Contact Mag Oct - Nov

North East England Chamber of Commerce: Together We Grow Stronger

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

www.neechamber.co.uk

In a fizz

Fentimans’ Eldon Robson’s recipe for sweet success

Making the cut

THE MAIN EVENT Events and conferencing in focus

The butcher taking her family business to the next level

PROFILE

HOLDING COURT

Paul Blake: The business balancing act behind Newcastle Eagles the North East’s most successful professional sports club LAST WORD: CARILLION’S DAWN CREIGHTON ON CSR

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Welcome...

Welcome to this issue of Contact where you will find stories on our members who are punching above their weight and delivering growth which benefits the whole region.

We have interviews and success stories with people such as Eldon Robson of the great Fentimans drinks company. This business is a fantastic example of innovative branding which really stands out from the crowd when you are in any café or restaurant.

I am sure we have all read about the rise of Newcastle Eagles basketball team which has

Chamber president Mike Matthews MBE on some great North East businesses and the issues affecting us all

raised awareness of the sport on an unprecedented scale and put us in the top echelons of the prestigious British Basketball League.

There are not many female butchers in our region so I am delighted Anna Blackwell’s family business in Norton is highlighted in this issue. She is blazing a trail with her entrepreneurial acumen and ability to spot new avenues for her company through initiatives like her trio of deli and street food vans.

The North East England Chamber exists to support our members and as usual there are the regular features on different contract wins, growth plans and achievements which enable us all to share each other’s great news.

You will also find an update on devolution, details on the North East Exporters Awards and businesses representing the region at the national British Chambers of Commerce awards, with the Last Word column by Dawn Creighton of Carillion on the subject of philanthropy.

There are many reasons why we all love living and working in the region and to capitalise on this we are about to launch the Great Reasons to do Business in the North East campaign to spread the word about our region, encouraging other companies to locate here. We have a superb region and a great environment to build a business, we just need to talk our area up a bit more.

Mike Matthews, Chamber President

WHAT THEY SAY THIS ISSUE...

EDITOR Jane Pikett jane@offstonepublishing.co.uk EDITORIAL TEAM Dean Bailey Liz Hands Elise Rana Hopper Owen McAteer Paul Robertson Rosie Waller Contact is the magazine for North East England Chamber members. News and press releases should be sent to submissions@neechamber.co.uk ADVERTISING Contact our commercial team tel 01661 844 115 or email sales@offstonepublishing.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY Kevin Gibson www.kgphotography.co.uk Nicky Rogerson www.kgphotography.co.ukw Peter Skelton www.photo-psp.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

01661 844 115 Follow us @NEEChamber Published by

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

Anna Blackwell

Eldon Robson

Paul Blake

“I’m very proud of all our suppliers and the fact 99% of them are within a 50-mile radius of our shop. They can tell me every detail about our meat.”

“People in business aren’t necessarily interested in politics, they’re interested in doing business in as straightforward and as simple a way as possible.”

“Turning around a business which had struggled financially was tough. We failed terribly in that first season, but survived.

We slashed spending to a third and created a success.”

Blackwells

Fentimans

Newcastle Eagles

©Offstone Publishing 2016. 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.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 3

Corporate & Commercial Commercial Property Employment Commercial Dispute Resolution Corporate Restructuring Construction Banking & Finance Wills, Trusts & Tax Planning Clinical Negligence Family

Exceptional People

www.hay-kilner.co.uk 0191 232 8345

Contents

Plus 06 INBOX News and views from the world of business

08 NEWS BCC Awards fantastic five 16 NEWS Great North Snowdogs 28 SKILLS Apprenticeships, skills and more...

30 EXPORT The global marketplace 33 MANIFESTO 2017 The race to have your say

Features 07 IN MY VIEW

With Chamber chief executive James Ramsbotham

Above: Paul Blake, Newcastle Eagles

34 POLICY

40

51 FAB 5 How do you spend your hardearned cash?

52 APPOINTMENTS Movers and shakers

62 EVENTS Connecting with members

Devolution in focus

36 A CUT ABOVE

Butcher Anna Blackwell

38 THE PROGRAMME AES Digital Systems’ secrets of succcess

40 HOLDING COURT

Newcastle Eagles’ Paul Blake

44 NEWS OF THE BREWS Fentimans’ Eldon Robson

48 OUT TO LUNCH

Heir hunter Fraser Kinnie

55 SPECIAL FOCUS Conferences and events

38

36 48

Clockwise from above: Lesley Moody and Joe Telford of AES Anna Blackwell Fraser Kinnie

66 LAST WORD

With Carillion’s Dawn Creighton OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 5

INBOX

inbox...

Have you got something to say about Contact magazine or about business in general? Then this page is the place. Send your views, comment and gossip to submissions@neechamber.co.uk

Tweet Tweet!

Here’s our pick of recent events across the region on Twitter Ramside Golf Club’s record breaking golf team celebrates success

QUADRUPLE THREAT

Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, Durham, has marked its 20th anniversary by winning four major team trophies in North East golf.

Ramside Golf Club opened its Prince Bishops Course in 1996 and, two decades on, the club is celebrating being crowned the NDUGC (North Durham Union of Golf Clubs) League Champions, NDUGC Team Strokeplay Champions and Dixon Cup Champions.

Its Junior team was also crowned Champions of the DCJGS (Durham County Junior Golf Society) North East Junior League.

SEEING THE LIGHT

Five Lamps’ Approval for Start Up Loan support has been credited by blind artist Holly Holder, who has launched her first exhibition.

Holder worked as a TV film and make-up artist before being diagnosed with Retinis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition which led to her being registered blind. She has now launched her first exhibition as a painter at Art in the Mill, Knaresbrough with support from Five Lamps.

Apprentice David Johnson with Groundwork’s Deborah Parkin at Coulby Newham Fire Station

AGE NO BARRIER

Groundwork North East & Cumbria is helping 69-year-old Dave Johnson gain new skills and qualifications.

Dave is undertaking an apprenticeship in customer service to provide him with skills in his new role as volunteer coordinator at the Cleveland Fire Support Network, a charity which works with the emergency services.

Through its partnership with New College Durham, Groundwork is on track to deliver 100 apprenticeships for over 18s by the end of the year.

RIDERS RAISE THOUSANDS

Property experts from chartered surveyor and property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall cycled 215 miles from London to Paris to raise funds for The British Heart Foundation.

The company’s annual fundraising bike ride is now in its sixth year, raising a total of £25,000 to date. This year’s challenge from London to Paris in three and a half days raised over £3,000 from the efforts of 15 riders from across the firm’s nine offices.

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Gary Hutchinson, centre, commercial director, Sunderland AFC, wtih college staff

ON TARGET

Sunderland AFC has entered into a strategic partnership with Sunderland College.

The college will work in conjunction with the club on projects locally, nationally and internationally, adding new opportunities for Sunderland College students to work with the club on placement schemes. The partnership will also see the two organisations work together global growth objectives to help secure further partnerships internationally.

PADDLE POWER

It’s loved by Hollywood’s finest, most famously Orlando Bloom, who was pictured doing it naked with his pop star girlfriend Katy Perry in Sardinia. And now the rest of us can try one of the UK’s fastest-growing water sports.

The Coquet Shorebase Trust, which provides water-based recreational opportunities for people of all ages, has taken delivery of six new stand-up paddleboards thanks to a £5,000 donation from the Banks Community Fund. It is offering initial tuition to help new starters.

James Ramsbotham (@NEEChamber James): So grateful @turnercomms Durham Light Infantry Benches Durham & Somme Michael D. Williams (‫@ ‏‬mdwilliams1971): We’ve won the Conquering New Markets award at the North East Exporters Awards!

Port of Blyth (@PortofBlyth): And we’re done!

We’ve loved every moment of #TallShipsBlyth & hope you did too. We did it @TallShipsBlyth!

AV Dawson (@AVDawson): Official pics of the #automotive cadets @Nifco @hightidetees - fun on the forklift!

Northumbrian Water (@ NorthumbrianH2O): When it comes to city living, there are few better views than those enjoyed by our @great_snowdogs “Essie” #Paws4Selfies if you’re passing!

The King Edward VI (‫@ ‏‬KEVIMorpeth): Great #BehindTheScenes visit to @NCLairport organised by @NEEChamber

IN MY VIEW

@neechamberJames

In my view

Chamber chief executive James Ramsbotham on the importance of relationships and the need for clarity on Brexit

R

elationships are the lifeblood of business life and now more than ever we are having to reexamine these connections on a regional, national and international level.

Brexit has forced us to begin to reevaluate how we work with our European neighbours, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we still have no certainty; businesses need to have a clear idea of how Brexit will happen.

In the meantime it is fair to say people are not resting on their laurels. The recent North East Exporters Awards show how dynamic and ambitious our businesses are, with example after example of great business acumen.

Our member Palintest took the coveted Exporter of the Year trophy and Ward Brothers (Steel) took SME Exporter of the Year. All the winners and runners-up were great examples of our innovative

companies blazing a trail on the world stage.

In the next issue I hope to be celebrating the success of more companies as we will have travelled to the national British Chamber of Commerce awards with Labman, AV Dawson, Connection Retail, Sound Training, and Cundall.

Many businesses are working hard to recruit and train apprentices to tackle potential skills shortages and prepare the next generation of manufacturers and engineers in particular. The Government has stated it wants to have 3m by 2020.

In theory this sounds like a good idea, but in practice our members worry about the likelihood of these ambitious numbers.

Our workforce survey showed many businesses are totally unaware of the Apprenticeship Levy, which has the express purpose of slicing part of a business payroll over £3m and setting it aside for apprentices. There is no detail on this initiative as yet and it is due to start in April.

Quite rightly there is substantial concern about this and if it is going to be a missed opportunity to grow our apprenticeship base in a systematic and organic way.

Devolution has been a thorny problem for part of our region and we have written to Business Secretary Sajid Javid to urge him to keep the door open for the North East. We sincerely hope a deal can still be drawn up and continue to find it baffling that after a year of negotiation it has not been possible for our region to strike a deal with the Government. We believe it is paramount to explore new approaches to economic development in our region

if we are to punch above our weight. In areas such as skills, transport, inward investment, business support, housing and culture there is also a need for a much more tailored approach. There are substantial assets here which are not available in other part of the UK; we need to be able to exploit them for the benefit of the national economy as well as our own and devolution is essential to enable this.

It is good news that the Tees Valley Combined Authority is progressing its plans and we will continue to give it any support it needs in its devolution process.

Before we know it 2017 will be upon us so in order for us to be able to campaign on the North East business community’s behalf we are currently gathering our members’ views on what is important to them.

We have achieved substantial successes through our work in recent years, none of them as sweet as the widening of the Western bypass which has transformed business travel.

Our next manifesto will also examine areas of concern including how we can influence decision-formers and get maximum impact from the Northern Powerhouse.

We intend to raise the profile of our region through a tourism initiative and lead a campaign to promote it as a great place to build a career.

I’m sure that if you are reading this, you are very well aware of our region’s strengths and the appeal of being lucky enough to live and work in the North East. It is time to let more talented people know what fantastic careers are on offer here.

Businesses need to have a clear idea of when Brexit will happen

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 7

NEWS

NEWS

Gordon Reid from Cundall

Barker and Stonehouse Darlington

CHANGING ROOMS The Barker and Stonehouse store in Darlington has had a £300k makeover.

The store is in the new Feethams development and the makeover, designed by Barker and Stonehouse merchandising director Claire Hornby, focuses on room sets showing off furniture, flooring and accessories. The Darlington store is one of nine across the country, including at Teesside Park and in Battersea, London.

Connection Retail MD Dan Foskett

Labman senior manager Jamie Marsay

AV Dawson MD Gary Dawson

Claire Preston and Katy Parkinson of Sound Training

NEWS INSPIRING WOMEN North East Chamber of Commerce has set out its priorities to ensure women in business can make the maximum contribution to the region’s growth.

Key demands highlighted in a letter to Justine Greening, Minister for Women and Equalities, include support for female entrepreneurship and bridging gender gaps in skills.

The letter, from Nickie Gott, chair of the Chamber Women’s Advisory Board, demands action to create gender balance on boards, further promotion of the business benefits of diversity, and greater numbers of female leaders in politics.

Meanwhile, the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards have been shortlisted.

Categories include STEM, Leadership, and Innovation, and the awards will be presented on November 11.

Fantastic five

F

ive North East businesses are set to compete at the Annual British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) national awards in London in November.

The awards attract leading companies and this year AV Dawson, Labman, Sound Training, Cundall and Connection Retail will be competing for honours.

Newcastle engineering design consultancy Cundall is up for Export Business of the Year. Partner Gordon Reid says: “In the last 12 months, we’ve worked in Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Dubai and numerous other locations. Access to international markets has allowed us to grow and attract talented staff.”

Connection Retail, based in Shildon, Co Durham, which sells flooring products, has been selected for the High Growth category, while Middlesbrough-based logistics giant AV Dawson is up for the Excellence in Customer Service award.

8 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

This follows the completion of a £12.5m master plan which has enabled the firm to grow its workforce by over a third and create a £6.5m automotive steel distribution centre.

The region’s Small Business of the Year representative is Middlesbroughbased Sound Training, which has delivered its teaching programmes to more than 24,000 students.

Stokesley-based Labman, which specialises in the design and manufacture of custom robotic automation systems for laboratory, medical, research, and industrial organisations, is up for the Commitment to People Development Award.

Chamber chief exec James Ramsbotham says: “These companies are testament to our region’s innovative approach to business development. Last year our member Hodgson Sayers won Business of the Year; I wish this year’s firms every success.”

£600,000 INVESTMENT BOOST

l-r: Paula Donnelly, Adrian Gordon, Gary Thompson and Ellen Howard from GoRaise

N

ewcastle-based fundraising platform GoRaise has received a £600,000 investment from Northstar Ventures and an angel investor, £300k of it from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund.

GoRaise is an online charity cashback platform which facilitates fundraising opportunities for individuals and organisations. It utilises affiliate commissions to reward consumers with a donation to their chosen cause every time they shop online.

GoRaise was founded in 2015 by Gary Thompson, shortly before being accepted onto the Ignite Accelerator programme.

Despite it being an early stage start-up, the company has already attracted retailers such as eBay and John Lewis to its platform.

Thompson says: “The capital of

Northstar’s investment will be deployed to raise awareness of the platform and to ensure that the product continues to be an incredibly simple and frictionless process for all users. We also have some exciting products in the pipeline to help the business community and event challengers (such as marathon runners) to raise money.

“We’re currently on the lookout for new people to fill roles in marketing, web development and community management.

GoRaise will also be rolled out in the USA, Australia, France and Germany.”

GoRaise distinguishes itself from competitors by providing fundraising opportunities for personal challengers in addition to established charities and causes.

People can register their event and invite friends to support it; each time a supporter shops online with a participating retailer, a donation is made to that event.

COTTAGE INDUSTRY Fast-growing holiday letting agency Cottages in Northumberland has recorded record growth, expanding its portfolio of properties and extending its customer base.

The company, which lets out coastal, countryside and city properties in the county and across Tyneside, has seen a 13% increase in business in the first six months of this year.

The Newcastle-based company now has 182 properties, which it rents out on behalf of owners.

Cottages in Northumberland director of operations Andrea Mazingham

NEWS NEWS JOINING FORCES North East England Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with Fresh Start Events to host the region’s largest business to business event at Newcastle Falcons’ home, Kingston Park, in November.

More than 1,500 businesspeople are expected to attend the one-day event to meet exhibitors including Owen Pugh Group, Gospelware, Impack Personalised Apparel, Naylors Chartered Surveyors and Peter Millican Law. Guest speakers and seminars during the day include Chamber chief exec James Ramsbotham. There will be more than 200 companies exhibiting at the event and further information is available on www.northeastexpo.co.uk

NEWS SOUPED UP New products and customers are on the menu for a Co Durham food producer following significant investment.

Redemption Food, supplier of fresh soups, stews, sauces and fruit toppers to coffee shops, restaurants and wholesalers, has attracted £100,000 investment from the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund run by NEL Fund Managers and a further £550,000 from Secure Trust Bank and ABN Amro Bank. Led by MD Robert Clarke and commercial director Mark Crow, Redemption aims to double turnover over five years to £7m with plans to launch Redemption-branded products to the high street.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 9

ADVERTORIAL

SEPTEMBER IN NUMBERS

E

ntering the darker and colder nights (despite one of the hottest September’s on record) markets continue to adjust to a summer of extraordinary events as well as ever present global risks. Why not help yourself to sleep by following us on Twitter @Vertemam or visiting our website (www.vertemassetmanagement. com) for daily blogs and light hearted articles. Busy through September watching the Great British Bake Off heat up? Well here’s a brief highlights re-cap of last month... cue Match of the Day titles music; • Apple was ordered to pay £13.5bn in back taxes to Ireland, their luck of the Irish seemingly up.

• Manchester United became the first British football club to earn over £500m in one financial year and yet they still warm up in hotel car parks • The FTSE 100 index finished the month over 1.7% higher, with the FTSE 250 +0.8% for the month • The probability on Trump winning the US election race moved from 26% to 33%, although Hilary Clinton remains strong favourite • Apple declined to release sales figures for their new handsets. No numbers here just investor suspicion

NEWS Linda Conlon

THE SCIENCE BIT

N

ewcastle Centre for Life chief exec Linda Conlon has urged science centres around the world to grab the potentially transformative impact of their work in the post-Brexit world.

Speaking at a conference in Tampa, USA, she said that following the referendum vote, her thinking is set on a wider horizon, in particular how organisations like Centre for Life might support migrants and refugees.

She said: “There are some fantastic examples of inspirational science programmes. Science has the power to be a unifying force. I

want all the centres to ensure we don’t miss this opportunity to make a difference.”

Since it was founded in 2000, the International Centre for Life has attracted worldwide interest in its integrated model of cuttingedge clinical research and treatment, science businesses and education.

Centre for Life is about to embark on a new £4.5m scheme called Project STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths).

It is looking for businesses to be part of this development, especially companies which can offer expertise, and an advisory group is being setup.

MAKING HAY

• The US Federal reserve held rates at 0.5%, signalling a rise for later in the year • The new fiver entered UK circulation, with the note featuring Winston Churchill. It is the first polymer note in the UK, expected to last 2.5x longer • JD Sports half year profits rose 73% • Yahoo announced that in 2014 over half a billion accounts were breached from a hack, little late now but thanks Yahoo

10 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

Martin Soloman (centre left) and Jonathan Waters with senior staff members Alison Hall, Fran Rutherford, and Sarah Hall

Law firm Hay & Kilner has appointed Jonathan Waters managing partner in a rebranding of the firm’s senior partner role. He takes over from Martin Soloman who has stepped down after 15 years at the helm.

Soloman will continue in a client-focused role in his main commercial specialisms of

dispute resolution and intellectual property. During his time as senior partner, the firm experienced steady growth and now has 27 partners and more than 55 lawyers. A corporate partner, Waters has been with Hay & Kilner for almost 18 years and he will continue his client work in addition to his new role.

l-r Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes and NE1 chief exec Sean Bullick

NEWS

Maxim MD Graham Conway and sales director Paul Pearson

CLEANING UP

BIENVENUE, WILLKOMMEN BIENVENIDO… The country may be embroiled in Brexit, but Newcastle hasn’t let changing relations with the rest of the world get in the way of a warm North East welcome to students from 152 countries.

NE1 Ltd, the city’s Business Improvement District (BID), estimates that Newcastle’s universities contribute £1.3bn to the city’s economy each year. It joined forces with Newcastle and Northumbria universities and Newcastle College to stage a 25-day student welcome celebration including the flags of 152 nations displayed outside the Civic Centre and searchlights

beamed nightly from key locations.

Meanwhile, Newcastle is the first city outside Germany to win the prestigious BID Award, presented by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, DIHK. NE1 Ltd won for its Alive after Five initiative, which has attracted 9.7m additional visitors into the city and contributed an estimated £591m to the North East economy since October 2010 NE1 has also been successful in its bid for £1.6m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to deliver its plans to transform the Bigg Market in Newcastle.

THS IS THE NEWS Sunderland-born BBC correspondent Kate Adie is returning to the region to speak at the North East England Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Northumbria and Durham Dinner on November 3.

Adie will be discussing the highlights of a career which started at BBC Radio Durham and took her all over the globe.

The dinner, which has the theme of Opportunity, Inclusiveness and Working Together, is at Newcastle Civic Centre and is open to more than 400 guests. Chamber chief exec James Ramsbotham says: “Kate is an outstanding journalist and a great ambassador for the North East.”

The event is sponsored by Gateshead College and Newcastle International Airport.

Gateshead College principal and chief executive Judith Doyle says: “We are working with the Chamber and its members

The North East’s largest independent contract cleaning and facilities management firm has new contracts in the education sector worth £2.4m.

Maxim Facilities Management has secured the three-year contracts with secondary and tertiary educational establishments all over the UK, including in its native North East. The Sunderland-headquartered firm has grown its workforce to over 800 and is continuing to implement a growth plan designed to grow turnover to £20m and the workforce to 2,000 in three to five years.

NEWS CONNECTED

Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

to ensure North East industry is in the best possible position to meet skills needs for the changing economy.”

Nick Jones, interim chief executive at Newcastle Airport, says: “The Chamber Annual Dinner is one of the highlights of the calendar. It is our pleasure to support this event.” There are a limited number of tickets available on the Chamber’s website.

One of the UK’s fastestgrowing multi-utility providers has underlined a commitment to the North East with the opening of a Gateshead depot.

Aptus Utilities, an Independent Connections Provider (ICP) based in Bolton, has committed to a 10-year lease on a 7,112sqft unit at Follingsby Park. The company works alongside construction firms installing gas, water, electricity and street lighting to housing and commercial developments, working with clients from the Midlands to the North of England.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 11

NEWS

NEWS

l-r Adrian Dye, Sintons, Chris McCourt, Tait Walker, David Langley, North East England Chamber of Commerce

HERE COMES THE SUN North East travel agency Hays Travel has expanded its network with a new branch in the Metrocentre.

Founded in Co Durham in 1980, Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agent with more than 140 outlets nationwide and annual turnover in excess of £800m.

Meanwhile, North East travel agency Dawson & Sanderson has opened its 23rd store in Washington.

The Galleries branch will employ eight full and part-time staff across travel and foreign exchange.

NEWS AWARDS NIGHT The CIM Northern Awards, sponsored by The Marketing Trust and now in its third year, is taking place on November 3 at Newcastle’s Crowne Plaza.

With 16 categories, the awards celebrate the insight, creativity and success of the marketing industry, outstanding campaigns and talent from the region.

NEWS NEW TO MARKET Commercial property consultant Naylors has been appointed to sell South Tyneside House adjacent to South Shields Town Hall.

The four-storey building, which offers over 18,000sqft of open-plan office accommodation, is being sold on behalf of the current owner Seapoint Capital, a London-based investment company. The agent says the property has excellent development potential.

DONE DEAL The training arm of North East England Chamber of Commerce has been acquired by Middlesbrough College to create one of the region’s largest apprenticeship providers.

Collectively, NECC Training and Middlesbrough College deliver around 2,000 apprenticeships annually across engineering, professional services, dental nursing and technical industries.

The new combined training provider will introduce new services including higher apprenticeships, traineeships, bespoke workforce solutions and grant support for businesses.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, was overseen by Newcastle law firm Sintons and chartered accountant and business adviser Tait Walker.

Chamber chief exec James Ramsbotham says: “This move offers the best future for our core membership business and NECC Training.”

Adrian Dye, partner in the Company and Commercial team at Sintons said: “Both the Chamber and Middlesbrough College are highly respected training providers in their own right, so the combination of their resources is a very positive move for the future of apprenticeship provision in the North East.”

POWERHOUSE BOARD The UK Northern Powerhouse Conference has appointed two Newcastle-based business leaders to its new advisory board.

Newcastle City Council CEO Pat Ritchie and Sarah Green, CBI director for member relations and regions and nations, will support UK Northern Powerhouse in matters including reviewing and monitoring Government responses to the 10 recommendations outlined in the Outcomes Report of the 2016 UK Northern Powerhouse Conference.

These include the need for a regional strategy for science, research and skills, improved engagement with corporate transport infrastructure users and providers, and a Northern Powerhouse investment fund.

They will also be instrumental in proposing

12 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

Pat Ritchie, CEO of Newcastle City Council

issues and topics for inclusion in the 2017 UK Northern Powerhouse International Conference and Exhibition next February in Manchester.

ADVERTORIAL

GEORGE F. WHITE EYES COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET FOR GROWTH

S

Mike Young, Head of Commercial Property at George F. White

ince George White started the company nearly 40 years ago, George F. White has evolved into a business that focuses on much more than the buying and selling rural land. Of course, its rural roots still hold importance but George F. White is now a fully serviced property, land and business consultancy that advises and informs clients on issues ranging from agricultural, residential and architectural matters to planning, commercial, minerals and waste, and energy development.

What’s more, it’s a young and very forward thinking business that focuses on embedding key qualities including innovation, inspiration, honesty and commitment into all that the team does in the delivery of high quality, professional work. Indeed, this is what appealed to Mike Young who has recently joined the company as Head of Commercial Property. George F. White’s people driven culture, which puts the personal and professional development of the team at the heart of everything it does, really struck a chord with Mike: “It’s such an exciting time to join the business - and one of the major aspects of George F. White that attracted me to the role was the enthusiasm of the team and their commitment. I really respect the culture driven ethos of the business that focuses on our people and puts all of us at the centre of its approach. Ultimately, in my view, this is what holds the key to success.”

In his new role, Mike brings with him a specialist range of commercial expertise including the management and development of private and public owned commercial property estates. Mike’s specialist expertise includes contract negotiation, planning & environmental assessment, strategic site appraisal & evaluation, estate management and compulsory purchase & compensation. His niche talent, industry expertise and leadership qualities will enable George F. White to expand its foothold in the commercial property sector, which is a key growing service area for the business, expanding the George F. White client base UK wide.

George F. White has worked and is currently working with a number of organisations in the

commercial property space ranging from large local authorities to supermarket chains, such as Asda. By bringing Mike into the fold, the business is looking to accelerate its growth and further increase its presence in the sector. Most recently, George F. White has been working with construction company Esh Group. On behalf of Esh, the commercial team is managing the lease of office space in Durham, which is based adjacent to its Group headquarters in Bowburn. The building is an incubator building that’s ideal for small and start-up businesses in the region.

“We’re determined to grow our reputation and presence further in the commercial property market which also goes hand-in-hand with adding to our team,” said Mike. “Currently, we’re recruiting across the business due to a recent growth spurt something we hope to continue by developing and strengthening our status within the commercial property space.”

For more information about George F. White’s commercial property services or the Esh Group office space that’s for let, please contact Mike Young on mikeyoung@georgefwhite.co.uk or 01665 608115.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 13

Port of Sunderland director Matthew Hunt

NEWS

NEWS

Darren Sutherland, CEO at Utility Alliance

WATER WORKS

Energy broker Utility Alliance has announced plans to recruit 50 new staff ahead of the water market deregulation in England next year.

The company, which set up in 2015 and turned over £1m worth of contracts in its first year, helps organisations make savings in utilities and lower their carbon footprint.

Deregulation will allow commercial water customers to choose their own provider and the expected increase in competition is expected to lead to falling prices.

NEWS RECOGNITION Cramlington-based Renown Group has won a Supplier Recognition Award from aerospace and defence business Lockheed Martin UK. Lockheed Martin UK used Renown Group’s fabrication and manufacturing services on the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP - a six-month project involving high quality fabrication and machining.

Renown Group operations manager Jimmy Sinclair says: “This award is a fantastic recognition for our engineering team, which worked closely with the client to deliver complex components to the assembly line.”

Port boosted by handling business

P

ort of Sunderland is set for a record year after seeing its cargo handling business soar after re-focusing on traditional shipping activities following a downturn in offshore activities.

Last year, Port of Sunderland handled almost 750,000 tons of cargo, however bosses expect that 2016 will see it deliver increased record tonnage figures.

Port director Matthew Hunt says: “While many ports have seen a decrease in business, Port of Sunderland has not left itself exposed, and has continued to service a broad range of business, meaning that it has been well-protected against any slowing in the current economic climate.

“We have cleared areas of land across the Port of Sunderland, which will allow us to service an increased volume of business going forward. And this, teamed with recently purchased handling equipment and the reconnected rail link along the Hendon branch line that leads into the heart of the facility, connecting it to the East Coast mainline and from there to the wider rail network and mainland Europe via the Channel Tunnel, means business is set to be bright for many years to come.”

Port of Sunderland has enjoyed a revival over the last six years, after bosses worked in partnership with its municipal owner Sunderland City Council to lay out a masterplan for growth.

ELECTRIC FANTASTIC Systems integrator Saville Audio Visual is the UK’s first AV company to be awarded ‘Go Ultra Low Company’ status, under a new Government and automotive industry initiative encouraging businesses to switch to electric vehicles.

With a national footprint in AV systems

14 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

installation and live event staging, Saville has one of the AV industry’s largest car and van fleets, including a growing proportion of hybrid electric models. Currently 17% of its company cars are now plug-in hybrids, exceeding the 5% government fleet vehicles target.

ADVERTORIAL

NEW FUND EXTENDING HELP TO SCORES MORE COMPANIES

A

Out to Mongolia

N

orth East architecture practice Gradon is shaping the future of Mongolia after its designs for a multi-million pound regeneration project in the country’s capital Ulaanbaatar were approved.

Its plans for Galleria UB (pictured) will transform a disused former printworks into a high-end shopping centre and is one of the most significant conservation and restoration projects to date in Mongolia.

Gradon technical director

Tanja Smith, who heads its Mongolia studio, says: “Mongolia, and Ulaanbaatar in particular, is changing quickly and it’s hugely exciting to be involved in shaping the future of the city.

“As Mongolia’s urban regeneration continues we look forward to bringing our sustainable design solutions to more sites across the city.”

Gradon made history last year when the practice became the first UK architect to set up in Mongolia, opening a design studio and initially taking on three local staff.

IMPELLER CLINCHES CONTRACT Impeller Assurance and Resilience Ltd (Impeller), has secured a major long-term contract to provide training for Marine Offshore Safety Training (MOST) at South Tyneside College (STC).

Impeller, launched in April 2015, delivers excellence in safety, resilience and business

performance, drawing on skills and leadership developed by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. ?????

Impeller will deliver training programmes for South Tyneside College, which has over 150 years’ experience in delivering world class maritime and offshore training.

Andrew Hodgson, North East LEP Chair

£120m fund to invest in scores more North East businesses is due to go live next year and build on the huge success of its predecessor.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership is working hard with the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to ensure the new Finance for Business North East fund is ready to invest into firms in the new year.

Known as JEREMIE 2 (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises), it will bring together European Regional Development cash, a loan from the European Investment Bank and legacy funding from previous loan investments into a new £120m investment pot for regional firms.

The NECA Leadership Board has agreed to put special local authority borrowing powers in place which will mean the new fund will be ready to invest when the hugely successful original Finance for Business North East scheme stops investing in December.

It is estimated that JEREMIE 2 could provide financial support for 600 businesses; help create around 3,500 jobs over the next five years and deliver a legacy fund of up to £80m over the next decade for further financial support to businesses.

Andrew Hodgson, North East LEP Chair, said: “We are working hard to ensure that the new equity, loans and mezzanine finance will be in place ready to invest in fastgrowing, high potential firms from next year.

“The original Finance for Business North East Fund has been a major success story for the region and we are determined to extend this investment support to many more companies in future.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 15

NEWS

NEWS BORO BOOST

Development work to extend the Holiday Inn Express in Middlesbrough by a further 21 bedrooms is on target for January 2017.

The £2.2m project will see the Albert Road hotel, part of Cleveland Centre, increase to 159 rooms less than 18 months after opening. The three-storey development by property developer Ashall Projects will also create space for a 1,600sqft restaurant run by a third party.

NEWS THE ONLY WAY IS ETHICS

Northumbria University has been rated among the world’s top 50 institutions in a report measuring the impact of research into business ethics.

In the latest analysis of citations in ethical business practice published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Northumbria was also ranked 9th in the UK, making it the highest placed university for research in this field in the North East.

NEWS ON THE UP Stone Technical Services (STS) has launched a new division as the business continues to grow.

STS RopeSpec Ltd offers specialist rope access services to inspect, repair and maintain guy wires to flare stacks, vessels, bridges and other structures. STS has five divisions – STS RopeSpec, STS Lightning Protection, STS Restoration, STS Maintenance and Facilities Management and STS Conservation.

MEALS ON WHEELS Co Durham-based Quality Hospital Solutions (QHS) is celebrating a new contract win with an international gaming firm thanks to design modifications made to its lead product supported by Reece Innovation’s technical engineers.

The Reece team designs and develops engineering solutions to meet the challenges of businesses of all sizes and for Andrew Turner of Sedgefield-based QHS that challenge came in the form of redesigning a beverage trolley he’d invented for hospital wards to make it attractive to new markets.

Reece Innovation’s head of business development Chris Davison says: “We have the factory space and design capabilities to nurture serious start-ups, supporting them with

16 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

Reece innovation engineer Evangelos Samiotis with the trolley

engineering design and manufacturing to grow the potential of their products.”

SKIPPER SETS SAIL The spectacular sight of a giant, brightly decorated Snowdog floating along the River Tyne was one of the highlights of a series of events to mark the launch of St Oswald’s Hospice Snowdog Trail fundraising effort.

DFDS’s Skipper the Snowdog was carried along the river by Port of Tyne workboat Sir Bobby Robson and then lifted on board DFDS ferry Princess Seaways to mark his arrival on the Tyne as one of the trail of decorated sculptures

now on display throughout Tyne and Wear.

The Snowdog, designed and painted by Newcastlebased artist Joanne Wishart, spent a month on display to customers travelling on DFDS’s Newcastle-Amsterdam service before joining 59 other sculptures on the ???

Great North Snowdogs trail across Tyne and Wear, which will be in place until November.

The special trip down the Tyne was arranged by DFDS with support from Port of Tyne.

TEAM EFFORT

Newcastle Building Society chief exec Andrew Haigh and Lady Elsie Robson

Newcastle Building Society savings accounts have now raised £2m for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

Newcastle Building Society introduced the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation savings accounts in 2012 and donates an equivalent of 0.1% of the total value held

in the accounts to Sir Bobby’s charity.

The building society is the largest corporate donor to the foundation, set up

by Sir Bobby and Lady Elsie Robson in 2008 and the work it funds directly benefits cancer patients from across the North East and Cumbria.

NEWS

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

With Eamonn Leavey Head of President’s Club I hope that many Chamber members have enjoyed attending the incredible show Kynren this summer.

Jonathan Ruffer promised us an exciting experience at July’s President’s Club lunch and it certainly delivered this.

I am pleased to confirm that Stephen Kelly from Sage UK will be our key-note speaker at the forthcoming President’s Club lunch this autumn.

My thanks to Paul Carbert from the Chamber Policy Team who produced our Policy document on the Apprenticeship Levy, which I hope members found useful. Please contact Paul for further information, email Paul.Carbert@neechamber.co.uk We trade in very interesting times at the moment, with the uncertainty around Brexit, North East devolution and the Northern Powerhouse, and all of these were discussed, along with the low interest economy and retirement planning in a recent discussion with the Brewin Dolphin team and a small group of President’s Club members.

My thanks to Crowne Plaza in Newcastle for hosting the lunch.

Brewin Dolphin is offering President’s Club members a free, no-obligation financial planning review with one of their experts.

For more information, contact John Duns via email at: John.Duns@brewin.co.uk

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 17

NEWS

NEWS

PRINCELY PARTNERSHIP NEL Fund Managers has forged a new partnership with The Prince’s Trust to help support the next generation of regional entrepreneurs.

NEL Fund Managers will mentor some of the young participants in The Trust’s programmes and provide work experience. Staff will also undertake fundraising activities for The Trust.

Founded in 1989, NEL Fund Managers provides unsecured mezzanine investments to SMEs.

NEWS

ON THE WATERFRONT Joint venture partners Places for People and Urban Splash are set to launch Smith’s Dock residential development in North Shields.

North East agent Sanderson Young has been appointed to handle sales of the first homes at the scheme; bringing to market 34 houses offering a choice of layouts within either two or three storey properties of up to 1,500sqft.

Back to school

A

s the new school term starts, Newcastle-based Campus North is helping to plug a digital skills gap among teachers with a new programme.

The tech hub is offering courses in coding, computing and electronic skills developed and delivered by programmers and digital experts.

Teachers will take away ready-made lessons, as well as new skills and ideas and access ongoing support.

Ammar Mirza, chair of the Progression Forum and of Tyneview Governors says: “A recent Government paper highlighted a

ON THE MOVE Bilfinger GVA, Newcastle and JLL, Leeds have been appointed as joint letting agents to market Weymouth House on Newcastle Business Park.

Weymouth House has been extensively refurbished by Caudwell Properties to provide 30,493sqft of Grade A office accommodation.

18 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

digital divide where up to 12.6m of the adult UK population lack basic digital skills. An estimated 5.8m people have never used the internet at all. This digital skills gap, which starts in school, is costing the UK economy an estimated £63bn a year in lost additional GDP. These figures are compelling and there is an absolute need to support our future generations.”

Campus North co-founder Lyndsey Britton says: “It’s up to industry to lead the way in supporting teachers and getting our educators engaged in the digital world and we’re delighted to have had our experts keen to both design and deliver these courses.”

PARTNERS UPDATE

With Jennifer Rycroft, Chamber partnerships manager An update on the activities of Chamber Partner Members, an exclusive group from a range of sectors, who work closely with the Chamber to maximise their impact on the region

l-r David Wakefield, operations manager for Stagecoach in Walkergate with Laura McVittie, commuter centre manager Quorum Business Park, and Steve Walker, MD Stagecoach North East

Walker goes by bus

B

us operator Stagecoach North East has welcomed a fleet of 24 new buses and the arrival of a new managing director.

MD Steve Walker unveiled the new buses – part of a £5m investment - in his first engagement for the company at the Green Transport Event at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle.

The buses feature fuelefficient Euro 6 engines, improved seating for customer comfort, free wifi and USB charging points.

Walker, former MD of Stagecoach North Scotland, said: “Buses are critical to the local economy and so we have invested to improve the experience for customers.”

Quorum, on Benton Lane, is one of the fastest-growing business parks in the region and a key destination served by the buses. Commuter centre manager at the park, Laura McVittie, said: “There is potential to see up to 9,000 people working on the park and a recent survey showed that a third of people working at Quorum come by public transport.”

We recently enjoyed a trip to The Lakes Distillery where we were joined

by MD Paul Currie and chairman Nigel Mills and learned more about this innovative business.

We are now working with Bond Dickinson to shape our priorities for public transport in the region based upon a consultation process with members, users and expert focused discussion groups ahead of submitting our report later this month.

Banks Group chaired our Development Group Committee hosted by Esh Group and focusing largely on the impact of Brexit. Teesside University hosted our Education & Skills Group chaired by Gateshead College, guiding much of our policy work in this area.

We have also been working closely with Newcastle

International Airport, providing Chamber members with a tour of its facilities and an insight into the airport’s world-class Training Academy, which provides training to businesses and individuals from across the world. We also launched a member survey in partnership with the airport, helping to develop routes and services that will benefit the North East Business community.

And finally, we welcomed David Budd and Neil Kenley from Tees Valley Combined Authority to our September Partner Lunch hosted by Teesside University at its impressive new facility, The Curve. They presented their plans for growth and development in the Tees Valley and led a valuable discussion about the effects of devolution for the area.

Jennifer.Rycroft@neechamber. co.uk • Twitter @neechamberjen

OUR PARTNERS...

ALL GROWN UP One of the region’s longest established accountancy firms, Robson Laidler, together with its financial services company (RLFP), is investing more than £380,000 in a five-year business transformation plan as it gears up for its centenary year and to meet its aim of 50% profit growth.

Robson Laidler and RLFP had a combined turnover of £3.2m last year. The accountancy firm was founded in 1920 and employs over 50 staff at its base in Fernwood House in Jesmond. It has modernised its services and is investing heavily in its people, premises, software and training to meet the demands of the digital accountancy revolution.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 19

ADVERTORIAL

CELEBRATING THE CIM AWARDS

NEWS Kevin Maddison, MD of Global Management Platform

NESMA is proud to be the sponsor of this year's CIM award for the best regional campaign.

T

Veronica Swindale Director, nesma www.nesma. co.uk

he CIM Northern Awards celebrate the insight, creativity, success and talent from across the region.

The judges will be looking for a campaign that has met the objectives of the organisation. One that has delivered excellent results. The award is open to any campaign that has either been created or delivered in the north east. The CIM is not myopic and genuinely wants to reward the best.

I based my decision to sponsor this award on nesma's own ambitions. We are focused on raising the standard of marketing, whether it is in large or small organisations, public or private sector, UK or overseas. The award also supports our goal of creating awareness of the potential of marketing and how to manage staff to achieve the best results.

We are finding that the uncertainty in this region is prompting restructuring and downsizing. However when organisations do not want to lose a member of staff they sometimes give them a marketing role. Increasingly we are asking the question: "Who is managing your marketing?" The answers can be illuminating.

As a result we have developed a range of short courses and workshops to stimulate analysis of this. The courses introduce people to marketing and help non-marketers understand essential marketing skills. It is surprising how many people mistakenly still think it is all about advertising and glossy pictures. Please see the events page listing in this edition for further information.

Experienced practitioners should be committed to CPD. I applaud the Chartered Institute of Marketing's initiative to offer stand alone accredited modules. Practitioners can study a module to develop specialist skills in a particular area such as innovation or digital strategy.

I look forward to seeing some excellent campaigns at the CIM Awards dinner. Perhaps we will meet fellow chamber members too.

To find out more about the CIPR, CIM, DMI qualifications and other training please contact Veronica Swindale. www.nesma.co.uk veronica.swindale@nesma.co.uk

nesma, 19 Lansdowne Terrace, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne Tel: +44 (0)7590 018 205 Email: info@nesma.co.uk 20 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

ON THE MOVE Software development company Global Management Platform has moved into Business Central in Darlington as it plans to expand and roll out its CRM systems. The systems will enable companies to manage administration, sales and customer leads more effectively with one powerful online system.

ON THE GROUND

Groundwork CEO Kate Culverhouse (second left) meets staff and young people at The Project

Groundwork North East & Cumbria is helping to tackle youth unemployment in Co Durham through its new training centre, The Project, in Peterlee.

The Project delivers accredited training to improve young people’s employment prospects along with personal

development opportunities and a drop-in facility. Groundwork is a delivery partner for DurhamWorks Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the facility is part-funded by the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England.

Grand design

NEWS

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ork is underway on a £6.6m Cleveland College of Art and Design (CCAD) campus and arts school in Hartlepool.

Esh Build, part of Esh Group, has started work on the project developed by Turner and Townsend, architect Howard Litchfield Partnership and engineer Cundalls. It will house studio spaces, workshops and digital suites, photography and film/ TV studios, a refectory, an amphitheatre and a gallery.

The 45,000sqft building supplements the Church Square campus, which will be re-modelled.

The new campus will be complete by Easter 2017 with full occupancy in September the same year. Esh Build divisional director Paul Redman (pictured) says: “This will be an impressive building. Its design is striking and benefits from innovative materials including photo-chromatic cladding which changes colour depending on the viewing angle.”

Programmes scheduled to be delivered on the new campus include Production Design

FULL HOUSE Commercial property specialist Naylors has completed the sale of Salvus House, the award-winning office headquarters in Durham.

The 32,561sqft office located on a 1.9 acre site at Aykley Heads Business Park has been purchased

by Durham County Council for £3m.

Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, which is funded by the county council, is now re-modelling the building as the Durham City Incubator to accommodate growing businesses.

NEWS for Stage and Screen, Fine Art, and Creative Film and Moving Image Production.

PAY UP North East professionals have, on average, had a 3% pay rise in the past year, according to Nigel Wright’s latest salary survey report.

The recruitment consultancy surveyed more than 1,000 people across different disciplines and levels in all sectors including manufacturing, business support and

professional services, public and third sectors, consumer, and the digital and creative sectors.

According to the research, executive salaries saw the biggest increase at 4.9%, followed by finance at 3.7% and manufacturing at 3.4%. The gender gap between male and female salaries in the North East was 12%, the same as last year.

The number of people who said they received a guaranteed bonus declined by 2% although the average guaranteed bonus received increased from 7% to 11%. More than a fifth of the North East workforce said they would be tempted to change jobs if offered more flexible working arrangements.

Job satisfaction remained static, with 78% of respondents satisfied or very satisfied in their role.

BACK TO WORK

A new scheme to improve employment prospects in and around Bishop Auckland is being launched

by Auckland Castle Trust and social housing provider Dale & Valley Homes.

The Stepping Stones project, funded by NE Procurement, is targeted at the long-term unemployed and offers skills in applying for work, interviews and entering the workforce.

Kimberley Batey, community training project coordinator, Dave & Valley Homes with Alison Tweddle, Community Outreach Officer, Auckland Castle Trust

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 21

Your membership of The British Chambers of Commerce gives you access to innovative, afordable health cover with an exclusive range of benefts.

Together, we’ve developed the Chamber Primary Health Plan that will work harder to make your staf feel more valued and motivated, and encourage them to be more proactive about their health.

The plan helps policyholders to access essential healthcare, diagnosis and treatment, provides money back towards selected medical expenses, and can be combined with our hospital treatment insurance to provide truly continuous cover.

As a leading provider of corporate health insurance, nobody works harder to keep your employees at their ft and healthy best than Westfeld Health.

To discover the full benefts of harder working health cover, contact us now.

0345 602 1629 westfeldhealth.com/chamber

IT WORKS FOR THEM, IT CAN WORK FOR YOU! GENERATE NEW BUSINESS ENQUIRIES WITH NEECC CONTACT MAGAZINE. Leaflet inserts to Contact magazine work for these businesses, and they can work for you too.

“We have seen a continual upswing in revenue coming from the local area, which I’m sure is the result of the cumulative effort we have all put in over the last few months.”

Mark Harrison – Managing Director, RefurbThat “We use Contact magazine to great effect”. Sara Williams – Marketing Manager, Lingfield Point “We use Contact magazine regularly and it produces excellent results”..

Selina Deeney – Deputy Marketing Manager, Sunderland Association Football Club 7000 copies of Contact are distributed to businesses throughout the North East every two months. 4,000 are delivered to NECC member companies by Royal Mail, with 3,000 distributed strategically to free pick up points.

You can benefit from this distribution network in an extremely cost effective manner, inserting your own promotional literature in the form of leaflets and brochures to this highly respected magazine to reach a first class audience of Managing Directors, Owner Managers and decision-makers.

Distribution to this high quality audience for less than the price of a stamp!

Members Only, 4000 copies – £450 | Full Distribution, 7000 copies – £700 Let us produce effective, professionally designed leaflets for your business 4000 A4, full colour leaflets designed and printed both sides £400 | 7000 A4, full colour leaflets designed and printed both sides £470 For more information, please contact Colin Rutherford on 01661 844115

22 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

NEWS

North on the up

W

orld-leading maritime liability insurer North Group has reported strong financial growth during the financial year to February 2016.

Newcastle Quayside-based North has grown rapidly in recent years and now has an annual premium income of over US$500m (£385m).

The last financial year produced an overall surplus of US$90m (£70m) which boosted free reserves to their highest ever level of US$428m (£330m).

Joint MD Alan Wilson says: “This is due to a number of factors, including the steps we have taken over the last five years to improve the quality and underwriting performance of our book of business. Last year we also experienced an unusually low number of claims.”

The company, founded on Newcastle Quayside in 1860 by North East ship owners, is now the second largest global mutual marine liability insurer with more than a 10% share of the world’s merchant shipping fleet.

It employs more than 270 people in Newcastle and 130 people overseas.

Essentials Portfolio Julie Digman tel 07912 478 964 julie.digman @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @neechamberjuliedig Teesside Tom Warnock tel 07714 845 617 tom.warnock @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberTom Darlington and West Durham Susan Anderson tel 07736 799 727 susan.anderson @neechamber.co.uk Northumberland Joanne McLauchlin tel 07850 740 646 joanne.mclauchlin @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberJo In 2014 it acquired Durham-based Sunderland Marine, a leading insurer of fishing vessels, small craft and aquaculture risks.

Medium Business Andrew Heavisides tel 07912 478 961 andrew.heavisides @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberAndy Newcastle/Gateshead Lynsey Fairless tel 07834 444 627 lynsey.fairless @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberLyns

TECH SAVVY Law firm Ward Hadaway is helping technology companies across the North to import overseas talent.

The Top 100 UK law firm, which has offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester, is working with regional technology industry organisation Tech North on its Tech Nation Visa Scheme.

Tech North has the ability to endorse applications for the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa – up to 200 exceptionally talented tech industry staff from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) every year.

As an official legal partner for the Tech Nation Visa Scheme, immigration experts at Ward Hadaway will provide

CONTACT YOUR RELATIONSHIP MANAGER TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Sunderland/South Tyneside/Durham Arthur Hodgson tel 07980 259 991 arthur.hodgson@neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberArt

Flora Mewies, solicitor in the employment team at Ward Hadaway

legal support for companies across the North.

International Les Dixon tel 07850 740 645 les.dixon @neechamber.co.uk Twitter @NEEChamberLes

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 23

NEWS

‘Press’tigious Print

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24 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

Jamie Marsay of Labman

Automatic to the people

S

tokesley-based Labman, which specialises in the creation of custom robotic automation, is celebrating its largest-ever contract win.

The new contract, worth a combined £6.5m, is part of a joint initiative between Labman, long-standing client Unilever and Liverpool University. The first part of the contract will be the creation of the £2.5m Formulation Engine for the university’s new £68m Materials Innovation Factory.

Laman senior manager Jamie Marsay says: “We have been growing at a tremendous rate over the past five years and the trend is continuing with new

contracts from all over the world.

Our client base includes some of the world’s leading businesses, and they need our bespoke service to meet their automation requirements, from physical machinery through to software and analysis systems. I believe our niche skills are unique, not just to the UK, but globally.”

The projects Labman has delivered are diverse, ranging from a bumble-bee flight simulator to vial filling robots and a system to assist in the collection of eggs during IVF. Turnover is projected to double to £4.6m in 2016 and an extension doubling the size of the firm’s purpose-built HQ is currently under construction and due to be completed this winter.

ON THE ROAD

The North East England Chamber of Commerce is calling on its members to contribute to a transport infrastructure study it is working on with Chamber Partner member Bond Dickinson.

The Chamber is asking for views from public transport users and those who rely on public transport for the success of their business.

The survey is at: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ Chamber_Transport

Catering Multi Award winning restaurant and Finalist of British Curry Awards, The Days of Raj in Gosforth offers a completely unique, full-service catering experience. Starting with a comprehensive plan for your special day, we will ensure the event captures your personality, and our friendly, professional team will bring your vision to life while you relax and enjoy a delicious experience with family and friends You will discover a whole host of flavours and ingredients - with something to suit every taste.

The menu includes a particularly enticing array of Raj Specialities, with dishes such as Southern Curried Chicken, Mourgh Mumtaj Badami and Raj Chicken Malai Curry drawing the attention of even the most hardened curry fans.

The Days of the Raj also offers a catering service. If you are looking for food which will have your guests’ mouths watering, they can cater for any event or special occasion, such as weddings, birthday parties and anniversaries. They can cater for anything from 5 to 100 people for various events including marriages, birth day parties, and

any other special days, and will ensure that the menu they put together is something unique to you and is something you will truly savour.

If you choose to dine-in at the Gosforth restaurant, however, you can look forward to relax dining in a friendly atmosphere. We have an early evening offer, Monday to Thursday 5.30pm 7.30pm, with four courses for just £10.95, as well as a Royal Banquet (for a minimum of eight people), offering poppadum’s with chutney, a House Special Mixed Platter starter, a choice of mains, the Pilao of the Day rice, sundries and either vanilla ice cream or coffee for just £12.95 per person. Thursday is Special Banquet Night at the restaurant, o erring poppadum’s with chutney, a starter from the main menu, a main dish, a rice dish and a Nan for just £13.95 (dine-in only).

A takeaway service is also available.

Christmas bookings now being taken-Book early to avoid disappointment....

Harewood House, 49 Great North Rd, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 2HH Tel: 0191 284 9555 | 0191 284 9666 Web: www.thedaysoftheraj.co.uk

NEWS

NEWS WAGE WARNING The latest workforce survey by North East England Chamber of Commerce warns of an impact on recruitment if the National Living Wage (NLW) rises to £9 an hour by 2020.

Chamber policy adviser Paul Carbert says: “Further NLW increases need to be proportionate to avoid having a negative effect on employment.”

Alex Ingham, MD at Stocktonbased workwear and clothing supplier MI Supplies, says: “We pay over the NLW, we have a profit share scheme and benefits such as gym membership. While the introduction of the NLW did not impact directly on our salary bill, it did affect us through some suppliers who have passed on higher costs as a result of their need to increase wages. If the NLW does rise to £9 by 2020 that will affect our business.”

NEWS

l-r Fairstone CEO Lee Hartley and Sir Ranulph Fiennes

FAIRSTONE ON A ROLL ROLLING ON

Boldon-based Fairstone, the UK’s largest chartered financial planning firm, hosted its annual business partners’ conference at Sage Gateshead with global explorer and Fairstone client Sir Ranulph Fiennes appearing as keynote speaker.

Over the last year, Fairstone, which oversees £6bn of client pension and investment assets, has seen a 51% increase in recurring income, £1bn in mortgage lending and an initial £25m investment from private equity firm Synova Capital.

This is in addition to a record year for the firm’s City office.

We have lift-off

E

xperts have been signed up to a new programme designed to help entrepreneurs in the North East tap into the space sector.

The panel appointed to the North East Space Incubator programme includes experts from sectors including law, financial management, business growth, marketing, and IP protection.

Business Durham, the economic development company for Co Durham, received a grant from the UK Space Agency to set up the programme at the North East Technology Park, (NETPark) in Sedgefield. Entrepreneurs who get through to the programme will be entitled to £7,500 worth of professional services and will be based in an environment populated by some of the world’s most innovative companies.

The panel includes Ross Golightly,

director at Sphera Consulting; Karen Large of Think Innovative; Ian Swain of IS Business & Finance; Graeme Jordan of STO Consulting; Alex Shiel, head of intellectual property and IT at law firm Ward Hadaway; and Antony Hall, head of Commercial at Mincoffs Solicitors.

The support programme is being delivered in partnership with the UK Space Agency, which has plans for the UK to secure 10% of the anticipated £400bn global space market by 2030, and will be part of a network of incubators which will collaborate on events and initiatives.

The £50,000 investment in the programme builds on the significant impact the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence, one of only five in the country and also based at NETPark, has already made.

POSITIVE SIGN A company specialising in vehicle graphics has expanded into new premises at UK Steel Enterprise’s Innovation Centre on Kirkleatham Business Park in Redcar to meet increased demand.

MK DeSigns, founded 18 months ago by Keith Edwards, provides signage and vehicle graphics. Edwards says: “Part of our recent growth is down to former SSI workers opting for self-employment. We have done the signage and vehicle graphics for new businesses in many sectors, including mobile gaming.”

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MK DeSigns founder Keith Edwards with Sue Kirk of UK Steel Enterprise

NEWS NEWS

Robert Halfo at New College Durham

Airport’s £233m refinancing deal

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ewcastle International Airport has negotiated a new term loan facility of £233m to refinance its bank debt and reduce future interest costs.

The refinancing has been agreed well in advance of the expiry of the previous financing arrangements, which were arranged in 2012. Since then the airport has committed approximately £40m in capital developments such as radar replacement and improvements to customer facilities and retail.

The process has been carried out with RBS Advisory (Financial) and Allen & Overy (Legal), and with support from AMP Capital and local authority shareholders.

Financing is provided by a consortium includes RBS, Commonwealth Bank of

Australia, National Australia Bank Limited, ING Wholesale Banking, Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and MetLife Investments.

The loan is split into tranches between seven and 20 years which offer protection against future interest rate rises and ensure continued investment.

The airport’s interim chief exec Nick Jones says: “The project will help secure the long term success of the airport by maintaining its sound financial footing and provides a new capital expenditure facility to support our growth plans.”

Following the refinancing a total dividend of £43m will be split between each of the local authority shareholders and AMP Capital. It is the first time since 2013 that shareholders have received a dividend.

SPANISH AND LATIN ART CENTRE LAUNCHED The North East is set to become an international centre for research and excellence in Spanish and Latin American art with a new partnership between Durham University and Auckland Castle Trust.

The Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham will link academic research by the university to the curatorial programme at Auckland Castle’s Spanish Gallery.

A formal partnership agreement was signed by Prof Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, and Jonathan Ruffer, chairman of Auckland Castle Trust, at Auckland Castle. Prof Corbridge and Ana Botín, Santander Group executive chairman, also signed a gift agreement which will see Santander donate £600,000 over a three-year period to the centre - the largest single donation made by Santander to a UK university.

l-r Stuart Corbridge, Ana Botín and Jonathan Ruffer with the Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle

MINISTERIAL SEAL OF APPROVAL Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships Robert Halfo dropped by at New College Durham to see its pioneering £5m re-development.

He was given a tour of the college, including its Early Years and Health and Social Care real-work facilities, the college’s Creative Industries area and new creative and digital media suite, and the Advanced Engineering Centre including CAD dual screen workstations, CNC machines and a dedicated pneumatics and hydraulics area. He also met with representatives from employers Nissan, Esh Group and the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service.

NEWS GREEN GLORY Marmax Products has won a Green World Environment Award in the international campaign to find the world’s greenest countries, companies and communities.

Marmax competed against more than 500 other nominations in the Green World Awards for Environmental Best Practice and will be presented with the award in Bucheon, South Korea in October.

Co Durham-based Marmax produces outdoor furniture, play equipment, boardwalk and fishing pegs made from recycled plastic milk containers.

Over the last seven years, the company has saved more than 290m plastic milk cartons from going to landfill.

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SKILLS

SETA LAUNCHES QUALIFICATIONS

Seta chief exec Robin Lockwood

Washington-based training provider Seta is now offering the BTEC Level 4 HNC Diploma in General Engineering and BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma in General Engineering.

The launch of HNC and HND programmes follows Seta’s achievement of ISO 9001:2015 accreditation awarded by the British Standards Institute (BSI). The organisation was also recently accredited under the Certification Scheme for Welding Inspection Personnel (CSWIP).

A not-for-profit Group Training Association, Seta works with companies including Gestamp, Northern Rail, Rolls Royce and Nissan.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

l-r Jordan Hepple, Beth Richards, Jordan Anderson, Steven Belcher, and Phillip Housego

Four young IT technicians have secured full-time jobs with Gateshead data storage firm ITPS thanks to NECC Training.

Jordan Hepple, Jordan Anderson, Phillip Housego and Steven Belcher were recruited and trained by NECC Training to ITPS’s requirements complemented by in-house work experience.

Beth Richards, a business administration apprentice, is working on ITPS’ reception and is due to complete her studies in November.

Businesses in the dark on Apprenticeship Levy

A

survey of businesses has revealed a lack of awareness of the new levy designed to support companies taking

on apprentices.

The Chamber is calling on the Government to further clarify details of the Apprenticeship Levy, where companies with a wage bill of over £3m will be required to pay 0.5% of their total payroll costs and claim the money back to spend on apprenticeship training.

Chamber policy adviser Paul Carbert says: “We believe the Government should allow organisations to use the levy funds to support other high quality workplace training, beyond just apprenticeships.”

Building services company and Chamber Partner member John N Dunn Group has a long history of training apprentices, but director Ian Steward says it remains in the dark about the levy.

He says: “We are training 39 apprentices at present, which represents over 10% of our 300-strong workforce, but the planned levy

means we could pay substantially more to train apprentices than at present. Yet competitors who have a wage bill beneath the £3m threshold will still have 90% of apprenticeship costs paid by the Government.

“This makes the Government target of creating 3m apprentices by 2020 unachievable, especially considering the failure of Government to take on board the concerns raised about the levy by employers.”

A survey of employers, part of a national British Chambers of Commerce report supported by Middlesex University, reveals that 32% of firms in the North East have no understanding of, or haven’t heard of, the Apprenticeship Levy and 40% of firms in the North East do not understand how apprenticeship funding differs above and below the £3m payroll threshold.

Few businesses believe the reforms will change their training outlook with only 10% saying reforms will increase their recruitment of apprentices and 3% saying it will have a positive impact on their wider training budget.

BRIGHT STARS Diamond Group has taken on three apprentices, with 20 more posts to come, and expanded into new premises in Gateshead.

Morgan Armour, Ben Richardson and Kelsey Telford have now started at Diamond Group, which specialises in IT, reprographics and telecoms. Headquartered in Jarrow, HVR exports 98% of its products to Europe,

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Ben Richardson, Kelsey Telford, Morgan Armour

America and Asia, and has factories in Birmingham, Germany and America employing 172 people.

ON TARGET

Members of Teesside University’s Elite Athlete Scheme

First cohort of automotive cadets with their teachers and AV Dawson’s Charlie Nettle and High Tide’s Kim Upex (both front right)

THE TIDE IS HIGH

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eesside-based charity The High Tide Foundation, which aims to raise the aspirations of young people, has announced the launch of a new Automotive Cadetship.

High Tide, founded in 2012 by PD Ports and Casper Shipping, has a record of success in connecting industry and education and the new automotive cadetship follows the success of its existing programme focused on port logistics.

The scheme has been developed in partnership with logistics expert AV Dawson plus SABIC, Nifco, Nissan, and Evans Halshaw. Charlie Nettle, head of marketing

and business development at AV Dawson, says: “It’s important that we all do everything we can to inform and inspire the next generation. We have developed a world-class automotive sector in the North East and we must attract new talent.”

High Tide membership coordinator Kim Upex says: “Through our business partners we’re able to add a key element to this pioneering initiative by providing young people with an understanding of the various organisations involved in manufacturing a car and how the supply chain fits together.”

The six-week programme will be offered to Year 9 students at High Tide member schools across Teesside.

Teesside University has been announced as an official partner of Middlesbrough Football Club.

The two will work together to promote the university’s education and business expertise and the ambition and sporting excellence of the football club.

Teesside University vicechancellor and chief exec Prof Paul Croney says: “We will also be exploring opportunities to enrich our students’ education through work-related learning, shared knowledge and facilities.”

The partnership has resulted in the development of a new Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Management and Marketing.

NEW START

LOVE THE LORRY! Co Durham companies took to the road to encourage young people to ‘Love the Lorry’ during a national week of action to promote the logistics industry.

Stiller Warehousing and Distribution and other Co Durham businesses including Hargreaves Logistics, the Banks Group, Beamish Transport and Elddis Transport joined a schools initiative as part on the Road Haulage Association’s annual National Lorry Week in September.

The transport and logistics sector needs 45,000 drivers to join the industry to plug a forecast skills gap. The companies took trucks and lorries into schools around the region and delivered presentations about job opportunities in the industry.

Stiller commercial manager Matthew Stiller says: “Within every logistics firm you’ll find drivers, transport planners, fitters, mechanics, administrative clerks, customer service

Stiller Warehousing and Distribution logistics clerk Keiran Jones and customer services exec Suzie Kitchen

personnel, HR and payroll staff, IT technicians and accountants. While it’s very important to promote driver jobs, we want to promote the sector as a wider career choice.”

An innovative preapprenticeship scheme is supporting eight young people to receive training and experience of bin collections, street cleansing and park and environmental maintenance.

They will also benefit from training in maths, English and health and safety at work, receiving the weekly national minimum wage.

Delivered by Newcastle City Council, New Tyne West Development Company, Generation NE and Newcastle Futures, the 12-week programme prepares participants to increase their employability chances.

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EXPORT

TOP CAT

Barrier Fire Protection, part of Barrier Group, has completed a significant export project at an oil refinery in Germany The Wallsend-based company secured the contract to carry out Passive Fire Protection (PFP) to a 15-metre diameter Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage sphere at the facility operated by Deutsche Infineum.

A team of 10 applicators undertook the four-week project in Cologne, which was delivered on schedule.

Using specialist Hydro-Cat spraying equipment, a highly durable epoxy was applied during a planned maintenance programme at the refinery.

PORTS POWERHOUSE The North of England’s four main ports have now agreed their new partnership to create jobs, boost exports and prosperity across the North of England.

The Northern Ports Association aims to make importing and exporting easier. At present, 60% of freight destined for the North is delivered to southern ports, leading to unnecessary motorway traffic, delays, pollution and inefficiency.

Bringing the four ports, Liverpool (Peel Ports), Hull (ABP), Teesport (PD Ports) and Tyne (Port of Tyne), together will mean the North can act as a gateway to the world.

Gareth Godwin, manager at WRL Glass Media

Through the glass ceiling

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RL Glass Media Ltd, part of the Teesside-based Ward Recycling Group, is set to achieve exports of 40% this financial year.

The specialist manufacturer of recycled glass products, which last year exported 30% of its produce, has exported 4,000 tonnes in the financial year beginning February 1, 2016, an increase of 1,800 tonnes on the same period last year.

WRL’s European exports are principally in shot-blasting products as customers swap from grit or plastic products to environmentally friendly recycled glass; and more refined processed glass, which

is used as a cost-effective and cleaner replacement for silica sand in swimming pool filtration systems.

Ward Recycling was founded in 2002 as a small, kerbside recycling firm. Including WRL Glass Media, it now employs 146 people and turns over in excess of £8m.

WRL Glass Media manager Gareth Godwin says: “International demand for the recycled glass products we produce at South Bank continues to grow. Our customer-base across Europe is receptive to the quality and environmental benefits of using glass media in their operations, driving demand and investment in our plant.”

GOING GLOBAL The positive impact of Emirates Airline’s investment in the region was outlined at the Chamber Global lunch in Durham.

Newcastle International Airport business development director John Irving (pictured) told the meeting: “The freight market is becoming an increasingly important part of our business and Emirates has played a major part in this growth. In 2006, we were in the top 30 for freight traffic with business worth around £20m per year. This figure is now £310m and increasing.”

He also outlined the importance of the airport’s relationships with BA, KLM and Air

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France and their part in growing passenger numbers to just short of 5m a year. John Irving also stressed the importance of the airport’s close working relationship with the Chamber on key issues such as the Government’s lack of decision on whether Heathrow will get an additional runway.

BIG NINE Queen’s Award-winning manufacturer Advanced Industrial Solutions (AIS) is expanding its team as it continues to capitalise on world-leading product ranges and expansion overseas.

The manufacturer of products and services for the offshore, construction and heavy industry sectors has recruited nine new staff members. Technical division head Chris Evans says: “Our new 14,000sqft fabrication facility gives us space to develop world-class products. Our reach extends to Indo-China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Middle East and Europe.”

Exporters’ Awards 2016 winners

HOT DESCO Charlie Guthrie (Advanced Industrial Solutions)

Richard Swart with Dave Sidlow (Palintest) Pell Frischmann’s Tushar Prabu and Desco’s Paul Marshall with colleagues from both businesses

Martin Barber with Charlie Nettle (AV Dawson)

Simon Crosby with Hayley Smith (Craft Yourself Silly)

Congratulations

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he outstanding export tradition of the North East – one of the few regions in the country with a positive balance of trade – was on show at this year’s North East Export Awards organised by The Gazette and The Journal.

Overall Exporter of the Year was Palintest, which also won Export Team of the Year. The New Exporter Award was won by Craft Yourself Silly, while SME Exporter honours were won by Ward Brothers (Steel) Ltd. The Medium & Large Exporter of the year award went to Huntsman Pigments &

Additives, while the Support Export Award went to AV Dawson and the Conquering New Markets award was won by Videre Global.

Palintest, as the overall winner, will now have the honour of going to London to take part in the national British Chambers of Commerce awards in November.

Chamber chief exec James Ramsbotham told the audience at the event: “I congratulate all the exporters who put themselves in the spotlight and won these awards. You have showed us what you have achieved around the world and make us all in this region very proud.”

Sunderland-based MEP engineering firm Desco is joining a larger engineering group as it expands overseas.

Desco, the mechanical, electrical and plumbing design engineer behind Hebburn Central and major developments for Nissan, is joining forces with multidisciplinary engineering firm Pell Frischmann, which is owned by RAG Stiftung Investment Company, Germany.

Desco MD Paul Marshall says: “This marks a new phase for Desco as we accelerate our growth strategy with the backing of a major international investor and Pell Frischmann’s expertise in the transport, water and environment sectors.”

Desco has offices in Sunderland, London, Croydon, Leeds, Qatar, and Manila.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 31

Exchange Experience Exchange Ideas Exchange Contacts Exchange Success To find out more about the benefits of being a chamber member visit www.neechamber.co.uk

MANIFESTO

2016 REVIEW

The Tour de Yorkshire (see panel, right)

The race to have your say

The Chamber is seeking your views for its 2017 manifesto.

Here’s how to ensure your voice is heard

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hat’s most important to you in the coming year? Now is the time to have your say on the contents of North East England Chamber of Commerce’s manifesto 2017 – the issues upon which we will campaign to the very top of Government; the issues which matter most to our members.

Is transport infrastructure the most important issue for your business? Is it housing for your workforce? The Apprenticeship Levy? As a businessperson, the issues affecting you affect our regional economic, social, or political landscape, and our manifesto gives us all the opportunity to have our say.

The manifesto details the issues upon which we will campaign next year, and our members’ views contribute directly to deciding upon these issues.

Our priorities will inevitably include the main news of 2016 – Brexit and the devolution situation north and south of region - and we must continue our unique position as one of the few regions in the country to have a positive balance of trade.

What does your business need in this post-EU referendum world? What about employing

overseas workers or conditions for export and import outside the EU? We are also currently pulling together views on transport priorities for the region. What would make a difference to you? And what are your thoughts on business support systems; are they robust enough?

Do you have issues with housing for your workforce? We have undertaken a survey recently and we will be consulting with members about how we ensure we have a housing stock for the present and the future.

In 2017 the Apprenticeship Levy will have a major impact on how our members deliver training.

We are campaigning now to ensure the Government disseminates the details of this initiative effectively and next year we will be monitoring the effectiveness of the levy in practice.

Meanwhile, education and business can work together for mutual benefit and we will continue to foster these connections next year.

How much do the issues above exercise your mind, and what else affects you and your business? Tell us, and make your mark on our manifesto 2017.

Let us know what you think should be included in Chamber’s Manifesto 2017. Email jonathan.walker@neechamber.co.uk or Tweet us at @neechamberjw

We use our annual manifesto to divide up key areas of our operation and give ourselves targets to benchmark our work.

Firstly, we aim to contribute to the creation of a more Influential North East. Our recent achievements include an important role in helping to get the Tees Valley devolution deal agreed.

This is going to contribute to growth of the area and draw in substantial investment for major infrastructure.

In our bid to develop a Global North East we have backed major cultural events such as Sunderland City of Culture, Tall Ships, the Tour de Yorkshire and the Great Exhibition of the North.

Our manifesto continues on the theme of creating a Working North East, resulting in the Government department for Business Innovation and Skills producing a committee report citing our evidence.

Our campaigning has contributed to announcements for a better Connected North East including A66/A69 improvements announced in the Budget and the widening of the A1 Western Bypass. However, we still have work to do to increase our connectivity.

Meanwhile, in terms of a Competitive North East our campaigning has resulted in the retaining of the JEREMIE fund for the region.

You have the opportunity to contribute to our next phase of campaigning work. We look forward to hearing from you.

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POLICY

To devolve or not to devolve…

Jonathan Walker assesses the potential impact of the region’s split on the issue of devolution

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write this having just returned from the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, which was definitely an interesting experience.

Clearly the party is going through turbulent times and as a result, the main focus of the conference was the aftermath of the leadership battle. Given this, I wasn’t expecting to come away having heard a raft of fully formed economic policy proposals, but it was still

striking how much work is left to do before the party can articulate its position on issues including transport, trade and devolution.

The last of these has dominated the headlines in the North East in recent weeks. Good progress has been made in Tees Valley, with the business community generally supportive of the direction of travel. In the north of the region, however, the process has been anything but

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smooth. I’m not going to go into huge detail about the recent problems in the North East Combined Authority area, but the decision not to progress with a devolution deal has been met with dismay by the business community.

The Chamber has long been a champion of devolution as a principle. Our members consistently express a desire to see greater control over economic decision-making in the region, allowing us

to allocate resources to projects that enable business growth without the need to go cap in hand to central government.

We have also argued that meaningful devolution will help us to achieve our ambition of an influential North East on the national stage. Whether a mayor is the best means of achieving that has been subject to much debate, but we have been willing to accept it as part of a good deal.

Our commitment to devolution is not

unconditional. The deals on offer to the region need to be the right ones to allow us to achieve our ambitions. This is why the Chamber and other business groups in the region reacted so strongly to the recent breakdown in the NECA devolution process. Other parts of the country, most notably Greater Manchester and Liverpool, have accepted the deals and are now looking to the future. It is not clear why we are not doing the same.

I attended a number of meetings at the Labour conference on the issue of devolution and had the opportunity to hear the mayoral candidates for other regions present their plans. In contrast to the lack of direction on many national issues, there was a clear sense of Labour candidates wanting to grasp the initiative on local devolution.

It was striking that so much of the discussion at these events was forwardlooking and ambitious. Manchester has long been held up as the poster child for devolution and at the conference I heard ambition and a desire for the city region to assert itself on the national and international stage.

Perhaps because of the conference location, and probably spurred on by rivalry with Manchester, there was also a sense of excitement about Liverpool’s prospects should it exert greater control over its future and develop a stronger identity. Throughout these discussions, the North East was conspicuous by its absence. As the Tees Valley moves forward it will want a seat at those tables, but for the rest of the region a serious conversation is needed about how devolution can move forward as quickly as possible. This conversation must involve the business community, yet to date, efforts to engage the business community have been patchy at best.

We remain committed to devolution and want to see deals reached for the whole North East as soon as possible.

This will enable the region to move forward, compete with our northern neighbours, and be an integral part of a vibrant and refreshed northern economy.

It is in everybody’s interests for all parties to get back around the table and agree a deal. This includes local politicians, national government and the business community.

We’re aware of positive talks between some councils and Government recently.

It’s great that the channels are open and anything that secures more power for the North East is welcome. We must not lose sight of the bigger prize however, which is a meaningful devolution deal for the North East that allows us to build on our assets and become an even greater region in which to do business.

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SUCCESS

A cut above Kay Wilson meets a young entrepreneur making her mark in her family butchers business

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here can’t be many entrepreneurs whose careers have taken them from the fictional Peppa pig to awardwinning products from the

real thing.

Not only that, but 30-year old Anna Blackwell from Norton, Stockton-on-Tees has the honour of being one of only three women in the North East who are part of the renowned Q Guild of Elite Butchers.

Anna took over her family’s awardwinning butchers when she was 25, having worked in the shop in school holidays and at weekends since she was 14, but it was still a big decision.

Until then, she had planned a totally different career path. She had graduated from Leeds Met University with a degree in events management and worked at Manchester United during Alex Ferguson’s tenure as manager. From there she joined the events team at Harewood House in Leeds, arranging events such as a children’s festivals, which is where Peppa Pig came in.

Then her father became ill. The shop needed a manager and she began outlining what could be done to expand its

services, which is when her mother and sister suggested she have a go. “It was a totally life-changing moment,” she says.

There has been a butchers shop on this site for 100 years and her family have owned it and the bakery upstairs where the shop’s pastry products are made for half a century.

Two years ago, she bit the bullet and invested £250k in gutting and redeveloping the interior. She is particularly proud of the fact the business stayed open throughout the redevelopment by using an area at the back street barbeque van. The expansion of the premises and a van. continued with outside catering services, She also diversified and introduced pop up events in the shop, and a barbecue mobile deli-vans selling products in stall outside during the summer.

Stockton and Middlesbrough. She The family element of the credits the generosity of spirit business is an intrinsic part of within the Butchers Q Guild its success. “The business with this development. A THERE’S BEEN A was started by my dad’s dad fellow member, Wilsons of BUTCHERS SHOP Billy and his wife Catherine Crossgate, recommended ON THIS SITE FOR Blackwell in 1954,” says the idea to her and allowed 100 YEARS Blackwell. “They lived above her to go on a van round for the shop, just as I do now, which the day to see what it was like. is both a blessing and a curse. My The result, Blackwell’s Street father Martin then took it over and in turn Deli, was so successful she now has two handed the reins to me.” Today Blackwell’s branded deli vans and a third vintage

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xxxx

father mentors her. He calls in most days and she is able to pick his brains about a range of queries, from the best cuts of meat to the right price.

She says: “I’m also very proud of all our suppliers and the fact 99% of them are within a 50 mile radius of our shop. They can tell me every detail about our meat, from how old the animal was to which farm it was from.

“We only supply the absolutely best meat and to ensure that is the case I am very hands-on. I visit the abattoir where our meat comes from and know the animals are treated in as humanitarian a

way as possible.” The butchery trade has changed significantly since Anna’s grandparents opened the shop.

In their time the demand from customers was for traditional joints only, while now the business has responded to the need for quick and easy meal solutions.

Blackwell’s keen eye for new trends has included exploring smoking meat herself and she recently studied on a smoking course at the Wild Boar in Windermere.

A customer requested smoked duck and she was able to respond to this one-off request in-house.

She has 23 employees and her attitude to business success was shaped by advice at a Q Guild’s national conference where she was told only the most adaptable will flourish.

Blackwell’s maternal grandmother, Jean, now in her 70s, is a Saturday girl in the shop, making her the longest serving member of staff at 37 years, and for Blackwell, family heritage is all. “I love the fact that I have taken on this shop to help honour my granddad, who I never met,” she says. “He set up this fantastic business for me to build on and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

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PROFILE

Get with the programme As it continues to expand both at home and overseas, Kay Wilson discovers the thinking behind the success of Billingham-based AES Digital Systems

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he education sector in the 1980s may appear to be an unlikely starting point for a groundbreaking digital business with clients around the world, but AES Digital Systems has its roots firmly in North East classrooms.

Lesley Moody, who taught food technology in Northumberland high schools, and former maths teacher Joe Telford founded the company in 1992, initially to provide education resources for science and computing.

Today, AES is at the cutting edge of bespoke software solutions for clients in HR, food, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Telford says: “We worked together at Cleveland Council’s Higher Technology initiative, which aimed to ensure schools had access to leading-edge technologies. There were few materials to support the topic in schools, so we set about finding people to work with to provide engaging resources.

“We enlisted the help of educational suppliers to produce an IT magazine and a manufacturer who made a robotic arm. We used

expanded over the past 23 everything we could to bring years, and its services now the subject to life for pupils.” include a suite of online Moody developed software business tools, including a with practical applications, product library and formulation in particular in food nutrition, system database to allow allowing students to analyse companies to safeguard and food and investigate how control what they produce. products, for example pizza, AES has also devised a were made; ‘disassembly’ as vendor management support she refers to it. system which enables The success of the companies to closely monitor educational tools led to suppliers and audit orders, and interest from businesses and it retains Intellectual Property AES was established. Marlow (IP) for its software, enabling it Foods, now Quorn, was one to manage upgrades. young company keen to use The company went the expertise, with AES global when the MD helping it set up its “OUR VALUE IS of an existing UK first bio-fermenter.

IN PROVIDING client, Sensient This relationship Technologies, a led to AES using BESPOKE manufacturer of the raw ingredient SOLUTIONS IN A ingredients and in lessons before MODULAR colours for food it was available WAY” companies, was in shops. transferred to Singapore.

The young company Moody says: “We were also provided educational originally contracted to support for British Steel as it research competitors and celebrated 100 years of the car. make recommendations on Moody says: “Our value is gaps in the market. Websites in providing bespoke solutions weren’t commonplace, so we in a modular way. We have created a web presence for the created distinct packages, just business and a CRM system, as Microsoft Office has Word in effect a data warehouse and and Excel within it, we have its first online application. individual programmes used “This work snowballed and by our developers.” today we supply systems to AES has evolved and

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manage Sensient orders all over the world. It also led to us opening an office in Taiwan five years ago, where we have two members of staff.”

Export is now a major source of income for the company and, with support from UKTI, overseas markets continue to present opportunities for growth.

Telford says: “One of UKTI’s best pieces of advice was to attend a business school to learn how American business people think. They paid for a week-long course at the

Lesley Moody and Joe Telford

Kellogg Business School in Chicago. It was absolutely brilliant for us; we had sessions from some of the leading thinkers in the US, including an adviser to President Obama’s cabinet and the deputy director of LinkedIn. “I learned fascinating things, such as if you say to an American business they don’t need something, they assume it is because you can’t provide it. We also learnt about pitching a price, which was quite an eye-opener. In the States, they automatically

assume you will negotiate over price, so they believe your first fee will be around 50% higher than they will pay. That is one heck of an assumption for a UK company to get its head around.”

AES and UKTI continue to work together through North East adviser John HolmesCarrington, taking advantage of regional roadshows, and Moody has been on successful trade missions to Boston, China and Singapore. She has also been awarded an MBE for Services to Business

Education and International Trade, and has recently joined the Chamber’s Council.

The Billingham-headquartered business is now exploring opportunities in Taiwan, where the top 38 food manufacturers’ total turnover is around £5.6bn.

Meanwhile, the UK operation is growing, thanks in part to its talent management system for local authorities Match Jobs.

Moody says: “We have worked with Sunderland Council, where redundancy savings due to the system

are estimated to be around £150m, while Calderdale Council says it expects to save around £5.5m a year. Our system is scalable, so we can find the right person for a job out of 20,000 people, saving hours of HR time.”

AES experiences its own challenges in finding staff with the right skills for its operation, but the founders’ belief in what they do remains as strong as it was when they were teachers 25 years ago. Meanwhile, they maintain that in business, every day is a school day.

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PROFILE

Holding court Newcastle Eagles owner and MD Paul Blake talks business, sporting success, and the Fab effect with Dean Bailey

S

Agricultural Society in Malvern, which leaves uccess, in sporting terms at least, Blake very much in command at the Eagles. is measured in silverware. By that An imposing figure at 6ft 5ins, he is an measure, Paul Blake, majority instantly likeable character, at ease as he talks shareholder and MD of Newcastle through his days as a student in Newcastle, Eagles, is among the sporting where he met his wife Sam Foggo, a distance world’s best. swimmer, who competed in the 1992 Olympics In the last 12 seasons the Eagles have won in Barcelona.

23 titles across the British Basketball League’s A former basketball player, his journey (BBL) Championship, Play-Offs, Cup and with the Eagles began in 1997 when he was Trophy, and finished runners-up a dozen times appointed marketing manager at the – making them the most successful Sporting Club by the then-chief exec team in British basketball and, in a former player well known silverware terms, the North East’s IN THE LAST 12 Nottage, to Blake. They finalised an MBO on most successful professional SEASONS THE August 11, 1999. sports team.

EAGLES HAVE “I’d had a year working for Off the court things haven’t WON 23 TITLES Castle Sports doing video analysis been quite so easy. “I was chewing for teams like the Falcons and David the fat with another sports club Lloyd’s England cricket team, then two owner recently, from another, larger years in marketing with the Sporting Club. sport, and we agreed that our greatest Then I found myself owner of a franchise in achievement, though not so interesting, was need of a major restructuring,” says Blake of making the wage bill every month,” says Blake, those days. who, in partnership with Ken Nottage, bought “Deciding between taking redundancy the club for £1 from Sir John Hall’s Newcastle and an opportunity at Leeds United in a Sporting Club in 1999. commercial management role, and taking on Nottage, who remains a minority the club was a huge decision,” he says. shareholder in the club, went on to become “Those first two seasons were an enormous MD of Gloucester Rugby 1999-2012 and is learning curve. The support systems and now chief executive of the Three Counties

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“Those first two seasons were an enormous learning curve”

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 41

PROFILE

shared resource which Sir John had put in place for the football, rugby, basketball and ice hockey teams, which had made the smaller clubs viable, disappeared.

“We had to strip things back and very quickly set a road for long, slow growth against the tide of what the casual sports fan wanted. Reducing expenditure to a sustainable position was tough. It brought my lack of financial expertise into focus.”

The Eagles survived those first two seasons, during which Blake admits it would have been easy to fold as the club bore its own losses. “We had a lot of big decisions to make,” he says. “We maintained a very small staff, which even at that level was unaffordable, but those decision shaped what we have today.”

Blake is passionate about introducing newcomers to the sport, which he started at school in Bristol before playing in the National League for Gateshead and Sedgefield, and at Newcastle Poly where he studied Sport Studies

and a Masters in Marketing.

He went on to place the Newcastle Eagles Foundation at the core of the business.

The foundation aims to grow the sport in the North East. A charity, it runs 49 junior clubs, school programmes and junior leagues delivered through 12 full-time and 25 part-time community coaches.

“When I took on the club, it was clear we had to help grow the playing market,” says Blake, who has also served as chairman of the BBL and regularly meets with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the sport chaired by Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson.

“The foundation is responsible for a little more than half of our total turnover,” he says. “The 49 junior clubs are the mainstay of junior participation in the North East which can lead right through to playing in the BBL.” He is proud of the recognition the sport has achieved locally and believes that nationally it can emulate the huge growth of cycling.

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“On the national level, I believe we are the next team sport to take an upward curve.

That needs media and political support, and infrastructure,” he says.

With junior leagues, an academy coaching programme and links with colleges and Team Northumbria, the pathway for players is open.

“We’re seen as a case of good practice by the rest of the UK and as a sport, we need to roll out programmes like this to achieve our potential.”

With a break to take a phone call - “September is a tough month. Every year, getting to the first home game is the biggest hill to climb,” says Blake on his return – our attention turns to venues.

Having moved from Sunderland to Newcastle in 1996 to become a tenant at the Metro Radio Arena, the club moved to Northumbria University’s 3,000-seat Sport Central in 2010.

“It’s great on a match night here and it works for business on and off court, strengthening our tie with the university and carrying on the on-court success which began in 2004,” says Blake of the venue.

On-court success began in the 2004-05 season with victory in the BBL Play-Offs and the BBL Trophy – the club’s first silverware. The following year the Eagles won their first clean-sweep winning all four of British basketball’s major titles. Since then, whether at the Metro Radio Arena or Sport Central, success has been infectious.

The team has led the regular season seven times, won a total of six play-off titles, six BBL Trophies, and four BBL Cups, with 12 runnersup places, and it’s all centred around one man.

“Appointing Fabulous Flournoy as player/coach in 2002 was a big decision, but it was absolutely the right

one,” Blake says. “He has a passion for winning and has instilled that in the team.

With Fab we have maintained the core of the team, giving stability and an opportunity for sustained success.

“From a team in a difficult position, with no track record of success, it’s remarkable. I was young and naïve enough when this started to make the best of it, battle through, make loads of mistakes and have enough energy to keep fighting.

“Turning around a business which had struggled financially was tough. We failed terribly in that first season, but survived. We slashed spending to a third of what it was and have created a successful, sustainable club.

“A simple rule is not to

xxxx xxxx

“Turning around a business which had struggled financially was tough. We failed terribly in that first season, but survived” overspend. I’ve experienced it as a player and seen how quickly clubs can fold. It’s like playing Gran Tourismo – you start off with a bashed-up Mini with the dream of having a supercar. You win a race; you pile the money into the car and repeat. We’re in the same model – it’s competitive between the clubs and you have to keep up with the competition but you also have to run the business.”

With a sound footing achieved, the next step, and Blake’s final piece in the

jigsaw, is the Eagles’ planned move to their own arena in Elswick, Newcastle – opening up business and playing opportunities which are expected to double the club’s turnover when the Eagles move into the £6m, 3,000-seat arena in the 2017-18 season.

“This will be the single biggest change in the history of the club,” he says. “We have never had access to secondary income – from food and beverage to car parking and arena advertising. That revenue stream is potentially

huge. We also need a home for our foundation and its leagues, which have had to hire venues across the region.

“Add to that the opportunity to hire the space, the tie-ins with Newcastle College – our partner in the build alongside Newcastle City Council – and the opportunity to take the team into European competition and play midweek fixtures, it’s the biggest opportunity presented to me as owner of the team.

“We’ve built a solid and sustainable club. We’ve won trophies, we’ve built the audience base and we don’t lose money.

“We now need to grow. We want to compete in Europe and bring more success. To do that, we need to grow turnover and the new arena is the key.”

With another break for a phone call, Blake returns to reflect on his journey since 1997. “I’d always wanted to be involved in sport, I knew that would make me happy,” he says. “I’ve always loved seeing a big crowd at a sporting event – going back to watching Bristol Rovers as a kid. Although I suppose could have been a steward and done that with a little less risk!”

Looking at a photograph of the Eagles playing at the O2 in the BBL Play-Off final in front of 15,000 people, Blake adds: “If someone had told that kid in the stands at Bristol that he’d be part of that, that he would come through those days of struggling to make the salaries and to enjoy the success we have had, I wouldn’t have thought it possible.”

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PROFILE

Sweetness and might Fentimans owner Eldon Robson talks to Liz Hands about Brexit, botanical brewing and battling the sugar tax

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e interrupt Eldon Robson as he is penning a letter to Theresa May’s new Government, demanding a rethink on the sugar tax announced by the former Chancellor George Osborne, who decreed that manufacturers will be taxed according to the quantity of sugar-sweetened drinks they produce or import.

“It’s ridiculous that we could have to pay this and confectionary makers don’t,” says Robson. “It’s a strongly worded letter. I’m going to let them have it with both barrels because what have I got to lose? One minute we’ve got the likes of Jamie Oliver targeting soft drink companies and the next minute he’s on TV making a cake with ten barrels of sugar in it. It’s nonsensical.

“If it happens, it will have an impact on us at a time when there’s a great deal of competition out there. There are a lot of people trying to copy what we’re doing.

They invent a background like we have, but,” he says,

waving towards the sepia earning £3 and a bag of fish photograph of his grandfather and chips. He remembers and aunt in front of the old using his wages to put petrol Durham factory, “everything in his car so he could take his about Fentimans is original girlfriend out. and authentic.”

But Fentimans closed its Fentimans’ roots go back doors in 1970. “There were a to 1905 when the firm was few reasons,” he says. “There founded by iron puddler were too many people in Thomas Fentiman who was the company with fingers in handed a ginger beer recipe the pie, the old door-to-door from a fellow businessman in trade was dying, the plastic lieu of collateral for a loan. bottle came out, it was He began using the recipe competing with supermarkets, to make botanically the marketplace was brewed ginger changing quickly “THERE WILL beer and hop and there was no COME A TIME ale, which one to carry the he delivered ambition forward.”

WHEN 56% OF door-to-door A chance THE BUSINESS with a horse remark from a IS EXPORT” and cart. It was friend who asked stored in handmade Robson why he didn’t stone jars stamped make his grandfather’s with an image of Fentiman’s ginger beer stuck with him pet Alsatian dog Fearless, for years. a champion in the Crufts Now 100% owned by obedience class two Robson, Fentimans has a years running. At its most turnover of £21m with an successful, the family ambitious five-year plan, business operated from although not one Robson is factories in Leeds, Sheffield, quite ready to reveal. In his first Middlesbrough, Durham year, he turned over £120,000 and Gateshead. and sold 20,000 cases. This Robson delivered year it will be more than 3.5m Fentimans as a teenager, cases; 42m bottles.

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“We have three projects on the go and we’re on the brink of a launch early next year,” he says. “It’s all very exciting, we were looking at artwork yesterday. It’s something a little outside our usual feel.”

Exports will play a huge part of Fentimans growth in the next 5-10 years. At Fentimans’ Hexham headquarters, named Fearless House, there’s a map which wouldn’t look out of place in a military campaign room. Stuck

“Ideology pays for nothing; the economy pays for everything” with little flags, it shows the extent of Fentimans’ reach.

The latest territory is Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

There are 65 countries with a pin, with plans to grow that to more than 80.

Robson won’t be letting Brexit get in the way of global domination; in fact he thinks it will be good for Britain if we accept it and move forward with optimism. He is, however, prepared to move production to Europe if trade

tariffs are imposed. “People in business aren’t necessarily interested in politics, they’re interested in doing business in as straightforward and as simple a way as possible “Ideology pays for nothing; the economy pays for everything. I hope the politicians have enough sense to come to an arrangement but if there are tariffs to be paid, we may end up manufacturing in Europe.

“There will come a time,

in less than five years, when 56% of the business is export, so we may need to do that sooner rather than later if volumes are at such a level it would be beneficial for us to manufacture somewhere like Germany instead of shipping over the from UK. It’s common sense.

“Other opportunities will open up because we’re not tied into Europe. There might be a painful transition, but you have to think long-term.”

One of those opportunities could be India. Fentimans was approached to enter the Indian market but tariffs were 60% which was a no-no for the firm.

If that changes, India will be a prime target.

Fentimans’ range of mixers is also vital to its five-year plans. In the fridge behind the vast boardroom table sit seven different mixers, including the latest, a herbal tonic water with hyssop and myrtle.

Mixers tap into the

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PROFILE

current gin movement, with Fentimans tailoring its recipes to trends. Tonic waters are now more subtle so they do not overpower complex gins.

“A lot of people don’t realise we have a range of mixers because they’re in a green bottle whereas others are clear or flint. The neck label isn’t on there either. In the New Year, everything will be matched up.

We know branding is key to our future. “ While Robson has an

intuition for product, he admits he wasn’t up to speed with marketing when he first started out. Originally, he was selling in 40oz cider bottles. It was only when he made the switch to the embossed Fentimans bottles and he got the labelling right that business took off, as the quality of the packaging matched the drink inside.

The traditional Fentimans flavours of dandelion and burdock, ginger beer and lemonade are still there, while

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newer taste combinations have been introduced by Robson.

In the Fentimans lab, there are test tubes, jars of natural ingredients and oils. We dip testing sticks in natural rose, lemon and orange oils and the air fills with fragrance.

“Rose lemonade was an inspiration I had,” says Robson. “I was in an Indian restaurant and there was a little bowl of rose petals. You twist them in your fingers, the oil comes out and there’s

this wonderful smell of roses. Our elderflowers are harvested at the end of May in Herefordshire. Our sparkling lime and jasmine is an old recipe of mine. They’re winelike flavours which are very in vogue.”

From research and development in the lab, all the flavours are produced downstairs, in huge jars which must be kept at a premium temperature. Then it’s a question of sending the flavours out to brewers.

Fentimans has a production facility in Pennsylvania in the US along with two brewers in the North West of England.

It’s keeping such tight control of flavours and processes which gives Fentimans its USP. Robson now has a strong team behind him and splits his own time between his flat on the premises and a home in Marbella.

“It was difficult to begin with,” says Robson. “I’m not making a carbonated soft drink here. We’re brewing, fermenting and pasteurising a product. There were problems with HMRC to begin with getting a licence where we didn’t have to pay duty because we were breaking new ground.

“Now, we have all of the foundations to go forward to even bigger growth. We do get approached by finance houses because we’re regarded as a hot little number, but I have no intention of selling. If you think in several years’ time I could double the value of the business, what would be the point? I’d be kicking myself.

“As long as I enjoy it and we have a good team of people, we’ll continue. I just wish my mother had seen the revival of the company. My grandparents would have loved to see it resurrected, from selling doorto-door to selling in 65 world markets. There’s a big future for Fentimans and it will be going long after I’ve gone.”

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OUT TO LUNCH

Heirs and graces Liz Hands meets Fraser Kinnie, founder of HeirHunters UK, who explains why he owes his career to a television programme

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hen Fraser Kinnie happened upon Heir Hunters, the BBC TV programme which follows probate detectives looking for relatives of people who have died without making a will, he knew he had found his next career.

Originally from Essex, he was working in the satellite industry, contracted with Sky Digital in the North. Then, when he saw the on-screen work of probate researchers, he knew he had chanced upon his true calling.

Which brings us to his company HeirHunter UK, the biggest heir hunting firm in the North East. Based in Hartlepool, his team tracks down missing or unknown heirs to unclaimed estates before the Treasury steps in to collect the money in their place.

And there are lots of them out there. Of the 500,000 people who die in Britain every year, more than half do not have a will. If you die intestate, your estate passes on to your legal next of kin, but if there is no known family, it all goes to the state.

Hence, every year somewhere between £10m and £20m goes to the state because there is no one to claim it. Unless, that is, people like Kinnie track down the rightful recipients.

Essentially a genealogical detective, Kinnie pieces together family trees to unearth relatives.

Every day, an official online list of unclaimed estates is updated.

The records give the name of the deceased and other known details, such as date of death, date of birth, where they lived and whether they were married.

But what the list does not provide, to prevent fraud, is a value for the estate in question.

It’s up to heir hunters like Kinnie and his team to go through the list and use their intuition and expertise to find the estates worth enough to give them a decent finder’s fee.

“Anyone who is good at jigsaw puzzles could be a good heir hunter,” says Kinnie. “It’s like putting together a 100-piece jigsaw from the information you gather. You put pieces together until you can see the bigger picture.”

The team creates a family tree for the deceased, starting with

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information from basic sources like their birth, death and marriage certificates and then moving outwards to find a living heir. When Kinnie first started out, he stuck up rolls of plain wallpaper across his garage walls and drew sprawling family trees.

“We still draw trees, but what makes us successful in cases others can’t solve is our use of consented data,” says Kinnie.

“It’s amazing how much data people give away. Sometimes a search might only take a couple of minutes, but other times you get stuck. When that happens, I often find myself raising my eyes heavenwards and asking for help from the person whose estate it is. It seems to work!”

When its researchers find a rightful heir, HeirHunter UK charge a finder’s fee; a percentage of the estate.

We aren’t talking huge amounts here. The biggest estate Heir Hunter has dealt with was worth £58,000. But Kinnie has been able to invest in the business, taking on apprentices who have a clearly defined career path to becoming a probate researcher.

In the best traditions of entrepreneurship, Kinnie started the business from one end of his kitchen table. It took over the whole table when his wife Tracy came aboard, and from there to the garage and, finally, to the Innovation Centre on

TEA TIME

“We are rooted in the North East, and that is where we plan to stay” balcony, so we’re lucky to have Hartlepool’s Queen’s Meadow got him to take time out to meet Business Park, run by UK Steel us for lunch. We’re at Seaham Enterprise. This year, the firm Hall, which has its own will have dealt with £2m worth fascinating history as the place of claims. Currently HeirHunter the poet Lord Byron was has 16 members of staff, married, and it’s not including Kinnie, Tracy lunch, it’s afternoon and their daughter Sarah, and they aim “ANYONE GOOD tea. Kinnie likes to say HeirHunter is to more than AT JIGSAWS a “little firm with double that in the COULD BE A a big attitude”. As next 12 months.

GOOD HEIR it happens, it’s also The firm took on HUNTER” a company with a its first cohort of big heart. apprentices this year A member of the in a training partnership Middlesbrough and Teesside with Hartlepool College and Philanthropic Foundation, he expanding its office space by and his team will be taking part 230% to 2,100sqft.

Even on holiday, he’s carrying in the Big Sleep Out to fight poverty and homelessness. out searches from his hotel

While probate research is the core of the business, Kinnie also carries out pro bono work for people looking for long-lost relatives. In recent years, he’s tracked down the writer of a note pushed into a bottle and thrown into the North Sea, uniting him with its finder. He has also found birth parents for people adopted as children, and reunited long-lost families.

Kinnie says: “We get a lot of people who get a windfall from a relative they may not even have known existed. It may not be enough to buy them a house or a car, but it might give them a holiday. The only thing I ask is that they raise a glass to the departed.”

Whereas once Seaham Hall was a rather austere affair with an all-white décor, it’s undergone a revamp giving its lounges and restaurants a quirkier, less formal vibe, with stag skull wallpaper, rhino head lamps and velvet cushioned booths.

The afternoon tea is still served as you’d expect, from a stately home. Named after Anna Maria Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and the creator of the original afternoon tea, Seaham Hall’s version starts with finger sandwiches of egg mayonnaise with watercress and radish, smoked salmon with crème fraîche and cucumber, a cheese and mustard savoury with baby gem and pickled onion and a ham, lettuce and tomato with wild garlic.

Fruit and plain scones with strawberry jam and Devonshire clotted cream follow along with cakes in a glass-topped stand. There are hazelnut and pear slices, bright damson and mascarpone macarons and our favourite, little autumnal pots of pumpkin mousse with a cider jelly.

There are too many cakes for two of us to eat and they’re boxed up to take away. I have genuine intentions to share in the office, but they prove too tempting...

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 49

Together We Grow Stronger Chamber Manifesto 2017 What North East business issues are important to you in the coming year?

The chamber is seeking your views. Let us know what you think should be included in the Manifesto 2017 email jonathan.walker@neechamber.co.uk

Influential. Global. Connected. Competitive. Working.

A business manifesto for North East England in 2017

50 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

FAB 5

Fab 5

This month our Fab 5 tell us about what they spend their hard-earned on...

2

1 Mat Tye

Kari Owers

As a committed, some may say obsessed, cyclist, there’s no doubt where my spare cash is spent. Aside from keeping moving, there’s clothing, parts and accessories to covet each lunch break spent poring over blogs, retailers and review sites. That’s before the bikes themselves building bikes up into something unique. It’s usually more expensive though - so there’s a bit of financial planning involved in each new build.

I spend too much money on...the internet!

I’m a total impulse shopper. I browse blogs, Pinterest and Instagram in the evenings for ideas and end up clicking through to buy the ‘latest thing’ – whether that’s a handbag, pair of shoes, fitness class or new foodie product. I’ve even booked a holiday after seeing a beautiful hotel on Instagram!

When you spend so much time researching what’s hot it can lead to some serious retail temptation!

Director Bureau Design

Managing director O PR

3 Joanne Fryett

Business relations Stockton Council Holidays, cars, handbags, cake - and my faithful canine companion Franck. My largest outlay is undoubtedly on cars – I never plan to keep one very long. I get bored easily. I’ve gone from a BMW One Series in black to one in white, to a BMW Z4 in white and then another Z4…also in white. Maybe I’m addicted to the smell of a new car? I recently invested in a still-beingbuilt black 718 Cayman Coupe with all the trimmings.

4

5

Deborah Percy

Louise Robinson

I am guilty of spending too much money on eating out. My favourite foodie spots at the moment are dogfriendly ones in Tynemouth - it’s not too far from home and I love taking my border terrier puppy Winston along with me and my partner Matt. Allards Lounge and Dil and the Bear have such relaxed atmospheres and great food – Winston even gets his own bowl of water. It’s a nice way to catch up after a busy week.

I spend too much money on handbags.

Each of the more luxurious bags I own charts a significant step in my career, and it’s important they can handle all the (literal) baggage I come with!

My Mulberry Roxanne, made from a beautiful patchwork of different shades of leather, is still a favourite a decade on.

I haven’t changed roles for three years, so it’s been a while since I invested, but I have my eye on two or three to make up for it!

Family law solicitor Gordon Brown LLP

Director Creo Communications

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 51

APPOINTMENTS

TO THE FORE

Magazine publisher and marketing/PR company Offstone has taken on two new sales executives to drive its growing Northern Golfer title.

Graeme Heads (right) and former golf pro Doug Brolls will work closely on the development of the title, which is distributed monthly via golf clubs in the North East and North Yorkshire. Offstone, which is based in Stocksfield, Northumberland, publishes a range of titles including Contact on behalf of North East England Chamber of Commerce and publications on behalf of major clients including NE1 Ltd, Close House and Lloyd Motor Group.

ON BOARD

Newcastle Building Society has recruited Damian Thompson to the role of customer director.

Thompson joins from Principality Building Society, where he held senior customer-related roles including head of retail and head of distribution. Newcastle Building Society is currently investing more than £10m in initiatives to improve customer service.

l-r Victoria Courtier, Danielle Cummings, Luke Cuthbertson, sales and marketing manager Samantha Doyle, and Rachael Carmichael

l-r Amie Kavanagh, Laura Kirkpatrick, John Scullion and Louise Gilbey

l-r Stephen Bennett with Tim Berg, partner at Short Richardson & Forth LLP

LAW FIRM GOES FOR GROWTH

AWARD WINNING

Endeavour Partnership has appointed Louise Gilbey as business development manager responsible for introducing the firm to new market opportunities.

Amie Kavanagh joins Endeavour’s commercial property department, Laura Kirkpatrick joins the employment team, and John Scullion has been recruited to the new role of office manager.

In the last 12 months, Endeavour Partnership has created 10 new roles taking staff numbers to 50.

Short Richardson & Forth LLP (SRF) has awarded 28-yearold Northumbria University Law School student Stephen Bennett with an internship for the best performing student in employment law. The award was for his dissertation on how far English law provides protection to people undertaking work through employment agencies.

The award for the highest marks in a final year dissertation on an employment law-related subject has been run in conjunction with Northumbria University Legal Faculty for seven years.

NEW SIGNINGS

NEW DIRECTION

A strong year of sales and profit increases at Metnor Construction has led to the appointment of Jim Baldwin to operations director.

The construction arm of the Metnor Group employs more than 40 in Newcastle. The company posted profit for 2015 of £1.8m against a turnover of £34m and 2016 forecasts turnover of £63m.

Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events, which manages catering and events at Newcastle’s St James’ Park, has four new recruits.

Danielle Cummings will be driving new business to the stadium, assisted part-time by student Victoria Courtier, who will combine her job with her studies for a travel tourism and event degree at Newcastle University.

Luke Cuthbertson is the new sales coordinator and Rachael Carmichael is a wedding planner.

Heather Potts

NEW FACES l-r Stuart Singleton, Katie Harding and Ross Palmer

THREE CHEERS

Sunderland-based Narrative Integrated Communications has welcomed Stuart Singleton as financial director, Ross Palmer as creative director and Katie Harding as PR digital account executive. The growing company has seen its team grow from 13 to 18 in under a year.

Newcastle-headquartered law firm Watson Burton has appointed Heather Potts and Vinaya Jigajinni to its team.

Heather’s key responsibilities will include providing legal support on projects in the renewable energy, leisure and food and beverage industries. Vinaya will specialise in real estate and commercial property and she will work with clients on leases, lending and contract negotiations.

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l-r Paul Hughes and Chris Smith

INJURY DUO

An experienced duo of insurance specialists has joined law firm Ward Hadaway.

Paul Hughes and Chris Smith have joined the UK Top 100 law firm as consultants in the Personal Injury team. Hughes handles complex and high value claims, including catastrophic injuries, fatalities, stress at work claims and other psychiatric injuries. Smith has a particular specialism in investigating and defending fraudulent claims, including leading an investigation into 180 fraudulent injury claims against a local authority.

LOTTA BOTTLE

Lanchester Wines has appointed Barney Davis to the new role of head of commercial operations with a remit to lead the company’s global wine-buying strategy, ensuring continued relevancy within the UK and Europe.

He will be primarily responsible for the buying of all bulk wine for the Co Durham-based Lanchester Group which includes Europe’s most modern bottling facility, Greencroft Bottling.

INSOLVENCY EXPERT BREAKING NEWS

Former journalist Philippa Roberts has joined the growing employment law team at BHP Law. Philippa, a former reporter with The Northern Echo, has now joined BHP Law in Darlington.

Insolvency lawyer Aman Sehgal has joined the region’s largest banking and restructuring team at law firm Muckle LLP. He will further strengthen Muckle LLP’s restructuring capability and his focus is to build up the contentious work of the insolvency practice.

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Whether it’s business meetings, conferences, dinners, exhibitions, social gatherings, weddings, party nights or other celebrations, our versatility allows us to provide the perfect solution for any event.

BUSINESS

CONFERENCE MEETINGS DINNERS EXHIBITIONS

EVENTS

CELEBRATIONS CONCERTS WEDDINGS PARTIES OUTDOOR

Add to this the exciting addition of the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and you have the ideal location for your business and event needs, with 141 bedrooms, a destination grill restaurant, private dining areas, meeting rooms and a 24-hour business centre.

SOL packages can be tailored to your specific needs and with spaces that can cater for up to 1,000 guests, excellent transport links, 1,100 free car park spaces, superb food and beverage options together with a quality accommodation offer onsite and our off-site event management service, we have the solution for all occasions.

HOTEL

• Cater for up to 1000 guests • Any type of event • Multiple venues • Hilton Garden Inn on-site accommodation • Off-site event management and catering services • Tailored packages • A dedicated account manager to coordinate all of your requirements • Whole package on one invoice if required For more information call 0871 911 1555 or email conf&banq@safc.com

ACCOMMODATION RESTAURANT MEETING ROOMS PACKAGES 5601

Join us for the North East’s most prestigious business dinners in 2016 LAST FEW TICKETS REMAINING

NORTHUMBRIA & DURHAM ANNUAL DINNER 2016 Thursday 3 November 2016; 18:00-00:00 Civic Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Headline sponsors:

£1000.00 per table of ten or £100.00 per ticket (plus VAT).

To book to your place please email events@neechamber.co.uk or visit www.neechamber.co.uk/events

SPECIAL FOCUS

v

All the world’s a stage We explore the North East’s vibrant events and conferencing sector

T

he North East’s reputation as a venue for the biggest events is enviable. Host of Olympic football, the Rugby World Cup 2015, international pop stars, world-leading conferences on everything to education to science, test match cricket and the North’s biggest gala dinner – all within the last five years – it’s no wonder the region’s conferences and events sector continues to compete on the national stage.

With stunning venues, the range of events spaces makes the region perfect

for everything from business lunches to week-long international conferences.

Paul Szomoru, head of business tourism at NewcastleGateshead Initiative, says: “We’ve had a great year for meetings and events in NewcastleGateshead, with conferences won directly through the Convention Bureau in 2016 worth an estimated £23m to the local economy.

This year we hosted the British Academy of Management, which saw 900 delegates from around the world attend, and we’re excited to welcome the European Thyroid Association in 2018.

“We continue to work proactively with our partners to maintain our position as a leading conference destination and develop our pipeline of more than 100 conferences and events, which stretches until 2024.

“In addition, with support from partner organisations across the region, we have won the bid to host the World Transplant Games and submitted a strong bid for the Great Exhibition of the North 2018. We are delighted to have been shortlisted and wait expectantly for the host city to be announced.”

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 55

Anytishing possible

From event management and entertainment, through to dressing and production.

We’ve Gott it all in one place.

Call us today: t: 0191 385 6619 w: shesgottit.com

SPECIAL FOCUS

INDEPENDENTS DAY

Matfen Hall

H

otel industry experts from across the UK gathered at Matfen Hall for a special ‘Independents’ Day event.

This is the first time The Independent Venue

Roadshow, designed to forge valuable and lasting links between venues and those looking to hold corporate events such as meetings and conferences, has been held in Northumberland.

It was attended by staff from 15 independent hotels

and venues and some of the country’s leading conference and events bookers.

Among the hotels represented were Rudding Park and The Feversham Arms in North Yorkshire, The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, and Solent Forts - a fort turned hotel in the middle of The Solent.

The roadshow is organised by the CHS Group, which works with the hospitality and events industry to boost sales and strengthen relationships.

Its venue relationship manager, Lynda Clayton-Hill, said: “The aim was to introduce event bookers to hotels which, because they are not part of large multinational chains, may not have previously been on their radars.

“Event bookers are always looking for unusual venues

and event spaces and this is a great way of revealing venues that they can add to their little black books and recommend to their clients with confidence.

“I have been to Matfen Hall before and like it enormously, so when we were planning this event, it was the obvious choice.”

Matfen Hall Hotel, which is owned by Sir Hugh and Lady Anna Blackett, offers a range of corporate facilities from private dining and meeting space to its Aqua Vitae Spa and golf club.

Sales and marketing manager Sarah Barber said: “Hosting the roadshow gave us the chance to showcase our facilities, bedrooms and catering and meet people with whom we would certainly love to do business in the future.”

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 57

SPECIAL FOCUS

FESTIVAL SUCCESS

P

resented by Offstone Publishing, publisher of appetite, Cheers and The Northumbrian magazines, the first Northumbria Food & Drink Festival, which celebrated the very best of local food, drink and music took over Vallum Farm, Northumberland.

Serving up fantastic food, local ales and spirits, live music and demonstrations from some of the region’s leading chefs and producers, the event was held in aid of Newcastle-based international aid organisation No Strings.

Offstone partner Jane Pikett said: “We have such incredible producers, brewers and chefs on our doorstep and we

thought it was time we celebrated them with an event especially dedicated to the region’s produce.

“It was fantastic to see so many fellow food and drink lovers enjoying a packed programme of tastings, demos, music and family entertainment. We can’t wait to start planning the next one.

“This is the first food & drink event under the appetite, Cheers and The Northumbrian banners and comes at an exiting time of investment and expansion at Offstone.”

Offstone Publishing was

launched in 2010 by business partners Jane Pikett and Gary Ramsay, who have five decades of publishing experience between them. The company offers publishing, public relations, creative design and marketing services.

Its first food festival featured tastings and demos including gin and beer with Cheers editor Alastair Gilmour while top chefs Peace & Loaf’s Dave Coulson, Rhian Craddock from The Feathers Inn at Hedley on the Hill and Martin Charlton of The Old Boathouse and Fish Shack in Amble were

also on hand. Music was curated by the team at NARC. magazine and there was family entertainment including bouncy castles, pony and tractor rides, kick golf and gun dog demonstrations, along with puppet workshops with No Strings’ puppeteers.

No Strings founder Johnie McGlade said: “We’re hugely grateful to Offstone Publishing and to Vallum Farm for giving us the opportunity to showcase the work we do in the developing world to an appreciative audience here in the North East.”

MOVING IN

O

ne of the largest networking organisations in the North East has chosen a permanent location for businesses to network in Sunderland.

The Mussel Club, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday, has chosen the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) as its preferred location for breakfast networking events on Wearside.

Jeni Smith, managing director of the club, said: “We’ve always had a fantastic working relationship with the BIC and following the success of our first event I am excited to confirm the BIC is now our permanent location for our breakfast events in this area.

“We are dedicated to helping our members build

their network of contacts and getting advice from some of the top professionals in the North East, and that includes the BIC. With over 20 years of experience in supporting businesses it makes perfect sense that we invite our members to this location.”

The events are relaxed and director of operations, David Howell added: “Many of us can find networking a little intimidating but Jeni has created relaxed and informal sessions which allow people to network easily.”

Jeni Smith, managing director of the Mussel Club and director of operations at the BIC, David Howell

58 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

HAPPY BIRTHDAY l-r Daniel Roe of Concision, Simon Goon of Business Durham, Terry Collins of Durham County Council, and Coun Neil Foster, cabinet member for regeneration and economic development

B

usiness Durham, the economic development company for Co Durham, has celebrated the first birthday of its popular networking event, Durham 2sday.

The event, which takes place on the second Tuesday of each month, has engaged with more than 178 businesses over the past year.

Daniel Roe, chief executive of business writing company

Concision, said: “For startups like us, connecting with local businesses is essential.

Durham 2sday is a great opportunity to get to know other business leaders.”

Sarah Slaven, business development director for Business Durham, added: “We’re delighted with the success of Durham 2sday in its first year. We have received excellent feedback from businesses across County Durham and the North East.”

FO BIR EA R D RLY GOCO OF LF RPO FER DA RA Y TE

Meet off Peak at Slaley Hall From £139 24HR delegate rate Q Hotels have made a significant investment of £1m into the Resort during 2016; Including a Wi-Fi Upgrade and a complete bedroom and conference room re-furbishment. We have 12 purpose-built Meeting and Conference Rooms-Perfect for your Meetings and Seminars.

At Slaley Hall you can benefi t from a fantastic 24 hour delegate rate, a choice of complimentary value-added extras** to enhance your event, and of course the same intuitive service and four star venue you’d get on our peak days with our established and popular Total Meetings Package.

24hr meetings, conferences and events on Mondays or Fridays, with an overnight stay before or after, are from just £139 per delegate.

Call 01434 673 350 or email us today at slaleyevents@QHotels.co.uk to secure your ‘Meet Off Peak’ rates

SPECIAL FOCUS

SIMPLY THE BEST

W

ylam Brewery, which moved into the Palace of Arts in Newcastle’s Exhibtion Park earlier this year, welcomed the region’s best retailers, leisure operators and restaurants to the intu Metrocentre Retailer Awards, continuing a year of events at the venue.

The annual intu Metrocentre Retailer Awards recognise the achievements of its stores and staff members, and the winners in 11 categories voted for by the public, along with three special awards voted for by a judging panel, picked up prizes on the night.

The winners of the public vote were: Menswear Store, Next; Womenswear Store, New Look; Footwear and

Accessories Store, Schuh; Small Store, Disney; Large Store, Debenhams; Jewellery Store, David Summerfield; Health and Beauty Store, Boots; Leisure / Catering Operator, Chiquito; Newcomer of the Year, Five Guys; Specialist Store, Apple and World Class Service went to Primark.

The judges voted Nikki Nichol, of Namco Funscape, Manager of the Year and gave Namco the CR Community Award, with Glen Aiken, of Goldsmiths, winning the intu Metrocentre Shooting Star Award.

In an addition to the programme, judges presented a special recognition award to Judith Brooks, manager of BHS, which closed in August after 30 years of trading at intu Metrocentre.

“Our annual awards, which this year were sponsored by O’Brien, are always competitive and very well supported by the thousands of people who shop, dine at and visit intu Metrocentre throughout the year,” said general manager Gavin Prior.

“I’d like to congratulate all our winners and thank them for making our anniversary

Gavin Prior, general manager at intu Metrocentre, and Bodg from Capital Radio Breakfast Show, presenting Judith Brooks manager of BHS with a special recognition award

year so memorable and special – here’s to the next 30 years.”

Wylam Brewery has become one of the city’s most popular venues with events ranging from gigs to the popular Battle of the Burger taking place in the brewery’s events space.

Big Purple Productions are a professional event production company. Working with the latest technology we are able to produce outstanding and creative events.

As one of the leading North East event companies we have expanded our offering with the deign and development of the Big Mic Ball.

A throwable soft microphone ball to make your question and answer sessions fun and interactive. The Big Mic Ball is made in the UK and used globally.

AN EVENTS PRODUCTION COMPANY | WWW.BIGPURPLE-PRODUCTIONS.COM | WWW.BIGMICBALL.COM | @bigpurplepro @bigmicball OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 61

EVENTS

Presidents Club Lunch Auckland Castle, July 22, sponsored by Department of International Trade

 David Coppock (Department of International Trade)

 Eamonn Leavey (NEEChamber), David Coppock (Department of International Trade), Mike Matthews (NEEChamber), Jonathan Ruffer (Auckland Castle) and James Ramsbotham (NEEChamber)

 Presidents Club members networking

 Mike Matthews (NEEChamber)

 Stephen Carmichael and Maureen Armstrong (Santander)

 Kelsey Summerfield (Slaley Hall)

Global Lunch Durham Marriott Royal County, Sept 7, sponsored by Emirates

 John Irving (Newcastle International Airport), Tracy Chandler (Emirates) and Brian Dakers (NEEChamber)

 Nynzi Maung (Maung Consultancy), Martin Rogers (HSBC) and Les Dixon (NEEChamber)

 David Tait (Athena Risk) and Stuart Carter (Eclipse Translation)

 Tracy Chandler (Emirates) and Piero Alberici (Fentimans)

62 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

 John Irving (Newcastle International Airport)

Chamber Exchange with Cumbria Chamber of Commerce

Chamber Exchange Crowne Plaza Newcastle, July 14, sponsored by Crowne Plaza

Slaley Hall, October 13 11am-2pm, FREE

This is the Chamber's flagship networking event encouraging an exchange of experiences, ideas and offers between members through roundtable discussion. Chamber staff, including senior management and partners, will lead each table.

Sponsored by

 Andrew Fox (Crowne Plaza)

 Chris Tait (Thrive) and Graham Robson (Business Doctors)

Chamber Exchange

Sunderland Marriott, November 10, 11am-2pm FREE Sponsored by

 James Ealey (NGI Solutions) and Nola Collinson (Crowne Plaza)

 Members network

Behind the Scenes

Newcastle Falcons, Kingston Park, November 16, 9am-4pm, FREE TO ATTEND

Newcastle International Airport, Sept 15

 Students from Northumberland Church of England Academy

 Chamber members behind the scenes at Newcastle International Airport

The Chamber has teamed up with Fresh Start Events to help host the region’s largest B2B event with more than 1,500 businesspeople attending and 200 companies exhibiting at the business connections-themed day.

The second floor of the main grandstand will be the NEE Chamber Showcase area where members including Owen Pugh Group, Gospelware, Impack Personalised Apparel, Naylors Chartered Surveyors and Peter Millican Law will be exhibiting.

There will be a range of guest speakers and seminars during the day including James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the Chamber, who will talk about Great Reasons to do Business in North East England.

To book your ticket to attend visit northeastexpo.co.uk/chamber-showcase

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 63

EVENTS

Featured events OCT

NOV

FREE

£100+VAT

13

3

Chamber Exchange in association with Cumbria Chamber

Chamber Northumbria & Durham Annual Dinner

To book 0300 303 6322

DEC 06 CHAMBER LOCAL (TEAM VALLEY MONTHLY)

Slaley Hall

events@neechamber.co.uk www.neechamber.co.uk/events FLAGSHIP NOV 3 CHAMBER NORTHUMBRIA & DURHAM ANNUAL DINNER

08:30-10:30, Area North, Team Valley

FREE

DEC 08 CHAMBER CHRISTMAS EXCHANGE 11:00-14:00, Copthorne, Newcastle

FREE

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION NETWORK

£100*

NOV 11 NORTH EAST WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARDS

FREE

08:00-10:00, Centre for Life, Newcastle

18:30-late, The Boiler Shop, Newcastle

£85*

OCT 07 CHAMBER CAMPAIGNS CONFERENCE

* Member price +VAT

10:00-12:30, Centre for Life, Newcastle

NETWORKING OCT 4 CHAMBER LOCAL (TEAM VALLEY MONTHLY) 08:30-10:30, Area North, Team Valley

FREE

OCT 4 CHAMBER LOCAL 10:00-12:00, AV Dawson, Middlesbrough

FREE

OCT 13 CHAMBER EXCHANGE IN ASSOCIATION WITH CUMBRIA CHAMBER 11:00-14:00, Slaley Hall, Northumberland

FREE

NOV 01 CHAMBER LOCAL (TEAM VALLEY MONTHLY) 08:30-10:30, Area North, Team Valley

FREE

NOV 10 CHAMBER EXCHANGE 11:00-14:00, Sunderland Marriott, Seaburn

FREE

NOV 16 CHAMBER SHOWCASE @ NORTH EAST EXPO (INC MANUFEX) 09:00-16:00, Newcastle Falcons Kingston Park

FREE

NOV 29 CHAMBER LOCAL 10:00-12:00, Biochemica UK Ltd, Billingham

FREE

NOV 30 CHAMBER LOCAL 10:00-12:00, The Hastings, Seaton Delaval

FREE

10

FREE

Chamber Exchange Marriott Sunderland

Civic Centre Newcastle

OCT 07 QUARTERLY ECONOMIC SURVEY BREAKFAST BRIEFING & EGM

18:00-23:00, Civic Centre, Newcastle

NOV

FREE

OCT 10 APPRENTICESHIP REFORM: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU? 09:00-11.15, Gateshead College Skills Academy, Team Valley

FREE

OCT 20 INSPIRING FEMALES SEMINAR INNOVATION 13:30-16:00, NETPark, Sedgefield

FREE

OCT 20 HR KNOWLEDGE – LEGISLATION UPDATE 09:15-11:30, Durham County Cricket Club

FREE

OCT 21 LINKING BUSINESS AND EDUCATION 08:00-12:00, King Edward VI School, Morpeth

FREE

NOV 09 BEHIND THE SCENES** 15:00-17:30, Durham Cathedral

FREE

NOV 16 GREAT REASONS TO DO BUSINESS IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND 12:30-13:00, Newcastle Falcons Kingston Park

FREE

NOV 30 INSPIRING FEMALES SEMINAR TBC

FREE

** Behind the Scenes Event: Open to Medium, President’s Club and Partner Members only.

64 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

AREA MEETINGS/ COMMITTEES OCT 12 REDCAR & CLEVELAND AREA MEETING 08:15-10:30, Coast & Country Housing, Redcar

FREE

OCT 20 SOUTH TYNESIDE AREA MEETING 08.00- 09.30, South Shields Marine School

FREE

NOV 01 SUNDERLAND AREA MEETING 16:00-17:30, Stadium of Light, Sunderland

FREE

NOV 11 NORTH TYNESIDE AREA MEETING 08:00-09:45, Tyne Metropolitan College

FREE

NOV 23 NORTHUMBERLAND AREA MEETING 16.00-18.00, TBC

FREE

NOV 28 NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD AREA MEETING 16.00-18.00, TBC

FREE

NOV 29 MIDDLESBROUGH AREA MEETING 08:15-10:00, Boho 5, Middlesbrough

FREE

NOV 30 HARTLEPOOL AREA MEETING 16:00-17:30, The Old Brewery, Castle Eden

FREE

INTERNATIONAL OCT 06 INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT METHODS & LETTERS OF CREDIT 09:00-16:00, Durham County Cricket Club

£300**

OCT 20 EXPORT PROCESSES, COMPLIANCE AND DOCUMENTS 09:00-16:00, Durham County Cricket Club

£300**

NOV 03 IMPORT PROCESSES, COMPLIANCE AND DOCUMENTS 09:00-16:00, Durham County Cricket Club

£300**

NOV 22 CUSTOMS COMPLIANCE, PROCESSES AND DOCUMENTS 09:00-16:00, Durham County Cricket Club

£300**

** Global member price £240+VAT Foundation Award in International Trade – North East England Chamber of Commerce member price £800 (Global member price £640+VAT) - contact us for information

MEMBER 2 MEMBER

MEMBER TO MEMBER OFFERS ED AT UR FE

FE

FE

AT UR

AT UR

ED

ED

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

LUNCH AND EARLY EVENING AT CAFÉ 21 AT FENWICK

15% OFF SAFETY TRAINING COURSES

MARY POPPINS THEATRE BREAK

21 Hospitality Group Ltd

Newcastle International Airport

Vermont Hotel & Apartments

One of Newcastle’s best foodie destinations, Terry Laybourne’s Café 21 at Fenwick, is offering Chamber members two great offers this month – a two course lunch menu for £18 or three courses for £21.50. Alternatively, the early evening menu is £19 for two courses or £22.50 for three courses. Offer available Sept 12-Oct 31 2016.

Newcastle International Airport is offering Chamber members 15% off IOSH, Fire Warden/Marshal and AoFA-accredited First Aid training at the Newcastle International Airport Training Academy.

Offer available Aug 26-Dec 31 2016.

The Vermont Hotel & Apartments’ supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus package includes pre-theatre dinner, front grand circle tickets, an overnight stay in a family room and a full English breakfast the following morning. Offer available Sept 8-Oct 29 2016.

www.cafe21fenwick.co.uk

www.newcastleairport.com

www.vermont-hotel.com

10% OFF FLAGS AND BANNERS

FREE DEMO MOBILE APP

25% OFF MEETING AND CONFERENCE BOOKINGS

The Flagman Offer available Sept 20 2016-Jan 1 2017

Eazi-Apps Offer available Sept 1-Dec 21 2016

Montagu Hotels Ltd Offer available Aug 23-Dec 31 2016

10% OFF WORDPRESS WEBSITE OR BLOG TRAINING

CHRISTMAS 2016 PARTY OFFERS AT THE RIVERSIDE

Arttia Creative Limited Offer available Sept 5-Oct 31 2016

Middlesbrough Football Club Offer available Aug 22-Dec 31 2016

FRENCH, ITALIAN, SPANISH AND MANDARIN LANGUAGE COURSES

Bridge Interpreting Translating and Training Service Offer available Aug 1 2016-Jul 31 2017

For many more exclusive Chamber member offers visit www.neechamber.co.uk/offers OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016 / CONTACT / www.neechamber.co.uk / 65

GUEST COLUMNIST

Last Word Dawn Creighton, director of customer care at Carillion, on why doing good is good for business

T

here’s nothing in UK legislation which says companies must, by law, give something back, but there is increasing recognition that a firm’s duties extend beyond its shareholders, and the Companies Act does ask directors to have regard to both community and environmental issues when pushing their business to success.

It’s good guidance, but should we not go further? It could only help if legislation was tightened up to make giving back not just the right thing to do, but the must-do.

Customers and clients aren’t gullible.

They know when a firm is only doing something because it has to or because it is looking for good publicity. Companies and their people should be fulfilling and exceeding their corporate social responsibilities (CSR) because they want to. If you’re passionate about that agenda, it shines through.

Increasingly, CSR is seen as part of best practice by both the City and the Government, and rightly so. We do all sorts of work with charity and in the communities where we work; everything from making Hospice UK our national charity to making blood donations, running the Great North Run, walking Hadrian’s Wall, mentoring in schools, carrying out transformational projects and being part of the Ready for Work programme.

Carillion gives employees six days off work a year if they want to volunteer.

There’s no greater feeling personally and as a business than knowing you’re making a difference. But giving back is not just good for the community in which your

company operates; it’s also great for business. It should never be the only reason you do it, but philanthropy helps to build your brand and boost its reputation.

At Carillion, we’re well known for our construction work but we’re not so well known for our service work. Engaging with our communities is helping to change that.

It also helps build relationships with customers and potential clients. People want to do business with those who share their own goals and values.

Not only that, it’s a fantastic tool for staff development. It can enthuse employees, improve morale and boost their skillset. Our project with education providers is a key example. Providing mentoring to students, many from schools in deprived areas, and helping them to realise what their priorities are, their innate talents, and their skills, gives our own staff confidence and it develops them as leaders.

While at first it may seem that it would be difficult to persuade shareholders that it isn’t all about the bottom line, they can see the benefits for confidence, communication and enrichment in our teams. If you engage your employees, they will look after your customers. Doing the right thing as a company isn’t only about charity work. It’s about how you give the employees of the future hope and skills so

66 / www.neechamber.co.uk / CONTACT / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2016

they know that even if they are growing up in a household where no one in living memory has had a job, that the pattern does not have to continue for them.

Linking business with education does not have to be complicated. The key is open communication.

It’s also about making sure that what someone has done in the past does not determine their future. We signed up to Ban the Box because we firmly believe that everyone deserves a second chance. It’s as simple as that. We don’t do tick boxes and we only ask about criminal convictions for roles where it is necessary to undertake safeguarding checks. We’ve had some fantastic success stories.

In the North East, we have graduates on a fast track to leadership. We also have a large cohort of apprentices. We want to keep them. And why wouldn’t we if we prove ourselves to be the sort of business they believe in.

It’s about being more connected to education, to the community and to your employees; paying it forward and not having a silo mentality. We want to push that agenda and shape it across Carillion.

We want to be the ones leading the way.

We help our supply chain to achieve their own CSR objectives. After all, our strapline is ‘making tomorrow a better place,’ and it’s hard to argue with that.

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