BQ North East Issue 02 by We Are UMi

www.bq-magazine.co.uk

ISSUE TWO: JULY 2008

EASY LISTENING Bauer Radio regional MD Sally Aitchison on radio, ratings and risk taking

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU Millionaire philanthropist Brian Burnie’s hospitable new charity venture

CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS The benefits of building business via the arts SCIENCE FACT Newcastle Science City’s Peter Arnold on inward investment and intelligence

BRAND VALUES Marketing guru Alan Brown on keeping the fire burning as Medialand begins to feel the chill

BUSINESS NEWS: COMMERCE: FASHION: INTERVIEWS: MOTORS: EVENTS

ISSUE TWO: JULY 2008

1586

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WELCOME

BUSINESS QUARTER: JULY 08: ISSUE TWO

THE philanthropist Brian Burnie, who is building a superb country house hotel up in Northumberland, has a refreshing take on profit; he gives much of it away. As Brian quite rightly points out, you can’t take it with you, and he’s built an enviable reputation for philanthropy which benefits many deserving causes here and overseas. Of course, we’re not all flush enough to be giving cash away, but as the development directors of The Theatre Royal and The Sage Gateshead also explain in this issue, ticking your CSR box can reap genuine business benefits when you partner up with the region’s increasingly business-savvy arts and cultural organisations. And while your philanthropic largesse might bring you a warm feeling inside, your business, more importantly, gets a tidy marketing kick-back. That’s something Alan Brown, one of the region’s most canny marketing men and also profiled here, might applaud just as enthusiastically as the performances your sponsorship helps to stage. Alan Brown and Brian Burnie make for highly enlightening and incisive in-depth features in this edition, alongside other names including Bauer Radio’s highly successful regional MD

Sally Aitchison. She’s responsible for turning Metro, TFM, CFM and Magic AM into market leaders and, among other things, for making the very canny decision to put Tony Horne back in the Metro Radio breakfast show hot seat; a man who, love him or hate him, a loyal listenership can’t ignore. As for us, life here at BQ headquarters in the sprawling metropolis of Washington is looking pretty good. As you’ll see from the wellknown names profiled here, we’re making our mark in the region. Many thanks for all the positive feedback after our first edition in April and for your ongoing support. We aren’t ones to rest on our laurels so this edition is, we hope, better than the first and an accurate reflection of a really vibrant business community out there. Many of you have taken up our invitation and are sending us news and suggestions for future issues, so please keep it coming. We’re now both in print and on the web, so visit us at www.bq-magazine.co.uk and remember to keep an eye on our other website, www.nebusinessguide.co.uk for our daily news and business events update. Send your contributions, ideas and pearls of wisdom to editor@bq-magazine.co.uk please and, if you see us out and about, tell us what you’re doing; you may just find yourself in print.

CONTACTS ADVERTISING e: sales@room501.co.uk t: 0191 419 3221 EDITORIAL Brian Nicholls e: b.g.nicholls@btinternet.com Jane Pikett e: jane@thecreationgroup.co.uk DESIGN & PRODUCTION Room501 Ltd e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk ROOM501 LTD Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk George Cheung Director e: george@room501.co.uk Euan Underwood Director e: euan@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk

Room501 Contract Publishing Ltd, Unit 4 Baird Close, Stephenson Ind Est, Washington, Tyne & Wear NE37 3HL www.room501.co.uk

THE LIFE AND SOUL OF BUSINESS

Room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements. All contents copyright © 2008 Room501 Ltd. All rights reserved. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, April 2008.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: JULY 08

BRAND VALUES

44 SCIENCE FACT

Newcastle Science City’s Peter Arnold on inward investment and intelligence

50 WATER WORKS Northumbrian Water’s flood of award-winning community projects

Features 18 BRAND VALUES Media might catch the economic chill, but marketing guru Alan Brown’s not reaching for the Kleenex just yet

32 ALL SYSTEMS GO Business is booming offshore

34 STEP ON THE GAS Whessoe’s energy for growth

38 SWEETER PILL The science of positive change at our leading pharmaceuticals names

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

54 CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU Millionaire philanthropist Brian Burnie’s hospitable new charitable venture

82 CAST OFF THE MORTGAGE

18 LIFE SKILLED

Opting out with a houseboat

88 BEST POLICY Bringing the best staff to your door

90 CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Branding business through the arts

96 LIFE SKILLED Making education your business

TENTS 30 AS I SEE IT

EASY LISTENING

Geoff Ford’s vibrant South Tyne

60 BUSINESS LUNCH Bauer Radio regional MD Sally Aitchison on radio, ratings and risk taking

66 WINE

Regulars

Duncan Young taste tests two best bottles for summer

68 SIGNAURE STYLE The world’s most luxurious pens

72 FASHION 06 ON THE RECORD Making the news in issue 2

10 NEWS Who’s doing what, when, where and why

24 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY New landmark developments building the new North East

Fashion fore-ward on the fairway

60 GOLF CHIC

74 MOTORS Handelsbanken’s Chris Teasdale swaps a sensible 4x4 for rip-roaring BMW M3

95 FRANK TOCK Gripping gossip from our backroom boy

86 EVENTS Insights from the Entrepreneurs Forum and the best events coming this quarter

72 BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

ON THE RECORD

JULY 08

A new whisky from Northumberland, new offshore jobs, a booming engineering company and a model receptionist have all made their mark in a busy second quarter of 2008 >> High-flying engineers Roll with it WITH a new contract from Rolls Royce, Darchem Engineering has high hopes of a £100 million turnover within five years. Darchem, this year’s North East Company of the Year, is to supply parts for BA 725 engines. It has gone from strength to strength following takeover by Esterline Corporation of the USA in a £68 million deal in 2006. Recently it announced 40 more jobs, taking the workforce to 600 at Stillington, near Stockton, where it was founded in 1927, and 100 at Gloucester. MD Jon Gagg says: “We are looking to grow organically by spinning out products into

other applications, though there might be an acquisition or two.” It is investing £2.5m in the Stillington plant.

>> Whisky worries for Scots NOT only do Scottish whisky distillers fret about Japanese rivals carrying off a major international award, they also have competition right on their doorstep. Roz Tinlin is launching a single malt business from Rothbury. She already sells her Black Rory blend, launched last year and her Duergar malt will make its debut at Alnwick Food Festival in September.

>> 50 more on the rigging FIFTY more jobs are coming to the North East’s booming offshore industry as RDS, the international drilling rig designer and engineer, opens a third UK office at Wynyard Business Park near Stockton. Part of KCA Deutag Group, it opens at Wynyard in August.

>> Agencies do a “can, can” THE Entrepreneurs’ Forum has formed a consortium of regional creative and media agencies to deliver phase one of a campaign called “If we can, you can”. Details: www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk

>> Cash boost sharpens the image THE Sedgefield firm Kromek (ex-Durham Scientific Crystals) is the 100th firm funded through a £250,000 R&D grant from regional development agency One NorthEast. Its conversion of monochrome x-ray images into high definition colour will improve inspection and quality assurance in medicine and airport security.

>> Steel green

Model job: Louise Spowat, face of Maineside Developments

>> Louise sticks to her day job LOUISE Spowart, 17-year-old office receptionist and administrator, is now also the face of property firm Maineside Developments. Her photograph - with one of the company’s latest properties reflected on her sunglasses – is on billboards all over Tees Valley. Louise, from Ingleby Barwick, is delighted to model, but has no plans to quit her job, which began as a North East Chamber of Commerce placement. She is working instead towards an NVQ Level 2 in business administration and attending classes in book-keeping.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

A FIRM that helps construction companies go green has completed its 300th project on UK sites. EOS of Newton Aycliffe designs and builds light gauge steel framing systems which are particularly popular for social and private housing, commercial buildings, student accommodation, schools, and healthcare schemes. The frames, reckoned to last up to 1,000 years, are being used on the new Middlesbrough College at Middlehaven, and on an extension to Hexham Hospital.

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Model shown is RX 400h at £35,860 OTR. The RX Series comprises petrol and hybrid powertrains and prices start from £32,720 to £45,530 OTR. Prices correct at time of going to press and include VAT, delivery, number plates, full tank of fuel, one year’s road fund licence and £55 first registration fee. BIK tax rating for RX 400h is 23% (compared with 33-35% for other premium SUVs). †Emissions compared against other 6 cylinder premium SUVs. *Advertised finance offer available for business users only on RX 400h, when ordered, registered and financed through Lexus Financial Services on Lexus Contract Hire between 1 July and 30 September 2008 at participating Lexus Centres. Advertised rental based on a 4 year non-maintained contract, based on 8,000 miles per annum. Initial rental of £5000 plus VAT followed by 48 rentals of £399.22 plus VAT. Excess mileage charges apply. Other finance offers are available but cannot be used in conjunction with this offer. Terms and conditions apply. Indemnities may be required. Finance subject to status to over 18s only. Lexus Financial Services, Great Burgh, Burgh Heath, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5UZ. Subject to availability.

RX 400h fuel economy figures: extra-urban 37.2mpg (7.6L/100km), urban 31.0mpg (9.1L/100km), combined 34.9mpg (8.1L/100km). CO2 emissions 192g/km.

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ON THE RECORD >> Cottam brushes up efficiency Cottam Brush is saving nearly 30 per cent on fuel and energy bills after specialists on One NorthEast’s Energy Resource Efficiency (ERE) team re-negotiated contracts and resolved disputes with suppliers when the company relocated to a new factory in Hebburn. The firm, founded in Sunderland 150 years ago, makes quality brushware for a global customer base.

>> Anti-fraud squad moves in online A NEW £19 million banking facility has enabled anti-counterfeit crusader OpSec Security to boost its business on mainland Europe. One of the Washington, Sunderland, firm’s first responses with the additional bank backing was to spend £8 million and buy a German firm specialising in internet security. At least one other acquisition could follow.

>> On the road to learning CONSTRUCTION and plant hire firm Owen Pugh now has a training arm offering about 100 NVQ courses yearly. The programme, recognised by the industry’s training board, is open to its own trainees and those of other organisations. Besides classrooms it features scaffolding towers and different road surfaces – and uses 70-acre Marsden Quarry in South Tyneside. The Cramlington firm founded in 1946 recently acquired the Blaydon civils firm Graydon Dawson.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

IN BRIEF... BUSY, busy, busy on the Tyne as the North East gets a £2 million share of the £3.9 billion contract to build two aircraft carriers up and down the country. Through a Tyne Carrier Association it will build more than 40 hull units. In addition, 200 more jobs are being created at A&P for a £30 million contract to convert the icebreaker Ice Maiden 1 into an offshore flotel for the energy industry. Sage plc expects to beat the credit crunch and show record sales for the year. Halfyear profits for the business solutions and software group were beyond analysts’ assessment. TSG (Technology Services Group), launched by Sage co-founder Graham Wylie, plans to double sales to almost £70 million. The SME supporter founded in 2003 has made its 22nd acquisition and says that won’t be the last. Hargreaves Services, the energy waste and minerals company based at Esh Winning in County Durham, has bought a smokeless fuel business in Wales which it hopes will help double turnover to £400 million. Esh Group at Bowburn in Durham is green with ambition. It has bought two environmental start-ups in Newcastle and plans to put wind farms on its new housing developments. Greggs has Ken McMeiken, 42, taking full control as chief executive in August in succession to Sir Michael Darrington, who is retiring after 20 years in the job. McKeiken, previously retail sales director of Sainsbury, also has Tesco experience. Brims is back on building boards. The once famous North East name in construction, whose refurbishments before its financial collapse in 1990 included the Malmaison Hotel on Newcastle Quayside, has been revived and given to a company started less than two years ago by three former senior managers of Tolent. They expect revenues to reach £17 million before year end. Bede, the x-ray technology spinout from

Durham University, has been rescued from administration, with 50 jobs saved, through purchase by an Israeli firm. The company had slipped into debt of £1.1 million. IDS, the AIM-listed biotech firm of South Tyneside, believes it can quadruple sales to around £40 million by 2010. S&N, Britain’s biggest brewery, kissed 250 years of history goodbye when shareholders agreed to a £7.8 billion joint takeover by European mainland giants Carlsberg and Heineken. The latter had not brewed one glass of beer in the UK for seven years, but is moving towards becoming Britain’s biggest and last major brewer. A brewing operation at Gateshead, which S&N bought from Federation, still employs 300, but there is speculation about its future. Mere Mortals, the computer games firm, has a £1.2 million contract with a global publisher to develop a title for release in early 2009, says MD Steve Walmsley. The Newcastle firm’s successes already include Danny Boyle’s 28 Weeks Later and Sunshine, and the best-selling PDC Championship Darts. Tanfield Group has a £7 million order for 100 zero-emission vehicles, the world’s largest such fleet yet, to serve global deliverers TNT. It also has a deal to develop the world’s first carbon-free emission taxi. None of this, nor a stated 310 per cent climb in profits, stopped shares falling, but did force a postponement of expansion after City voices complained of poor communication and picked holes in the latest figures. ScS, Sunderland’s 96-store sofa seller, has been bought out of administration by US investment group Sun European Partners after its shares plunged amid the credit crunch. Keir, the construction giant which employs 8,500 people in private and public sector work throughout the country, has opened a regional head office at West Moor in North Tyneside.

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NEWS

JULY 08

Call centre jobs and job losses in Sunderland, a new and high-profile non-exec chairman for TH_INK, and a boost to inward investment in the region all figure this quarter >> Another scalp for TAL FOUR NorthEast firms have now sold out to fast-growing Sheffield transport and logistics group TAL. Phillips of Seahouses, Northumberland (founded 1947) is the latest, following the acquisitions of David Park Transport (which incorporates Freeway Haulage) of Gateshead, Gallacher Bros of Stanley and the transport division of Van Hee operating from Port of Sunderland.

Recruiting: Alan Longmuir, Barclays, Paul Watson, leader, and Dave Smith, acting chief executive, Sunderland Council

>> Call centre job balance

>> Good investment NEW figures reveal 66 new inward investment projects in the North East in 2007-8, which could create 1,572 new jobs and safeguard 2,062 existing posts. The figures from UK Trade and Investment follow a report from Ernst and Young showing a 50 per cent jump in the number of new inward investment projects and expansions across the region. Regional development agency One NorthEast was directly involved in 52 of the projects which include: • Californian wind energy giant Clipper Windpower developing a new generation of offshore wind turbines at the world-leading blade test and manufacturing facilities

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

THE loss of 400 call centre jobs by Citibank at Sunderland will be almost offset by vacancies at two other major companies in the city. Up to 300 new posts could arise at EDF Energy in the same Doxford Park building as Citibank. French company EDF, whose 1,400 Sunderland staff field more than 30 million calls a year, has acquired the office space CitiFinancial will vacate, while Barclays Bank is also adding 85 staff to its contact centre at Doxford Park. Barclays, which already employs 1,600 at Doxford Park, has vacancies for a new financial planning advice centre where salaries will range from £13,345 to £28,800, many with bonuses. Elsewhere in the region, Orange is cutting 500 jobs from its 5,000-strong payroll at North Tyneside and Darlington, having already quit East Durham. It is reducing overseas call handling in the region. But Chey Garland’s home-grown company CJ Garland & Co – the biggest contact centre company in the region with more than 3,200 employees - plans to create 3,000 more jobs over the next three years. While most will be outside the region, a new centre has opened at South Shields which could eventually employ 1,000. The other Garland centres are at Hartlepool (three), Stockton (four) and Middlesbrough (one).

provided by the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) in Blyth. • Japanese energy efficiency specialists Yanmar working with NaREC developing biodiesel systems to provide low-cost, clean energy for community power schemes. • Fabricom Offshore Services creating a base

for its offshore oil and gas engineering business in North Tyneside and creating a total of 250 jobs. They include new investments, expansions, mergers, acquisitions, retentions and joint ventures. For the record, there are 588 foreign investors based in the North East employing

JULY 08

NEWS

72,762. A majority of the foreign investors are from North America (195), then Germany (59) and Japan (47). Last year’s record investment from Japan included Nissan’s decision to build a new car which will mop up capacity when its Wearside plant ends production of the Micra. The plant also recently created 800 new jobs to cope with demand for its Qashqai model.

>> Seven-year itch AFTER seven years working in Dubai, Nick Pope has brought his synthetic porcelain glaze business to the North East. Nick’s Newcastle-based Liquid Porcelain Company creates a bathroom finish with all the shine and durability of new porcelain within days, its synthetic porcelain glaze applied by spray gun onto a wide range of surfaces. “Hoteliers in Dubai are under pressure to keep occupancy rates as high as possible, so minimising downtime is crucial in their refurbishments,” says Nick. Demand here is such that Nick expects to have his workforce up to 40 within 18 months.

>> Managers to a degree MANAGERS at Northumbrian Water can now study for a tailored degree in leadership and management. Twenty staff are studying on the programme run by Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University as part of the plc’s commitment to develop executives.

>> Media to microwave FIRMS as diverse as media development studios and convenience food producers are benefiting from a scheme to grow competitiveness. Middlesbrough-based Babel Digital and Tanfield Food Company of Derwentside are among 20 companies on the £2 million programme regional development agency One NorthEast provides through the region’s five universities. Under the scheme, associates, usually >>

Thinking big: MT Rainey and Tarek Nseir, founder and managing director of TH_NK

>> MT Rainey appointed as TH_NK chairman AWARD-winning digital agency TH_NK has marked its next phase of expansion with the appointment of advertising figurehead MT Rainey as Non-Executive Chairman, and the announcement of a series of high-profile client wins including Bupa, BBC and specialist global recruitment firm Hays. TH_NK has recently embarked on an ambitious expansion programme, opening offices in London; recruiting to support these major wins and of course appointing Rainey. As a former senior executive of the pioneering Chiat/Day agency and founder of her own agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe in 1993 (later acquired by WPP), MT Rainey’s move to take up the post of Non Executive Chairman is a return to the marketing world, having left in 2005 to start online social enterprise www.horsesmouth.co.uk. The website, launched in January this year and now with around 10,000 members, is a social network for informal mentoring which connects people facing important life and work issues with others that can support and inspire them. Aptly, as part of her role as TH_NK Chairman, she will be mentoring founder and managing director, Tarek Nseir as the company develops in the national arena. MT explains what attracted her to the post of Chairman: “TH_NK combines all the energy and determination of a hungry growing business with the professionalism and processes of a more established mature shop. I’ve also been impressed with Tarek’s combination of dazzling technological flair with real commercial acumen. Finally, I’m excited by what I see as a user-centric approach at TH_NK which reflects the early days of account planning, and really starts to set them apart from other technology literate digital shops. So whether it be alleviating the burden of management issues or providing a sounding board in this fast-changing industry my role will be to help shape the future of this exciting company.” Managing Director of TH_NK, Tarek Nseir, said: “Having MT on board as our Chairman is a major privilege for us in this exciting and challenging phase of our expansion. Her track record of steering an agency through fast growth coupled with her experience of working with some of the world’s leading brands is already proving invaluable. MT recognises the ambition and potential of TH_NK and is helping us to focus, harness and express this in our highly competitive sector.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

NEWS

JULY 08

post-graduate researchers or university graduates, complete a project on attachment with a company. More than 75 per cent of these associates are later offered permanent posts by their hosts.

>> Web cousins run ahead SPORTING web design company 13 Strides, set up by cousins Anthony Borsumato and Kevin Allinson, has rounded off 12 booming months by moving into one of the specialist business units at Teesside University’s new Institute of Digital Innovation (IDI) Phoenix Building. The cousins, both graduates of the university, doubled the business in size during 2007. Clients include Nova International, the firm behind the Great North Run.

>> Taxi merger TWO Newcastle cab firms have merged to create a new combined taxi fleet of 200. Metro City Taxis, owned by Mohammed Suleman (aka Suly) has taken over Noda (Newcastle Owner Drivers’ Association), a non-profit company formed in 1947. Suly, who still drives a taxi himself, is running both firms under the Noda brand. The deal, worth around £700,000, took almost a year to complete. Amanda Maskery, an associate in Sintons law firm which, with Bell Tindle Williamson, advised Suly, explained: “The deal was unique as Noda was owned by its 34 members, and all had to agree for purchase to go ahead.”

>> Let there be light SOLA Skylights is flooding natural daylight into homes and workplaces with a new square roof dome called Sky Tunnel manufactured at Shildon in County Durham. James O’Connor, director of the 12-yearold firm, says: “Not only does it diffuse lots of natural daylight, it is also ecologicallyfriendly and energy efficient.”

>> 100 years and who’s counting? >> Jotun up the Wall THE famous Byker Wall in Newcastle is getting a facelift over five years and Jotun Paints (Europe), based in nearby St Peter’s Basin, will supply the wood stain. One of the most distinctive buildings in the North, the Wall was designed by the noted Northumbrian architect Ralph Erskine, who lived in Sweden but built in Newcastle during the 1970s. The Wall comprises 620 maisonettes set amid several different styles of housing; in all, a Grade II listed site of 2,500 properties with textured, complex facades of colourful brick, wood and plastic panels. The original colours will be retained in the work led by the Mansell division of Balfour Beatty.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

SMEs, helping them to manage contacts, forecast sales and also manage financial information.

IT-driven accountants Chipchase Manners are celebrating 100 years in practice. Set up in Middlesbrough by Charles Chipchase, its clients now have operations as far away as Dubai and the Cayman Islands. Steve Cossins, one of the present three partners, says: “We have grown organically, not through acquisition or merger.”

>> Bond is bigger SUNDERLAND management software business Bond has bought out a Manchester rival and expects to immediately double its client list, add two new staff and see its new North West base contributing to growth. Bond specialises in technology-based CRM, finance solutions and support services for

Two’s company: Howard Gold, senior partner and Nigel Kidwell, managing partner, Mincoff Jacksons

>> Legally wed FOUR North East law firms, one dating back to 1816, are merging into two practices. Swinburne & Jackson, which was founded in 1816 and has offices in Gateshead, Washington, Ryton and Chester-le-Street, has joined with Hexham-based Robert Lewis & Co to create a firm of five partners, 25 fee earners and 40 employees. Meanwhile, two commercial firms, Mincoffs from Tyneside and Jacksons from Teesside, are to become Mincoff Jacksons in October, thus staking a claim to be one of the top five law firms in the region. Mincoff Jacksons - with 21 partners and more than 160 staff - will continue to work from existing offices in Newcastle and Teesside, led by the current senior partners of both practices, Howard Gold and Kevin Fletcher.

The new Audi A4 discover the new additions.

Since the highly acclaimed launch of the new Audi A4, the range is strengthening all the time. With the addition of the S Line trim specification, the introduction of the new Audi A4 Avant plus a new entry model available at under ÂŁ20,000 on the road, the new Audi A4 is beyond comparison. To arrange a test drive call us now or email: enquiries@northeastaudi.co.uk

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NEWS

JULY 08

>> Going forward Room501 are delighted to announce the arrival of Colin Harris as Digital Development manger. As one of the regions leading web developers Colin brings a wealth of experience in providing bespoke online web solutions adding value to the E-commerce strategies for a vast array or regional and national companies.

Painless expansion: No problem now if Unified Software seems to burst at the seams

>> Bursting at the seams? Not any more NO problem in future if fast-growing Unified Software feels it’s bursting at the seams. This five-year-old Sunderland company, which was at the limit of its existing workspace, has just relocated to new premises where moveable walls are installed internally so they can just be pushed out a bit if the same difficulty arises again. The web-based financial service, whose clients include BP and JP Morgan, has taken on more staff as it moves a few miles from the incubators of the Business & Innovation Centre (BIC) at Wearfield to Sunderland’s e.volve Centre at Rainton Bridge. Director Christine Forsyth, says: “The business has reached the next level, and the e.volve centre is a building with everything a software business needs, including latest technology in communications.” The Rainton Bridge building, owned and managed by Sunderland City Council, is built to enable growing young firms like United Software to expand as and when they are ready. Unified Software’s products include two to facilitate financial transactions. Other services include data cleansing, validation and query services for business to business and business to customer financial communication.

>> Doors re-open to success DOORS to success have reopened for a firm that less than four years ago was in the hands of receivers. The future looked bleak then for Bridgman IBC. Redundancy notices had gone out to 17 employees and output had fallen by half from a peak when sales had topped £6 million a year. But through a management buyout led

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

by managing director Mick Butler in 2004, and a raft of support from Business Link to encourage a new three-year plan, productivity at the Hartlepool firm is up again. New staff have been taken on, and the future looks bright for the newly named Bridgman IBC Ltd. Sales director Tony Philips says: “Business Link was there for us when times were tough. It is helping us form valuable connections now.”

Baby buys: Elaine Hubbard with Chris Simpson from Business Link

>> Oh baby … ELAINE Hubbard has set up an online shopping business at www.kitoto.com and credits feedback from regular visits to mother and toddler groups and soft play areas as her formula for success. Kitoto, which means baby in Swahili, sells clothes, soft toys and accessories. Visitors to the site can order gift boxes and arrange delivery to anywhere in Europe. Elaine, who has had Business Link support for her Stockton start-up, designs her own baby clothes.

072863-YB One Team:211x266

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One team in one location dedicated to your business

Flexible Business solutions from one of the UK’s Best Business Banks* As you’d expect, we believe in the one-to-one approach. Starting with your dedicated Business Partner, our focus is on providing you with access to competitive and flexible solutions that help grow your business. Our growing network of unique local Financial Solutions Centres is a further demonstration of our singlemindedness. Each Centre is operated by an experienced team of banking specialists – and has in-house credit facilities. So you get fast, local decision-making.

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NEWS

JULY 08

>> Hay & Kilner expands private client team Leading Newcastle law firm Hay & Kilner has appointed Katie Thackray as a solicitor in its private capital department. The unit provides comprehensive and expert advice on all aspects of private capital work including wills, estate planning, court of protection work and trusts and probate. Katie qualified at Brooke North Solicitors in Leeds and joined Watson Burton in 2005 where she worked before taking up her new role with Hay & Kilner. She specialises in will drafting, estate administration, estate planning and matters relating to the Office of the Public Guardian, carrying out work for both private and business clients. Kirstin Cook, Partner and Head of the private capital unit said: ‘We are delighted that Katie has joined the private client team here at Hay & Kilner. “The experience within the unit is such that we are able to provide advice to a wide range of individuals and businesses. Katie will help to further strengthen the team, assisting with the expanding work load arising from new referrals and from the already well-established and respected base that we have.” Katie, who is also the STEP Student Liaison Officer for the North East, added: “The private client department at Hay & Kilner is going from strength to strength and I am excited and pleased to Katie Thackray be part of such a successful team.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Ship shape: Protective coating specialist Pyeroy is repainting the RFA Fort George (left) and RFA Fort Rosalie in a £2 milion deal

>> £9m paint job

PYEROY has won £9 million worth of work with two contracts which take it hundreds of miles from the Forth Bridge, which it famously repaints regularly. The Gateshead firm has a £7 million contract to paint the Tower and Southwark bridges in London, plus a £2 million contract to repaint two Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Fort George, at Birkenhead. It has also won a contract to work on listed buildings in Scotland at a time when the Forth Bridge ritual is being reduced to every 15 years due to the use of more durable paint. Pyeroy now has hopes of growing sales from £58 million to £90 million by 2012, and by £10 million the year after. It is adding 30 more jobs to its workforce.

-9

#-9

>> Now you see us MORE than half of the small and mediumsize businesses in Europe plan to step up their use of video conferencing technologies within 12 months, according to research by Skype, which allows businesses and individuals with a broadband connection to make free calls over the Internet to other users of the service. A third of the firms surveyed claim to use the technology already.

Jesmond, Newcastle, offices. Simon Dixon, practice manager, says: “The award applies to member firms around the country, and we are very proud to be the first in the North East to receive it.” The firm is currently rebranding its corporate identity. The ACCA is a professional body which regulates and monitors thousands of accountants worldwide and only awards those who prove best practice.

>> Bean counters first in line Thomas R. Dixon are claiming the distinction of being the first chartered accountants in the North East to gain an award of quality and excellence from the Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA). The recent award to the firm founded 38 years ago followed an inspection of its

>> Go west CONSTRUCTION consultant The Elliott Group is expanding into Cumbria. The 20-year-old business already has offices on Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside and includes among its clients Slaley Hall Hotel and Golf Resort in Northumberland. It also works with social housing providers such as Nomad and Tees Valley Housing.

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INTERVIEW

JULY 08

BRAND VALUES Come an economic chill, media often sneezes first. So how does a creative agency celebrating 25 years of success see the coming months? Brian Nicholls talks to Robson Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief executive, Alan Brown

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

NO need for Alan Brown to lose sleep when the going gets tough. He can always count the sheep sitting at his back door. There are some 200 there after all. By day, however, while his wife Judith runs their farm at Simonburn near Hadrian’s Wall, Alan is in Medialand, butterfly-netting customers regional, national and international. Robson Brown, which he and his only fellow shareholder and business partner Stuart Robson set up 25 years ago, is not only the largest creative agency in the North East, but also the largest independent agency and fifth largest media buyer outside London; altogether 38th among UK agencies. While they hold the most industry awards in the region, some sleepless nights ahead would be understandable. Data shows the colder financial climate biting the sector already and business, even for a fully integrated marketing firm marking its first quarter century with a best-yet turnover of some £30 million, could get tougher. Marketing, advertising and media generally chill in circumstances like these. Robson Brown, however, is being warmed presently by a major contract placed by one of Europe’s biggest gardening, forestry machine and tool manufacturers. Robson Brown stands up to pressures because, Alan says: “We have many clients that now fundamentally recognise the quantifiable effect that proper marketing has on their business performance. Like any other aspect of your business, if you turn the lights out, it goes dark. If you turn off your advertising,

your customers will tend to deteriorate.” Alan’s frequent use of words like ‘integration’, ‘strategy’ and ‘marketing’ during a 50-minute conversation is telling. To explain: “Our success is based on not classing ourselves as an advertising industry, a design, film, media or PR company, though we do all those things, I think – modestly - at the highest level.” The people running the group’s individual companies focused on each of the disciplines would be top of the tree in central London, he suggests. “Our philosophy here is that to succeed we must be more business partners than, say, designers or PR people. There must be a payback for everything, and our clients now see advertising and all the other aspects of marketing as a tool to develop their business. Most of these things are measurable now, and they can see the impact of a very good strategic marketing campaign.” This is implicit in a reflection by John Thompson, head of marketing at the international group Husqvarna which, with a centre in Newton Aycliffe, chose Robson Brown to handle a full-service creative support contract covering a wide range of gardening equipment and tools, including Flymo and Gardena. John Thompson says: “We are highly impressed by Robson Brown’s full-service approach to raise awareness of our products. As well as offering exciting, creative solutions, we need to enhance our pointof-sale presence and give us edge in a very competitive market. We feel their team has a good grasp of the brands.” >>

Like any other aspect of business, if you turn the lights out it goes dark. If you turn off your advertising, your customers will tend to deteriorate

Hunting man: By day Alan Brown is butterfly-netting customers regional, national, and international

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

Varied interests: Robson Brown’s work takes it into widely varied interests and sectors He mentions that Robson Brown produced award-winning work previously for Husqvarna, working successfully on Flymo accounts some eight years ago. An international realignment inside the client organisation resulted in the account moving to another agency, but another realignment has now brought Flymo back to Robson Brown, which will also be out to make Gardena – claimed to be Europe’s

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

lead brand of gardening tools and watering systems - a household name in Britain. Good work, then, is not forgotten, even in the ephemera of advertising and marketing, and Robson Brown’s work takes it into interests as varied as retail, consumer durables, leisure, business-to-business, education, media, automotives, house building, financial and public services.

The evaluation, measurement and objectives set in marketing campaigns, as the firm envisaged, will continue to be rigorously fulfilled. “Or else,” Alan observes, “irrespective of how creative and wonderful the solutions, if they didn’t do their bit for results regularly and sustainably, Robson Brown won’t be where it is now.” Alan, who is chief executive and specialist in strategy, was born in Darlington, studied art at colleges in Middlesbrough and London, became an art director in two or three big agencies, and eventually returned to the North East to join the creative side at Thomson Regional Newspapers, now ncjMedia, home of the Chronicle and Journal and still a hothouse for talent. “But I wanted a creative business of my own, giving a reasonable living, giving my children a good education and which would still leave me some money to enjoy country sports,” he says. With his son now a land agent and his daughter in advertising, those aims are realised. “I thought that the North East at that time was poorly served by advertising agencies and marketing consultants. There was little integrated marketing, and that became our premise – doing not just advertising, but offering a far wider service.” When he met Stuart, a Tynesider who is today group creative director, he was at Redheads Advertising in Newcastle. “Stuart and I met through a newspaper advert I placed asking for a visualiser. We soon found we had a rapport. Our philosophies about business were similar. He is a talented writer, painter, illustrator, a good strategist and all-round manager and a top-class businessman. “We set off to set the world alight fairly naively. Yet our success curved upward incredibly. Profit in year one was £80,000. I took our family off on a celebratory treat – a weekend at a bed and breakfast in Helmsley!” By year four or five, Robson Brown considered itself the best and biggest in North East advertising. “However, in this neck of the woods you had to be a bit of a jack of all trades. Advertising was never going to solve a client’s business problems totally, but a bit of advertising with some proper research and proper strategy, integrated with PR and

JULY 08

I thought the North East at that time was poorly served by advertising agencies and marketing consultants. There was little integrated marketing and that became our premise

design, offered a far more effective collection of marketing tools.” Robson Brown also recruited – “stringently and robustly” - people with outstanding specialisms. “Some are now at the top of our tree. Others have also moved up. They are well rewarded, enjoy lots of autonomy and have fun and enjoyment. Their reputations are greatly enhanced, and we have a fairly small turnover of staff.” Now, as the firm recruits six more to its 120 staff, Alan questions whether all the turnovers of local competitors together would equal Robson Brown’s annual performance. Its one poor year came three or four years ago, when Northern Electric’s retail arm, which had become an independent company, went bust owing a large amount. Alan Brown, despite the reputations for spin that people in his line sometimes have, speaks plainly and frankly, and only hesitates when he has to calculate whether he owns or partowns five racehorses or six. He immediately defines the company’s office openings in Manchester and London as a ‘dreadful’ experiment - not a problem, but a drain and now no more. What went wrong? “It is difficult to get Robson Brown-type people running a Robson Brown satellite elsewhere in the country. Clients want to deal with head office, and with technology what it is, we can cover other parts of the country competently from here anyway. London, Manchester and Newcastle are all very competitive market places. “For example, not one satellite of a Manchester, London, Edinburgh or Birmingham agency has succeeded in Newcastle. Maybe we were naive to assume

we could do it the other way round. We didn’t suddenly announce the closures. We gradually moved accounts and people back.” What then of prospects for creative agencies in Britain’s bracing new economy? “There will be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Historically, 80-90 per cent of our business came through traditional routes of advertising – radio, television, press and so on. Next year I expect 50 per cent of our revenue from other markets; predominantly digital. “There is much more to digital than just marketing a good website effectively. You need specialist people. You must monitor regularly, find new ways to work it in tandem. It needs significant investment. If you can integrate your digital strategy with your advertising, media, design and PR strategy, you can have truly effective marketing transcending all those disciplines.” Robson Brown’s offices in Newcastle’s splendid Georgian Clavering House present a clean, clinical, no-nonsense appearance inside, everything in its place for reason rather than effect. Even the paintings on the wall are not the arty-clarty associated with, say, the Saatchis. The abstract Alan chooses to describe is an allegory of squares representing the parts of Robson Brown that go into making the greater sum of the whole. Amid high overheads there is no hint of extravagance, suggesting, all in all, that Robson Brown will come through the industry’s current challenges. Alan himself, with barely a furrow even after two and a half decades of minting daily a currency of what the website calls big ideas, simple ideas – “ideas that help you zig when the rest zag” – keeps his tall frame trim,

INTERVIEW

Historic home WORKING on relatively small margins, Robson Brown has heeded brokers’ advice that a stock market flotation, even in a reviving economy, might not be viable. However, while most of its growth has been organic, it did make an acquisition for the raid on Manchester, and would consider further acquisitions where any specialism it lacked came with the keys of the door. It looks either way as if Clavering House, behind Newcastle Central Station, will always be home, especially as a new Clavering Quarter with leisure attractions, offices, and boutiques under railway arches is springing up. The ghost of Lady Clavering is the building’s only unpaid occupant, though she is reputed rather than omnipresent. She and Lord Clavering lived there long ago, he a local magistrate whose habit on returning from court was to enjoy a glass of sherry and dinner with his wife before repairing to the top floor of the house with a bottle of port and the pursuit of young serving wenches. One evening his disgruntled wife trailed him and Lord Clavering was compromised. They exchanged cross words and she fell, or was pushed, from the top floor. He escaped a murder charge, allegedly because of his legal position, while her behaviour was recorded as ‘unreasonable’. Could anything like that happen there today? “Absolutely not,” says Alan in mock horror. “I think it’s against harassment rules!”

unlike the beer and pasties caricature of many veterans of media. Maybe his passion for country sports and his pride in becoming a grandfather keep him trim. Either way, the Robson Brown company itself clearly does ‘lean’. ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

JULY 08

>> It won’t stage Tosca, but it might improve the shops Has an answer been found at last to shortcomings in the North’s oldest new town? Brian Nicholls examines a proposal that might succeed where others failed WHEN Sir Dennis Stevenson, at 28, was already on the lower rungs of his success ladder, he once dragged an irritating pair of journalists round Newton Aycliffe. They had suggested a lack of facilities, given the town’s 26-year existence, and had also perceived insufficient democratic involvement. The recalcitrant two reported his arguments, but changed theirs little. That was 35 years ago, when Sir Dennis chaired the old Aycliffe and Peterlee New Town Development Corporation, which then ran the place. While many folk have come and gone at Newton Aycliffe since, and many have stayed and just put up with their lot, Sir Dennis has lived illustriously: businessman, chairman of Pearson and HBOS, director of Lazard Partners, Rothschild Assurance Group, a representative of industry appointed by the Governor of the Bank of England, governor of the London

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Business School, prime minister’s adviser on use of IT in schools. These are just a few of his roles, so it’s unlikely he’s had time to revisit Newton Aycliffe very often. But the town still exists, the North’s oldest new town, and criticisms from within still ring; the latest murmurs of discontent about redevelopment proposals for the town centre. In a study by international property advisers GVA Grimley for Freshwater Company (owner of most of the estate considered), long-term decline, lack of investment (which Sir Dennis suggested would not arise), lack of quality public space, lack of identity, poor entrances and inadequate sense of arrival to the centre are all cited, suggesting that some things have changed little, even after 35 years. Many shop units no longer meet today’s

needs, and the consultants stress a priority must be to arrest long-term decline damaging public perception of the centre, inside and out. “Make it more sustainable both for retailers and shoppers,” is the verdict. Retailers are presently discouraged by the lack of suitable space and lack of variety in unit sizes. The centre, in the consultants’ words, looks tired and uninviting. Yet key retailers are positive about the town’s potential, and there is demand for suitable shop space. GVA Grimley cites other strengths: a growing population, good transport links. Major manufacturers feature in its improving economy, including Thyssenkrupp Automotive Tallent Chassis, Linden Group and PWS Distributors; all familiar names on the North East Top 250 list, as is Hydro Polymers. The latter is one of the town’s oldest mainstays and its 400 employees have been told, despite a recent acquisition by Ineos (the world’s third largest chemical company), that 60 years of work there will continue. Work is underway also on a new 104-acre

JULY 08

Heighington Lane West business park, steered by developer Merchant Place for Durham County and Sedgefield Councils. This could become one of the largest ventures of its kind in the country, with potential investment of £100 million, and it promises to swell the town’s 30,000 population. If accepted, the master plan would broaden and invigorate shopping, give better health and education facilities, and liven evenings in the town centre beyond its pub and few takeaways. It does, however, require some planning permissions, demolitions, site clearance and relocations. Much of the makeover advocated could have been achieved years ago at no great cost: public art and a piazza to replace the unbroken space of the central pedestrian area of Beveridge Way, greenery to replace concrete, refurbished facades for the shops. A water feature for the piazza is not ruled out, nor suggestions of a more convivial location for the town clock. Bus and taxi accesses would improve, some shops would be larger, and there would be better access to Tesco. A big new retail store is envisaged, and the overbearing central ramp leading to upperfloor shops would be removed or re-planned; a sense of arrival introduced, a main entrance created. It could all be done while trading goes on, and the popular open market could be encouraged further. Gary Hale, director at GVA Grimley, stresses that the plan is a consultation document at this stage, so no firm figure has yet been put on contributions from the public and private sectors, nor any dates fixed for start and completion. It could take a decade to complete, given a rationalisation of local government pending, and shop leases yet to expire. So planning would be phased, says Gary - realistic delivery based on sound commercial decisions. And, he enthuses: “Responses following a public presentation are encouraging, not only from local government but also from townspeople. Out of 100 comment forms I have received, about 98 showed people were clearly pleased. “Some plans have circulated in the past, so not surprisingly there is some cynicism, the issue being ‘we’ll believe it when we

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Change needed: Retailers are discouraged by the lack of public space and the lack of variety in shop units in Newton Aycliffe

A survey confirms that the North East’s oldest new town has suffered a lack of investment which was not supposed to arise and a lack of quality space and identity

see it’. But the response is overwhelmingly favourable. New towns initially attracted young families particularly. Some people have now lived in Newton Aycliffe for up to 50 years. That suggests to me that the town must have a lot going for it.” It does indeed have many social and recreational organisations, even its own weekly newspaper. Some of its early difficulties stemmed from being run by a quango, the town council having very limited powers. Indeed, it was, on a smaller scale, like Newcastle and Sunderland would have been in the 1990s, had they not had city councils during the time of Tyne and Wear Development Corporation. And because some local politicians in neighbouring areas felt it was favourably treated compared with their wards, it became a butt of political jealousy. All this has passed. Now there is not only a private sector wishing to invest in and improve the town centre, but political support in the public sector also. The town library and health centre are considered ripe for redevelopment on a more convenient site where costs could be cut through shared services. Sir Dennis Stevenson could probably never have settled in Newton Aycliffe himself. He who chairs a chamber orchestra, organised pop festivals, was for 10 years chairman of trustees of the Tate Gallery and was a nonexecutive director of BSkyB, might have found culture wanting. Entertainment there has been largely limited to the stages of social clubs and halls. Unfortunately, now social club attendances are declining generally (one at least has closed in Newton Aycliffe), Gary Hale sees no immediate scope for a cinema and professional theatre. But if the plan does come off, Newton Aycliffe could go with a bang – rather fitting, don’t you think, for a town that grew out of a World War II ordnance factory? One thing is certain: without change, a haemorrhage of shoppers to Darlington and Bishop Auckland will accelerate and the wellbeing of the town will further decline. Gary Hale welcomes more suggestions and comments on Newton Aycliffe’s future. Email your ideas to gary.hale@gvagrimley.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

JULY 08

The demand for quality business premises continues to rise. Here, BQ highlights new landmark developments making an impact on the new North East’s commercial landscape Character: Cooper’s Studios; a stylish marriage of old and new

workers. The site is home to Hoults Estates, the Hoult family having bought the site in 1947 for storage for their removal business, while continuing to run the pottery until 1962. The shell of a new building, Clocktower Court, should be completed by December, the internal fit-out by next February. The £3m block in Walker Road in Ouseburn will also have studios and the development is getting regional funding.

>> New launch for entrepreneur Kevin

>> A stylish marriage WORK is underway at Cooper’s Studios, a Newcastle office development minutes from Central Station. Built as a horse and carriage repository on Westgate Road in 1897, the three-storey building will be a stylish marriage of old and new, being transformed inside to create flexible-open plan spaces and a central atrium. The offices, ranging from 5,715sq ft to 4,962sq ft, are on three floors and horse tethering rings, a first floor ladies’ gallery

>> Still Teaming in TEAM Valley, still one of the biggest generators of wealth in the North East, is celebrating its 75th anniversary with another £18 million-plus in developments in just over 12 months. The developments include eight hybrid units, five industrial units and another two offices at Queens Court. Team Valley and Slough were England’s first industrial estates and Team Valley remains the

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

and second floor cycle test route are all being preserved to keep a flavour of the past. Tony Wordsworth, director of GVA Lamb and Edge, which is jointly marketing it with DTZ, calls it a ‘genuinely distinctive office scheme’. The conversion is expected to achieve a ‘very good’ rating under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). The developer is the Hanro Group.

UK’s largest industrial estate in single freehold ownership. About 25,000 people work there at 1,400 companies.

>> Offices for famed pottery site A NEW office complex is planned for the former site of Newcastle’s famous Maling Pottery, once home to 1,000

A BUSINESS new to commercial property in the North East reported more than £6 million worth of estate and businesses for sale on its books within its first six weeks. Entrepreneur Kevin Brown, 54, who has launched and run businesses over nearly three decades, has set up North East Commercial Property in Low Fell, Gateshead with his co-director Richard Finney. Richard, who has been 14 years in business transfer, has worked at several regional commercial agencies and also for various developers. Previously, he headed the commercial department at Rook Matthews Sayer Commercial.

>> From Prestige to Premier THE 64-bedroom Prestige Hotel in South Shields is now part of Whitbread, the UK’s largest hotel and restaurant group. Whitbread is running its new acquisition as a Premier Inn under a long lease with North East property investor Prestige Group, the hotel’s owner since 2003. Prestige has built several elderly care homes and a 40-apartment sheltered housing scheme – all of it mostly leased now to leading care home providers such

JULY 08

as Southern Cross. Raj Singh, of Prestige, wants to focus on new developments in the care sector.

>> Tower de force THE £35 million tower block designed as centrepiece of Northern Rock’s new retail headquarters at Gosforth could be sold off on completion this year. The block is on the site of the troubled bank’s seven-storey 1960s building which was demolished in 2006. The new tower has space for up to 1,500 workers.

>> £30m business centre on time THE £30 million green and sustainable Gateway West office and industrial

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

development on 13 acres of Newburn Riverside business park will open on time. Paul Caddick, chairman of developer Caddick Group, says the first of 12 industrial units will be ready by October and the first space in two office blocks by next May. Robert Patterson, agency and development director at Sanderson Weatherall, is advising Caddick with joint agent GVA Lamb and Edge. He says: “We are already in discussions with a number of local and national parties.”

company, B and K Developments, bought the land from regional development agency One NorthEast. Conference facilities and an on-site bistro feature and the units are due to be ready by August. Bradley Hall of Durham is the agent.

>> Town and river reconnect A rebirth of South Shields riverside is following the demolition of the derelict factory where circuit board manufacturer Circatex closed in 2006. Five new neighbourhoods will connect the waterfront to the town centre, bringing new mixed development and creating more than 3,500 jobs. The developers for phase one will be chosen early next year.

>> All this, and a bistro too HUSBAND and wife developers Billy and Karon Morgan are putting up 20 new business units branded as City West Business Park at Meadowfield Industrial Estate in County Durham. The couple’s Washington

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BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Tanfield Lea Business Centre inspiring business space

Derwentsideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New ÂŁ6.8m Office Development Opening March 2009 To be inspired call (01207) 693902 or e-mail: development@derwentside.gov.uk web: www.tanfieldleabusinesscentre.com

JULY 08

COMPANY PROFILE

The cream of the North East construction sector will be hoping to bowl over the competition when they battle it out for national honours at Lords cricket ground later this year

NORTH EAST PAVES THE WAY FOR OTHER REGIONS

HE Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment Awards will see the winners of regional competitions from across the country come together as part of a major celebration of the industry’s successes. Representing the North East at the ceremony on November 13 will be those who walked away as winners from the region’s own awards – which was itself the inspiration for the seven other regional competitions across England and Wales. More than 500 people attended Newcastle’s Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel for the event in May, which has become increasingly popular since it was established four years ago. Following the success of the first two years of North East awards, the other seven regions followed suit, resulting in the national awards which will be held this year for the second time. Catriona Lingwood, director of Constructing Excellence in the North East, said: “The regional award winners this year showed a real spread right across the North East, which demonstrates that there is excellence all around us in the built environment. The regional awards night was a huge success

Northumbria University’s City Campus East - winner of the Value and Sustainability Awards

THE REGIONAL AWARDS NIGHT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS AND NOW OUR WINNERS CAN TAKE ON THE NATIONAL CHALLENGE and now our winners can take on the national challenge. Each has done exceptionally well to take the regional awards where they were up against some excellent competition. Now is the chance for them to stand alongside their peers from across the country in a national celebration

Those who will challenge to bring national honours home to the region are: Birse Civils Ltd, Sunderland City Council and Arup for the Sunderland Southern Radial Route for Project of the Year. Frank Haslam Milan for the Leadership and People Development Award. Gentoo Group in the Health and Safety Award. Northumbria University’s City Campus East development for The Legacy Award for Sustainability. Three Rivers Housing Group, for its Jubilee Terrace, Mickleton project in the Innovation Award category. The Erimus Partnership, consisting of Erimus Housing, Dunelm Property Services, Rok plc and Erimus Building Services for the Integration and Collaborative Working Award. Turner and Townsend and Northumbria University for the City Campus East development in the Value Award category. Erimus Housing for Client of the Year. Lynda Peacock, of Three Rivers Housing, recipient of the Achiever’s Award.

of the superb work which takes place in the built environment. “Lords is an iconic British venue and one which is fitting for such an event to recognise those who make our sector an exciting and vibrant industry in which to work. “This winter will also see people across the region get their chance to enter the 2009 Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment Awards and we look forward to hearing about even more outstanding examples of excellence in construction.”

Further information about Constructing Excellence in the North East is available from regional director Catriona Lingwood, tel 0191 3837 435 or email catriona@constructingexcellence-ne.org.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

AS I SEE IT

JULY 08

END OF THE NORTH SOUTH DIVIDE Have you been to South Tyneside lately? Geoff Ford of Ford Component Manufacturing recommends you cast a fresh eye over the borough South Tyneside… Radical Change. If you think those two phrases are mutually contradictory, let me convince you otherwise. South Tyneside was born on April 1 1974, as part of the then Government’s local government reform programme. The three main towns of Jarrow, Hebburn and South Shields were brought together with the villages of Whitburn, Cleadon and Boldon to form what is still the smallest metropolitan borough in England. In 1974, coalmining still provided considerable employment, as did shipbuilding. A number of businesses featured including J Barbour & Sons, Plessey, Filtrona, Ford Components and Allen Bradley, the latter having now become HVR International. During the intervening 34 years there has been substantial change. Coalmining and shipbuilding are no more, Plessey surfaced in a variety of guises before disappearing finally, as Circatex, in 2006. Allen Bradley downsized considerably before reinventing itself and going from strength to strength. Barbour has strengthened its position, both as a world-renowned specialist clothing supplier and a major employer, while Filtrona continues to thrive as part of a worldwide

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

group and Ford Components, the company I am employed by, has seen its annual turnover grow from £330,000 to £10m, all of it by organic growth. South Tyneside is now a vibrant business community, supported by a number of achievements for the borough which add up to a powerful partnership. In 2003 the council’s economic development team won the North East Chamber of Commerce Best For Business award, while in the same year the first South Tyneside Business Week was held, the only one of its kind in the North East and one that attracts greater attention year by year. The following year saw South Tyneside win the North East Capital of Enterprise award, and in the year after it was the only borough in Tyne and Wear to bid successfully for Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) funding of £16.2m over three years. While the business sector played its part to the full in these achievements, South Tyneside council has gone from a two star and ‘fair’

rating to a four star and ‘excellent’ status, and earlier this year Beacon Status was won for both the Local Area Agreement and Local Strategic Partnership. In 1974, South Tyneside’s unemployment rate stood at 20 per cent. Now it is eight per cent and falling. The South Tyneside Enterprise Partnership (STEP) which I chair, has responsibility for enterprise and jobs in our Regeneration Strategy. It is a unique partnership of private, public and community/ voluntary sectors and a good example of the major elements in our borough working together effectively for the good of all. What has clearly benefited our unemployment statistics has been the continued success of a wide range of businesses, both new and old, in a variety of markets. Some features that attract businesses to South Tyneside, besides funding, are the recently formed Business Forum, the Manufacturing Forum and the splendid work of the Tyneside Economic Development Company (Tedco). Tedco is responsible for the success of a

JULY 08

AS I SEE IT

Good times The Port of Tyne Authority’s decision to set up its new headquarters in Tyne Dock showed South Tyneside had much to offer. Look at some of the other progress signals: JAG Productions has today the fullest equipped film studio between Leeds and Edinburgh Harlow Printing designs and prints child health literature for every child born in the UK Solar Solve Marine exports its ship sun blinds to 56 countries Variable Message Signs makes half of all electronic signs on the motorway and trunk network in Britain SAFT batteries are used by NASA in high altitude observation equipment Hashimoto is a major supplier to Nissan A&P Tyne has ambitions to bring back shipbuilding to the Tyne AIM listed Immuno Diagnostic Systems is a world leader in biotechnology Recent arrivals to the borough include the 150-year-old Cottam Brush and a Garland’s Call Centre

number of programmes developed by South Tyneside Means Business, the name we’ve given to our LEGI fund. South Tyneside has already seen radical change; it has needed to in order to survive - and further radical change remains on the agenda. We all look forward to a challenging and exciting future. I believe South Tyneside has a vibrant and varied business sector, substantial business support and, borough-wide, a really successful partnership. If you’d like to visit and see what we have to offer, please make contact, we’d be delighted to show you around.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

RAY THOMPSON

JULY 08

Ray Thompson, energy and environment manager at One NorthEast, explains why there are so many reasons to be cheerful about the region’s offshore achievements

ALL SYSTEMS GO… OFFSHORE THE banks of the Tyne, Wear and Tees are synonymous with heavy industry and cranes still dominate parts of the skyline along rivers that have produced some of the greatest feats in maritime engineering. The Teesside steelyards supplied the raw material for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Tyneside shipyards built, among others, HMS Ark Royal, and the yards of the Wear were responsible for the Torrens, a clipper which was described as the finest vessel ever launched from Sunderland. But it was the search for North Sea oil reserves in the 1970s that helped forge the region’s still-held national reputation as a hub for offshore expertise. With more than 70 per cent of the 350 oil rigs currently operating in the North Sea built in the North East, we’re currently enjoying a revival of fortunes in the offshore oil and gas

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

sector, and the global search for oil reserves goes on, despite rising energy costs. The region is attracting companies with a genuine pedigree in offshore oil and gas engineering, plus those in the offshore wind turbine field. In the last year alone, the North East has seen the arrival of Fabricom Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the global Suez organisation, which has set up an engineering base at Baliol Business Park, North Tyneside, probably to create up to 250 skilled jobs. One NorthEast helped the business with a £1.6 milion Selective Finance for Investment grant and assistance in finding a base and establishing links with regional universities. The draw of the North East was also evident when RDS, a leading international oil and gas drilling rig design and engineering company, announced plans to open an office at Wynyard

JULY 08

Business Park, Stockton. Its new engineering design office will create 50 jobs by the end of 2008 and in excess of a further 130 jobs longer term. It was aided by a £1.35 million SFI grant from us. Just along the road from Wynyard, the Haverton Hill shipyard near Billingham has reopened with a £150 million contract to build two drilling rigs creating 800 new jobs. The deal between the Tees Alliance Group and SeaDragon Offshore will see the first rig delivered by 2010. Along with our partners at NOF Energy, One NorthEast is involved in a host of ongoing negotiations for construction projects on the banks of the Tyne. As well as the skills, we also have the sites with first-class office space and the yards to support major manufacturing and engineering opportunities. Investment in North Sea oil and gas is at a peak as oil and energy prices rise globally. Investment in the North Sea oilfield has exceeded £11 billion over the past year and the building of new rigs, in addition to the maintenance of existing rigs, has seen yards in Aberdeen and across Europe filled to capacity, a situation predicted to continue for the foreseeable future. North East England is emerging as a dynamic, forward-thinking region; a UK hub for offshore activity. Given its long association with the offshore industry, it is ideally located to benefit from this situation, as it did when the oil fields were originally developed. The skills and infrastructure remain, as too the integrated supply chain in the region. The River Tyne is making big contributions

RAY THOMPSON

The North East has the expertise in enginnering and the banks of the Tyne could be ideal for further development of its offshore energy sector

in oil and gas through the subsea sector. About 50 North East firms are tied up in this, employing 5,000 people and contributing £500 million to the local economy. Subsea in the North East grew by 30 per cent last year and will maintain that pace for years yet. Two of the world’s premier subsea companies – Duco and Wellstream – sit side by side at Walker, Newcastle. We are examining the possibility of a new centre for excellence for the oil and gas industry, jointly funded by the public and private sectors. For as long as there has been North Sea oil and gas, Aberdeen has been the focal point of the industry. But now, increasing numbers

of companies are realising the abilities of the North East’s specialists in this field. The region staged the major Rediscover North East England conference showcasing the businesses, skills and infrastructure to Norwegian investors and could now grab an even greater share of the oil market. There is an interest in the North East from Norway, which hasn’t been seen since the 1970s. We already have two leading Norwegian companies based in the region and more on the way. Norway is the main oil producer per acre in the world, and for the first time we have had 35 companies from Norway in the region looking for business partners. The North East has the engineering expertise and the banks of the Tyne could be ideal for further development. The rising price of oil means the oil companies are cash rich. There is now a good economic case for further exploration and development. Indeed, the whole oil sector is bursting with opportunities. Clipper Windpower is a prime example of how the region is positioning itself as a European leader in developing also all types of offshore activity. The US company has been attracted to the region to develop the next generation of offshore wind turbines, which will give 7.5MW of energy per turbine. The firm is making use the facilities at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) at Blyth in Northumberland. The arrival of Clipper Windpower has been viewed globally as major achievement for the North East - further proof of our commitment to developing every type of offshore activity.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INSIGHT

JULY 08

NOW: Which North-East firm has a multimillion pound stake in the chase to secure much of Britain’s future gas? Answer: the same company founded in 1782, which became an ironmongery and foundry nine years later, when – you probably won’t remember - Boswell’s biography of Dr Johnson was also being published, and Mozart on his deathbed was writing his Requiem. Despite the technological swirl since, the company in question, Whessoe Oil & Gas, has been transforming a corner of the West Wales county of Pembrokeshire into a major supply point from which Britain may soon receive 27 per cent of all its gas, making up for diminishing North Sea supplies. Work, though behind schedule, is well on at two separate terminals where imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be unloaded to store, regasify and relay to millions of us around the country. One terminal, for South Hook LNG, receives through what has been described as the world’s biggest energy project, a near $13 billion global development. Five drum-shaped tanks, each bigger than the Albert Hall in London, form a new Welsh landmark there. “I’ve been in the Albert Hall so I can vouch for that,” says a spokesman, as another 4,999 people inside at any one time might verify. The other terminal, for Dragon LNG, has two tanks that witness the expertise of Whessoe Oil & Gas – expertise refined by 40 years-plus of LNG engineering. The Darlington firm is a major total design and build provider for both conventional LNG storage and offshore gravity-based structure tanks. What a transformation for the veteran torch carrier of expertise in North East engineering. Five years ago it almost died. It had fewer than 65 employees and sales of around £5 million. Today, it employs 400 and, with two deals sealed totalling £500 million-plus, it expects revenues of £250 million within two years. It has also recently won two awards in less than six months: a medal at the 2008 Ruben D’Honneur Business of the Year Awards in Paris and a UK National Business of the Year accolade. Judges in Paris said its clear strategic vision stood out. And an elated managing director Jon Dale declared: “It says a lot about the hard work

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

One of the North East’s oldest firms has a key multimillion pound role in developing one of Britain’s newest energy industries. Brian Nicholls describes it

BORN 1782 AND NOW STEPPING ON THE GAS

done at Darlington and across the world at all our project sites.” Its competence literally gleams within its two tanks for Dragon LNG at Milford Haven, tanks each 145ft high and 240ft in diameter - more than twice as tall as Gateshead’s Angel of the North, and in diameter about a third greater than the angel’s wingspan. The insides are like thermos flasks, the inner casing a nickel alloy resistant to LNG temperatures as low as minus 1600C on arrival. The outer casing of pre-stressed concrete rather than steel - a characteristic of Whessoe work - safeguards better against leakage, cuts cost and raises efficiency. Work on Dragon’s £250m facility began in 2004. Whessoe Oil & Gas and Dutch group Volker Stevin – whose UK arm at Gateshead is doing £16 million worth of work on the new Tyne Tunnel - are joint project contractors. US giant MW Kellogg is building on site for Dragon’s owners, 4GasBV and its customers BG Group and Petronas - the Malaysian energy giant listed in Fortune Global 500’s largest corporations of the world. The £185 million contract Whessoe is involved in is a lump sum/turnkey agreement to deliver a fully functioning operation, which encourages Jon Dale, in expressing Whessoe satisfaction, to say, in effect: “We continually move forward, and this contract has been fantastic news.” Dragon’s LNG will arrive from Malaysia and other producing countries. Product for South Hook LNG will come from Qatar, the Arabian Gulf nation whose Qatar Petroleum is in joint venture with energy giants Exxon-Mobil and Total. The combined feed-in should minimise a likelihood of Britain being over-dependent on Russian supplies. It will also compete with ordinary gas piped over from the Continent. Qatar, though about the size of all Wales or Yorkshire, has the world’s largest single reservoir of gas - and will soon be the world’s third largest provider of liquefied. Its enviable reservoir runs so deeply under the Gulf that assessments had to take into account the world’s curvature. The total content could keep Britain in gas for 250 years. However Qatar – population just over one million – sells a lot also to South Korea and Japan, the latter being without any gas of its own. >>

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INSIGHT

JULY 08

In this young industry for Qatar, 20 times more steel is being used than went into the Eiffel Tower. Lord Nelson thought Milford Haven one of the world’s finest waterways. What he would say espying all these landmark tanks, is anyone’s guess. But for sure “England expects” – indeed all Britain expects - unlimited gas on tap, so has reason to accept their presence. At Dragon LNG, besides 20 jobs Whessoe created at Darlington, more than 700 people have been working on construction. At South Hook LNG, construction led by Chicago Bridge & Iron will have occupied around 2,400. How many permanent posts result is unconfirmed, but could be around 150 in all. Now, 150 new jobs sounds tiny considering the investments made. But this is a capital intensive business, and in an area of Britain where jobs are scarce – two of the four refineries set up there from the 1960s onwards have closed – every job matters. There have been challenges and tragedy for the industry that include bomb threats forcing at least one site evacuation, safety demonstrations and campaigns, unofficial walkouts by workers, a death and injury on site and a leak in a delivery ship. Environmental protest is inevitable here because Pembrokeshire’s coast, like Northumberland’s, is magnificent and rich in wildlife. People also have grim memories of 72,320 tons of oil and heavy duty fuel fouling sea and shore when the Amoco tanker Sea Empress ran aground there in 1996. Concerns are often raised about so much fuel in a waterway where traffic is growing, for Milford is Wales’s largest port, and nearby Pembroke Dock has a busy ferry link with Ireland, but safety considerations have been satisfied to government and High Court appeal level, and LNG accidents worldwide have been

few. As for cleanliness, LNG is reckoned to be the cleanest burning fossil fuel, with fewer emissions and pollutants than coal or oil. Rural desecration? Oil storage tanks overlooked the same haven throughout the Second World War, and during recent decades four oil refineries have operated there. Indeed, both Dragon LNG and South Hook LNG are replacing two defunct refineries. Neither management will be drawn on opening dates, but both hint it may be later this summer. Meanwhile, says local journalist Becky Hotchin, who has followed events for the past two years: “The cost of buy-to-let property locally has gone through the roof since workers from outside the area moved in for the duration. While protests continue, other people appreciate that permanent jobs are coming, however limited in number.” So technology triumphs; a newer industry for the nation. At full pelt, some of the world’s biggest LNG carriers – 14 vessels equating in size to cruise liners and 60 per cent bigger than previous LNG ships – will bring Qatar’s gas to South Hook, eventually one shipload every two and a half days. At Dragon, one shipload a week is expected. The liquefied gas is pumped from ship to tanks. Later it is restored to normal gas by warming. Why liquefy at all? It’s safer. Also, chilled to minus 1600C, the liquid it becomes fills only one six-hundredth of the space it would need otherwise. The gas is later piped mostly underground for more than 190 miles to Gloucestershire, then goes to consumers. More than 18 million homes in the UK use natural gas, and a lot is also needed to generate electricity. Britain’s gas demand could increase by 15 per cent over the next 10 years and dependence on imports could approach 50 per cent by 2010. Priority for LNG is perhaps understandable.

Nelson thought Milford Haven one of the world’s finest waterways. What he would say if he saw all these landmark tanks now is anyone’s guess

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

WHESSOE has many times in its long life seized the main chance. In 1825, it latched onto the Stockton and Darlington railway on which, that year, Robert Stephenson ran Locomotion No1 the world’s first public passenger service. Alfred Kitching, Whessoe’s founder, was one of the first passengers, and Whessoe became a prime contractor to the railway. In 1891, as Whessoe Foundry Company Ltd, it entered the gas industry. And, when the firm went public in 1920, Shell bought 51pc of its ordinary shares, steering it eventually to petroleum and petrochemical engineering. Whessoe’s advantage was an early ability to replace riveted construction by welding. In 1963 it completed Britain’s first LNG terminal at Canvey Island in Essex, where Algerian LNG landed until 1994 when North Sea competition halted it. Four years earlier, what is now Whessoe Oil & Gas and Whessoe plc separated, the former coming under Swedish ownership as Skanska Whessoe. But in 2003, a loss of £500,000 on £27 million sales almost drove the former out of business. The following year, however, it was sold to the largest oil and gas service company in the Middle East, Al Rushaid Group of Saudi Arabia, along with sister companies Cleveland Bridge and Dorman Long. A golden key to Arabia, world centre of energy, had been found. Today, Whessoe Oil & Gas offers total service capability in both sources. In 2005, the company moved offices to Darlington’s elite new business park, Morton Palms. Success should continue. Though gas was first liquefied by Michael Faraday and Karl Von Linde in the 19th Century, and the first LNG terminal built in the USA in 1912, only now is LNG in big demand. In the US alone, LNG’s market share of under 2pc could hit 10pc within a decade. And guess what? Whessoe Oil & Gas already has a foothold there. It is caught up in a big freeze and it loves it.

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INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

INTERVIEW

SWEETENING THE PILL TO pedagogues of business it might appear a textbook case of ‘managing change’. A compelling one too. Downsizing usually indicates ordered retreat, but Morpeth’s Piramal Healthcare, while slimming a workforce once 650 strong down to 335, has sights on profit growth of up to 25 per cent annually over the next five years. Hardly a business struggling to survive then, but in today’s volatile sector of pharmaceuticals, no company - from world number one Pfizer (which sold the Morpeth operation to Piramal), down to the smallest operator - can expect to stay snug. Some fortunes are rising while others plunge in a business where some profits and chief executive pays have previously been deemed near obscene. But now these companies compete in what GlaxoSmithKline, the world number two, calls ‘a rapidly

The entire pharmaceuticals industry is in deep uncertainty. But that might be no bad thing for firms in the North East, reports Brian Nicholls

changing and challenging environment’. It is nearly 40 years since the Morpeth plant which is now Piramal Healthcare’s home first opened. Owners have come and gone while many staff have stayed. One or two - like Aidan Walker, now vice-president operations (Morpeth) and Richard Packer, director new business and programme management - have worked their way to the top. Morpeth was US giant Searle’s major international operation until Searle succumbed to Monsanto in the mid-1980s. But by then, Morpeth had a valuable asset – a legacy of experience in worldwide markets. Even so, when Monsanto itself hit difficulties the Morpeth operation was targeted. It became part of Pharmacia from 2000 and was a successful launch pad for products, with something like 300 to its credit. That was when about 650 worked there. In 2002, however, Pfizer showed interest in Pharmacia and acquired it the following year. Richard Packer recalls: “We tried to position ourselves within an even bigger organisation, but our fit was unclear, especially as Pfizer had acquired other firms in quick succession, giving excess capacity.” >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

Varied career: Aidan Walker, vice president (operations) at Piramal Healthcare, has had eight different jobs in 16 years at the same site point

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Morpeth already made API – active pharmaceutical ingredient; the substance within a drug that is pharmaceutically active, as distinct from the substance of the tablet or liquid the API is suspended in - and drugs are chosen mainly for their active ingredients. But divestment hung in the air. “We were lucky. We were among those put up for sale. Other plants were marked for closure,” Richard says. That was in January 2005. In June 2006 Nicholas Piramal, a leading Indian drug group which is still only 20 years old now, bought the Morpeth site lock, stock and barrel, and with it the vendor’s agreement to continue using it for certain products. It was an international entry Piramal eagerly wanted, for it favours relations with other major companies it can work with. Since last March, Morpeth has come under the name of Piramal Healthcare. Though still part of a big group, gone is the luxury in adversity of taking refuge under a mother company’s wing. Morpeth now must be self sufficient. It is no cause for regret within the management. Up to 100 jobs had to be shed initially, some while Pfizer still held the reins. As Aidan puts it: “We did a major stock take on costs and what we could afford to be in a different environment.” Last November, 56 positions went and the workforce is now nearer the 335 or so deemed about right for purpose. But it has not all been pay-off, as Aidan explains. “We have also brought in special skills where the needs of today’s customers have to be met. So we have put heads back into the business too. And we have a lot of side business with Pfizer.” Like many drug firms, Piramal Healthcare is coy about naming its products publicly, such is the poaching of work that goes on. But Richard does venture that Morpeth now produces and supplies, in trade terms, ‘stock-keeping units’. A major achievement for the North East, as well as its own revenue stream, is its 95 per cent export performance: 40 per cent for European Union states, 22 per cent for Asia, and 25 per cent for Latin America. Japan figures particularly. Now Morpeth, besides providing the API (up to 90 tons a year), supplies inert aspects, or

JULY 08

the entire tablet, (about 1.5 billion of them a year), plus packaging. It trades and transfers chemicals and provides ‘end-to-end’, from API to formulation, and then on to packaging and delivery. Aidan has worked at the site for 16 years in eight different jobs, initially as a plant chemist. He was made site leader in mid-2006 before his present appointment. Richard has been there 18 years, initially as a plant chemist supporting API, and has done about 12 different jobs, mainly in product development, before turning to his present, more customerorientated role 12 months ago. A major benefit of entering Piramal’s fold has been the access to expertise of its international business team. Aidan says: “We are well placed now to capitalise on the many changes, as for example the pressures that Western governments are putting on health care budgets for the good of their people.” Many giants of the industry – Astra Zeneca, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer, for example - are sensitive now to competition from generic drugs flourishing when patents expire. The giants are cost cutting and re-evaluating their research and development and their sales and marketing. Besides having to seek cheaper production, they find fewer products approved. Another dynamic to Aidan and Richard is the closure of many facilities through mega-mergers. “As their R&D becomes costlier, many majors realise they need not to do everything themselves. Many are contracting to >>

A major achivement for the North East, and for Piramal, is its 95 per cent export performance

INTERVIEW

Pharma fortunes The seesaw fortunes of pharmaceuticals are evident even within the North East. Sanofi-Aventis, the French multinational at work in Alnwick and Fawdon, Newcastle, has made a £100 million investment to supply American markets with Tynesidemade drugs for the first time. The packaging hall at the Fawdon plant, which employs 450-plus, has been refurbished at a cost of £12 million, though that does not help 700 Sanofi-Aventis salesmen being paid off in France. Shasun Pharma Solutions, another Indian major which bought its plant in Dudley, Northumberland from Rhodia of France two years ago, is swelling its workforce of 300 by 55 and possibly doubling capacity to enter American markets. Aesica’s operation at nearby Cramlington, from which bulk APIs have been supplied for more than 25 years, has recently introduced a pilot plant to make and supply small volumes of compounds for clinical development ahead of mass manufacture. The company was formed in 2004 in a management buyout from BASF, led by managing director Robert Hardy. BASF earlier acquired it from Boots Pharmaceuticals.

But at Seal Sands on Teesside, the story for 65 workers is different. Danish firm Lundbeck found no immediate buyer when it recently put up for sale its £40m factory opened in 2001. With fewer drugs approved, big drug companies see a decade of boom ended. GSK still has more than 160 drugs in development, and has been a North East fixture since its 1945 opening in Barnard Castle of the UK’s first factory massproducing penicillin by deep fermentation. But even GSK is axing two per cent of its global research force of 17,000, and while Barnard Castle looks unscathed so far, questions are inevitably being asked. For all the big groups, new disclosure requirements and side effects make R&D costlier. Thus, multinationals find it now takes about 11 years to get the average new drug to market, at a cost of around $1.3 billion. With the slowing of sales due to generic competition – Pfizer and Sweden’s Astra Zeneca are especially vulnerable - sales are slowing and returns on research spends are poorer. Shire Pharmaceuticals even says it must relocate from the UK where corporation tax is 28 per cent to the Republic of Ireland where it is 12 per cent.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

50118

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

The financial challenge is clear: in the current fiveyear plan, a 20-25 per cent profit growth annually is the aspiration, a minimum 15 per cent a must

suppliers like us. We are picking up in API and in formulation things we had not expected.” So niche tracking is for Richard a prime quest. Competition, though, is tough here too, even from developing industries in China and India, despite a preference among Western buyers to continue buying Western product. Morpeth’s executives recognise this preference may not always continue. “Again, we are up against other contract manufacturers in Europe and the United States,” Aidan points out. Piramal must continue getting the cost base down to be strongly placed when re-bidding for contracts. It must also secure new contracts. On all this, Aidan says, management has to bring employees aboard with everything to ensure full support. He admits: “It has taken a lot of time to bring people with us on the transformation. We have to make clear why a fast culture change is necessary. As in any business, some people adapt faster than others. On graphs of change, you will see some up and some down. But I think we have tried and succeeded in being supportive. We are still willing to learn in that respect.” The financial challenge is clear: in the current five-year plan, a 20-25 per cent profit growth annually is the aspiration, a minimum 15 per cent a must. “We believe the markets are there,” Aidan says. “And we have clear sight of some of the markets.” ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Worldwide excellence It is evident that the state of uncertainty can help smaller North East firms like Piramal Healthcare. Onyx Scientific, an eight-year-old Sunderland firm, plans a stock market placement. Chief executive Tony Flinn and other directors, who bought the company for £2.5m and now employ around 50, are after acquisitions both in the UK and the USA. The firm helps develop drugs for seven of the sector’s world top 10 and sales, even without acquisitions, could hit £6.5 million within a couple of years. At Prudhoe in Northumberland, Fiona Cruickshank and Brian Dougherty have added a fourth unit to their young Specials Laboratory, a Fast Track 100 business cashing in to the tune of £14 million a year on big firms’ disinclination to involve in unlicensed and small volume medicines. Major elements supporting Piramal Healthcare’s strategic vision include the parent group’s purchase of it in the first place, and the ‘end-to-end’ service now offered. The location is right too.

Besides Morpeth itself enjoying pharma esteem internationally, it is within a region where the industry is significant, employing about 40,000 people directly and impacting on incomes of 280,000 more. So Piramal is on a hub of transferable skills, even for senior staff. Aidan and Richard are themselves from the Teesside-dominated background of process chemicals, of which pharmaceuticals forms part. The North East Process Industries Cluster (Nepic), many of whose members are in pharmaceuticals, represents 500 firms, and there are at least as many other companies in the supply chain. The companies provide 30 per cent of the region’s industrial base through sales exceeding £10 billion, and Nepic firms are investing £7 billion more into the region by 2015 - another 16,000 jobs to fill, perhaps, and a magnet of a recruiting ground for the like of Piramal, apart from the training they do themselves. Richard says companies like theirs are helped, not only by good transport links, but also by international acknowledgement that North East workers have a canniness to be flexible and deliver.

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s ’ n h o J h c r a e res here Professor John Burn, Medical Director, Institute of Human Genetics, Newcastle University.

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INTERVIEW

JULY 08

SCIENCE FACT… OR FICTION? Elation for Newcastle’s new status as a science city is warranted, but aren’t there two big obstacles to overcome? Brian Nicholls asks science city chief executive Dr Peter Arnold

Mastermind: Dr Peter Arnold has the job of bringing Science City about

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

WHEN the initial euphoria recedes over Newcastle’s plans for a science city, two hard questions will need answers... First, will Newcastle, with an envisaged time scale of 10 to 15 years, secure all the inward investment it needs when five other science cities in England will also be tapping many similar or the same sources? And will the resource asset of the five North East universities provide access to sufficient knowledge skills? A recent guide to best-performing universities put the region’s universities between eighth and 88th out of 113. Its assessment of graduate prospects puts Durham third out of

JULY 08

15 universities top-ranked in chemistry, and sixth out of the top 15 in mathematics, while Newcastle comes fifth among the top 13 in medicine. Well and good. But another guide, similarly authoritative, puts no North East university among leaders in bioscience. It does rate Newcastle second nationally for chemical engineering, and gives it a mid-table place in the top echelon for teaching in dentistry, medicine, computer sciences and information technology. It also squeezes into 16th place, two ahead of Sunderland, in the top 18 for pharmacy and pharmacology. Tables seldom tell all and they can be subjective. Those of us familiar with the institutions know their capabilities, but a potential bioscience investor thousands of miles away could be inclined to look to one of England’s other designated science cities. Also, if 15 years elapse before the city’s Science Central district is completed in the heart of Newcastle (property leases often complicate urban regeneration), do the other five science cities get a head start? Dr Peter Arnold, newly appointed first chief executive of Science City, expects eventually to

be largely promoting the research there and chasing inward investment: “Tracking opportunities,” he says. “We shall have to map out where Newcastle will be really competitive.” Meanwhile, he fields our awkward questions with equanimity. At 46, he looks and speaks less like an entrepreneur, more like a scientist or a consultant surgeon: calmly, quietly, like the specialist building your confidence as he explains your heart bypass to come. Don’t be misled. Dr Arnold’s experience as a senior research and development leader, in cancer predominantly, included building a business later bought by Shell. He was with Johnson & Johnson and, latterly, was group technical director of technology at FTSE-100’s Smith & Nephew, Europe’s largest medical devices company. He has experience of science management on both sides of the Atlantic, and has led significant programmes of corporate change. He has also fed into government policy on clinical research, nano- and stem technology; two of the “ologies” of paramount importance to Science City in Newcastle. Professor Chris Bink, vice-chancellor of

INTERVIEW

Newcastle University, for one, expects Dr Arnold’s experience and expertise to benefit the city and the region greatly. Dr Arnold, barely into the job, already chooses to live in the Tyne Valley, rather than commuting from York where he worked previously and where he gained his PhD at the cancer research unit of the university. He was only four days into his present job when visual projections for the science district were published, and he already fields awkward questions comfortably. On matching other science cities – Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham and York – he is assertive: “We are ahead of the game,” he says. “We have in Newcastle Science City Partnership three public organisations – One NorthEast, Newcastle City Council and Newcastle University – which, besides being big institutions with great vision, have already shown by securing the city site at the speed they did, how quickly they can move together. Our partnership behind the project is something we are very privileged to have. “It has already done a lot of hard work early on, as has Sarah Stewart, director of Newcastle Science City, in terms of >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

Science Central: what it is The new science district is a £700 million sustainable project on a 19-acre site in Gallowgate which was formerly home to Newcastle Brewery. Besides the science complex, there will be new homes, shops, restaurants and other amenities. It is expected to support 5,000 jobs directly, and many more indirectly. A 40-storey tower block will give a skyline identity, and the slope it stands on will be used to maximise views of the city and the Tyne Valley. There will be accommodation for 1,000 students as well as 189 other homes and apartments and the goal is to create 250 new science-orientated businesses there and co-ordinate scientific research and learning.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

clarifying what is needed to develop a new district with a new meaning in the city centre. I can start a real estate review straight away to create space and have buildings for people to work in from 2014. I want them filled to the benefit of spin-out businesses. We are building a totally new science enterprise which is highly innovative. I am confident skilled and talented people will want to live and work here.” About 100 scientists have moved to Newcastle since the city was designated for science in 2005. Dr Arnold says: “You can get good value and good people at all levels. You don’t have to be a multinational. Many scientists are eager to see Newcastle higher in world recognition. We have staggering ambition.” But the ambition is also realistic, he adds, knowing the work going on within university walls and noting the region’s expertise in attracting inward investment. “We want to bring big industry in without it taking over,” he says. “We want it integral, using incubator space for example. “Our experimental area encouraging viable ideas will have mechanisms to help those students and post-graduates who wish to set up a business.” Universities including Durham will adjust to the science city theme, he asserts, and One NorthEast and Newcastle City Council will re-engineer new management structures, incentives and resources. Dr Arnold - married with children aged 14 and nine – already has his team interesting schools in encouraging science as a career. “We want energy and enthusiasm,” he declares. And besides the research institutes at university level, Newcastle College will have a new school of applied sciences in the district. Local scientists already contribute through Newcastle University, he says. “Durham University will also be very welcome. We shall probably shape many things towards them. It would be wonderful to see the district, once established, more regional. The region as a whole has lots to offer.” I remind him of Sunderland’s potential in pharmacy and pharmacology, and the proximity of Easington which, with probably the country’s worst health record (despite measures already in place to improve it), could offer a rich test bed.

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Something largely overlooked about Science City is that it will not only feature health and medicine for commercial advantage, but also feature energy and environment, and molecular engineering within the innovative technology implicit

Will Dr Arnold allow himself to be embroiled in stem cell controversy? “There are others more able than me who will explain developments as they occur,” he says. “People may have objections until they have a loved one who is very poorly. Then, often, their mood changes; they feel they would try almost anything to solve the problem. We have an opportunity to discover new treatments, and that’s important.” The stem cell research underway, notably in Newcastle and London, seeks better treatments in the first instance for Parkinson’s disease, cancer and children’s genetic conditions. Then there are health sciences: ageing and vitality. ”What can we do to help society as a larger proportion of our population gets older?” Dr Arnold asks. “We may have parents or grandparents. We have to find ways to help people like them more as they become older; even doing little things to help them to get on with their life makes a huge difference.” Professor Tom Kirkwood, director of the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle

University, will go on to build his global reputation as he enables Newcastle to help society achieve a big ideal, Dr Arnold says. During the present planning and promotion, Dr Arnold has a team of five or six secondees from within the partnership. A permanent staff of up to 30 might be expected eventually, with a priority to involve everyone in Newcastle; scientifically minded or not. While setting up a science city on a business park, as other cities are doing, can avoid planning complications, Dr Arnold believes that developing one centrally has advantages. “We can transform the prosperity of Newcastle at the same time. A strong agenda for science exists here. It appeals to people’s altruistic side, and at the same time will benefit society. “The brewery site just happens to be at the epicentre of all our institutions covering the various sciences. So at a stroke we can link the institutions and also bring people into it from all walks of life because it will not be an exclusive, gated community. “This is Newcastle’s advantage; a science

INTERVIEW

quarter in a new central district with a resident population, boulevarded and with friendly meeting places and things to do - not an isolated development, but an opportunity to put new life and new buildings into the area. “It won’t empty at 5pm like a business park. Residents will interface, and people from elsewhere will happily join the social mix. Yet it will remain an experimental area where students want to study and post graduates want to set up business. We want big business and incubator space alike to be integral. “The aim is for the district to create the sort of pride the city gained when the Quayside was redeveloped. And we want outsiders seeing it as somewhere that, when they recall the science going on there, will say: “We’ve got to go to Newcastle and work with them there, because they know what they are doing and have got results.’” Some sceptics, meanwhile, may be hoping to see faster progress on Newcastle’s science district than has been evident at Newcastle’s other sectoral suburb, the high-tech and oxymoronic Great Park. Something largely overlooked about Science Central is that it will not only feature health and medicine for commercial advantage, but also feature energy and environment, and molecular engineering within the innovative technology implicit “No-one can fail to be interested in energy and environment when you have £80 or £90 worth of fuel in your tank. And micro-engineering will be about producing innovative solutions in technology, like the next wave of computers,” Dr Arnold explains. So what drew Peter Arnold to the chief executive’s job? “The big ideal, the challenge and opportunity to transform a city’s prosperity with a much stronger agenda for science,” he says. “It appeals to people’s altruistic side - to engage in and create something beneficial to our society. “There are few opportunities to realise that sort of desire, and with the level of support there is here. We are privileged here to have three big institutions so much wanting to do this together. With not much in the way of nuts and bolts at this point, there is a big chance for me to show what it will mean on the ground.” ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

SHAPING TOMOROW’S WORKFORCE … TODAY Are you struggling to find young employees with the skills your business needs? So why not do something about it? Newcastle Education Business Partnership and South Tyneside Blue Venture give businesses a genuine say in young people’s skills development. Use us to have a direct input into the new 14-19 Diplomas, raise employability skills in schools and plug skills gaps in your industry. We’ve developed highly successful programmes directly for companies including Capital Shopping Centres and SURGO. Isn’t it time you benefited too?

Go on … make education your business. Contact: Gillian Bulman, chief executive, Newcastle EBP and South Tyneside Blue Venture T: 0191 277 4444 E: nebp@newcastle.gov.uk W: www.newcsatle-ebp.org.uk

JULY 08

COMPANY PROFILE

32-year-old Robina Din is a classic example of the great careers that can be forged within the North East contact centre sector

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS - AN AWARD-WINNING FORMULA FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

ASED at the npower site in Peterlee, Robina Din is a training consultant within the business, which has 2,200 staff across five centres in the region, dedicated to supplying gas and electricity customer services. The company is committed to the development of its people, and to assist its training and skills agenda it has built a long-term relationship with City of Sunderland College. The college provides a wide range of services to the company and Robina is one of the many beneficiaries. Robina, who has been with the firm for eight years, began her career as a customer services advisor before progressing upwards to team manger, training officer and her current role of in-house training consultant. It is within her latest role as training consultant that Robina has felt the full benefit of the advice and support available from City of Sunderland College. Robina, said: “As a training consultant I am involved in aiding continuous improvement within npower, to improve the services we offer to our customers. Our role is to support this improvement across the contact centres from a training perspective, ensuring costs and timescales are met within the project. She added: “In coming into this new position it became clear that we did not have the IT and planning skills to effectively design and monitor projects. “Help was on hand from the college, which worked with our Learning Resource Centres to develop a bespoke Project Management course. This helped us learn skills we could transfer to a number of business areas and was perfect for the projects we work on. “We were given on-site training, most of it based on real projects in the business, and the

Left to right: Kerry Wilson, Learning Resource Manager, Robina Din, Training Consultant at npower

THEIR ABILITY TO BE FLEXIBLE AND TO PROVIDE BESPOKE TRAINING SHOWS THAT THEY ARE LISTENING TO US AND ARE RESPONSIVE TO OUR NEEDS college was always on hand to offer advice and troubleshooting as we got to grips with using the system. The Business Solutions team at City of Sunderland College are totally committed to the provision of flexible, bespoke learning provision for the business sector and is one of a small number of training providers to be awarded the prestigious Training Quality Standard. Introduced by the Learning and Skills Council, it is a voluntary assessment framework for training providers highlighting excellence in the two areas that employers say are most important to them – provider responsiveness to employer needs and provider excellence in a particular vocational area. Kerry Wilson, npower Learning Resource Manager,

said: “npower is committed to investing in and developing our people. We offer an outstanding range of learning opportunities through our dedicated Training and Development team, both on a vocational and a personal basis. We have found this to be fundamental in developing the skills of our employees and we also support them in gaining qualifications.” “Working in partnership with City of Sunderland College is part of that strategy, as they take the time to understand the pressures and challenges that our business face. To that end, their ability to be flexible and to provide bespoke training shows that they are listening to us and are responsive to our needs.” Rob Whitton, Head of Sunderland School of Leadership & Management, said: “We understand that education in this context must be both customer-led and work-based. From the start we worked with npower to develop a bespoke programme that met their specific requirements. This isn’t a one step process, we work in a tripartite development partnership with facilitators, employers and candidates working together to offer continuous improvement and fulfillment of changing needs.”

To find out more about our range of training and education programmes call 0191 511 6759 or email solutions@citysun.ac.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

Social conscience: John Cuthbert

JULY 08

Northumbrian Water, recently named one of the nation’s greenest and best corporate workers in the community, may even have the opportunity now to help provide affordable rural homes, discovers Brian Nicholls

WATER WORKS UTILITIES are its business of course, but Northumbrian Water is also one of the UK’s leading community-minded companies with aspirations now to help develop affordable homes for the region. In so doing, it aims to maintain its newly won reputation as one of the UK’s most community-minded companies. Indeed, the North East plc, industrious also in Essex and Suffolk, is this year one of only eight firms in the country to win a distinction for the social impact it creates. This is the icing on the cake, in managing director John Cuthbert’s words, coming just four days after Northumbrian Water broke into the top Platinum Class in the National Corporate Responsibility Index (a Top 100 list considered the prime authority on levels of corporate social responsibility). Judges who benchmark companies from many sectors on behalf of Business in the Community (BITC) agreed that Northumbrian Water is the nation’s best performing multiutility, and one of 10 British sector leaders in quality of involvement with people, communities, the environment and the market place. Indeed, the Durham-based plc’s position in the Platinum Class marks it out as one of only 34 top-performers in terms of corporate

responsibility, ranking it alongside names including BT, HBOS, Ernst and Young, Sainsbury, John Lewis Partnership, KPMG, Lloyds TSB, PWC and Unilever. Further, of those 34, Northumbrian Water is one of only eight gaining the Impact on Society Award from BITC, placing it in the rarest atmosphere with the likes of EDF Energy, Barclays and Pearson. All this rather cocks a snook at the metropolitomaniacs who, when Northern Rock fell from grace, suggested the North East was hardly a suitable place from which to run a major plc. A rebuke now is all the more justified given that Scottish and Newcastle (still at work in this region, albeit recently taken over) is also in the Platinum class, and sector leader in beverages. Note, too, that Go-Ahead (keeping a registered office in the North East after two decades, despite relocating head office to London) has Gold rating – just one down from Platinum - for running Britain’s most environmentally friendly bus fleet while carrying 40 million more passengers. And Ho Sanderson’s 11-year-old Eshott Hall Estate, reviving a dying community near Morpeth, was one of seven UK firms awarded for their rural action. But it’s Northumbrian Water - above the likes of BBC, M&S and >>

INTERVIEW

Making waves Any firm wishing to follow Northumbrian Water’s example will find corporate responsibility practised in five areas of its daily business: customer, environment, people, competitiveness and reputation. Company programmes include a 15-hour a-time commitment by employees to help realise community projects and last year, the group and members of its workforce (2,900 in total, and all but 700 in the North East) gave 5,000 hours freely in a variety of activities. A Hoops for Health programme run jointly with Newcastle’s basketball Eagles promotes wellbeing in schools, while some employees have trained to umpire and promote tennis under a Tony Blair Sports Foundation scheme. At Dilston, Corbridge, one of three colleges forming the Mencap National College for young people with learning difficulties, volunteers helped turn an outhouse into a laundry in an enterprise venture. At Green Lane Oasis, South Shields, 22 volunteers toiled for 250 hours to convert waste land into an outdoor education garden with an amphitheatre which won the Pride of South Tyneside Greener South Tyneside award sponsored by Northumbrian Water. At Easington in East Durham, where the colliery once stood, a former pumping station which had become a target for vandals became a rent-free building promoting community and health, with local residents directly involved. Facilities at the centre, called Healthworks, include a gym, weight-minding programmes, men’s health, food co-op, healthy eating, and citizens’ and benefit advice. Other local services provided there include police and Age Concern, and chiropody is also available. Volunteers help there too.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

We try to play our part in all areas of our region, and our employees respond to voluntary opportunities Rolls Royce in assessment - that also gets the impressive BITC title of North East Responsible Business of the Year. Managing director John Cuthbert says: “Our achievement reflects a lot of work, time and effort that our people have piled into the endeavours, particularly over the past two years or so. “We try to play our part in all areas of our region, and our employees respond to voluntary opportunities. They deserve lots of credit because, covering an area from the Scottish border to North Yorkshire, they must connect with the communities they work among for our endeavours to work properly.” And as he points out: “Utilities are among highest performers of all the sectors considered, making our awards all the more creditable. We have been acclaimed now for something we have been doing for our communities for a long time.” BITC, an independent charity, was set up 26 years ago by firms out to prove how business impacts on society. It now has more than 800 member businesses, and the Corporate Responsibility Index in which Northumbrian Water has excelled is in its sixth year. “Recognition is very pleasing,” John Cuthbert says. “But our main reason for involvement is to share ideas with - and gain ideas from - other companies of like mind, to find what works and what doesn’t.” John, in defending the North East as a base for plcs, cites other big groups run effectively from the region, and hopes some of the small, highly innovative companies, also coming up will join them on a plc pedestal before long. ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Bedding down: At Birtley sewage treatment works, reed beds are used to treat waste water

A climate change Many in the Tyne Valley particularly will be delighted that Northumbrian Water’s push in the environment includes a drive to improve safeguards against floods like those which damaged many homes and businesses in the recent past. The company has a new manager, David Chapman, dedicated to heading corporate strategy for climate change and collection of weather data is being improved for a better understanding of changing rainfall patterns. These affect the company’s 17,000km of sewage network, where problems can arise during heavy rainfalls. Northumbrian Water is also providing 85 schools across the North East with free automated weather stations and associated training. These stations feed various agencies with further information, supporting preparations for climate change. In addition the company is, with the Met Office and the Environment Agency, installing the region’s first weather radar at High Moorsley, Sunderland. The closest radar at present is in Lancashire, and the more proximate data will help the Environment Agency to issue more accurate and detailed flood warnings in the North East. The company is reducing its own carbon emissions from processes used to treat and supply drinking water and to return treated waste water safely to the environment. Work planning for mobile employees brings down vehicle mileages by making greater use of mini-computers, cellphones and satellite technology. Sustainable treatment processes now use less energy, fewer chemicals. At Birtley sewage treatment works, reed beds are used to treat waste water instead of a conventional energy intensive solution. The company generates hydro-electricity at reservoirs and treatment plants where practical, including the region’s largest reservoir, Kielder Water. Employees also table ideas. One suggested recycling the plastic bottles used to take water samples by passing them to a company that turns them into plastic furniture. Thousands of bottles a year are now recycled in this way. The public can help their own pockets by attending briefings on how to save water, and how to avoid drain blockages that threaten hefty bills or higher insurance premiums. In schools, offices and factories, Northumbrian Water also promotes bottle-free mains-fed water to coolers that make fresh cold water available. These coolers, the company says, benefit both the environment and the pocket because there is no need to transport or dispose of bottles. And while a 19-litre refill for a bottled water cooler can cost up to £7, the equivalent directly from the mains is a mere 2p. Now, if that isn’t exercising social responsibility what is?

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INTERVIEW

JULY 08

‘I LAUGH AT MILLIONAIRES WHO TAKE IT ALL IN LIFE. THEY CAN’T TAKE THEIR FORTUNES WITH THEM.’ - BRIAN BURNIE, MILLIONAIRE BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

There aren’t many new hotels built with support for charity a main objective, and the country retreat that millionaire philanthropist Brian Burnie is completing at a Northumberland beauty spot is a fine example, discovers Brian Nicholls

“IT’S awful when you’re a millionaire and have to do the bacon sandwiches,” laughs Brian Burnie, laying out tasty butties for his visitors. The BQ team admits such a high standard of service is new to them too, and much appreciated – especially as Brian’s 13-hour day also includes cutting the grass, which is tantamount to tending the pitch at St James’s Park, the Stadium of Light or the Riverside; maybe all three together. Deadline is nearing for the opening of the North East’s newest attraction in rustic hospitality - Doxford Hall Country House Hotel at Chathill, near Alnwick. “It’s going to be world class… It will happen,” says Brian, as if we doubted. In the quiet comfort of the Burnies’ spacious

INTERVIEW

lounge in an early 19th Century John Dobson mansion, it is easy to forget that in the hotel being built in a tasteful extension yards away, masons are chiselling and carpenters sawing industriously at every tick of the grandfather clock while expensive tea sets and lampshades mount in the entrance hall. The master craftsmen, like Brian, are conscious of the seconds passing, though he is masterly at concealing any anxiety. For 14 years now, the Burnies have worked to realise this ambition – planning consent came in 2000 and at the time of writing £1 million worth of work remained to be done out of £14 million worth in total. The opening is due in August; will it be on time? “It has to be,” says Brian. “We have two weddings booked for the end of that month.” His wife Shirley, who knew we were coming and has baked a cake, brings it in and briefly joins us for a jest or two before retreating, smiling, before we can praise its delicacy – though not before she verifies, again with a laugh, her suggestion at the outset that Brian Burnie running a luxury hotel might look a bit like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers. However, with his ducal appearance of being to the manor born, Brian looks nothing like Fawlty. Anyway, his voice in one joke after another sounds more like Little Bobby Thompson. Also, with his business background, his switch to hotelier should ensure early break-even at Doxford Park. It has to, since his ultimate ambition in charity work also rests on it. He cannot say how many millions he has raised for good causes during his 64 years, but we can assume that of all the region’s new hotels opening in a burgeoning tourist industry, this will probably be the only one guaranteeing a canny few pence to charities for every pound of profit. So what motivates this ex-errand boy? Belief that you only get out of life what you put into it, and that you are what your parents are. “My mam told me – and Jim Harper the trade union leader said the same thing – ‘never forget your roots’. Provided you’ve got an inside toilet and central heating, what more do you want in life? I came from that background – outside toilet.” Through the new hotel he hopes that, long after his lifetime, his charitable trust >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

will ensure philanthropy is perpetuated. The business is covenanted to give money to a trust. Not bad for a war baby born in a bedsit in Heaton, Newcastle. Giving, for him, began with a dish of brown Windsor soup. He recalls: “I was a lad when my mother told me to carry the soup into a neighbour, an elderly lady in an old person’s flat who was poorly. In those days, a meal for four easily became a meal for five, even if only mashed potatoes. “That attitude rubs off. I asked why she did it. She said it was the least anyone could do, and if she didn’t do it, someone else would.” Then there was his father, who had served with the RAF during the war and who, like his wife, was a devout and active socialist. “He often said that socialism was Christianity in practice.” No surprise then, that when Brian and Shirley married, guests were asked to give donations to charity rather then presents. Over many years, their welcome door has been ever open; teenage children from Chernobyl among their countless guests. When Brian was young, he and his parents moved over the railway line from that First Avenue bedsit to Brough Street, and his education began at North View Infants School (now no more). Home later was a house in Shiremoor built by Sir William Leech - the Tyneside window cleaner who became one of the nation’s most successful house builders by combining practical building with cheap loans for modestly waged post-war families.

When Brian and Shirley married, the guests were asked to give donations to charity rather than presents. Over many years, their welcome door has been ever open; teenage children from Chernobyl among their countless guests

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Later, Brian lived in Reid Park Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, and over the years he and William Leech became close friends. The Leech Trust is now in its 53rd year and Sir William’s lifetime of philanthropy still inspires Brian. “My ambition is to die penniless,” he says. “I wouldn’t give for something in return and I laugh at millionaires who just take all in life. They can’t take their fortunes with them.” He recognises the importance of having topgrade staff for his venture. His forte has been recruitment, after all. After running messages at 15, then being apprenticed to John Laing the builder and qualifying as an engineer en route to management in construction and petrochemicals, Brian and a partner started Kelburn Holdings in the late 1970s to recruit engineers and surveyors. Later, he broadened the Newcastle firm into general consultancy. Today he has four “cracking” senior staff recruited on recommendation, and he expects there will be up to 70 hotel employees in all. Departmental heads, he says, will have to be among the world’s best. One local worker, he heard, recently went to work at the Sultan of Brunei’s new hotel, signalling how global the labour market is now. “I am under no illusion about the extent of competition when standards have to be upheld,” he says. Despite the Fawlty family joke, he says he is a good manager of people and training will contribute greatly to the hotel’s success. “Staff will be at NVQ3 level, just as when Nissan came to Washington. They said you didn’t have to be able to make motor cars, all you had to do was want to make motor cars. We’ll train them here to a standard fit for a job anywhere in the world.” He is determined too that most staff, like the craftsmen now completing the hotel, will be from north Northumberland and the Borders. So proud is he of the work there now that the public rooms will be named after the craftsmen who have worked there. The hotel’s 25 bedrooms will be named after local castles and the hotel maxim will be: “The customer is always right... until they don’t pay their bill!” It is already developing a reputation. Besides a sunken Italian garden on its 10 acres, there is a yew maze which local schoolchildren helped in the building of and which is >>

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

DURHAM will also have a new hotel before the end of the year. The multi-million pound Radisson SAS will open on November 1. It has 209 guest rooms, a large restaurant, bar, leisure club with gym, swimpool and treatment rooms. It can accommodate up to 600 in its meeting and events space up to 400 for private dinners. Sales director Nikki Banner says: “Many of our guests will be here to do business or spend some time in the region.” The hotel, originally planned to open in 2005, will bring 200 jobs to the city. It is 10 minutes’ walk from the city station.

bigger than Hampton Court, Hever or Chatsworth. Doxford Hall has already hosted a fish and chip supper for 4,000 guests (exservicemen) and both achievements are now endorsed by Guinness as world records. The Burnies, who have three grown-up children, bought Doxford after 25 years in the Allen Valley in west Northumberland. It had previously been an old people’s home and the couple needed a business interest to preserve the hall and grounds and to continue their charitable work. “While I had Kelburn I regularly gave to charity. When I sold that firm I wanted to go on giving,” says Brian of the Doxford Hall Charitable Trust. Now Brian, a true Northumbriaphile, swears: “I never want to go abroad again! All you could want is in this county. Now I want this hotel to be a major stand-alone employer in north Northumberland. And while it will covenant to charity, I don’t want people staying here out of a sense of charity. I want them here because we are one of the best hotels of our kind in the world.” ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

A fine destination Doxford Hall is close to beauty spots including Bamburgh, Craster, Seahouses, Embleton and Beadnell. Sightings of the elusive red squirrel within the grounds come free. Overseas guests will be targeted online. At home, the goal will be two weddings a week (it has a licence) and business events. Brian also hopes to complement a health club with corporate memberships at four local golf courses. The food on the menu will be from Northumberland (as long as necessary standards are met of course), the restaurant will cater for 60 and the main function suite for 200. For further information, see www.doxfordhall.co.uk

Sales director: Nikki Banner of the Radisson, Durham

BUSINESS LUNCH

JULY 08

EASY LISTENING Bauer Radio’s commercial stations in the region are on a high. Jane Pikett talks to Sally Aitchison - MD of Metro, TFM, CFM and eight Magic AM stations - about rock music, risk taking and radio SALLY Aitchison is pleased with our choice of lunch venue. She’s done a few deals here in the elegant and convivial surroundings of Newcastle’s Living Room restaurant and she comes back time and again. “Oh it’s great here,” she says “Nice place, nice food and I particularly like it because you’re not sitting on top of people. I don’t like people ear-wigging! I come a lot. And I like the bread and olives. I could live on bread and olives.” That’s alright then, because I’m quite liking the Living Room too. I’d been slightly uncertain because I thought it might be a bit city centre flash, but it’s absolutely lovely. Super service, I mean super, delivered by a lovely young chap who absorbs our gentle teasing throughout the lunch with charm and the air of a man who knows when he’s beaten. The bread - a neat half loaf which Sally spears with the knife provided with the air of a woman who can handle herself- is delivered swiftly and expertly along with a bowl of olives and two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and we declare ourselves set up for the afternoon.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Proceedings begin with Sally asking me lots of questions about me, which shows a genuine interest on her part but does rather confuse our roles, as I’m supposed to be interviewing her. So eventually I take control of the situation, declare the interview officially open and ask her to explain the nuts and bolts; they being that she is Bauer Radio’s Northern regional MD with responsibility for 11 radio stations in the North East and Cumbria. Her empire includes Metro Radio in Newcastle (home is the landmark 55 Degrees North roundabout, “the biggest billboard in town; just brilliant!” she says), TFM in Teesside, CFM in Carlisle and eight associated Magic AM stations in the region. The TFM job came along in 1998, the others following over the next couple of years, bringing with them the challenge of falling audiences and revenue. But under Sally’s policy of promoting personality presenters and more music variety, ratings and revenue rose. Metro won Station of the Year and Sally won a Woman of Achievement Award. >>

JULY 08

BUSINESS LUNCH

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

BUSINESS LUNCH

It has been well documented that Sally began her working life at 18 behind the reception desk at Radio Tees, though once you hear the story of how she got that first job, it’s not that surprising that she has progressed so proficiently up the ranks. “I was between A-Levels and college and thought I’d take myself a year off and get a job,” she says, her Stockton accent thoroughly intact; all lovely flat vowels and proper down to earth like. “There was a card at the Job Centre for a sales job at Radio Tees, but when I took it to the desk they said it had gone already, so I just went down there and

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

asked to see the boss. I can’t really believe it now because I’d been so shy at school, but I did it anyway, and this guy, George Knight, came down to see me and offered me a receptionist’s job.” She says that even now she doesn’t really know what made her present herself so confidently at Radio Tees that day; it certainly wasn’t a burning ambition to enter the commercial radio industry. It was clearly a canny move, however, because she worked her way up, rung by rung, until she finds herself here now, 25 years on, with not a bit of side to her, wearing the regional MD’s hat. “You know, I was doing this enterprise thing at Freebrough School in Brotton the other day for an initiative with LEGI with these lovely, lovely kids, and this girl came to speak to me and said she wouldn’t have managed to do that a year ago because she had been so shy. I asked her how she had overcome it and she said she just realised that if she never talked to anyone, she’d never have any friends. I said, ‘good on you girl’. She was just gorgeous.” When the teenage Sally had first begun to emerge from behind her shy exterior, she had rebelled a bit, turning into a bit of a rock chick complete with leather jacket and a passionate love of the music of Rainbow and Whitesnake. “I thought the leather jacket was just amazing and I had the big hair and everything. I was a very good girl in the lessons I liked at school like art, sociology and English, but not so good in the subjects, like the sciences, I didn’t like. “I remember the grey boxed and grey faced careers person telling me that, because I was good at sociology, I was going to be a sociologist or a social worker, but then everyone I know in radio fell into it accidentally like me. “Mind you, these days they come in with media studies degrees and they’re set on a career here, but radio just wasn’t like that then. I wonder now, with so many people doing media studies degrees, if there are going to be the jobs for them. My daughter, who’s 13, said to me the other day that she really wants to do what I do when she grows up. The only thing is, I don’t think anyone’ll be doing what I do when she grows up.” It’s a pragmatic view of a media industry which will simply not exist in its current form

when our children are old enough to follow in our footsteps, though Sally’s world of local commercial radio is arguably healthier than its regional newspaper contemporary. Metro and Magic 1152 combined now enjoy the leading market share. Metro’s Tony Horne in the Morning is the biggest breakfast show in the local region, having increased its listener figures by 10,000 people in the last quarter alone. CFM also has the biggest market share in its area, while TFM and Magic 1170 have the second largest market share, after BBC Radio 2. “Yes, we’re doing very well and I’m very proud

JULY 08

of that,” Sally says. Referring to advertising share, she adds: “Radio was the two per cent medium when I started at Radio Tees 25 years ago; now it’s the seven per cent medium, though our stations here in the region are at sixteen per cent.” So what makes her brands so strong? “They were the originals and people grew up with them,” she says, citing the loyalty of the listeners who grew up with the stations; a group which now includes many of the decision makers who are sending a healthy proportion of their advertising spend her way. “Some of our sister stations, for example in Manchester, seem to have a more cosmopolitan audience, but in the North East, if people have grown up with you they are loyal; they live and breathe you. That’s great for us because we can connect. I suppose for our listeners we’re a bit like getting in a warm bath; it’s safe and comfortable.” And what about Sally, where is she comfortable in business? “I always try to have great relationships with people,” she says, referring to the mutually beneficial associations Metro often enjoys with the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle, for instance; something that would once have been about as likely as George Bush and Saddam Hussein enjoying a round of golf together. “The papers wanted nothing to do with us when I first came to Newcastle, so I picked up the phone to them. It’s about building good relationships. Business is difficult enough and competitive enough; you need to make as many friends as you can,” she says, agreeing that her approach is absolutely pragmatic. So how does she sum up the last 25 years? “Well I don’t feel any different now than I did when I started. In my head, I don’t think I’m any different. I’m still having fun, I still enjoy it. I love to come to work. Some people get stuck in the same job for 25 years, but although I’ve been in the same industry and same region for that time, I have had quite a variety of jobs and roles and I think that has helped to keep me self motivated. “You go through cycles in your career when you need different things at different times. I have had opportunities and each new role has been a new challenge. You know, I’ve never applied for any of the jobs I’ve had apart from

BUSINESS LUNCH

My role is to create an environment for my guys to do a fantastic job. I think about myself and my boss and the best thing he can do is ask me difficult questions; that’s what makes you uncomfortable and that’s what makes you get up and do things

the first. I think that if your company is close to you, they sense through dialogue when you are ready for something a little bit different. They almost make you feel like you have the badge before you have it.” Clearly, her employers have channelled her into each new role and each hat has fit very well, but what is it about Sally Aitchison that made them spot her in the first instance? “Well, I’m never satisfied, so whatever we’re doing, I think we could be doing it better or differently. I’m always curious about the environment we’re in, I’m quite impatient and I do push people quite a lot. “I’m also questioning and challenging, though I would say that I am absolutely fair, and that comes through very clearly in the feedback we get from staff. We’ve always done 360 degree appraisals and the consistent feedback on me is that I am demanding but fair and passionate, which is quite nice because it softens the demanding side. “I’m competitive; I want to win. I haven’t got time to bake, so I’m the mum bashing up shop-bought mince pies so they look home made for the school cake stall. My daughter had to make a crown for something at school and I spent a whole weekend making a replica of the coronation crown for her.” Sally has a particularly well-developed ability to take the p*** out of herself, and she’s now guffawing at the memory of this episode. Fortunately, our fellow diners don’t seem to notice, despite the fact that neither of us has quite mastered the art of the ladylike titter and we are now sending hearty guffaws

bouncing round the room where, I can vouch, the acoustics are really rather good. But, to get back to the serious matter in hand, what sort of boss is she, I mean really? “Seriously, my role is to create an environment for my guys to do a fantastic job. I think about myself and my boss and the best thing he can do is ask me difficult questions; that’s what makes you uncomfortable and makes you get on and do things.” So what does she find difficult, or potentially difficult? “Well, the hardest thing would be to not be visible, so in Newcastle for instance, we have a big open-plan room and my desk is in there. At the other stations, I just hot desk, so anyone might get me sitting next to them. “To be honest, I’m just me, so I have to remind myself that a new starter might be a bit fazed to have the MD sitting next to them all of a sudden asking questions. “I sometimes forget the badge that I wear, and that’s because I grew up in the business, but you know, you make a difference just by being there, and that’s why I travel between the stations all the time.” Sally’s pride in her job is without affectation or, as I say, any side. She’s very warm, very generous company who’s more interested in me than in talking about her. When she speaks of pride in the things she’s done well, it is simply that - a genuine pride of decisions, such as the one to take Metro from its old base out of town, next to a Swalwell scrapyard, to its funky offices on the 55 Degrees North roundabout; a city landmark passed by some 33 million cars and 32,000 trains each >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

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BUSINESS LUNCH year. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of,” she says. “It’s the best billboard in town; a brand statement. That building buzzes, it’s vibrant and, being in the middle of a busy roundabout, you’re watching people’s lives all the time - people in their cars and people kissing on the corner; it’s all there, just outside the window. Does that sound voyeuristic? But it is though isn’t it? Us looking out, and them looking in. God!” What else? She’s proud of the stations’ charity, Cash for Kids, of which Ant and Dec are patrons. It has raised more than £1 million in the last year and, because the stations fund its staff and office space, for every £1 raised 89p goes directly to projects. She’s pleased that she brought presenter Tony Horne back to the popular breakfast show. People tend to love or hate him and, as she says, she made the decision to let him front the biggest show on Metro because bland doesn’t bring audiences. “Lots of people are doing bland, but Tony has people shouting at the radio. The thing is, the people who ring and tell you how much they hate him can tell you every single link he did that morning. People love him or hate him, but they don’t turn him off.” It’s a potentially precarious balance. If he does offend people so that they turn off, where does that leave her decision to give him the coveted breakfast seat? Does a brave decision suddenly look stupid? “Well, we’re given autonomy and that requires a certain amount of sensible risk, but I don’t take stupid risks. I wouldn’t do anything to risk this business. I like to have lots of stats, lots of evidence, lots of research behind my decisions. I don’t decide things just on gut feeling or a whim. What we in the team just happen to think is irrelevant; we have to ask advertisers and listeners what they want,” says Sally, who had to smooth listener ire a couple of years ago when one of her football commentators took an ill-advised swipe at Alan Shearer. “If people make a mistake, I want them to say so and learn from it. It’s okay so long as you don’t repeat it, and I can’t tolerate liars, absolutely not,” she says emphatically. And now, bearing in mind that she was once painfully shy, is she sure of herself? “Well, I’m pleased with myself and I like my own

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JULY 08

company,” she says, again with no hint of side, just a down-to-earth frankness which is refreshingly, straightforwardly simple. “I’m a bit obsessive about brain food and I find inspiration from reading, but never fiction, always development books. It’s essential for me. I reckon the day you think you have arrived or have stopped learning, you may as well go home. People tell me when I go on holiday that I should take some nice fiction, but I can’t. It’s a time thing.” Holidays, by the way, have been to the same place in south Wales every single year since she was five, so that’s completely nonnegotiable. Sally, her husband John and their

son and daughter also go to Disneyland Paris just before Christmas each year. Sally loves it, and I have the impression she’ll still be going when the kids have grown long past it. “Okay, they don’t get so excited about cuddling Pooh Bear anymore, God knows why!” She’s guffawing again, “but it is lovely!” And where will home be when being a regional MD is a distant memory, when she has all the time in the world for selfdevelopment books but her cataracts stop her focusing on them? “Oh, all I want is to move somewhere on the coast, with a little bit of sunshine. It doesn’t have to be abroad though. Just somewhere nice, you know?” ■

Good taste Jane Pikett and Sally Aitchison enjoyed lunch at The Living Room on Newcastle’s Grey Street… We began with gorgeous bread and olives, followed by an impressively exotic-sounding salad of tat soi, mizuna, red chard and baby gem with leek, sango and asparagus shoots topped with pan-seared smoked salmon and new potatoes for Jane, which was excellent; really good. Sally had the vine tomoato, beetroot, red onion and basil salad with bocconcini mozzarella, which she enjoyed a great deal, and we treated ourselves to a very pleasant glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc each. The focus at The Living Room is on good quality ingredients prepared simply. Our salads were imaginatively put together from lovely, quality produce, they delivered bags of flavour and texture and were very pleasing on the eye. And for those for whom a salad isn’t hearty enough to get them through the afternoon, the menu includes plenty of honest, robust dishes like steak, ale and mushroom pie, a selection of burgers and, for those for whom comfort is a priority, macaroni cheese with baby vine tomatoes. The beauty of the menu here is in its range. There are small plates for casual snacking, sandwiches and salads for a lighter lunch, and more hearty fayre for those with a bigger appetite. The pudding list is pleasing, the kids’ menu inviting, the service proficient and friendly and the surroundings pleasingly elegant and comfortable. We’ll go again. www.thelivingroom.co.uk

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YOUNG ON WINE

Duncan Young, managing director of Sanderson Young estate agency, enjoys two very special summer wines

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

AT first, I mistook the two bottles of wine dropped off at our rare! office for a vote of thanks from a client. It was only when I was reminded later that I remembered I had the onerous task of tasting and appraising them over the weekend. Fortunately, this didn’t present too great a workload for a man who is partial to the odd bottle of vino! The first, a 2007 Tasmanian Sauvignon Blanc called Devils Corner from Tamar Ridge on the western banks of the Tamar river, has been very popular in north east Australia for the last ten years and now travels very well to the European shores. Like many Australian and New Zealand wines, this really is very good. Retailing at £9.28, it competes with Oyster Bay and Villa Maria or Jackson Landing and is an excellent wine for sunny afternoon salads, fish dishes, and a fine partner for fresh asparagus. I do like Sauvignon Blanc and this is half the price of Cloudy Bay, who have marketed themselves so exclusively, yet many wines rival them at a fraction of the price. One review described Devils Corner Sauvignon as tasting of freshly mown grass and leafy green herbs! Well, I don’t eat much grass these days so couldn’t comment, but it is very fruity, crisp and palatable with lots of gooseberries and exotic fruits (think lychees and citrus) and makes a great wine for summer barbecues and I suspect light Asian meals too. It was a great start to my weekend on a pleasant and warm Friday night, but that dark cloud in the distance really meant I shouldn’t be tasting a second bottle and so, Sunday afternoon and the option of trying a 2005 Shiraz from Heartland Wines in South Australia presented itself. Retailing at £8.81, this was another wine for leisurely appreciation. I don’t drink Shiraz that often, and did find myself wondering after the first glass why not. The Scotsman described this wine as ‘gutsy and voluptuous’, which instantly reminded me of an encounter with a fearsome lady on the Quayside one night! I think this Shiraz does have a really good dark purple colouring and its wine maker Ben Glaetzer has won many awards. This one is a rich and full-bodied red with strong blackberry and spicy plum hints and is great for duck

and red meat. This time, my wife’s expression, rather than the dark clouds, stopped me experimenting with a second bottle! Suffice to say, both these wines are good and excellent value for money. I look forward to my next tasting!

The facts: Duncan Young selected: 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Tamar Ridge, Devils Corner, Tasmania £9.28 2005 Shiraz, Heartland Wines, South Australia £8.81 A podcast featuring wine maker Ben Glaetzer is at: www.apple.com/search/ ipoditunes/?q=ben+glaetzer Duncan’s wine was selected by Michael Jobling Wines of Ponteland. Contact Michael Jobling and Vickie Jackson, tel 0191 378 4554, or see www.michaeljoblingwines.com

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EQUIPMENT

JULY 08

SIGNATURE STYLE The fountain pen is making a welcome comeback in the boardrooms and cabinet rooms of the world, where the status of a truly stylish pen affords the owner a certain cachet, asserts Chris Porter

YOU see it at the signing of international peace agreements and big business deals. It’s used to sign books of condolence and very large cheques, in the passing of laws and the creation of presidents. It is not a Biro; no matter how convenient, lightweight, leakproof (most of the time at least), maintenancefree and readily discarded one may be. It is the fountain pen, most typically in these situations the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck, the daddy of prestige pens, if only because of big-money marketing and the fact it is one of the largest pens on the market. Indeed, with texting, emailing and now the widespread use of chip and pin making any kind of physical writing look almost obsolete, fountain pens look increasingly anachronistic, barely a step from the quill. And yet, over the past five years, sales have increased by nearly a fifth, with fine stationery also now selling well.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

“With every advance in technology there tends to be a backlash, in this case back to the written word,” argues Nicola Leadley, international marketing manager for Cross, which later this year launches its new superpremium Apogee line of gold pens. “People want to write with pen and ink because it’s more personal, and because it’s the practice of a skill - schools are even encouraging children to write with fountain pens again now because you have to take more care forming your letters.” Writing with a fountain pen is undoubtedly a forgotten physical pleasure - the rediscovery of one’s true handwriting via the medium of unforced, steadily flowing ink combined with a sense that one is committing something of significance to paper, even if it is just your shopping list. Not for nothing did Goethe refer to ink as ‘liquid thoughts’ - using a fountain pen encourages more ponderous, deeper thinking about the written word. The pen’s revival is also a reflection of a growing appreciation for craftsmanship over convenience, of the kind that has seen the renaissance of mechanical watches in the face of cheaper, more robust and more accurate quartz digital watches. This is something the booming collectors’ market most keenly

JULY 08

EQUIPMENT

recognises: high quality pens in lacquer, gold or silver from the 1920s to 1940s are now especially sought, with the world record for the sale of a fountain pen at auction standing at some £183,000 (in 2000). And, unlike gadgetry, the fountain pen really is personal - and not just as a consequence of the diverse models that have characterised the industry’s new adventurousness in design over recent years, from Omas’s pens, enamelled with Japanese manga artwork, to FaberCastel’s, made from fossilised mammoth ivory, and the likes of Caran d’Ache’s design by Mario Botta, a Bauhaus-inspired pen capped with a peacock feather. Through use the nib actually shapes itself to reflect the owner’s grip, which is one reason why a fountain pen should not be shared (the other being that you may never see it again). Certainly, although larger models by the likes of Montblanc and Pelikan offer a greater ink capacity (an important consideration for those who write a lot), and the size of the pen needs to be comfortable for sustained use, it is really in the nib that the difference lies. Modern nibs may be more rigid than their vintage counterparts, which is good for the heavyhanded who were brought up using ballpoint pens - but they are also much smoother, the scratchiness that some may associate with them a thing of the past. Nor, according to Patrick Rudomino, brand director for the Italian pen brand Montegrappa, which this October opens its first western European store in London, is that the modern fountain pen’s only improvement. Smoother pistons means loading a pen with ink is easier; the ink itself has been refined to be more free-flowing; barrels are made from reinforced resin or, in pricier models, celluloid, which gives a warmer handle; and ink feeders made from ebonite (a rubber and sulphur compound) feed the ink to the nib as fluidly as that from a rollerball. Those worries of ruining your shirts with ink blots are generally unfounded too. “It used to be the case that a fountain pen had too much personality of its own and >>

Works of art: Dunhill’s luxury range includes the Sentryman Alligator limited edition (above left) and the limited-edition Sidecar Victorian in burgundy lacquer (second left) with platinum-plate brass cap

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

EQUIPMENT

JULY 08

Montegrappa’s Invito a la Traviata fountain pen in sterling silver and red celluloid, £1,850 (also available in yellow gold, £10,500, or yellow gold and diamonds, £14,000. For stockists, see www.montegrappa.com

did what it wanted,” jokes Rudomino. “But while it may not have changed much in substance, technology has produced a much more advanced product that can, for instance, cope with the pressures of air travel without leaving you covered in blue blotches.” But, for all that, it is more the pen’s symbolic power that has ensured its return. The fountain pen is an item of accessible luxury, but also a serious product suggesting a certain station in life. This is why more affordable versions with stainless steel nibs but much the same writing quality as more expensive pens, are often given to mark the transition from youth to adulthood, or why more prestigious pens become family heirlooms. It is also why, according to market researcher Mintel, 25 to 35-year-olds are the most resistant to taking up the fountain pen - one needs a certain sophistication that perhaps only comes with maturity. One also needs a certain sense of style. That’s why the boardroom player about to sign an important deal knows they are making a statement about both themselves and their rank by the pen they pull from their pristine pocket, be it one of the aforementioned brands, one of the growing number of ‘boutique’ brands like Conway Stewart or Nakata, or maybe a classic Parker, Dunhill or Waterman - the name behind the man, one Lewis Edson Waterman, who invented the fountain pen in 1884. “There’s a sensory experience in using a fountain pen - the special noise of the nib across paper, the click of the cap - the kind you get with the door of a quality car,” says Jean-Marc Pontroue, executive vice president for Mont Blanc, a brand which, in its recent extension into watches and other luxury goods, perhaps further suggests the widening appeal of the fountain pen. “But when someone uses a fountain pen it also speaks of power and suggests that they have taken their time and thought about what they’re writing. The fountain pen is as romantic as any mechanical watch. In fact, a fountain pen isn’t just a pen - it’s a writing instrument.” ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

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FASHION

JULY 08

GOLF CHIC

Golf, once the home of the naffest fashion on the planet, is experiencing a makeover fit to revolutionise even the most staid clubhouses, says Chris Porter

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Recent years may have been good for golf, but they have been terrible for golf style. Back in the 50s and 60s - heyday of pros Arnold Palmer and Gary Player and fairway-loving celebs Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - the plaid trousers, soft short-sleeved shirt and cardigan may not have been catwalk quality, but they had a distinctive panache. Certainly, they were a long way from the beaten chinos and saggy polo shirts that have dominated the greens in recent years. But a revolution is underway on the fairway. Sportswear giants such as Nike and Puma have entered the market, with designer names such as Boss Green label, J.Lindeberg Future Sport, Zegna Sport, Pringle, Tommy Hilfiger and Dior also launching golf clothing lines. Meanwhile, British luxury goods brand Dunhill, which sponsors an annual Links tournament in Scotland, has just launched its Dunhill Links technical golf wear collection with shirts that help keep you cool, trousers that stretch for the big swing and jackets that breathe. As Dunhillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head of menswear Carlos de Freitas says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;This represents a design challenge. Golf is at a point where performance clothing >>

FASHION

JULY 08

Designers like to make products that have a purpose and look great, especially as more brands are looking at the technical aspects

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

and every day clothing crosses over. Designers like to make products that have a purpose and look great, especially as more brands are looking at the technical aspects.” Golf as a culture is catching up. “It’s now a misconception that golf is just a sport for people of a certain age with the time to play it,” says de Freitas, who has recently taken up the sport, now the world’s fastestgrowing recreational pastime with some 10 million people taking it up in the last 15 years in the US alone. Certainly, golf has almost performed a complete about-change in terms of image, from the chosen sport of the curmudgeonly and retired to that of the youthful and edgy. The Beastie Boys, Alice Cooper and Samuel L Jackson are avid fans and ‘urban golf’ - played through inner-city back streets using soft balls - has become an extreme sport phenomenon. Hip magazines from Bogey to Putt, have introduced golf to the kind of audience for whom getting around a course in style is as important as getting around it under par. Even golf pros, in an age in which showmanship, global TV coverage and big sponsorship deals are increasingly part of the sport, are more aware of the need to have a distinctive image. When the US Open begins this June, look for the drivers of fashion as much those of golf balls. No wonder demand for good-looking golf clothing has increased, or that the likes of trendygolf.com - an online retailer devoted to fashionconscious golf wear lines - is now doing such good business that managing director Ian McCloud thinks the market is in risk of becoming over saturated. It is the genuinely specialist products, “those that can balance functionality, versatility and cool”, that will still be around in a few years, he believes. Clearly, the market is strong right now due to the fact that golf clothing has a certain retro appeal that is in keeping with menswear’s current fascination with heritage, authenticity and the 1960s. Scottish knitwear brand Lyle & Scott has re-lauched its golf wear line for this season in keeping with classic cuts such as the v-neck sweater worn by Sean Connery in Goldfinger. Meanwhile, Original Penguin, a golf wear line launched in 1955 and a hit with the likes of Hope and Crosby, has also been re-launched to include a new Penguin Black range of more directional pieces stocked by a number of leading fashion stores internationally. “There’s an awareness that golf is a leisure sport, so why dress as though you’re going to the track?” says Original Penguin’s president Chris Colby. The new culture is leading to the creation of a growing selection of dedicated golf clothing brands offering a directional style; golf crossed with street wear aimed at subverting clubhouse etiquette and more akin to the often outlandish style of golfers 50 years ago. US brand Tattoo Golf offers what it calls ‘aggressive golf wear’, its polo shirts, long-sleeve T-shirts and even hoodies and beanie hats coming with tattoo prints and the brand’s skull and cross bones logo. For the lady player, Tattoo Golf also offers ‘chick gear’. None of it would be quite right at St.Andrew’s, but it suits the fashion-conscious young who are increasingly drawn to a sport that, not so long ago, they would have considered more apt for their grandfathers. UK brands like Williams Golfwear, which is bringing back the bright colours and bold checks of golf’s post-war style, and labels like Bunker >>

FASHION

JULY 08

On the fairway: Hollywood actor Dougray Scott makes his mark on the golf course thanks to the Dunhill Links technical golf wear collection

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Mentality and Refugees are growing, the latter offering witty polo shirts embroidered with a parody of a clubhouse crest, trousers with ‘cheat’ pockets (slots so you can surreptitiously drop a ball onto the green through your trouser leg) and eco-friendly tops that may serve as a reminder that golf courses are not always very environmentally-sound places. It also offers disposable golf bags, black golf balls and golf ball warmers using high-tech, heat-absorbing fabric, suggesting that the whole attitude of golf may be facing an innovative makeover. “The makeover is happening,” says Refugees founder Peter Gorse. “The fact that the bigger fashion brands are now getting into the market speaks volumes. Golf wear is moving on in terms of style - there’s a huge choice out there and the etiquette of what can be worn on the courses is easing up. The pros are dressing more distinctively now and the clubs are aware of the need to attract new members - members who want to be able to wear what they want.” n

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MOTORS

JULY 08

THE NEED FOR SPEED

Chris Teasdale, manager of Handelsbanken, Stockton, is smitten by the speed and the beauty of BMW’s M3 convertible

BELIEVE it or not, I recently sold a new BMW 320d Coupe M Sport after only six months because I couldn’t get used to a saloon car after driving a 4x4 for seven years. And I have to admit that when I accepted the invitation to test drive the new M3 Coupe Saloon Convertible, I had got myself right back into my 4x4 comfort zone and wondered just how I would take to life in a car designed for

Fast mover: Chris Teasdale learned to love speed thanks to the BMW M3 convertible good looks and sports performance. Of course, what this statement should tell you is that I obviously don’t know enough about cars, because there are few on the road which are as exciting to drive and as great to look at

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

as this one. From the minute the M3 pulled into the car park, heads were turning and, not only did it look fantastic, but the sound of its engine was enough to attract immediate attention from anyone within earshot. And so began my technical education on this new-generation M3, which boasts a rip-roaring 400bhp via its 4-litre V8 engine, is capable of 0–62mph in a screaming 4.8 seconds and has a roar that can only be described as simply sensational. Typically of BMW, refinement and sports car performance have been combined to deliver a car that is equally comfortable around town as on the race track. In fact, the last time I experienced driving exhilaration like this was on a corporate day at Donnington and I have to say that, from memory, the M3 would have easily held its own that day against some serious competition. Despite the power, the M3 was easy to handle, the ride smooth and the cockpit functional. Hey, one day in a sports car and I’m already sounding like Jeremy Clarkson! Bankers are generally not renowned for being the most flamboyant people and my safe, secure and reserved 4x4 probably speaks volumes for me, so the M3 would generally only be my car of choice in my dreams. But it looks fantastic with the roof down and makes such an impact both in looks and in the handling that it was difficult to let it go at the end of the day; 4x4 comfort zone or not. There are a few practical issues, obviously, particularly when you’ve got a family, as storage is limited and the back seat can >>

JULY 08

MOTORS

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

MOTORS

JULY 08

My day with the M3 proved that perhaps my 4x4 comfort zone needs a good shake now and again

consumption, which gave my Range Rover a run for its money, but again, if you’re in the market for one of these, why would you have an eye on the fuel guage? To my mind, the M3 isn’t really built for your conservative, technically ignorant average banker, though of course there are plenty in my profession who don’t fit that cliche and would appreciate every inch of this model. For this is, without doubt, a driver’s car, where the superb build quality and exhilarating performance cannot fail to impress. Not only that, the sheer fun of the drive is a major selling point. only accommodate two people, with space So, my day driving the M3 proved that also restricted by the mechanism for the hood. perhaps my 4x4 comfort zone needs a good Rear seat passengers also need to be fairly shake now and again. There’s a world of nimble, but then you don’t buy a car like this difference between this car and my more to ferry the family and its various detritus conservative vehicle of choice and I ended around the place. the day totally enthused it. I have 17217_bs2336_ELVET press ad_180x120 v2 8/7/08 15:26 byPage 1 also I also found myself totting up the fuel since been trying to recreate verbally that

sensational engine sound for my friends and colleagues, to their obvious amusement! However, I will never do the car the justice it deserves. You just have to go and drive it. The BMW M3 convertible starts at £54,302, and the model Chris drove was priced £62,360. The M3 is available at: Elvet BMW, Broomside Park, Belmont Industrial Estate, Durham, DH1 1HP, tel 0191 383 7560, www.elvetbmw.co.uk Cooper Sunderland, Boldon Business Park, Tyne and Wear, NE36 0BQ, tel 0191 519 4455, www.coopersunderlandbmw.co.uk If you’re a petrolhead and would like to test drive a car for BQ magazine, please email us at editor@BQ-magazine.co.uk Elvet

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INTERVIEW

JULY 08

CAST OFF THE MORTGAGE With John Flynn’s houseboats crafted in County Durham, you can opt out of the property market and enjoy an altogether freer existence. Brian Nicholls looks at an alternative lifestyle afloat at St Peter’s Marina SUNSHINE slices through window of the watchtower housing St Peter’s Marina office, giving the grey waters of Tyne outside a fishscale sheen. Behind the pontoon, a bistro bar’s colourful parasols beckon, Riviera style. Could that trim houseboat a few yards off prompt a potential home buyer trapped by the credit crunch to wonder, ‘does the answer lie here?’ Certainly, the growing interest in houseboats has prompted a change of course for John Flynn, who has been a boatbuilder for

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

19 years. After supervising the builds of more than 500 narrow boats primarily for pleasure cruising, he is switching the focus of his County Durham company to wide-beam boats suited to permanent residence. Many of the 15,000 people from varied backgrounds who live afloat on canals, rivers and at coastal retreats are permanently moored and now, on the Tyne’s north banks in east Newcastle, St Peter’s Marina is making 10 of its 150 berths available for houseboats.

JULY 08

St Peter’s, which has a distinct village atmosphere, is one of only a handful of city centre marinas in the UK and is raising its ensign of welcome just as house hunters are feeling the crunch in the housing market. A brief inspection of John’s craft, built in 14 weeks, impresses. Two models are available, one 45ft the other 36ft. The larger has two double bedrooms, each with shower or bathroom; the smaller has one double. A lounge saloon and cleverly designed galley form the main living area. The floors and panelling are made of solid wood and there is solid fuel heating. Washing machine, dish washer, fridge-freezer, cooker and microwave are cleverly concealed and saloon entertainment can include a 32” flat-screen television, surround sound and broadband radio. Some features are extra, but there are other attractions included. “The layouts are simple but functional, based on traditional sailing galleons,” John says. John, 57, and a crew of 12 at his company, Le Skerne, build boats inland on an acre or so where colliery baths once stood at Trimdon Grange. Their sophisticated operation holds an award for its fit-outs, carried out under 15,000sq ft of cover with a test tank taking craft of up to 60ft long. John was a plater living in Newton Aycliffe and working on the oil rigs until 1988. Now he lives near the business. He got his grounding in boats even further inland, with a Birmingham boat hirer. He started his own business (earlier called South Durham Steel Craft) at Tindale Crescent, near Bishop Auckland, before expansion required the firm of which he is managing director to relocate. The recent upsurge of public interest in houseboats encouraged John to avail of a National Design Council initiative which he expects will speed him in his new direction. He says: “We noted a huge increase of interest in our wide-beam boats just when demand for canal boats was waning. “Customer growth for wide-beam boats now lies mainly with private buyers. They are approaching us directly and we believe that boat life is being seen as an alternative by people who want to live in cities but who can’t, or won’t, pay property prices.”

Over the years, St Peter’s has attracted visitors including Lord Patten, Baroness Thatcher and Princess Diana, who officially opened the marina. Brian Hunt, part owner since 1990, says a houseboat moored there can serve as a significantly cheaper home than an equivalent shoreside apartment. “It’s bright, quirky and only a mile from where everything goes on in Newcastle and Gateshead,” he points out. “People, once they sample daily life afloat, might find flats boring.” British Waterways says the rising cost of

INTERVIEW

mortgages could make life from a mooring more attractive, but it is not all plain sailing. While the boat may be cheaper, additional costs may arise, paperwork and charges differ, and loan negotiations differ from those for an ordinary house mortgage. The intriguing, albeit temporary, disappearance of a weekend sailor from Seaham recently reminded lenders of their risks in lending on craft powered to sail away. But then, a houseboat with no engine has one thing fewer to go wrong. >>

We believe that boat life is being seen as an alternative by people who want to live in cities but who can’t, or won’t, pay the property prices there

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

All aboard: Brian Hunt (left), part owner of St Peter’s Marina in Newcastle, and houseboatbuilder John Flynn, whose company Le Skerne of Trimdon Grange could capitalise on a trend towards living on water as living on land becomes more difficult.

Life aboard: FAQs What will a houseboat cost? Looking at both new and used, prices can range from £15,000 for a modest old starter to £250,000 for a deluxe new model. John Flynn’s craft range from £82,000 up to £94,000. Where would I get a loan? Most likely from a specialist in marine finance. Building societies are unlikely to help and a personal bank loan, even if offered, may carry a higher than average interest rate. Collidge and Partners, in joint venture with The Royal Bank of Scotland, offers help to buy new and used craft and funds houseboat conversions.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

How much might I borrow, and over what period? An 80 per cent of purchase price ceiling might apply. Terms may run from two to 15 years, 10 being fairly typical. A £60,000 boat may be valued at £40,000 and an 80 per cent cover on that, at £32,000, would leave you £28,000 to find. Are there pre-conditions? For permanent sites you need a residential mooring: details from British Waterways, local councils, or private landlords. You may have to sign a rental agreement. A houseboat on a residential mooring may be liable to council tax, though not at St Peter’s, where it is covered in the £2,500 a year mooring charge. How are moorings arranged? Mooring leases run for anything between three months and 125 years. Usually, along with the right to

stay, there are facilities such as mains, gas, sewage, even broadband. What other costs are involved? The biggest outlays are mooring and maintenance. Maximum loans do not cover mooring costs which can be several thousand pounds a year in some locations. Insurance is necessary and may cost up to £3,500 a year, though arranging through St Peter’s Marina you might get comprehensive cover on one of John Flynn’s craft for £500. A boat safety certificate, also essential, can cost £80-£120 every four years. You must also lift and dry dock the boat for maintenance and overhaul every five years - around £2,000 a time. There are also running, repair and maintenance costs and, if your houseboat has an engine, fuel costs. What are the pitfalls? Houseboats, unlike houses, have no title deeds. Be sure if you buy second hand that the seller owns the craft and has the legal right to sell it. What other protective measures can I take? You don’t need a solicitor, but the costlier the boat the more secure you will feel at having legal back up. Also, have an expert do a survey. Boats do not always come with running water, electricity, gas, central heating, telephone points, an address or rubbish collection. At St Peter’s Basin, again, many essential facilities are provided. Heating is important; life on water can be very cold at times. Where can I get further guidance? Through the Residential Boat Owners Association, whose president is Liberal MP Vince Cable. Go also to a popular mooring spot and talk to those who already live the life and see: Le Skerne boatbuilder: www.leskerne.com British Waterways: www.britishwaterways.com Collidge and Partners: www.collidgeandpartners.co.uk Residential Boat Owners Association: www.rboa.co.uk River Homes: www.riverhomes.co.uk St Peter’s Marina: www.stpetersmarina.co.uk

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ENTREPRENEURS

JULY 08

EXPERT ENCOURAGEMENT

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum annual conference inspired many young businesses, as BQ has been discovering since PROGRES5IVE, The Entrepreneurs’ Forum fifth annual conference, attracted 300 entrepreneurs and business leaders to hear an impressive line up including music impresario Harvey Goldsmith, model and businesswoman Elle Macpherson (left), Hotel Chocolat founder Angus Thirlwell, Charles Morgan, the third-generation head of Morgan cars, and the author and journalist Guy Browning, an expert on creativity in business. The conference was powerful, thoughtprovoking and inspiring and we talked to delegates afterwards to see how they implemented the tips they took home. These are their stories:

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

Mark Ions, Exclusive Human Resources Launched in 2007 and now employing four people, Exclusive Human Resources is the region’s only dedicated HR recruitment consultancy providing a bespoke service to professionals and companies across the North East and Cumbria. At the conference: “I was inspired by Charles Morgan who talked about creating a bespoke, luxury, quality product. There were a lot of similarities with where we want to take our business, albeit in a completely different area.” Back at the business: “Meeting individuals who strive to achieve excellence and a bespoke product gave me a massive boost. We believe that offering a unique service will take our business to the next level. We offer candidates ‘personal consultations’, not interviews, and we talk about our clients experiencing the ‘client journey’, all aimed at delivering a quality, bespoke service. The conference reaffirmed our belief in our chosen direction.” Karen Weir, Weir Insurance Weir Insurance Brokers Ltd is one of the largest family-run general insurance firms in the North East. Established in 1972 as Weir Insurance Brokers Ltd, the company is now moving forward under the direction of founder’s son Duncan Weir and his wife Karen. They employ 18 people in Blyth, Northumberland. At the conference: “I was really inspired by Charles Morgan, particularly when he talked about bringing innovation into a wellestablished family business. That was definitely

JULY 08

relevant to my company. For 100 years, Morgan has maintained its traditions and stayed true to its values, but in a completely different era of car manufacturing. “Similarly, the insurance industry has changed a lot in recent years with supermarkets selling now insurance. Clearly, our company must remain true to its values while acknowledging that the market has changed.” Back at the business: “Charles Morgan said the AeroMax car was a huge break from the company’s tradition. As insurance brokers, we generally supply products that aren’t our own, so it’s difficult for us to develop new innovations, but Charles Morgan made me think again. When we got back to the business we asked ourselves, ‘why can’t we be innovative and develop our own products?’ The answer is we can. We know what our customers want, so we’ve started talking to suppliers about developing a product to fit SME’s insurance needs. It’s very exciting for us and directly attributable to the conference.” Chris Quickfall, Invate Ltd At just two years old, assistive technology company Invate Ltd is one of the fastestgrowing new businesses in the North East and one of the fastest new-start graduate enterprises in the country. Within five years it aims to be the world’s biggest supplier of training to the assistive technology market. At the conference: “The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is a fantastic networking opportunity and the conference was incredibly lively. You always get little nuggets of information from the speakers and I took some tips away from Angus Thirlwell. Their strategy for promoting the company was very brand-aware. They concentrate a lot on the ‘back end’, ie the manufacture of their products, with their ‘less sugar, more cocoa’ motto, but this is paralleled with the commitment given to the brand at the front end. I did steal a couple of ideas from him.” Back at the business: “Invate is a servicebased company, so we had to analyse and redevelop Angus’s model to integrate it within our business. Angus took his brand values

ENTREPRENEURS

David Goldsmith, Summerfield Photography David was a DJ, light goods vehicle driver and postman before being medically retired at 33 following an accident. That’s when he turned his hobby into a photography business. Based in Morpeth, his short to medium term goals are to open to a shop and studios. At the conference: “The highlights of the day for me were Harvey Goldsmith (no relation), Guy Browning, Angus Thirlwell, Charles Morgan and meeting my fellow challenge entrants. Harvey Goldsmith was particularly fascinating. He spoke of his early days in business and how he had to make decisions to take him forward. I could relate to this and admired his drive and determination.” Back at the business: “In the few weeks since the conference I have returned to Harvey’s story many times. When the self doubt has kicked in I kept going back to what he said and it inspired me to carry on. There have been times where I’ve been close to throwing in the towel, then I’ve remembered his story. “He was earning £25 a week at one point and had taken as much as he could handle. He hit rock bottom, but still managed to make it to where he is today. That is truly inspirational. It’s driven me on and made me get over any thoughts of giving up. “I also gained some great contacts at the conference and the evening event gave me further opportunity to network.”

and applied them throughout his supply chain; building influence within areas of this chain where previously he had less control, educating workers and placing emphasis on processes that he knew he could add significant value and ultimately strengthen his product. “We have mirrored this approach in our front end services within system deployment and user training. We have developed regular ‘shared learning days’ where our training team

shares experiences with unusual or complex sessions and we have a neuro psychologist on hand to openly discuss if a better service could have been applied, if we delivered training aligned well with their disability and what, if any, improvements could have been made. “The introduction of this management strategy has really allowed us to shift into a new gear now with regards to the delivery of our training services and it has benefited the client enormously.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

RECRUITMENT

JULY 08

HONESTY’S THE BEST POLICY BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

JULY 08

Firms that want to capture and keep top talent need to look to their branding and be frank at interview time, says a new report EMPLOYER branding is re-affirmed as an effective tool for recruiting and retaining talented managerial and professional employees, a new survey reveals. Its findings are based on a study by researchers at Durham Business School commissioned by Nigel Wright Recruitment, the international recruitment consultancy. Their online survey examined attitudes to work, jobs, and organisation by professionals registered with the company. Emphasis was laid on what attracts hardto-get key talent to particular organisations and the sample comprised just over 1,000 responses from professionals within the North East. Its findings suggest:

Social value factors are most important; 85 per cent of respondents felt a good relationship with colleagues was vital, 81 per cent wanted a good relationship with their boss. Salary and benefits, although important, came eighth on the list of priorities. Around 42 per cent agree that people in their community think highly of their organisation, while 54 per cent feel their organisation is considered one of the best in its sector. And 57 per cent say they like working at their organisation, while 50 per cent feel satisfied with their job. Also, 96 per cent agree they would prefer jobs with stimulating and challenging work, while 94 per cent would prefer jobs giving chances to learn new things from their work. Around two thirds (67 per cent) agree they are taken seriously, and 68 per cent feel they are seen as being valuable at work. Leaders are reported as being the strongest in seeking new opportunities, with 60 per cent agreeing their managers do this, complimenting individuals also for their outstanding work. Respondents’ life satisfaction is high with 78 per cent satisfied as a whole and nearly three quarters (73 per cent) agreeing they lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. Mark Simpson, director of UK operations at Nigel Wright, says: “The report highlights factors that attract individuals to particular organisations. As a recruitment consultancy, we see the impact daily, first hand. “These factors can include employees’ need for personal development through their job and their work. Employees with a high need for achievement respond more positively to enriched jobs that have high levels of skill variety, task significance and autonomy. “This also links directly to employees’ selfesteem in the workplace. It is significant in determining their motivation, and affecting work-related attitudes and behaviours.” He says that in the current market very few individuals stay with a company for a long period due to career ambitions, money or change in pace, which in the present climate of uncertainty could go either way. “This trend is also reflected within the report. Only around a quarter of respondents (27 per cent) say they would be very happy to spend

RECRUITMENT the rest of their career with their organisation, while 38 per cent agree the organisation has a lot of personal meaning to them. “So the need for strong employer branding and improved staff retention strategies is becoming increasingly important to the success that organisations seek.” Graham Dietz, lecturer in human resource management and director of the MA programmes at Durham Business School, believes the study can help human resources managers, business owners, and the gifted managers and professionals themselves. “They will understand people’s job-choice decisions better,” he explains. “They will also understand better how employer branding shapes employee attitudes and behaviours in the workplace, and beyond.”

Keep it real The report highlights some concerns which, it is felt, organisations should consider as they recruit. Mark Simpson explains: “Findings showed 35 per cent of respondents disagreed that they knew the good and bad points of the job before being hired. And around a third felt their job had not turned out to be what they expected beforehand. “This should be a wake-up call to organisations. They need to be honest and open in their recruitment, both with potential candidates and recruitment consultants. They need to be clear what exactly is required in the position by evaluating what the role requires now compared to the original job description, before the recruitment process began.“ He suggests giving realistic full job previews: a balanced picture of positive and negative aspects in the work to be done and the organisational climate, prior to a position being offered. He says employers who invest effort in developing their employer brands also appear to be effective at acquainting their potential employees with all aspects.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Business-savvy arts and cultural organisations increasingly offer mutually beneficial partnerships to the corporate sector. Jane Pikett discusses the benefit of business with the directors of development at The Sage Gateshead and Newcastle’s Theatre Royal IT’S abundantly clear from its name that The Sage Gateshead has fully embraced the benefits of corporate partnership. The fact is further emphasised when you step through its doors into its breathtaking interior to be met by elegantly sculpted chrome lettering bearing the names of such eminent benefactors as the Barbour Trust, the Northern Rock Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation. Of course, The Sage Gateshead is a young, dynamic business and one might expect

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

it to be at the forefront of innovative and imaginative funding strategies, but over the water at the 171-year-old Theatre Royal in Newcastle, fundraising and development is just as dynamic, just as business-focused. Here, corporate partnerships are nurtured and applications to major trusts rigorously pursued. The Campaign for Private Giving, led by eminent bodies including Arts Council England, is encouraging a new generation of ‘venture philanthropists’ to set up their

own charitable organisations and apply their business acumen to the world of culture and the arts. The growth of such a philanthropic business community benefits The Sage Gateshead and the Theatre Royal who, in common with many arts organisations in the region, are properly recognised as fully involved members of the business community offering imaginative and commercially viable partnerships. Here, two directors of development explain how it works:

JULY 08

Developing partnerships: Richard Berg Rust fosters mutually beneficial business partnerships at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle

Richard Berg Rust, development director, Newcastle Theatre Royal Richard Berg Rust is in a rush. He’s got to get home to Corbridge, then back to the Stadium of Light for a business dinner. He goes to almost as many business dos as shows at the theatre, so demanding is his role garnering financial support from businesses, trusts and foundations for Newcastle’s Theatre Royal. But is there room for philanthropy in today’s

economic climate? “I’ve been in this field for 20 years and I’d say there is more commitment to CSR now than ever before,” asserts Richard. “Increasingly, people recognise the marketing value a partnership with an organisation like ours affords in terms of profile raising and positive brand association. At the end of the day, it’s a good business decision.” Opened in 1837, the Grade I listed theatre is a historic cultural landmark of national significance which dominates the heart of

INTERVIEW

Newcastle’s acclaimed Grainger Town. It presents more than 370 performances to some 310,000 people every year and is the regional home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Opera North and Rambert Dance Company. “This is a world-class theatre attracting world-class companies and world-class performances,” says Richard. “The range of performance is also unique, offering a full range from the RSC to the panto. In 2006, we broke the £1 million ticket sale barrier for the panto and we give lots of seats away to children who might not otherwise see it.” Of the UK’s many theatres, the Theatre Royal is in the top bracket in terms of ticket sales and, in addition to quality drama from the likes of National Theatre and the RSC, offers at times courageous programming with contemporary dance and challenging new drama. Crucial to its funding are its 4,000 Friends and 2,000 individual members. Its 22 corporate members, which include UBS, Eversheds and Arup, also make a genuine contribution. “They love the place,” says Richard, “and they are very good ambassadors for us. They are influential people and it’s important we have a relationship with them. They genuinely enjoy their involvement here.” Wendy Waters, senior business development co-ordinator at Arup, concurs: “The Theatre Royal is wonderful. We receive great service from all the Theatre Royal team. Our membership is good business sense.” The theatre’s recently opened extension illustrates beautifully the synergy between it and the wider community. The extension doubled its size, creating office space for cultural and creative SMEs, expanding the stage and adding a new flying system, a new box office and bistro and, at its core, a learning centre fully equipped with a lighting and sound system, plus a vibrant and innovative theatre education programme. “The focus is on schools where pupils don’t usually see the theatre as being part of their lives,” says Richard. “We don’t seek to preach to the converted. We want to bring theatre to people who don’t see it as being for them.” To bring the development about, almost £1.5 million of the £5 million total cost was raised from private sources, largely from the >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

region, but also from major charitable trusts in London in recognition of the theatre’s national significance. Newcastle City Council made an exceptional contribution to the project and £800,000 was donated by the Northern Rock Foundation. There were also hundreds of smaller donations. You can still play a part by naming a seat or two (along with Sir Ridley Scott, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Antony Sher) from just £125 to £250. Meanwhile, corporate partnerships are offered at very affordable levels, including the opportunity to be a season sponsor and benefit from the hospitality and marketing opportunities that brings. “We have been very lucky,” says Richard, belying the fact that he and his small team work extremely hard in fostering partnerships and accessing funding streams. “We have tremendous support and we have a fantastic development committee, superbly led by the chairman Adam Fenwick and, before him, by John Ward.” So can the arts flourish without the input of business partners, sponsors and board members? “Certainly, their input is integral to us,” Richard says. “A big part of my job is business networking and you know, I don’t think we could flourish without it now. We would survive of course, but this input helps us go much further. We have 22 corporate members. That helps our funding balance and it’s important to us that they come and bring other people here. We have a very good relationship with the business community.” That is perhaps best illustrated by the composition of the development committee, which is chaired by Chris Jobe and includes James Ramsbotham and Ward Hadaway’s Jamie Martin. “A lot of business expertise is fed into the theatre from the committee and that helps us to be more entrepreneurial,” Richard says. “The link with Richard Olivier [the actor/ director-turned business coach son of Sir Lawrence] and his company, Olivier Mythodrama, is a good example. They offer management and leadership training in a new way, drawing on the lessons of Shakespeare’s plays. The theatre is now their Northern base. “This is a new revenue stream, it’s relevant to what we do, it’s a new association with the

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

It’s another example of our business focus and entrepreneurialism ... and one of the most interesting things we’re doing Olivier name, with which we already have strong links, and it provides a genuinely useful resource for business. It’s a good business fit. “We offer many other training opportunities, including public speaking and presentation for business owners and managers, voice projection and articulation, body language and persuasive communication.” Fundraising, says Richard, who is ably assisted in business relations by development officer Katherine Leadbeter, is an essentially entrepreneurial process crucial to the health of the theatre as an independent charitable trust. Prior to joining the theatre in 2005, Richard’s career began in public relations consultancy, including a spell at Saatchi and Saatchi, and then moved into development with Cambridge University. Thereafter, he worked in development at various organisations before becoming head of major gifts at the charity Shelter. His dual PR/ development pedigree means he understands the many benefits of corporate partnerships from both sides. “It’s a privilege to come here to work every day,” he says. “The Theatre Royal is a pretty remarkable place. The true greats of theatre have performed here, including Orson

Welles, Sarah Bernhardt, Sir Henry Irving, and Lawrence Olivier of course. There’s a magic here which has been created over 171 years through some truly magical performances from some legendary names. The alchemy people have created on the stage permeates the building.” There is now a new partnership with the housing association Your Homes Newcastle which, in addition to supporting this year’s pantomime, is working with the learning department on community Christmas shows performed for and by the residents. The link emerged from the presence of Your Homes Newcastle chairman Bill Midgeley on the theatre’s board. “It’s another example of our business focus and entrepreneurialism,” says Richard. “Bill is tremendous at using his networks and the link with Your Homes Newcastle is one of the most interesting things we’re doing. John Lee, the chief executive of Your Homes Newcastle, is a forward-thinking guy, and he immediately saw the benefit of working with us in a creative enterprise.” Since the new learning centre opened in September 2007, more than 11,000 children and young people have enjoyed a programme there, enjoying workshops or links with a bigger school project. “If we can, we come to schools,” says Richard, “but almost invariably, they prefer to come to us for the fuller experience we can offer. Other innovative programmes include a partnership with the former boxer Glen McCrory, who is working on the North East 2012 Olympic programme with arts organisations in Cuba where, if you box you dance and, if you dance you box as part of your training. What next? There is a major renovation and restoration of the auditorium to be completed for the theatre’s 175th anniversary in 2012, restoring the auditorium with full regard to its history, replacing the seats and restoring the stucco and plaster work. There is a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a conservation plan for the whole building which will inform the restoration; estimated cost around £2 million. To fund it, Richard will make applications to trusts and foundations national and local while building the corporate partnerships which are

JULY 08

already benefiting more than 2,000 companies through the hospitality and marketing opportunities they bring. For now though, Richard’s got in his bag a hefty tome detailing sources of European funding. He actually manages to look enthused about reading this 73-page document in his bed tonight, after he’s done his bit at the Stadium of Light. Rather him than me. “Oh, I quite like the world

of European funding; it’s fascinating,” he says. “Whatever else you might think of the European community, their cultural programmes are brilliant.” And what of his ‘rivals’; the arts organisations in the region appealing to the same donors? Who has the strongest case?“It’s not like that, honestly it’s not,” he says, with feeling. “The arts organisations in Newcastle in particular all work together. Obviously, we’re all looking for

INTERVIEW

corporate support, but there’s a good feeling amongst us and good partnerships between us. I don’t think any of us see ourselves as working in isolation. It’s a great community to be involved in.” Business membership at the Theatre Royal starts at £2,900 plus VAT per year. Contact Richard Berg Rust, director of development, tel 0191 244 2519 or email richard.berg-rust@theatreroyal.co.uk

Lucy Bird, director of development, The Sage Gateshead

Great experience: Lucy Bird is rightly proud of the excellent customer feedback The Sage Gateshead receives from its audiences

Lucy Bird’s enthusiasm for The Sage Gateshead is palpable, ditto her gratitude to the corporate bodies, charitable trusts and individuals who give generously to it. In return, these generous benefactors, like us, get to enjoy one of the greatest music venues in the world in all its many shapes; from the rousing performances delivered in the world-class acoustics of Hall One, to the more intimate experiences of the smaller performance spaces and the many learning and development projects undertaken both in the iconic centre and in the community. This is a world-leading facility which Lucy can truthfully compare favourably with the likes of the Singapore Esplanade and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. “We’ve had 2.5 million people through the doors in the three and a half years since we opened,” she says, “and we have 140,000 addresses on the mailing list, which is growing by 1,500 to 3,000 addresses per month.” She emphasises that customer feedback drives policy and services, and she is proud of the positive feedback. “Customer feedback forms have consistently shown a more than 90 per cent rating for an excellent experience since we opened. If that’s changing in any way at the moment, it’s actually going up. “This is a public building and a public project. We change things as a result of what people say; a prime example being that in the first six weeks of opening we had lots of people saying they weren’t happy about our 0870 number. We changed it to an 0191 number in direct response to that feedback.” The Sage Gateshead is governed by a >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

Not all benefactors donate publicly, and there are still opportunities of between £10,000 and £3 million

board of trustees chaired by Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and income streams are from ticket sales, hire of the building for events and conferences, catering, car parking, retail etc, and partially by the interest from its endowment fund. “The majority of buildings that carry a name do so because the name gave the money to build it,” Lucy adds. “The Sage Gateshead is different. Here, our associations with names like Sage, Barbour etc reflect money that has been given to support the work. This is Gateshead Council’s building and they raised public sector funds to build it. “We’ve raised £12 million to date for our endowment fund, which is held for us by the Community Foundation, and we draw down 5.75 per cent of that per year. The Sage Gateshead turns over about £12 million per year, 70 per cent of which comes through things like ticket sales, fund raising, sponsorship, catering, car park, retail, events etc, then we have a 30 per cent public subsidy. “Obviously, the business is structured to be as viable as possible, and for every £1 of public sector support we receive, we put back £12 into the local economy. We have 550

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

employees (220 FTEs) and we are the third biggest employer in Gateshead. We are an international based in the region. “The beauty is that we were able to look around the world and take good business models from elsewhere. In moving forward, we are open to flexing the business to meet new challenges, which is vital for any business in the 21st Century.” The names on the walls as you enter the building have given £250,000 or more to the endowment fund, though not all benefactors donate publicly, and there are still opportunities of between £10,000 and £3 million. The name, like the endowment fund, endures, so if Sage Group plc becomes Canny Computers of Calcutta, the name of the building will remain. Tailored business partnerships offer generous branding and hospitality opportunities and invitations to some fantastic money-can’t-buy events. They also tick your CSR box. UBS, Northumbrian Water, Nexus, Lloyds TSB and the like benefit from annually renewable programmes which include branding, tickets and special events which have included such gems as an audience with Cleo Lane and John Dankworth, receptions with Lord Puttnam, invitations to family days and special events. The Sage Gateshead also offers a Music in the Workplace team-building programme using song and percussion and an extensive learning programme for schools and the wider community. There are also associations with higher and further education colleges and the Newcastle University Folk and Traditional Music degree is based here. “There is a uniquely equitable balance between learning and performance here,” says Lucy. “The learning side is not just bolted on, it’s absolutely integral; it’s a core value. We have world-class facilities and acoustics. We are also a meeting place for the region and we have hosted the Labour and Conservative Party conferences. “We’re also home for Northern Sinfonia and Folkworks and this building is constantly animated by music. The building welcomes you, often with the sounds of music from the café and public areas. We offer businesses the opportunity to profile themselves here as part of a new 21st Century North East.”

So does she believe that organisations like The Sage Gateshead can flourish – survive even – without corporate partnerships? “It’s got to be a partnership,” says Lucy. “We are a local business working in partnership with businesses in the community, offering them opportunities. It’s a very important part of the funding mix behind the 450 musical performances a year here.” So is there enough corporate support out there for all the arts and culture organisations? “Absolutely; we set out to irrigate, not drain the region. I hope we have worked to encourage businesses to support arts and culture, whether that’s through The Sage Gateshead, The Theatre Royal, Live Theatre or any of the many other organisations out there. That’s the most important thing.” Corporate Partnership packages at The Sage Gateshead start from £2,500 plus VAT for 12 months. For more details, contact Ellie Smith, tel 0191 443 4563, email ellie.smith@thesagegateshead.org

The new venture philanthropy The Campaign for Private Giving, led by Arts Council England and some eminent partners, is encouraging a new generation of ‘venture philanthropists’ to set up their own charitable organisations and apply their business acumen to culture and the arts. In 2005, fund manager Bill Bollinger went a step further than simply giving by setting up his own charity, Independent Opera, to help music college graduates make the transition to a professional career. “If all that was done in the name of charity was to redress dire need in the world, we wouldn’t have the Sistine Chapel or Handel’s Messiah,” he said. “Those beautiful things might seem frivolous to some, but they touch our soul, and if you don’t engage with things that touch your soul, what are you doing here?”

JULY 08

with Frank Tock >> Ladies star with Sean “SHOMETHING musht be sherioushly wrong with the latesht Rich Lisht when I shee that despite my conshiderable period of hardship as a taksh ekshile I, Shir Sean Connery, rank only 924th in all Britain, albeit with two lovely ladiesh from the North East, Dame Margaret Barbour and Carol Galley...” Shorry – we mean sorry, Sir Sean – but that’s how the calculators at the Sunday Times worked it out. There’s more to South Tyneside’s Barbour jackets than meets the eye. Likewise Carol Galley, the former Gosforth Grammar School girl acclaimed the City’s most powerful woman during the 1990s may no longer manage funds, indulging more in golf and travel instead. But she does still work the celebrity speaker circuit, which must bring in a bob or four.

>> Down in the meadow talent stirs CAN’T get the staff? Then get out of town! Headhunting in the countryside pays handsomely for Tony Trapp, whose engineering firm looks sure to prosper further after its recent merger with Dutch

giant IHC Merwede. IHC Engineering Business (as it is now known) could pull in up to £40 million this financial year from its work in offshore energy, renewables, defence and submarine telecoms. The heavy work is done on the industrial riversides of Tyne and Tees, but a lot of design and other work goes on in the countryside in picturesque Riding Mill in the Tyne Valley. And it’s among local farming communities around there, Tony says, that staff proving an asset for engineering can often be found. His office manager is a farmer’s wife. His accounts assistant is too. A key worker on the riverside is a farmer’s son. And Tony and his fellow directors all hold degrees in agricultural engineering or agricultural economics. What makes farm folk so suited to the marine industries? “They know from life on the farm how to get on with things in a purposeful way,” he says. “They know how important timeliness is, for it’s no good planting winter wheat in spring. They also know that restraints have to be faced up to.” Perhaps apprenticeships in engineering should also now include a day or two in the milking sheds?

>> Who needs paper? LET the Government enthuse about diplomas in education. Bosses’ chairs can still be reached with no school qualifications to speak of. Call centre supremo Chey Garland left Middlesbrough High School at 16 without a fancy scroll. Today she employs 3,000 people going on 4,500 because she had something else - flair. And don’t forget Richard Cotter who, as BQ readers will recall from our maiden issue, has risen to brand president (chief executive) of Berghaus at Sunderland with little to show for his school years but enough passion for sport and the outdoors to carry him to the top. Then there’s Kay Taylor, one-time checkout girl. Now she heads human resources at Housing Hartlepool which has more than 300

BIT OF A CHAT staff running what was once the local council’s housing. She wanted to be a lab assistant but failed her A-Levels. She joined Asda at South Bank, and got to be customer services manager. She then rose to personnel manager at a North Eastern Co-op hypermarket in Stockton, and after that regional personnel manager at headquarters, covering staff in an area from Berwick down to Scarborough. Later, she was personnel and admin manager at Broadacres Housing Association in Northallerton. She gained a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development diploma there, which took her on to personnel manager for three years with Cleveland Police. Yes, the road to Housing Hartlepool can be long and winding, but as Kay, now 40, says: “Failing A-Levels proved a blessing in disguise. But for that, I might not have ended up in this rewarding role.”

>> Talcum and textbooks MUST be something in the Durham air. Six of the students on an executive programme at the business school there are looking forward not only to MBAs but to years of parenthood too. In total, seven babies have been born to six fathers on the two-year part-time course. Lee O’Donovan, from South Shields, a regional account manager for Filtrona Filters, juggles full-time work with study and now a double family commitment, since he has become a father of two since he enrolled in 2006. Baby Jacob Lee was born that year and Alex John followed last year. Lee admits: “I’ve had a lot to contend with during the last 18 months - but it’s worth it. I’m pushing on in my career now for my family.” The other dads are: Neil Munnoch, 33 of Newcastle (BT), Alex Neuman, 31 originally from South Africa (Parsons Brinckerhoff), Lee Durham, 35 of Great Ayton, a selfemployed company director (M2D Ltd), Carl Trueman, 31 of Washington (Siemens Transmission and Distribution), and JanWillem Rikkerink, 37 from the Netherlands (the Britton Group).

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

INTERVIEW

JULY 08

Steering two education business partnerships through the modern market place, in addition to galvanising business involvement in the new school Diploma qualifications, is keeping Newcastle EBP and South Tyneside Blue Venture chief executive Gillian Bulman very busy, discovers Jane Pikett

LIFE SKILLED EVEN by her own exacting standards, Gillian Bulman, chief executive of two education business partnerships in the region, has had a highly successful year. Newcastle Education Business Partnership (EBP) is celebrating its third National Accreditation for Quality Assurance, has been identified as one of the best EBPs in the country and is now used as a benchmark for other EBPs to be measured against. It has also been approved as a regional consultant for Enterprise, recently won the National Enterprise Award, has achieved its third Investors in People Award against the new standards and, in a major development for the business, is co-ordinating employer involvement in the new 14-19 Diplomas being rolled out in Newcastle schools in September.

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

If heading up such a successful business were not enough, Gillian is also chief executive of Blue Venture, the new EBP for South Tyneside, and she has been appointed North East member of the National Education Business Partnership Network’s consultation group for employer engagement. Newcastle EBP and South Tyneside Blue Venture bring business and education together to build skills for the future and create an enterprising edge to the curriculum. Their projects give business a genuine input into skills generation in young people and pay offs in terms of PR, staff development and CSR. “The hundreds of young people who benefit from our innovative projects genuinely gain new skills which may help them find a great career,” says Gillian. “At the same time, the

businesses who work with us benefit in terms of staff development and recruitment, have a genuine say in the curriculum and can benefit from great PR. It’s a mutually beneficial link that our partner businesses value enormously.” Now, in a major new development, Newcastle EBP is responsible for employer involvement in the new 14-19 Diplomas being rolled out in Newcastle in September. “The advent of Diplomas provides new opportunities for companies of all sizes to influence the skills and knowledge of young people,” Gillian asserts. “At the same time, they may develop new recruitment channels, contribute to the local community and economy, and enhance their reputation. “They can influence the curriculum by delivering interactive sessions in schools about

JULY 08

Businesses who work with us have a genuine say in the curriculum and can benefit from great PR

their industry, setting business challenges for students, or hosting work-based placements.” Diploma graduates, like the hundreds of youngsters who experience EBP and Blue Venture programmes each year, will have an appreciation of enterprise and a broad set of personal skills including the ability to learn independently, think creatively, solve problems, manage time effectively and work with others. Supporters in the North East include Microsoft, Rolls Royce and IBM, and there are many opportunities for SMEs too. Local businesses who have donated more than £70,000-worth of services to Newcastle schools through EBP programmes in 2007/8 include Newcastle Building Society, Barratt Homes, Newcastle University, Newcastle Dental Hospital, Integral, Greggs and 3663 Booker. South Tyneside Blue Venture has every opportunity to follow the success of the EBP, which provided programmes for in excess of 20,000 school pupils, drawing on the expertise of 40 organisations and running more than 100 different skills projects last year. The EBP’s many projects include its Operation 608 programme which, in the last five years, has supported more than 400 young people towards five A-C grades at GCSE. The EBP and Blue Venture also work closely with employers to fill skills gaps, often at an employer’s request and notably, in recent years, with Capital Shopping Centres and stores in Newcastle’s Eldon Square and the MetroCentre, providing qualification-led experience for youngsters working on their BTEC in retail through the now nationally recognised Retail Gold programme.

The EBP has also recently completed a twoyear programme called Enterprise Revolution, reaching 15,000 teenagers throughout Tyne and Wear and supporting 69 education and training providers to increase enterprise and employability skills. All this illustrates that the EBP and Blue Venture must be business-savvy, dynamic organisations providing for commercial needs in a highly competitive market place. “Crucially, Newcastle EBP has a high-profile board of directors,” says Gillian. “We compete in the market and change with it, delivering quality products the market demands. We have to have a product that is necessary.” Newcastle EBP is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity and Gillian is well-practised in the art of accessing diverse funding streams. “But while we need to access funding, we don’t want the money to lead the business,” she says. “Our core values are to encourage young people to develop skills for life. We won’t sell our soul for money. “We offer a quality product delivered by skilled staff. Every programme we run is fully measured and evaluated. We ensure that we meet the changing needs of the economic climate and the schools we work with.” Robert Phillips, head of Muckle LLP’s commercial services group and chairman of the EBP’s board, is praiseworthy of the organisation’s business acumen. “The EBP operates in the public sector with private sector enterprise and dynamism,” he says. “It continues to go from strength to strength in a dynamic and changing market place, a major success being its ability to attract funding from a variety of sources, which is a reflection of the very high standards it achieves.” There is little doubt that Gillian Bulman’s diverse career background has armed her with the skills required to respond to the varied needs of education and industry. Beginning her working life as a teacher before progressing to the advisory and inspection division at Northumberland LEA, she later ran her own successful interior design company. She then went back into education before working as a consultant, setting up workplace training programmes for the likes of National Power and Kimberley Clarke. After that, she worked for the Construction Industry Training

INTERVIEW

Board (CITB), creating training and education programmes until six years ago, when she joined the EBP. “All the skills I have picked up along the way have come to fruition here,” she says. “It is my skills rather than my qualifications that have helped me to get this business into such a strong position and I believe that while good qualifications are important and might get you the interview, they won’t necessarily get you the job. It’s most important that people have skills and that’s what our programmes are all about; building skills in young people that employers tell us they want.”

Head Start September will see the introduction of Diplomas for schools in Construction and the Built Environment, Engineering, ICT, Creative and Media, and Society Health and Development. Newcastle is one of only 10 cities to be involved in this initial roll out and business involvement is key to its success. If your children are aged 14 or under now, they will probably undertake Diplomas, and if you’re in business, you can have your say in this, probably the biggest revolution in education since the introduction of the O-Level. The Diplomas, which are backed by eminent names including Vodafone and BT, introduce more practical, employerdriven learning to the curriculum and directly involve businesses in education. North East companies, including BAE Systems, Ryder Architects and TDR, have already pledged their involvement because, as Ian Young, MD of Team Valley-based TDR, puts it: “We need new blood and fresh impetus across all disciplines to ensure we can compete in the future, and the new Diploma lines will help us achieve just that.” For more information about the new Diplomas, contact Peter Mawer at Newcastle EBP, tel 0191 277 4444, email peter.mawer@newcastle.gov.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

EVENTS DIARY

JULY 08

BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to forward plan. If you wish to add your event to the list send it to: editor@bq-magazine.co.uk. The diary is updated online daily at www.nebusinessguide.co.uk

JULY

22 SEPTEMBER Practical Aspects of the Finance Act, explained at NSCA seminar by Giles Mooney. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (2pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie. rice@icaew.com

23 JULY NowNE Launch Event for high growth entrepreneurs. Gateshead (8am). Contact: amanda@qedconsulting.co.uk

22 SEPTEMBER

31 JULY Breakfast Exchange. Middlesbrough Business Forum, contact: Lisa Higgins, Max Freer, 01642 322 544, info@middlesbroughbusinessforum.com

AUGUST

Search Engine Optimisation and Web Marketing workshop. Durham (1.30pm). Contact: cathy.herron@mybiz.co.uk, 0191 250 4530

23 SEPTEMBER Search Engine Optimisation and Web Marketing workshop. Newcastle (1.30pm). Contact: cathy.herron@mybiz.co.uk, 0191 250 4530

16 AUGUST Stokesley As a One Stop Business Community, Stokesley Business Club presentation. Host Fiona Robinson, Courage Consulting Ltd. Presentation by Emma Morley of Mortgage Made Simple Ltd. Stokesley Town Hall (12.30). Contact: Sharon, enquiries@mcware.co.uk

22 AUGUST Closing date for Wearside businesses to enter the fifth annual Sunderland Echo Portfolio Business Awards. See www.sunderlandecho.com

24 UNTIL 29 AUGUST

24 UNTIL 29 SEPTEMBER Oil & Gas market visit to Offshore Northern Seas. www.nofenergy.co.uk

24 SEPTEMBER Search Engine Optimisation and Web Marketing workshop. Alnwick (1.30pm). Contact: cathy.herron@mybiz.co.uk, 0191 250 4530

25 SEPTEMBER Breakfast Exchange. Middlesbrough Business Forum. Contact: Liza Higgins, Max Freer, 01642 322 544, info@middlesbroughbusinessforum.com

OCTOBER

Oil & Gas market visit to Offshore Northern Seas. www.nofenergy.co.uk

28 AUGUST Service Network Summer Social: Speed networking. Seaham (2pm). Contact: 0191 244 4031

SEPTEMBER

Tax Update, by Bob Trunchion at NSCA seminar. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (9.30am). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@icaew.com

1 OCTOBER

3 SEPTEMBER Finance Act 2008, Rebecca Benneyworth briefs NSCA seminar. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (2pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@icaew.com

Accounts/Audit Update, NSCA seminar. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (2pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@icaew.com

6 OCTOBER Residence and Domicile for Individuals, Tony Jenkins briefs at NSCA seminar. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (2pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@ icaew.com

8 SEPTEMBER Legal Issues Affecting the SME, Louise Dunford addresses NSCA seminar. Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham (2pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@icaew.com

9 OCTOBER

9 SEPTEMBER Employment Law for Line Managers, one-day course run by Carlisle solicitors Burnetts. Kendal (9.30am). Contact: Rosanna Mitchell, 01228 552222, rom@burnetts.co.uk or via www.burnetts.co.uk

10 SEPTEMBER CBI HR directors group meeting. Newcastle (12.30). Contact: Ruth Askey, 0191 255 4415, ruth.askey@cbi.org.uk

17 SEPTEMBER CBI North-East regional council meeting. Newcastle (10am). Contact: Ruth Askey, 0191 255 4415, ruth.askey@cbi.org.uk

17, 18 SEPTEMBER The 2008 Partners4Automotive Conference supported by Sunderland City Council and ONE NorthEast. Sir Tom Cowie Campus, Sunderland University. Contact: Phil Eadon, 0191 415 7340. Also www.partners4automotive2008.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | JULY 08

1 OCTOBER

Sunderland Echo Portfolio Business Awards for Wearside. Stadium of Light, Sunderland. See details at www.sunderlandecho.com

9 OCTOBER SCA annual dinner. Newcastle Civic Centre (7.15pm). Contact Marie Rice, email marie.rice@icaew.com Please check with the contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Events organisers are also asked to notify us at the above e-mail address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they know of them.

KEY:

Acas: Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, CECA (NE): Civil Engineering Contractors Association (North East), HMRC: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, ICE: Institution of Civil Engineers, NSCA: Northern Society of Chartered Accountants, FSB: Federation of Small Business, Tbc: to be confirmed.

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