BQ North East Issue 08 by We Are UMi

www.bq-magazine.co.uk

ISSUE EIGHT: WINTER 2010

HERE COMES THE SUN John Hays on the business of travel THE ART OF BUSINESS Bryan Goodall, making space for oil on canvas HOW FARES FAIR TRADE? Breaking barriers with fair trade pioneer Richard Adams STAND AND DELIVER Peter Slee - delivering online retail’s promises

VA VA VOOM

Graeme Lowdon’s new adventures in Formula One ISSUE EIGHT: WINTER 2010: NORTH EAST EDITION

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

NORTH EAST MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR 2009

NORTH EAST EDITION

Business Quarter Magazine

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WELCOME

BUSINESS QUARTER: WINTER 10: ISSUE EIGHT Welcome to the latest issue of the North East’s Magazine of the Year. We lay no false claim here, for at the latest Tom Cordner Press Awards - the region’s annual accolades for the industry - BQ was named best in class. The recognition, which comes just 19 months after our first issue, endorses the approval we already receive regularly from our readers and many supporters within the region’s business community. We’re pleased to be among the winners, particularly in these long-standing ‘Oscars’, which recognise the highest standards of North East journalism. It indicates to us that - far from the media being an industry dominated by decline, as it is sometimes held up to be, BQ proves that good journalism, targeted marketing and a sound business approach still offer print a sound future. We are thankful to all our readers, advertisers, supporters and contributors for your loyalty, support and enthusiasm. Our mission is to produce a bright, optimistic and profitable periodical to both inform and entertain, telling and interpreting North East business news and views honestly, without spin and churn. In this, we encourage entrepreneurial spirit, support regional goals, and pay tribute to businesses, organisations and individuals who contribute to the good of our region. One of these is Graeme Lowdon - already a global pioneer in data communication who has now become director of racing for the new Formula 1 Virgin team. He says this would be impossible to achieve without his wife and sometime business associate, Wendy. We talk to Si Bales about the prodigious growth of her company, Bgroup, and her flair for attracting fine business brains to sit on her board. Talking of fine business brains, John Hays inherited his enterpreneurial streak from his mother, Peggy, and the continuing success of

Hays Travel proves the point. He recounts his story within these pages, remembering how he and his brother Malcolm were inspired into business by the fine example of their mother, who beat debilitating illness to make her mark. We also have the story of Bryan and Jeannie Goodall, husband and wife and coentrepreneurs for some 40 years, and now patronising the arts on Teesside. Stories of all the above, plus that of fair trade pioneer Richard Adams, who has spent four decades breaking down global trade barriers, are here, plus plenty more. All of them are inspiring, and all of them reflect a vibrant and influential business scene. And remember, since we’re the best North East magazine, you must be the North East’s best in readership and support. So thank you again. Brian Nicholls Editor

CONTACTS 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 EDITORIAL Brian Nicholls Editor e: b.g.nicholls@btinternet.com Jane Pikett e: jane@thecreationgroup.co.uk DESIGN & PRODUCTION Euan Underwood, Kevin Waddell e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk ADVERTISING If you wish to advertise with us please contact our sales team on 0191 419 3221, or email sales@room501.co.uk

room501 Contract Publishing Ltd, 10 Baird Close, Stephenson Ind Est, Washington, Tyne & Wear NE37 3HL www.room501.co.uk 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 © 2010 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, January2010.

THE LIFE AND SOUL OF BUSINESS NORTH EAST EDITION

BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: WINTER 10 IN THE PICTURE

Features

44 FASCINATION Hay & Kilner’s Nick James on his highly unusual career change

55 HERE COMES THE SUN

John Hays on the business of travel

24 VA VA VOOM ... Graeme Loudon’s new adventures in Formula 1

38 BQ LIVE DEBATE This quarter, our panel debates the region’s training provision

48 IN THE PICTURE Si Bales on Bgroup’s bid for growth, and support for regional news

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

82 THE ART OF BUSINESS Bryan Goodall’s new venture making space for art

86 STAND AND DELIVER Peter Slee‘s Spark Response; delivering dreams to online shoppers

90 EASY AS ABC Asian Business Connections - working for businesses regionwide

HERE COMES THE SUN

TENTS NORTH EAST EDITION

30 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

IN CONVERSATION

The landmark developments building the region’s industrial landscape

64 WINE Andrew Dixon tests two best bottles

Regulars

60 BUSINESS LUNCH Social entrepreneur Richard Adams on breaking down trade barriers

66 FASHION

John Smedley’s classic knits

ON THE RECORD Making the news in Q1/10

10 NEWS Who’s doing what, when, where and why, here in the North East

FINE KNITS

72 KIT Romain Jerome marks time

78 MOTORS Volvo’s new XC90 put to the test

94 IN ANOTHER LIFE Matt Wing - living his dream career

21 AS I SEE IT Lesley Hunter’s tips for managing people through recession

98 FRANK TOCK Gripping gossip from our backroom boy

66 BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

ON THE RECORD

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While some big deals included in the latest Business Barometer might promote some optimism, we’re still in the grip of challenging times. Here’s a snapshot of the quarter’s results and deals

George Rafferty: Cheered by opportunity

>> Fair blows the North East wind Offshore industries in the North East look certain to thrive following the Government’s go-ahead for nine wind farm zones off the UK coast. Mark Stephenson, policy adviser at the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) said: “Our region is closest to Dogger Bank, the biggest zone.” Renewable and sustainable energy of all kinds could create 40,000 jobs in the region and bring in up to £10bn of new investment by 2030. Tyneside is already attracting major foreign manufacturers such as Clipper Windpower (USA), Mitsubishi (Japan) and Siemens (Germany) in the wind activity. It is believed turbine building and installation could largely fill the void that the decline of shipbuilding left. George Rafferty, chief executive of NOF Energy, which represents more than 300 firms in the oil, gas and energy sectors, described it as: “Very good news for North East businesses serving the energy sector.” He explained: “There’s a wealth of skills and experience from the oil and gas supply chain transferable to the offshore wind sector. This will provide new opportunities and help create some of the 60,000 jobs expected to be generated. We’ve been helping our members for some time to

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

gear up for new energy developments and supporting them in the nuclear sector.” Events are being held in the region from February, starting in Hartlepool, to brief firms. The NECC, however, sees a need for government backing to upskill, address obstacles in infrastructure, and avoid delays in development. Andrew Mill, chief executive of Narec (the New and Renewable Energy Centre at Blyth) which is advising the Crown Estate in the programme - and providing research and development, consultancy and test facilities for the sector - says a huge step forward for the entire UK has been taken. He says that as 25,000MW more capacity could result, a new approach is needed across the supply chain to ensure delivery. Narec has had £15m of public investment to build on its current 70m turbine blade testing capability with a new 100m facility.

>> Then there were two Northern Rock has been split in two since the start of the year with speculation growing as to which of several interested parties will take over the designated “good” half of the nationalised North East lender. The original Rock, whose financial collapse requiring state intervention heralded the UK recession, spun off a savings and mortgage Northern Rock plc on January 1 which is likely to find a buyer in the private sector. Its more toxic loans sector stays with the other part, renamed Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc, and a remains a burden on the taxpayer for the foreseeable future. Virgin Money, led by chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, is favourite to get the saleable half, having launched an unsuccessful bid for the Rock previously. But National Australia Bank (which owns the Clydesdale and the Yorkshire) could also bid. Whoever succeeds would get a business with about £19bn in retail savings and some £10bn

in low-risk home mortgages. The bank says it is taking on new business and benefiting from “a strong capital and liquidity position” following the split. Chief executive Gary Hoffman said the legal and capital restructure now helps to build a stronger future and delivers value to taxpayers.

>> Firms give youth a chance Businesses are supportive of a campaign to get 400 young people onto apprenticeships in the North East. The North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) launched the drive last September, hoping to get the 400 placed by Christmas. In fact, there was a commitment to 512 by then, all expected to be taken up during January.

>> Listed ﬁrms diminish Tolent has joined a growing list of North East firms de-listing from public share quotation. The Gateshead builder says the costs of AIM membership outweigh the benefits. Three other Tyneside firms - BNS Telecoms of Prudhoe, Metnor of Killingworth and Northern Recruitment Group in Newcastle - have pulled out their listings in the past 12 months. Tolent went public 10 years ago and has sales of around £100m-a-year, but is feeling the effects of the slump in its sector.

>> Growing through others North East investment company Middleton Enterprises saw 41% growth in 2009, driven by the recovery in equity and property prices. Starting the year at £39m, net asset value of the company and its associated businesses rose to £55m. Middleton Enterprises Ltd carries

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investments by Tyneside businessman Jeremy Middleton. The company comprises private equity and property, also listed equities. In 1990, Middleton co-founded Homeserve plc, now the core investment. A FTSE250 services supporter, Homeserve’s market capitalisation now tops £1bn. Over five years, Middleton Enterprises has invested in nine North East businesses - mainly from scratch. It has key investments in Ethical Superstores, Tanfield Foods, and training company Business Impact Ltd.

>> Bakery ﬁrms in difﬁculties Bakery firms are among those suffering just now. The North East Bakery group is in administration, five years after the young entrepreneur Greg Phillips built it into 15

ON THE RECORD

shops and a bakery. The business, which employed some 140 at its Newburn bakery and Tyneside retail outlets, had recently secured £150,000 of investment to hoist sales from £3.5m to £5m. Poor trading conditions and an expensive rebranding are blamed for the failure. Phillips, 30, a Newcastle University graduate and former North East Young Business Person of the Year, has been described by One North East as, “one of the region’s leading young entrepreneurs”. The Entrepreneurs’ Forum saw him as, “the epitome of emerging talent”. The Forum also provided a mentor who became group chairman, Stephen Silvester of Whitburn, joint owner and co-director of P&A Food Management Services of Darlington. Shortly after the North East Bakery collapse, Milligans announced the closure of three shops and the loss of 25 jobs. Two days earlier it announced it had transferred its business –

including three bakery shops, a butcher’s and 13 coffee shops - to a new holding company. This was to save its own future and 200 jobs in the light of North East Bakery’s failure. Many of the latter’s outlets had been previously owned by Milligans and landlords had reportedly been pressing Milligans for payments. Sites originally leased from Milligans had reverted back as fixed overheads, managing director Stephen Milligan said. Another promising young North East business, ANTnano, has been hoping to secure £500,000 of investment to better its position before February. Its sharetrading was suspended following a cash flow problem. The Sedgefield firm employs 16, almost all of them North East PhD graduates. Under chief executive Joe Arend, it reported strong orders for its air-monitoring equipment, but said software issues had caused a half-year delay in some key manufacturing. >>

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BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

ON THE RECORD >> Worst is over, survey suggests The North East shook off recession in the last quarter of 2009, the regional Chamber of Commerce (NECC) says. Its conclusion was based on the findings of a North East Business Barometer (NEBB) run with Barclays which shows firms performed better, both at home and abroad, late last year. James Ramsbotham, NECC chief executive, cautioned, however: “The survey period ended just two days after Corus announced plans to mothball the Teesside Cast Products plant. This will impact on future barometers.” Also, new legislation over the next three years will add £819m in new costs to North East businesses, the NECC predicts.

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The region’s exports remain a driver and strong throughout. But prices in the North East tumbled on a year ago, with margins slashed to keep business going. Firms have deferred recruiting also. The final quarter of 2009 showed a 50% upsurge in corporate deals, taking the full year’s value from £1bn to £1.5bn and outperforming the national average. Figures from Experian data group showed the North East was one of only four regions with a rise in deal values over three months. However, two larger than usual deals were mainly responsible for this. Newcastle-based Grainger, Britain’s largest private landlord, raised £250m, and Middlesbrough-based PD Ports was bought by Brookfield Asset Management for £323.6m. The main advisers in the deals were named as Dickinson Dees,

Muckle, Ward Hadaway and Hammonds. However, Dealogic reports only 115 North East deals over the full year, with more than half the recorded value credited to the disposal of PD Ports on Teesside to venture capitalist Brookfield Asset Management. PD Ports has reported a 51% leap in cargo volumes in the second half, despite the loss of steelmoving from Corus.

>> New lab hoists job numbers International Paints is investing £6.4m in a new laboratory for its Gateshead operation. The facility for fire protection products will provide 14 new jobs and secure 30 more by early 2011. The firm is already a major employer in Gateshead, with 900 people in work there.

Take ideas and make them a reality. “ Some people just need that push to suddenly think, ah, I can do this, and I will. We formed the company in 2000 on April Fool’s Day, as luck would have it.” Louise Allcroft, founder of Complement Genomics who has recently signed a major deal with US based Expression Analysis inc. To read more about Louise’s story visit www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk/entrepreneurs/lousie-allcroft

We know from the experiences of our members that entrepreneurial spirit is infectious. It feeds on itself as experience and knowledge are shared within the Entrepreneurs’ Forum community.

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BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

Be at the heart of the knowledge economy. With the business world the way it is, it’s hard to think beyond just surviving. But it’s more important than ever to focus on strategies that will help your business survive today’s problems and prepare for increased competitiveness when times get better. Continuing to look for ways to develop and bring new products to market, and to develop your processes to make your business leaner and smarter, is one of the best ways of making sure your company can be as recession-proof as possible. Which is exactly why County Durham Development Company has developed NETPark Net.

With links to the research facilities of the region’s five universities, venture capitalists, intellectual property specialists and more, NETPark Net means that innovative companies in the North East can tap into our extensive knowledge network, from as little as £99 a year. So to take a big step towards greater competitiveness today, visit:

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where business grows

NEWS

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We’re in business this quarter, with investment boosts for young enterprises, support for Olympic bids, a spotlight on new jobs illuminating the world, and much more ... >> We’re the best! Business Quarter is the North East’s Magazine of the Year – and that’s official. BQ was named the best periodical at the 28th Tom Cordner North East Annual Press Awards announced at a presentation evening at the Customs House, South Shields, recently. The judges commented on the high quality of BQ’s content, saying: “In its stunning look and imaginative content, this magazine lifts its subject to fresh, appealing heights, dragging it out of its sombre pinstripe suit. “Entertaining writing, striking design and photography combine to help it shine in the traditionally dull arena of business publications. A huge variety of features, news, tips and events.” We also congratulate the other award winners: Paul Watson, Hartlepool Mail: North East Journalist of the Year. Keith McCaffery: Splash Sub. Rod Pattinson, NCJ Media: Trainee Journalist of the Year. Brian Tilley, Hexham Courant: Weekly Journalist of the Year. Owen Humphreys, Press Association (two awards for Photographer of the Year). Dave Robson, Evening Gazette: Columnist of the Year. Gavin Havery, The Northern Echo: Online Video News. Barry Nelson, The Northern Echo: Health prize. James Entwistle, Darlington & Stockton Times: top NCE exam marks. John Gibson, Evening Chronicle: Sport. Clive Crickmer, ex-Daily Mirror, North East: Lifetime contribution to journalism, David Whetstone, The Journal: Feature writer. Babette Decker, The Journal: Award for front and/or back page design & Tony Dumphy trophy. Dave Robson, Evening Gazette: Columnist, or Blogger of the Year.

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

Something different: Business Exchange North East is unique in the region, says Alastair MacColl

>> It’s the business Top suppliers in the North East have a chance to do business with more than 90 major UK buyers at a two-day business event in March. The region’s businesses will also be able to exchange ideas, contacts and contracts when Business Exchange North East, the region’s largest business-to-business event, is held at Newcastle Racecourse on March 3 and 4. The event (previously the North East Regional Business Fair) will enable businesses to generate supply chain value through access to more than 2,000 regional decision makers. Hosted by Business Link, the gathering will include workshops, provide opportunities to do business, and offer key speakers and networking. The sectors covered will include those of the region’s ‘new economy’, which includes food and drink, automotive and advanced manufacturing, healthcare, knowledge-intensive business (KIBS) services, energy and low-carbon technologies, chemical, commercial creative, defence and marine and tourism and hospitality. Alastair MacColl, chief executive of Business & Enterprise North East, which delivers Business Link services in the region, said: “This event

uniquely unites all sectors of the region’s business community, and brings buyers and sellers under one roof.” UK purchasing professionals and North East suppliers will engage in a procurement pavilion. To match supplier needs, businesses will have one-to-one appointments and chances to form relationships with public and private sector buyers. Exhibitors will be able to build contacts, share ideas, develop sales leads and communicate with visitors to improve their business. Free seminars and interactive workshops will feature, and speakers will detail latest business advances in the regional economy and their impact. MacColl said: “In the current economic climate, it’s important that the region’s firms explore as many potential business openings as they can.” Business Link advisers will have the latest information available on many topics in a programme of free support clinics. To register, or for more information, see www.business-exchange.org.uk email info@business-exchange.org.uk tel 0191 241 4523. Once registered, delegates will get regular updates.

>> Booster for start-ups A start-up initiative with financial investments for equipment could support more than 700 new enterprises in the North East, creating 100 new jobs and safeguarding 330 others over the next two years. The North East England Investment Centre is launching the £4.63m project to step up the number of fledgling businesses locally. The maximum for any one business is £3,000, to encourage the development of innovative technologies or expansion to take on more staff. Investments will support half the cost of any equipment purchased.

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>> Life sciences shape the future Life science firms can help shape their UK sector through a roadshow at the International Centre for Life, Newcastle on February 18. Run by UK Trade & Investment and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS), the show offers the opportunity to find out about, and help influence, the Office for Life Sciences’ forward plans. The OLS has brought together the industry with government departments, including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department of Health, UKTI, The Treasury, Regional Development Agencies and devolved administrations to work collectively to keep the UK a global leader. Events include workshops on market intelligence, selling into the NHS, exhibition training, the challenge of China (free report from Ernst & Young) and accessing finance in the downturn. There will also be question time and networking. For information or to register, see www.olsroadshows.ukti.gov.uk or contact Ian Bunker, tel 0207 215 4851, email ian.bunker@ukti.gsi.gov.uk

>> There be treasure ... Small businesses are going overboard to support this year’s Tall Ships Races, which start in Hartlepool. Their business federation has signed up to be a

Diamond Sponsor, making the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) sole business supporter and sponsor for the event in August. Around 100 vessels from up to 20 countries, crewed by some 6,000 young people from more than 30 countries, will take part in four days of activities, with races taking place between Antwerp (Belgium) and Aalborg (Denmark), also Kristiansand (Norway) and Hartlepool. Colin Griffiths, Hartlepool branch chairman of the FSB, said: “This is a win-win for small businesses throughout the region. The event will bring £16m into Hartlepool and £50m into the wider economy. As we see signs of the economy starting to stabilise and growth beginning to return, Hartlepool Tall Ships will not only be the North East’s event of the year, but will also serve to galvanise and promote the small businesses community.” The FSB hopes to involve all its 4,500 members in the North East, and many beyond. See www.hartlepooltallships2010.com email tallships@hartlepool.gov.uk tel 01429 523 420

>> Plug into Europe Electric motoring is being stepped up on a European level. Jointly, 19 European cities and regions, 17 major European vehicle builders and 12 European electricity providers – as well as leading research and IT organisations and companies – have prepared a proposal on deploying electric vehicles across Europe.

NEWS

If funded by the European Commission, it will help to integrate electric vehicles in urban environments and speed the market roll-out of electric vehicles across the continent. Chris Pywell, head of strategic economic change at One North East, said it would integrate the North East into the largest European electric vehicle research programme to date. “We’re pleased to be sharing expertise with other leading European centres,” he said. Nissan is one of the 17 manufacturers and automotive firms listed as involved, but not Tanfield, the Washington group producing electric commercial vehicles.

>> Into Olympics running More than 2,000 firms in the North East have now signed up to the official London 2012 online brokerage service, CompeteFor; hoping to win contracts for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. In all, 2,073 firms are accessing the free service; an online ‘dating agency’ to bring together UK businesses and Games’ suppliers. But to date only 17 or so of the region’s firms have won contracts to directly supply the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog). Many more firms have won contracts in the supply chain, however. Firms successful so far include Sotech of Peterlee, supplying gutters and roof cladding edges for the Aquatics Centre, and The >>

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BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

NEWS

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Communicator Corporation of Rainton Bridge, providing Locog with enterprise email management solutions to help deliver digital communications. One North East is advising firms that have not yet done so to sign up to CompeteFor. A new Business Link service - Compete North East is also helping North East firms to tender. Paul Taylor, project director at Business Link, said: “It’s pleasing that so many North East businesses are accessing the range of opportunities available.” For more information, see www.competenortheast.co.uk www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast tel 0845 600 9006. For CompeteFor, see www.london2012.com

Deal done: Mike Bolam, Skillogy’s founder, with RTC North’s Sandra Innes

>> £1.3m export win for trainer A North East specialist in leadership and performance development for managers has secured a deal worth £1.3m over three years. The deal - between Skillogy International of Morpeth and South Africa’s leading strategic consulting group, Resolve - will see Skillogy’s Perform programme used to raise management skill levels in South Africa. The 35-module programme is based on in-depth study of key behavioural, interpersonal and process characteristics that underpin work performance. Skillogy is now in talks with new partners in Singapore and Hong Kong.

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>> Street lights shine on jobs A pioneering ‘green’ lighting firm has attracted $35m of investment, part of which will be used to setup a manufacturing operation in the North East. Plumina, a business started by former NASA scientist Dr Jeong Lee, has secured the funding with support from UK Trade and Investment. UKTI has already helped Plumina to introduce its street lights to Qatar over the past two years. Now a drive is planned to install the lights in other parts of the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. New technology gives the lights life beyond 50,000 hours, against the usual 8,000 hours. Uniquely, the lights also work in temperatures of up to 50ºC. Plumina aims to earn $1bn within five years of setting up its main manufacturing plant in the Newcastle area, which complements an existing operation in South Korea. Funding from Almas Capital of London is enabling 35 British jobs to be created. Dr Lee handled microfluidics technology for US space shuttle missions, with the ancillary goal of developing ultra-low energy LED street lights.

>> Region scores, thanks to Europe More than 60 projects to drive innovation, business growth and enterprise have been put to work in the North East with European Union investment. Millions of pounds of investment poured into the region in support during 2009 alone, under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme running from 2007 to 2013. Regional development agency One North East, which manages ERDF on behalf of regional partners, says it has successfully delivered against the £20.3m spending target set by the European Commission for the end of 2009. The Jeremie venture capital fund (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) - the first fund of its type in England - is now open, bringing £44.25m of ERDF investment on top of

Entrepreneur and former One North East board member Tim Cantle-Jones, the firm’s chief executive, has raised $2m among Middle East investors. Cantle-Jones, 50, was director of the Lottery-funded Millennium Festival, part of the New Millennium Experience Company from 1997 to 2000, and led the organisation of many events throughout the country. He raised sponsorship of more than £5m for the Festival. His other roles have included chairing Sport England’s regional sports board, and serving as director of the event management and marketing company Polar Productions. He has fund-raised extensively for sport in the North East. Yet another manufacturing plant may be opened in the near future, in a country yet to be announced. Mark Nichols, managing director of Almas, said: “We’re delighted to bring a truly groundbreaking technology to the UK, and are immeasurably impressed by the work of Dr Lee and his team. “This is a technology so substantial that the groups we partner to satisfy this demand will be able to share in potential global success.”

the 2009 spending figure. The ERDF 2007-2013 programme is bringing more than £300m into the North East, aiming to help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and raise the region’s productivity by £1.1bn a year. Strong negotiation by regional partners in the funding lead-up enabled the North East to secure the biggest per capita sum of all the English regions, ONE says. • Gateshead Council has allocated £750,000 to spur business investment and help local companies to ride out recession.

>> Yes, we have no banana buses A Boldon firm that provides advanced vehicle tracking systems has had a successful first year in business. >>

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Fleetm8 offers clients intelligent transport management solutions. Marketing director Neil Herron said the company recently won a contract with Arriva buses in Glasgow, is testing with major transport firms in London and has new inventions under way. The Arriva contract ensures that buses, unlike bananas, no longer come along in bunches. Fleetm8 was founded by Herron and his business partner, Dr Phillip Tann. Dr Tann, a former Sunderland University lecturer, made headlines when his invention proved to a court he had not been speeding. The company has a grant from South Tyneside Council to develop the business and there are plans to grow staff from 15 to 50 over 18 months.

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>> An inspector calls A fourth series of the BBC crime drama Inspector George Gently will at last be shot in the North East, where it is set. With a £150,000 injection from regional screen agency Northern Film and Media and regional development agency One North

East, the independent film and TV producer Company Pictures is shooting the series in Durham, rather than Ireland, where it was filmed previously. Starring Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby, pictured right and left respectively, it is one of five projects in the region to benefit from a £550,000 cash boost. Producer Suzan Harrison said: “The company is delighted to be shooting the new series of feature-length films on location, where the drama is actually set. Peter Flannery, who created the series, grew up in the North East. To be able to film the series for the first time where it’s set brings a greater authenticity, scale and colour to the production. We feel that we are bringing Inspector George Gently home.” Flannery (Our Friends In The North, The Devil’s Whore) wrote the series with Jimmy Gardner (This Life, Cops, Buried).

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NEWS

>> Submersible deal surfaces SMD, based at Wallsend, has acquired Hallin Robotics Ltd (HRL) for an undisclosed sum. The new business will now be SMD Robotics Ltd. HRL has made its name developing and engineering remote solutions for the nuclear decommissioning market, and with its bespoke applications for the offshore and subsea markets, in particular offshore decommissioning. It has facilities in Malton, North Yorkshire, and Seascale, Cumbria.

One in 100: Statex award winners

Passion pays: left to right, Kevin Mann, whose passion for comics is paying back in dollars, with Eileen Wicks (Teesside University graduate Incubation unit), Mark Elliott (DigitalCity) and David Dixon (Business Link)

>> Comic capers Kevin Mann’s passion for comic books puts him among the elite of digital prodigies. For his Take Comics company is one of just 10 firms chosen from 650 applications to attend a programme usually open only to North Americans. And the business, with backing from Microsoft, is now in negotiations with six major publishing firms. Mann, a computer science graduate of Teesside University, got onto the TechStars programme with backing from Business Link, Teesside University, DigitalCity, One North East and NorthStar Equity Investors. He spotted a gap in the digitised comic book market, and has now had mentoring support from Yahoo, Google and AOL following his pitch to 150 representatives from the digital industry. His idea for digital publications came while commuting from Middlesbrough to his then job with an architectural design firm in Durham. He said: “During the long bus journey I read comic books, but I was frustrated by difficulty of buying them when it was so easy to get other products like music on MP3 players. I got the idea to develop digitised comic publications which could be extended to other markets.” Backing came from NorthStar Equity Investors to get the business up and running and Take Comics now operates in Middlesbrough’s Boho Zone following a DigitalCity fellowship.

>> Groomed for success Fifty business cards have been enough to get Gloria Cassey’s start-up thriving. Cassey, who setup a dog-grooming business last spring, has gained 120 clients since, partly through the card suggestion made by FIN, part of an Entrust group of companies that helped her to get established. She had completed three years of training as a dog groomer on leaving school and worked

in the industry for some years before switching to hotel and catering work. She later decided to balance raising a young family with a return to grooming part time and set up for herself on West Road, Newcastle. She says: “I found my old shears and bought a few extras, but at first I was frugal about investment in the business as I wasn’t sure of the demand.” Nor was she sure of some business procedures,

>> Printing firm joins elite North East print firm Statexcolourprint has joined just 1% of UK businesses in being awarded a coveted Investors in People Bronze award. The award for the company, which employs 90 staff near Newcastle Airport, follows a £1.5m investment in a new German press, which has raised production speed and environmental efficiency. Finance and human resources director Sue Maitland said: “This is all about continuous improvement. Our approach of targeting business priorities has raised our performance.”

but FIN stepped in with guidance, the calling cards being an obvious start. FIN gives start-ups within Newcastle free and impartial advice. Its advisers operate from Enterprise Support centres on Shields Road, Byker, Lynnwood Terrace, Elswick, and other points across the city. For further information and access to services, tel 0191 278 1855 www.finewcastle.co.uk >>

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NEWS

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>> Barking up the right tree Hotel boss Seamus Coen (right) has returned to the North East on a mission to win accolades for Macdonald Linden Hall in Northumberland. Coen, 39, from Tipperary, is a former general manager of Malmaison, Newcastle, and has now taken over as regional general manager of Linden Hall in association with Macdonald Marine Hotel & Spa in North Berwick, where he has been for the last two and a half years. Most of his working time will be spent at Linden Hall to increase revenue streams through conferences, weddings, golf and leisure guests - and also to turn Linden Hall into an award-winner like the Marine Hotel. Its recent awards have included

>> Souped-up savings on energy Redemption Foods of Consett is saving almost £10,000 on its bills with the help of energy experts. MAS North East (Manufacturing Advisory Service) has enabled the manufacturer of soups, sauces and baked potato fillings to save 17% on its annual fuel bill. The experts were called in to the firm, which employs 20, after a major customer fell into administration. For information, tel 0845 600 9006, www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast

Outstanding Large Hotel of the Year two years running at the Golf Tourism Awards. Coen himself was awarded General Manager of the Year at the 2009 Scottish Hotel Awards. “My aim is that Team Linden will deliver above the expectations of our clients and make Linden stand out among its peers,” he said. His previous posts have also included general manager at the then Jurys Bristol Hotel and junior management roles at Grand Hyatt, Washington DC. Seamus and his wife Lisa have a baby daughter, Orla. Another regular face at Linden Hall will be that of Harvey, their golden retriever.

>> Anne’s triumph Managing director Anne Ganley, of Sunderland-based Thompson Building Centres and Taps, has been named Achiever of the Year in national trade awards. She won the title at the 2009 Builders’ Merchants Awards for Excellence after judges said she “exemplified the best qualities of an independent small business”. It was a second-time success, for she won the same honour in 2007. She received her award from BBC sports presenter John Inverdale in London.

>> Polished performance Gerald Ratner, whose adverse comments about Ratners Jewellery when he was chief executive led to financial losses, will speak at the Institute of Directors North East dinner on February 24. Following his ill-advised remarks in 1991, Ratner relaunched his career in the jewellery sector with www.geraldonline.com. The dinner is at the Raddison Blu Hotel in Durham. Richard Elphick, IOD regional chairman, said: “In today’s challenging economic times, I’m sure much of Mr Ratner’s advice about how to overcome difficulties will be of particular interest.”

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>>A ‘pizza’ the prizes The Design Group (TDG) - the UK’s longest established branding agency and a member of Design Network North – has won a trade award for helping Chicago Town Deep Dish pizzas become the market’s leading brand. Its design effectiveness award recognises the contribution the firm’s packaging re-design made in moving the brand from third to first place in the frozen pizza category. The company, set up in 1953, counts among its clients Boots, Procter and Gamble, Nestle and Boss. It has operations in London, Geneva, Budapest and Newcastle, the latter being the North East’s largest design consultancy.

>> Star shines on 200th investment The North East Proof of Concept Fund, run by NorthStar Equity Finance to support young business, has made its 200th investment - in Gamble de Grussa Ltd. The company was spun off research and development at Durham University to produce ‘sun patch’ products which give almost invisible ultra-violet protection to skin. Windsor-based Cogenta Systems is another beneficiary, and has opened a data management centre in Newcastle with an £800,000 investment, including £350,000 from NorthStar’s Co-Investment Fund.

>> More coal wanted Banks Mining wants approval from Northumberland County Council to extract an additional 2m tonnes of coal from its existing Shotton surface mine on the Blagdon Estate near Cramlington. The mine already employs more than 110 people on site, and puts £12m-plus into the regional economy annually. Approval would mean extraction going on there until 2016, with full restoration of the site during 2018. An application is being put to the council.

Constructing Excellence Annual Awards 2010 Our sixth annual awards ceremony is designed to showcase excellence, reward achievement and applaud the effort and innovation of the North East’s construction industry. The Categories Integration & Collaborative Working Leadership & People Development The Legacy Award - Sustainability SME Award Innovation Value Health & Safety Client of the Year The Achiever’s Award Project of the Year

Deadline for Applications: Friday 5th March 2010 Date of Awards Ceremony: Friday 7th May 2010 Venue: Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel Tickets: £75 + VAT with tables of 10 and 12 available

Student of the Year* Heritage* *new for 2010

For more information about submitting an award entry or to book ceremony tickets please contact Catriona Lingwood or Erika Hartill at awards@cene.org.uk www.cene.org.uk/awards/

COMPANY PROFILE

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Hosting major conferences of national and international stature provides a significant boost to the regional economy. It is the perfect way for North East businesses to forge important new networks, showcase their expertise and put the media spotlight on both their and the region’s business strengths

BUSINESSES BOOSTED BY BUREAU’S BACKING

EWCASTLEGATESHEAD’S business community, its leaders, influencers and key decision makers can play a vital role in attracting high-profile conferences to North East England - raising their profile to clients and peers on a regional, national and often international scale. In considering where to hold their next conference, international business’, professional societies, associations, and corporate groups are often strongly influenced by the input of a locally-based business leader. Conferences attract influential movers and shakers who can spread your business’ key messages. A high proportion of delegates are frequently first-time visitors and high spenders. And a high proportion later return to the destination as leisure visitors with their families, adding to the overall positive economic impact for the region. NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau – the organisation charged with promoting the area for major conferences - has developed a successful Conference Ambassador Programme which provides local professionals and business people with free and expert help in developing bespoke, professional-quality conference bids. Gill Pilkington, conference development manager at NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau, heads up the ambassador programme. She explains: “NewcastleGateshead has a wealth of highlyinfluential professionals from the worlds of business, science, culture and medicine who carry out fantastic work. Our aim is to help them gain widespread recognition for their activity. In addition to providing the opportunity to show

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make the Convention Bureau the first port of call. From meetings for 50, to conferences for up to 2,000, the Bureau will carefully consider the requirements and objectives of the business to gain an in-depth understanding of the event and work collaboratively to produce a first-class proposal, ensuring the most suitable venues, accommodation and support services are identified –all free of charge.

Above: Gill Pilkington, Conference Development Manager

CONFERENCES ATTRACT INFLUENTIAL MOVERS AND SHAKERS WHO CAN SPREAD YOUR BUSINESS’ KEY MESSAGES colleagues around the world that their business is at the forefront of innovation; hosting a conference here puts us all on the map and adds to the ongoing economic development of the region.” Bidding for a conference couldn’t be easier with the Convention Bureau’s backing. When considering holding an event in the ‘twin cities’,

The service offered through the Conference Ambassador Programme doesn’t stop there. The Bureau can manage online accommodation bookings, supply visitor guides and provide ongoing support and professional advice throughout. When thinking of planning a conference or event, contact Gill Pilkington at NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau: Gill Pilkington Conference Development Manager NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau Tel: 0191 243 8831 Email: gill.pilkington@ngi.org.uk www.NewcastleGateshead.com/meet

AS I SEE IT

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AS I SEE IT

RABBIT OR HEADLIGHT? WHICH ARE YOU? How well are you managing your people through recession? Lesley Hunter has some pertinent advice

I’m sure I’m not the only person glad to see the back of 2009 and the associated doom and gloom that has been portrayed for businesses in our region. Let’s look forward instead to the potential of a year of positive business development and growth. Let us also stop for a moment and think about the people in our organisations who we’ll need to help to bring about our business goals and lead us to recovery and prosperity in the North East. Several of our public sector organisations have undergone radical change and restructuring that has resulted in significantly different profiles, accompanied by upheaval and adjustment in their operational structures. In the private sector, redundancy has been a big issue, and every week a different headline has screamed the message about job losses and company closures. Perhaps you have had to take difficult and unpopular decisions regarding staffing levels in your own organisation. Or you may have been on the receiving end of the message that your job was simply no longer viable. Either way, it is an uncomfortable situation to be in, and inevitably fraught with emotion for everyone concerned. For some people, redundancy turns their world upside down as they struggle to come to terms with their perceived loss of worth and security. For others, it’s an opportunity and a catalyst to move on and try something different, often involving retraining and a change in career direction.

There are many sources of support for people in this situation - rightly so - but what about the people they leave behind? Too often, these colleagues are expected to assume additional roles, and take on extra responsibilities at the precise time when they typically feel guilty about still being employed, yet remain anxious about their own future. This combination of emotional and psychological demands can create vulnerability and confusion. It is now time to stop and consider their needs. Asking someone to pick up some of the workload of an absent colleague is one thing. Asking them to assume the responsibility of a soon to be ex-colleague is a totally different matter. Failure to recognise this, or to focus on developing and supporting the skills of the retained workforce, could well be the distinguishing factor between the organisations that are successful and flourish >>

Being a good manager doesn’t necessarily mean someone will be an effective leader

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AS I SEE IT

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Too many organisations expect staff to make this transition with little or no training or specialist intervention

and those that fail to grasp the challenges the current economic climate presents. To succeed, organisations will need to make conscious decisions to support the staff they have, and make sure they are equipped with the right blend of skills. Many people may find themselves in situations where, having been a successful manager in their previous role, they are now expected to provide leadership to others. This is typically where problems start, because being a good manager doesn’t necessarily mean that someone will be an effective leader. Yet too many organisations expect their staff to make this transition with little or no training or specialist intervention. “Budgets are too tight.” “There is a freeze on spending.” “We will do our own training in-house to save money.” These are typical statements from a number of local businesses that have all recently shed staff and reduced their workforce. At what stage will they realise that the dynamics in their organisation have shifted, and that people’s expectations have changed? And what precisely are they doing to make sure their existing core staff have the skills they need to drive the business forward? Basically, taking a short-term view and cutting investment in the key people who are central to long-term sustainability is a recipe for disaster. This insular approach may appear to save money on paper, but will do little to develop and promote the leadership characteristics

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that will see our business community thrive again. A recent report by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) - Delivering in a Downturn: What Does it Take? - identified that. “Most businesses won’t be adopting a positive mindset; many will be a rabbit in headlights. Companies that develop a positive but realistic mindset will prosper.” So is your business going to be a rabbit, or is it going to be driving forward in 2010 with a positive mindset and a well-equipped leadership team? It has never been more important for organisations to focus on developing a leadership mindset to ensure that their workforces have the fundamental skills required to give them a competitive edge. Lesley Hunter’s book, Who Put You in Charge? has just been published by AuthorHouse, priced £9.99. Based in Washington, Lesley specialises in leadership behaviour, working with individuals and organisations to develop managers into leaders, improve leadership performance and train in-house leadership coaches and mentors. A copy of the full ILM report quoted, and a range of resources, are available as free downloads at www.lesleyhunter.com n

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COMPANY PROFILE

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR THE NORTH EAST SUPPORTS BUSINESS CONTINUITY

N times of national and regional emergency Government Office for the North East has, for the last six years, been at the heart of co-ordination and communication between central Government and those who respond to emergencies, giving the regions a crucial part to play in England’s civil protection arrangements. This is done primarily through the Regional and Local Resilience Fora where key partners meet together, with Government Office, to ensure we are prepared and proper planning is in place at regional and local level. Lynda Keith, Government Office’s Director in charge of Resilience said: “When an emergency occurs, Government Office works closely with our Local Resilience Forum partners and key Whitehall

Lynda Keith, Deputy Regional Director, Operations and Resilience

departments, deciding how best to support the region’s response and giving ministers the bigger picture. When the initial response is over, we continue to support recovery efforts and co-ordinate while working with those involved to identify the critical lessons learned

‘The best course I have ever been on...it really helped me reflect on how to work with colleagues and clients effectively’

from any incident.” For the North East business community this means reassurance that there are proper, tested, plans in place to ensure that we can deal with the emergency and get an effective return to normality as soon as possible. But the business sector needs to play its part. Throughout the recent flu pandemic and severe weather situations, government stressed the need for businesses to have continuity plans in place, and that remains our key message. All the evidence shows that by anticipating the challenges that your business might face and knowing what you would do to mitigate and overcome them, means that you are more likely to stay in business.

‘An excellent short, sharp course that helped me to get promoted’ Alan Kelly, Senior Project Engineer, Thorn Lighting

Byron Beatty, Managing Consultant, Nigel Wright Recruitment

Durham Professional Development Programme Next programme starts March 2010 For more information: Email: management.development@durham.ac.uk Visit: www.durham.ac.uk/dbs/mdc Tel: 0191 334 5308 Come and meet us at Business Exchange North East at Newcastle Racecourse on 3rd & 4th March 2010

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

Two-track mind Even as he advances global data communication for trains, Graeme Lowdon also finds time to be director of racing for Virgin Racingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut in Formula 1 motor racing. Brian Nicholls finds out how the Northumberland entrepreneur fits it all together >>

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ENTREPRENEUR Pioneers of engineering once worked their wonders with water, iron and steam. Now, looking at Graeme Lowdon, they may prefer electronics and gasoline. Nomad Digital, the Newcastle firm employing 55 he co-founded, is globally recognised for developing a fast, reliable relay of high bandwidth data for moving transport; notably trains and buses. Passengers on the move can now work on the internet without fear of laptop cut-out under bridges and in tunnels. The data connection also improves management for the fleet operators, not only in the UK on the Heathrow and Brighton Expresses and Virgin West Coast main line, for example, but also in Norway, Holland, Dubai, India and North America. Trials are running now in South Korea and China, with more to come. Offices have opened in London, Dubai, Beijing and Calgary. The aim is to more than double a £5.1m turnover this year. At the same time, Lowdon, thanks partly to his wife Wendy’s shared enthusiasm, has taken up the post of director of racing for the new Virgin Racing team entering Formula 1; a 45-strong team of newcomers about to thrill the sport’s billion-strong global following. To Nomad first, though. Lowdon and Nigel Wallbridge, having synergised in other business activities, co-founded this firm in 2002. Lowdon recalls: “We’d worked together here. Then Nigel, on moving to Canada and buying a house there, found that internet access came there through a wireless system. “We thought that was interesting - high performance technology at low cost. But as houses don’t move, it was a fixed wireless technology there. We thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great to have a similar service for moving things?’ “We wondered what market there would be, and thought trains would be fantastic, if we could provide a missing piece of the jigsaw. We weren’t aware of competition, but as ever, as soon as someone spots an opportunity, someone else is looking at it - so competition did appear. “Some of those companies have come and gone. And where there’s competition, we do like to think our mousetrap’s better than the next.”

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Competition is good. If there are no other kids in the playground, there’s something wrong with the playground. We treat any competition with healthy respect

On Scandinavian buses, their technology now allows real-time monitoring of tyre pressures in snow. Tyres can also be checked and changed at the right time. And vehicles’ carbon footprint can be measured in real time; an increasingly important environmental factor. The company has recently attracted millions in investment to build its own wireless networks, giving it ownership of infrastructure from which capacity can be sold to customers. Some of the venture capital is also going into research and development. “We have just launched a new technology, Network Aggregation, which is a boring title

for an exciting technology. And we’re getting more people on board.” Lowdon likens the development to water down a pipe. Think of the pipe as a wireless connection, then it becomes a bit like being at home with your internet connection, and a pipeful of data flowing down instead. Now Network Aggregation has multiple pipes used simultaneously, stepping up bandwidth available to a moving vehicle. “Our technology has always allowed multiple pipes to be used to maintain a connection down one pipe or another. Now though, we can combine those pipes and send data down multiple pipes at the same time. This allows significantly higher bandwith to the end user.” The market is developing fast, serving needs in CCTV monitoring, for example. “Once customers see the possibilities, they find more and more uses, raising demand for the product. We think the market can be as big as markets in other technologies. “In railways, for example, the market for signalling technology is big. We think the market for IP applications on trains ultimately will be multi-billion and global. We are currently the self-professed market leader. In an emerging market, it’s pretty easy to be a market leader, since you only need to sell one more project than the next guy and you’re it. “But we do feel ahead of the curve so far. Competition is good, though. If there are no other kids in the playground, there’s something wrong with the playground. We treat any competition with healthy respect.” Born in Corbridge in the Tyne Valley, Lowdon grew up in Stocksfield, went to school in Prudhoe and entered a career with a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Sheffield University and an MBA from Newcastle University. But his talent for business, along with a passion for cars, came via his late father. Joining the power industry in 1984, he worked for Parsons – a “fantastic, brilliant engineering business” – sadly gone now. “An absolute crying shame,” Lowdon says. “When I worked for them, I didn’t have that wide a view of business. I‘ve often thought about tracking back through to find out what happened to that great company. “My assumption is, as ever, a story of serial

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ENTREPRENEUR

Big boys’ toys: Lowdan’s team works in a Boys’ Own world of cars, trains and technology, and their work is revolutionising the way we all travel acquisitions, buying and being bought, and ultimately decisions being made in far-off lands not particularly good for employment on Tyneside.” Lowdon worked in Singapore and Malaysia, living in Singapore for a year, then from 1989 to 1993 was a systems engineer with NEI ABB Gas Turbines Ltd. He moved to ABB Power Generation in Switzerland, where he lived for three years and managed South East Asian power station sales. Enjoyable though the multinational experience was, he wanted to be his own boss, so he returned to the North East where, with Wendy,

he set up an IT business, Industry On-Line Ltd, in 1996, plus a Formula 3 motor racing team, which they ran together. The team was run from Team Valley, with business support from the likes of Chris Thompson and Peter Bernard (Express Engineering) and Peter Simpson (Simpson Brothers). Support came also from Diffusion Textiles of Northumberland and Waters and Robson (Abbey Well). “That was a North East race team,” Lowdon says. “Much of what we learned from that has taken us along a very long road to Formula 1.” He met Wallbridge in IT, and his business in

Kent was Wide Area Markets. “We ran our businesses together and exchanged lots of information well.” Since then, Wallbridge, he says, has been “pretty central” to all he does. “We’re partners in lots of businesses together and work well together.” Early in 2000, at the height of the tech boom, they sold their own businesses into a company called J2C, Industry On-Line fetching £21.9m. A stock market takeover of J2C was completed in 2002 and the business was subsequently sold a year later. J2C, as Lowdon puts it, bore the rigours of the tech era, getting a rocky ride on the >>

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Bus

ENTREPRENEUR markets and eventually he bought J2C back. It was 2002, and Wallbridge was into developing the highband mobile technology. Right up to the tail end of the ‘90s the Lowdons had continued motor racing. A Sheffield-based team called Manor was their great rival. Then in 2000 John Booth, who ran it, asked Lowdon to become Manor’s non-executive director. Its drivers have included Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. “I’ve been advising Manor since. Formula 3 is fantastic - very difficult and a real challenge, but with little room for growth. “When recently it became clear that the FIA was introducing cost controls to make Formula 1 budgets more realistic, we saw exactly the same principle as Nomad – a market change, a golden opportunity. “We put an entry in and, on June 12 2009, were awarded one of the entry slots for the Formula 1 World Championship in 2010. Our commercial package has now seen us able to bring in Virgin as a commercial partner.” Lowdon is the team’s director of racing. Just before this interview, the team was officially rebranded Virgin Racing, and Lowdon, though describing Sir Richard Branson’s entry with characteristic restraint, is delighted, and appreciative of Wendy’s support, too. “I’m absolutely blessed with an understanding wife. No, that’s the wrong terminology. Wendy has worked in all the businesses, so she understands motor sport. She’s sat at Croft on wet weekends eating crisps. She knows the people involved. Wendy and I built Industry On-line together. She understands what we’re doing.” She’s taking time out now to be with their children more - Dan, three, and Abbie, seven. But, he says: “Wendy understands the mechanics of what goes on. She knows if I’m travelling, there’s a purpose. So my view is, she’s as much a partner in the business as any investor, customer or anyone. There’s no way we could do any of this without her support.” Director of racing is a non-executive role which he expects will dovetail well with his responsibilities at Nomad. He will co-ordinate and oversee the design and build of the car and running of the driver programme – bringing about Formula 1’s first all digitally prepared car, designed, built and tested in

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All the elements are managed by world-class people. I don’t need to tell them how to build a car or run a team

computer simulation, and avoiding the expense of wind tunnel testing. “All elements are managed by world-class people. I don’t need to tell them how to build a car or run a team. My role is in blending everything to ensure the team operates to the best of its abilities and resources. I have to ensure they have everything they need. Nomad is about things that move, and Formula 1 is certainly about things that do exactly that.” So Bahrain on March 14 marks Virgin’s debut on Formula 1’s extended 13-team grid, with Timo Glock and the Brazilian Lucas di Grassi driving. Glock formerly drove for Toyota, Di Grassi has been Renault’s test driver for some years. “Our target is to be best of the four new teams. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Realistically, in the first year we can only compare ourselves with the other newcomers starting with the same scenario.” Sir Richard foresees a respectable performance, built on over time. The team must commit to at least three years. A spending cap there may be, but only at £40m, and Lowdon is reassured by support from a “fantastic” investment partner, Lloyds Development Capital. “The spend is restricted, but revenue is not,” says Lowdon. “So you can still look for a multi-million pound revenue stream and profit. LDC is backing it for a financial return. It’s the management team’s objective to give it.” n

Taking to the road in style Lowdon’s other four-wheel passion is an investment in, and membership of, Vitesse Supercar Club. He’d been buying too many cars personally. “It has occurred to others besides me that the economics of owning too many cars is crazy. “ About £25,000 a year on each supercar owned, on one estimate. So he and a friend, John Morse, invested in, and became the first two customers of the privately owned Vitesse Supercar Club. To those not short of a bob or two, Lowdon recommends it as, “time share without the negative connotations”. Based at Hamsterley Mill and run by Karl Lowther, former logistics manager for Renault Motor Sport, Vitesse has about 30 members - 10 off the eventual limit. Members can use a variety of cars over the year. “When you pick a car up, it even has the CDs of your choice inside,” Lowdon remarks. The current Vitesse fleet includes a Ferrari F430 Spider, Ford GT, Bentley Continental GT, Aston Martin GT4, Porsche 911 Turbo (997), Ariel Atom, Maserati Quattroporte and a Ferrari California.

Business Quarter Ad:Layout 1

13/1/10

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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Newcastle’s historic Theatre Royal refurb moves closer, two old pubs change hands (one complete with ghosts), another historic theatre site gets a new role and kids bury a time capsule. Today’s news - history! >> Theatre wins initial wink and a nod Newcastle’s Theatre Royal has got a preliminary green light to upgrade by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which the theatre is looking to for funding. Along with restoration of the auditorium, some conservation work is proposed to protect the building’s external fabric, including the iconic portico on Grey Street. A £250,000 lottery bid, once a second stage of application succeeds, would form part of the overall funding package, which the theatre now has two years to prepare for. Extensive work on the Grade I listed building dating to 1837 will include new seating and carpeting, new lighting and ventilation, a new stalls entrance and the reinstatement of lost historic features including light fittings and gold leaf decorative work. External floodlights would make the landmark stand out by night and an audio-visual heritage and history room also figures in the plans. Chief executive Philip Bernays says the most difficult stage of the fund’s approval process has now been passed.

Going for comfort: A fine old auditorium is in line for a refurb

>> Data storage opens opportunity The South East’s tight hold on the data centre market could loosen to the North East’s benefit if a suitable space supply can be provided. That’s the view of DTZ in Newcastle, where Nicola Allon, the firm’s valuation director, and colleague Nick Atkinson, industrial director, see scope for the region’s developers to gain further from the UK’s need for secure data storage - if appropriate locations and development finance can be had. Allon says: “Most people don’t realise the mountains of digital data being generated by business and personal users across every industrial sector, private and public. It all has to be stored somewhere. A recent government report, Digital Britain, has stressed this.” Storing essential data on site can be costly in central business locations. Care is also needed to avoid areas prone to flooding or too near flight paths. And heavy-duty power supply is a major reason why some providers are starting to move from the South East. “London 2012 is absorbing any latent power capacity around the capital, and growing national demand, plus advances in fibre connectivity means other regions are becoming a more viable option,” Allon says. Properties suitable for conversion vary from disused mines and bunkers

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to defunct factories and abandoned offices. Mostly, though, they are in traditionally built industrial structures with good floor-to-ceiling heights and external areas for plant and generators. However, fit-out can then cost at least 10 times that of the original structure. But Atkinson feels that if suitable product and finance can be found, the North East will be well placed to capitalise on its geographical position and availability of power supply. He points out: “The region has a cohort of data centre specialists, but not enough new property. And because income doesn’t come onstream until completion of the fit-out and installation of all computer equipment, the current limit on funding is a stumbling block” DTZ is currently advising some manufacturing clients whose sites have power available from their previous use, and which are generally secure and secluded. Data centre projects already in the region include a 300,000sq ft facility for EDS at Wynyard Park, and a speculative development at Cobalt Business Park on North Tyneside. Other facilities include Teesside Archiving and Cleardate, both on Teesside, and North East Warehousing in Newcastle.

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Another accolade: The library that judges cannot stop admiring

>> Five awards for library The Ryder-designed Newcastle City Library has now won five awards since it opened to the public last June. The latest accolade is the Lord Mayor’s Design Award for the best new public sector building in the city.

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Judges considered it dramatic, colourful, vibrant and a great success. They say it has now linked more strongly to the city centre, improving the overall accessibility of a major public facility - and has dramatically improved the John Dobson Street and New Bridge Street area. They also praised Ryder’s consultation with library users. Ryder has grown out of the Ryder and Yates architectural practice formed in Newcastle during the 1950s, and works across the UK with offices in Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Newcastle. The £24m library is part of a £40.2m Newcastle libraries PFI project by developer Kajima Partnerships, contractor Tolent and Ryder Architecture for Newcastle City Council. It is built on the same site as the previous central library. Two other Ryder designed projects - High Heaton Community Library, also with Kajima,

and Cooper’s Studios for The Hanro Group - were commended finalists in small scale development and refurbishment categories. >>

Judges considered it dramatic, colourful, vibrant and a great success ... It has linked more strongly to the city

WE’VE COME A LONG WAY

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY >> Retail parks change hands The thriving Kingston Park and adjoining Belvedere retail parks near Newcastle Airport have been sold to a pension fund for £50m. The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) made the purchase from London-based Henderson Global Investors. With the deal, Henderson gets a stake in the USS Retail Warehouse Fund, and will now own Manchester Fort Shopping Park, previously with USS. The Kingston Park and Belvedere properties, close to the A1M, include among their occupants Boots, Next, Comet, Matalan and Homebase.

>> Business park three quarters full The recently opened Atley Business Park at Cramlington is three quarters occupied. A project of Carlisle-based Northern Developments (Cumbria), it comprises 42 light industrial units and is partly financed by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund. Recent arrivals include ABS Business Supplies and Henderson Building Contractors, which have both moved there from elsewhere in the town, and Datim Building Contractors, which has relocated from Gosforth.

>> Supermarket clash A battle to cash in on Morpeth’s growing appeal as a shopping centre will see four supermarket giants clashing head to head in February. • Sainsbury wants to build a 6,000sq m supermarket with filling station on farm land at Stobhill on the town’s south side, giving 410 parking spaces and 300 jobs. • Tesco wants to build a 2,564sq m store with 176 parking spaces and 200 jobs on the Coopies Lane industrial estate on the outskirts of town. • Dransfield Properties wants to build a 5,351sq m store with 271 parking spaces at Dark Lane, which is in the Low Stanners area near the market town’s central area.

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• A new town centre supermarket and multi-storey car park is also proposed by a local businessman at New Market, where the Szoda and Suburban bar and night club are now. The proposals will be considered by Northumberland County planners, mindful of claims by Morpeth Chamber of Trade that any further edge-of-town development could harm town centre retail. Dransfield is behind the new £32m Sanderson Arcade, whose recent opening in a 32-unit Edwardian-style mall has given the town’s shopping a huge lift already. Four other companies - Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Iceland and Morrison - already have food outlets in the town.

An overwhelming majority of the public consulted want to see a greater choice of supermarkets >> Lawyers step up house dealing Law firms have long been noted for fulfilling a role as estate agents also, and the practice may be spreading. BHP Home has opened a sales and lettings office in Durham, which in effect is a one-stop shop for clients looking for advice from BHP Law’s legal team and financial advisers. The company is a member of the National Association of Estate Agents and the Ombudsman scheme for estate agents. It plans openings elsewhere in Co. Durham and the Tees Valley.

>> Biggest build begins Work has started on the biggest speculative office building likely in the North-East this year. At over 90,000sq ft, Q12 at Newcastle’s

Quorum Business Park will neighbour Tesco Bank and Convergys. Completion is expected in November. The latest building, of three floors, features a piazza, water jets and a full height atrium, and is sustainably designed. The first five years are rent free. Fergus Trim, development director of Quorum Development Partners, says: “We seem to be seeing positive signs of business growth and expansion in the North East economy.” About 12,000 employees may fill 1m sq ft of space eventually.

>> Marchday joins repair campaign UK regeneration specialist Marchday plc has joined the Repairing Britain campaign, which believes a focus on building repair and maintenance can help secure 250,000 construction industry jobs at risk during the recession. Repairing Britain might boost the UK economy by stimulating the construction industry and encouraging public and local authorities to take an interest in the maintenance of their homes and community buildings. The campaign says up to half a million jobs could otherewise be lost in the current downturn. Marchday plc owns and operates two business park developments in Darlington and Windsor. The Darlington park, Lingfield Point, has more than 25,000sq ft of property already converted from being part of Europe’s largest wool mill into a multi-purpose business destination. This is part of a £100m investment by Marchday over 10 years. >>

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six years in the making. Patrick Parsons Ltd (PPL) – noted for its work on Durham Cathedral and Teesside white-water course – has itself moved into Waterloo House. Renovation of Waterloo House began in 2003 when the Adderstone Group bought the site. The linked-in Tyne Theatre is a Grade I listed building, and Adderstone Group is widely credited with having secured the theatre’s future as an entertainment venue before turning its attention to Waterloo House. The Waterloo building was previously dance studios and the top three floors have now been converted into 42 apartments.

>> Ghost of a chance in Blanchland sale The reputedly haunted Lord Crewe Arms Hotel, in part of the former 12th Century Blanchland Abbey building near Derwent Reservoir, has been sold to J&G Inns of Carlisle. Christie & Co sold the leasehold for an undisclosed amount on behalf of the Lord’s Crewe Charity, owner of the hotel and other buildings in Blanchland village, on the border of Durham and Northumberland. The hotel, which for the poet WH Auden held, “no sweeter memories”, after he stayed there, has 21 en-suite bedrooms and a 54-cover restaurant. J&G already runs the Warkworth House Hotel in Northumberland and the Brackenrigg Inn at Ullswater, and presumably acquires with the Lord Crewe, at no extra cost, two non-paying guests - the ghosts of Dorothy Forster, sister of a reluctant Jacobite commander, and a white habited monk.

>> Curtain up on offices Temporary office space is now available for as little as £10 an hour and boardroom space for £25 an hour at a £10m development just completed by consulting engineers Patrick Parsons in the heart of Newcastle. The Waterloo House and Tyne Theatre renovation is an Adderstone Group project

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>> Award for Sanderson Sanderson Weatherall’s North East offices have been voted “the most active national and overall agent for the North East” in the Estates Gazette’s 2009 Most Active Agent Deals competition. The firm, which operates on Grey Street in Newcastle and on Teesside has completed in the last year more than 1m sq ft of commercial space within the region. Director Tim Catterall says: “We have a top team who use innovative ideas to market properties across many sectors for our clients.”

>> Village pub back in business A village pub which is more than a century old has been revived. New owners Jill and Paul Jackson have bought the Vane Arms in Long Newton, near Stockton, which had been closed for more than two years. They have stripped and completely refurbished it following a deal completed on their behalf by Darlington law firm Latimer Hinks. Jill, who first moved to the village when she was 11, formerly ran her own courier firm and has a background in finance and administration. Paul currently works as a project manager.

Greener pastures: How a new eco-shopping centre for East Durham might look

>> Hopes for an extra Tesco East Durham looks likely to get a new Tesco. A planning application has gone in for an 80,000sq ft Tesco Extra at Burnhope Way, Peterlee. A a new public library is included in its proposal. The multi-million pound store, on the site of the former East Durham and Houghall College, would create 400 jobs and represent one of Peterlee’s biggest single investments ever if Durham County Council approves it. About 99% of the 200 people who attended a public exhibition of the plan reacted favourably in a questionnaire. Tesco spokesman Doug Wilson says: “An overwhelming majority of the public consulted want a greater choice of supermarkets in Peterlee.” This would be one of a new generation of Eco-stores, cutting Tesco’s carbon footprint through larch cladding and maximum use of glazing for natural light. A combined heat and power unit would generate energy on site and roof ventilators would allow natural airflow. Travelators – moving pavements – would provide shoppers with easy access between the store and car park, where 500 spaces would be provided. Training courses ranging from basic retail skills to graduate and management level are promised. Job applicants will also be offered basic skills training and pre-work support. >>

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COMPANY PROFILE

ESH CONNEXTS HELPS YOUNG PEOPLE INTO WORK

OUNG people are the focus of two key employer and training strategies offering real help as we continue to work through the economic downturn. The Young Persons Guarantee and the Backing Young Britain campaign help young people through employment, training and other opportunities during the recession to help them meet their full potential. Both campaigns fit with Government’s drive to keep our economy moving and we are starting to see a positive shift in the economy. One employer keen to back this trend and help young people into employment is County Durham based Esh Group. The innovative pilot programme Esh Connexts, funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) North East, has enabled young men to gain new skills and on-the-job experience to help them

Left to right: Mark Hunter, Kieran Graham (back, Jonathan Minto) Kieryn Heseltine, (back, Dale Morris) Brian Manning, Chief Executive – the Esh Group, (back, Stephen McGrail), Scott Fazakerly and Dean Liddel improve their lives, their understanding of the workplace and their job prospects. The programme, which was developed by Esh Group working with Connexions, focused on supporting young people from the Durham and Chester-le-Street areas whose lives have

been affected by a variety of personal, social or cultural issues. The young men learned through classroom based activities and on-the-job work experience. Placements were carried out with a number of Esh Group companies including Lumsden & Carroll Construction, Wilkinson Facilities Services and Dunelm Homes. And as a result, the eight 16 to 18 year olds who took part in the programme have been offered at least six months paid work and learning with Esh Group. Chris Roberts, Regional Director, LSC North East, said: “For most of these young people, Esh Connexts was their first experience of a working environment. The fact that they have been offered further work and learning is the icing on the cake.”

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>> Trickle-down benefit Commercial real estate investors across Europe show little willingness to move up the risk curve, a DTZ reports. The focus has recently remained on the main liquid and transparent markets of Western Europe. Magali Marton, head of Continental Europe and Middle East research, says: “Activity largely remains thin across emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe where perceived risks are greater.” Richard Turner, investment director at DTZ in Newcastle comments: “The North East investment market has traditionally not seen huge amounts of capital inflows from Europe. “But the region does benefit from a trickle-down effect as domestic capital is displaced by this inward investment.”

>> Two parks on market Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has a string of new instructions across the North East – for 940,000sq ft in all. It is marketing two business parks: Portrack Interchange Business Park in Stockton and Mandale Park in Durham. These will support up to 9,000 jobs. Mandale Park on Belmont Industrial Estate offers 350,000 sq ft of flexible office space, with units from 220sq ft up. The site is next to the A1(M), just a few minutes’ drive from the centre of Durham. Occupying a prominent location by the A19, Portrack Interchange Business Park is a 34 acre site, with 300,000sq ft of office space and 240,000sq ft of warehouse space.

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>> Burying the past Young people who buried a time capsule in Newcastle’s Northumberland Street are seen here with Pauline Baldwin, manager of a new branch of Newcastle Building Society due to open on the site. From this spring, Newcastle Building Society’s main city branch will be located in the new Northumberland Street premises, which were previously occupied by a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant near Haymarket Metro station. Construction work is underway to create a customer area of more than 2,000sq ft over two floors. In the process, a time capsule has been buried in the basement. Members of the Streetwise Young People’s Project helped to bury the capsule, marked ‘not to be opened until 2060’. It includes mementoes of the building society, including a passbook, a copy of its staff magazine, and some Newcastle-branded merchandise and artwork created for the society by the artist John Coatsworth. It also contains newspapers and magazines, and information about Streetwise, to give a flavour of the times. The society’s chief executive, Colin Seccombe, said: “Newcastle has been part of the North

East’s fabric for nearly 150 years, and we have records dating back throughout our history which reveal a lot about how people managed their money in the past. “We wanted to mark our landmark project with something that will show people in the future how we worked at this point. We hope the young people who helped bury our capsule can help unearth it with their grandchildren in 50 years’ time and explain to them what life was like in 2010.” Streetwise advises and counsels North East people aged between 13 and 25 on health and lifestyle issues. Its work has previously been supported by the Newcastle, the region’s biggest building society, through a community fund.

Newcastle has been part of the North East’s fabric for nearly 150 years

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COMPANY PROFILE

INSTITUTE FOR TURNAROUND WELCOMES NEW REGIONAL CHAIRMAN A director at financial services firm Grant Thornton has been appointed chairman of the Institute for Turnaround (IFT) in the North East. Daren Bekisz, a recovery and reorganisation specialist, will be working closely with the IFT national leadership to raise the profile of the Institute in the region’s business community. IFT is the independent

professional body that represents a unique audience responsible for funding, structuring, negotiating and executing turnaround, or ‘the rehabilitation and return to viability of underperforming organisations’, thereby creating stakeholder value and preserving jobs. Commenting on his appointment, Daren Bekisz said: “My primary aim during 2010 will be to increase general awareness of the IFT and the ability of its members to add value to challenging situations. IFT is very well known among turnaround professionals, but less so among the wider business community. “I anticipate that the next 12 months will see more turnaround activity as distressed businesses begin to understand that options and help are available to them. Tackling problems early will enable new business plans and strategies to be developed

and funded to allow a business to continue and preserve the employment that it provides.” Daren has a decade of experience advising lenders and corporates in restructuring assignments and has worked across a broad range of industry sectors, covering both UK and international businesses. He has been with Grant Thornton for three years.

For further information, please contact Daren Bekisz, Director, tel 0191 261 2631, daren.p.bekisz@gtuk.com

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THE BUSINESS OF TRAINING Debate question: What key issues do employers, training and recruitment providers face in ensuring our region continues to develop a skilled workforce, able to compete nationally and globally? Flaws in training that urgently need to be addressed were highlighted and examined in detail when 14 leaders from the North East’s business and training sectors gathered for BQ’s second Live Debate. Training issues included: • Unfilled vacancies, despite unemployment levels, which implies a lack of skills tuition in some areas. • Training for its own sake in a bid to keep unemployment figures down. Employers’ issues: • The need to provide sustainable jobs. • The need to consider present and future employment needs in a changing economy. • More apprentices in many firms. Issues on both sides: • The need for a greater interface between business and education for a better understanding of one another’s issues.

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And among parents: • The need to restore family guidance for young people towards career choices. From the public sector: • The need to offer suitable local firms more consideration in public procurement.

The training maze Geoff Ford observed that at Ford Component Manufacturing in South Tyneside, despite talk of streamlining training access, a plethora of providers still presents the private sector with a complicated and incoherent picture. Bill McGawley, at TDR Group in Gateshead, thinks the picture is complex at best, fractured and fuzzy at worst. Employers, he said, want easy access to learning and training aligned to business needs, with quality learning and no sticking plaster solutions. Andrea Parlett said Working Links, which has put 130,000 people into work since 2000, is alarmed. Research by the Sunderland firm suggests evidence of training for training’s sake, Government sponsored, with 58,000 claimants of Job Seekers Allowance while 6,500 vacancies remain unfilled. “There are too many people lacking the skills required. We need to work with businesses to bridge that gap,” she said. Also from Working Links, Graham McAlpine finds employability skills are elusive on

The participants: Nick James, Skills Development Director, LSC North East Stewart Watkins, MD, County Durham Development Company Darren Jobling, Director of Business Development, Eutechnyx Andrea Parlett, Regional Manager, Working Links Brian Manning, Chief Executive, Esh Group Geoff Ford, Chairman, Ford Component Manufacturing Bill McGawley, Executive Vice Chairman, TDR Group Jeff Dean, Director of Corporate Services, Gateshead Council Phil Handley, Managing Director, Articulated Trucks, Caterpillar Howard Forrest, Executive Director, North East Employer Coalition Sarah Robson, Head of Economic Regeneration, Durham County Council Graham McAlpine, Working Links Sally Fraser, Working Links Susan McDonnell, Director of Employability Programmes, People Solutions Associates Chairing the debate, held at Bistro 21 in Durham, with the support of Working Links, was Caroline Theobald, MD, Bridge Club Ltd

Teesside. “How to find the right person for the right job, to get sustainable employment, and co-ordinate activity through one point? There’s a need for a clear pathway for the provision of employable people,” he said. Howard Forrest said the North East Employer Coalition opens up job opportunities where they exist, but it is concerned about the employability skills of school and university leavers. Darren Jobling told of a university computer course which was launched, only to be proven to be inappropriate to company workings. Academic fervour isn’t enough; there must be work placement, the Eutechnyx boss suggested. TDR training firm’s provision, under Bill McGawley, ranges from mentoring two Brownie packs in South Shields to training engineers in every nuclear power station in the country. He said business needs employable raw material, and people who can be trained to provide leadership. “Too many people in key positions now make a success of whingeing about how bad things are, rather than giving the leadership

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necessary to improve things,” he said. Sally Fraser, from Working Links, sees the need for clearer understanding about business requirements. Jeff Dean detailed the North East Apprenticeship Company, the Gateshead Council venture with Gateshead College to provide the region with suitable starters. Its mission, he said, is to benefit employers and young people alike through apprenticeships. Nick James, of LSC North East, said the LSC is willing to address some points on an individual employer basis. Employers’ role Susan McDonnell, of People Solutions Associates in Peterlee, has 24 years’ experience of work in telecoms, including 17 spent training entrants. Covering East Durham, the region’s most depressed area, she can promote expertise, but how to get sustainability in any individual’s resulting job? How can longevity be promoted to keep expertise in the area? “There’s an urgent need to retain good, qualified people and ensure they have opportunities in East Durham,” she said. Forrest said: “Without a job at the end of training, you don’t have motivation.” Brian Manning, of Esh Group, wonders if training is really aligned to company needs, or is it an industry making sticking plasters? A traineeship should last at least two years, so that people get some idea of what they’re coming into, and companies can train from there. Ford said that, while industry is concerned about ageing workforces, many firms prefer adult apprentices; they understand the need to

get to work on time, and they contribute to the company sooner. Parlett said this shows the need to teach pre-apprenticeship skills. One speaker said a business leader might not know how to fill in the forms training administrators love, but they know how to lead. Changing jobs market Stewart Watkins, whose earliest working experience in Co. Durham included tackling Consett’s steel closure, said business must ask itself if it will talk its problems over directly with the relevant people in the education sector. “Will you pick up the baton? If the training issue is put on the table, will you fund and help to organise the outcome?” He referred to the emerging printable electronics sector at Sedgefield, which is expected to become part of a $250bn global industry. Should training for this be put into schools and higher education now, or should the opportunities be allowed to go instead to Japan, Korea and the USA? Wind turbines offer little business in the region right now, but who, he asked, will train the skilled workforce needed in future if the industry is to become important here? He pointed also to media influence on career choices, such as TV’s CSI Miami, which prompted a surge of forensic science students who now find there aren’t enough jobs for them. Sarah Robson, head of regeneration at Durham County Council, feels different levels of support are needed in the market place. One speaker said that even many people involved in careers don’t know what some jobs are any more, and one of the highest paid jobs

DEBATE

on offer recently was for a blogger. They don’t understand, because the jobs don’t exist widely yet, so better to concentrate on broad skills and employability. Jobling said, however, that many jobs carry an unnecessary mystique. “In our business, software engineers are really just engineers,” he explained. “We employ engineers.” At Teesside University, which produces good job candidates, Microsoft had regularly visited from the Home Counties, sweeping up the best. When Eutechnyx moved in too, the university received a complaint from Microsoft. But he added: “I don’t know if the requisite atmosphere is here yet, but the region does need more entrepreneurs. There’s nothing to stop the next Google coming from the North East.” Pointing out that Eutechnyx now has two operations in China and a business development office in the United States, Jobling further suggested that the North East doesn’t aim high enough with its training. “Too many resources are spent on labour weaknesses, and not enough to take on existing strengths. “For example, the computer games industry is now bigger than the Hollywood film industry’s box office, and computer games are big business in our region.” His advice is to aim high in inculcating skills. It doesn’t matter to his firm’s customers in Asia and the USA whether their product comes from the North East. They just want product. “Young people often have low aspirations. They aren’t aware a Gateshead business is contributing to an industry bigger than Hollywood. They need to be made aware that they can become part of a world-leading performance. We’ve won national awards for our training provision – it’s part of what we do. We don’t steal staff; we train, but we can’t get enough suitable entrants.” Advising young people McGawley regrets that many parents are disengaged in their attitude to their children’s careers. The tendency is to leave it to schools. It’s essential for the providers of pre-entry training to interface with employers, too. “We must get through to education the concept of a satisfying career,” he argued. “And family back-up is essential, too.” >>

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DEBATE

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Society has changed. Most people now live more than five miles away from their workplace, so local schools don’t relate as much. Leadership is needed to bring the component parts of a community’s employment back together. In higher education, he went on, too many people come out over-calibrated, only to face unemployment. Another speaker felt it was unbelievable how many people in education are so removed from “the real world”. McDonnell thinks the need for sound career advice for 15-year-olds underlines the value of employers going into schools. Family influence is vital, too. Manning believes Ofsted’s contribution is limited to box-ticking and concern for “employability” (that word again!). Esh Group goes into schools, arranges site visits and provides work placements. It has recently given placements to nine young people and taken on eight of them, despite the sector’s work famine. “On day one, I wouldn’t have given them 2p. But they’re proving themselves,” he said. Phil Handley said Caterpillar went into two

Essentials in a trainee Bill McGawley, recently made OBE for services to business and skills training in the North East, suggests individuals should decide for themselves what employability is. But besides three essentials usually quoted – numeracy, literacy and keenness - he told BQ of up to 14 other qualities that are pertinent: • Inquisitiveness • Flexibility • Discipline • Articulateness • Being onside • Self-starting • Being a team player • Being a skilled communicator • A high work ethic • High expectation • Customer awareness • Reliability • Being honest and trustworthy • Being developable

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schools on its doorstep to explain the skills and qualifications needed to be an engineer in the firm. Youngsters were also taken on shop floor tours, and he knew of many other businesses working with schools in a similar way. Financing jobs Manning, whose construction and civil engineering firm employs 1,000, said industries like his can train on the job very well, but they need a workload sufficient to ensure there is work for their trainees. So by keeping more business within the region, “real” jobs will result. Emphasis should be on the work that offers people “real” jobs, rather than putting people into training to keep unemployment figures down. Handley said that 2009 was brutal for Caterpillar’s production of construction vehicles, with business down 86%. So it may have to look to a jobless recovery for some time. “We must make money to recover that lost business. Training, I’m afraid, will be on the back burner. But we do have 23 apprentices and I long for the day we can bring on more. At some point, we’ll need a regional pool of people to draw from.” Ford also expects a demand-led revival for skills and apprentices as the economy improves. But it requires certainty in demand. His company has had to cut its workforce by 22% because of recession, but it is still training apprentices. The contribution of the public sector was questioned, with a call for North East authorities to use local businesses more. A

university survey shows that for every £1 invested in Esh Group, the economy benefited by £2.38. “Yet no county council will give us work,” Manning said. Watkins said this is still up for discussion in Durham. Jobling believes established firms are often just taken for granted at contract time. One estimate says South Tyneside Council spends only about 22% of its purchase within the region. Watkins and Robson said that, while there are EU stipulations about keeping procurement open, Durham Council is looking at all possibilities with sympathy. Another speaker suggested that rule makers should be able to find ways round conditions, while Manning said many local firms aren’t considered for procurement because they’re not Tier 1 listed, despite being competent to do the work. Another speaker suggested that, all other things being equal, public sector contracts should go to the bidder with the best apprenticeship record. McGawley asked what percentage of employees in the public sector are apprentices. A 0.7% figure is quoted. In Gateshead, there are 140 apprentices because that council is fostering the practice. Durham Council is said to be introducing more. James described the public sector’s low ratio as bizarre, given the numbers employed, but said this is being addressed. Financial lures to inward investors were questioned. It’s suggested that Britain might benefit if more money were paid to established firms that showed good training records and worthwhile jobs. Jobling said if Eutechnyx had expanded into predominantly

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French areas of Canada, 37% of salaries would have been state paid. Instead, it had gone into the United States and China and was treated well, but received no incentives, nor had looked for them. ”We had our own plan and went offshore.” He thinks people with the necessary authority and qualifications should go into companies and reward effective on-the-job training. James said Business Link North East did this. He added that trainers must sometimes plan for future occupational demand where employers don’t. He cited turbine building for wind energy. Going forward McDonnell said People Solutions Associates would work towards training people to contribute to progress. McAlpine said Working Links proposed one-to-one discussions to satisfy employer needs. McGawley said the valuable debate had reaffirmed for him the fact that more investment is needed to create more businesses and solve problems. “Employability - a glib word, but a vital asset - is essential,” he said. Jobling feels that, although support systems are better than 20 years ago, more must be done via schools and universities. Dean said a bigger economy with a bigger demand for trainees was vital, and further investment would help. He wants employers to advocate training. Parlett said Working Links can broker relations and there is funding for higher level employees in small and medium-size businesses. Welfare to Work, which Working Links has long supported, will work closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to encourage individuals back to paid jobs from allowances and benefits. Forrest said that the North East Employer Coalition acknowledges young people are suffering, and it will challenge Government. Learning and Skills, James said, refutes the idea that little can be done to improve job prospects. It recognises a need for real jobs and more real work, and urges employers to step up their trainee needs. The participants at the debate said they planned to stay in touch, and Watkins concluded the debate had been good - “like two rounds with Tyson”. n

DEBATE

Andrea Parlett, Regional Manager of Working Links, says of the BQ Live debate findings: The BQ Live event was a fantastic opportunity for businesses across the region to discuss their recruitment and workforce development challenges together. The debate gave valuable insight into understanding how the region can emerge from the current recession successfully to compete at local, national and global levels. Gaining that understanding of what businesses need is important to Working Links so that we can develop responsive, high quality services to enable our customers to compete effectively for employment opportunities. Across the region we have seen significant increases of people out of work which has hit our young people hardest and it is encouraging to see both central and local government commitment with initiatives such as the Future Jobs Fund and the soon to be launched North East Apprenticeship Company. As the largest provider of Welfare to Work Services, we have supported almost 130,000 people into work since 2000, and we will continue to support our customers to develop the skills that businesses need as they move into employment. A common issue that faces small and large companies alike is the plethora of agencies contacting employers on a regular basis with regard to their recruitment and development needs. This is why Working Links has committed to working in partnership across the region with Jobcentre Plus, Learning and Skills Council, Local Authorities and other service providers to create local employer forums. These forums provide a single point of contact to remove duplication and to raise awareness of the support available to business through Local Employment Partnerships, Train to Gain and Apprenticeships. We will continue to work with businesses at a local, regional and national level to develop sector specific recruitment and skills development solutions to ensure the right person for the right job so that we continue to change lives and create futures. The BQ Live Event has highlighted the challenges and issues faced by the business community and their recommendations and suggestions will be crucial for informing and shaping our future service delivery. For further information about Working Links, see www.workinglinks.co.uk or call 0800 917 9262

The Apprenticeship Company The North East Apprenticeship Company is a not-for-profit partnership between Gateshead Council and Gateshead College to provide opportunities for 16 to 18-year-olds. It aims to: • Grow 1,360 more apprenticeships in the region over three years. • Score 85% success. • Engage new employers.

• Raise SME participation. • Raise participation by 16 to 18-yearolds. • Achieve 50% progression into sustainable jobs. It is working to raise the profile of apprenticeships through employer networks, brokers and agencies, training providers, relevant initiatives in the region, schools, young people, parents and Connexions.

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COMPANY PROFILE

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Access is setting the standards in North East training provision with a top quality accreditation

LEADING THE WAY IN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

NORTH East based training provider Access has joined an elite band to have achieved certification in the coveted Training Quality Standard (TQS). Access is the first independent training provider in Tyne and Wear to gain the award and become recognised as a top provider of high quality, high impact training to employers. Managing Director, Malcolm Armstrong, commented: “It was an extremely challenging process but we’re delighted that we can now officially claim to be one of the UK’s most effective deliverers of training. “Everyone here has put in a great deal of work to ensure that training programmes through Access really can make a difference to the performance of the businesses we deal with. Being the first independent training provider in Tyne and Wear to achieve this award is tremendous. Our staff can be very proud of their achievements.” A large part of the assessment process involved customers being asked to rate Access in terms of likeliness to recommend their services to other employers. The Learning and Skills Council, which led on the

Access Managing Director, Malcolm Armstrong

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

The right Access package helped flooring specialist, View Logistics, to improve performance, productivity and turn over. Left to right, Access Skills Advisor Sue Tomlinson with View Logistics’ Managing Director, Steve Byrne and Sales Manager Carol Haqqi

WE’RE DELIGHTED THAT WE CAN NOW OFFICIALLY CLAIM TO BE ONE OF THE UK’S MOST EFFECTIVE DELIVERERS OF TRAINING development of the assessment framework, says of the standard “For training providers it offers a framework to drive improvement and challenge thinking on how best to achieve impact in the employer customers’ businesses. It is a mark to which training providers aspire because it is tough to achieve and through it, their performance is what really sets them apart from the competition.” Established in 1989, Access has grown to become one of the North East’s top work based training providers with an annual turnover in excess of £1.3 million. Its three divisions work with local businesses to develop staff and provide effective business solutions through training and it has helped over 5,000 young people into employment. Access Business Solutions provides detailed analysis of employers’ skills needs, advises on training solutions and helps secure funding for training. Access Apprenticeships focuses on the government’s flagship training programme for 16-24 year olds whilst Access Training works with over 160 businesses, delivering training for individuals of all ages or entire teams, from

NVQ qualifications to management and professional accreditation. As a member of the Gateshead Collective, a partnership of eight training providers based at the new Skills Academy on Team Valley, Access also holds Customer First accreditation, a quality mark for excellence in customer service and the Matrix Standard for the quality of the information, advice and guidance it provides.

For further details, information about courses or to arrange bespoke training please contact Mel or Valerie in our Business Solutions team on 0191 490 4651/2, or email info@accesstraining.org www.accesstraining.org

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INTERVIEW

WINTER 10

Facts and fascination Or perhaps you don’t realise just how much an electronics specialist and a solicitor can have in common until you talk to Nick James, Brian Nicholls discovers

Even an honest-to-goodness sales manager (no oxymoron intended) might raise his eyebrows upon learning that someone of his calling had transubstantiated into a solicitor, yet Nick James did exactly that. A fine job he’s made of it too, now heading the commercial department of Hay & Kilner; a law firm which is withstanding the ravages of recession better than some larger members of the sib. His was no overnight switch of career, and he had worked in sales and marketing for some indelible names of North East industry, including Allen-Bradley Electronics in Jarrow (ex-Morganite Resistors), Thermal Syndicate of Wallsend, Cape Insulation in Washington, as well as International Rectifier outside the region. Industry had overshadowed him from childhood, other than during his time at Barnard Castle School. The son of a Green Howard from Middlesbrough who, after the Second World War, had liberated a young

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

Dutch girl who’d one day become James’s mum, James was born in Billingham, where one wall of the house was always blackened from ICI’s neighbourly presence. He got into St John’s College, Cambridge – “it was easier in those days,” he claims – and studied electrical sciences, which is a Cambridge way of saying electronic engineering. That knowledge, and perhaps Dad having been an ICI depot manager, inclined him into industry in 1975. His father was with ICI for 40 years; a depot manager of a plant providing a by-product for cement. In his final 10 years there, Blue Circle bought the business. When James’s occupational sea change of direction came during his late 20s, there was no blood rush to accompany it. “I knew a few lawyers, had shared a room with one at Cambridge and the inevitable Jesmond flat with two others later,” he recalls. But what’s the link between electronics and law? “People have asked me many times,” he

says, grinning. “I think it’s that my degree was science-based, and you had a set of facts and a set of rules and you had apply the facts to the rules and come up with the solution. That’s pretty much what lawyers do. It’s a logical process that I find attractive.” Back to the books, then. “I went to Newcastle Poly and did a conversion course. Then came Law Society finals and a job as an articled clerk at what was then Septimus Gee and Ward and Rose in Hood Street.” His principal was the illustrious Peter Allan later senior partner, managing partner and consultant to Ward Hadaway, and a prime North East practitioner in corporate law for three decades. It was a Jack-of-all-trades existence; Allan, like the others, tackling any kind of knotty matter. Two years after qualifying, James was a partner. Later he too joined Ward Hadaway, remaining there for 12 years. When he came to Hay & Kilner 13 years ago it was much less

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usual than it is now for lawyers to change firms locally. But H&K suited him. “Ours is a supportive environment,” James explains of the management style at H&K, which is noted as a charities adviser. “Both staff and partners benefit. It has to be employed carefully because people can take advantage, but that hasn’t been our experience.” So loyalty is strong among the 160-strong workforce led by 24 partners. It’s no cosy club though. The latest Legal 500 awards 23 recommendations for H&K’s performance, including five first-tier rankings and six seconds. As James, 56, points out: “It’s quite difficult for a firm our size to get into higher ranking tiers. If you’re fifth biggest and everyone’s doing the same thing, you’ll probably end up fifth in everything, which probably puts you in the third tier. So anything above, in a sense, is punching above your weight.” His domain embraces company work, commercial property, some commercial litigation, insolvency and employment, and he is cited in the Legal 500 for very good service at all times. “I think my wife must have written that,” he chuckles. His wife, Judi, has a face familiar to many beyond Darras Hall, where they live and have two daughters - Madeleine, 24, a police officer, and Lucy, 18, studying psychology at Leeds University. Judi is a former presenter and continuity announcer on Tyne Tees TV and BBC Anglia and is now promotions and marketing manager for Fenwick, Newcastle. Growth within Hay & Kilner since its 1946 formation has largely been organic, and its distinctions include being one of the few firms in the region with a clinical negligence franchise. “Until we took on Eversheds’ private department in 2001, we were probably the largest Newcastle firm never to have merged. We like to think that we have quite a mature client base which has grown up with us. “Eversheds was rationalising nationally, and with some exceptions, wasn’t inclined to keep this sort of work in the region. Most of its Newcastle private department and clients came to us in a formal transfer. So our private client department is now probably second only in size to Dickinson Dees’.” In the following year, John Kilner - son of the >>

INTERVIEW

James observes exactly the same things happening now as in the early ‘90s recession. “Things weren’t going too well, everyone talking the market down, making matters worse. I accept there’s now more of a global dimension, but we ought now to be talking things back up. That’s part of the process in recovery – not just what the economy’s doing. “The purchasing managers’ index is a good guide to business confidence, and they’re becoming quite bullish. Here, morale has always been excellent generally. That’s not just an internal view, but how the firm is viewed externally, too. It’s a happy firm.” While not suggesting that Hay & Kilner is necessarily a role model in recession, James maintains that if it’s not possible to expand at a previous rate, it’s at least time to consider the future, not the past. “We must look at the positives going on, identify the indications that things will get better. The sooner we talk in those terms, the sooner it’ll happen. “We were still in heavy industry’s era when I started work. Because so few sectors were represented in the North East, recession hit us particularly badly then. But today’s economy is much more diverse. This has a beneficial effect across the board. We’ve a lot of high-tech industry and a good service sector. “The region’s legal sector compares with anywhere in the country. In the ‘80s there were areas of the law where, if you wanted assistance, you had to go out of the area, probably to London. No longer. There’s a number of excellent full-service firms here now.” That benefits clients, he suggests, because most working in businesses buying businesses, for example, are represented by local lawyers known to each other. “One week I may be across the table from my opposite number at Dickinson Dees, acting for a purchaser. Next week, with different clients, the tables may be turned. Both sides know the going rate on various negotiating points. We’re not going to waste clients’ money and time trying to negotiate what we know is unobtainable. That doesn’t mean a cosy club. Clients’ interests come first. But probably the most protracted transactions concern lawyers you don’t know. We’ve come far in a decade, away from a macho corporate lawyer image of staying up all night and doing a deal at daybreak.” Clients benefit from the new approach, in his view. “In litigation, greater emphasis is placed now on keeping people out of court, rather than getting them into court and having a bun fight. A good example is employment tribunal work. We do a lot of that. Our Neil Dwyer’s number one aim is to keep his clients out of the tribunal. That’s a commercial approach. Having worked in industry, I like to think I know what business people prioritise. An MD has various issues on his or her table and wants to give them to somebody to solve. One will be legal issues. “They don’t want you coming back and saying, ‘this is frightfully interesting, governed by a case in 1927’. They want you to say, ‘three things you could do here – A, B and C, and if I were you I’d do C and my reasoning is this ...’. Clients want you to make a decision for them, subject to their final sanction. That’s how we deliver services. We’re conscious that, largely, clients want to see the person they were referred to. In larger transactions - up to £80m in deal value over the last few years - you have to put a team to work on them. The client forms a relationship with the team members, but still expects to be in contact with the individual who was first reference.”

We’d like to make an acquisition if the possibility arose, but we’ve never tried to grow for the sake of it

BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

INTERVIEW

WINTER 10

founder, William – retired and Martin Soloman, from South Wales, became senior partner. He’d come to Newcastle in 1980 at 26, working initially with the planners of Newcastle City Council and involved in regeneration, notably in Byker. Marriage to a local girl was Soloman’s anchor and, since becoming senior partner, H&K has doubled in size with only one other merger, with Wallers, a Wallsend practice, in 2003. Around 20 of the total complement work there, adding strengths in work for banks, building societies and local authorities. James says: “We’d like to make an acquisition if the possibility arose, but we’ve never tried to grow for the sake of it.” How come the partnership operating from Cloth Market in the heart of Newcastle has not only retained full staff during recession, but also taken on trainees who might easily have been released after their two years’ training? “I put it down largely to us being a full-service firm with diverse expertise. The recession only affects particular areas of Law - notably those needing funding. Company commercial, for example, has been slow. “My peers in other firms tell the same story. But even in company commercial we’ve had some very interesting work in the last 12 months. I’ve been involved in a transaction utilising offshore funds and based on Sharia law. “The funds from the Middle East were subject to Islamic law compliance. That’s been a highlight. It’s ongoing – a multi-million dollar funding that in the next six to nine months will become public. It involves a local business with very innovative products. We’re also diverse in some areas which are not affected at all.” That includes the claimant clinical negligence work, for which David Bradshaw (also the

Belgian Consul) is noted. It features spinal injury and asbestos claims, actions involving members of the armed forces, also victims of sports injury, and – caveat emptor! – actions over oral contraceptives and breast implants. In personal injury defences, benzene, noise and vibration figure. Hay & Kilner also engages in professional negligence work, including cases involving other solicitors. James says: “It’s a fact of life these days that all professional service firms have professional indemnity insurance and they can easily, in consequence, become a target. “It’s not just solicitors, but also dentists, medics, accountants. I understand take-up in the USA for medics to do the more risky activities is very low for that reason. Obstetrics comes to mind. I don’t think many take that up.” As expected in hard times, many instructions in commercial litigation are coming in, but,

We’ve had some very interesting work in the last 12 months. I’ve been involved in a transaction utilising offshore funds and based on Sharia law

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

adds James: “Even in company commercial, there are areas where things are improving start-ups for instance. There’s a lot of interest in start-ups, particularly with Jeremie’s arrival.” This is the European-led £125m funding chest for technology start-ups and smaller companies. It’s thought some 850 companies could benefit. James says: “A number of solicitors in the region, like me, are pretty well versed in that kind of work, having dealt with existing funders.” Meanwhile, the Legal 500 observes that, besides being top tier in health and safety, H&K specialises in crime and fraud, including confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. In gaming and betting licensing, Soloman’s skills are highlighted. In dispute resolution, work has recently included a High Court action between a financial institution and a big transport name over extensive databases. Where it does appear in tribunals on unfair dismissals and whistle-blowing, instructions often come from private healthcare providers and a marine supplies company. It’s considered first tier in health and safety, while in intellectual property, a commercial dispute has featured over the design of a new machine process to manufacture a security product. You can say then, about Hay & Kilner, without fear of contradiction, that variety remains both its spice, and its elixir, of life. n

WINTER 10

COMPANY PROFILE

THE END OF UK ACCOUNTING STANDARDS…IS BUSINESS PREPARED?

HE UK Accounting Standards Board is proposing to replace UK accounting standards with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for all companies in the UK from 2012. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has put together a webcast for CFOs, finance directors, controllers and other financial reporting decisionmakers, to help understand the implications of the proposals. The webcast addresses the effect the proposals will have on all UK companies, whether privately-owned, subsidiaries of UK listed groups, or with an overseas parent. During the webcast PwC partners discuss the proposed changes and highlights of how accounting standards may change. They look at practical considerations to address before

deciding on the transition process. They consider the potential impact on tax bills and on timing the changes - when to make the change and what preparation is required. To view the whole webcast, log onto www.pwc.co.uk/newcastle, typing UK GAAP into the search engine and selecting the first link that appears, The end of UK GAAP – are you prepared?

Mick Jeffrey assurance director, PWC, Newcastle

TRAINING

FINANCE

SALES & MARKETING

ENVIRONMENT

LAW & LEGISLATION

For further information on UK GAAP, contact Mick Jeffrey at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Newcastle on 0191 269 4435 or email michael.jeffrey@uk.pwc.com

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BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

ENTREPRENEUR

WINTER 10

IN THE PICTURE As some big hitters vie to run regional news and current affairs for ITV, Brian Nicholls asks Si Bales what a smaller, younger operation like hers might offer North East viewers While ITV squirms away, ignominiously, from its once laudable provision of regional news and current affairs, aspiring successors wait in the wings to champion the public interest. Three groups in the North East have locked horns, battling to be preferred future supplier of ITV news in the North East. This is the region selected to be the testbed for England in a government-led pilot. One bidding consortium comprises Press Association (the national news agency), Trinity Mirror newspaper group (powerful in the North East), Ten Alps (a TV and web production company with a Newcastle presence), CN Group (a Cumbrian newspaper group owning also the Hexham Courant), along with Teesside University and Newcastle College. A second bidder is ITN (national news provider for ITV), Metro Radio, Johnston Press (another newspaper group strong in the North East) and Sunderland University. Ulster TV is a third bidder. Other consortia will run similar tests in Scotland and Wales. Final choices could come in March with the pilots starting a month later. If a new network does go ahead based on the pilots, public money may be siphoned from BBC’s licence fee to finance a totally new ITV arrangement running from 2013. Trinity Mirror may announce more partners, and will be aware of ambitions nursed by Newcastle based Bgroup, a young but thrusting organisation driven by the ebullient Si Bales.She set it up nine years ago – an inspiration she had while on maternity leave from her job as marketing manager of Ward Hadaway law firm. Today, the group’s 34 staff are piloting a Bdaily community and business TV service, on the coat-tails of the existing online Bdaily business news service and the Bgroup film, advertising

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

and marketing agency. Having invested £120,000 in the first three years to get Bgroup moving, Bales has since convinced other investors and won four rounds of funding in 12 months to push the TV project forward. The online business bulletin has nearly 5,900 subscribers, many more are recorded on the website and Bales values the business at £6m-plus, given its investment and infrastructure. The group has been working on the TV technology for a year, rolling out and testing environments and software, convinced that LCD plasma is its way forward. BDaily TV started screening last September and the first half of 2010, Bales says, is about installing it in as many localities as possible. Sample points include the reception areas of medium sized organisations and incubation sites. More than 200 businesses and two community sites, including a fire service, are trying it. Airport lounges, business schools and bodies like the National Trust will be targeted. “We want to bring a more cohesive news channel and give a wider offering in the round,” she explains. “We can add our channel to other people’s infrastructure or

setup our own channel where people can add their content. They can promote and sell what they’re doing.” The North East can be covered in its entirety, or broken into areas by post code or tagging. Longer term - small, highly skilled teams using maximum automation could staff regions across the nation, each using a different model. “We could work in different ways, with franchisees or with existing media organisations such as Trinity Mirror, which would be very attractive,” says Bales. The group began as Bmarketing on January 1, 2001. “I’d been researching US digital technology and saw a massive gap in electronic marketing here. I realised it’s not massively different from marketing per se more about how effectively you applied your electronic tools alongside the marketing, and with different rules of writing. “We won our first contract via One North East to deliver a North East marketing roadshow, then worked for onsite companies, merchandise and an online magazine. Then I turned to youth marketing, universities and entrepreneurship. Bdaily website started in September 2001. “I felt as a business owner I needed business news and information, lacking as I was in time to read all the Press and attend or even be aware of all the events going on. I needed something to pull it together for me. A student on a year out did this for me. “That was the start of a newsdesk. Then we started sending Bdaily out to clients and close stakeholders.” The entire operation has grown year on year. “At first, we ran more like a student kibbutz, but you can’t build a strong business on that. Clarity in management is very important, both in terms of leading and for motivating.” After initial incubation support from Project

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North East in Newcastle’s Pink Lane, the firm moved to Forth Banks, beside Sachins Indian restaurant – “pleasantly engulfing us with aromas of curry at mealtimes”. Then, in 2003, the business relocated to a dated office in Charlotte Square, where £20,000 was spent to fit it for purpose. After 18 months, the firm moved to a top-floor Tec incubator belonging to Newcastle City Council, still in Charlotte Square, providing a 2,500sq ft studio with an excellent broadband connection. Eighteen months after that, the staff had grown from 12 to 20 in Bgroup and to two in Bdaily. The fifth and final move was made last August to Keel House at Garth Heads, in the heart of Newcastle’s waterfront, where a £100,000 spend created premises suitable for TV studios, editing suites and meeting rooms. Marketing was nationally orientated in the main, she says, and only two years ago turned more into the region. “Growing outside the region to come back in, instead of just growing internally, has been much more sensible. I wasn’t from an agency, so I hadn’t got an established network in the region. Niching into a specific market gained us recognition, attraction and visibility. We communicated positively and created our own portfolio of work.” Most clients were South East-based initially. Work from the other regions, including the North East, followed, especially via enterprise agencies. Commissions from medium to large private firms followed, including integrated and strategic marketing-led campaigns. Firms that perhaps had a web agency doing their website, a PR agency doing their PR and maybe in-house marketing on top found a one-stop shop working in tandem with their business aims, and that’s how the group marketing still operates. On December 22 last year, investment was secured to take Bdaily forward. A limited company was established, and a team to buy TV equipment and to manage and train staff. “All this has allowed us to co-ordinate a bona fide commercial entity,” Bales says. Bgroup is changing, too. “These offices are a massive step up. They basically say we’ve been around nine years and now we’re ready to challenge the status quo in the region.” >>

ENTREPRENEUR

Forward thinking: Si Bales is looking to take her Bgroup organisation far ... and fast

At first, we ran more like a student kibbutz, but you can’t build a strong business on that. Clarity in management is important for leading and motivating

BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

ENTREPRENEUR She finds the region is proving more competitive than working for national business. “But having operated nationally, we’re not frightened. We’re quite global in our thinking. One of the biggest problems of growth is that leaders in a sector may be too frightened to raise their heads and see opportunities that are global as well as national. Life can be more than fishing in the small pond of a specific region. “But working in the North East is close to my heart. I want to offer clients here excellent service. A cohort of agencies has worked this region for years. I think we offer something a little different. We have our own TV studios, which is an attraction. And our own business to business news channel, which is, hopefully, another selling point.” She has now surrounded herself with individuals who, she feels, understand and are versed in media and global business. Roy Stanley, the former schoolteacher and now the entrepreneurial driver behind the North East’s development of ‘green’ commercial vehicles, chairs the group. Other board members include Simon Goon, digital innovator at regional development agency One North East, and Alastair MacColl, a former managing director of Trinity Mirror’s Gazette Media Group on Teesside (publisher of the Evening Gazette) and now chief executive of Business and Enterprise North East. Bales values the expertise her board members bring to the business. “You reach a point where you’ve grown organically over nine years and are still ambitious and creative. You want to do really exciting things, circumvent some of the things that you might go through by relying purely on organic growth. “I wanted to learn from a top-end business person. I want Bgroup to be the biggest agency in the North East and a leading agency

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in the UK, and also to roll out Bdaily nationally. You do that through continuing excellence, but also by getting additional financial support and by learning from an excellent board pulling together. Around the time of this interview, she was talking to another couple of experts, one previously with global advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi, the other from a large international brand. “I’m in discussions to bring them on. I believe that one of the secrets of business is knowing your own limitations, what you can do physically in the time you have, and also the knowledge you have.” Roy Stanley provided an expert for a month who’d already systemised one of his companies, and a new project management system is now being applied, introducing new processes and procedures applicable to any line of business. Potential executive talent is being nurtured as the ship is tightened. The public sector, tourism, inward investment and further private sector growth are coming into focus. Bales is also rationing herself from her former outside interests to concentrate fully on the business. She has come off all the boards on which she had been serving, including Young Enterprise and Business Enterprise North East, and has taken a sabbatical from the Princes Trust. She’s also reviewing her EU and Middle East work in entrepreneurship. Oddly, Bgroup was not receiving Bdaily TV on the plasma screen in its own reception area when we visited. “It’s because we need an aerial on top of this building. It’s being put in now,” Si explains. Having formed the impression already that this is a business woman who possesses quite a flair for getting things done, we had no doubt it was. n

I want Bgroup to be the biggest agency in the North East and a leading agency in the UK ... You do that by continuing excellence ... and an excellent board

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

Keep on moving Si Bales is typical of the type of business creators the region needs more of – someone from the North East who is educated here, gains wider experience elsewhere then returns to put a bountiful store of knowledge, experience and initiative to the region’s good. Her father, who is Irish, was an RAF pilot and her mother is from the North East. Being a forces family often on the move, their three children went to boarding school - Si’s elder brothers to Austin Friars at Carlisle and Si to Our Lady’s Convent in Alnwick. She graduated in English literature, English, history and philosophy from Northumbria University, then for three years worked in London for McCreadie Publishing. “Really good fun,” she recalls.”I did copywriting, PR, and desktop publishing - whatever you had to turn your hand to.“ Then she returned to her alma mater and did a postgraduate course in business and IT. She worked at Ward Hadaway for two years until her second son, Oliver, now nine, came along. She is also mother to Tom, now 13, and Gabriel, five. She and husband Stephen, both 39, live in Tynemouth. He runs his own software development company, Trade Box, which has just completed a major contract to assist BP station managers. His unfulfilled ambition is to use his history degree and write historical fiction. “We might have a couple more babies then,” she laughs, “and he can look after them. We’ll see.“ A keep fit and rock-climbing enthusiast, she and the family now plan to make full use of a Tynemouth Sailing Club membership. Also she plans to enter the Great North Run this year for a second time too, having loved the first outing a couple of years ago. One way or another, Si Bales looks unlikely to stand still in 2010.

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COMPANY PROFILE

WINTER 10

Jill Newey is the founder of innovative new business consultancy, Rise; one of the few companies which has thrived in the difficult economic climate. Here she explains this impressive achievement

RISING ABOVE THE COMPETITION

HAT is Rise? Rise is a full service business development and project management agency working mainly, but not exclusively, with creative and digital companies, e.g. marketing and web design. We become the business development arm for companies looking to grow and expand, launch new products and services, or complete projects to the highest standard and on time. We work directly with the staff within the company implementing the required processes so that, ultimately, they can perform the tasks themselves. We stay with a company for as long as they feel they need us, but our eventual goal is always to see internal staff take charge and carry on what we have started. How do you explain Rise’s success? Knowledge and understanding of our target disciplines has been key. I’ve worked in the creative and digital industries for years, with companies like Emap Performance and Codeworks Connect, in a variety of roles which allowed me to gain an insight into the various difficulties that could occur throughout the organisation. During my employment, I identified a gap in the market for one-to-one consulting. My experience of the creative and digital industries taught me that often the skilled creative people driving these businesses lack an understanding of essential practical concerns, such as project management. Once a contract is secured, there is often a need for someone to act as project manager and keep the organisation on track to meet targets and fulfil

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

staff, and hiring a very experienced consultancy to work on their projects and strategies is less risky, and less costly, than taking a dedicated person on internally. How do you personally gauge how well you are doing? Targets are crucial. We agree objectives and targets from the early stages of working with a client, and don’t invoice until we achieve them. We also judge our success on our involvement with the client; ideally we like the client to feel that they can pick up the phone and call us at any time. We aim to be considered part of the team. We also take careful note of client feedback, which always helps you assess your results. Jill Newey – Managing Director and founder of Rise Consultants at their new headquarters at the e.volve Business Centre, Houghton-Le-Spring.

AS THE RECESSION BITES EVEN HARDER, RISE CONSULTANTS – BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS ARE BUSY HELPING SAVVY BUSINESSES THROUGH THE WORST OF IT that contract. That’s proved to be the case; now that we offer this service, it’s very much in demand. I think the credit crunch has helped rather than hindered us. Businesses are being forced to lay off

To find out more about Rise and arrange a free, no obligation meeting, call 0191 305 5095 or email: info@riseconsultants.co.uk. Rise is located at e.volve Business Centre, Cygnet Way, Rainton Bridge South Business Park, DH4 5QY, in Houghton Le Spring, Tyne and Wear.

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ENTREPRENEUR

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

WINTER 10

ENTREPRENEUR

EVERY CLOUD… John Hays, who usually spreads sunshine, could have been in the doldrums by now, but for holidaymakers like us being cleverly realistic – as he explains to Brian Nicholls

People like us are realistic, even in purgatory. Having decided in the midst of a credit crunch that holidays abroad must go, we still took them months later, but in a smarter way. Thus John Hays, founding owner of Hays Travel, ended 2009 with his customary smile. Frowns are alien to him anyway, but the relief was clear when income for the year ricocheted from -25% to +25%. What about the craze for the ‘staycation’ then? Wasn’t it Leyburn and Kelso, rather than the more exotic Larnaca and Kathmandu? Well, January – usually the peak month for bookings – was deathly quiet in 2009. “Customer confidence was at an all-time low. People were uncertain if they’d have a job by the summer,” Hays recalls. But May brought a change. Why? “I think people, if they can afford it, want their week or two in the sun. It’s therapeutic. The poor weather at home helped. Also, people who were still in a job generally found they had more disposable income, inflation being effectively zero.” We book cannily now though, picking

I’m not one to look back much. Nor am I a firm believer in five and 10-year plans. You need to know where you’re going generally, but I chug along

non-Euro destinations like Turkey and Egypt to get more for our money. Again, because of the pound’s declined exchange rate, we’ve moved from self-catering towards all-inclusive holidays, paying Sterling up front to forestall additional costs. Some of us are also cutting back from 14 nights to 11. So Hays is confident about 2010; his firm’s 30th anniversary year. “The world has changed a lot since 1980,” says Hays, now 60. “I’m not one to look back much. Nor am I a firm believer in five and 10-year plans. You need to know where you’re going generally, but I chug along.” ‘Chugging along’ has built him the UK’s largest independent travel agency - one of The Sunday Times’ Best Companies to Work For in the UK, turning over £400m-plus, and all this from a start-up without capital in a corner of his mother’s childrenswear shop. His late mother’s inspiration has been especially on his mind since the family made her recent funeral a celebration of her 88 rags to riches years. Bedridden in her 30s and told she’d probably be a permanent invalid, she >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

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instead recovered, launched and ran two businesses, and pulled a mining family out of poverty and lived a rich, fulfilling life. Her brother Tom told the funeral gathering of a crammed life for a family of six (three sons, one daughter) in a one-bedroom cottage. They moved to Southwick Road near the Stadium of Light in Sunderland - but even that two-uptwo-down house, which was “palatial by comparison”, still had a backyard nettie and no hot water. John Hays continues: “Shortly after my brother Malcolm was born, my mother was very ill. For a couple of years she was in hospital or bedridden. “My brother, who was five years younger, went as a baby to live with Uncle Tom and Auntie Nancy, who had no children then. Bringing Malcolm home later was traumatic. I remember him crying for his ‘mother’, who was actually his auntie. I lived with my grandparents in the two-up-two-down. “Even when I came back, my mam was always in bed downstairs at the front window, seeing what was going on. Rheumatic fever had damaged her heart. She could have said, ‘that’s it’, but at 38, with my dad a pit joiner and no money whatsoever, she borrowed £50 from my grandfather Tom Moffat – a Wearmouth miner - to get a credit facility at Joplings.” The Sunderland department store paid her commission to win customers. They’d repay Joplings over 20 weeks. From that, Hays Credit developed, which Malcolm now runs with a staff of around 100. Later, she opened the shop. Peggy Hays was bright, intelligent, top of the class, but left school at 14 to be a breadwinner; it was as expected then, says John Hays. At Woolworths, she was soon chief cashier, then war intervened and she rose to corporal in the Pay Corps. Peggy’s childrenswear shop in Church Street, Seaham, became known as the Ladybird shop after the brand sold there and a ladybird children’s ride inside. In the 1960s, she opened a second childrenswear shop in Sunderland’s Vine Place (where Hays Travel is headquartered and Hays Credit stands). These shops ran till the late 1990s. A keen dancer, she also opened a dancewear shop.

ENTREPRENEUR

Business needn’t be unique, but it must be relevant. And you must commit to adding value. My mam used to say, ‘do as you’d be done by’

Peggy was proud when John, after grammar school, had opportunities she never did, graduating in maths from Oxford University and then, after a year out, gaining an MBA from Manchester Business School. She was proud too when her love for Sunderland AFC rubbed off and John was for some time vice-chairman of the club. Initially, and briefly, he entered merchant banking in the City: “Plenty of money, but I’m a people person. I didn’t feel comfortable doing deals, though I was good at the sums!” He returned to the North East. At 29, he jotted down some ideas for a start-up; it must offer growth, need no initial capital and promise fun. Undertaking? A guaranteed market, good profit margins even during recessions, and with his dad Jack capable of switching his joinery skills at Seaham Colliery to coffin-making. But where was the fun? So Jack instead put up a trellis partition in Peggy’s shop, behind which John’s desk stood, secured by a £10,000 bond Peggy had put up for his Association of British Travel Agents’ licence to trade. Her faith was justified. His business awards since have included Wearside and Durham Business Executive of the Year, the first Entrepreneur of the Year for The Entrepreneurs’ Forum, lifetime achiever >>

What a difference a week makes Mistakes? “I’ve probably made more than many,” John Hays says. “Freedom Direct wasn’t one of the better moves.” Hays Travel recently tried to rescue its collapsed Newcastle neighbour, save 100 jobs and the holidays of many disappointed travellers. “But there’s no point in saying it went well. Our motivation was right, the reality was a nightmare.” One week could have made the difference. “The brands were badly damaged. Some documentation wasn’t as good as most people would have liked, including the Civil Aviation Authority. We inherited a difficult situation. Within weeks, we realised we were pushing water uphill. “The brands were heavily web-based and there was Google’s front page, all horror stories about people losing their holidays. Freedom Direct was in liquidation, not administration. That should have told me something. We spent a fortune trying to resurrect the brands against adverse publicity. We didn’t dismiss staff, but there wasn’t enough business. Staff drifted, though some do still work for us. It didn’t turn out as we wished. A lot of damage was done in that week between entry into liquidation and us being able to buy the firm from the liquidator.” Probably more than half the holidays were saved. “Some documentation and processes, again, were ‘sub-optimal’.” But many disappointed holidaymakers had to be redirected to the CAA, with whom Hays Travel worked closely, to get refunds. It’s a happier story about First4Cruising and Totally Travel. First4Cruising is a £30-£40m operation, one of the UK’s top three cruise agents, and now there’s a tie-up. “That players of that size approached us to be part of our group, makes me proud we have so good a product and reputation,” Hays says.

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ENTREPRENEUR Absence makes hearts fonder Domestic life seems to be settling – especially for Sam the dog – since John and his wife Irene Lucas – have been forced to live apart more. Last September, Irene was appointed director general of local government and regeneration in London, controlling a £90bn budget. During her previous seven years as chief executive of South Tyneside Council, the authority was named the country’s best achieving council, and she the fifth most influential person in local government. “I’m very proud of her,” Hays says. “She’s remarkable.” But the couple must now move between their home in Whitburn and a Knightsbridge flat; Irene coming home when she can, John visiting London as and when. “It’s working reasonably well, but I’ve missed her and she’s missed me.” Their four children – Caroline, Jonathan, Helen and Andrew – are aged between 19 and 31, and Helen, the youngest, went off to university as Irene moved to her new job. “I’m used to our house buzzing, full of family and friends. Now it’s me and the dog, and I’ve been bringing the dog to work. She’s loving it. She’s had her induction and is now into her probation period. I think she’ll do all right,” Hays says, laughing. No doubt he and Irene will enjoy their favourite holiday even more in future – a little island in the Maldives with a few thatched bungalows on the beach. “Nothing to do for a week. Bare feet, shorts - no mobile phones, but a snorkel so you can watch beautiful fish on the coral reef. “Mind you,” he warns, “you have to go with someone you love because there’s nothing else to do. But I love my wife and she says she loves me. I think she does, too!”

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and outstanding achiever awards from the travel industry, and inclusion in a list of 500 people considered the most influential in the North East. From the start, he revelled in challenges. A trading inspector rejected his licence application because, he said, the agency had no separate entrance. The normally selfeffacing Hays pointed out that Thomas Cook working inside Harrods had no separate entrance. That got the decision reversed. A rival agency, meanwhile, set up in Seaham and, through a related taxi firm, gave airport lifts free, all while Hays’ newly hired staff had been unable to work for months owing to the licence delay. Hays responded by making his the first travel agency to offer free travel insurance. After two years, he opened a second shop in Sunderland, and those labyrinthine premises are now its headquarters. The firm will not quit them in favour of a business park because the staff like it there. A £130,000 investment was needed, and by sub-letting some space the company continued to grow. By the early 1990s, the shops totalled eight. National agencies muscled into Seaham and other North East towns. Today, there are fewer independents. Hays Travel, which was covering overheads but lacking the economies of scale to compete then, might also have disappeared had it not chased growth. Now it has 35 shops in the region, call centres at Newcastle, Sunderland and Stockton, and is entering the North West with three shops in Bolton. It employs 850 staff - including 300 home workers and British expats working from Turkey, Majorca and the Canary Islands. Head office staff also work on behalf of 150 other independents operating under licence to Hays Travel – Hays Travel Independence Group. They keep their own names, but share Hays’ bonds and licences umbrella. They also get Hays Travel’s back office expertise and buying power. Hays, a director of The Entrepreneurs’ Forum, advises aspiring business builders: “In adversity, innovate. You can often come up with something much better than you otherwise might have done.” While enjoying TV programmes like Dragon’s

Den and The Apprentice, he (like Duncan Bannatyne, incidentally) also tells aspirants: “You don’t need wonderful ideas to succeed in business. If you’ve got the next Microsoft or Google - brilliant. But how many have that? Not me. “Business needn’t be unique, but must be relevant, and you must commit to adding value for customers. My mam used to say, ‘do as you’d be done by’. That’s true of relations with customers, staff and suppliers.” In an interview otherwise lavish in humour, he says this seriously, having earlier rung off after 20 minutes into a telephone queue to order a Sky Digital box. “They were very nice when they got back,” he says, admitting to having left a stroppy message. As an accredited Investor in People, Hays Travel prioritises customer needs – even when dealings overrun into personal time. He thanks staff for that. He pays suppliers promptly, even in this trying climate. “We don’t own aircraft, cruise ships and hotels. These people have big commitments. We depend on their goodwill.” An ageing population with disposable income prompts Hays to expect more cruises and other long haul vacations in future, and Emirates airline’s apparent satisfaction with the public response to its daily flights from Newcastle augurs well. He also expects activity holidays to grow more popular. As for carbon concerns, he expects aircraft to continue becoming more fuel efficient. Meanwhile, he expects 2010 to be marginally better than the 2009 that showed growth and profit. “It’s testament to our brand’s strength and our fantastic staff,” he declares. Being involved enthusiastically in charity and fundraising events, they help perpetuate goodwill in the community. “They didn’t get an annual pay review in April, yet morale and team spirit were as good as ever. They see the sales figures – we’re as transparent a company as possible. By October, we were able to give an above inflation 2.5-3% pay rise. It was very well received.” As for the fun he wanted: “It’s a tough business, but yes, it’s filled with masses of fun.” After all, if you must attend a business conference, as he did recently, you may as well go to Sharm El Sheikh as Blackpool. n

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BUSINESS LUNCH

WINTER 10

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HOW FARES FAIR TRADE? Jane Pikett speaks to Richard Adams, worldleading social entrepreneur and green activist, about the place of social and environmental values in business Inviting the world-leading social entrepreneur and environmentalist Richard Adams out for lunch is not without its potential pitfalls, or so I imagine. I expect him to be in a permanent state of angst (What to eat? Where to eat? How to get there? Constant measuring of carbon footprint etc), so the mere thought of asking him out is enough to cause considerable concern. Fortunately, while Adams is certainly a man of deeply held principles, he is also a realist. Yes, he sometimes uses a car (a modest Corsa, shared with his wife), yes, he occasionally shops at Tesco (where he makes informed choices), and yes, he eats lunch (I promised local produce and a short journey, though his is lengthened somewhat when he discovers the Corsa doesn’t much like snow).

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Born in 1946 to a very different world, he has spent his 40-odd year career founding and developing groundbreaking ethical enterprises, including Traidcraft, Fairtrade and the third world investment society Shared Interest. Much of his considerable intellect and influence is devoted now to issues surrounding climate change, and since 2001 he has been a member of the EU Economic and Social Committee, specialising in social and environmental business issues. He was New Statesman Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005 and in 2006 The Independent newspaper named him one of the top 50 people in the UK with the most impact in ‘making the world a better place’. An OBE was conferred in 2001, in recognition of his work to unlock unfair trading systems worldwide.

So where do you take an eminent world changer for lunch on a Thursday? Well, The Queen’s Head in Great Whittington is close to both of us (me in Hexham, he in Corbridge) and prides itself on serving, wherever possible, food grown and reared in local fields or landed at North Shields. Adams, it turns out, is not angst-ridden or carbon-obsessed, but jolly, charming company. He is also entirely self-effacing, despite his considerable accomplishments. We quickly establish that he does not spend 24 hours a day agonising over his carbon footprint, preferring to save his energy for influencing for change where he can – which happens to be on the international stage. But while the ethos of ethical trading is now so mainstream that we can all join in, the

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question of climate change is surely far more depressing, more so after the shambles of last December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. How does Adams stay sane in a world that is consuming itself to death? “Because I’m an optimistic person generally,” he says, tucking into a chunky vegetable broth, “and I’m engaged in things that are positive and make a difference. That helps.” And while Copenhagen achieved little but showing the world how not to do things (absurdly, Adams’ colleagues – delegates from the EU Economic and Social Committee - had to queue for five hours to get into the conference one day), he is relieved that at least its failures are out in the open. “I’m not sure anyone was too optimistic about it,” he says, “and I was relieved that so little attempt was made to pretend much had been achieved. Having said that, quite where we go from here is another matter.” Another matter, indeed. While Indian and Chinese industry pays scant regard to environmental and social concerns, how does our industry compete when it is undermined by countries unhampered by emissions and labour laws, with the prospect of global standards as remote as ever? If Adams had a magic wand, he says when pressed – adding that he doesn’t want to sound completely unrealistic – he’d wish for the world to discover mutual respect and empathy: “It’s the key component for making a sustainable world,” he says. “And is far more important than sympathy or guilt.” His decisions, business and personal, are informed by his values; the sense of justice and freedom, empathy, doing right by others. It bothers him not if we share his values – only that we buy into responsible lifestyles and business practices. “People’s motivations differ; the result is more important,” he says. “The impetus for Fairtrade was to create an alternative trade system. The impetus for CSR in most businesses is a wish to guarantee supply chains and maintain a public image. That’s where Fairtrade and CSR can converge.” Adams was a pioneer of the fair trade movement in the early 70s, when he and his wife Chris, whom he met when they were fellow students at Durham University in the 60s, sold their then home in East Lothian to

BUSINESS LUNCH

found a business importing exotic fruit and veg from India and Africa to London. They were exciting days, and they quickly proved that it was possible to trade fairly with small producers in the developing world and find a willing market here. They rapidly expanded, moving into crafts. Just like that? “Well yes, though the first 18 months were incredibly hard work. There was also a lot of wastage and risk with the veg, so we moved into crafts and, in our second year, we hit on macramé pot holders in natural jute from a co-operative in Bangladesh. They boomed. At the Birmingham Spring Fair in 1975, we did orders for half a million of them.” Traidcraft followed in 1979, becoming a plc in 1984, offering the first 'alternative', socially orientated public share issue in the UK. Adams was MD for 10 years, and Traidcraft continues to work throughout the developing world, having sold more than £60m-worth of products with a social, ethical and environmental dimension. In 1989, Adams founded the Fairtrade Foundation, whose branding is now familiar internationally, and in the 90s he started Out of this World - Britain's first chain of organic grocery stores with an ethical, fair trade, social and environmental agenda. The UK’s farmers, I suggest, might learn a thing or two from the fact that fairly traded goods are in every major supermarket these days, while our farmers complain of rock bottom prices paid by the same retailers. “Absolutely,” says Adams. “The success of Fairtrade shows that if you can get a movement around these issues, you can change things. You can pressurise the major retailers. UK farming can learn from that.” His interest in the environment has grown along the way, encouraged by a colleague in various ventures, the economist and environmentalist Paul Ekins, and Adams has also written and co-written various books on social and ethical change. He possesses the truly entrepreneurial talents of spotting markets, exploiting opportunities, making things happen. The ‘alternative’ markets he pioneered are now mainstream and Fairtrade is a wonderful example of the premise that, if you offer the public a quality product, they will respond to it. If they buy

into the politics too, you’re changing things. Adams is frequently asked to speak to business leaders about measures for social and environmental change. No doubt he will thrive in their company because he doesn’t lecture or judge. A proven entrepreneur, he also understands commercial considerations as well as anyone. Indeed, he is currently assisting his daughter Zoe and her husband in their Tyne Valley-based venture, Seankart (they market transfers to customise trainers) and supporting them in bids for major international contracts. Yet this entrepreneurial spirit seriously considered entering the Church of England at one time (the place offered when he was 21 was never closed, as far as he knows ...) but he does not indulge in sermons and holier than thou he is certainly not. Brought up by his mother and her two aunts until his stepfather arrived when he was 10 (his natural father was unknown to him), he lived in genteel Bournemouth until he was eight, then in Birmingham until he went to Durham University to study sociology at 18. His was an unremarkable lower middle class family. His step father had a small greetings card business, his mother had been the product of a Co. Durham mining family. She bettered herself with elocution lessons. This was no anti-establishment upbringing, yet Adams possessed a natural tendency to question and challenge authority, which didn’t always go down so well at school. Two major teenage influences were religious. The first were a young couple, Jehovah’s Witnesses, whom his mother befriended and allowed to hold study groups at the Adams’ home. He was fascinated by their dedication to their faith, and by how simplistic their beliefs.“It was just so un-thought-through,” he says. “I couldn’t help challenging them.” In his later teens, he was influenced by a Birmingham Rector, Canon Brian Green, a flamboyant churchman, writer (columnist for Woman magazine, Woman’s Own and the Birmingham Post) and liberal evangelical. He drove a pre-war Rolls Royce and smoked cigarettes through a long black holder. “When I met him he was in his 60s and very charismatic. His views were sensible, non-dogmatic, and could be satisfied at the bar of reason, which I always think is a >>

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BUSINESS LUNCH good indication of a fair argument,” says Adams. Likewise, Adams is a quietly spoken voice of reason. Who can argue with the premise of fair and ethical trade? Who can seriously reject the ideal of sustainability? But then nothing is black and white, and he is well aware of the pressures business faces in squaring commercial considerations with social and environmental ones. But then, as he has proved, the world can be changed when good sense prevails. “Our first company, which grew later into Traidcraft, was founded on the very simple idea that some people cared what they spent their money on,” he says. “We believed that if you encouraged people to spend in a caring way, it could have a social and environmental impact, yet there was no mechanism for people to spend in line with their principles before that. It was the same when we came to offer ethical investment opportunities through Shared Interest.” Like many of us, he has his own internal conflicts (Do I eat that? Plane or train?) and, like us, he makes practical choices, informed, arguably, by more knowledge than most of us. So, like me, a pescatarian troubled by over-fishing, yet concerned for the livelihoods of our fishermen, he chooses the haddock from the menu - after we’ve checked who supplied it (Taylor’s of North Shields). The EU Committee upon which he sits will debate a review of the EU’s Fisheries Policy later this year. “The sea is the last refuge of the major exploiters because it is so hard to police,” he says. “The unfair discard policy will be changed, but it’s not just that, it’s the over-fishing. I’ll be honest; I’m pessimistic about the future for our seas.” And we’re back to the endless debate – squaring choices, business and personal, with social and environmental responsibilities. All of us have a personal responsibility to minimise our consumption, he believes. “But it’s a big challenge, getting people to engage with sustainability,” he says. “It’s much more difficult than fair trade, because that’s a question of purchasing choice, whereas this is about asking you to consider whether you should purchase at all. People see that as a restriction on their personal freedom.

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Lunch! The Queen’s Head Inn, Great Whittington is a lovely old country pub with fabulous local food, real ales and a warm atmosphere. Sister to The Angel in Corbridge, the very laudable philosophy here is to get back to basics and offer good food and good value for money; something they achieve in spades. There are warm fires, a comforting menu and an equally warm welcome from the manager, Christine Tate, and the newly promoted and very talented head chef, David Teasdale. Richard started with a hearty vegetable broth, me with a fabulous trio of smoked fish, both served with scrummy homemade bread rolls. Discerning pescatarians both, we then thoroughly enjoyed a generous slab of subtly smoked haddock, cooked to perfection and served with a gentle chive butter sauce, leek mash and spinach. We shared a fabulous blueberry cheesecake for pudding, and both enjoyed a cheeky half of Wylam Angel ale. All in all, a very satisfying way to spend a snowy Thursday afternoon, and absolutely to be recommended. Queen’s Head Inn, Great Whittington, Northumberland, NE19 2HP, just off the Military Road, 25 minutes west of Newcastle, tel 01434 672 267, www.the-queens-head-inn.co.uk

We also live in a competitive world, rather than a co-operative one, he says, and balancing the needs of trade with social and environmental responsibilities in that arena is almost impossible. “You need internationally agreed global mechanisms, and how do you do that?” he says. Hence, we have wildly extravagant, unsustainable consumerism at one end of the scale, grinding poverty at the other, and climate change that threatens us all. When Adams was a boy, there were a billion people in the world in life-threatening poverty. The world’s population has risen from two

billion to six since, but there are still one billion in the same state. “It hasn’t changed numerically at all,” he says, shaking his head. When you debate these issues internationally, as he does, you are aware, he says, of the cultural influences that inform national opinions. And that we are arguably more aware of social responsibility in the UK because we have more NGOs based here. He adds that Copenhagen was a prime example of how hard it is to reconcile nations, yet he does remain optimistic. After all, he has experience of making change, not least as one of the pioneers who lifted the fair trade movement out of its associations with mung beans and Jesus sandals and put it right into the mainstream. And he is heartened that the EU Economic and Social Committee makes a difference. “There are occasional, if minor, triumphs,” he says, and he values his one to two days a week in Brussels (he goes by train whenever possible). He has also taken up a non-executive director’s post with Newcastle Primary Care Trust. Why? Because he was disturbed by the direction the Government was taking the NHS. How to understand and influence matters? Get involved. “My wife says that if there is a problem, I have to try to fix it,” he says. And when it comes to sustainability, will the world see sense? “I honestly don’t know,” he says. “Maybe natural, or rather semimanmade disasters, will make people change their ways. Or maybe those disasters, and fewer resources, will make them say, ‘let’s consume while we can’. It’s difficult to say.” It’s depressing, but when you think of the revolutions and awareness raising Adams and his peers have brought about, there must be some optimism. Is he satisfied, looking back on the past 40 years, with what has been achieved to date? “I think so,” he says, after much thought (the question challenges his genuinely modest nature). “I’m certainly surprised that some things have gone so well. It’s quite nice to be in the position of being able to look back and have a feeling of something having been done, and I’m not ready to relinquish any hopes for the future. I keep thinking I should learn the piano. I don’t have to stop looking forward to new things yet, do I?” n

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DIXON ON WINE

WINTER 10

vive la difference Andrew Dixon, chief executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative, goes ‘off-piste’ with two tipples, courtesy of Hotel du Vin

When it comes to wine, many of us like what we like and rarely try something different. We often find a price bracket, country, region or grape where we feel comfortable and stay there. It’s a risk to try something more expensive, or for that matter something cheaper, for fear it won’t be as good as the £5.99 from Tesco. Some people try the wine club route and are treated to a mixture of pleasant surprises, or are let down by a box of total indifference as they get passed off with last year’s non-sellers. So how do you experiment? Well, wine tastings are as good a way to start as anything else. Whether it’s a charity event, a social event or a learning experience, an expert will choose a well-priced selection. Hotel du Vin has established itself as one of the top informal places to try serious tasting. The colour, acidity, texture, grape variety and country can all seem a blur until you pick up a few basic

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tasting skills, and the pleasure of finding yourself able at last to differentiate on quality and style is part of the fun. Promoting NewcastleGateshead to journalists and visitors is a great job and does involve a fair amount of wining and dining, so it was a pleasure to be asked to do this review and be presented with two wines I’d not had before. The first hails from the Cote du Rhone and bears the distinctive label of Saladin Per El. Rule one here is not to be put off by the label, which looks like a cheap house wine, yet the contents are far from it. This white Cote du Rhone is as rich a taste as you can pack in a mouthful. Its multitude of flavours leaves a lasting glow in the mouth with a slight hint of pepper. It’s suited to the buzz of a lively bistro or a home dinner party when you want to surprise your guests by going off-piste from the usual Sauvignon Blanc. It’s one that you should definitely save for a main course, but stick to one glass. The red Tilenus Crianza Mencia 2004 from Spain is a far more recognizable and enjoyable experience. Full of red fruits like raspberry and cherry, it’s smooth and warming and should be

drunk slowly and savoured both with food and on its own - for it has a body that makes it a meal in its own right. As a vegetarian, I can’t really tell you whether either of these is best with beef or chicken, but I can tell you that the red would be fantastic with anything. I’d give them both a try in the same meal. When I was a 19-year-old student, a close friend of mine announced that he was going to be a professional wine taster. While I was still on the cheap Concord stuff, he was touring the world through his knowledge of wine and went on to become national Wine Taster of the Year. These days, you can tour the world of wine in most good restaurants. n Andrew’s wine was kindly provided by Hotel du Vin, Newcastle. The white Saladin Per El is £35.00, the red Tilenus Crianza Mencia 2004 is £39.00. For details on tastings at the hotel, see www.hotelduvin.co.uk

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FASHION

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NO SWEAT After 225 years producing fine knits in Derbyshire, classic designs from John Smedley remain a wardrobe staple

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Fashion entrepreneur Ian Maclean has dozens of sweaters (“all of which I paid for, of course ...”), but a piece of history about the family firm that made these garments still surprised him when he joined as its new chairman in 2008. Back in 1771, when Richard Arkwright invented the spinning frame knitting machine and opened what can claim to be the world’s first factory, three other textile entrepreneurs - one of them Maclean’s direct ancestor emulated him. Only one of these businesses survived, at Lea Mills, Matlock in Derbyshire, and this is now known as the knitwear brand John Smedley. And so it transpires that Maclean, at 41, finds himself head of the world’s oldest continually operating manufacturing business, which is now 225 years old. That’s some responsibility. “Two things have been on my mind since joining,” he says. “One, I don’t want to be the man who ends up turning all the lights out, and two, what a great opportunity I have. It’s only a small business, but it has a dream balance sheet thanks to my predecessors, who took great decisions.” These decisions included huge investment in factory sites, buying up the surrounding land to have sole access to the spring water necessary for the making of fine knitwear, plus continued investment in the latest machinery, and an ability to persuade shareholders (who number about 70, owning 30% of the business) not to take back all their money in

dividends, “to put off that decision to lie on a beach forever,” as Maclean puts it. They are also decisions that in some cases go back more than two centuries, and heritage can be a millstone, holding companies back from vital progress, but right now it seems to be in demand. Increasingly, the recession is driving consumers to look for brands with certain key characteristics. These include traceability - and the buyer of each Smedley garment can trace its wool to the particular sheep farm in New Zealand that supplied it. We also like provenance - and this company manufactures only in England - and longevity, which Smedley clearly has in spades. “I remember being told once that the customer doesn’t care where a Chanel shoe is made, just so long as it has the logo on it. But customers are looking beyond the surface of everything they buy now and are regarding different qualities as desirable,” says Maclean, who comes to Smedley - its seventh generation chairman - after spells with 3i and the outdoorsy clothing company Orvis. “If fitting into a renewed interest in provenance hits the zeitgeist, then I’m more than happy, but there’s always something new to do.” That may seem an odd statement for a company that, superficially at least, has not done much new for a lifetime, but that has underpinned the brand, which recently won the Gold Export Award and the British Knitting and Clothing Export Council’s new Heritage Award. At heart, it is known for making one product >>

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FASHION

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Fine knitwear: John Smedley knits remain a classic staple of any man’s wardrobe; equally versatile at work and at play

One aspect of the business needing more work than others ... is image. We need to be better at the customer-facing stuff. We’re aware that few products can survive without the right image now BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

the plain, resolutely logo-free, finest gauge wool or Sea Island cotton knitted shirt - and doing so exceptionally well. Even its employees seem part of a long tradition, with some having worked for the company for 40 years or more, with their children following in their footsteps. That is just as well - a major problem Smedley is likely to face in the longer term is how best to attract young, aspirational people into training to fix a trim or collar to a shirt with the kind of instinctive hand-eye co-ordination that only comes with years of experience. The company recently snapped up nine ‘linkers’ from a small competitor that closed, but it will increasingly have to develop its skills base itself. No wonder if, in the meantime, the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality is a tempting one to relax into. Certainly, Maclean shies away from re-framing the company as part of fashion, as if that were some newfangled concept an established manufacturer in the north would little concern itself with. “Fashion, to my mind, suggests boom or bust, something you’re either in or out of,” he says. Yet fashion has, to be fair, somewhat assisted the brand of late, with the gradual casualisation of the workplace meaning that the wearing of fine gauge knitwear with trousers or under a suit jacket is an increasingly acceptable alternative to the shirt and tie. Maclean, however, thinks of John Smedley as part of the broader style industry, albeit in a specialist way. “We’re known for a single product and I think that if we tried to produce other kinds of clothing, as we could have done, we’d suddenly have to narrow our appeal to one end of the customer spectrum or the other, and at the moment that covers everyone from 18 to 65, depending on how you wear it,” says Maclean. “Does that mean we’re limited? I really don’t know.” It certainly does not mean that John Smedley has failed to move forward. While its classic, simple knitwear, many designs dating to the 1930s, remain the brand’s bread and butter, design director Dawne Stubbs has introduced more colour and variety, such that the brand has picked up considerable attention from (whisper it ...) fashion followers. These will no doubt be drawn to the

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special-edition ‘225’ collection launched last year to celebrate the anniversary. Indeed, over the last year the company has undergone a minor face-lift that has seen the refurbishment of its single flagship store on London’s Brook Street, an updated website and the gentle modernisation of its corporate identity. It may not be dragging the company into the cold light of the 21st Century, but nor it is leaving it in the 18th. “The last few heads of John Smedley have been production-led in their thinking, and if one aspect of the business needed more work than the others, it would be the company image,” Maclean concedes. “We need to be better at the customer-facing stuff. We’re aware that few products can survive without the right image. We can still sell a lot more of the core product, and when we have a cushion of money we can do more risky things. I just want John Smedley to be in business for another 225 years.” The factory floor at Lea Mills provides an apt analogy for the company’s position between the allure and quality assurances of yesteryear and the need to prepare for tomorrow. On one side the company has the most advanced, Japanese-made ‘whole garment’ machines capable of knitting a shirt from spool of thread to finished garment and ideal for the more complex designs that John Smedley is now producing. But on the other side stand ranks of clunking, whirring, Heath Robinson machines. Each has been producing fine knitwear for generations, and, most likely, they will continue to do so for many more to come. n

FASHION

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COMPANY PROFILE

WINTER 10

A North East start up business is set to double its workforce after trading for just six months, thanks to support from RMT Accountants and Business Advisors

FLEDGLING FIRM UTILISES SUPPORT FROM RMT

TILITIESIN1, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, will be increasing its existing workforce from four to eight employees in the next six months. It was established in July 2009 as part of the Lincuss Ltd group of companies by entrepreneurs Andie Stokoe and Salem Sinawi and offers consumers a unique way of paying gas, electricity and water bills in one easy transaction. To support the growth of UtilitiesIn1, RMT helped the business to raise £50,000 of funding from North East Finance, and a further £25,000 from the Regional Enterprise Loan Fund. The investments will help UtilitiesIn1 to launch an online service for letting agencies, enabling agents to offer the utilities payment service to tenants. David Fish, corporate finance executive at RMT, said: “Sound financial advice can be pivotal in helping firms to get off to the best possible start and we are dedicated to offering our clients excellence in service. “UtilitiesIn1 offers a unique and exciting business concept and it has been a pleasure to get involved in this innovative business by offering strategic, tailored support, including business advice on the funding options available to them, as well as guidance on business planning and financial projections. “We’re delighted that UtilitiesIn1 has secured this invaluable financial support and will be in a position to expand its service and create new jobs in the coming months. I very much look forward to seeing the business grow in the future.” Included within the £3 monthly fee, UtilitiesIn1 will also search for the cheapest utility providers and automatically update payments as necessary. Additionally, a bespoke service will be available for letting agencies, allowing them to track

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Left to right: Andie Stokoe and Salem Sinawi from UtilitiesIn1 with David Fish from RMT

SOUND FINANCIAL ADVICE CAN BE PIVOTAL IN HELPING FIRMS TO GET OFF TO THE BEST POSSIBLE START whether tenants are paying their bills. Andie Stokoe, director at UtilitiesIn1, said: “RMT has provided us with invaluable support since our inception and the team has always been on hand to offer advice and support when we needed it. “Salem and I came up with the idea for UtilitiesIn1 after running a letting agency together – where we saw many landlords being eligible for large unpaid utilities bills by tenants after they had left a property. “The system is suitable for everyone looking to source the cheapest and most convenient option for paying their utility bills. Using a third party is also ideal for students or house sharers, who are concerned about putting an individual name on bills that are of a shared responsibility.” For more information on UtilitiesIn1, please visit www.UtilitiesIn1.com

If you have a great business idea and would like advice, please contact Stephen Slater at RMT on 0191 256 9500 or stephen.slater@r-m-t.co.uk. RMT can provide help with everything from business planning to raising finance.

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EQUIPMENT

WINTER 10

TIME MACHINE A Romain Jerome watch may not necessarily tell the time, but its components certainly reﬂect its passing in their DNA. Chris Porter takes a journey through history

It is one small step for a man, one giant leap for watchmaking kind. Or at least that’s how Romain Jerome might regard its latest star product. It comes with a certificate, but unlike other prestige pieces, this is not to authenticate its movement, but rather its materials. Its steel and titanium case incorporates steel from Apollo XI (the NASA voyage that put the first men on the Moon), the strap incorporates space suit fibres, the paws incorporate fragments from Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, and the lunar dial, complete with craters, is layered with a mineral deposit that includes Moon dust.

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Entitled Moon Dust-DNA, it is, by any account, a space watch of an altogether more literal kind. It has long since sold out, and another ‘DNA’ watch has been 12 months in development for launch later this year. “The ideas are really strong,” says Romain Jerome CEO Manuel Emch, with some understatement, belying the fact that those ideas have already given this new name in watches a turnover amounting to double digit millions of Swiss francs. As the new CEO of the company - a one-time FMCG consultant who joined from the watch brand Jacot - he finds himself with the dual blessing and curse of a distinctive product in an industry which, in recessionary measures, is increasingly about purveying classicism and a certain faux traditionalism. “Romain Jerome is a challenge because it’s almost the opposite of ‘classic’,” says Emch. “Sure, we could take on less risk with less interesting products, but this way encourages you to be more creative and innovative. I also think that more people are looking for what you might call emotional brands - ones that have a point of differentiation, that have a >>

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story behind them.” And some of the greatest stories of the 20th Century at that, of which these watches have become a small but real part; true value in the eyes of those consumers tired of buying brands over products. In 2007, Romain Jerome launched the first of its DNA series, the off-beat Titanic DNA, with a case incorporating metal from the hull of the doomed liner, fused with ship grade steel by Harland & Wolff, the company that built the ship. The dial was dusted with a layer of coal lifted from the ship’s broken bowels 12,500ft beneath the sea; not quite diamonds, but likewise the result of eons of geological pressures on graphite. Harland & Wolff also applied a secret process developed by Romain Jerome to bring the case to an advanced stage of rusting, stabilised so that the case will decay no further. The idea of buying pre-distressed clothing was once dismissed as an insult to the consumer’s intelligence, yet it went on to command a premium. Perhaps the same may now be said of watchmaking. Certainly, so popular was the idea - Romain Jerome sold all 2,012 pieces of the limited edition, all of them pre-sold to the end customer without touching a store counter - that the company has applied the same rusting technique to the lugs of the new Moon Dust-DNA. Such materials, and their finite quantities, mean Romain Jerome’s pieces come in strictly limited production runs; unlike some other brands’ ideas of limited edition, when these are gone, they really are gone. And if prestige watches often win the lazy accolade ‘work of art’ when they are more typically works of extreme craft, the Romain Jerome approach, as leftfield as it may seem, not only imposes the irreproducible nature of much art, but also its purpose; to cause us to see anew, to prompt reflection. “I don’t think it’s too much to say that these watches are more contemplative, even philosophical comments on time,” says Emch. “Simply telling the time is an important aspect of a watch sometimes, but I’m not sure that is what the high end customer is looking for today. “We’re surrounded by time-telling instruments. Who needs a watch for that? And frankly, most of our customers will have

We’re surrounded by time-telling instruments. Who needs a watch for that? Most of our customers will have several other watches if they want that

EQUIPMENT

several other watches if they want that. They don’t need another status symbol either. “A watch now embodies history, craftsmanship, mechanical know-how. But it can be more, a piece of art perhaps, something that inspires interaction and takes its wearer away from the daily routine. I think products that can do that are going to become more important, since we seem to be living in an increasingly standardised world.” Take, for example, Romain Jerome’s one-off T-Oxy Concept - a watch made of nonstabilised rusted parts, which will eventually fall apart and can’t even be touched without contributing to its end, but is arguably as pure an expression of passing time as might be found in any gallery or museum. Its Day & Night watch, also launched in 2007 and co-created with BNB Concept, runs two tourbillons sequentially, one running for 12 hours, then passing night-time duties over to the other. Interestingly, and perhaps >>

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provocatively, the watch does not tell the time. Romain Jerome’s one-off Titanic collaboration with esteemed independent watchmaker Cabestan is no less avant-garde. Cabestan founder Jean Francois Ruchonnet’s yacht-inspired winch vertical tourbillon - chaindriven and complete with a winding handle may give it a vague nod to sea-faring, but more importantly, makes it part of what could be a new vogue for mould-breaking technical and aesthetic designs from the likes of MB&F, Urwerk and Harry Winston. Indeed, the avant-garde approach of Romain Jerome - and the 30 or so little-known watchmakers or boutique brands that got together for the first Geneva Time Exhibition in January - arguably represents a business model for watchmaking as new as its designs: niche, not rushing to launch new products for the sake of it, appealing to a limited market, and unquestionably different. If most companies use heritage, the aesthetic value of high-grade materials or the craftsmanship of their timepieces’ movements to win kudos, Romain Jerome assumes the craftsmanship, sets out to use materials

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for their story rather than their status and, lacking its own history, aims to borrow some from world events. In doing so, the brand has moved from the prosaic to the poetic: Romain Jerome launched only in 2004 with a mechanical watch designed to allow golfers to keep a record of the hole number, count the number of strokes played per hole and keep a running total around the course. The Hole in One Golf Counter was the first of its kind and sales were impressive - the company launched in the golf-mad Middle East and the watch’s production run was oversold four times. But compared with Romain Jerome’s subsequent adventures, it suggested a

company desperately in search of differentiation; something it now appears to have achieved. Other Romain Jerome products - with pens already launched - are in the pipeline. “Brand perception has changed a lot over the last five years” says Emch. “It has become more and more tribal, more particular. That is not to say that a niche cannot also be big - in time. A decade ago, Apple was niche, so I’m sure that Romain Jerome can build a substantial business over the coming decade, too. “We know that to keep coming up with these ideas is very hard. But then again, this is a new way of thinking about watches.” n http://www.romainjerome.ch

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WINTER 10

Sexy XC Volvo’s XC90 proves to be a real head turner for John Newhouse, managing director of Roseberry Newhouse

When I was asked if I’d like to do a car review for BQ, I had to admit straight away that any choice of car for me would be based more on aesthetics rather than an in-depth knowledge of what goes on under the bonnet. I run my own estate agency, Roseberry Newhouse, with offices in Yarm and Stokesley and soon to be in Norton, so I spend a fair bit of time in the car travelling between appointments. I also have three children, Jack, 15, Tom, 12, and Poppy, five, so in choosing a car I need to consider the practicality of family needs as well as my own desire to have something comfortable and sporty. I also need to be able to park on a client’s drive and give the right impression, and my current car is an Audi A4 SE Avant, which for me has the quality, speed, style and practicality to meet all needs. My first impression of the XC90 was very good. A stylish metallic black with chrome trim made for great looks on the outside, while the inside had both space and quality, with

black and cream leather seats. The model I tested was a D5 AWD and extremely well equipped, so much so, that the centre console was a little busy. But for practicality, the XC90 is a real winner, with seven seats and a roomy interior the kids loved. Jack, a hard to please teenager, initially claimed it was “dodgy” but was soon impressed enough to allow me to actually drop him off at the school gates. High praise indeed! Poppy loved the rear seats and insisted I purchase the car for that reason alone. I’m used to driving a manual transmission, so my initial concern was what to do with my left foot, but the XC90 was extremely comfortable to drive with great visibility and a good driving position. And, once I managed to find a parking space big enough, I rediscovered a use for my left foot with the handbrake pedal. With 0-60 officially 11.5 seconds, it’s no getaway car, but once on the open road it was surprisingly quick and handled well on country roads. I love a gadget, so when the SatNav popped up from the dash things looked very good. Operated by remote control, it also worked very well, despite my best efforts to thwart it. Top Gear described the XC90 as: “The king of comfort and versatility with brilliant seating arrangements.” That sums it up in a nutshell. If you’re choosing practicality, the XC90 is certainly one to consider and the experience could lead me to look at the SUV market anew. Our Volvo XC90 D5 AWD was kindly provided by Mill Volvo, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, tel 0844 818 1440, www. millvolvo.co.uk. Priced at £35,000.

MOTORS

What Bob says ... Volvo’s biggest selling car in the UK and the US, the XC90 is the most flexible car ever built by Volvo, accommodating seven passengers with ease and safety. It also has an almost van-like load capacity with the seats down, and the boot is easily accessible with its split folding tailgate. This model was launched with five and six cylinder engines mated to five and six speed gearboxes. The T6 engine is a potent highperformance model with twin turbochargers, and in 2004 a powerful V8 was added to the range. The 2.4 litre diesel is the best-selling model and reaches 60mph in 11.5 seconds with a top speed of 118mph, averaging 28mpg. Outright performance is the only chink in the diesel’s armour, but the engine compensates by being refined and reasonably economical. The electronically controlled All Wheel Drive ensures performance on poor terrain and the safety features are typically superb. The body is extremely strong and the floor is set low, which contributes to its low centre of gravity and excellent directional stability. IDIS (Intelligent Driver Information Safety) delays incoming phone calls in complex traffic situations, and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) alerts the driver if another vehicle is in your blind spot. Active Bi Xenon lights featuring moving headlight beams follow the curvature of the road, and the active stability enhancement system includes roll stability control. All in all, the XC90 is a safe place to be and, in my opinion, the best car in Volvo’s range. Bob Aurora is an independent car reviewer and also owns Sachins restaurant on Forth Banks, Newcastle. bob@bq-magazine.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

COMPANY PROFILE

WINTER 10

Healthcare firms and practices from across the North East and Cumbria will now be able to access specialist banking support from a local team at Lloyds TSB Commercial

LLOYDS TSB LAUNCHES NEW NORTH EAST AND CUMBRIA HEALTHCARE TEAM

HE new team will enable the region’s healthcare businesses with an annual turnover of up to £15m to access a wide range of tailored financial services. By combining sector-specific expertise and understanding with relevant banking experience, the team is able to offer specialist advice, guidance and support to GPs, dentists, vets, opticians, pharmacies and care homes . Regionally Lloyds TSB Commercial currently supports more than 630 SMEs operating in the healthcare sector, boasting a combined turnover of more than £20m. The team has been launched in response to the healthcare industry’s rapid growth, which has been boosted by NHS outsourcing policies and the ageing demographic of the population. The six-strong team of specialist healthcare relationship and business development managers are trained by external professionals and keep abreast of the latest issues through a comprehensive and continuous professional development programme to ensure that they deliver a high standard of relationship service to customers with specific sector needs. They offer ongoing support and guidance to ensure that businesses maximise their potential – whether it is expansion and development or consolidating their position in their marketplace. Graham Lowes, senior manager for the Healthcare team, said: “The Healthcare team has been

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Above: Graham Lowes, senior manager of the new banking team

OUR AIM IS TO BECOME THE FIRST PORT OF CALL FOR ALL BANKING REQUIREMENTS, ENSURING THAT WE MAINTAIN A HIGH LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SERVICE WHILE CONTINUING TO GROW OUR MARKET SHARE developed specifically to give our customers the best opportunity of success by delivering a first-class relationship service backed up with

‘best in class’ industry knowledge. “With specialist external training behind them, the managers truly understand the values and behaviours that are key to firms in this growing market and are well-placed to support and assist our customers in the delivery of their business objectives. “Our aim is to become the first port of call for all banking requirements, ensuring that we maintain a high level of customer service while continuing to grow our market share. “We want local professionals, our community leaders, and most importantly, all local healthcare businesses to recognise Lloyds TSB Commercial as the bank with the strongest credentials in this sector.”

Graham Lowes senior manager, Lloyds TSB Commercial. Tel: 07525 767 923 102 Grey Street, Newcastle NE99 1SL Email: Graham.lowes@BB.lloydstsb.co.uk

ENTREPRENEUR

WINTER 10

THE ART OF BUSINESS Why have money gaining virtually no interest in the bank, when you could be starting a new business with it? So says Bryan Goodall, whose track record suggests a shrewd mind at work, says Brian Nicholls

So what do our serial entrepreneurs plan in this mutable 2010? One new start-up, perhaps? Or none until the storm clouds pass? Or will there be other venturers like Bryan Goodall; in-for-a-penny, in-for-a-pound and launching not one, but two new enterprises by April? In January, this enthusiastic and proven business creator has been adding to his existing firms an archive-scanning and disc or original recall service for the growing number of companies – law firms, banks etc –

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

requiring safe storage for their financial and other records to fulfil new tax obligations requiring records retention for seven or eight years, or simply for safe keeping. Then, on April 1, there will be a new and exciting departure with the opening of a £600,000 arts centre to promote the work of artists, photographers, film makers, sculptors and musicians, predominantly from North Yorkshire, Teesside and the North East. Goodall is developing Arts Bank with new business partners in an elegant five-storey building built in 1867 that initially served as an upmarket hardware store. But unlike Alfred Nobel’s discovery of dynamite that year, the store proved a damp squib. So from 1876 until some months ago, it was a bank. After HSBC’s departure, a local developer bought the building, then sold it on to Goodall. An impulse buy? No, Goodall’s an art enthusiast and amasser of collectable toys, but he’s hardly impetuous. When the auction firm whence he bought his Lesneys, Dinkys and Hornbys came up for sale in 1996, for example, he didn’t just buy the business, he also turned Vectis Auctions into

the world’s biggest toy auctioneer, turning over £6m on 55 auctions a year. He and his wife Jeannie, both 61, have a solid gold record as entrepreneurs that, like their marriage, spans more than 40 years. For 30

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years, they’ve never employed fewer than 100 people on Teesside. The Nunthorpe couple met at 15 while Jeannie was on a cycle outing in North Yorkshire. Their first business, initially run from a kitchen table,

ENTREPRENEUR

was Christmas Hampers - sold profitably in 1994 to a mail order plc. Since then they’ve built Hambleton Group - a vibrant body of six businesses turning over some £30m.

The group comprises Teesside Warehousing (storage), Garland Coupon Service (coupon redemption), and All Pack (contract packing), plus the aforementioned Vectis Auctions, Teesside Archiving, and Teesside Caravans >>

BUSINESS QUARTER |WINTER 10

ENTREPRENEUR

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Jeannie’s always a bit sceptical about everything I do. With Arts Bank I think her first thoughts were, ‘why don’t you just ease off now and take it easy?’

New toy: Bryan Goodall - collector of toys and of businesses - is now promoting art, too

Now for something completely different Arts Bank, Goodall avers, will be the antithesis of those gallery Goliaths opened recently in the North East – Baltic in Gateshead and Mima in Middlesbrough; both heavily funded pets of the National Lottery. He will not turn to Mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) or Baltic as models. “We’ll not be a modern gallery, all funded with nothing for sale and totally exclusive. Places like those don’t promote local artists, or even let them in to exhibit.“ A collector himself, Goodall likes traditional and contemporary, but not modern art, which he describes generally as, “the king with no clothes, a burst bubble, a total con”. So there will be no piece of string hanging from a nail on the wall with a bathroom plug on the end and a title underneath. “We’ll let the likes of Mima do that. Mima is a great inspiration to me. I go in there all the time to get stirred up. Anything they do, I won’t. “We’ll show art that people can understand and relate to. We want them to feel involved, not to be intimidated. “We’ll promote talent from our area, and we have already found some fantastic painters and photographers. I’ve been shocked at how good their work is.” He’s also scouring Tyneside and Yorkshire for Arts Bank. “Everything will be for sale. Artists don’t live unless they can sell their work. And we’re going to be inclusive - not exclusive as much of the world’s art over the last 30 years has been. We’re bringing art back to everyone.”

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- another storage activity that illustrates a clever sense of timing. Anticipating demand from caravan owners restricted by space in the staycation boom, the group intensified and won a six-year struggle to buy a seven-acre site beside its existing premises at Teesside Industrial Estate in Thornaby. So whereas there had only been 300 caravan sites - 200 short of demand - it will take up to 1,000 caravans, which could create up to a 40% increase in the £1.18m turnover over the next two years. The Goodalls realised early that space is an earner and have now garnered 18 acres in all, with a quarter of a million square feet. “We’ve space to do anything we want,” Goodall says enthusiastically. ”We plan to plug in as many businesses as we can. So we’re looking for future businesses. We’ve always been on Teesside and always will be.” He obviously considers prissy and snobby the nomenclatorial insistence of bureaucrats, politicians and developers to turn Teesside into ‘Cleveland’ or ‘Tees Valley’. And Arts Bank stands in salubrious Saltburn, a lung of Teesside if you like, whose munificent Victorian terrace overlooking a compact beach suggests bracing promenades, straw boaters and bustles – engaging nostalgia. Saltburn’s population is only 6,000 (18,000 if you include nearby Marske and New Marske). But again, through staycationing it could attract more visitors, not least through its

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recent UK Pier of the year award, its regular accolades for its floral displays, its longestablished Italian Gardens, its proximity to the Cleveland Way and its folk tales of smugglers and fishermen. None of this is lost on Goodall. Arts Bank, potentially a cultural centrepiece among bijoux shops, stands only a minute or two’s walk from the classic railway station and just a short stroll from the seafront, where the UK’s oldest water-balanced tramway descends 120ft to Saltburn’s distinctive pier – the last surviving northerly pier, incidentally. From the beach you can spot where a Roman signal station stood and it is a suitable nest from which to hatch artists, particularly since it could join nearby Loftus, Staithes, Sandsend and Whitby - pearls already on a necklace of artistic tradition, and a string surely that visitors can be persuaded to try out. In the catacumbal Arts Bank, numerous in its recesses and daylight-bathed walls, Goodall promises a one-stop-shop for creativity. Besides originals, facilities will exist to turn out limited edition prints, local greetings cards and books, and to mount, frame and distribute work. Photographers and film makers will have a dark room and a digital room. A mini-cinema will show visitors cultural and historical films of the Teesside area, and the ground floor former banking hall will host big screen presentations, talks, music and poetry. Revenues will be website driven and data listing is a Goodall forte, nurtured by his Vectis and Christmas Hamper practices. “We can run the largest toy auction business in the world from Teesside because it’s internet mail order in the end. Collectable toys are sold from around the world, to around the world, on our website. We have auction rooms that some people turn up to, but generally, most items go to people not in the room.” And mindful that artists are often isolated individuals, there will be a presence on Youtube, Facebook and other social networking and community websites. Unlike Goodall’s other businesses, Arts Bank isn’t part of Hambleton Group; more a step in his programme to move Hambleton Group on to the family’s next generation. For Arts Bank he has formed a separate community interest enterprise of five directors and shareholders, a

ENTREPRENEUR

limited company with an asset block and restriction on dividends. Any profits go back into the company and this way, funding through grants and soft loans becomes available. All the directors contribute practically. Craig Hornby, 42 and a Saltburn film maker, is noted especially for A Century of Stone, his film history of Teesside steel; Paul Ingram, 52, of Brotton, is a writer, musician, photographer and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Kathryn Robson, 34, Goodall’s daughter, is also a photographer (her builder husband Glen is doing the conversion); and Hugh McGouran, another musician, knows the workings of funding, being chief executive of a large charity on Teesside. They will also staff the building, along with part-timers and volunteers. Lisa Pluves, financial manager of the Hambleton Group, will run the finances. In the early 90s, both Goodall and Hornby supported Romania Aid. Goodall joined several mercy convoys and also flew out some 30 times in four years. But it was only when he spotted a Hornby film on the internet years later that he realised they’d both been helping the same orphanage near the Russian border. They finally met last February. Paul joined soon after and Arts Bank took shape. Meanwhile Goodall’s son Jonathon, 36, has returned to the North East with his family and, with a “fantastic team” of managers supporting him, is now MD of Hambleton Group (his father is chairman). Jonathon had worked for Hambleton earlier, then was a photographer in London for 10 years and now part-owns a digital studio there. On returning to Hambleton he has been focussing on Teesside Caravans and Teesside Archiving. Arts Bank’s first major exhibition, which opens on April 1, will focus on the impact of the Corus steel plant closure - the “virtual death” of steel on Teesside, Goodall says. Arts Bank will have taken only 14 months by then to convert from vision to reality, and amid choking dust and loud hammering Goodall doesn’t doubt the launch date will be met. “At 61, I haven’t time to waste,” he chuckles, though others might think a lot more paint yet might be squeezed from the tube. n

We plan to plug in as many businesses as we can, so we’re looking for future businesses

Wait till she sees it So how does Jeannie, a director with a large stake in Hambleton Group, get on with Bryan in the business sense, and what does she think of his latest venture? Goodall laughs heartily. “We don’t always agree. But we get there in the end. She thought I was mad to take on Vectis. ‘Why would anyone want to set up a business selling toys?’, she asked? “It was based in Guildford in Surrey, and I took her down when I was buying there once. We sat in the auction and I bought a few toys because I was a prolific collector then. She said to me – and probably regretted it later – that this was the kind of business I ought to buy. So I did. It’s her fault. “But I think she’s pleased the way that has grown – 10 times bigger, still growing and we’re looking to diversify it. “Jeannie’s always a bit sceptical about everything I do, and as regards Arts Bank I think her first thoughts were, ‘why don’t you just ease off now and take it easy?’ She knew if I did it, I’d be going at it full blast. “Once it’s up and running and doesn’t look like a building site, but is full of beautiful art with people coming to see it, she’ll like it. And she’ll get lots of invitations to lots of exhibition openings!”

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INTERVIEW

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Stand and deliver Peter Slee has enjoyed a variety of careers, from banking to cable TV. But it’s customer contact and order fulfilment that brings him greatest job satisfaction, he tells Brian Nicholls

Now, few of us seriously believe Father Christmas meets his annual delivery commitment with an army of little helpers at the North Pole. Some work at Follingsby Park, skirting Gateshead and Washington, and aren’t so little. They’re employees of Spark Response, one of the nation’s six major customer contact and order fulfilment services, distributing millions of orders to retailers’ online customers from October to December each year. Their primary attention is now back to non-seasonal buys and requests, such as Red magazine for its subscribers and Fitflop footwear for online buyers and directly into Harvey Nichols, Fenwick and John Lewis. The reader in Brighton responding to a North East tourism invitation in her newspaper may assume she will hear back from a tourism chief. In fact, it will be the versatile staff of Spark Response, ensconced in Follingsby’s avenue of warehouses big enough to berth battleships, who will respond on behalf of regional development agency One North East and the Passionate people, Passionate places campaign. Christmas re-confirmed managing director Peter Slee’s belief that the public is more confident than ever in the reliability of internet shopping. “They were even buying successfully through us as late as December 21 and 22 this year,” he says. “It helps that the carrier network is now much more reliable and robust, and that orders can be tracked on their journeys. We put out masses of orders daily, but Christmas brings it into focus with a different sort of pressure. “Many buyers do order early, but many are also trusting and push it till the end. We’re still putting out thousands of orders on December

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21. November is our annual peak, and this time was 50% up on the previous year in despatch terms. We’ve done that in pretty accomplished fashion.” Clad in luminous safety jackets rather than elves’ pointy green hats, staff worked a 24-hour shift system among presents stacked 36ft high, many switching to warehouse work from other duties. Despite forklift truck and radio scanners, staff still made round trips of up to a mile at a time, up and down aisles, servicing customers from the likes of Toys R Us, Red Direct, Kids Playstore, and Totally Funky. Even Christmas Eve e-appeals get Spark attention. “Carriers aren’t collecting then, but we respond as flexibly as we can, and sympathetically. Where there’s been a problem, perhaps a delay in distribution – it does happen – you try to come up with something. Customers know they’ll get a

It helps that the carrier network is now much more reliable and robust, and that orders can be tracked on their journeys

refund, but we may also try to direct them to a store selling the item near their home.” The items handled range from a tiny piece of jewellery or a hand-held computer game to an outdoor gym – items of over 100kg, even. They draw down from stacks of 7,000 product lines at peak and could cope with maybe 10,000. Yes, Slee agrees, you hear horror tales of people disappointed by late deliveries for a special occasion. “But our advantage towards getting out on schedule is a long-serving staff. Even many taken on temporarily have worked for us previously. They know the routines. They’re the first option in seasonal recruitment. “In 2005, we sent human resources staff to Cracow to recruit Polish workers because we found it difficult to get UK staff who could deliver on the campaigns. But for the last couple of years, we’ve been able to recruit locally - Washington, South Tyneside and Gateshead. They’re doing well for us.” Slee - a father of two children and two stepchildren, all grown up – is Sunderland born and bred (educated at St Aidan’s) and he and his wife live there now. He may be spotted on Saturdays at the Stadium of Light. Staff grows from nearly 200 to 300-plus at peak, when around 70,000 items are being despatched daily. Like many high street stores, Spark makes about 35% of annual turnover then. Summer campaigns are being sought to level the year’s workload. “The more we build up other months with a permanent staff handling the volumes, the better,” he says. The attraction of working full-time there will get a boost this year, when chairman Barry Stiefel’s long-held ambition to develop a level of employee ownership is realised.

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INTERVIEW

Father Christmas: Peter Slee has grown Spark Response to create an efficient mail order provider of everything from DIY kit to seasonal gifts Now that the company no longer makes £1m loss on £8m turnover, but instead £400,000 pre-tax profit on £10.5m turnover – with a switch from red to black in three years – there is confidence the profits will be regular. The board comprises Stiefel, Slee (with 15% of the equity), and operations director Noel Lambert - “a great guy” with more than 20 years in the industry, who joined in 2007 from Two Ten Communications in Wetherby. Spark Response’s origins go back to the mid-1980s when Eddie Shotton started a family-owned direct mail and wish fulfilment business called Mailcom at Crowther in Washington. It used coupon and phone call; today e-business provides more than 90% of Spark Response’s activity. Shotton, subsequently a Direct Marketer of the Year, also set up Virtutel. He and his family have a transformed Mailcom today at Milton Keynes and Boldon, which shares a telemarketing client with Spark – E.ON. The business was acquired and split out in the 1990s as part of a parcel of six UK purchases by

a South African media group, Primemedia. But by 2002, all had been re-sold. Stiefel, a London associate of Primedia shareholders, acquired Spark. Slee joined the following year as a director, becoming managing director in 2006.

From a packet of screws to a bathroom suite, our staff coped. That forged our reputation as a partner who could do pretty well everything

A five-year partnership with B&Q from 2001 enabled B&Q to establish www.diy.com and Spark Response to handle 13,000 different product lines for every B&Q warehouse. “From a packet of screws to a bathroom suite, our dedicated call centre staff of 160 coped. That forged our reputation as a partner who could do pretty well everything you could throw at us,” Slee says. Spark’s average link with outsourced staff is now five years. “That’s quite unique in our business. It engenders pride in the business, a sense of being part of the family. It also delivers efficiency and productivity.” Slee attributes Spark’s financial transformation to the performance of its employees and to the firm’s majority shareholders who, although London-based and with worldwide interests ranging from an Australian airport to a US multi-billion dollar cash and carry, showed patience while a plan was being created to deliver profit. What had to be done? “Various issues,” Slee says. “Some contracts weren’t delivering >>

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INTERVIEW

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profit. Another challenge was matching the physical side of the business to its revenues. “Come to a business park like this and you’re getting into, typically, 15-year minimum leases. However, when you start a business with a new client, you’re typically starting a one, two, three-year contract. It’s a fact of life. “What hadn’t been so well matched in the past was fixed overhead to likely revenue. We took major steps to consolidate space, converted some office space into warehousing and moved our contact centres to a brighter, more modern environment. “We released £600,000 of fixed overhead annually. We’ve got two warehouses giving 200,000sq ft now, which is still massive, but matched to throughputs and volume for our clients. Two other units earlier were probably surplus to need then. In a business like this, you must understand your space needs and get flexibility. That’s tough amid a commitment to such long leases.” Now a strategic partnership with Port of Tyne less than six miles away provides 25% more space, giving 250,000sq ft in all. “We use that overflow for campaigns with slow moving stock, or some buffer stock and perhaps bring that in on a just-in-time basis. That works well.” Carriers, meanwhile, are selected by tender built around client preference, with a broad range of about six on the books. Some carriers do ‘ugly’ - the large, heavy product - others work on speed. “More and more orders are being delivered to our customers next day, or certainly the following working day,” Slee reports. At the end of the day, he is answerable, the first point of contact. The last two years have shown that being certain of anything beyond two years is tough. But revenues have been growing 30% a year. “We’re not recession-proof, but the internet side of business will still grow and, while a lot of retail campaigns have seen setbacks, we continue to see organic growth. “For us now, client retention is crucial. We have to show every day that our clients do right to give us their business.” A daily conference for departmental heads keeps everyone abreast of developments, and every effort is made to deliver to customers in accordance with clients’ aims. Besides retaining blue chips, Spark looks

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The magic touch Peter Slee, 48, talks and acts like he has found his true calling at last – pardon the pun. He might easily have been in call centres still, cable television, insurance or banking - the latter his first career for 17 years. None of these, however, satisfied his wish to work in a tangible environment with a product he’d be responsible for handling at various points. In retail banking’s branch network, by 1991 he’d become business development manager and branch manager of the TSB in High Street, Gosforth. “I was delighted and looking to develop further. Then the bank asked me to spend some time in a New York bank which was well developed in telebanking. I was to bring the concept back to the UK. “That was fantastic. I did three months in the USA and had a further visit. We then launched our bank’s first 24/7 operation in Team Valley – the forerunner of what is now Lloyds TSB Phone Bank. “I enjoyed all that for so many reasons – the radical departure from what I’d been doing, launching something new, going into the branch network I’d been 14 years with to find the staff, ensuring we’d deliver, making the business case stack up for the bank to roll out.” “Banks then wanted to reduce network costs while improving service. You couldn’t take telebanking out now. It’s much valued. Customers like transacting from home. “I later did something similar with Commercial Union; a very traditional broker-based insurance company that wanted to build a direct offering. I helped CU do that in 1994-5 in Preston. Then I got the opportunity to work with Comcast, the biggest US cable TV operator. “It had the franchise for 250,000 homes on Teesside. 1995 to 2000 was the period of many mergers among cable companies. Ultimately, we became part of NTL. “I was NTL’s regional operations director for the North and national telesales director. Working for an American organisation was very interesting – very dynamic, and different in its cultural approach. I was running a business with a team of people, a geography in which to work and a number of homes, and really running it. “You devised and built marketing and sales strategies, took decisions locally and drove the business forward. It was a flagship operation that many other NTL strategies were built upon. “But, post merger, a number of different companies were all crunched into one large body. By 2000, only NTL and Telewest remained in competition. Head office was in Hampshire and now it was the classic 6.30am Monday flight to London, to a more centralised business model with regional leaders arriving to take orders from head office, disseminating strategy, not developing and building the plan. The flight seat was vacated. “Back in the North East, I became deputy MD of Garlands Call Centres for a year until 2002, which was a really interesting business, growing dynamically with a good client base. Then I met Barry Stiefel and got the opportunity to work tangibly. “Banking’s only tangible is money handed over the counter, Garlands much the same. With NTL, you deliver services. In e-commerce, you’re in a growing sector with the opportunity to lead a business with multiple disciplines, as I found on joining Spark Response in 2003.”

increasingly for clients among entrepreneurial retailers. “They may have reached tipping point,” he explains. “They could be thinking about investing in contact centres and delivery points, whereas their focus and skill is in marketing and developing product range. “We see ourselves as a key here, helping such firms to achieve yearly double-digit growth.” Spark also wants to serve more charity e-businesses, having already won Cancer

Research UK’s Shop to Beat Cancer. “Charities are growing retailers,” Slee points out. ”Cancer Research is the 16th most recognised brand, and we had a very strong preChristmas with them.” And, encouraged by that One North East account for tourism, Spark also aims to partner one more big North East client every year. One thing Slee is certain about in otherwise uncertain times: “We will grow.” n

INTERVIEW

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EASY AS ABC ... The launch of a new organisation this year could perk up North East business no end, discovers Brian Nicholls

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Business is looking to new horizons in the North East with the launch of Asian Business Connexions (ABC) at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, on February 26. It’s so appealing that, six weeks prior to launch, ABC had received more than a third of the 1,200 applications for membership it requires. ABC, a community interest company (CIC) and social enterprise formed last July by individuals from Asian businesses in the North East, says its aims will include: • Enhancing the contribution that Asian businesses make to the region’s economy by creating opportunities in business. • Enabling and promoting best business practice. • Moving the existing Asian business community nearer the mainstream of regional business. • Creating business opportunities across different racial communities. • Sharing best practice. • Tackling discrimination in the labour market. Members will include business owners, employees, public sector workers, doctors and other professionals. “It’s an opportunity for a wide range of members with individual strengths to come together and work for a common good,” Ammar Mirza, a prime mover of the project, says. ABC’s concept is widely welcomed. Allan Curry, former Northumbria Police area commander, says: “ABC is about building better opportunities in business and building new networks and social relationships. The more people involved, the greater will be the economic and social impact.”

Jamie Martin, managing partner of law firm Ward Hadaway and a patron of ABC, believes the Asian business community could teach many people a lot about entrepreneurship. “Our Asian community is highly enterprising, very willing to share its knowledge and experience. Combining this expertise through the networks ABC creates could open up regional market opportunities.” The company aims state that, while its emphasis will be on the business aspects of the Asian community, a wider positive effect is likely to be felt on all communities and sectors. In addition, through strategic partnerships with the public sector and aligning delivery aspects, ABC will help to deliver on economic and social agendas. Worthy and ambitious aims – so who are behind them? What benefits might accrue in practice? Ammar Mirza’s Newcastle-based company, AmmarM Ltd, founded in 2005, is in property maintenance, construction and management, and is accredited by the Federation of Master Builders. Its work has included converting a derelict Grade II listed building at Old Eldon Square into the Cosmetic Dental Clinic. Its interior design services have improved thousands of properties. Another committed party is the 14-year-old company Computer Orbit, whose 28 staff supply hardware, support and customer services for home users, business and education. The business has retail outlets in Newcastle and Gateshead and it prides itself on human rather than electronic contact. Other Newcastle businesses signed up to ABC include Bentinck Furniture Warehouse, Knight Properties, which is in rentals, sales, property management, investment and furnishings, and Your Smart Finance, which has created more than 10,000 different finance products over the last 20 years. A bit of spice will surely come from The Spice Cube, a departure from ‘traditional’ Indian restaurants at The Gate in Newcastle, and The Ivy at Ryton which, in contrast, offers Mediterranean cuisine. Mirza stresses ABC won’t clash with the existing Asian Business Forum North East, started in Newcastle six years ago and still flourishing. “I’m a member of that also,” he

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INTERVIEW

Connected: Ammar Mirza, Hari Shukla OBE (patron of ABC) and Jamie Martin (managing partner at Ward Hadaway and patron of ABC) explains, “and we’ve discussed our proposals with them.” The Forum is noted particularly for major business networking events two or three times a year. ABC, Mirza says, will similarly promote mutual help and support, and seek to spread best practice. “This will be on a level similar, we hope, to the North East Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Directors and Business Link. We’d aim to complement and work with established organisations like these, encouraging members to be involved in these organisations too.

In this way, everyone could benefit.” To bring on young business people, ABC proposes to have incubator facilities for start-ups, and meeting rooms serving qualified professionals who work from home but might occasionally need a city meeting room and city address. Benefits will include front office support and shared overheads. “We’ve about six offices available already for starters to go on with,” says Mirza. ABC is already arranging for members to upgrade business practice. Through Gateshead Council, they’ll be guided through the

This will be on a level similar, we hope, to North East Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Directors and Business Link

complex mechanics of public tendering, thus opening new opportunities to them. And through Newcastle City Council, corner shop owners - those pillars of our local communities - are being helped to be more proactive in applying the conditions of alcohol licences to reduce under-age drinking and the possibilities of prosecution. Planning the ABC has been ongoing for over 18 months. Relevant organisations at work elsewhere in the UK have been studied, and Asian-led businesses surveyed, to see what priority needs might be for a working agenda. Some advice has already been given. Two or three shopkeepers were unhappy at their long opening hours - 5am to 11pm. It was found their first customers seldom called before 7.30am and it was pointed out that, while 5am might be a recognised start in their culture, it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Go against the grain it might, but at least two hours could now be chopped painlessly off their working day. >>

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INTERVIEW

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Nitikin Shukla, diversity officer at Gateshead Council and chief executive of ABC, believes the company will strengthen economic inclusion for minority ethnic groups and encourage cohesion between thriving communities of the region. Certainly, the raw material is there - and a cultural leaning towards business building and entrepreneurship. As if to prove this, research for Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2008 showed that twice as many British Asians were self-employed compared to British Whites, which is quite a statistic when we come to look at the sectors of society most likely to play a real part in lifting us out of recession and growing the country for the future. Examples of this entrepreneurial culture are to be found throughout the region, and it is embodied in the likes of Mohammed Bashir, a fourth generation Asian in Britain, who

Eminent support: Hari Shukla, a long-time supporter of Asian business, at the ABC stakeholders’ launch event at Northern Counties Club, Newcastle

launched Middlesbrough Borough Cars at the tender age of 18 and now, some 27 years later, has a £3m-plus headquarters and 600 drivers working for him. He suggested in an interview published in the Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough) recently that young Asians today were likely to have good degrees, but many worked in family firms and did not network enough with existing business organisations, something that needs to be challenged if they are to play a real part in the future growth of the UK’s economy. Further proof of their entrepreneurial nature - Barclays Bank has estimated there are 5,000 ethnic minority businesses in the North East alone. The region’s economy would certainly benefit a good deal, then, if ABC fulfils its aims and nurtures more new young business builders. Watch this space ... n www.abconnexions.org

Title Sponsor

17th June 2010, Gosforth Marriott Hotel Newcastle upon Tyne

www.accountancyawards.co.uk

The Nigel Wright North East Accountancy Awards will recognise and celebrate the achievements of the North East of England’s accounting and finance sectors.

Deadline for Nominations 30th April 2010 For further information on nominations, tickets and sponsorship please contact Emma Fagan on 0191 241 4523 or email info@accountancyawards.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

Understanding finance

Free business finance workshops This unique series of finance workshops, publicly funded through Solutions for Business, will cover all aspects of business finance in a totally new and engaging way. Workshops are happening throughout the North East.

To register for your free place at your nearest workshop visit

www.financeworkshops.co.uk Business Link can give you independent advice and guidance or help you find the best assistance for your business. Visit your local Business Link www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast or alternatively give them a call on 0845 600 9006.

IN ANOTHER LIFE

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Having just set up Mackenzie Executive Management, Matt Wing is already in another life. He was a director of a multinational project management company, heading projects of £100m-plus. Now he’s doing something for himself instead ... Matt Wing’s project and lifestyle management company in the North East offers a private service for both business and personal needs - a bespoke service to clients requiring someone able to take some hassle out of their lives. The company aim is simply to make clients’ lives easier. Projects he’s fulfilled already include: • Finding a racehorse for a client passionate about the sport but never with enough time previously to invest in it. • Buying 100 acres of prime land on which to design and build a £4m house for a wealthy businessman. • Overseeing a global engineering contract • Arranging a holiday break for a group of business people; managing the entire trip, from hiring a private jet, choosing a suitable venue and ensuring security. Wing, of Gainford, Co Durham, says: "I figured it was possible to offer a service that covered not just a company's needs, but family and leisure activities, too.” Typical clients place a premium on their free time and need to delegate some aspect of their life. "It's not about being rich, it's about being smart with your time. We work for anyone wishing to get the most out of their busy life," he explains. Can he cope? One of his biggest projects in his multinational days was to

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transform 33,000 hotel bedrooms for one of the UK’s largest hotel chains. It was a turnkey contract for the developer, a two-year rolling refurbishment. "From getting the go-ahead, we had four weeks to mobilise a team and start. We had 320 hotels to do. At any one time, we might be working on one in Aberdeen, three or four in London, a couple in Norwich and so on." The contract came in on time and on budget. As a lifestyle manager also, Wing says he's never failed to deliver even the most obscure demand. Born near Luton, Wing says he sees yet another life he’d happily turn to. Playing off a handicap of two, he had thought of becoming a professional golfer. It looks like he’s sharpened his drive elsewhere for now, however. www.mackenzie-management.co.uk

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COMPANY PROFILE

New to join Company Profile is Vantis, one of the UK’s leading accounting, tax, business recovery and advisory groups. The Vantis experts will be on board throughout 2010, providing you with practical information and advice for business today. Most businesses encounter problems at some stage, even those managed to a high level of competence, and many of the problems are not of their own making. Vantis’ new column will give you the opportunity to glean some practical business advice from one of their leading experts. This month, Dawn McCartie, Marketing & Business Development Manager for the North East region, discusses why marketing is even more important in tough economic times.

TOUGH TIMES CALL FOR TOUGHER MARKETING

N a tough economic climate, businesses often downscale their marketing activities, treating this as a luxury, rather than a necessary tool to support the business. Dawn McCartie believes this is a short sighted view which, as demonstrated in the past, can lead to failure when the economy turns around. “Marketing is even more important in times of recession,” Dawn states. “Those companies that continue to invest in marketing and business development are the ones that are more likely to succeed; those that limit or, worse still, discontinue their marketing activities, could be missing a trick.” Since joining AIM listed Vantis, Dawn has been keeping busy implementing a structured marketing and business development programme for the North East region. Her focus has been on developing business opportunities, maintaining and strengthening existing relationships with clients and contacts and gaining new clients on a proactive basis. Dawn has also begun to oversee a new system of face to face service reviews with key clients in the region. Initial feedback has been extremely positive, providing valuable insight into the clients’ needs and perceptions, highlighting what is required to help drive their businesses forward. The next tranche of reviews is anticipated to commence shortly, after which Dawn will look to introduce additional types of face to face and telephone review procedures. These may include discussions with new clients, lost clients, and post-transaction reviews. Another major initiative that Dawn is responsible for implementing in the North East is the new system of client reports. This is a simple, yet highly effective process, where individual

ourselves to not only improve existing relationships, but to win new business through increased cross-referral of work.”

Above: Dawn McCartie, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Vantis North East

“MARKETING IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT IN TIMES OF RECESSION” client needs are discussed to produce tailored account plans. While it’s still early days, initial signs have been very positive, with the discussions with both clients and Vantis client partners alike highlighting fresh opportunities for all. The current economic climate may bring its challenges, but Dawn relishes tackling these head on. She concludes: “Marketing within professional services is primarily about relationships. By maintaining and enhancing those relationships through our structured business development programme, we enable

Services are provided locally and nationwide by experienced professionals and specialist industry teams who offer comprehensive sector knowledge and product expertise. Vantis strives to provide all clients with successful, bespoke solutions to help generate and preserve their wealth. For more information about Vantis, visit: www.vantisplc.com or contact your local Vantis office. MIDDLESBROUGH New Exchange Buildings, Queen’s Square, Middlesbrough, TS2 1AA. Tel: 01642 221 331 or Email: northeast@vantisplc.com DARLINGTON 1st Floor, North Point, Faverdale North, Faverdale Industrial Estate, Darlington, Co Durham, DL3 OPH. Tel: 01325 382 323 or Email: northeast@vantisplc.com HARTLEPOOL 17/25 Scarborough Street, Hartlepool, TS24 7DA. Tel: 01429 272 109 or Email: northeast@vantisplc.com

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EVENTS

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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

FEBRUARY 3 FEBRUARY Briefing on Jeremie Fund to support North East businesses. Service Network event led by Malcolm Page, deputy chief executive, One North East, and Andrew Mitchell, chief executive, North East Finance. Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle (9am). Contact: tel, 0191 244 4031. talk@service-network.co.uk. 5 FEBRUARY Equality and Diversity in the Workplace, Northumberland Business Service and Equality North East, with support of the Percy Hedley Foundation, open a series of seminars throughout the region. St James’s Park, Newcastle (8am). Contact: Lisa Wallace, lisa.wallace@equality-ne.co.uk.

28 FEBRUARY - 6 MARCH Market Visit - West Coast of USA, UKTI mission led by International trade advisor Simon Crosby. Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk

MARCH 3-4 MARCH Business Exchange North East, two day regional business get-together attended by more than 90 UK buyers and organised by Business Link, Newcastle Racecourse. Contact: tel 0191 241 4523, e-mail: info@business-exchange.org.uk See also www.business-exchange.org.uk.

9 FEBRUARY The North East in 2030, a Chance to Have Your Say – a workshop run by Services Network, which is working with One North East and the Association of North East Councils to examine threats and opportunities ahead. Thistle Hotel, Newcastle (9am-noon). Contact: Anna Patrick, tel 0191 244 4031 or e-mail talk@service-network.co.uk and see www.service-network.co.uk

10 MARCH Export Master Class, UKTI workshops to help firms export. Fulbeck Grange, Morpeth (9am). Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk

10 FEBRUARY Teesside University free Creative Leadership Business Breakfast featuring jazz and drama for leaders and and senior professionals, Phoenix Building, Middlesbrough (7.30am). Contact: tel, 01642 384422. email business@tees.ac.uk. Or http://bit.ly/4AKVv5.

16 MARCH Take it to the World, Export Masterclass. Darlington FC (9am). UK Trade & Investment workshop in conjunction with HSBC, HMRC and Dickinson Dees. Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk

10 FEBRUARY Employing People, Acas seminar. Newcastle (9.30am). Tel: 08457 383 736. 11 FEBRUARY Tomorrow’s World, Sustainability for the Services Sector, a Service Network programme of speakers make a business case. Kingston Park Stadium, Newcastle (9am).Contact: Anna Patrick 0191244 4031 17 FEBRUARY Eurocodes, ICE talk by Doug Kay, Entec. Newcastle (6.15pm). Contact: Julian.hogg@jacobs.com. 18 FEBRUARY Life Sciences Roadshow, International Centre for Life, Newcastle (1-8pm) organised by UKTI and the Office of Life Sciences. Contact: www.olsroadshows.ukti.gov.uk or Ian Bunker, tel 0207 215 4851, e-mail: ian.bunker@ukti.gsi.gov.uk. 19 FEBRUARY Benefits of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Durham University Business School briefing and lunch, Durham Business School (11.45am). Contact: Laura Huntington, tel 0191 334 547. www.laura.huntington@durham.ac.uk. 20-27 FEBRUARY Market Visit to Mexico with UKTI and the British Embassy, Mexico City, led by Simon Crosby, International trade advisor. Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk 23 FEBRUARY Retention, CECA (NE)/Watson Burton breakfast seminar led by Sarah Wilson (Watson Burton), Durham CCC, Chester le Street (8am). Contact: Trish Hewitt, tel 0191 228 0900. kellceca@aol.com 24 FEBRUARY Institute of Directors North East regional dinner, keynote speaker Gerald Ratner. Raddison Blu Hotel, Durham (7pm). Contact: Sukie Ranken on 0191 213 1289 24 FEBRUARY Export Master Class, UKTI workshop to help firms export. Middlesbrough Teaching and Learning Centre (9am) Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk

17 MARCH Essential Skills for Supervisors, Acas seminar. Newcastle (9.30am). Tel: 08457 383 736. 18 MARCH Export Master Class, UKTI workshops to help firms wishing to export. Darlington FC. Contact: tel 0845 0505 054. enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk 23 MARCH How to Avoid Disputes, CECA (NE)/Watson Burton breakfast seminar led by Rob Langley (Watson Burton), Durham CCC, Chester le Street (8am). Contact: Trish Hewitt, tel 0191 228 0900. kellceca@aol.com

APRIL 9 APRIL Northern Chartered Accountants Student Society Annual Dinner, venue tba 15 APRIL CECA agm, Ramside Hall, Durham (evg). 15-22 APRIL North East Process Industry Cluster’s Trade Mission to India. Contact: Phil Hollowood, tel: 01642 442 560. E-mail: philhollowood.reachready@nepic.co.uk 27 APRIL Mock Adjudication, the Process, CECA (NE)/Watson Burton breakfast seminar led by Kevin Anderson (Watson Burton), Durham CCC, Chester le Street (8am). Contact: Trish Hewitt, tel 0191 228 0900. kellceca@aol.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:

26 FEBRUARY Public launch of Asian Business Connexions, Baltic Centre, Gateshead (6.30 for 7pm). Contact: info@abconnexions.org and see www.abconnexions.org

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

12 MARCH Contracts of Employment, How to Get It Right, Acas seminar. Newcastle (9.30am). Tel: 08457 383 736.

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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BIT OF A CHAT

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on electronic gadgetry just now, at least remind the team yet again of their obligations to the firm and to their own job security.

>> Smart lad wanted

with Frank Tock >> Before you buy new snowboots ... There’s no excuse for so much absence and lost productivity, no matter how deep the snow, how impassable the roads. So don’t join that tirade against the weather forecasters. We should have realised the fate about to befall us. For years we’ve nattered about new-age office work, and how a lot will be done from home. Some big organisations, like BT, already show how easy it is with just a laptop, a phone and a seat by the fire. More to the point, my missus has reminded me repeatedly over several years that snowfalls paralysing Chicago mean the same fate for Britain a fortnight later. She was right this time, too. A fortnight’s surely enough time to regroup on the home front at the first news of Chicago’s shivers. So remember, from now on, keep an eye on Illinois. It’s good for business – and for tempers.

>> Tightening it up Whatever the weather outside, it’s amazing that although 98% of employees in these security conscious times agree it’s vital to protect confidential information, 30% (a survey suggests) send confidential and/or sensitive information by standard email attachment, or even unsecured in the body of an email. The findings, admittedly commercially motivated, are from Invisiview, whose technology promotes security. But even if you don’t want to spend any more

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 10

BQ’s second live debate on training brought some memorable anecdotes. Geoff Ford, chairman of Ford Component Manufacturing in South Shields, told of one young man turning up for a job interview wearing beach shorts. Asked why, he seemed surprised, and said well, he expected to go on from there to the beach anyway. He didn’t get the job. Having said that, the debate certainly wasn’t an evening of youth bashing. Darren Jobling, director of business development at Eutechnyx, the remarkably successful Gateshead maker of computer games, told how his dad, when a factory boss at Birtley, repeatedly reprimanded Darren’s brother, and now business partner, Brian, when he was 14 for pulling a television set apart and putting it together. He’d never get a career messing around like that, Dad said, repeating his warning when Brian went on to put together some software. By the time Brian was 17, we’re told, he was earning more than his dad and had a Porsche at the door. A story careers advisers may like to repeat ...

the acute admissions of children to our hospitals. And Lowdon explains: “Our daughter Abbie had breathing difficulties evident at about five months of age. She spent nine months on oxygen. Everywhere we went we had to take bottles of oxygen. She had lung biopsies and by the time she was one she’d already had three general anaesthetics. “It was a high-stress time. We got to know Dr Spencer and his medical team at the Freeman Hospital. He does fantastic work.” In a new building going up on the site of the Royal Victoria Infirmary one floor will be for lung problems. The appeal will pay for a teaching facility, and endowment of a chair at Newcastle University to foster research. “The heart’s mechanical device, we understand pretty well,” Loudon says. “The lungs still have an element of mystery. There are many weird, not so wonderful problems kids can have. If we, like some other North East business people, can help at all through the appeal, we’re pleased to do that.”

>> Breathing life into children Graeme Lowdon, interviewed in this issue, isn’t so engrossed in racing car engines and data communication that he can’t support a good cause. He and his wife Wendy have good reason to back the Puffin Appeal, too. Led by Dr David Spencer, a Newcastle specialist in children’s breathing problems, it’s raising £2m for an advanced respiratory unit to help children suffering cystic fibrosis, severe pneumonia and asthma in the North East. Our region has some of the world’s highest known rates of childhood asthma and breathing disorders account for almost half

>> That’s a good one Heard the one about Comic Relief’s first ever in-house lawyer joining law firm Ward Hadaway? Fiona Wharton worked at the TV-led charity for four years from 2000, advising on its issues and events. From there she moved to a Leeds law firm, and now she’s an associate in Ward Hadaway’s growing Charities team. Her new firm has exciting plans, she tells me. Noses at the ready, then.

Business as it should be

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