will be chaired by Turner Prizenominated artist and BALTIC professor Christine Borland.

Other panel members include Lisa Milroy, head of graduate painting at the Slade School of Fine Art; Sally Tallant, director of Liverpool Biennial; Sorcha Carey, director of the Edinburgh Art Festival; and Rebecca Morrill, head of collector development (North East) for the Contemporary Art Society.

NEWS

Site takes flight Newcastle International Airport has launched a new website to service more than 3.5m visits annually, 1.3m unique visitors and 30m page views.

The new site is fully compatible with smartphones and tablets and 40% of visitors are now using mobile and tablet devices. Flight information, news, retail and catering information is available on the site, which was developed by Fivesite of Bedford.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 21

SPACE news

Commercial property forecast good The latter half of 2013 will be marked by rising values in commercial property, according to the Real Estate Predictions report from Deloitte.

Values currently remain some 37% below their 2007 peak, but Deloitte predicts that 2013 will show recovery in the latter half.

Anthony Duggan, Deloitte partner and head of research, says: “We are fully aware this could be seen as a somewhat heroic prediction given the huge uncertainties present in the financial markets, but we believe that there are enough compelling reasons to commit this forecast to paper.

“Firstly, we saw large downwards shifts in pricing during 2012 particularly for secondary stock. It appears these values are now getting close to a level where investors begin to see some value and are willing to transact.

“Secondly, we are beginning to see real shortages of new/Grade A quality stock in many locations as the low non‑existent in many cases - levels of development activity feed through into falling availability levels.

“While we do not expect to see widespread rental growth for some time yet, the potential for increases in some locations has certainly improved.

“The pricing of ‘prime’ stock is becoming a barrier to entry for an increasing number of investors. This will convince investors to widen their scope of acquisitions.”

22 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Looking up

T

he sluggish economy in 2012 didn’t slow down city centre and out-of-town office take-up activity, according to the leading quarterly regional office market report by GVA. Regional take-up reached 6.38m sqft in 2012, similar to the annual average for city centres and above average performance for out-of-town.

The Big Nine reports the regional city centre take-up totalled 995,095sqft in Q4 and 3.77m throughout 2012, 6% below the annual average.

Carl Potter, director and head of national offices at GVA says: “A lack of confidence in what remains a steady market is accentuating a state of continued unease. The reality is that, despite slow progress with deals across the board, transactions are not letting up.

Nevertheless a number of cities are in the position where take-up in the future is going to be reduced as a consequence of the lack of future supply.”

City centre take-up across the nine GVA regional offices for Q4 was similar to the

average, while Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester finished the year above the quarterly average.

Office take-up in the out-of-town markets was 767,000sq ft in Q4; an incredibly strong performance which stood at 34% above the quarterly average.

The stand-out city centre for 2012 was Edinburgh which showed the strongest performance as a result of activity in the first half of the year, while take-up in Bristol and Leeds was also above average.

Activity was particularly strong in Birmingham at nearly 217,000sq ft and there was over 100,000sq ft of deals in Manchester and Newcastle.

Tony Wordsworth, director, national markets at GVA, Newcastle, says “It will be interesting to see how the pendulum swings between the respective city centre and out of town business parks over the next few years. Many of the already established regional office parks will see only little or no new build activity until the available office space is taken up and until the economy further improves”.

Stop scapegoating landlords...

Lettings agent Ajay Jagota, of KIS Lettings, is calling on politicians to stop scapegoating landlords and to instead “co-operate and collaborate with the industry to tackle the problems we all know need solving”.

This follows Baroness Hayter’s attempts to have letting agents recognised in law as estate agents, making letting agents answerable to an ombudsman and the Office of Fair Trading.

Ajay, whose company manages properties for some 700 landlords from branches in Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside says: “It seems at the moment that many politicians see

landlords as convenient whipping boys for society’s problems when what tenants really need is teamwork from politicians and the lettings industry, not conflict. The best way politicians can help tenants is to stop treating landlords and agents as the problem and to co-operate and collaborate with the industry to tackle the problems we all know need solving.

“Britain is facing something of crisis in housing, but that crisis wasn’t created by landlords, it was created by a lack of affordable housing and a lack of economic growth and squeezed household budgets which has forced vulnerable tenants into the arms of unscrupulous and immoral landlords and lettings agents.”

Double take

Executive chef Close Housei

Director of food Rockliffe Hall

Simon Walsh Kenny Atkinson Best day/event of your career: The first time I met and worked with Albert Roux when I was 23. He’s an iconic figure and nothing beats the privilege of working with and for him.

Worst day/event of your career: Catering on-site for a marquee wedding of 200 guests, and getting to the site to find that the gas stove hadn’t been delivered. Virtually all the food had to be cooked through the stately home’s tiny domestic kitchen. We managed it, and can laugh about it now.

Most challenging aspect of your job: We have two restaurants and many different events at Close House with very different catering requirements, and juggling them all while ensuring that we deliver to a very high standard is the biggest challenge.

Most satisfying aspect of your job: Making people happy through food! And working with amazing produce every day.

The person/thing/event, which has most inspired you: My first head chef Roger Narbett at the Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds.

He won national head chef of the year, which was set me in stead for the rest of my career. He was very inspirational then and still is now.

What does your sous chef say about you: Paul Johnson: “Simon’s very easy going and lets everyone in the kitchen have their input. He has opened my eyes to new dimensions of the job and put me forward for North East Chef of the Year, and I’ve met some great suppliers across the region.”

Most famous / fascinating person you’ve cooked for: The England football team, when Alan Shearer and Michael Owen were on the team, during my apprenticeship with Roger, who was the executive chef for the team.

Who would you love to cook for: Tony Soprano!

Age: 37 Town of residence: Newcastle Years in job: 2 Years in career: 20 Number of people in your team: 18 across two kitchens

Best day/event of your career: Getting my first Michelin star whilst working at the St Martins Hotel on the Isle of Scilly.

Worst day/event of your career: The second day of the BBC’s Great British Menu TV show. It was very intense, stressful and was a fast turn-around- a bad day but a great experience overall!

Most challenging aspect of your job: Controlling consistency - making sure our three very different restaurants are always performing well, offering new dishes and keeping up with developments.

Most satisfying aspect of your job: Seeing young chefs develop in their careers at Rockliffe Hall and when they go on to new roles.

The person/thing/event which has most inspired you: Food and produce inspires me daily. A former head chef massively inspired me when we worked together at the Greenway Hotel in Cheltenham- he was such a good manager and changed the way I thought after a tough few years in London. Sadly he has now passed away.

What does your sous chef say about you: Steve Lawford said: “It’s always a pleasure to work with someone who is as passionate about food and his job as Kenny is. He’s a great mentor and is always willing to teach and make you a better chef, which is really inspiring and encouraging.”

Most famous / fascinating person you’ve cooked for: The Royals- Prince Charles during the Great British Menu banquet and Prince Andrew while working in Cheltenham.

Who would you love to cook for?

Kate and William would be ideal!

Age: 36 Town of residence: Hurworth, Darlington Years in job: 3 Years in career: 20 Number of people in your team: 28

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 23

A manifesto for growth T he region could spearhead the UK recovery in 2013 if its economic potential is realised, according to the North East Chamber of Commerce Manifesto 2013.

NECC’s Manifesto for Growth in 2013 outlines four key areas to be addressed if North East businesses are to maximise the potential of their location, the region’s diverse business base, international transport gateways, natural resources and skills base.

The document sets out NECC’s lobbying priorities for the year, compiled following consultation with member businesses.

The Manifesto calls for Government to champion regional business to ensure UK plc receives the maximum benefit. It also calls for Government to support the development of regional infrastructure to build on export success, to support business by improving information on available finance, and to remove barriers to encourage companies to bid for local public sector contracts.

John Mowbray, NECC President, says: “With the UK focused on creating

24 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

sustainable economic growth we must work together as a region to maximise the potential the North East offers.

We have survived recession with record-breaking export figures, a rise in employment as well as increases in business optimism and we must build on this in 2013 and make sure our region is fit for the future.

“Our message to the Government is no longer, ‘what can you do for us?’.

Our new message is, ‘this is what we do for you’. We’re a region standing on our own two feet, attracting inward investment, exporting across the world and developing our own home‑grown businesses.

“To continue our progress, we require action by local, regional and national bodies, including Government.

We also need businesses to be willing to work together in the interests of the region. NECC will strive throughout the year to encourage the partnership needed between these organisations to create the best possible conditions for growth in 2013.”

The Manifesto sets out the need for investment in the region to reflect the concerns of NECC’s members, with

the emphasis on improved transport, energy and digital infrastructure.

It calls for the Government to support the region’s burgeoning green economy to create the opportunity for the region to be a world leader in the decarbonising industry, while removing potentially oppressive legislation impacting on the region’s high number of energy-intensive industries and other barriers to private sector growth.

Mr Mowbray adds: “The Manifesto priorities have come directly from the 4,000 businesses we represent, covering one-third of the workforce, all localities in the region, all industrial sectors and all sizes of business, following widespread consultation with members.

“It therefore presents a uniquely important collective view from the North East’s diverse private sector. We believe the success of these businesses in 2013 is vitally important for the North East and the whole of the UK. “They make an essential contribution to the health of the national economy and the issues that affect their growth must be given very close attention at all levels.”

NECC’s Manifesto for Growth in 2013

Champion North East business in national decision-making:

• Influence local authority budgets to help protect services important to businesses

• Support and challenge Local Enterprise Partnerships in creating conditions for growth • Highlight the importance of vibrant town and city centres • Encourage greater support for the tourism industry

Campaign for developing infrastructure nationally and internationally:

• Help to demonstrate

the demand for super-fast broadband

onitor the impact of •M energy market reform on high energy use businesses

• P romote the benefits of the Green Deal for businesses • Support the case for a

carbon capture and storage pilot in Teesside

Support the competitiveness of North East business:

• Hold banks to account for their lending

• Influence the design of a UK Business Bank

• Encourage large businesses to pay suppliers promptly ake the case for •M fit-for-purpose export finance from Government

• S eek to build better links between business and education

Remove barriers to free up North East business to deliver growth:

• Promote a positive local approach to development

• Campaign for simpler

and smarter approaches to public procurement

• H ighlight the need to cut the burden of employment regulations

• Campaign for

reductions to business rates and empty property rates

• P ush for reform of fuel duty

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 25

Driving in the driving Seat seat

Life in the fast lane Interview:

ALastair gilmour

Graham Payne is not only MD of a leading engineering firm, he’s a karting champion, too

G

raham Payne is MD of Stocktonbased Darchem Engineering, provider of insulation, fire protection and fabrication products principally for the aerospace, marine, oil, gas, nuclear and automotive sectors. He is also, at 54, British Karting Champion for the third time.

Darchem has invested £8m in equipment in the last three years, has a target turnover of £80m in 2013 and has a 625,000sq ft factory employing 700 in Stockton, where it runs a successful apprenticeship scheme.

Around 50% of its output is exported, principally to the US and Europe, plus Brazil, Korea, Singapore and Australia.

Graham Payne is chairman of NOF Energy and sits on the regional advisory council for NECC, the Bank of England, and the Engineering Employers’ Federation.

Q Tell us about your karting achievements.

I first won the British Championship in 1990, then again in 2011 after a 21-year gap, and again in 2012. I’m a works driver for a team in the Midlands and I’m competing this season for my title. It’s over eight rounds and at a meeting there are three 10-15 lap heats and a 15-20 lap final, so over a weekend you could be doing 65 laps.

26 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Q When did it start?

I started in 1977, inspired by F1 World Champion James Hunt. Then, in 1980 I went into Formula Ford (a junior rung on the grand prix ladder) and raced against Ayrton Senna on many UK circuits. The word “raced” is probably stretching the truth; if I did beat him it was probably because he’d broken down.

At that time, Nigel Mansell was moving from Formula Three to Formula One and Nelson Piquet coming through in Formula One and while you never actually raced against them, you’d be at meetings with them.

Q What’s on your mind when you race?

It’s a focused sport, so you’re completely absorbed. At Darchem Engineering we cover specialist fabrication and insulation to the nuclear industry and fire protection for gas and oil sites. We deal with military products, including systems for the two new aircraft carriers being built at Rosyth with some 4km of highly integritysophisticated ductwork. In aerospace we have a duopoly of Boeing in the US and Airbus in France. We go from products for a double-decker Airbus A380 to the Joint Strike Fighter. It’s not advisable to think about all that when you’re going round a racetrack at 100mph sitting 25mm above road level.

Q Do you get your hands dirty?

I designed the chassis that won a British Championship and I won the other two on an engine I’d configured to optimise performance. If you’re running a business like ours you have to have an appreciation of working with metals.

Q Aren’t you a little mature to be a champion kart racer?

Competing aged 50-plus at the leading edge of a sport is quite something. The reality is, if you had to rely on physical technique, you’d have gone years ago, but when 50% of the input is mechanical, age becomes slightly less of a barrier.

Q But you must be fit?

I’m 54 and competing against 20-30 year olds, and it’s certainly challenging. With no suspension on a kart and high G-forces from driving on wide, slick tyres, your upper arms, shoulder and neck come under intense pressure. You travel at up to 100 miles an hour, you do 0-60 in 2-2.5 seconds and 0-100 in 3.5-4 seconds, and you have left-to-right and front-to-back G-forces through cornering and braking.

There’s an important power-to-weight ratio element and the reality is that I’m probably two stone overweight, so I come with a disadvantage. I dream and aspire to losing that two stone!

❝ I’m 54 and

competing against 20 and 30-yearolds. Yes, it’s challenging!

❝

PROFIle

28 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

❝ It’s been a

wonderful life...I wouldn’t change it. I’ve been lucky

Full circle

As Sir John Hall approaches 80, he recalls his business highs and lows with Owen McAteer

A

but I’m living life again now and s Sir John Hall enjoying it.” and his wife Lady The prostate cancer Mae prepare to diagnosed in 2010 is under celebrate their control, he says. “And it’s been 80th birthdays in March, Sir John can reflect on a a wonderful life. I’ve probably spoken my mind too much, life come full circle. but I wouldn’t change it. I’ve He is enjoying spending been lucky.” much of his time in rural Despite being, as he puts Northumberland after restoring it, practically retired, the a farmhouse near Alnwick. He remains based at Wynyard Hall man who introduced the on Teesside, but Northumbrian UK to the shopping mall with the Metrocentre is now village life also suits Sir John, encouraging town centre who grew up in North Seaton, regeneration. He is also back near Ashington. to watching his beloved “I’m really at home there.

Newcastle United as a I’ve come back to my fan, alongside his roots,” he says. “I’m friends, as he did nearly 80, but I’ve as a boy, rather worked all my life “I’m living than leading and have never life again the club - a really had time now and challenge he to sit down, be enjoying it” admits he never with people, and originally wanted. switch off.

His passion “A group of us for the North East is older people have undimmed. Describing it this debating group in the as a “wonderful, wonderful” village pub where we put the world to rights. I’ve been asked place, he says: “I have never become a global person. to join the onion club and Maybe I should have been it’s good to be part of village more ambitious globally, but life, the church and the shop I’m happy.” where you meet people, like He still sees himself as it was in North Seaton. The Jackie Hall. “I sometimes have intervening years have been the lads from North Seaton to business, business, business, FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 29

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profile Business pioneer (bottom left) Unveiling the Metrocentre site in Gateshead

Devoted husband (below) With Lady Mae when they were named Freemen of Gateshead

Time to reflect (right) It’s time, says Sir John, to take time out to smell the roses at Wynyard

Photographs courtesy of the Northern Echo

Dad and granddad (left) Sir John is passing the ball to younger members of the Hall family now

the football club, in my box. They’re still my pals. People talk about the big society, but we’ve always had the big society in the North East.”

He was one of just two pupils at his village school to get into grammar school in Bedlington. “It opened my eyes. I came from a small village with no flush toilets. It was happy and caring; no widow was ever left alone.

It was hard working, too, you were taught the work ethic.

“At grammar school I visited people’s houses with flush toilets and more than one room downstairs.

I learnt to play tennis, took art and drama classes. I wasn’t academic, but I was hard working and had sense.

When you were from a working class background you were fodder for the mines and factories, but the grammar school changed my thinking.”

He left school with O-Levels and dreams of being a municipal engineer, but he struggled to find work.

Then a post came up for a mining surveyor at Newbiggin colliery. “I very arrogantly said ‘I’m not going down 30 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

“The banks have cut back now and the pit’. My father, who was a miner, you never know who your contact is, took me aside and said ‘I’ll tell you but you need personal contact with something, you’ve never had a job in six months and you have to take a job them and they need to understand your business.” to get a job’. So I took it and had 12 Personal relationships have been happy years working underground. important throughout his career, Then I studied to be a chartered with many deals done on trust and surveyor and went into the estates the shake of a hand. “In business, department.” you have to be a leader, and It was only in his midyou have to be trusted. I 30s that he struck out have always tried to do on his own, when the “It’s their things as I expect other Government was time now. people to do them.” offering grants to i want to And to be in anyone who made smell the roses business, he says, you a derelict house need, “an open mind, habitable, providing with my wife” an inquiring mind, to ask they put in a minimal why we do things one way investment of their own. or another, and not just follow “I asked my local bank the status quo.” manager for £2,000 and he backed This attitude, he says, helped me. In two years I made £40,000 him to drive the Metrocentre to and moved on to supermarkets and completion. He insisted the architects, commercial schemes.” engineers and consultants worked He ended up rubbing shoulders from Portakabins on site rather than with the bank’s chairman, but Sir from their offices in town, which was John still dealt with that same bank the norm at the time. “And we used manager for more than 30 years.

to have a meeting once a week on a Friday, but never made a decision, so I switched it to Saturday morning.

They’d want to go to the match or out with their wives in the afternoon, so you got decisions made, and no problem went more than a week without being solved. That’s how we drove it through.”

He wants to see more original thinking in the North East now. The region is, he says, struggling to find its raison d’etre following the decline of its industries. “You can learn from the past, but you can’t live in it. We have to open ourselves to change. I’d like to see an independent structure, a bit like the development corporations, with the money and leadership to make change happen. We need the private and public sectors to lead the region forward in a new kind of thinking.

We need more new people, more new towns like Washington, to change thinking.”

And a good leader is unafraid of mistakes, he says. “You have to make mistakes to learn you can’t make too

many, and if you make them again you’re a fool.”

One of his biggest was in sport, he says, buying what became Newcastle Falcons rugby team and Newcastle Eagles basketball team. “I thought people would want sport on TV, but the public weren’t ready for it and it cost me £5m. Now they’re all on TV, and I laid the foundations for that.”

Perhaps oddly, bearing in mind that he has loved Newcastle United all his life and describes himself as black and white through and through, he never wanted to own a football team.

When a group looking to restore the club’s fortunes approached him, he was unimpressed. “The club was in trouble and they came to see me in my Portakabin at the Metrocentre.

I told them to go away because I was building a shopping centre, but they kept coming back.

“I was getting sick of them, then a Friday afternoon came at the end of a bad week and Bob Cass, the Mail on Sunday reporter who lived in Durham, turned up. He said the Magpie group

had got him to come and see me.

I wasn’t a whisky drinker but I used to keep a bottle in the drawer. We drank the bottle and I must have been maudlin, because I said I’d pledge £500,000 to a campaign to get the board to put shares on the market, but I said they’d have to find more shareholders to democratise the club.

“Another three people came in and £2m was pledged. We then put the shares on the market and the fans wouldn’t buy them, which was one of my biggest disappointments. The fans could have owned £1m of shares, but we had to buy them and become the biggest shareholders, and there I was, trapped in Newcastle United. I didn’t know how to run a football team; I’m a supporter like the rest of the lads in the Strawberry.”

Sir John installed Freddie Fletcher as chief executive and they brought in Kevin Keegan as manager. “We caught him at the right time and the rest is history,” he says. “The exciting nights in Europe, the joy on the fans’ faces, the football we played, it was utopia.”

Now his mind is back on retail as he encourages shoppers back to Ashington. “With the Metrocentre, all I did was see a trend in America and bring it here. I’m old enough to remember Northumberland Street in Newcastle, before Eldon Square in the middle of winter, and it wasn’t very pleasant. Today, the big cities need the big stores, but in the smaller towns people look towards the local shop, the higher value shop. In a town like Ashington, hit by the retail parks and supermarkets, how do you re-blend the town centre at a time when there are too many charity shops? They should be in a secondary position, not the main pitch. We need to encourage more quality local shops. Morpeth has revamped and is quite successful. We’ve gone through the retail revolution. Now we’re going back to looking at the towns.”

Sir John’s daughter Alison is now running the family’s Wynyard Estate, so he can enjoy his time in Northumberland and at Wynyard. He will be buried there, he says, when the time comes, and for now he is developing a £2.5m rose garden. “My family is now in the business. I’m pleased, it is their time now. I want to smell the roses with my wife.”

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 31

export

Breaking barriers Wallsend-based Barrier is a world-leader in its field, and after 30 years operating in overseas markets, export is on the up, as Jane Pikett discovers

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of surface protection for am forced to admit to most of the world’s major Barrier’s MD Robert oil companies.

Bowles that his business More recently, the company has only just hit my radar, has expanded its operations despite it being a world beyond the oil sector, carrying leader in its field and the name out passive fire protection, the likes of Shell turn to when metal spraying, powder coating they require specialist paint and sub-sea insulation. jobs, fire coatings and the like.

Its services include There are millions of pounds specialist coatings extensively worth of Barrier-owned kit used in tanks, vessels, offshore stationed worldwide, operated structures, marine holds, by specialist operators for bridges and such like. whom working life is The company also generally spent in supplies deck some pretty alien “we talk screeds, laying and inhospitable to other more than places. businesses and 100,000sqm “Don’t get a local during the worry, we’re construction of a well-kept accountant” Sizewell B nuclear secret,” says power station and Robert Bowles more than 1m sqm when I confess my on offshore platforms in ignorance. “We’ve actually its history. only just started to talk more There is scaffolding and about what we do.” specialist access equipment, Since 1975, when Barrier containment for ships and was formed to paint structures tanks, subsea insulation for the growing North Sea oil and all manner of specialist industry, this family business linings. There is Barrier has completed more than 200 Fire Protection for clients major contracts providing including petrochemical and millions of square metres 32 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

The Benarx fire-protection box now being installed worldwide by Barrier

Above: One of Barrier’s installations Right: specialist spraying for offshore pipework Chairman Robert Bowles, right, with MD Paul Harriman

industrial sites, and now Barrier Architectural offering architectural, engineering design services, project management and trades resource recruitment.

It is fortunate, says Bowles that Barrier has some 30 years’ experience operating in overseas markets, because there is increasingly no choice but to go abroad.

“It’s becoming more important because the core business is oil and gas new build and most of that work is going overseas so we are following the work. We simply have to be overseas or we would not survive.”

The business was founded

by Bowles’ father and his business partner’s (Alan Nightingale, operations director) father in 1975 to serve Amec, and it was through Amec that the overseas business began.

“Amec went to South Africa, and Barrier followed, and South Africa remains my personal favourite overseas place to do business,” says Bowles.

Contracts blasting and painting platforms in the 1980s and 90s in South Africa led to similar work in Norway. Later, as the business expanded into specialist fire protection, much more work overseas resulted, taking Barrier into Canada, Norway, Spain, and Algeria, scene of violence against overseas workers at a gas plant where Barrier personnel completed a job in the early 2000s.

“Our people there were protected by the Foreign Legion. The thing when you’re sending guys abroad is to be sure, and if I wouldn’t go there, I wouldn’t expect our people to go there,” says Bowles, adding that Barrier is currently investigating opportunities in Iraq.

“The lads are so used to being overseas, it’s second nature to them, though I

So, what do you do? Keep wonder if we might have moving and you may run out some not wishing to go to of countries in which you are Iraq, and that would be fine the only expert. by me. No-one would be So, why not open an office forced to go somewhere they overseas? “To be able to aren’t comfortable.” work in a country long term Understanding the local you have to set up your own culture is the key to settling business employing local in overseas, says Bowles, talent. We are looking at Papua and Barrier has learned to be New Guinea as an opportunity au fait with the local culture for this and we are also before it goes anywhere. looking at Iraq longer term.”

“We’ve learned from Working overseas, experience to talk to says Bowles, simply other businesses requires a mindset; in country, and one that is fully to use a local entrenched “we have to be accountant.” in the culture Barrier has overseas, or at Barrier. just begun we would not “Export a job fire survive” holds no fears, proofing and but we do our metal spraying in homework and speak Papua New Guinea to people there, and where which will take some 12 possible we will team up with months. “We’re excited about a business which is already it; it’s our biggest overseas there,” he says. “It really is a project at the moment.” mindset, and to the guys it is There is another big job in just routine. Having said that, Equatorial Guinea, providing everywhere is different, and fire protection using Barrier’s you must never forget it!” unique Benarx system.

Barrier is currently servicing The company is five years 200 painting jobs and 70 fireinto a seven-year job in proofing jobs. Some 30% of southern Ireland maintaining them are overseas, but Bowles £100m-worth of pipework sees that figure increasing in belonging to Shell on the the near future to some 50%.

Corrib gas project.

The business is growing The challenges of working and secure with enough work overseas are obvious, and for two years in the UK and it’s taken some six months to abroad. The latest turnover get the team into Papua New figure was £20m in painting Guinea, factoring in tax, visas and £5m in the younger and medicals, qualifying to and rapidly growing fire work there. protection division.

“We also have to keep An architectural services moving because there is division has just been always a finite time until launched and investment in kit someone else in a country is very high; a lesson learned sets up doing what you do. following advice from Swan That is, unless you set up a Hunter chairman Jaap Kroese business overseas, and that back in the mid-1990s, at a brings its own challenges.” time when Barrier was close It’s a tension others will to bankruptcy. recognise – work with a “Jaap Kroese told me then partner business overseas, as that a good business invests in Barrier frequently does, and its own equipment, even in the they will eventually learn to bad times,” says Bowles. “We do what you do, so you are no followed that advice, and it’s longer needed because they definitely paid off.” will market local expertise.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 33

Advertisement

New Yorkshire Bank Team To Support Tees Valley A new business and private banking leadership team in Teesside has been announced by Yorkshire Bank.

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NEW TEAM: Pictured (L to R) outside Yorkshire Bank Business and Private Banking Centre, High Street, Stockton, are: Tracy Buckley, Phil Griffin, Dave Jeffery, Paul Wells, Phil Empson, James Stephenson, Jessica Williams, Julie Bedford, David Allenson, Fiona Tinker

The team is based at Yorkshire Bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in High Street, Stockton, in newly-refurbished, purpose-built offices, and will deliver a wide range of business and private banking services.

The Yorkshire Bank Tees Valley Business and Private Banking Centre is being led by head of centre, Simon Lenney, and will have access to Yorkshire Bank’s new national £1bn Business Expansion Fund launched last autumn to support growing businesses between Middlesbrough and the northern boundaries of North Yorkshire.

Other key figures at the new Stockton-based centre are: Phil Empson – senior manager Ian Stephenson – corporate banking director (businesses with an annual turnover above £25m) Dave Jeffery and David Allenson – commercial banking managers (businesses with an annual turnover between £2m and £25m) Paul Wells, and Chris Middleton – commercial banking business development managers James Stephenson – small business banking relationship manager (for businesses with an annual turnover up to £2m) Jess Williams, Tracey Buckley and Julie Bedford – private banking relationship managers.

Simon Lenney said: “We have a strong and dynamic team, with experience across the commercial spectrum, and access to funding to support businesses and private individuals in the Tees Valley area which remains crucial to our operation.

“We remain strongly committed to the Tees Valley area where we support many successful and fastgrowing enterprises and have done so for many years.

We have relocated our team into fully re-furbished offices in the heart of Stockton’s commercial and retail centre. This move will be pivotal to the continued success of our local relationships with our customers and the professional community. As well as supporting private enterprise, we have a fund available for mortgage lending to private individuals as part of our commitment to supporting the housing

34 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

market in Tees Valley and throughout the North East.”

The Business Expansion Fund is part of a “Growing Business” package which provides new and additional support for businesses looking to start up, expand or switch their banking arrangements. The initiative underlines Yorkshire Banks’ commitment to help UK businesses grow under the Funding for Lending scheme.

Under the “Growing Business” package Yorkshire Bank is providing several schemes aimed at different businesses at different stages in their lifecycle. The first is the launch of fee-free business loans and overdrafts. The removal of an arrangement fee could save businesses up to £10,000 on a £500,000 business loan, freeing up money which can be used elsewhere to support their growth.

Yorkshire Bank Tees Valley Business and Private Banking Centre is part of the bank’s North East Team that also has an office in Quayside, Newcastle.

Simon Lenney, Head of Business & Private Banking North East M: 07796 938501 E:simon.lenney@eu.nabgroup.com

For more information please visit www.ybonline.co.uk

EXPORT

Busman’s holiday The globetrotting team at Newcastle-based digital agency Orange Bus are overseas almost as much as they are home, thanks to fast-growing markets abroad for their services, discovers Jane Pikett

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he VW camper van after which it is named may not be renowned for its speed, but Newcastle-based digital agency Orange Bus is very much in the fast lane right now thanks to a significant rise in overseas contracts.

Following UK-wide success, the digital agency, which specialises in complex custom development projects, conversion optimisation and open-source web development, is moving, with some ambition, into multiple overseas markets.

“Around October 2011 we decided as a company we had to look to build up larger accounts, which meant looking overseas,” explains MD Julian Leighton.

“Our success in winning overseas contracts has been rapid and has contributed to exponential growth in the business.”

They won their first overseas client in Holland, then another in Canada, followed by another in Switzerland. These were the larger contracts Leighton sought, and with international reach has come increased security.

“We can plan the business going

communications, sales and marketing forward far more accurately than in the offering capable of handling complex past and we are more secure because of client work. it,” says Leighton.

The business now provides branding, He adds that a major challenge for outbound messaging, product launches, firms in the digital sector is finding and online marketing and creative design retaining talent, but the company’s and build services with particular international client base has helped expertise in user experience. him attract high calibre staff to the There are now 24 fast-growing team. staff in Newcastle and “The new contracts “our success a team of five in Sri overseas are also coming Lanka developing an through word of mouth, as in winning e-commerce platform our work always has; it’s overseas (there, because it’s just that now, the words contracts has easier to recruit high end are travelling further.” been rapid” software engineers, and The company is working because when you’re busy, in Holland, the US and you can’t steal from a side Canada, Norway and Switzerland project team which is so far away). (on a joint Philip Morris/IBM project) The next year to two years will see and, following a competitive tender, has more growth with the launch of the spent the last three years delivering the e-commerce product (which is imminent new ActiveLearn learning platform for at the time of writing).

Pearson, which operates in 70 countries.

The revenue percentage to the Now approaching its seventh year, agency is around 60% UK and 40% Orange Bus continues to attract new overseas, and Leighton predicts the gap business from national and international between the two will narrow, particularly clients including TSG, Philips, Sage, Nuby as the e-commerce service comes and Reevoo, and has evolved from a on stream. web-development company into a full FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 35

Success

Hot metal

Teesside has a proud and enviable tradition of steelmaking. NECC’s Bryn Littleton discovers one successful company born of the furnaces by one man’s innovation and drive

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he name Pyemetric Refractories may sound like an area of advanced mathematical theory, but the pioneering product it produces is beautiful in its simplicity and serves an industry at the very heart of Teesside’s economic heritage.

To the layman, the company’s name provides little clue of what is produced inside the 10,000sqft Skippers Lane factory, but workers in the steel industry will wax lyrical on the importance of high-quality refractories and how the best ones, like most things in steelmaking, come from Teesside.

The spark of an idea that would lead to the eventual creation of Pyemetric Refractories ignited on the “concast”, the continuous casting line, at the former British Steel Engineering plant at Redcar (now owned by SSI) when Pyemetric MD Steve Mills was, in steelworking terms, a relative newcomer to the industry in the early 1980s.

“I came into work and the management and engineers were arguing with each other; going at it hammer and tongs,” says Mills.

“The stopper that controls the flow of molten metal wasn’t working and it was holding up production. I told one of the managers that I had an idea about how to alleviate the problems we were having with this part of the pouring process and that

36 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

I had worked out a design that would change the way the molten metal was poured.

“After a few conversations about it he eventually said they would take a look at it, but he wasn’t best pleased when I told him that I’d already patented the design.”

For the uninitiated, the refractory is the funnel/nozzle through which molten metal is poured from heavy duty industrial ladles into casts and moulds. This was traditionally a frustrating process, fraught with problems because nozzles clogged as the metal cooled and solidified during pouring.

Yet Mills’ design has revolutionised the industry, speeding up the pouring process so that metal remains liquefied, eliminating clogging, increasing cast yield and significantly reducing set-up time.

The design, which Mills says caused consternation among management at British Steel who thought they should own it because it had been produced by one of their engineers, was to become the springboard he needed to branch out on his own in the early 1990s.

A man of steel through and through, his dream was always to own his own independent manufacturing operation on Teesside. However, it was to take him another 18 years before that ambition would be realised.

A stint working as a consultant throughout the 1990s and early

2000s saw him travel the world visiting foundries and even helping to run one enormous steel producer in Michigan for a year.

All the while he was developing ideas and patents for refractories and by the early 2000s he had two patents that were bringing in £15,000 a month.

“I had hired one company to make the product and another to sell it, but I wasn’t happy and felt I needed to be more active. I believe that you must keep moving forward in business,” he says. “Patents last 20 years, but in reality designs only last around eight years before they are replaced or overtaken by new technology.

“I wanted to make the product and develop new ideas; I’m certainly not one to sit at home picking up the royalties.”

So with a suite of products in place and a handful of lucrative patents, Mills set about building the company profile across the globe.

He teamed up with Derbyshire firm Capital Refractories, which still sells his products and has itself gone from a company with a turnover of £1m to a multi-million pound organisation in the past decade, to establish the Pyemetric products in foundries all over the world.

Issues breaking into the US market were to prove the stepping stone that would eventually lead to Mills realising his dream of starting

The lads who work on the production line are the ones who come up with the best ideas

a manufacturing plant. “The Americans just didn’t get the product,” he says. “I was told that I was trying to change the laws of physics, to which I said I wasn’t changing them - I was simply influencing them to improve the process.

“Eventually, the response was, ‘this product is great, but we have to ship it and the amount we need would mean issues with cargo weight, why can’t you just make them here?’ so that’s what I did.”

Pyemetric began production in a plant on the banks of Lake Michigan and was soon supplying the vast majority of foundries in the country.

In 2008 Pyemetric Refractories opened its first

plant in Middlesbrough at Redesdale Park and within four years had outgrown the factory and moved to Skippers Lane.

Mills says: “We have 11 people working here and since we opened in May we haven’t had anyone lose a day to sickness. Everyone is really dedicated to the company.”

Having devised the designs that would eventually form the basis of Pyemetric on the foundry production line, he is a firm believer in encouraging his employees to do likewise.

“It’s a fool who ignores his workforce,” he says. “The lads who work the production line are the ones who come up with the best ideas. I might not be the world’s greatest

businessman or be the best educated, and some might accuse me of being a bit soft as a boss, but I believe that if you treat your employees right and with respect then they’re a happy workforce and you get it back in spades.”

Pyemetric now has manufacturing bases in the UK, USA and India serving worldwide refractory markets.

A product of the Middlesbrough suburb of Beechwood, he says: “The most important thing is that we remains an independent Teesside company. We make the best products on the market, and we do it in Middlesbrough. We always will.”

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 37

Manufacturing

Made in Britain

As the push to repatriate manufacturing to the UK gathers pace in the region, Liz Hands discovers that Made in Britain is again a growing force

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he splashy announcement by Apple CEO Tim Cook that the Californian technology behemoth was returning some of its China-based production to the US thrust the term ‘repatriation of manufacturing’ into the mainstream.

But while Apple’s decision made the headlines, the repatriation of manufacturing is something businesses in the North East have been quietly getting on with for some time, and it is gaining momentum.

Ross Smith, director of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce, says: “We are seeing firms which have previously done work overseas bringing it back. We 38 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

also seeing instances where the North East base of a multinational firm has been successful in bringing work here from their parent company, the North East being more competitive than an overseas sister company.”

The reasons behind the about-face are fourfold. “It’s partly due to exchange rates,” explains Smith. “It’s partly due to fast development overseas, where the likes of Eastern Europe, China and the Far East aren’t as cheap in terms of labour costs anymore, and it’s partly due to the need to keep transport costs down and have tighter management control.

“The balance has started to tip in favour of doing things in the UK, and the North East is as

up, repatriation is inward competitive as anywhere.” investment of a new kind.

It’s the will to grab that “We’re urging the opportunity that is now putting Government and regional the issue firmly on the agenda leadership personalities to at NECC’s International Trade embrace this. What’s needed Committee. Its chairman is a formal think-tank to Richard Swart, MD of analyse it and Berger Group Europe develop a strategy in Peterlee, is a to bring passionate “we’re making investment advocate. the case for here.”

“It’s about It’s just that job creation and getting it done sort of strategy wealth creation,” in the region” which Smith is he says. “It’s a developing at struggle to attract NECC. Over the next inward investment. four to five months, surveys We’ve got Hitachi and a few will be carried out to see which others, but the hill is businesses are repatriating, getting steeper. which have the potential to do “We need to identify a new approach to harness this trend. so and which have overseas suppliers. An examination of If inward investment is drying

Case Study: HARDY & GREYS

supply chains and current policy will also form part of the research.

“We’re looking at bringing suppliers back to big manufacturers here and we’ve already seen that happen with Nissan,” says Smith. “We’re looking at other companies here to see where their supply chains are based and whether we can move them to the North East. We’re building up examples of what’s already happened and we’re doing research into tipping points so see what small changes could be made to bring people back.

Is it a change in planning

legislation to make it easier to extend factories? Or is it the provision of training?”

The finished research may, says Smith, encourage businesses manufacturing abroad to look again. “Some of the economics might have changed since they first took their decision to out-source, so we’d encourage them to take another look. It will also be used as a lobbying tool if we find policy changes are necessary.”

He adds that a window of opportunity needs to be seized while exchange rates are favourable. “It’s now time to

build up and replenish the manufacturing base because exchange rates won’t stay the same forever and we have an ageing workforce within some areas, meaning if we do nothing, within 10 to 15 years we could be losing skills.

“It’s a win/win situation for employers and employees as long as we can give people confidence that we do have favourable conditions. The good thing is it’s work that is already being done. We’re just making the case for getting it done in the region rather than outside. These are jobs that are winnable.”

Case study: Rettig Radiator maker Rettig outsourced around 25% of production to Poland until two years ago, transferring truck loads every day into the UK. Now the company, which employs 300 in the North East and 5,000 across Europe, has moved all its work back to its plant on the Team Valley, Gateshead.

David Taylor, Rettig UK Ltd director and plant manager at Gateshead and Birtley, says: “Over recent years we’ve worked to reduce our cost base in the UK through investment, training and efficiency improvements and working with our customer and supplier supply chains.

“This, plus increasing costs in Poland, has

allowed us to create an environment where we can produce in the UK at a lower cost than Poland.

“It is, however, a constant battle to maintain this competitive cost base. Certain aspects are directly within our control, but other costs around materials like steel, gas, electric and fuel, we can only influence at the margins.

“Increased volumes in Gateshead help to reduce our overall costs and make the business more profitable and our hope is that UK demand doesn’t deteriorate, and that through improved products we can continue to gain market share.”

Historic fishing firm Hardy & Greys is busy bringing back the production of a range of reels originally made in Alnwick but then sent offshore to Korea. Outsourced around seven years ago, operations and HR director Dave Douglas says there are now many reasons to bring production back to the North East.

“The decision to offshore them was based on unit cost only,” he says. “The result of a far eastern supply chain has been that we need to keep a higher level of stock holding due to minimum order quantities, the quality is inconsistent, the terms of business are in favour of the supplier and we have an additional in-house quality control cost.

“The advantage to the business is that when working on smaller volumes which are more relevant to our sell through in the trade, the manufacturing costs are broadly similar. We do not have so much inconsistency on quality and it is much easier to manage the supply dynamics.”

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 39

40 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

national APPRENTICESHIP WEEK March 11-15

Nurturing talent

As National Apprenticeship Week highlights the growth of this career route, Liz Hands discovers numbers are up

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e’ve come a long way since Chaucer portrayed apprentices as an unruly bunch, and whereas once an apprenticeship was seen as a route into a narrow band of careers, perceptions are certainly changing.

And there’s no better illustration of that than new figures from the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (Semta) which show a mammoth increase in the number of apprenticeships

regionally and nationally.

In the North East, the figure has more than doubled since the 2009/10 academic year, when 1,270 people started an apprenticeship in those industries. In the last academic year, that figure was almost 3,000.

Provisional data from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills show there were 502,540 apprenticeship starts nationally in 2011/12; an increase of 45,340 on the previous year.

It means more Britons now start apprenticeships each year than degrees (480,000 start full time university annually).

Minister for Skills Matthew Hancock has previously pointed to an element of snobbery surrounding apprentices. “Prejudice about the superiority of academic education is a problem,” he said. “This may be, in part,

because technical education has been an area of longstanding weakness.”

But attitudes are shifting.

Apprenticeships can give people the opportunity to obtain degrees, gain work experience and start a career while getting paid.

The region’s largest independent apprenticeships provider, NECC can offer skills in many fields. Andrew Robson, NECC head of training operations (pictured), says: “We recruit for three sectors – business such as administration, team leading, management and IT; engineering including the well-known welding and fabrications fields, mechanical and electrical engineering; and professional services like accountancy, dental nursing and the health sector.”

NECC recruits some 1,100 apprentices every year.

New opportunities Coast & Country, one of the largest housing and regeneration companies in the North East, is working with the North East Chamber of Commerce to create a range of new apprenticeships and work experience opportunities.

Coast & Country will create 15 apprenticeships in February and offer 30 work placements during 2013 in collaboration with NECC. Seven apprenticeships will be available in trades such as bricklaying and joinery and the rest will be in business administration and housing.

Coast & Country’s Westfield Farm Community Resource Centre in North Yorkshire will host the NECC Programme for the Unemployed classes to prepare unemployed people for the transition into work.

Coast & Country chief executive Iain Sim says: “Creating these positions shows our commitment to assisting the communities in which we operate.”

The skills gap The North East faces a manufacturing skills gap unless businesses take on more apprentices, say industry leaders.

Latest statistics from Semta show apprenticeship starts in engineering and advanced manufacturing have increased by 133% in the North East in the past two years.

Semta and the National Apprenticeship Service aims to double numbers of higher level apprenticeships for the sector by 2015/16.

Semta chief executive Sarah Sillars says: “We shouldn’t rest on our laurels. We need teachers and parents to understand the value of apprenticeships.”

Kevin Fitzpatrick, vice president of manufacturing UK operations at Nissan, says recession recovery requires skilled and talented people. “If we are to maintain our growth and stay globally competitive, we need to act now to prevent skills shortages growing.”

Paul Stewart, MD at Chirton Engineering, says: “One of the main challenges we have is finding skilled workforce.

Unless we train up apprentices, this business will stand still.”

Semta says some 8,500 skilled workers are due to retire by 2016 and a further 15,000 employees need to improve their skills. Currently, 27% of engineering and manufacturing firms in the region take on apprentices, but the aim is to get this to 50% by 2016.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 41

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Call our Business Development Team today to see how we can help your business grow 01325 503210 Visit www.darlington.ac.uk/business Email business@darlington.ac.uk Call 01325 503210 Darlington College, Central Park, Haughton Road, Darlington, DL1 1DR

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42 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

national APPRENTICESHIP WEEK March 11-15

Energy boost

Asound investment

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leading North East manufacturer is calling on the Government to increase funding to businesses for apprenticeship schemes.

While the number of apprenticeships is soaring, Ralph Saelzer, MD of Sunderland crane maker Liebherr, wants the Government to re-establish funding to encourage more firms to take on apprentices.

“In the old days, the first year of training was free,” says Saelzer, “but now you pay for an apprentice from day one.”

Previously in the Merchant Navy before training as a mechanical engineer, Saelzer joined Liebherr in 2002 and has overseen a steady increase in the number of apprentices employed in trades such as fitting, welding and machining.

From the first two taken on in 2004, there are now 29 apprentices at Liebherr, two of whom were offered jobs after nearby McNulty went into administration.

But while Liebherr takes on apprentices and trains them for

“It was then Labour policy to three years, Saelzer, a member get people into the academic of the skills council Semta, route instead of what were questions some of the seen as dirty jobs on the shop programmes running in other floor,” he says. “We started businesses. taking on apprentices “It’s positive that there because we had a skills seemingly are more shortage. We couldn’t find a apprenticeships, but what kind skilled workforce on the of apprenticeships are they?” labour market. It’s always he says. “Supermarkets are been the company’s offering policy to up-skill apprenticeships staff.” that last half a “THE WAY OF It seems the year. They are tHINKING future is secure short-term for Liebherr’s training NEEDS TO BE apprentices, as courses, not ADDRESSED” the company apprenticeships.” has 100 cranes in Liebherr gets production at any five applications for one time and is extending every place it offers, and its Wearside site to help that’s after its training safeguard 200 jobs there. providers have filtered wouldSaelzer believes the UK has be employees. For the first a lot to learn. time, Liebherr has also started “Here, around 20% of to see A-level students businesses employ applying to become apprentices, but in Germany apprentices, indicating that it’s more like 80%,” he says. they are now seen as an “It’s a way of thinking that alternative to university. needs to be addressed. It’s It’s a far cry from a decade about long-term strategy and ago when Saelzer says Liebherr first wanted to take on investment rather than concentrating on shortapprentices, but found itself term success.” stifled by government practice.

Newcastle College has launched a new Higher Apprenticeship to support the development of skilled personnel for the energy sector.

Devised by the college’s School of Applied Science and Technology, it focuses on the key growth areas of wind generation and marine.

Suitable for new employees and existing technicians, the two-year Higher Apprenticeship is aimed at individuals with A Levels, engineering diplomas, and advanced apprenticeships and those have worked in industry to Level 3 standard.

Delivered as part of the Semta Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship, the wind generation and marine apprenticeships share key qualifications including NVQ extended diploma in engineering leadership and essential skills in maths, English and ICT. Wind generation apprentices will also undertake a foundation degree in renewable energy technologies while marine apprentices will work towards a foundation degree in subsea engineering.

Upon completing the apprenticeship, participants can study for a degree qualification and work towards Incorporated Engineer professional status.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 43

national APPRENTICESHIP WEEK March 11-15

The travel bug It’s now 33 years since John Hays launched Hays Travel from the back of his mother’s shop.

He talks people, profits and Pimms with Liz Hands

W

hen John Hays was thinking about his future career, he made a list and narrowed it down to two options – undertaker or travel agent.

Travel won because, despite the guaranteed market for the former, Hays hoped the latter would have the fun factor he was looking for.

What is clear is that he was never going to stick it out in the City, where he worked for a brief stint, because, although Hays has a maths degree from Oxford, he is resolutely more of a people man than a money man.

That’s not to say, however, that his mathematical brain hasn’t come in handy – not least for counting the record £520m in sales clocked up at Hays last year.

While others in the market have floundered, Hays is now the UK’s largest independent and is continuing to grow.

So far, there are 43 shops across the region and the business is looking at “one or two acquisitions”.

“We’re +16% in January,”

44 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

says Hays, “and we’re trading strongly despite the fact that margins are tough and there’s not a lot of disposable income out there.”

This, from a start-up without capital in the back of his mother’s childrenswear shop.

Hays puts down the continued success to price and service.

“We’ve got well-trained, wellmotivated staff, which shines through, and because we’re the biggest independent in the country, we’re able to negotiate hard on price. In a thin-margin business, size really does matter.

We’re a big player now.”

Hays’ apprenticeship programme is at the heart of the business and the company takes on some 70 apprentices each year, although this year staff retention has been so high, the figure will be a little lower.

They get NVQs in travel and tourism and the company has been given permission to assess in-house, having gained a Good rating from Ofsted.

There’s also clear career progression and former apprentices hold managerial and senior positions thanks to a policy of recruiting from within

where possible. There’s also the promise of two company parties each year – a Christmas do at the Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel and a garden party at Hays’ home where Hays and family serve Champagne and Pimms to staff.

In return, Hays can mould its apprentices. “You can import bad habits from outside. We train them the way we would like them to be trained. They become very loyal. Many people have been here for 20-odd years. At one point, we had shops where everyone had been with us since school.”

Hays counts all apprentices as employees from day one, “because we assume they’re going to stay with us”.

Hays is the recipient of numerous awards, including industry lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution awards. He’s been Entrepreneur of the Year for Wearside and Durham Business Executive of the Year, and he’s been inaugurated into the Travel Industry Hall of Fame.

Now, Hays Travel is one of the Learning and Skills Council’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers, one of the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For in the UK and has Investors in People accreditation.

These are the awards which please Hays most. “When we got the Sunday Times award, I got quite emotional. I may even have shed a tear.

“We’re a people business and it’s being recognised for this that gives me most satisfaction.”

Awards panels have been impressed by the Hays culture. When new apprentices join, they are told they’re expected to work hard and have fun, and they won’t be asked to do anything their manager wouldn’t or couldn’t do themselves.

“Everyone either serves customers or serves the people who serve the customers, and we work hard to get that one-team approach because we’re all in it together,” says Hays.

This is apparent as we head into the Hays Travel branch in Sunderland. Seeing a customer waiting, Hays goes straight over to assist her.

“There’s respect from junior staff for their line manager because they know they’ve done it themselves,” says Hays.

“I’ve been known to go on the shop floor and while I may need a bit of help with the computers, I can still sell. When we recruit from outside, some people don’t fit that culture.”

which takes the company Hays was quoted widely further down the route of tour by the media in 2009 when he operator in its own right. predicted the recession would It is, he says, a business be, “bath-tub shaped”. model for growth in difficult “I was interviewed for a times. “We have to rely on travel magazine and we were our customers’ disposable discussing V shapes and W income and we’re assuming shapes, but I thought it would very little rise in that in be U shaped, so I said it 2013. We just have would be like a bath to be realistic.” tub,” he says.

“BEING Even this “The next thing I RECOGNISED AS A is said with know I was on the front page PEOPLE BUSINESS a smile and Hays’ natural with a giant GIVES ME MOST charisma is bath tub.”

SATISFACTION” demonstrated And he again when I spill believes we could my coffee over what “bump along the looks like an expensive bottom of the bath tub maplewood table as I get up for some time yet”, but to leave. he continues to invest “Don’t worry about it, I’m heavily in staff, taking on clumsy, too,” he says, though more apprentices and considering the number pushing his home-working of business balls he is programme, which currently successfully juggling, I employs 200. have my doubts he ever He has also recently drops anything. launched Hays Faraway,

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national APPRENTICESHIP WEEK March 11-15 LEGAL VIEW: APPRENTICESHIPS

A driving force for excellence

T

he few who remain unaware of the enormous value brought to the regional economy by apprenticeships would do well to spend some time with Steve Wallis at Hartlepool College.

So sought after are these positions that there is fierce competition for them, says Wallis; an indicator, he says, of the high standard of apprentices in the North East’s workplaces.

“Being an apprentice is not the easy option. You need good GCSEs in English and maths, you need good prior attainment and it is highly competitive,” says Wallis.

“In all cases these are challenging qualifications which add value to employer and apprentice.

“With some apprenticeships, you can get eight different qualifications

“The curriculum here is along with employer backing, closely aligned to employer funding for higher education needs,” says Wallis. “We work and you can earn while with employers to enhance the you learn.” core curriculum, so for Little wonder that Darchem we do an extra apprenticeships are becoming component on nuclear increasingly popular. And awareness, and for Tallent Wallis, a former manufacturing Automotive we do extra project engineer, is now maintenance skills urging the training which Government to goes beyond the extend funding “APPRENTICES framework. to age 24.

ADD VALUE to “Apprentices “At 16 to 18 business VERY add value very it’s fully funded, QUICKLY” quickly because but at 19 it’s there is not that part funded. incubation period Extending funding where companies would alleviate the have to be training.” amount of people not in Hartlepool has added education, employment or apprenticeships in training throughout the UK.” hairdressing, hospitality, With around 800 accounting, property and apprentices in training at any housing to name a few. one time, Hartlepool College is Wallis said: “We’re adding one of the region’s top five new apprenticeships all the training providers and is a time, providing training where recognised Apprenticeship there is real employer need.”

Training Agency.

New legislation is simplifying the employment of apprentices, says employment expert Croner.

Since April 2012, employers in England have been able to use an Apprenticeship Agreement to take on apprentices. This is a new and distinct concept to the traditional Deed of Apprenticeship and, if used correctly with an accompanying Training Framework, will allow employers to treat apprentices in much the same way as employees.

Louise Barnes, senior employment consultant at Croner says: “An apprentice who works under the new apprenticeship agreement will be considered as the equivalent of a fixed-term employee and subject to the normal rules of unfair dismissal. This means that they can be terminated without amounting to a breach of contract.

“With the new agreement apprentices will also be subject to the disciplinary procedure and can be subsequently dismissed.”

Employers should still pay the apprenticeship rate of National Minimum Wage to under-19s and older in the first year of employment.

There is no requirement to keep an apprentice on unless the employer has promised this beforehand.

It is pertinent to ensure this is documented at the start of the apprenticeship.

Croner is NECC’s preferred supplier for legal services, providing Croner-i, an online portal providing advice and guidance free to NECC members accessible via the member area at www.necc.co.uk

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 47

Advertisement

wealth management EXPERTiSE for over 150 years UBS strengthens Newcastle team with new appointment

U

Andrew Elliot brings with him over 22 years of experience

BS specialises in servicing the wealth management needs of wealthy families, entrepreneurs and charities, and for the past ten years we have been meeting the local investment management needs of our clients based in the North East from our busy regional office in Newcastle. This is a tradition that continues today, with our team of 14 investment management professionals, led by Aidan Dunstan.

Managing wealth has always been a complex business and in the current market environment building a strong relationship with an advisor you trust and whose advice you value is essential.

At UBS we know from experience that our clients welcome the opportunity to develop close relationships with advisors who understand their local area, can work closely with the clients’ wider advisory team, such as lawyers and accountants, whilst at the same time drawing on the full resources of a global organisation that celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

Our team in Newcastle has over 200 years collective experience, ensuring our clients can be confident that they have the expert advisors, financial planners and investment managers to meet their needs close at hand. By listening to our clients, understanding want they want to achieve with their money and then drawing on the full range of global capabilities that UBS offers we can be sure to deliver the right solutions.

For example, the UBS Wealth Management Chief Investment Office (CIO) is the powerhouse behind our investment house view and the starting point for our investment management process. Our investment strategists analyse the daily data from a global network of economists and researchers to inform our investment house view. Our local investment management team then aligns these views within our portfolios. The strength of this approach gives our clients the assurance that when their advisor is discussing an investment opportunity with them, not only is it tailored to their needs, but it is also backed by this huge depth of market insight and the know-how of one of the world’s leading financial institutions.

48 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Equally, because we work closely with experts from our investment banking and asset management businesses, our clients can benefit from access to the latest research and industryleading investments opportunities which would not normally be available to private clients.

We have also recently appointed Andrew Elliot to join the team in Newcastle. Andrew is responsible for investment management and private banking clients and will focus primarily on charity clients as well as personal and pension portfolios. He was previously with Barclays Wealth in Newcastle since 2008 and was a member of the UK investment committee. His early career was with Gerrard Vivian Gray in London and he led investment management teams under the Old Mutual and then Barclays Wealth ownership of Gerrard Investment Management. Andrew is a Chartered Member of the CISI and he holds the Chartered Wealth Manager accreditation and brings with him over 22 years of experience.

We truly believe that strong local relationships that deliver UBS’s global capabilities offer our clients the best of both worlds.

For more information please contact a member of Newcastle team on 0191 2111 000

money matters

Planning - art or science?

Aidan Dunstan, UBS Wealth Management regional head for the North East, explains the benefits of intelligent business planning

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usinesses rarely grow as planned.

The accurate forecasting of next year’s cash flow is hard enough, but a five or ten-year plan requires the skill (or luck) of Nostradamus.

Precise or not, business owners are constantly planning for short and long-term events,

so it is as well to channel this energy into maximising potential gains where possible. Patterns do emerge if one analyses recent history, so this can reduce the risk of tactical error.

Once the decision has been taken to start a business there quickly follow numerous questions, including how to fund the start-up (for example,

friends and family investing, bank overdrafts, grants, private placements).

The ensuing growth phase is likely to involve more than one round of funding, perhaps from venture-capital funds, business angels or banks, and consequently some dilution of the original shareholding.

The third phase might loosely

be described as strategic positioning; a stage of the cycle that requires decisions about capital structuring, further funding rounds, listing and succession planning.

Nowhere is the importance of planning more manifest than within this stage of the business cycle. In particular, it is very important to consider the tax incentives available to businesses and to business owners at this point.

One of the most important is Entrepreneur’s Relief, which offers a significantly reduced rate of capital gains tax on gains realised by owner managers FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 49

money matters on the sale of their business.

To take a common scenario, Entrepreneur’s Relief will reduce the capital gains tax liability of an individual who has continued to work in their company, and who has retained a significant shareholding (5% or more), from 28% to 10%.

The amount of gain which can benefit from this relief is capped at £10m over the lifetime of the individual, but this translates to a very significant tax saving of £1.8m at current tax rates.

A good wealth manager does not just manage bankable assets. They work closely with clients throughout the phases of the business cycle to ensure that the business owner is

aware of the opportunities and risks alike. The partnership grows over a period of years such that the business owner can call upon expertise that ranges from growth financing, capital raising, company listing and disposal.

They can further call upon structural and shareholder planning assistance in advance of a significant corporate event.

After that event, the highest priority is usually the protection of the wealth generated over the years by the business owner.

Headwinds from taxation, inflation, low interest rates and uncertain capital markets do not make the solution obvious.

But planning usually proves its worth with the accurate

analysis of performance objectives, risk tolerance, time horizons, and liquidity requirements.

Imperfect though it may be, human beings and businesses both benefit from intelligent planning - even where it is only to minimise risk and maximise opportunity.

It is also our responsibility to remind you that the price and value of investments and income derived from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the amount you originally invested.

Please also note that past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future results.

UBS does not give tax advice

Rathbones expands into North East

R

athbone Investment Management (Rathbones), provider of discretionary investment management to private clients, charities, professional advisers and corporates, opens a Newcastle office in February.

The new office will initially accommodate five investment directors - James Kyle, James Garbutt, Neil Minto and Christoph Atkins, led by Nick Swales and chartered financial planner Kirstie McKeown – and three further personnel, bringing total employees across the UK to more than 830.

Spread over 4,300sqft, Rathbones’ new offices will be located at Earl Grey House on

50 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

we are pleased to welcome an Grey Street, Newcastle. experienced team to grow the Regional director for the north business in the region.” of England Andrew Morris Newcastle office manager says: “We consider the North East to be an important area of Nick Swales says: “Rathbones is synonymous with quality growth for our business client service. and to be successful Increasingly, we need to offer investment clients a “The North is management is dedicated an important automated and presence. This new office area of growth models-driven, meaning demonstrates for us” investors our commitment sometimes have to delivering no idea who is investment expertise looking after their supported by the highest investments or how they are levels of personalised client being managed. At Rathbones service. all clients have direct access “We now have 12 offices across the UK and we continue to the person managing their money and this results in to grow organically and through acquisition. We believe strong, long-term relationships that our reputation is built upon and we believe provides greater peace of mind.” the calibre of our people and

Economic review Leading academics will visit the region in February as part of the NE LEP’s economic review.

They form an expert panel assessing and reviewing options for economic growth in the region which includes five university professors and Chris Pywell of the Centre for Industrial Growth and Charles Seaford of the New Economic Foundation.

The panel will report its findings to a conference at BALTIC in Gateshead.

Lord Adonis and members of the review team will be present at the conference, alongside some 200 business, university and public sector representatives.

Lending falling Lending to SMEs contracted in the three months to November, statistics from the Bank of England show.

Official data in the Trends in Lending report indicated that the stock of lending to businesses fell by around £4bn over the period.

Despite Government efforts to instigate lending to business, the figures suggest slow progress on the credit deadlock.

The Bank said capital markets provided an alternative source of funding for larger companies, and net bond issuance by UK businesses was positive, although it was offset by negative net lending by UK banks and building societies.

Rathbones opens in Newcastle How often do you receive a truly personal investment management service?

Our recently opened Newcastle office offers a bespoke service with a dedicated investment manager, whether you want to invest ÂŁ100,000 or ÂŁ100,000,000.

Our new address is: Earl Grey House, 75-85 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6EF. For further information on how we can help you, please call Nick Swales, James Kyle or James Garbutt on 0191 255 1440 or email newcastle@rathbones.com

The value of investments and income arising from them may fall as well as rise and you might get back less than you originally invested.

Rathbone Investment Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

19490-21_Rathbones Ad_NECC_273x186 v3.indd 1

24/01/2013 11:07

education

Education, education, education

Jane Pikett asks Les Walton, chair of the new academy body Northern Education Trust, what we can do to better prepare young people for the real world of work

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ducation, education, six decades (seven if you include his life as a pupil) has created education, Tony a forward-thinker committed Blair declared in to bringing the best principles 1997 and many of organisational effectiveness times thereafter, is to education. Fostering a culture key to the future prosperity of self-governance, strong of Britain. Which might lead leadership and organisational one to wonder when the state effectiveness creates better system will actually succeed, teachers, better schools and or indeed, what ‘success’ is. better-informed pupils more While politicians point score ready for the workplace when over cock-ups in marking, the they leave, he says.

GCSE v the Baccalaureate, the But how? Well, Walton, academic route v the vocational awarded a CBE in the New Year’s (still, bizarrely, discussed as Honours List, is chair if they are mutually of North Tynesideexclusive), people based Northern in business are left to ask why “PUPILS SHOULD Education Trust, the first multikids are still BE ENGAGED IN academy trust leaving school THE RUNNING OF focused on the armed with few THE SCHOOL” north of England. employability Academies skills. managed by NET Les Walton operate, the body has spent a lifetime says, “with a clear strategy in education - as teacher, for delivering the highest headteacher and director of levels of attainment in English education, as problem-solver and Mathematics and focus and change-maker.

He didn’t particularly enjoy his on achieving outstanding governance and selfown school years on Tyneside, management with decision yet beginning his working life as making at school level. NET a history teacher in 1966 sowed believes that strong, visionary the seed for a highly rewarding leadership within schools is career and his experience over

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critical to their success.”

Governance and selfmanagement are oft-repeated terms during our two-hour interview. “Our focus is on creating self-managing schools, because self-managing schools make self-managing and confident students.

“Pupils should be engaged in the running of the school and in how decisions are made. Schools need to foster an environment where pupils are self-managed to work individually and in teams and have a clear understanding of the objectives of the task in hand.

That is what business wants.”

In line with this thinking, NET is not directive in its management of its academies.

“The ideal scenario is for us to achieve a situation where schools do not need us at all.”

Northern Education Trust is managed by trustees armed with decades of experience in school improvement, business and regeneration.

Walton has worked at the highest levels in education funding and policy and is currently chair of the Government’s Education Funding Agency (EFA) Advisory Group in

London, is on the board of the Institute of Directors and chairs the North Tyneside committee of the North East Chamber of Commerce.

A DFE-approved charity, NET launched in October 2012 with four schools under its management; two in Bolton, one in Bradford, and North Shore Academy in Stockton.

Its business plan indicates that as many as 12 schools will be under NET management within a year.

NET has grown out of and is sponsored by Northern Education Associates (Northern Education), a successful

I am always inspired.

I am still learning and feel the need to learn

education consultancy founded by a group of experts which includes Walton and which has provided support to failing schools in more than 20 local authorities since 2001.

NET views the strong relationships with local government, industry, commerce and higher education as an integral part of its activities.

Organisational effectiveness is at the heart of a successful school. Its programmes are rooted in sound business models and systems (“vital, yet often ignored,” he says), structures, roles and responsibilities.

“You find that an outstanding

head teacher will leave because there is no outstanding governance,” he says. “That should not happen.”

Simply hoping local business people will bring their skills to the governing body isn’t an efficient way of engaging with business, he says. Instead, bring in the expert you need with a specific role.

“Education talks about linking with business but it needs to be much clearer with businesses about what it needs to allow the business sector to be clear about what it offers.

“Headteachers need to ask people in business if they will

chair a board or a project so they know how long they are involved and the scope of the project. Get them involved in bite-sized chunks.”

Walton is an enthusiast for education and an inspiring interviewee, but at 67 one does wonder why he wants to continue to operate in such a controversial arena.

“I am always inspired and I am still learning and feel the need to learn.

“I still get excited when I visit an outstanding school, meet an outstanding headteacher and – most importantly – meet outstanding young people.”

we Mean Business

Former education secretary Estelle Morris is chair of Northern Education (the business out of which Northern Education Trust grew). Like Les Walton, she is a former teacher.

Now a life peer, Baroness Morris is pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland.

She told us: “It’s true that some schools become academies and no one really knows that they are doing differently. For a good school, having broader links with the broader community is essential.

“Linking the lives of children with business and industry leaders broadens their horizons and gives them ambition and aspiration.

“Running as an academy needs a set of skills which can be found in headteachers and business people can support school leadership also. They can’t run schools, but they can lend their skills. If your child was never taught maths you would challenge it, and you should do the same if your child is now shown how business works.

“Employers want all sorts of qualities yet we are at risk of not valuing those skills in our education system.

“Parents want choice, but we don’t want that choice to be between a good school and a bad school and I am not convinced that parental choice moves up standards.”

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 53

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support for tourism, but we’ve continued to work closely with colleagues including Visit County Durham, Northumberland Tourism, Hadrian’s Wall Trust and the North East Hotels Association and we were able to offer jobs to some key members of the RDA team in research, digital development and inward investment. NewcastleGateshead Initiative has also developed much closer working relationships with VisitBritain and VisitEngland, which proved useful during London 2012 and places us in an excellent position to secure additional funding from the Regional Growth Fund via VisitEngland.

Meanwhile, we have developed a close working partnership with the NELEP on inward investment.

How has your job changed?

Having successfully navigated the organisation through a period of turbulence and uncertainty, NewcastleGateshead Initiative has emerged with a strengthened mandate, secure funding and the renewed commitment of 170 private sector partners.

Building NewcastleGateshead’s profile as a destination for both leisure and business visitors is always at the heart of our work, but we’re now also working closely with councils, academic institutions, business networks and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to attract investors from the UK and overseas.

Has the current economic situation made it more difficult to attract investment and visitors?

I’m sure that economic conditions are affecting the level of growth in visitors and investment, but we continue to attract increasing numbers of overnight visitors (+5% in 2011; hotel room bookings +5% in 2012).

The number of new hotels opening in NewcastleGateshead (eight within the past two years) is a vote of confidence and hotel occupancy has remained strong with an average weekend room occupancy of 84%.

Plans for a new 3,000sq m conference and events centre adjacent to The Sage Gateshead were boosted last March when Arts Council England (ACE) gave the project stage one approval. The development is now undergoing a detailed study that could lead to a funding boost of £10m.

Sarah Stewart, chief executive, Newcastle Gateshead Initiative Interview : ALastair

gilmour

arah Stewart joined NewcastleGateshead Initiative in May 2010, days before the coalition Government came into office. Since then, the destination marketing agency has had to identify new ways of working to react to shifts in government policy (such as the closure of the regional development agencies) and to secure new sources of funding.

What are NGI’s key tasks for 2013?

Attracting inward investors to help grow the local economy will be an important priority. We’re focusing on sectors where we have the most to offer investors and which will have the greatest impact on the area. These are offshore, digital and creative and science and health.

Continuing to promote NewcastleGateshead as a city break destination remains a key project, especially in light of our success in securing additional funding through the Regional Growth Fund via VisitEngland. We now have a budget of £1.2m for our city break marketing campaign through to 2015, doubling the original budget.

How has replacing the regional development agencies with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) affected the way NGI operates?

We certainly regret the loss of regional

Can we expect to see the revival of the Passionate... campaign?

Since the closure of One North East, we’ve continued to work closely with colleagues across the region and as the Northern Tourism Alliance we made the combined decision to purchase the Passionate People Passionate Places campaign assets. We’re all dealing with reduced budgets and there isn’t the money available across the region to revive the campaign at present.

Was Newcastle’s ‘party city’ description a good or bad thing?

The bars and nightclubs are certainly an important part of the evening economy, and there’s so much more on offer with live music, exhibitions and plays. There’s also an increasing variety of great places to eat, so we’re known for being far more than just a party city.

How have local authority budget measures impacted on NGI? Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council have been major funders and supporters over the past decade and they remain so. It was recently announced that Newcastle City Council would be reducing funding to a variety of organisations and the funding NewcastleGateshead Initiative receives will reduce over the next three years, adding up to a total reduction of -34% by 2016, with an initial cut of -14% in 2013. However, the support we receive from the councils is just one of NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s many sources of income and the cut in funding next year is equivalent to less than 5% of our annual budget.

As a public-private partnership, NewcastleGateshead Initiative is supported by 170 private sector businesses which financially contribute towards the work we deliver. We will continue to build on our success in attracting commercial support for our activity.

It’s often been said that losing out on Capital of Culture 2008 was a blessing in disguise in that it allowed NGI to refocus. Is that still true?

In the wake of losing the Capital of Culture bid, NewcastleGateshead Initiative launched Culture10 – a ten-year festivals and events programme. This helped develop NewcastleGateshead’s reputation for world-class cultural activity. Much of the success achieved by Culture10 was only made possible by building powerful partnerships with other cultural institutions across the region. This resulted in events such as The Late Shows, EAT! NewcastleGateshead, Juice Festival and our Winter Festival programme, all of which are thriving. These partnerships are important as we seek new ways of working together as purse-strings continue to tighten.

How is the Olympic Legacy being taken forward?

The London 2012 Olympic Games gave us an unprecedented opportunity to showcase NewcastleGateshead and we’re working to build on that momentum. We’ll be helped this year by the Ashes test match at Durham in August and the European Team Athletics Championships at Gateshead in June. There is the Festival of the North East in June, the arrival of the Lindisfarne Gospels in July and the British Science Festival in Newcastle in September.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 55

out to lunch

Working Lunch Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, Hotel Indigo, Newcastle Words: Alastair Gilmour

T

he eyes follow you around the room. Two huge monochrome portraits of Marco Pierre White hang in the eponymous Steakhouse Bar & Grill at Hotel Indigo in Newcastle; one of them the epitome of dude.

At first glance, the restaurateur, known as “the godfather of modern cooking”, appears to offer a guarded welcome, but actually the expression is one of amusement and a presumption that you’re about to enjoy what’s put in front of you.

For a photograph, it makes a sound judgment.

Hotel Indigo opened in June 2012 and has quickly established itself in the top tier of the city’s dining and hospitality venues. The 100-seater Marco Pierre White (MPW) restaurant is opulent and stylish and anything but intimidating despite the purist approach and weight of expectation that the former threetimes Michelin star winner carries with him.

A clever combination of tables ranges from intimate “à deux” to long ten-seaters, so diners feel part of a fuller experience. Just behind ours in the service end of the kitchen the young staff graft away in the heat and glare – and under the stare. Their clatter and confab combine with the jazz-suffused background music in a tuneful, workaday layer.

The adjoining Grainger Room has developed a reputation for cocktails

56 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

but we’ve already spotted The Governor, a beer brewed by familyowned JW Lees in Manchester and named after MPW’s greyhound.

It’s a copper-coloured ale with a flourish of malt on the palate and a spicy sensation on the lips. And, purely for comparison, we also try the local Grainger Ale from Hadrian Border Brewery; a perfectly wellbalanced, finely-tuned beer with a light barley base and not too much hop influence.

Despite the MPW eyeballing, the result is Newcastle 1 Manchester 0.

The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, offering in a range of regionally-inspired daily specials. The table d’hôte is particularly reasonable and already we’re impressed by the menu’s combinations.

Grilled butter-fried sardines with a crab and raisin dressing is an elegant starter. This pair are flattened out and lightly done to reveal their sweetness complemented by the cooked raisins, while the tiny pieces of crab underline their fishy provenance.

Am I allowed to mop up the remains with my bread? Oh yes.

One hand obscures the sweeping action from MPW. Restaurant service is unhurried, which is fine by us as we’ve blocked off the time, though if you had a two-thirty, say, it’s pretty safe to guess that waiting staff would make sure

you made it. Unflustered, too.

Mains-wise, our slow-cooked shoulder of lamb, red wine-braised Puy lentils, roast shallots and whole grain mustard creamed potatoes are almost a work of art; the meat presented in a high, handsome and ultimately collapsible tower of fibrous delight.

But allowing for this creativity, it’s also unfussy and straightforward with the petals of caramelised shallot almost hogging the limelight.

We’d ordered a side dish of real chips in beef dripping, purely out of curiosity, which arrived in a cutely tiny copper saucepan. They’re huge, lightly cooked and crisp on the outside with soft inners. They’re also marvellous and there’s only one way to eat them – fingers. The biggest two are earmarked for mopping duties.

Look the other way, MPW. There’s an obvious desire here to get everything right, and judging by the reception many of our fellow diners get, they’re regulars who know something about quality and service.

It’s affordable glamour – and we all need a bit of that from time to time.

Hotel Indigo, we overhear, recorded almost full occupancy over the first two weeks of 2013 which followed a December the management describes as ‘phenomenal’. Not bad for a 140room hotel in a city that’s reckoned by some to have too many of them.

Marco Pierre White left Allerton High School in Leeds without a

qualification to his exotic name. He began his kitchen training at the Hotel St George in Harrogate and later at the Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

Arriving in London as a 16-yearold, “with £7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes”, he began his classical training as a commis chef at Le Gavroche under Albert and Michel Roux.

At 24, he became head chef and joint owner of Harveys with a kitchen staff that included a young Gordon Ramsay. By the age of 33, MPW had become the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars and also had the likes of Heston Blumenthal and Eric Chavot working for him.

This shows at his latest outpost in Newcastle (there are other Marco Pierre White Steakhouses in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Chester).

Cookery and presentational flair of this standard aren’t learned overnight and while it would be an overstatement to claim that the man has brought a culinary revolution to the city, the MPW operation is certainly stylish and well conditioned.

A portrait’s intention is to display not so much an exact likeness, but to convey the sitter’s character, their personality and possibly their mood at the time it is taken. The MPW image now looking over my shoulder seems to react to our pleasure. Is that a nod of approval, dude?

FACTS Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, Hotel Indigo, Newcastle NE1 5XN tel 0191 300 9222 www.mpwsteakhousenewcastle.co.uk Set menu and business lunch:

•Two courses £11.95 •Three courses £14.95.

Served Monday to Friday 12noon-7pm.

Sample menu (changes weekly) • Pumpkin and parmesan soup • Buffalo mozzarella, fig, Parma ham and roquet pesto • Grilled butter-fried sardines, crab and raisin dressing • Confit of chicken terrine, prune purée, sourdough croutons • Slow cooked shoulder of lamb, red wine braised Puy lentils, roast shallots, whole grain mustard creamed potatoes • Braised belly pork and pig’s cheek, celeriac purée, wild mushrooms • Herb crusted fillet of hake, French beans, asparagus, spinach, crushed potatoes, chilli and saffron butter • Selection of ice creams • Banoffee pie and vanilla ice cream • Cheesecake with raspberry jelly • Yoghurt panna cotta and oranges

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 57

movers & Shapers

l-r: Matt Jenkinson and Darren Jarret from DaMtech, Nickola Gray, University of Sunderland and intern Paul Armstrong

New intern Sunderland graduate Paul Armstrong, 24, has secured a six-month internship with IT support business DaMtech.

Business computing graduate Paul joins DaMtech at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) through the University of Sunderland Graduate Internship Scheme.

European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) has been extended for the scheme for a further two years, providing another 150 graduates with the opportunity to work with SMEs across the region.

Baby steps

First-time mum Charlotte Debnath, 21, has returned to work at Jennings Ford in Stockton on a parttime basis after taking time out to have a baby.

Despite being keen to get back to work as a sales administrator, Charlotte also wanted quality time with her baby daughter, Lola, and she says the part time post suits her perfectly. Jennings Ford is part of the Jennings Motor Group.

Science of business

Business development professional Charlie Wainwright has joined Science City with a brief to assist in the growth of new and existing science and technology businesses.

Charlie, who spent 25 years working for Procter & Gamble with responsibility for global regions, commercialising product concepts and leading brand development initiatives, also worked latterly for Attends Healthcare in senior general management and marketing roles.

More recently, he has worked with new start and early stage SMEs, raising investment, developing and delivering launch strategies and mentoring commercial management teams.

Building career

Commercial law firm Watson Burton has strengthened its specialist construction and engineering group with the appointment of Bal Manak.

Bal, who joins the firm as a solicitor, has experience advising businesses on all aspects of construction law.

Acting for a diverse range of clients, including employers, private developers and building contractors, Bal primarily provides advice related to non-contentious matters, such as building contracts, appointments, warranties and other security documentation.

She also has experience in advising clients on dispute avoidance and dispute resolution, including arbitration, litigation and adjudication.

Export expert

Rural expertise

Chartered insurance broker Adrienne Robinson has been appointed to senior account executive at Henderson Insurance Brokers’ Stockton office. In addition to her excellent commercial insurance knowledge, Adrienne, who lives on an arable farm in Eaglescliffe, brings agricultural industry knowledge and connections within the rural community.

Since opening its Teesside base in 2009, Henderson has seen its staff numbers leap from two to 36 and turnover rise to £16m.

58 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

Jonathan Leonard has been appointed regional export finance adviser for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) North East and will be working closely with local businesses with export finance or insurance cover. Jonathan, 28, says: “UK Export Finance has recently introduced a range of new products and can now support a wider range of exports. I’m really looking forward to working with companies to help them understand what they need and how to access the support on offer. Having worked in the North East for many years, I know first hand how much we have to offer and I will be working hard to ensure that firms have the support they need.”

Gary Craig, junior designer (left), Jo Taylor, account manager

Agency presses ahead Marketing, PR, creative and research business Press Ahead has announced a hat‑trick of staff promotions and taken on two new employees. Aiden Regan, James Ealey and Louise Robinson have been promoted to research and insight, marketing and advertising, and PR director roles respectively.

The agency has also appointed

Jo Taylor as account manager.

She has 14 years’ experience in media buying and client facing marketing roles working on accounts for high profile customers including Gentoo, The Sage Gateshead, and the University of Sunderland.

Gary Craig has also joined the creative team as junior designer on a University of Sunderland intern scheme.

fab 5

Fab 5 albums

Everyone has a favourite album, and there remains nothing quite like breaking out the vinyl for a bit of extra crackle on your favourite tracks. Laura Emmerson talks records with Contact readers

1 Sean Anderson

Linda Conlon

Director, Northern Chief executive, Centre Construction Solutions, for Life, Newcastle Chester-le-Street My favourite album has to be Bizarre Fruit by M People.

You may remember them as quite an edgy Manchester-based house music band who typified the positive and ambitious mood of the country back in the 1990s, and you actually still hear quite a lot of their stuff now, on award ceremonies, TV and the like.

This is a really uplifting and positive album and you get a great feel-good factor when you listen to it.

My favourite track is definitely Sight for Sore Eyes. I love listening to it in the car alone so I can sing along to my heart’s content without anyone listening.

3

2

I have to admit that my favourite album doesn’t actually belong to me; it’s my son’s and it’s This is My Truth Tell Me Yours by the Manic Street Preachers.

I put it on one day by mistake and really liked the first track so I just kept listening to it all the way through.

I think this was probably well after the album was first released so you could say I woke up to it a little later than most other people.

I like most of the songs on the album. although The Everlasting is my absolute favourite.

I love to listen to it at home, a glass of red wine in hand and just let it wash over me. This is an album I just keep going back to.

4

5

Joanne Fryett

Max Roberts

Adrian Waddell

Head of Partners at NECC

Artistic director, Live Theatre, Newcastle

Director of operations, Newcastle ne1 ltd

That’s an easy question - Wham!

Make It Big is without doubt my favourite album, and I first owned it on cassette tape when I was aged about 11 or 12 I think.

My dad had a stereo system in the lounge (which I think he still has) with a tape deck at the side, so I had to sit in one position with big leather headphones on to listen to it. If I started singing along I’d get a look and nudge to be quiet from my parents. It’s full of classic feel-good tunes and lives in my car, although my ultimate track of all time is Club Tropicana from a different album.

My daughter says I’m stuck in a time warp and need to move on, but I don’t care!

Oh no! It’s impossible to pick an all-time favourite.

There’s Who’s Next by The Who, Hymns To The Silence by Van Morrison, and The Songs of Alex Glasgow comes to mind as do many albums by Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. At the moment I like The Unthanks latest album, especially The King of Rome, but Kathryn Tickell’s latest album Northumbrian Voices is fantastic and my current favourite. I’m delighted that she will be the musical director on our summer show The Tyne Slides By by Michael Chaplin based on his wonderful book Tyne View, which was commissioned by the Port of Tyne.

Demons and Wizards by Uriah Heep is my favourite record of all time. I’ve got it on vinyl and it is seriously old. My favourite track is track 1, The Wizard.

When I was at school Uriah Heep was one of the bands we all used to listen to and I’ve loved it ever since.

I listen to it now, still on vinyl, when the house is empty and I can turn it up loud. And I know all the words. It must be one of the earliest records I ever bought. In fact, I still have all the records I’ve ever bought, and those I’ve pinched from my brother! If I had a Desert Island Disc moment and was only allowed one luxury it would be my Pioneer hi-fi system with this record playing.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 59

Thank You For your recent membership renewals Particular thanks to members supporting NECC for over 15 years 60+ YEARS!

Tyne Metropolitan College

23

The Valley An Indian Restaurant

18

Newcastle Building Society

63

Association Of International Accountants

22

Davy Process Technology Ltd

17

S M Thompson Ltd

61

Caravel Liner Agencies (Darlington) Ltd

22

Exwold Technology Limited

17

Finchale Training College

22

Gilligan Engineering Services

17

Ramsay Services Ltd

22

Griffith Textile Machines Ltd

17

Redcar & Cleveland College

22

J D Vulcanising Services Ltd

17

Rombus Computers Ltd

22

Nestle UK Ltd

17

Tegrel Ltd

22

PinPoint Technologies Ltd

17

The Clinkard Group Ltd

22

Rennyco Limited

17

A-Belco Group of Companies

21

TRW Systems Ltd

17

30-34 YEARS

Alco Plumbing & Heating Services

21

A T S Electro-Lube (UK) Ltd

16

Flowserve Pumps Newcastle a Division of

Cottam Brush Ltd

21

Bayley Security Ltd

16

Flowserve (GB) Ltd

33

Elder Lester McGregor Architects

21

Belt Technologies Europe

16

Devereux Developments Ltd

32

Phusionim 21

Bowe Digital Ltd

16

Greggs plc

32

Profins Ltd

21

Edward Egglestone & Co.

16

Helena Biosciences

32

Thermal Transfer Technology Ltd

21

ERS Limited

16

Ineos Newton Aycliffe Ltd

30

AMEC Group Ltd - Power & Process Europe 20

Formula Plastics Ltd

16

Campanile Hotel

Gliderol Garage & Industrial Doors Limited

16

Censis 20

Sintons LLP

16

15-19 YEARS

TT 2 Limited

16

Zodiac Training Ltd

16

50-59 YEARS Formica Ltd

54

40-49 YEARS Radiographic Accessories Ltd

43

35-39 YEARS ConocoPhillips Petroleum Co UK Ltd

36

25-29 YEARS Sealpump Engineering Ltd

29

John Lilley & Gillie Ltd

26

North East Truck & Van Ltd

25

20-24 YEARS Con Mech Engineers Limited

24

SCS Plc

24

Hydraulic and Offshore Supplies

23

20

Creative Glass Ltd

19

2B Graphics Design Consultants

18

Cravens 18 Eden Farm Ltd

18

Roballo Engineering Co Ltd

18

Mincoffs 15 Sea Hotel

15

Teesside University

15

Union Transport (Newcastle) Ltd

15

The above includes members that have supported NECC for over 15 years and renewed their membership during the period November-December 2012. We would like to thank all of our members for their continued support.

60 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

new members

Welcome to new members Welcome to our New Members page. This page brings you information about the companies that have recently joined NECC - the region’s largest business membership organisation. Along with contact details, there are announcements from new members keen to publicise their products, services and activities to other NECC members.

While listings are free to all new members, editorial announcements are part of a broader package designed to promote a new member’s business to the readership of Contact magazine.

For further details contact the Contact advertising team, tel 01661 844 115, email sales@offstonepublishing.co.uk This edition lists members who have joined between November 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012

New Members AutAccentuate Ltd, 07702 864 227 www.accentuate.uk.com

Edwards Creative Media Ltd, 01325 281484, www.edwardscreative.co.uk

Amble Insurance Services, 01665 710 330

Envy Haircare Ltd, 0191 281 7333 www.envy3.co.uk

APM Clothing Development, 01325 317 683 www.apmclothingdevelopment.co.uk

Galia Digital Ltd, 0191 300 2227 www.galiadigital.co.uk

Business Health Partners Ltd, 07720 956 789 www.businesshealthpartners.co.uk C&A Pumps & Engineering Ltd 01429 874 504, www.capumps.com Career Academies UK, 0207 986 5494 www.careeracademies.org.uk

Green Elephant Coaching Ltd, 07775 191 236, www.greenelephantcoaching.co.uk Greig Cavey Commercial Ltd 01429 275 791, www.greigcavey.com Key Strengths Ltd, 07769 295 161 London & Country Mortgages, 07815 541 636, www.lcplc.co.uk

Chesapeake Ltd - Branded Packaging Newcastle, 0191 216 0303

Marketing Wand Ltd, 0191 519 7438, www.marketingwand.co.uk

Consult & Design International 0191 645 1111 www.consultanddesign.com

Meso Fitness, 07817 369 233

Darlington Business Services 01325 778 078 Designrevel Ltd, 07515 595 023 www.designrevel.co.uk DGA Safety Training & Support 0191 519 7336, www.dgasafety.com E & J Advanced Fluid Systems t/a Pirtek, 01642 611 111, www.pirtek.co.uk EDMI Europe Limited, 0191 233 6322

Mysterons Web Design Ltd, 01325 978 450, www.mysterons.biz Nentco Ltd, 0191 460 1529 www.nentco.biz New Life Industries Ltd 01388 777 722, www.newlifeindustries.co.uk Norma Foster Ltd, 0191 495 6264 www.normafoster.com North East Support Ltd, 0191 483 9479 Nova Pictures Limited, 07852595858 www.novapictures.co.uk Oakvale Business Services 01325 345 814, www.oakvalebusiness.com Own My IP, 07850 630 791 www.ownmyip.com ProSalus Ltd, 01642 724 888 www.prosalus.co.uk Rivergreen Developments, 0191 383 7300 www.rivergreencentredurham.co.uk

Internatioinally recognised safety training available to the North East process industries ProSalus Limited was formed in 1998 to provide a service to the process industries covering Safety critical aspects in order to assist clients in meeting their legislative, regulatory, environment and safety obligations by providing high quality advice and assistance on a fully confidential basis.

The service has been

developed to include Functional Safety training including accredited training in the TÜV Rheinland Functional Safety Program, delivered by a registered Functional Safety Expert. This provides successful delegates with certified evidence of competency in functional safety from an internationally recognised organisation.

For further information email info@prosalus.co.uk call 01642 715320 or visit our website www.prosalus.co.uk

ProSalus Limited provides expertise in all areas of functional safety and can provide tailored courses to supplement our range of standard courses. Our team of consultants regularly deliver open and in-house courses alongside professional consultancy.

In addition, we offer an HR Consultancy providing a business-led professional advice, support and guidance to businesses in people related activities, provided by a Chartered consultant.

RMV Music & Events Management, 01325 788 982

Scancom, 07713 446 016 www.scancom.co.uk SF Media Solutions, 01642 345 165 Spectrum Industrial Ltd, 0191 430 1111, www.spectrumindustrial.co.uk Square Peg Design, 07929 271 615 www.squarepeg-design.co.uk The Boathouse Bar & Kitchen, 0191 386 6210, www.boathousedurham.co.uk The Business Centre, 07599 520 406 www.1blackwell-lanedarlington.co.uk TR Fastening, 01325 300 888 www.trfastenings.com UK Industrial Tapes Ltd, 0191 269 7810 www.ukindustrialtapes.co.uk Vantec Europe Ltd, 0191 416 1133

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 61

EVENTS

Networking events

NECC’s networking events allow you to meet new customers and suppliers and share business knowledge and interests with other NECC members. Wellchoreographed yet informal, it’s a great way to network.

To book, t: 0300 303 6322 email events@necc.co.uk www.necc.co.uk/events

FEB

7

This free networking lunch event is for both NECC members and businesses looking to find out more. The event includes round table networking and will give you a taste of the benefits of belonging to NECC intertwined with plenty of opportunities to build new contacts.

There is also a mini expo.

3.30pm-5pm, Dunes Adventure Island, South Shields

What’s in it for You?

feb

NECC Meets@ Newcastle

12 13 FEB

15 FEB

26 FEB

11am-2pm, Rivergreen Centre, Durham

5.30pm-7pm, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle

Networking Race Day

11am-5pm Newcastle Racecourse

LETS!... Network (Breakfast), 8am-10am

Mercure Darlington Kings Hotel

Member 2 Member

28

Afternoon Tea 4pm-5.30pm Eston Park Academy, Middlesbrough

MAR

Coffee & Connections

Mar

Rivergreen Centre, Durham, 11am2pm, Tuesday 12th February FREE

Member 2 Member Afternoon Tea

FEB

13 What’s in it for You?

CommitTees

Networking

19 Mar

(Ladies Only), 10am-12pm, Central Newcastle, Venue TBC

LETS!... Network (Brunch) 10am-12pm,

Hallgarth Hotel Golf & Country Club, Darlington

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

Member 2 Member Afternoon Tea

FREE 21 3.30pm-5pm Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle APR

11

What’s in it for You? 11am-2pm, Marriott Hotel, Sunderland

FREE

*Member price plus VAT

book at: www.necc.co.uk

Feb

1

Feb

11 Feb

21 Feb

26 Mar

5

Mar

6

Mar

North Tyneside Committee

8am-9.30am, North Tyneside Council, Cobalt

Newcastle Gateshead Committee

4pm-6pm, Venue TBC

South Tyneside Committee

8am-9.30am, South Shields Museum

Stockton Business Forum, 4pm-5.30pm,

Stockton - Venue TBC

Middlesbrough Committee

8.15-10am, Middlesbrough - Venue TBC

Redcar & Cleveland Committee

8.15-10am, Redcar - Venue TBC

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

Tyne & Wear Committee AGM, 11.30am-2pm, The

FREE

Mar

Hartlepool Committee

FREE

Mar

Darlington Committee

FREE

Mar

Northumberland Committee AGM

7

13 14 14

Centre for Life

4.00pm-5.30pm, Hartlepool Venue TBC 8.15-10.00am, Darlington Venue TBC

11.30 am-2.00pm, Dissington Hall, Northumberland

Mar

Tees AGM, 11.30am – 2pm

Mar

Tees Valley Bank of England Panel

22 21 Mar

26 Member2Member Afternoon Tea

Mercure Darlington, Kings Head

8.00-9.15am Wynyard Rooms, Wynyard

Durham Committee AGM 11.30am-2.00pm Venue TBC

FREE FREE FREE FREE

book at: www.necc.co.uk

Metro Radio Arena Newcastle, 3.30pm-5pm, Thursday 21st March FREE

LET’S!... Net‑ work (brunch) Mercure Darlington Kings Hotel, 8am-10am, Tues26th Feb FREE Your chance to tell EVERYONE about your business. After informal networking over coffee, the event host will welcome the guests and guide you through the event agenda, then each guest has a one minute slot to tell everyone at the event about their business.

62 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

The Metro Radio Arena Newcastle, officially ranked 7th as one of the world’s busiest venues

by Pollstar magazine, is the largest concert and exhibition venue in the North East of England and is owned and operated by SMG, with a strong commitment to the North East as a region, the Arena is more than capable of supporting the very best in entertainment.

The 11,000+ seater purpose built Metro Radio Arena Newcastle attracts some of the biggest names in the entertainment world.

The 40,000 square feet of exhibition and conference space is the largest under one roof in the North East and has hosted many prestigious events.

Business Seminars Feb

11 FEB

19 Apr

18

Defusing the Demographic Timebomb,

FREE

HR Knowledge – Contracts of Employment,

FREE

12pm-2pm, NECC Durham

9.15am-11am, NECC Durham

HR Knowledge – Legislation Update

9.15am-11.30am, NECC Durham

*Member price plus VAT

FREE

book at: www.necc.co.uk

OBITUARY

DR ALAN REECE 1927 – 2012

D

r Alan Richard Reece, one of the most successful engineering entrepreneurs of his generation, has died at the age of 85.

Recognised as an inspired mechanical designer and philanthropist, he was responsible for creating a number of engineering companies on Tyneside that have a combined turnover of over £300m and 700 employees. His ideas enabled the safe installation of cables and pipelines under the sea bed and have helped save the lives of hundreds of soldiers in recent conflicts in the Middle East.

The son of a guards soldier, he was brought up in London and educated at Harrow County School for Boys. His love for agriculture and engineering began when he took a job as a tractor driver at a farm in Amersham during the war. He came to Newcastle at the age of 17 to study for a BSc in mechanical engineering at Newcastle University where he met Doreen, who he married in 1949 and subsequently had three children. He developed his enthusiasm and love for what he called ‘real engineering’ in his first job as an apprentice at Vickers Armstrong on the banks of the Tyne and re-joined the university to complete his MSc. A spell further south saw him honing his skills at the Ford Tractor Plant at Dagenham and subsequently International Harvester in Doncaster.

He became a lecturer in agricultural engineering at Newcastle University where he proved to be a highly innovative researcher and gifted teacher during his 28 years of service. Alan’s engineering brilliance lay in pioneering the application of soil mechanics principles to the design of earth moving equipment. In the 1980s

the foundations were being laid, literally, for new communications and technology, particularly in the form of undersea pipelines and telecoms cables. Damage from trawler dragnets meant they were being uprooted as fast as they were being laid. In a breathtaking piece of salesmanship in 1983 he convinced the giant US company Brown and Root to trust him with a multi-million pound contract to design and build a complete subsea trenching machine. Alan duly designed a highly efficient undersea plough which slashed the costs of safely installing cables and pipelines below the seabed and increased the reliability of international telephone calls.

Alan’s initial response to his success was to commercialise his invention and continue his academic career. Sadly the culture of the University at that time did not accommodate such an entrepreneurial talent and he reluctantly resigned in 1984.

At the age of 57, Alan was embarking on a second career as a businessman, with the launch of Soil Machine Dynamics.

Developing his company on the basis of two principles – the employment of talented individuals and a belief in quality engineering – Soil Machine Dynamics became a world leader in innovative subsea vehicles.

Turning his attention to defence he acquired Pearson Engineering to create a design and manufacturing capability for the defence sector which was rapidly expanding. Pearson Engineering focused on the design and development of a range of counter mine and counter IED equipment to increase the capability of armoured fighting vehicles.

Replicating the success created with his previous company, Pearson’s became one of the region’s greatest manufacturing success stories winning the 2012 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its SPARK mine rollers. Attached to the front

of wheeled and tracked military vehicles they trigger an explosion as they drive over improvised explosive devices. Used in Iraq and Afghanistan they have been responsible for saving hundreds of soldiers from death and injury.

He formed the Reece Group in 2011 as a holding company for Pearson Engineering Ltd, Pearson Engineering Services, Velocity UK and the recently acquired Responsive Engineering Group.

The Reece Group now has a turnover in excess of £211m and more than 450 employees.

Alan created a substantial charitable fund, The Reece Foundation, which was founded in 2008 with the objective of supporting engineering, technical education as well as countryside and local initiatives. Since its inception he gave £30m to the charity.

Substantial donations have been made in the region to encourage engineering education. In 2011 he was named by the Sunday Times as the third biggest philanthropist in the UK. During his time in business he became highly critical of successive governments’ failure to encourage manufacturing industry and in 2011 wrote a campaigning pamphlet, Reviving British Manufacturing, for the think tank Civitas, describing how and why public policy should change.

At the age of five Alan contracted rheumatic fever which permanently damaged his heart.

Despite warnings from doctors and this being the root cause of his eventual death, such concerns were shrugged off and he spent many years climbing the Munros in Scotland, skiing and mountaineering.

He leaves his partner Margaret, two sons, Simon and John, a daughter, Anne and seven grandchildren.

FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 63

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SARAH PITTENDRIGH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SIMPLY BOWS AND CHAIR COVERS

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NECC HAS GIVEN US THE OPPORTUNITY TO PUT OUR BUSINESS ON THE MAP NATIONALLY

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WINNERS OF THE NORTH EAST BUSINESS AWARDS 2012 - NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR AWARD AND NATIONAL CHAMBER AWARD WINNER 2012 - MOST PROMISING NEW BUSINESS

THE CHOICE OF CHAMPIONS To join the North East’s leading business membership organisation call 0300 303 6322 or visit www.necc.co.uk/join 64 / CONTACT / DEC 2012 - JAN 2013

member 2 member

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Member2Member

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Make more of your NECC membership with these great member offers and many more on the NECC website

www.necc.co.uk/member2member SOLUTIONS for an AGEING WORKFORCE Age Inclusive Ltd

Age Inclusive Diagnostic Assessment - 25% Off. Age Inclusive is the region’s specialist support company in all age-related employment matters. Our diagnostic assessment and action plan will provide your company with a proven method of benchmarking your company in relation to all key areas such as management, legal compliance, workforce planning and training, health & wellbeing, succession planning and mentoring. Usually charged at £1,000, NECC members can access the service for just £750, if booked before Easter 2013.

EMPLOYMENT LAW / HR / PAYROLL / HEALTH & SAFETY SUPPORT Jacksons Employment Service

Free HR Audit. Jacksons Employment Service is pleased to offer a FREE HR Audit to NECC Business Owners. We can either come to your offices where we will review all of your current employment documentation or you can visit us at our offices in either Stockton or Newcastle.

Please contact Nick Rowland to discuss further.

INTERIOR DESIGN PROPERTY STAGING SOFT FURNISHINGS JOINERY GMW Interiors

Thinking of selling or renting your property or simply wish to give your home a springtime makeover and struggling to know where to start?

GMW Interiors offers friendly and professional advice on all aspects of interior decor. We can cost effectively prepare your property for sale ensuring it stands out from the crowd, guaranteeing a quicker sale at the best price.

This 2-3 hour consultation is open to all members for just £75.

HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTRE, GOLF & SPA Longhirst Hall

INDEPENDENT LIBRARY

Literary & Philosophical Society

BUSINESS AND EXECUTIVE COACHING ActionCOACH

Marketing Guide for Restaurateurs This short marketing guide for restaurants, called “Double Your Bookings in Four Weeks”, contains a blueprint for building a marketing system that fills your restaurant with your ideal customers in under a month.

The guide is free. All you need to do is tell us who to send it to and where and you’ll get instant access.

Afternoon Tea @ Hotel Indigo.

Luxury Afternoon Tea and demonstrations, supported by Hotel Indigo - to raise funds for the Lit & Phil Charity Appeal - £12.50 p.p. Thurs 28th Feb, 3-5pm.

STYLISH city HOTEL Sleeperz

Our January/February 2013 offer £75. includes one night stay in a double room (single occupancy) two course evening meal which includes your first drink and hot buffet breakfast before check out.

All for only £75.

Looking for a conference venue?

Look no further...

Book a conference at Longhirst and benefit from free room hire. *Conference must be 8 delegates or more *Available until March 31 2013.

WEBSITE solutions TAD Web Solutions Ltd

25% off all our web, mobile web and print design service (except web hosting) for NECC members when the purchase order is signed before we relocate to the Palace Hub on Redcar sea front on 20 Feb 2013.

We are pleased to offer all NECC members a free Strategic Online Marketing Review for their business/organisation which includes recommendations that will help formulate a digital marketing strategy.

We are also offering NECC members a “Floodlight” Search Engine Marketing report which analyses how well your existing website performs on Google in areas like search engine placement, conversion rate optimisation, meta data and much more, no obligation.

BESPOKE DESIGN & PRINT FOR UK ARMED FORCES & BUSINESS Uniform Cards Ltd t/a Militree

Have just acquired a Direct-toGarment printer for my business which will be used for Short Run orders from a range of clients.

I am offering a free sample of any workwear requiring artwork or text logos.

In addition, I will beat any genuine current supply price for any future business by at least 10%.

SPECIALIST EXPRESS CAR & LIGHT VAN MOT/ SERVICE & VALETING In’n’Out Centres Ltd

£25 MOT OR £50 Service Exclusive 2013 NECC Offer The special offer is a £50 Service (on any make or model of car) OR a £25 MOT (including re-test).

If your car requires a MOT and a Service at the same time, the most cost effective way to do this is to take the £50 Service offer (Usually £99, a saving of £49) and pay the standard £49 for the MOT (a £25 saving using the offer).

Entry into the Member2Member section is not an endorsement by NECC FEB - MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 65

The Last Word

The Last Word Barbara Gubbins, chief executive, County Durham Community Foundation

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orking in the charitable sector can often be a barrier to arranging business meetings, as the expectation is that the purpose will be to ask for money. It can be a real challenge to navigate round an MD’s secretary or PA who guards their boss’s diary with their life.

However, once you have a foot in the door, then the untapped opportunities of working together can be quite astounding.

I have always believed that the connection between companies and charities should be much more of a two-way street. It’s not just about handing over a donation and a ‘thank you very much’.

Working together should be much more thoughtful, strategic, rewarding and an opportunity to develop a real alliance that will engage both organisations, while at the same time supporting the local community or a specific cause.

This is not limited to large or mediumsized organisations. Small and very small companies can also have a meaningful partnership with charities, especially if they are local or have synergy with their business.

Take for example the Secret Millionaire experiences and scale them down 66 / CONTACT / FEB - MAR 2013

(drastically). How many of them go back afterwards and review their business values, make changes in personal lifestyles, see things in a brand new light or overcome a long-term personal emotional problem?

Becoming a trustee, supporting an event or project can open up new networks and demonstrate that your company believes in giving something back or cares about their local area. It can also make you feel ‘real good’ when you see the difference that support has made.

I must admit, some charities need to be slicker at identifying and delivering the benefits, but perhaps that’s because they need a hand with their marketing - which is an ideal chance for professionals in that field to step in and help out.

So what I’m saying is, no matter what size you are, there is something that you can do to help. You can make a donation - either in cash or in kind, you can give your time or your staff’s time; set up a payroll giving scheme for your staff to contribute through; gift some shares; mobilise staff fundraising or do the Great North Run. Many of these contributions can be offset against Corporation Tax, are eligible for Gift Aid and tax can be reclaimed by Higher Rate Tax Earners, so

the net cost may be fairly minimal.

Believe me, there are many more ways that charities and businesses can work together when there’s an opportunity to think outside the box.

I know all sizes of business have difficult challenges ahead, but if they can put their heads above the parapet for a while and talk to a local charity, then they would see some real benefits and potentially be introduced to new target markets.

County Durham Community Foundation and our sister community foundations across the North East have much to offer companies; we have match funding available, we run payroll giving, can advise you on corporate social responsibility strategy and much much more.

And - great news - we even have money to support apprenticeships of all ages through our Learning Working Earning scheme - both for companies and for trainees. So what are you waiting for - pick up the phone and book your appointment now!

For more information about County Durham Community Foundation visit www.cdcf.org.uk or contact Barbara Gubbins, tel 0191 378 6359, email Barbara@cdcf.org.uk

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The price is based on a V40 D2 ES FUEL CONSUMPTION IN MPG (L/100km) Urban 70.6/4.0, Extra Urban 83.1/3.4, Combined 78.5/3.6, CO2 94 g/km. Based on personal contract hire. All rentals and excess mileage

rates are inclusive of VAT and are subject to vehicle availability, credit approval, manufacturer’s price changes, volume related bonus and purchase through Volvo Car Leasing Supplier Network. The payment terms are 12 month(s) in advance £2,388, followed by 35 monthly payments commencing in month 2 payable by Direct Debit, with a mileage of 8,000 miles per annum. Vehicle returned must be in good condition and within agreed mileage, otherwise further charges will be incurred. Excess Mileage 10.44p per mile. In the event of cancellation of an order, you will be liable for such costs to be confirmed to you in writing. All other terms and conditions are as per the Master Hire Agreement FEBany- variation MAR 2013 / CONTACT / 67 or Customer Agreement between yourselves and Volvo Car Leasing. Prices correct at the time of going to print, are subject to change without notice and do not take into account to government taxes or charges arising after date of publication. Subject to availability at participating dealers for vehicles registered by 31/3/2013 or while stocks last. Not available with other promotions. Volvo Car Leasing Contract Hire is Provided by Lex Autolease Ltd, trading as Volvo Car Leasing, incorporated and registered in England with company number 1090741 & registered office at 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Car shown for illustration purposes only.

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