BQ North East Autumn 2016

Melody taker

Roger Bucknall makes guitars for the stars in Cumbria

Home truths

Home working is productive working and cuts costs

Pie in the sky

BUSINESS QUARTER

Business dinner with Andrew Potts scales new heights

North East & Cumbria: Autumn 2016

Celebrating and inspiring entrepreneurship Business Quarter Magazine

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Raising the Barre Natalie Catlah’s business brings fitness through ballet 034

EN T R EP R E N E UR I NT E R V I E W S

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IN SIGHT

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EDITOR’S VIEW NOR TH EAS T & CUMBRIA, ISSUE 34 Business bows to the nation’s majority will and enters a long, dark tunnel of uncertainty. Many with businesses, of course, were among the voters calling on the Government to quit the EU, but whether in favour or against, every company will encounter tough challenges as well as opportunities. Hard hard work lies ahead.

Export efforts must intensify. Investors have to be more considerate towards home options when laying their chips. Consumers have to be persuaded to Buy British more which, in turn, will require producers to give even greater attention to quality, value-added and standards of service. Many customer countries we’re refocusing on have already improved their own goods and services immensely during our decades of European tie-in – and we have to persuade fellow members that withdrawal from a club need not sever trade.

Our new Government’s pledge to have all parts of this country progress must include radical and positive reconsideration of the North East and Cumbria’s per capita apportionment in the investment in infrastructure. And we need, meanwhile, all the expert assessment we can get, like the deliberations in this BQ of two experts from UBS Wealth Management.

Business will need more innovative and flexible thinking, such as two engineers in this issue illustrate; one whose creativity has moved on to handcrafting guitars in big demand from headline musicians, and another whose diversified skills now have him heading a major national support service for the NHS. There’s the former professional ballet dancer, too, who has set up in the North East one of only a few fitness centres of its kind in this country.

On practical matters, we examine advantages to micro businesses of working from home, and we’ve a bank director advising steps to better safeguard ourselves against cyber criminals.

I now step down from editing BQ North East quarterly (and its annual yearbook) after eight and a half years - since its very first edition, and having had the delight of seeing it give rise to editions elsewhere in the country, as well as corporate events, awards and daily online services of business news. Great teamwork makes this possible. I thank all our readers, interviewees, advertisers and other partners who encourage us, and the hundreds of individuals and businesses that have helped us advance the spirit and standard of entrepreneurship in the North East and Cumbria. We see all year round how innovative and entrepreneurial North Easterners and Cumbrians can be – and will be amid uncertainties ahead. So I’m particularly delighted my successor as editor of BQ will be Paul Robertson, an outstanding North East journalist already well known and highly respected in the business community (see page 13). As for me, readers may notice that for our latest business dinner I sat throughout at a table 100ft from the ground. I just had to go out on a high…

Brian Nicholls, Editor

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bqlive.co.uk

CONTENTS 56

Autumn 16

PIE IN THE SKY

Business dinner scales new heights

68

FOR ARMANI, THE SKY’S THE LIMIT One of the greatest names in design has chosen Dubai for a hotel

32

MEET THE MONEY MEN Two investment experts give advice post Brexit

76 DOCTORS ON CALL

How a co-op of Northumbrian GPs became a £65.5m business

64 JEEVES ON WHEELS

Andy Hook puts the new BMW 730d through its paces

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Celebrating and inspir ing entrepreneurship

FEATURES

REGULARS

24

RAISING THE BARRE Natalie Catlah uses ballet to keep clients in shape

12

BUSINESS UPDATE Business news from around the North East and Cumbria

32

MONEY MEN Financial experts on investing in uncertain times

18

LEGAL BRIEF What are the implications for business of leaving the EU?

36

MELODY MAKER Roger Bucknall makes guitars for the stars

22

AS I SEE IT Mike Mullaney supports BQ’s campaign for greater awareness of cyber crime

42

HOME TRUTHS Home working is one way for businesses to improve productivity

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COMMERCIAL PROPERT Y Who’s building what, where and when

56

BUSINESS LUNCH Andrew Potts shares insider hints on starting a business

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IN ANOTHER LIFE Muckle’s Jason Wainwright could have been a teacher

36

MELODY MAKER Roger Bucknall makes guitars for the stars

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DOCTORS ON CALL A North East business that helps 10 million patients around the country

SPECIAL FEATURE LIFE SCIENCES & HEALTHC ARE

Addressing the Life Sciences skills challenge

62 WARNEFORD ON WINE Our guest taster shares two bottles

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BIG ISSUES bqlive.co.uk

The nation has voted, but whether wisely in preferring to quit the European Union no-one can tell yet. We do know that up until referendum day – and despite the steel industry crisis – the North East’s economy had been making progress.

More of the region’s firms had been selling abroad, and the highest level of direct foreign investment for a decade was coming in.

The 2.4% increase in businesses exporting was highest among all regions in the first quarter of the year, HM Revenue and Customs found. And the highest entry of foreign finance in a decade during 2015 had led to 3,287 new jobs. An EY tally showed 44 foreign direct investments, against 24 in 2014. Mark Hatton, EY’s North East senior partner, believes work done to position the North East as a strong investment location in global eyes was starting to pay off. Newcastle, Sunderland and Newton Aycliffe have been main beneficiaries. Hitachi, Marlow Foods, Nissan and Akzo Nobel were the prime foreign investments, creating more than half of the reported new jobs. Software and chemicals also did well out of it. American and Japanese investment has been significant, but so too has been the investment from France and Germany and we don’t know yet to what extent in the future those countries will buy in. China also, ranking third in the UK as a whole, doesn’t make the top 10 in the North East.

Other sound performers of the region include Middlesbrough, South Tyneside and County Durham, the latter named one of five outstanding areas of the country for business start-ups to excel in, rated third by the Department of Work and Pensions.

And managers of the North East Angel Fund have noted how companies in Middlesbrough are more successful at applying for angel investment than those elsewhere in the North East. More self-employment is evident there too. The Regeneration Fund run by UK Steel Enterprise in support of start-ups and small businesses saw nearly five times the number of loans approved in the first five months of 2016 than during the same period a year before.

Data from the North East Microloan Fund, too, show firms from South Tyneside area are most successful in the region with their micro applications. David Beaty, HSBC’s regional director for corporate banking in the North, looked at the year to last March and pointed out: “The actual value of North East exports has fallen.”

Nor’east Ltd: Good progress but challenge ahead While we cannot forecast the North East economy’s future outside the EU we do have some figures to provide a useful comparison in the time ahead While the value of UK exports as a whole fell 2.3%, the fall in the North East was 8.9%.

And while jobs have increased, the pace of job creation slowed to marginal from May.” Official figures in June showed employment up by 19,000 over 12 months, putting unemployment at its lowest since August 2008.

The falling pound now, eating into disposable income and savings, will reflect in the shops.

Threatening to dampen investment in commercial property. And while a cheaper pound in theory could benefit North East export sales, that won’t necessarily be the case for firms needing to import their raw materials. Crucially for the North East over all, the question is: will the Government invest here at least as much as the European Regional Development Fund has done, giving back £10 for every £1 taken.

Will the Government, too, apportion more

fairly to the North East its per capita share of public investment in infrastructure? An ongoing situation, whereby the region gets only 50p out of every £100 in the country’s infrastructure budget - half of 1% while London gets 44 times more. And if a spending choice has to be made between a Heathrow Airport expansion or an HS2 railway, most business folk in the North East will probably agree the former is more vital and say: “Get on with it.” They’ll also probably agree devolution in the North East must be at a level enabling it to stand up commercially to Scotland. Brexit champions suggest, but cannot yet prove, British business will thrive more outside the EU, any more than those who voted remain can prove otherwise. Two difficult years loom.

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FACT OF THE QUARTER In the North East, the average start-up invests £26,377 for launch, making it second only to London as the costliest place in which to start a business, says online business service Geniac

BUSINESS UPDATE A chance to grow Businesses in the North East keen to buy premises or capital equipment, or that need more working capital, can approach FW Capital following a £3.75m injection into the North East Growth Fund. This input, taking the total fund to £24m-plus, is part of a £17m top-up secured by North East Finance to help more than 100 firms in the region this year. Set up in 2010 to power established SMEs, the fund has invested £20.5m and helped create or safeguard 1,016 jobs.

Provided by North East Finance and managed

by FW Capital, the fund has also leveraged an additional £30m of private investment, so pumping over £50m into the regional economy.

Joanne Whitfield, FW Capital’s fund manager in the North East, says “Success stories include North East brands like It’s All Good, large multiservice organisations such as the Pacifica Group and specialist manufacturers like TDX.” The North East Growth Plus Fund invests between £350,000 and £1.25m in established businesses of the region.

Hi tech suppers

Taste for tech: Hadrian Technology’s co-founder Gary Trotter with his daughter Annabelle and all seeing restaurant manager Julia Abbott

George F. White Expands Planning and Development Services Due To Client Demand

Fish and chips are hi-tech in Durham, Bells fish restaurant had Sunderland’s CCTV Land, property and business consultancy specialist Hadrian Technology step up George F. White has expanded its planning attention to their customers’ needs. and development services across the North Through flatscreen monitors, mobile tablet East following an increase in client demand on and advanced high definition, staff can the back of continued success. Changes in the now zoom in on any table. They have to planning system opening up new opportunities serve customers on three floors of the for property owners have been one of the key architecturally listed building Bells drivers behind the team’s continued occupies, which overlooks the success and, as a result, the market square. Now all consultancy has seen a big rise tables can be checked in planning related work. at once. Julia Abbott, Richard Garland, head of who manages the planning and development restaurant and at George F. White, www.gov.uk/apprenticeshipstakeaway facility with said: “The UK planning levy-how-it-will-work: 25 staff, says: “The system has undergone explaining explaining how system also allows more huge changes during a big another charge businesses sittings per day. It’s a transitional period. From face will apply huge benefit.” this, we have seen increases in different types of planning

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and development needs from clients across the UK, both new and existing. The planning team was established in 2007 to offer specialist advice. Since then, it has grown rapidly, even throughout the recession. While the consultancy’s roots were in rural planning, and this remains a core strength, it has evolved to provide specialist planning advice across a much larger range.

“Our team now offers a service more akin to some large-scale urban consultancies, dealing with large-scale applications and urban extension of 1,400 units and upwards,” continued Garland. “With development land getting more and more complex, joining up planning to an understanding of land deals and values is essential, particularly where equalisation and option agreements are involved. That is our unique selling point and we pride ourselves in being the source of highest quality advice for landowners with development needs.”

Working on a diverse range of applications from major residential, retail and agricultural applications through to lawful development certificates and prior notifications, the team has achieved great results with a 93% success rate for applications in the last 12 months. In the last two years, the team has doubled in size to include a number of planning and development specialists such as surveyors and architects.

Richard Garland, George F. White

Providing services from Scotland to Lincolnshire, the team’s contribution to the overall George F. White business is currently 18%, with an increase in annual turnover of 150% since last year. Garland added: “Our key objective now is to grow the team further - we are currently recruiting for new members of the planning team right across the business - to continue to diversify services so that we can adapt to clients’ differing needs. For example, we have brought architects in-house as a response to client feedback that they would prefer our teams to manage their bespoke project from start to finish.”

For more information about the planning and development services George F. White offers or current vacancies, please contact Richard Garland on 01665 511994 or email richardgarland@georgefwhite.co.uk

Robertson is BQ’s new editor for North East and Cumbria BQ has a new editor for its North East & Cumbria edition. Paul Robertson, formerly editor of the Teesside Gazette and Newcastle Chronicle, takes over from Brian Nicholls, who’s stepping down after more than eight years. Nicholls, a former colleague of Robertson, was BQ's launch editor in 2008, editing also BQ Yearbook serving the North East from that time. Robertson, 50, left the Chronicle in 2011 to set up his own media business doing training, consultancy and PR. He also edits Northern Golfer magazine. "I’m delighted to join such a successful publication in BQ - a brand which has spread from the North East & Cumbria to Scotland, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and London with further expansion plans," he says. "Brian’s an incredibly hard act to follow. He’s a highly regarded, highly experienced business journalist, and no doubt will continue to write for the magazine. I am passionate about the North East & Cumbria and believe print has a strong future, targeting communities of interest, complementing digital publishing and, in BQ’s case, a growing portfolio of events." Robertson took up the editorship on 1 July and will continue running Robertson Media.

Nicholls, who has also edited and written for daily newspapers at home and abroad, will continue to run his existing Brian Nicholls freelance Media Services. Bryan Hoare, BQ’s managing director, says: "Brian's contribution to BQ's success has been overwhelming. He has been a guiding light and maintained an exceptional track record in uncovering and featuring many of the North East & Cumbria’s leading entrepreneurs and other outstanding figures in business. It now also gives me pleasure to welcome Paul who, I know, will do BQ proud in continuing to grow the BQ brand."

N EW SMAKE RS Desco the Sunderland engineering consultancy, which has helped refurbish the Bank of Qatar’s retail branches and shown a 42%-plus leap in two year annual international sales growth, has entered Britain’s Fast Track 100 SMEs with fastest growing overseas sales.

Three North East firms are into the annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league of mid-market private firms growing exports fastest. Express Engineering (Gateshead) is 37th with 75% sales growth. Greencroft Bottling (Consett), a new entrant at 55, is now one of Europe’s largest wine bottlers. And Prima Cheese (Seaham) is in for a second year running. Lowe Clothing International (Carlisle) is listed, its foreign sales up by a 36% average per annum over two years.

KPMG was named large accountancy firm of the year, Blu Sky Tax Ltd best small accountancy firm and Deloitte accounting and finance employer of the year in the North East Accountancy Awards.

FaulknerBrowns the Killingworth based architects reached the final of the World Architecture Festival Awards.

Bond Dickinson is now a top 20 UK law firm brand in the Acritas UK Law Firm Brand Index - joint 18th, and 37th in the Top 100 law firms by turnover.

Battlesteads Hotel and Restaurant at Wark, Hexham, has been named the North East’s best pub in National Pub and Bar Awards.

Fentimans herbal mixer manufacturer exporting to 64 countries from new premises in Hexham, has grown sales 25% during the past financial year.

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AC H I E V E R S

Excellence made here

Just in time success

Stadium Group, supplier of wireless solutions, power supplies and electronics assemblies, has made its Hartlepool facility its main European manufacturing centre of excellence, safeguarding 100 jobs.

But it is switching head office to Reading.

Port of Tyne is scoring a 99% success rate for prompt delivery of just in time freight.

Graeme Hardie, head of operations, says: “Our team are relishing the challenges. We’re doing lots of just-in-time container deliveries to the automotive sector, to our customers in tea and also for the offshore industry.“It’s a question of ensuring a vehicle’s there to collect the goods, and making sure it leaves at the correct time.’’

The traffic office’s IT system co-ordinates the deliveries and collection. It manages all vehicle movements, giving a fully traceable audit trail.

GPS tracking and vehicle telematics also allow a measurement of vehicle and driver performance.

While introduction of the Certificate of Professional Competence has led to a shortage of qualified drivers generally, Port of Tyne’s fleet of 54 vehicles remains fully staffed with 73 LGV drivers. The port is also taking on an apprentice every year to this end. Meanwhile Richard Newton has been appointed commercial director, logistics. Formerly the port’s commercial manager, the Northumbria University graduate has held international logistics roles both in the North East and in Northern Ireland with Lidl and Montgomery Transport Group.

Better train services

Paul Stonebanks (above), founder of Advanced Industrial Solutions at North Shields, is now an OBE. Heidi Mottram, chief executive of Northumbrian Water, has been named the Prince of Wales’s North East business ambassador, a position the Prince personally appoints. And she, along with broadcaster Steph McGovern and MP Chi Onwurah, all with a background in engineering, figure 29th, 32nd and 35th respectively in an inaugural list of 50 top UK women in engineering.

Steve Gibson, chairman of Middlesbrough football club and managing director of Bulkhaul, is now an OBE. Sara Davies, founder of Crafter’s Companion at Newton Aycliffe, is now an MBE. Dr Guy Turnbull, managing director of Care and Share Associates in Newcastle, won the social enterprise trophy in North of England EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Bethany Ainsley, whose Peterlee wellbeing company Nouveau Dance and Fitness won her the North East’s Young Business Person of the Year title, has now been awarded the David Goldman Prize For frequ for business innovation by Newcastle business ent chat at your University Business School. finge rtips on demand

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Improved services for North East train passengers are promised by two rail groups.

TransPennine Express stand to benefit from a £230m investment in two new fleets of trains.

Operating in the North of England and Scotland, the company says that 12 out of its 25 fivecarriage trains being introduced will run on the Newcastle and Liverpool line. These will complement 19 five carriage trains Hitachi is building at Newton Aycliffe. The 44 new trains will allow doubled capacity on all intercity routes across the North and into Scotland by 2019.

The latest trains are being built in Spain because UK manufacturers, already working at full capacity, did not bid. Meanwhile First Group is to operate five trains a day between London and Edinburgh, stopping at Newcastle and Morpeth, from 2021.

Jobs barometer GAINED 1,200 jobs (one of County Durham’s largest ever inward investments) as Hull based customer contact firm ResQ expands into Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, over three years.

600 jobs by Convergys at Stephenson Quarter, Newcastle, on top of 700 the customer care providers already employed at Quorum Business Park, Longbenton 420 jobs expected with heritage-led investment in Bishop Auckland, through the combined £100m developments at Auckland Castle and the Kynren open-air night show.

350 jobs at a Sainsbury’s superstore in Shap Road, Kendal, after the town’s rugby union club moves to a new £11m complex by 2018.

320 more jobs to 200 existing at EveryDay, the North Shields homecare provider owned by Age UK North Tyneside, as it expands into South Tyneside and Gateshead.

200 jobs in EDF Energy Renewables’ building of a new offshore wind farm at Blyth.

150 more jobs, doubling the workforce at Great Annual Savings Group in Seaham, as the cost management company plans to expand across the UK. 100 more jobs at Choice Future Planning, which provides financial products for the over 50s, and has relocated from Shildon to West Quay Business Village, Sunderland. It employed 33 at the end of last year.

128 more jobs at Newcastle contact firm Echo-U by year end to complement 175 existing.

LOSSES 80 jobs at Express Engineering, Gateshead.

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Music to her ears Caroline Docherty’s enthusiasm as a franchisee took her into a national awards final. Her success in running Musical Minis Teesside and South Durham got her into the new woman franchisee category of the Encouraging Women Into Franchising awards NatWest Bank sponsors. Caroline (left), a 32-year-old mother of three, combines running the children’s music classes with home responsibilities at Redcar.

Children aged up to five join her in singing and playing basic musical instruments. Over 750 children have benefited from Musical Minis in Teesside area now. Last year Caroline doubled the size of her business, raising income 136% and giving her more profit. “Franchising is usually very flexible,” she says.“While I didn’t win, I came away feeling empowered and motivated, determined to come back bigger and better next year.”

Musical Minis, founded in 1989, was franchised in 1997.

QUOTE OF THE QUARTER “I don’t see teaching, research and business as separate entities; they are all interdependent and we need to draw our strengths together in all these areas to generate real innovation and impact.”

PROFESSOR SIMON HODGSON, PRO-VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION AT TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY, IN RB UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE

Geoff takes to the turf Entrepreneur Geoff Turnbull has sold his North East engineering firm GT to a major German company that plans to make it an international centre of excellence for commercial vehicles’ emission systems. For more than 35 years GT Group, headquartered at Peterlee, has specialised in environmental engineering. It has customers in more than 60 countries. As Turnbull retires to indulge in other interests, notably his racehorses, his family owned firm is being passed to another family business, Munich based Knorr-Bremse AG, a globally renowned manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. The German group, established more than 110 years ago, has some 25,000 employees in 30 countries, including around 1,000 at seven facilities in the UK. Knorr-Bremse develops, manufactures,

and services. GT, employing 250, comes debt free, and with a projected order book of several hundred million pounds. The management team, bar chairman Turnbull, are staying in place. GT products include exhaust gas control systems for on and off-highway vehicles, building equipment and industrial and marine applications. Turnbull thinks Knorr-Bremse the “perfect custodian” for GT Group and the extensive expertise and technologies it has developed. “It proves advanced manufacturing can thrive in the North East, creating sustainable jobs and groundbreaking technology that can be exported globally,“ he says. GT’s advisors on the deal were Duncan Lamb (Grant Thornton) and Ian Gilthorpe (Square One Law). Blue Marble Asset Management has sold its investment in a 40,000 sq ft warehouse tenanted by GT at Peterlee.

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In the money Cook Defence Systems of Stanhope has a £30m order from the Ministry of Defence to make parts for the next generation of Ajax fighting vehicle. This is in addition to a £70m order last year, spread over four years, to supply tracks for tanks including the Challenger and Warrior.

Wood Group Industrial Services of Gateshead has had a 41% rise in pre-tax profits to £12.3m on sales of £137m.

Quantum Pharma showed sales of £70m (up 13%) and a 75% hoist in adjusted pre-tax profits to £10m for the year ending last 31 January. The Burnopfield firm, under Andrew Scaife who is now stepping down as chief executive, acquired two firms during the period – Greek pharmaceutical developer Lamda and North Wales-based NuPharm.

Bannatyne Group, the Darlington based leisure operation of Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, has doubled its pretax profits following two years of investment in 29 health clubs and spas, and a range of acquisitions. Profits surged to £14.4m for the year to last 31 December - a 66% increase. Membership was up 14% to nearly 186,500.

Aspire, one of the country’s fastest IT growers, raised turnover 40% in 2015, beating projections by £1m, and achieving record results for a ninth year running.

Managing director Nigel Begg expects a £12.5m turnover for the Gateshead firm in 2016.

Cleveland Bridge UK the Darlington steelwork contractor is in profit under its new management team after four years of losses. Now owned by Saudi Arabia’s Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company, its £7m deficit of 2014 was replaced by £2.5m profit last year, with revenue 50% up to £51.5m. And ongoing prospects look good, says md Chris Droogan.

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BUSINESS UPDATE www.bqlive.co.uk/bq-breakfast

jobs for them. Over the next few years around 16,000 engineers will be needed to install the tell-tale spending meters in 53m homes. The company’s managing director Tim Cantle-Jones says four other employers are also interested.

More flights ahead EasyJet is launching two new routes from Newcastle Airport to Berlin and Las Palmas from 1 November. And budget airline Jet2 is tempting sunshine seekers with its “biggest ever” winter programme from Newcastle too. More than 165,000 seats will be available between 30 October and next 25 March – an increase of 50,000-plus seats. Existing routes are being expanded and a new route to Grenoble introduced.

On a Roll all right The North East makes some of the UK’s finest sandwiches, as BQ predicted when featuring entrepreneur James Stoddart in our previous issue. James’s Middlesbrough firm On a Roll Sandwich Company has lived up to its name winning two national industry awards.

It has been acclaimed a Manufacturer of the Year, and its new product development chef Nathan Baker was also judged British Sandwich Designer of the Year in the best individual venison category. James and his wife Helen have recently been relocating within Riverside Business Park to a £3.6m purpose-built factory as their firm gains more contracts and bigger market share in the healthcare sector. Judges were particularly impressed by the manufacturer’s full traceability system for any product or ingredient used, and by its quality emphasis.

James says: “We’re overwhelmed and delighted. The past year has been one of late nights and hard work for all of us. It’s brilliant to have our efforts recognised.”

On Channel 4 TV’s Sunday Brunch, Piers Morgan called it a “real sandwich.” The company, whose products are sold extensively in healthcare, retail, transport, hospitality and education sectors, has also been named top food and drink manufacturer in the Made in North East Awards. A company to relish, its customers might say.

Game, set and cakes Justine Carruthers, whose business Traybakes was profiled in BQ last October, has had her cakes in demand at this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, as the company advances its sales through contracts won with major distributors such as Amazon and North South Retail.

Formerly a building society employee in Newcastle, Justine set up Traybakes initially in a converted dairy near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland before moving to Cumbria in 2013. The firm of 20 staff has benefited from a regional growth fund investment of £24,000 by Cumbria Local Economic Partnership.

Moving deeper Barker and Stonehouse the North East based furniture retailer is spreading in the South East, following its earlier launch at Battersea, with a 25 job opening at Brighton and Hove.

Country style Durham Creatives, a start-up programme that has already helped 90 businesses in County Durham, is running free workshops for rural business owners. The programme, covering finance, marketing, patent protection and selling online, and offering personal mentoring, is run by Business Durham and led by Blue Sky Think at Durham Dales Centre in Stanhope. The workshops run until October.

SSI: new way out Future Energy Group and Middlesbrough College are jointly retraining former SSI employees as smart meter engineers. Already 20 of the Teesside ex-steelworkers have gained qualifications, and the Newcastle firm is securing

Cairn cashes up The privately owned Cairn Hotel Group supported by Mincoffs Solicitors has refinanced £101m through HSBC. About half is for acquisition and development. The Newcastle group has 26 hotels across the UK, and more than 30 bars and restaurants, also care homes. Recent acquisitions have been made in Glasgow and Buckinghamshire, and a refurbishment and rebranding has taken place in Edinburgh.

Trees to Bahrain Artificial tree exporter Treelocate of Belford has completed a £275,000 order for the 7* Four Seasons Hotel in Bahrain. Brothers Mark and Jonny Nesbitt started the business in a barn in 1995, with artificial trees brought from Asia. The £4m turnover business now employs 40 people.

Training en masse Middlesbrough College has acquired the training arm of the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC). NECC Training delivers around 1,000 apprenticeships yearly across the region and provides courses in a range of vocations including engineering, professional services and dental nursing.

The college similarly delivers around 1,000 apprentices supporting technical, professional and service industries. The combined operation will now be one of the North of England’s largest apprenticeship providers ahead of the Apprenticeship Levy being introduced.

With Metro, commuting could cost as little as ÂŁ9.40 a week.

Good to know.

The Corporate MetroSaver scheme means staff can get the savings of buying an annual ticket, but pay for it monthly through their wages.

To get on board, give the Corporate MetroSaver team a call today on 0191 203 3225 or 0191 203 3491 or email corporate.ticketsales@nexus.org.uk nexus.org.uk/metro

@My_ Metro

/mymetrotw

Business Support and Funding Available You could be eligible for funding for one of the Tees Valley Business Support Schemes.

Don’t delay, act now!

For more information call Part of the national network of Business Growth Hubs.

Tees Valley Combined Authority is a Tees Valley Business Compass Partner

01642 939386 or visit www.teesbusinesscompass.co.uk

18

LEGAL BRIEF

In association with

Ward Hadaway

Brexit – what happens next?

The UK’s vote to leave the EU is set to herald major changes to business, economic and political life – but where does it leave you? Colin Hewitt, head of commercial at law firm Ward Hadaway, takes a practical look at the situation It would not be an exaggeration to say that the result of the EU Referendum on 23 June resulted in a seismic economic shock for the UK and arguably for world markets.

However, now that the initial shock has worn off, what will the vote mean in practice for companies and business people and how is it likely to affect business activity?

Currently, pinning down definite consequences of the UK’s planned withdrawal is not straightforward: we have at least two years of negotiations to come and so many outcomes remain uncertain.

Nonetheless, this article looks to answer some important questions and provide some practical steps for businesses to help deal with Brexit.

Do EU laws still apply in the UK? Some EU law has effect in the UK because it has been incorporated into UK legislation. These laws will not be affected by Brexit unless specific action is taken to change or repeal them.

Until the UK formally leaves the EU, all EU regulations and directives having direct effect will also remain in force in the UK. Many such EU laws which are not encapsulated within UK legislation will have to be adopted or replaced upon Brexit. Many laws are interrelated and so changes may be complex to fully implement.

Will the UK still be able to trade with EU countries after leaving the EU? The basis on which the UK and Europe will trade post-Brexit is likely to be at the heart of the negotiations following the triggering of Article 50 and the outcome will be of crucial importance to businesses and the UK economy.

Future trading with the EU may follow one of a number of existing models or may result in a new bespoke model.

The existing options provide different levels of access to EU markets and differing levels of compliance with EU regulations – some, for instance, incorporate freedom of movement and contributions to the EU budget.

However, as a general point, whichever model is adopted, UK companies exporting goods and services into the EU will have to comply with the EU

“What will the vote mean for companies and businesses?” requirements applying to those goods and services - without the UK having had a say in setting those requirements.

What about trading with non-EU countries?

Under some of the possible EU trading models, the UK would benefit from some existing free trade agreements whilst under others with fewer ties to the EU, the UK would be free to conclude its own free trade agreements. However, such agreements invariably take time to conclude. It took Greenland six years from its referendum to finally leave the EU and conclude its own treaty whilst the EU’s trade deal with Canada took just over five years to negotiate and is not yet fully ratified.

What should businesses be doing now?

1. Businesses should start considering now how their relationships with suppliers and customers might be impacted by Brexit, for example by restrictions on access to the single market, or through the kind of currency volatility we have already seen.

2. Businesses should also review their current

contracts to assess the impact of Brexit. Standard contracts should also be revised to ensure that they include suitable clauses to deal with post-Brexit issues such as export controls and additional time and costs.

3. Employers should monitor their workforce in terms of where they work and should immediately assess the immigration status of non-UK workers and plan for ensuring how to retain necessary skills.

4. Employment is an area where EU regulations have had considerable impact within the UK and employers should continually review their employment contracts and policies pending Brexit to ensure that they comply with any changes to employment legislation.

Ward Hadaway has published a special Brexit guide on our website at www.wardhadaway.com/ promotions/brexit-guide/ which is regularly updated with practical tips and developments on Brexit. Our team of experts are also ready to help.

For more information on the issues raised by this article, please contact Colin Hewitt at colin.hewitt@wardhadaway.com or on 0191 204 4226.

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PROFILE Oktoberfest 2016

Engineering and manufacturing shop window opening soon Engineering and manufacturing companies from around the country will descend on the North East in October to showcase their capabilities to potential customers

Altec Engineering, an exhibitor who saw positive growth after last year’s event Over 1,000 people are expected to pass through the doors of the Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe for Durham Oktoberfest, which is now in its ninth year.

The event sees hundreds of employers come together under one roof in a bid to win new contracts and source potential suppliers.

It was set up in 2008 to showcase the North East’s world class strengths within the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

David Land, Chairman of County Durham Engineering and Manufacturing Network (CDEMN) which organises Durham Oktoberfest, said: “Engineering and manufacturing companies make a huge contribution to the region’s economy, employing thousands of people in a diverse range of disciplines.

“We want to support them to continue to grow and to do that inter-trading is crucial. That’s why

Oktoberfest is so important, as it brings together employers of all sizes who are given the chance to promote their services and, more importantly, secure new contracts.

“It also got us in front of potential clients from the widespread sector, that otherwise we might not have had the chance to meet” “Each year we hear from companies who have grown as a direct result of attending Oktoberfest, companies like EDM Zone, Altec, E-MAX Systems and Dyer Engineering, who have seen their client portfolio expand because of introductions they’ve

made at the event.”

E-MAX Systems Commercial Director Zeynel Badak said: “We have won numerous contracts as a result of Durham Oktoberfest over the years and that’s why we’re returning this year.

“It really is the perfect platform for us as we know we’ll have the opportunity to meet businesses who could potentially become our customers.

“The calibre of businesses that attend is particularly high and I think that’s why so many employers from the region support it. We will certainly be back next year and would urge other employers to do the same.”

Roger Wilson, business development and marketing manager at EDM Zone, said: “We didn’t know what to expect from Oktoberfest but were so impressed that many of our existing clients were there, which gave us the opportunity to tell them more about the many

PROFILE

21

Oktoberfest 2016

David Land, Chairman of CDEMN services we offer, as they don’t realise our expertise is as vast as it is.

“It also got us in front of potential clients from the widespread sector, that otherwise we might not have had the chance to meet.”

Durham Oktoberfest 2016 takes place on Thursday, October 20, at the Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe and already dozens of businesses have booked their exhibition space.

This year’s event has also secured more sponsors than ever before.

Business Durham is once again gold sponsor, reaffirming its commitment to supporting the event as it has done each year since the inaugural Oktoberfest.

Silver sponsors are Altec Engineering, Samuel Grant Packaging, Hitachi Tool, and Stadium Export Services, with more names expected to be confirmed over the coming weeks.

Simon Goon, Managing Director of Business Durham, said: “Durham Oktoberfest is the most important date in the engineering and manufacturing calendar, giving employers of all sizes the chance to promote their services and put themselves in front of

The team from Business Durham potential customers.

“Business Durham has supported the event from day one and is once again gold sponsor, backing up our commitment to helping this event become bigger and more successful each year.”

The event line up has also changed this year.

After last year’s successful Automotive and Advance Science Park (AMAP) workshop, which was hosted by keynote speaker Professor John MacIntyre, themed seminars are being added to the 2016 line-up.

The workshops will focus on areas which will directly benefit businesses, including social media, business development and manufacturing growth.

A number of external partner organisations will deliver them.

David Land added: “Every year we gather feedback from exhibitors and attendees about the event, so we can find out what works and improve our offering.

“One of the elements which proved particularly popular in 2015 was the AMAP workshop. Feedback suggested similar workshops in other areas that affect businesses would be well received, so we’ve added three to the event agenda.”

“The calibre of businesses that attend is particularly high and I think that’s why so many employers from the region support it. We will certainly be back next year and would urge other employers to do the same”

The North East’s Premier Engineering & Manufacturing Show

2016

To find out more about Durham Oktoberfest 2016, email the Durham Oktoberfest team on info@durhamoktoberfest.org.uk or visit durhamoktoberfest.org.uk.

22

AS I SEE IT bqlive.co.uk

Assess and audit...

The horrendous experience that TalkTalk has undergone should be a lesson to all of us, says Mike Mullaney in support of BQ’s campaign for greater awareness against cyber crime Advances in communications, technology and digital infrastructure are revolutionising how we live. And businesses continue to be transformed by the digital revolution.

From using targeted online advertising to reach new markets, and mining big data to build a detailed picture of a customer base, to processing payments online and storing data in the cloud – firms are taking advantage of technological progress, and are gaining benefit to realise their growth ambitions.

However, there is that other vital consideration: digital revolution also means businesses are vulnerable to attack on a totally new front. The constant development of new technologies means criminals have more opportunities than ever to exploit these for their own ends.

The Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey recently released illustrates the extent of the potential for harm that arises from a cyber attack. It reveals that, worryingly, two thirds of businesses in Britain have been targeted by cyber attacks in the last year, while a quarter have experienced a security breach at least once a month.

Perhaps most alarmingly is that, despite this very real threat, half of all businesses have failed to carry out risk assessments or audit their cyber vulnerabilities, the same research shows. Just 30% of firms have developed formal cyber security policies, too. This suggests lack of awareness that could end up costing businesses millions.

The high profile data breach that TalkTalk suffered last October demonstrates the potential impact of a cyber attack. It affected almost 157,000 customers and cost the firm £42m.

Impact was still being felt some six months on.

The latest financial report has revealed that profits have more than halved to £14m from £32m a year earlier.

While the task of protecting your business from vulnerability to cyber attacks can seem daunting, doing nothing can bring an outcome even more concerning - grave implications for the bottom line, plus reputation and customer confidence.

And, just as the risk of cyber attacks has risen,

AS I SEE IT bqlive.co.uk

23

the almighty defence so has the cost of insuring your business against breaches, particularly if you hold confidential data and so are classed as high risk.

By taking just a few simple steps, however, you can start to bolster your firm’s stance against cyber attacks: 1. Create a formal policy about internet usage and ensure all staff are familiar with it. By circulating information about the latest scams doing the rounds, you can educate employees to be wary of unfamiliar links and emails.

2. Keep your IT equipment updated. This includes using the latest versions of operating systems and software, as well as the latest antivirus programmes and firewalls.

3. Consider a reputable cloud services provider.

Outsourcing your data handling needs to a reputable third party can be a cost effective way for even small businesses to ensure they have the best defence against attacks.

4. Create strong passwords – and change them often.

At Lloyds Bank, we have introduced a programme of activities to build awareness and knowledge about fraud through quarterly webinars, fraud brochures, and by offering practical advice around fraud risks and prevention. By us helping our existing and new

clients in the North East to protect themselves against the threat of cyber fraud, they can focus instead on continuing to play their vital role in the regional economy.

Digital revolution can be to our good, provided we carry out our risk assessments and audit our cyber vulnerabilities regularly. n Mike Mullaney is Lloyds Bank area director, mid markets for the North East

“By protecting themselves against the threat of cyber fraud, firms can focus instead on continuing to play their vital role in our regional economy”

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

Natalie Catlah has left ballet and the USA to give local initiative to a demanding new discipline for fitness. She explains how it came about to Brian Nicholls We can’t all match the elegance and apparent ease of the ballet dancer. The ease for one thing is illusionary in that it is both exacting and demanding. But through Natalie Catlah’s enterprise we can, female or male, adopt some ballet skills of movement to achieve fitness satisfyingly.

Natalie, a former professional ballet dancer herself, brings this opportunity through The Barre, her fitness studios with a difference at The Close beside Quayside in Newcastle. The very name gives the show away, the barre being the hip-high rail used for ballet rehearsal and leg exercises. And it’s an opportunity that a growing number of exercise seekers are taking to.

As she explains in her gentle Geordie-cumCalifornian accent: “Our Barre regime is indeed ballet barre based fitness. Essentially it comes from classical ballet. We strip back the classical movements to the muscle mechanics. It’s really about controlling the core of your body then strengthening muscles, aligning and stabilising the body. Yes, ballet is punitive. But stripping back makes it easy for others, though I’ve got to say it’s not that much dumbed down!

“It is tough initially, absolutely, for anyone who has never been to dancing classes. The movements are very small and look nothing.

But it’s by no means an easy workout. A lot of strength, control and precision are required.

Ballet is made to look easy but so much goes on behind its scenes. It’s the same here.”

Natalie, a dancer since she was two years old, has a studio membership whose ages range from 16 to 67. “We have clients who have been with us since I set up the business seven years ago, and they will have done over 1,000 classes with us now.”

There are several levels of exercise. At the first barre everyone is taught basics. “From there,” she explains, “we progress everyone. It’s a very intelligent workout. You learn lots about your

A ballet good way to shape up body and its alignment – where for example you will feel tight and where you can leverage from body weight to length in a muscle group, strengthen a muscle group, and work your core muscles.

“You end up with the same control as a ballet dancer. So you can lift your legs and hold them out. You find strength to hold a position that’s uncomfortable yet you look in control – and are.

Your body gains dense, lean muscle. They can be shaped and toned whatever their shape and size, and however old or young you may be. You gain posture and grip through your core giving that lift, and you find control to move your body with both mobility and ability.”

In the progress from one level to the next the regime remains disciplined, like a ballet class.

“So you gain muscle memory,” Natalie says.

“You can work on control of the movement.

The more precise your movement, the more effective it is. Beyond first barre, open barre is a little faster. Mixed levels of members work out together and the class environment gives you drive to push on, even to chivvy if you have comrades with you.

“From second to third barre the challenge grows, requiring more precision, more control.

By third barre we are doing endurance based power classes. We do express classes, like a 30 minute punch in the face, particularly for core and power muscles like the thighs. You work your programme round what your body requires. Participants gain strength and also knowledge of their body’s requirements. They can tailor their own workout as they become more familiar with it.”

Are many who have never danced ever disheartened even by challenges of the first barre? “It is usually challenging, and it’s learning this basic format that takes you up to the next level. But I think there is confidence to be had from knowing everyone can achieve it. It’s a matter of convincing them they too can join others before who have gained the capabilities though they had never before danced a step.

“When you take ballet lessons as a child you don’t know what a first position is. You don’t know what it’s like to rotate at your hips or how to hold a leg in the air. So it doesn’t really matter whether you learn this at the age of

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

“I didn’t really know what to do on return other than set up a studio. That seemed the only option, what I had experience in, and I was into barre based fitness”

25

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

seven or at 47. The discipline and learning curve is the same.

“A lot of achievement comes through the rapport of a class environment. Our instructors know the ins and outs of every intricate part of the workout. It’s very safe, non impact. We don’t push into the joints. We don’t jump.

There’s no turning or twisting. It’s really to do with stabilising and controlling the body.”

First barre class never comprises more than 10 people. Even later the largest class comprises 18 at most. “Everyone soon gets to know everybody. It’s all super friendly, with everyone hugely encouraging for each other,” Natalie says.

And whereas those ancient Greek chaps

lingered in their gymnasia eight hours a day doing only the gods know what, members here come and go as they please. Some do visit daily. Starting out, the regime requires muscle memory a couple of times a week. But later once a fortnight or a month suffices, and no workout runs beyond 60 minutes.

Natalie, then, was dancing “baby ballet” even before she went to infant and junior school in Jarrow.

By the age of 10 she had maybe one evening a week when she wasn’t in a dance class, and on Saturdays danced all day.

At the Kathleen Burden School of Ballet in South Shields initially, she did tap dance, jazz and modern dance, and trained also with

Adrian Carthew, also in South Shields. “It’s all consuming once you’re into it,” she agrees.

She stepped into the “big” ballet class at about six (Royal Academy of Dance), which was when her dancing became much more serious, more disciplined. As an associate of the ballet school she would find her whole life built around dance. To become a professional dancer eventually she had to endure many auditions at various ballet schools.

At 16 she left home to undergo full time vocational training at Northern Ballet School in Manchester, where she made new friends.

“We had student accommodation but were fully responsible for ourselves,” she recalls. “You learned pretty fast how to take care of yourself.

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

27

“A lot of achievement comes through the rapport of a class environment. Our instructors know the ins and outs of every intricate part of the workout. It’s very safe, non impact. We don’t push into the joints. We don’t jump. There’s no turning or twisting. It’s really to do with stabilising and controlling the body”

Everyone was focused on the dance. Every morning we got on the bus to get into school for 8.30. We’d start warm-up then dance all day till about six.”

That to her was bliss, though it went on six days a week with only Sunday their day of rest.

At 17: near heartbreak. “I tore my Achilles tendon, my first ever major injury. I was introduced to the pilates fitness system not very common then. I did a lot of rehab with the help of my physio and had a lot of treatment, trying at the same time to keep my strength throughout my body. It was the first time I’d ever done any holistic exercising other than dance. By the time I recovered and graduated at 18 I had not lost too much ground

against the rest of my year. So I auditioned with everyone else.

“I had been offered a few jobs between 17 and 18 – great! – then had the chance to dance in cruise ship entertainment. I thought ‘yes, I’ll have that one’. I flew to San Francisco, rehearsed there for six weeks, then danced aboard ship around the Caribbean. I fell in love with the States. I sailed for about three years and more, on and off, doing solid contract initially then swing work.

“That meant I’d go on a ship, learn the show in a condensed fast capacity and cover for anyone going on vacation. I’d learn different parts at the same time. Then for a while I did choreography for the ships’ shows, working in Las Vegas. I

also got to New York. Once you’re on the roller coaster as a dancer it can take you where you want to go.

“In 2004 I decided my time dancing would be running out, and I’d like to do something in the exercise world. I trained to be an exercise instructor. I learned pilates and chose a certifying body. Pilates’ fundamentals are very similar to dance and ballet.”

With her certification she moved to Los Angeles and taught in numerous studios. Then, in 2006, she opened her own tiny studio with her own equipment, teaching clients privately on the remarkable Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

Ventura Boulevard, a primary thoroughfare, is the world’s longest avenue of contiguous

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

Angel delights Having already run a business in the USA, Natalie sat down and wrote a business plan to serve a customer base in the North East of England. She attended business networking events and breakfasts and, she says, had a great advisor through Business Link, which she found hugely supportive.

“At a business breakfast networking event I listened to a lecture and spoke with different people. One person there asked to see my business plan. That was it. An angel investment. We did it on a shoestring in a small and controlled environment to test it out.”

The total investment initially, including the barres which are hard to come by, was £30,000 but it proved possible to keep £7,000 in reserve to buffer the business through its first year as it grew. Dance students from Newcastle College took part in test classes beforehand, and free classes were held. Word of mouth did much of the rest.

“To this day most marketing comes from word of mouth,” she says. She now has three business partners, and two years ago she relocated the business from behind the Central Station down the bank to the modern glass-fronted premises at the riverside. There three instructors (soon to be four) and four backroom staff engender a whole new social mix: business people, office workers, mothers calling in before collecting children from school among them.

And no doubt being kept on their toes!

business, running 18 miles through San Fernando Valley. It’s a shopping and recreational destination for celebrities, executives, athletes, and entertainers with wherewithal to buy homes for anything from US$2m to US$50m.

Come 2009 it was farewell, Ventura Boulevard, and hello again, South Shields. A hard decision to make? “It was. But I think it was time. I’d been in the States 10 years and that seemed a long time. All my family are still in the North East. My parents visited and I tried to visit home yearly, so we probably saw each other three or four times a year. But there were still 7,000 miles between us.

“I didn’t really know what to do on return other than set up a studio. That seemed the only option, what I had experience in, and I was into barre based fitness as a method – the Lotte Berk method.”

The late Lotte Berk was a remarkable ballet dancer and teacher who fled Nazi Germany in

“I did choreography for ships’ shows, working in Las Vegas. I also got to New York. Once you’re on the roller coaster as a dancer it can take you where you want to go” 1930 and later danced at Covent Garden for Marie Rambert. Her exercise method focused on building ‘core stability’.

In the 1950s, with an osteopath’s help, she developed a series of exercises similar to pilates and yoga, but concentrating on targeting specific areas for strength and flexibility training.

Her exercises had eccentric names such as ‘the Prostitute’, ‘the Peeing Dog’ and the ‘French Lavatory’ but her client list nevertheless included Joan Collins, Britt Ekland, Barbra Streisand, Siân Phillips, Edna O’Brien and Yasmin Le Bon. She had been popular in Los Angeles, Natalie points out, because Los Angeles folk love anything new, and Lotte’s 1960s concept of

stripping back complexities of dance for the benefit of everyone, using a barre or even a chair, had been new. It appealed to Natalie. “I’d started working on a regime, so to bring it back to Tyneside was novel. Nobody was doing barre based fitness here. People willing to try gave it an immediate response. Some said to me ‘why set up in Newcastle - shouldn’t you be doing it in London?’ People in London, they suggested, are more responsive.

“But there’s loads of enthusiasm for new things in Newcastle. You just have to let people know where it is. Once people came through the door they found it quite intriguing. Being able to control your body becomes very addictive.” n

PROFILE Innovation Super Network

29

Why networks matter Simon Green, Director of the North East’s Innovation SuperNetwork explains how networks are crucial to building successful businesses Like most sayings, the old adage of ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ has become accepted because it is more often than not true. It’s true across many aspects of life, from dating to career progression. Sometimes the concept of maximising benefits from networks is frowned upon as not real work or considered somehow underhand. In business though, it is absolutely essential.

In building a successful business, particularly one that is doing something unique and innovative, networks are (in my opinion) the most important factor, above technical excellence, commercial skill or available resources. Nothing can beat the short cuts to market opportunities, expertise and finance that strong networks can bring.

As an example, I was talking recently with a director of an ambitious North East tech company about their platform. They have a novel approach to managing online training systems that provides them with an advantage over competitors. However, they were struggling to find lead users to adopt the system.

I had also been talking with a major national association about a particular need they had with regards to their online presence. As it happens, this need could be satisfied by the North East company’s platform, so I connected the two together. This may seem like luck, and to some extent it is, but these ‘lucky’ connections tend to happen much more often because I spend a lot of time talking to a lot of different people and looking out for such opportunities.

This example is in microcosm what the Innovation SuperNetwork is about. In simple terms, it is about connecting people with needs (for funding, for new ideas, for market access, for expertise) with people who have solutions and relevant knowledge. The SuperNetwork brings together around 50 partners, who between them have more knowledge than any one organisation could ever have. More importantly, these 50 partners have access to many more people through their own networks of businesses, investors, researchers and experienced advisors. It’s difficult to be exact but we estimate that the SuperNetwork connects well over 5,000 businesses through networks like the North

Simon Green talks to Ben Mawhinney of North East business DroneLabs at FinanceCamp 2016

“Nothing can beat the short cuts to market opportunities, expertise and finance that strong networks can bring” East England Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs’ Forum, several thousand academic researchers and experts from the five North East universities and local colleges, close to 20,000 investors through UK Business Angel Association, NatWest, Agora Bay, Transmit Enterprise and Blu Sky and numerous experts across every business discipline. Imagine having access to this network for your business. Thanks to support from the North East LEP, Innovate UK, North East BIC and others, the SuperNetwork was set up specifically for this purpose. It includes events to bring networks together and identify new connections, such as Venturefest North East. It also includes support to identify new innovation opportunities, particularly where this involves connecting North East businesses with innovation challenges from multinational corporations. It also connects businesses with investors through programmes like FinanceCamp.

In the North East, we have some unique challenges but also unique opportunities. Our physical geography and collaborative mentality means that we have been able to bring together such a wide grouping of regional organisations in a way that is just not possible in London or elsewhere. It’s now up to all of us to ensure we grasp this opportunity and make the most of it for the benefit of the whole region. The Innovation SuperNetwork receives part funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Contact details –supernetwork.org.uk simon@venturefestnortheast.com

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PROFILE Esh Group

Are you being greenwashed?

Construction innovator Esh Group has learned a thing or two about the reality of doing business sustainably, and it will benefit your bottom line Going “green” has been on the business agenda years now. There’s no shortage of companies selling their environmentally friendly story, but for what? As the temperature is turned up on climate change, mainstream political parties talk environmental concerns and consumers plump for eco-products, it seems many are simply following the tide of public opinion.

The construction industry knows about this all too well. Around half of all non-renewable resources the human race consumes are used in building. It’s at the sharp end of the impact on the natural world.

So, it looks like the construction industry needs real solutions.

That’s exactly what Simon Park, energy and environmental advisor at Esh Group, thinks. He explains: “Being environmentally sound can, and should be, about a lot more than PR. In fact, it’s about a whole lot more beside responsibility.

“The construction industry is so closely connected to the environment – whether it’s through design, raw materials or energy usage. And I think what we’ve learned, and what we’re doing, at Esh Group could be useful to other businesses.”

The concept is simple. Commercial decisions drive companies, so Simon is putting the commercial case at the heart of Esh Group’s sustainability strategy. All the graphs that show tonnes of carbon saved and waste diverted from landfil are important, but it’s the bottom line that’s being use to drive all these benefits.

Simon explains: “There’s a concept called Greenwash – and it’s interesting for businesses. It’s a shorthand for the spin and PR that is sometimes used to create the impression an organisation is “green”.

It describes organisations that spend more time and resources on marketing their supposed green credentials than substantive environmentally friendly practices.”

Businesses that greenwash are not only missing the point, but also the commercial benefits. A typical day on-the-job for Simon sees him out on one of Esh Group’s construction sites, helping the site manager quantify how decisions that will save money also reduce environmental impacts. Most recently he

was at one of Esh Group’s civil engineering projects, which threw up a textbook challenge.

Simon explains: “Our team needed to install an attenuation tank next to a new housing development. The original design specified we’d have to dig up a stretch of road to accommodate it.

But, the Site Team did some thinking and worked up a plan with a new location for the build. The amended design led to a reduction in waste, energy and man hours – all of which meant a lower carbon footprint for the build and ultimately pounds saved.”

That’s just one example. Back at Esh Group’s Bowburn headquarters a group of volunteer staff members are having their cars fitted with telemetry devices that will feedback on their driving behaviours.

The idea is to identify those instances where staff are putting their foot down, then braking hard.

It’s all bad for fuel economy, and in turn for the environment. And Esh Group’s finance director will tell you there’s another multi-million pound reason to save fuel.

Waste is perhaps the biggest environmental challenge for constructors like Esh Group. The industry as a whole generates millions of tonnes of the stuff – more than any other sector. Getting rid of it in a sustainable way is one thing, but what about making it pay. Esh Group’s answer is re-using as much waste as possible.

Last year the firm put 93,910 tonnes of it to good use in other projects around the region – often on nearby sites to curtail transport. Some waste is sold to others in the market and the rest ends up at the group’s new recycling centre in Tursdale. Overall it means fewer trips to landfill and less cost.

Simon adds: “Doing business sustainably – with a commercial benefit – requires strategy. We’ve got

“I think what we’ve learned and what we’re doing at Esh Group could be useful to other businesses”

Esh Group’s civil engineering business, Lumsden and Carroll, is responsible for building

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Simon Park, energy and environmental advisor at Esh Group and Rita Callender, business development manager (far left) with Esh Group trainees plenty of individual examples, but they’re all tied to big goals. Recently we launched our ten year sustainability campaign, ‘Summit 2026’, which contains some stretching medium and long term goals. This campaign will bring together our existing ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 management systems, similar to our successful ‘everyone safely home campaign’ for Health and safety” A long term campaign is ambitious, but necessary to focus the minds of company divisions as they go about building, buying and maintaining. Getting staff, suppliers and customers reading from the same page is a key part of the mission. Esh Group knows that making sustainability an innate part of the business will pay dividends, and ultimately prevent any straying towards greenwash.

What better time to introduce these ideas than at the start of construction careers? Esh Group’s Carbon Coach scheme is a bid to capitalise on the sweet spot – when lifelong and career-long habits are formed.

The group’s latest cohort of 50 apprentices is the first to embark on the tailor-made online programme designed to cement sustainability in the minds of the next generation of construction leaders.

Rita Callender, business development manager at Esh Group, said: “The Carbon Coach Course is about two key things - tackling a skills shortage in the construction industry and meeting carbon reduction targets. We’re excited to be leading the field in this way, and, once we’ve proven the model via a pilot, we want to encourage other businesses to adopt it.

“The construction industry not only faces more stringent carbon reduction targets in the coming years, but it also has a duty to lead the way in sustainable business practices. From a commercial perspective this also makes sense as saving energy means reducing costs and making our business leaner and efficient.”

Extending the strategy beyond Esh Group’s own four walls is also important. For a business so interconnected to its suppliers – whether that’s brick merchants, plumbers or timber stockists – the sustainability game is also played out off-site.

Making mutually beneficially commercial and environmental gains from supplier relationships is the aim of that game. The group’s Supplier Relationship Management Programme aims to encourage the type of innovation that doesn’t

happen naturally as part of the day-to-day buying process. It means efficiency and sustainability is on the agenda – but all eyes are on the commercial benefits to be reaped from these practices.

Simon adds: “We’re driven by the knowledge that sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive goals. One drives the other. Sure, our customers are keen to see our sustainability credentials, and as a company we’re all about community support, but putting sustainability at the front of what we do is not an expense and it’s not just a “nice to have”. It’s business sense.”

Esh House, Bowburn North Industrial Estate, Bowburn, Durham, DH6 5PF 0191 377 4570 www.eshgroup.co.uk

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INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

In light of the EU referendum vote, and some scepticism towards the Northern Powerhouse concept and the HS2 project, BQ asks two experts - Aidan Dunstan, regional head North East at UBS Wealth Management and Dean Turner, economist at UBS Wealth Management – to view investment from a North East standpoint

Investing through the uncertainties Some critics of the Northern Powerhouse concept suggest it’s a tactical wrapping of routine North of England developments into a political PR parcel of fantasy or, at best, a benefit to the Liverpool-ManchesterSheffield-Leeds axis. What’s your view?

Aidan Dunstan (AD): “The Government’s intention to build a more balanced economy makes economic sense, and there’s plenty of potential behind the Northern Powerhouse project. We feel main benefits from a UK regional policy are likely to be felt long term.

If measures proposed are pursued, they largely lay foundations for significant change. It remains to be seen whether the vote to leave the EU will refocus efforts elsewhere, but it could equally spotlight the need to improve the productive potential of the whole economy as the size and shape of UK trade refocuses beyond Europe.”

Would North East business - and business nationally - better benefit if some of the billions proposed for an HS2 rail development were diverted to faster broadband service throughout the country, taking Britain to the fore worldwide in the fourth utility, and further stimulating private investment in the vital growth sector of telecoms and IT? Many business people who ‘hot desk’ on East Coast Main Line trains expect little benefit from a half hour or so saving envisaged for HS2.

AD: “There’s no ‘silver-bullet’ answer to supporting the economy’s development outside the South East. A broad package of measures is needed. Improved transport infrastructure and improved technology are both important, but should also come alongside other measures such as investment in training and skills to make Northern Powerhouse a success.”

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Does UBS feel UK wealth investors could and should be amenable towards investing more in British manufacturing and services, given Britain’s industrial supremacy of Victorian times was funded by moneyed individuals? Does UK enterprise deserve investors’ confidence more, or should caution continue for the foreseeable future?

Dean Turner (DT): “We always recommend our clients invest across a number of global regions.

Investors in the UK tend to have a home country bias, invested in UK equities. We watch the PMI index closely for an indication of the performance by UK manufacturing. The most recent figures showed a rise from 50.4 in May to 52.1 in June. We expect the index will fall in coming months as uncertainty generated by the EU Referendum result and the current political vacuum weigh on demand. Some investors may view UK investments with caution until clarity emerges on the UK’s future relationship with the EU. But the weaker currency may also present opportunities.

Given low interest rates prevailing, should private investors take a punt down avenues giving faster and greater (albeit perhaps riskier) returns?

DT: “There’s always temptation in a low interest rate environment to take greater risks, especially since it currently looks like we may see interest rates cut this year. UBS Wealth Management currently expects the Bank of England to cut rates to zero, or thereabouts, by or before yearend. But this is no reason to take excessive risks in pursuit of returns. In a world of low returns, remaining invested on a diversified basis long term is the most appropriate way to protect, preserve and growth one’s wealth.

“However, those who hold off investing altogether on account of low interest rates and current uncertainty may be negatively impacted long term. Historically, if your market timing was poor and you missed the best five trading days on the S&P 500 between 1989 and 2013 you would have on average generated 34% less in your portfolio as a result, at the end of the period. There can be a high cost for holding cash, especially if inflation rises.”

Anything you’d recommend for a fast buck punt?

DT: “We take a long term view to investing, recommending clients are globally diversified

Aidan Dunstan, regional head North East at UBS Wealth Management

to minimise their exposure to risk. We believe impact of Brexit to the global economy will be limited, and continue to believe that within a diversified portfolio US equities will still do well, as should European High Yield Credit.”

During uncertain times like this, our clients seek guidance on how to manage their investments.

We’ve been able to reassure that our portfolios are well diversified both by asset class and geography. This has helped cushion the shock.”

How are you advising clients on their investments following the vote to leave the EU? DT: “It has left the UK facing a significant period of uncertainty. Markets don’t like uncertainty.

We’re focusing on ensuring investors don’t let short-term market moves in the wake of the EU distract them from their long term investment horizons. We’re advising clients to ensure their portfolios are globally diversified.”

Robo-advice now taking effect in the USA, with algorithms making investment decisions rather than humans, might take root here. Do you fear for your jobs?

AD: “Human insight and interaction with client advisers will always be important. Online platforms like robo-advisers could complement the adviser’s relationship with their client, rather than replacing this.”

What have private investors in the North East to look forward to, and what should they be concerned about, now?

AD: “Reaction to the Referendum leave vote from investors locally has been mixed. Many are business owners. Those reliant on imports have been hurt by sterling’s recent weakness, whereas the exporters should benefit as their goods and services become cheaper. There are also businesses which will not be impacted by the currency movement as they operate purely in the UK. In all cases, there’s acceptance that we’re in a period of heightened political and economic uncertainty, and that could delay certain investment decisions until there’s some clarity about the impact on the UK economy.

What are your plans in the North East, and where do you see the business in five years’ time?

AD: “We’re proud to be the only global wealth manager with such a strong regional footprint across the UK and are committed to continue bringing our global expertise and insight to clients in the North East. History tells us that in uncertain times UBS is a ‘go to’ wealth manager, given our global reach and thought leadership.

We have in Newcastle a well established team of highly experienced client advisors and support, but are constantly looking to add top quality recruits to the team. We look forward to continuing to look after our existing clients but also to growing our business and playing our part in growing wealth in the North East.” n

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Dean Turner, economist at UBS Wealth Management

“We’re focusing on ensuring investors don’t let short-term market moves in the wake of the EU distract them from their long term investment horizons”

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Such sweet sound beside the M6 Tucked away on an industrial estate, Roger Bucknall turns out guitars for the stars that cost thousands to buy and may require you to join a two year waiting list if you want one. Brian Nicholls explains why Within a humble building, cowering from M6 traffic that roars alongside the industrial estate where it stands, the sweetest sounds may be heard in contrast. They’ll come from one of the guitars Roger Bucknall is creating, maybe even from an instrument that would set you back £6,700 to buy.

Roger is an internationally renowned luthier – a maker of stringed instruments to you and me - whose achievements were recognised in the recent New Year Honours, when he was appointed MBE for his services to guitar building, music, and heritage crafts, to the delight of the Heritage Crafts Association.

His Fylde guitars are a unique export from Penrith, the Cumbrian market town perhaps more usually associated with farming and logistics, and they have been bought and played by rockers and pop stars such as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Sting, Blur and Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland of The Police. In the hands of Martin Simpson, Martin Carthy, Gordon Giltrap, Nic Jones, and Davy Graham (in his lifetime) they’ve charmed folk

music audiences. More than 10,000 instruments to date have been travelling testament to the creative brilliance practiced at Fylde Guitars.

Roger’s instruments are valued for their tone, quality, style and ease of play. Witness such tributes: Pete Townshend: “A magic instrument.”

Martin Carthy: “The guitar was sitting in his workshop, beckoning me.”

Cliff Richard: “Fylde is just the best.”

Barbara Dickson: “I love my guitar.”

KT Tunstall: “My eco guitar!”

Today also he’s making friends with younger musicians coming up. “They call me Uncle Rodge,” he laughs.

“He’s very driven,” his wife Moira says. She’s the sentinel at the cyber gate, driving the firm’s administration from their computer in the officecum-showroom, whose walls are festooned not only with completed guitars but rows of pictures also showing notable artists playing outstanding instruments from you know whom. Moira is also Roger’s “protector”, the customers’ first point of contact enabling Roger to beaver on in the

backshop uninterrupted.

A one-to-one relationship with the customer even so, whether a professional or an amateur musician, is the driving force of the business. So besides shifting administration, Moira ensures that Fylde Guitars is run like a family circle for members lucky enough to possess one of Roger’s works of art – works of art, though Roger in fact is a qualified engineer. “And I am still an engineer,” he says proudly. “I love making things whether in wood or metal, and music means a lot to me too.”

This is an engineer however who, today, seldom uses machinery. This is also an engineer expert also on every aspect of wood – its variety, quality and potentials. Step into the dusty upstairs store in his workshop at Gilwilly Industrial Estate and you’re surrounded by every kind of applicable wood imaginable.

These come from many parts of the world, New Zealand and California especially. Apart from sycamore, little of the wood grown in this country is suitable, due to the climate here.

But wherever it comes from, the wood stands

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“When I started the business guitars sold in this country were all from the USA. But I loved making things.

I loved making music. And I wanted to challenge in quality what America produced, despite American guitar makers having the advantage of massive woodland growth in ideal climate conditions.

For me that has meant market change, and a lot of other changes besides” piled in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Many are good and precious woods gathered from unlikeliest sources - even from old Talisker whisky casks and disused snooker tables. Wooden shelving is stacked in abundance.

A key task long before building any instrument is to have available the right kind of timber bought at the right price. That’s often a financial challenge, since it must be in exactly the right condition and, of course, available in the first place. African blackwood, for example, is both difficult to obtain and to work with. Like ivory, some woods are now legally protected and no longer allowed for sale, which means trying to access the older remains that still are. Much of his wood stock is over 20 years old.

“It will all have its use,” he says, “even if many years from now. Building an instrument involves 200 processes and perhaps 100 pieces of wood of perhaps six or seven species,” he points out, describing two recent jobs completed: Falstaff (with colourful Brazilian rosewood back and sides, matched with thin red inlay lines), and Sinker (redwood top, snakewood bindings, neck laminated with rosewood and red lines).

They contrast sharply with the first guitar he made. That was in his father’s garage. He was nine then, using plywood and fishing line in the making, and pink flowers in the decorating. Its life was short. Born at Selly Oak, Birmingham,

in 1950, Roger’s formative years were spent in the Midlands city where engineering then overwhelmingly meant cogs and fan belts and power. His father however, working at Cadbury’s chocolate factory there, was the envy of his son, for he was a chocolate taster. Roger in his teenage years did, however, get some engineering experience at the factory. On leaving Bourneville Boys Technical School, he read for his honours degree in mechanical engineering at Nottingham University.

Having studied musical acoustics, he first worked as a technical author for Racal Thermionic in Hythe, Hampshire, then mechanically designed industrial tape recorders from 1971. An enthusiastic folk musician too, he played guitar, mandolin, banjo and fiddle in local clubs. He mingled with professional musicians, later to become his customers and friends. All the time, his ambition to build musical instruments grew.

In 1973 he took the plunge. He moved to Lancashire’s Fylde coast and made a living with the launch of Fylde Guitars. With a friend he worked initially from the basement of a tailor’s shop in St Anne’s, putting up with banging on the ceiling if folk upstairs got upset by the “noise” below. Within a year they moved into an old cotton mill in Kirkham. For the past 20 years, however, Penrith has been the company’s home. At one point his business employed

about 15 people to turn out around 1,000 simply made guitars a year, nothing like today’s sophisticated products. Now, even if you can afford a customised guitar, you may have to wait two years for it. “I changed the way of running the business deliberately,” he says. “When I started the business guitars sold in this country were all from the USA. But I loved making things.

I loved making music. And I wanted to challenge in quality what America produced, despite American guitar makers having the advantage of massive woodland growth in ideal climate conditions. For me that has meant market change, and a lot of other changes besides.

“We stopped running after turnover and contracted the business to become more focused on specific orders from customers. More than half the guitars produced now are to order, which means spending a lot of time with each customer. Today every guitar I make brings a new friend too. Many of my friends are musicians. I like to spend time with musicians. It’s an intensely personal business – no shops, no more advertising, and everything by word of mouth.”

Over the years, as live and recorded music has increasingly influenced European and American culture, Roger’s reputation as a craftsman grew. “My guitars have a ‘rounded’ sound whereas American guitars have a big, booming

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

bass,” he told a BBC interviewer. He has in fact built not only guitars - acoustic, classical and bass - but also mandolins, mandolas, bouzoukis and citterns.

They’ve all had one thing in common; they’re acoustic. Electric pickups are an option but Roger himself is not keen on electrified guitars “they’re just a plank of wood with other people’s hardware bolted on,” he suggests. Some of this antipathy may stem from the rise of electric guitars in 1980s rock music that temporarily dried up his orders. Undeterred, he diversified for a while, manufacturing cues in a business venture with Ray Reardon, six times world snooker champion.

From 1981 until 1992, he turned out the cues and their cases also. His Barracuda Sports firm made cases from aluminium extrusions and plastic mouldings, and cue parts from machined brass. Reardon used one of Roger’s cues in world championship finals. Steve Davis, who won a record 81 titles during his time in the sport, found one of his precious cues saved from destruction in a car crash, protected as it was by one of Roger’s cases. The iconic Alex Higgins too

was a familiar figure at the workshop.

Roger sold the business in 1992 however and, in 1996, while seeking new premises and a more pleasing lifestyle, he relocated his business to the Lake District, and his home to a hideaway hamlet (“please don’t name it!) near William Wordsworth’s favourite lake. It’s a hamlet dating to Norse times, features a 1702 Quaker meeting hall and stands almost in the shade of Cumbria’s biggest Celtic hill fort.

The workforce of four now on Gilwilly Industrial Estate comprises, besides Roger and Moira, Alex Reay and Paul Ferrie. Roger, Alex and Paul prepare and shape the carefully seasoned timber at their work benches using traditional tools. “The skills and attitude of these people I work with are most important of all,” Roger says. “They make all things possible, nothing impossible.”

Alex, noted for his patience and calmness, has been eight years with the firm. Much of his work is done in the final stages, demanding long and uninterrupted amounts of his gift of concentration. Paul has been there seven years and a lot of his work, coming in the early

stages, involves precision woodwork liable to be sometimes overlooked, since much of it will be hidden within the instrument.

Roger usually concentrates on individual custom orders, neck shaping and final assembly, but keeping personal control at every stage of a creation. He looks from a distance only, however, when the considerable sanding of an instrument goes on, since an allergy to some timbers used obliges him to avoid getting dust on his skin.

“Guitar making,” Roger stresses, “is hard physical work, not at all romantic.” But whoever plucks Fylde guitar strings plucks Roger’s heartstrings as well. “The pleasure guitar making gives,” he says, “comes from a job well done, and from seeing the final result in the hands of a satisfied customer.”

Built to order, and usually from a long waiting list, the small output adds to the value of each instrument. If anyone suggests to you that manufacturing is a lost art in this country, tell them about Roger, his 50 years-plus of experience, and his small but remarkable team who support him. n

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PROFILE Hay & Kilner

Businesses must keep a foot on the pedal for data protection Jonathan Waters, corporate partner at Hay & Kilner advises on the new EU data protection laws and how they will impact on UK industry A major milestone in EU data protection law was marked when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force just before the EU Referendum. It is a huge piece of legislation set to replace the UK’s 1998 Data Protection Act from May 2018, and marks a tough new era in EU-wide data protection, with new powers for data regulators and much stricter operating boundaries for businesses that process personally identifiable information about individuals.

For UK companies imagining that Brexit will have changed the need for them to comply, there’s a warning that they ignore the new requirements at their peril, as they’re likely to find they have to comply with the Regulation, or a UK version in a very similar form. Getting the upgraded systems and processes in place will take time, and they risk otherwise missing out on future trading.

The over-arching aim of the new Regulation is to harmonise data protection across all EU member states, and being an EU Regulation, rather than a Directive, it becomes law without the need for any national legislation in the 28 individual EU countries. It should make it simpler for everyone, including non-European companies, to comply with data protection. It comes at a cost, however, with greater responsibilities for data processors and with severe penalties of up to 4% of worldwide turnover for noncompliance.

Jonathan Waters, corporate partner at Hay & Kilner commented: “UK businesses, whatever their size, which trade in the EU, or want to be able to transfer personal data in from the EU, should be looking to adopt GDPR as a minimum standard.

For any trading relationship between the UK and the EU, our data protection law will need to be broadly equivalent. If we were to stick with the current 1998 Act, we could expect other countries to view our regime as providing insufficient protection”.

The main provisions of the GDPR include: CONSENT In future, an individual will have to make a positive action that demonstrates their consent, in order for their data to be collected. The consent can be withdrawn at any time, as individuals have ‘the right to be forgotten’ and can also transfer their data elsewhere if they choose.

There will also need to be separate consent for the processing of data for a new purpose, beyond that for which it was originally collected.

TRANSPARENCY More information will be required by the processor from the outset about how data will be used and how long it will be kept for.

DATA PROTECTION OFFICER A specialist Data Protection Officer will be an obligatory appointment for most public bodies and for any organisation controlling or processing data where core activities involve ‘regular and systematic monitoring’ of data subjects ‘on a large scale’.

BREACHES There will be a statutory obligation to notify the regulator and the individuals affected, if there is any risk to an individual’s personally identifiable information as a result of any breach. The maximum fines that can be imposed for serious contraventions is €20m or 4% of total worldwide turnover for businesses, for the preceding financial year, whichever is the greater.

CHILDREN No one under 13 can give their consent to the processing of personal data in relation to online services, and so parental consent must be obtained.

The situation may be further complicated during the transition process, as until the UK has data protection laws which the European Commission recognise with a formal adequacy decision, companies that move personal data from the EU to the UK would need to implement some other mechanism, such as standard contract clauses approved by the Commission.

ACCOUNTABILITY There is a shift from risk management to compliance.

So in future, organisations will have to be able to show that they are actively complying with the GDPR.

“The maximum fines that can be imposed for serious contraventions is €20m or 4% of total worldwide turnover for businesses, for the preceding financial year, whichever is the greater”

If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this article, please contact Jonathan Waters, Corporate Partner at Hay & Kilner Call: 0191 232 8345 Email: Jonathan.Waters@hay-kilner.co.uk

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

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INSIGHT bqlive.co.uk

Home is where the Low productivity holds back the British economy but there’s a way to get more out of the workforce, as Peter Jackson discovers

Our post-industrial society is reverting to preindustrial work patterns.

Whereas our parents and grandparents worked in the factory or office, increasingly the distinction between home and workplace is becoming so blurred as to be non-existent. It’s estimated more than 50m employees in Europe spend at least part of their working week working remotely, and that more than 40% of UK businesses are home-based.

This trend towards homeworking or flexible working has been established for some time and seems unaffected by vicissitudes of the economic cycle.

Simon Roberson, BT’s regional partnership director for the North East, says: “In the early 2000s I particularly noticed when talking to other businesses that all the emphasis then was on using flexible working or home working to retain people in the boom years and to keep hold of talented staff.

“With the crash in 2008 many thought that would all end and it would be back to having people in the office where you could keep an eye on what they were doing. But in fact a lot of businesses saw they could make real hard cost savings on things like property and other running costs by having people working

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productive office is more flexibly.

“So we haven’t seen it reduce – we’ve seen it expand since then. That’s a big trend.’’

It’s also driven, he argues, by the different expectations of younger people entering the workforce. They expect to work flexibly and, having grown up with technology, they know its capabilities.

“They regard sitting in an office for eight or nine hours a day then going home and switching off as slightly bizarre,’’ says Roberson. “They’re used to working at times and in places that suit them and the task that they are doing, rather than a regular pattern of work.’’

The adoption of Cloud computing and the introduction of online flexible software, freeing people from an umbilical attachment to an office and server room, has been a great fillip to homeworking.

Unsurprisingly, some sectors are more suited to homeworking than others. It’s hard to see it applicable to the front end areas of manufacturing or high street retail, although there is no reason why it couldn’t be applied to back office functions. “Anyone mainly office based or working on customer premises can work flexibly and a lot of people across the service sector do,’’ says Roberson.

An obvious advantage to the employer in adopting homeworking is the cost savings.

Roberson says BT made a significant reduction in the overall size of its property estate by needing

fewer employees working on its own premises.

“More people can use a building if you work flexibly, either through having desks sitting empty because people are out three days a week and they can hot desk. Also there are a lot of things you actually do when you’re in an office, such as meeting colleagues, you don’t have to do at a desk. You can use café spaces, meeting rooms, touch-down areas. So there’s a whole range of more flexible things you can do with office space. That means total space you need is a lot less and that’s a real hard saving.’’

A second major benefit for the employer is employee retention and recruitment, particularly of female staff, for whom homeworking and flexible working can be a huge help in maternity and child care.

“Nearly all of employees come back to work

“I don’t think there’s ever been a move to flexible working that hasn’t worked well for both business and employee”

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after maternity leave, which is way above national average,’’ says Roberson. “That’s a huge benefit because you’ve invested in recruiting and training those people and you want them to come back and continue their careers with you.’’

Businesses which adopt homeworking typically see productivity gains.

“Whenever productivity has been measured, both in BT and in business schools around the world that have studied productivity – and there’s plenty of evidence out there – it usually increases,’’ says Roberson. “Treat employees like responsible adults, then 99% of them will behave like that. They’re not wasting time commuting, which is dead time for both employer and employee, and often employees will give some of that time back to their work.’’

There are also reductions in sick leave and absenteeism. A worker with a bad cold might not want to go into the office but could happily stay at home and do at least part of a day’s work, with the added benefit that they won’t be infecting their co-workers.

Fears in the past that not having people under management’s eye would tend to find them slacking have proved wide of the mark. And, as Roberson points out: “It’s perfectly possible to sit in a central office and be very unproductive.’’

He adds: “People do like it [homeworking and flexible working] and they work better and harder and are able to get more done.’’

Dangers? The employer has to guard against staff becoming isolated and cut off from their colleagues and the business. They must be encouraged and be given the tools to keep in touch and keep sharing information.

As a telecom giant it’s no surprise BT has been at the forefront of homeworking and flexible working. It has been since the 1980s and has had a formal policy since the 1990s. “We were using our own technology and we wanted to show what could be done and set an example,’’ Roberson explains.

Now, out of more than 70,000, about 4,000 of its employees are registered as working full time from home. Another 5,000 are classified as `agile’ workers, with no fixed office base and working partly from home.

“In fact, about three quarters of the whole BT workforce is equipped with the technology to

“We’ve always taken the view that while all these things benefit the company and the employee, the business must come first” allow them to work flexibly and most people do. How much tends to vary depending on their roles. It might mean spending a day or two a week working from home and the other days might be on BT sites or customer sites,’’ Roberson says.

Such flexibility eliminates a lot of commuting time and allows more work travel outside peak times. Roberson adds: “We’ve always taken the view that while all these things benefit the company and the employee, the business must come first. There will always be some jobs better done with people in a fixed location.’’

He cites software development as one where BT favours people working together in teams on site.

For an individual BT worker the degree of flexible working can change over time depending on the job they are doing, the stage of their career or the needs of family life. As job roles develop, BT retains the right to `reopen the discussion’ on the employee’s way of working.

But homeworking and flexible working are now so embedded in BT’s culture that it is practically the default method of working. There would have to be a reason to adopt an alternative.

“We start from the assumption of flexibility,’’ says Roberson. Earlier on, BT was careful to ensure home workers were involved in socialising and meetings and that team spirit was not lost. “We still need to keep an eye on that and managers need to be conscious of it, but technology has moved on,’’ he adds. “When we first started doing this there was no social media. But now a lot of the way we interact socially is online and through social media.’’

Homeworking and flexible working rely on good telecoms, so it’s clearly something BT is keen to push. Apart from providing telephone and broadband, it also supplies cloud based software, which is particularly useful for smaller businesses, easing expansion and enhancing resilience. It provides consultancy on homeworking and flexible working to larger organisations in the public and private sectors.

Roberson explains: “We help them think about the issues involved in flexible working, and to look at the process and the cultural side as well as the technology. We use experience gained doing it ourselves to provide that kind of service.’’

This is something he emphasises for any businesses thinking to adopt homeworking.

“A business must look at it as an overall change.

If you just look at the technology on its own, or the HR side on its own, it’s probably not going to work. The property, HR and technology angles all need to work together. Think about the cost savings you can make, but there may also be areas where you need to invest.

“You might be able to make a big property saving if you’ve got a lease renewal coming up, but don’t just take all the savings without spending the money you need to on technology or educating your people and your managers in particular.’’

So, there are issues to be faced, but for most businesses they’re worth examining.

Roberson adds: “There’s so much evidence out there from everyone who has ever done it, and I don’t think there’s ever been a move to flexible working by an employer that hasn’t worked well for both their business and their employees.’’ n

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Work’s a spare bedroom away Samantha Campion’s daily commute is only a matter of walking into her spare bedroom.

The BT global services accounts director is one of BT’s homeworkers working with major BT customers which have an overseas interest.

She has been working from home for about nine years. In an average week, she’s home-based for three days – largely on calls or video conferencing – and visiting clients or in meetings on BT sites for the other two. Campion is married with two children: an eight-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl. The switch to homeworking coincided with the birth of their second child.

She says: “I was office based up to that point and it was the natural next step in my career. But it was also really convenient because I wanted to spend some more time with my family at home.’’

How did she find the transition?

“Difficult. When you’re in an office with lots of people around you and you want some

information it’s easy and everything’s accessible.

There was a transition I had to go through so I understood how I could do what I did in the office in a home environment. But once you get your head round it, it becomes second nature. I love the peace and quiet now.

“I get far more done. When I was in an office, I’d stop, go off and have my coffee break.

Now I’m disciplined and work through to get to where I need to be. Then I take a break. If I need to get a piece of work done, I can just do it without distraction.’’

Before becoming a homeworker Campion worked in South Shields and faced the daily journey to work in those dark days before the second Tyne Tunnel, with all the attendant delays and frustrations. She concedes there are difficulties in maintaining a work/life balance. If the phone rings after the end of the working day, the temptation is often to answer it, switch the

computer back on and deal with any issue raised.

“It depends what kind of person you are. It’s not for everyone but it works for me, because I feel I get a lot out of homeworking,’’ she says. “I can drop the kids off at school and there are all the other advantages I get which far outweigh picking up a call late in the evening. But you have to be disciplined and make sure that at six o’clock you go down and have dinner with the family instead of just carrying on. There are days when you have to work late but that would happen in an office anyway.’’

Financially she saves money on petrol, Tyne Tunnel charges, expensive sandwiches and coffees, although the family’s heating bill is appreciably higher. How would she feel if she had to go back to office working?

“I’d be disappointed. However, I’d be grateful for the time I’ve had while my children have been younger. But the job always comes first.’

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY City centre option Some 40,000sq ft of city centre offices have become available in Newcastle with a restyling of the key Eldon Square shopping centre. Intu properties plc, owners of the 1.35m sq ft development, have Knight Frank and Bradley Hall letting the opportunity at Eldon Court within the centre. Patrick Matheson, office agency partner at Knight Frank, says an office element can now exist on two floors, suitable for a business operation such as a call centre at a time when office supply in the city centre is short. Suites from as little as 1,000sq ft could also be considered, with flexible lease packages.

NETPark grows A new £6.83m investment in the North East Technology Park (NETPark) at Sedgefield could enable it to host another 1,400 jobs. County Durham has funding from the Local Growth Fund for infrastructure work to further support high-tech, rapidly growing companies.

The grant will help finance a 1km access road from the A177 to the new 26 acre development, offering more space for firms needing to prototype and scale up to manufacture on site.

NETPark, run by Business Durham the county’s

economic development company, is home already to major innovative firms, some of which want to expand. On site work could start next January. The project is funded by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) as part of the North East Growth Deal from the Government.

Spectrum 6 sold The three storey Spectrum 6 at Spectrum Business Park, home to The Great Annual Savings Company, County Durham Housing Group and Business and Enterprise Commercial (including BQ), has been sold for £1.8m.

Spectrum 6, comprising 41,184sq ft, is fully let floor by floor, and the sale price represents a net initial yield of 9.35% postpurchaser’s costs. Bilfinger GVA secured the sale for Regent Capital. Spectrum Business Park, the developer, and Regent Capital have also secured a further letting on the park to Res Q contact centre, which has initially leased 20,000sq ft in Spectrum 3.

Auto plant sold: £11.5m The factory housing Gestamp Tallent Automotive at Newton Aycliffe has a new owner following

City centre offices: available at Eldon Square, Newcastle

an £11.5m deal. Gestamp, parts maker for most of the major car manufacturers, including Nissan and Honda, employs more than 1,300 people at its Plant 5. Now the plant has been sold by private equity property investor Henley to a private international investor. Developed in 2012, Plant 5 also has an integral two-storey office block. Henley bought the unit in 2013 and let it to Gestamp Tallent (which also has a factory in Washington) for a 25 year term, expiring in 2039. Sale was agreed at a 6.25% yield, giving an internal rate of return (IRR) of 23% -plus for the firm’s investors.

“With 141 bedrooms, three restaurants, room to accommodate 350 guests, a health club and spa” Boost for Slaley QHotels group has upgraded Slaley Hall near Hexham at a cost of over £1m. Rooms are refurbished, air conditioning and heating improved, also access to the Edwardian mansion set in more than 1,000 acres of estate. With 141 bedrooms, three restaurants, room to accommodate 350 guests and a health club and spa, Slaley Hall is probably best known for its two award winning 18-hole championship golf courses. A new general manager, Christopher Wayne-Wills, has been appointed.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY bqlive.co.uk

Another opening

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How a key area of Durham City might look in the future

The former Hoopers and Bulloughs department store building at Castle Street in Carlisle’s historic quarter has been sold, and may continue to serve retail. Hoopers in 2006 opened in the building once Bulloughs’ family owned department store, but closed in 2012. It has since reopened twice briefly for two other businesses but closed again last September.

Vantec doubles presence Vantec Europe’s new warehouse in Sunderland, its second major investment in the city since 2012, is now in business.

The £23m, 436,000sq ft building is the first opened on the new Hillthorn Business Park, which is already fully occupied as Vantec recruits 120 more staff. The warehouse, handling logistics exclusively for Nissan, takes Vantec and Hitachi Transport System’s investment in Sunderland area to almost £50m since 2012. The company opened its 417,000sq ft warehouse on Turbine Business Park to support Nissan three years ago.

Law a centre draw The multi-let Cleveland Business Centre in Middlesbrough has been sold on behalf of Buccleuch Property. Naylors agency did the deal.

The new owner Linthorpe Developments is refurbishing it to attract additional tenants.

The 30,000sq ft building on Watson Street already contains 10 businesses, and there are plans for a gym and new conference facilities.

Geoff Hogg, managing director of Linthorpe Developments, is keen to attract interest from the legal and IT sectors. Existing occupiers include barristers and law firms.

New-look Plough The Plough Inn at Mountsett near Stanley is getting a £700,000 refurbishment to become a brewery tap for Tavistock Hospitality’s Sonnet 43 Brew House based at Coxhoe. The conversion will be similar to those seen recently at the Toronto Lodge, Bishop Auckland, and the Three Horseshoes Hotel, Sunderland. Tavistock Hospitality runs more than a dozen bars, restaurants and hotels across the North East from Sunderland.

All change at Durham Major regeneration, and a redevelopment maybe, promise transformation within Durham City’s historic centre. A new look could emerge through a planning application that proposes a £150m regeneration of Milburngate. Mixed-used development to include 400 new homes on the city’s riverside is the ambition of a consortium that comprises Carillion, Arlington Real Estate and Richardsons Capital. Milburngate will have the first Everyman boutique cinema in the North East. Most apartments envisaged would be for long-term rental, but some for private sale too. There would also be 150,000sq ft of offices in sustainable and energy efficient design, complementing Freemans Reach development on the opposite bank of the River Wear, which the consortium also recently completed. Neil McMillan, development director at Carillion, reports strong public support. Allan Cook, managing director of Arlington Real Estate, talks of Durham’s Northern Quarter becoming a world class location, befitting the city’s status as a World Heritage City Centre. The major opportunity for redevelopment, at Old Elvet, includes the Grade II Listed former Three Tuns Hotel and adjoining retail properties now on the market. Knight Frank in Newcastle invites unconditional offers on Durham University’s behalf. Matthew Wright, estates surveyor for Durham University, says developing the university’s estate is priority, and disposal of the Three Tuns will free investment for sites elsewhere in and around the city. The Three Tuns, acquired in 2012 to house post-graduate students, could possibly revert to a hotel, with new commercial and retail options also. James Platts, Knight Frank partner and development adviser to the university, says sympathetic development could much improve a central part of the city.

He explains: “There has been significant development at the heart of the city already - such as Prince Bishops and the theatre area. Major redevelopments are also planned for Milburngate and The Gates on the city’s west side. “Now, with Hotel Indigo planning to open in nearby Old Elvet and the Three Tuns site available on New Elvet, opportunity exists to improve the city fabric and balance the elements across the city centre.”

Tailoring comes home Northern Clothing’s aim to recruit apprentices and reshore manufacturing of its sports clothing from the Far East is near achievement. It now has use of a training academy in premises it has relocated to on UK Land Estates’ Tyne Tunnel Estate in North Shields. By securing through agents Knight Frank 14,274sq ft within Chirton Engineering’s 50,000sq ft facility there, Northern Clothing will accommodate both its head office and a production area.“It’s a significant step forward,” says director Paul Varley. Also,

as Michael Morris the business development manager at Chirton Engineering explains, his firm had invested in a first-class training facility within its 50,000sq ft factory. “We’re delighted to have such a progressive company as our immediate neighbour,” he added.

Northern Clothing’s workforce of 20 is expected to double. Chirton Engineering’s client portfolio ranges in sectors from subsea, oil and gas to automotives, including Formula 1. It has also recently become a tier 2 supplier for the nuclear industry.

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guest accommodation, a spa or a separate function facility, subject to planning consent.

Managing director Thomas Noblett says he and his fellow directors are retiring after 23 years.

£65m for science jobs Plans for Science Central, Newcastle’s new city centre technology district, are getting a £65m cash injection from Legal & General Capital.

The financial services giant will be a long term investor alongside the city council and Newcastle University. The investment will fund completion of two buildings offering more than 200,000sq ft of Grade A office space, able to accommodate 2,000 workers.

Landmark offer

Shoeing in success Family owned shoe retailer Charles Clinkard has settled into its new £3m head office and warehouse at Cannon Park, Middlesbrough, from Eaglescliffe. With space now to store up to 250,000 pairs of shoes, the warehouse beside the Royal Mail sorting office gives extra capacity to cope with rising online sales.

Managing director Charles Clinkard says: “We’re ideally placed now to satisfy customer demand.” This new energy efficient home opens in the company’s 92nd year. Clinkard’s grandparents started the business, which now has 33 stores across the country and employs more than 552 people nationwide.

Top view hotel for sale Offers are being invited for Langdale Chase Country House Hotel, reckoned to be one of the Lake District’s best situated hotels. Winner of the title of Best View in Britain, the Grade II listed building on Windermere’s shore was built in 1895, and has six landscaped acres.

It has 29 en-suite guest bedrooms, and a lake house of eight guest bedrooms, with a boat house and two private jetties. A 24 bedroom block for staff was built last April, and a 15 bedroom former staff house which JLL, the vendor, suggests could be turned into further

Six storey Vancouver House, on the junction of Gurney Street and Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, is being marketed for Middlesbrough Council. James Platts, residential partner of Knight Frank which has the

instruction, says: “We can retain existing retail and leisure uses in the 90,000sq ft building while creating 174 student accommodation units. Or a hotel could offer 173 bedrooms.

There could also be a mix of both uses.

Existing retail space could be retained, depending on the nature of development.”

Ex-store to offices plan A department store building near Newcastle Central Station may become offices after 30 unoccupied years. Plans for an 80 bed hotel in the former John Blundell and Howards store in Clayton Street West foundered four years ago.

Now Sam Hamadi (Trafalgar Group, Newcastle), owner of the 19thC Grade II listed building, has put up office plans for council consideration.

The building, valued at £2m, would have two storeys added and a rear extension giving 30,000sq ft of open style office space there.

Silverstone Building Consultancy would project manage, with Studio SP the architect.

£100m works go ahead Work is getting under way on a “gateway” to the centre of Sunderland, the UK’s biggest city by the sea. Plans for a speculative 60,000sq ft office development on the former Vaux Breweries site (above) are approved, with permission also for the wider master plan at the key location.

Behind the £100m-plus regeneration is Siglion, a development and regeneration company set up a year ago to handle rebirths of five sites across the city. The premium Vaux site had languished for nearly 17 years in a planning wrangle between the city council and Tesco, which owned the site after the breweries closed in 1999.

Plans are also being considered for 750 new homes at Chapelgarth, and a planning application for a major leisure, retail and housing redevelopment on the seafront at Seaburn will be submitted shortly. Siglion chief executive John Seager says: “So much is happening in Sunderland – the new Hilton Garden Inn has opened next to the Stadium of Light. Work on the new River Wear crossing is underway. The former fire station is being converted into a cultural hub. And Sunderland is bidding to become the 2021 City of Culture. ”Siglion is a joint venture

by Carillion and Sunderland City Council, managed by igloo Regeneration.

PROFILE Business Durham

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Celebrating the diversity of rural enterprise What does the term “rural enterprise” conjure up? For Business Durham, it’s images of the huge range of companies we deal with every day Take a drive around some of the many beautiful rural areas of the County and you’ll be driving past world-leading companies, pretty much on every corner.

This is the reality of rural enterprise – all types of businesses are dotted all over rural areas, providing jobs and opportunities to local communities. It’s important to celebrate the diversity of rural enterprises and the contribution they make to the North East economy.

One of the most high profile at the moment is, of course, GSK, which has been located at Barnard Castle for decades and is one of GSK’s biggest secondary manufacturing sites, employing 1,100 people. The site supplies nearly half a million packs of products per day to 140 global markets and GSK has just announced an investment of £92 million to fund the construction of an aseptic sterile facility supporting the manufacture of existing and new biopharmaceutical assets in its pipeline.

Then there is ResQ, the most recent (and one of the largest) inward investment in County Durham, creating 1,200 jobs from its base in Seaham. There is also the cluster of pioneering high technology companies at NETPark in Sedgefield, with Kromek providing peace of mind to people all over the world with its radiation detection products, and PolyPhotonix, which has developed a sleep mask to treat diabetic retinopathy.

And our colleagues at Visit County Durham have pulled together an impressive array of artisan food producers from all over the County, which inspired our Christmas card last year, the “Hamper that Durham Made” and included Durham Gin, Black Paw Brewery, Walkers Crisps and even the fearsomely hot chilli oil from Wiga Wagaa.

We play our part in the growth of the rural economy at Business Durham, managing investment sites and premises across the County and supporting firms and individuals with access to training and development opportunities.

We even have our own centre for rural enterprise, the Durham Dales Centre, which

Durham Dales Centre

“We even have our own centre for rural enterprise, the Durham Dales Centre, which is home to a variety of creative arts and crafts businesses.

It’s here that we host a series of workshops which has helped nurture 90 creative start-ups” is home to a variety of creative arts and crafts businesses. It’s here that we host a series of workshops which has helped nurture 90 creative start-ups. It’s important for all entrepreneurs to be able to access practical advice on how to run a business, and the Durham Creatives workshops give expert support on finance, marketing, patent protection and selling online.

There are plenty of rural entrepreneurs, risktakers who are running their own businesses from a base in the countryside and making a huge contribution to the North East economy.

Cities are important generators of economic growth and of course we have Durham City at the heart of the County, along with our close neighbours, Tyneside and Teesside. But perhaps

it is that mix of urban and rural activity in close proximity which contributes to the North East’s distinctive character, quietly getting on with the job of making things and selling them all over the world.

To read more about Business Durham, visit www.businessdurham.co.uk/

© INTIMATION 2015

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YOUR FIRST MEETING AT BUSINESS

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CLIENT BUSINESS CENTRAL - DARLINGTON BRANDING

CENTRAL

Located in the heart of Darlington, close to the railway station, our professional meeting rooms are designed to the highest specification.

01325 526 006 or

email space@businesscentraldarlington.co.uk

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A special feature to highlight the region’s top venues looking at their rich offering in accommodation, food, wine and entertainment to a wide clientele To brag that there’s no place like the North East more enjoyable for a seasonal celebration, or a corporate gathering, may sound like a clichéd commercial jingle. Yet this part of the country has become outstanding for its variety of venue in business and social hospitality.

Whether one’s preference for the occasion is a vibrant modern hotel in a city centre or a fine old building of character beckoning from out of town, the choice is rich - whatever the

customer’s budget. The number of new hotel openings in Newcastle alone during the past couple of years, for example, now has a party or event organiser spoiled for choice.

Sunderland and Durham have new hotels opened or about to open, benefiting from the upsurge of spectacular public events becoming regular attractions in those two cities. And previous lack of spend on Teesside tourism, thankfully acknowledged now by

a new development corporation mounting a general economic revival there, will help hoteliers. Elsewhere throughout the region, well established venues have been investing in upgrades to raise their game.

With these encouragements, training colleges are helping to raise service standards. Top rank chefs are finding the North East a good place to be. Each raised endeavour’s a boost to our pleasure.

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SPECIAL FEATURE bqlive.co.uk

Crathorne Hall Hotel Following a £4million restoration the historic Crathorne Hall Hotel, situated just 1 mile from the A19 in Crathorne near Yarm, offers the perfect setting for your business meeting or conference. Crathorne Hall has a range of versatile meeting and conference facilities including the newly refurbished County Suite hosting three stunning meeting rooms, each named after a local region. These rooms are interconnecting to provide a larger meeting area perfect for conferences or private functions. The main Hall provides a further three function rooms offering a more traditional setting; the Drawing Room, with capacity for 100 people, the Edwardian Room, with room for 90 people, and the Presidents’ Lounge, suitable for boardroom or dining events for up to 28 delegates. In addition, the property is situated on 15 acres of land, ideal for team building activities.

Overlooking the Leven Valley on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, the hotel is a grand former stately home dating back to 1906. Originally built for the Dugdale family, its refined Edwardian architecture and acres of manicured lawns and woodlands ensure guests feel like aristocracy.

Each of the hotels 37 bedrooms (17 of which have recently been refurbished) has its own unique character – there are large family bedrooms and stylish suites including the romantic Crathorne Suite.

Set in the old dining room of Crathorne Hall, the 2AA rosette Leven Restaurant offers a charming atmosphere with gold gilt ceilings and large windows with views over the grounds and countryside beyond creating the perfect setting for a dining experience.

The elegant private dining rooms create an unforgettable experience perfect for entertaining business clients to celebrating a special occasion. Crathorne Hall’s dedicated team are on hand to look after your every need. To make a booking or for more information, call Crathorne Hall Hotel on 01642 700398 Website: www.handpickedhotels.co.uk/crathornehall Call: 01642 700398

Matchday Hospitality from £50 per person

Upcoming Premier League Fixtures

Middlesbrough August 21

Everton September 12

Crystal Palace September 24

West Brom October 1

2016-17 Matchday Hospitality Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is one of the most iconic sporting venues in the country.

From as little as £50 per person, you can be at the heart of the action, taking advantage of some of the finest hospitality in football. Panoramic pitch views with access to private executive boxes, stunning suites and contemporary bars are all complemented by our award-winning service and sumptuous dining choices - at prices to suit any budget.

Limited seasonal hospitality packages available.

New for the 2016-2017 season experience the brand new Hilton Garden Inn with our Karbon Grill matchday package.

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To book a hospitality package: 0871 911 1555, hospitality@safc.com To book accommodation at the Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland: 0191 500 9494, enquiries@hgisunderland.com Special rates available for seasonal hospitality customers.

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SPECIAL FEATURE bqlive.co.uk

The Assembly Rooms

Website: www.assemblyrooms.co.uk Call: 0191 232 8695 Email: functions@assemblyrooms.co.uk

Celebrate Christmas in style at The Assembly Rooms and Bonbar, 2 venues, 1 destination.

Join in our festive celebrations, as our grand conference and events venue transforms into a winter wonderland.

Enjoy good food and first class service all packaged in the memorable ambience of our elegant Georgian building. From our renowned disco party nights and lunches through to Christmas Day lunch and New Years Eve gala dinner dance we can accommodate for everything from 2 up to festive banquets of 600.

Looking for something a little different?

The striking Bonbar and 467 Club, both available for private hire are located on the ground floor of The Assembly Rooms offer an alternative to your Christmas celebrations.

With bespoke dining menus, irresistible cocktails and exclusive packages available we will ensure that Christmas spent with us will be a memorable one.

The Biscuit Factory

The Biscuit Factory is a unique cultural venue, located in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley. Consisting of an art gallery, a la carte restaurant, café and purpose-built function suite - The Biscuit Factory can cater for small soirees, networking events, black tie dinners, Christmas parties and award ceremonies, and lots more besides. The gallery is a beautiful space characterised by original brickwork, wooden beams and displays of contemporary art and can cater up to 350 people for an informal drinks reception. Meanwhile, the adjoining Biscuit Room is a self-contained venue - one of the largest in Newcastle accommodating up to 300 guests. For something more intimate, such as entertaining clients or celebrating the festive season with colleagues, artisan makes the perfect backdrop. The restaurant, which features in the prestigious Good Food Guide 2016, is headed up by award-winning chef Andrew Wilkinson and can cater up to 80 people. Alternatively, artisan’s private dining space, The Drawing Room (pictured right), is ideal for smaller parties of between eight and 22 guests. Stylish, creative and contemporary – The Biscuit Factory is a venue like no other in Newcastle.

Website: www.biscuitfactoryevents.com Email: events@thebiscuitfactory.com Twitter: @TBFevents Call: 0191 261 0015

VISIT THE FOOD HALL AT FENWICK NEWCASTLE TO DISCOVER WORLD-CLASS DINING AND RETAIL EXPERIENCES Dine in style in one of our contemporary restaurant spaces, which include Mediterranean inspired restaurant and bar Fuego, bakery-patisserie-cafĂŠ Mason & Rye and two ventures from prominent North East restauranteur Terry Laybourne: seafood bar and fishmonger Saltwater Fish Company and Asian kitchen Ko Sai.

Northumberland Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1AR Telephone: 0191 232 5100 www.fenwick.co.uk

Our renowned delicatessen showcases the very best regional produce from the likes of Blagdon Farm, Doddington Dairy, Wylam Brewery, Ouseburn Coffee Company and The Naked Deli, alongside artisan brands from across the world, many of which are exclusive to Fenwick.

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BUSINESS DINNER bqlive.co.uk

From his lofty perch accountant Andrew Potts shares with Brian Nicholls insider hints on starting up a business It was too rare an opportunity to miss: invitation to a business dinner served at your table suspended, like you and your fellow seated guests, 100ft high in the air. So there two dozen of us sat, swaying higher even than the rooftop height of Sage Gateshead alongside, as we raised our knives and forks, our glasses too, and gazed at Tyneside’s skyline, rather than downward at the long drop to the concrete surface discomfortingly below.

Dine by the Tyne, as this novel dining experience was called, seemed an appropriate setting for the interview with a rising name in accountancy, Andrew Potts. As we and the other diners were belted into what had resembled spaceship seats at ground level earlier, we had secretly nursed misgivings. Would these slender straps really keep us in place? Would the fixtures joining our seats to the long steel dining table hold fast as we were raised skywards?

We were re-assured briefly by the presence of two uniformed members of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service – until we learned they were fellow diners who’d be as dependent on safeguards aboard as we were. And as canopied table, chairs and occupants were hoisted steadily, we stared increasingly, and warily, at the thin twin cables of a towering crane raising

EAT

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BUSINESS DINNER bqlive.co.uk

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BUSINESS DINNER bqlive.co.uk

us aloft, reducing to Lilliputians the spectators who seconds before had been life size, as higher and higher we went.

Andrew, indeed probably all of us perched aloft and eventually chirping to background music like bonny budgies – melodies in, rather than on, the air – had never eaten in odder circumstance. Our delight, in the end, was sky high so to speak. The long drop beneath our feet was a consideration initially, but soon we felt as secure as those abseiling window cleaners must feel who are occasionally to be seen sprucing the Sage’s rooftop like spiders attending to their webs.

“Yes, initially it’s like looking from the window of a plane,” Andrew agreed. “But then, when you feel your feet dangling and sense the evening air against your face you’re reminded this is different. I was especially conscious not to drop a fork overboard. I had cold hands and had been taking photographs, so I also worried in case I dropped my phone. ‘Here we go,’ I thought. But all was well.

“Who in their right mind came up with this idea? Who’d have thought of stationing a crane on the banks of the Tyne to serve food from?”

But possessing an accountant’s sharp eye towards the innovation of others, he applauded the enterprise. He thinks that, like the open top buses, regular sky dining would be a great attraction for local tourism. “Things like this could set this area apart.”

The disadvantage of aerial dining, of course, is that you can’t play musical chairs between courses to network, which made it particularly pleasurable for BQ to sit alongside Andrew, someone with a good tale to tell.

His company, KP Simpson of Jarrow, is a financial supporter of small businesses and self-employed individuals. “They’re our target market,” he affirms. “It’s one I’m very comfortable with, and which we’ll continue to go after.”

It’s one he’s also comfortable with, qualified both in accounting and taxation, and having himself met the challenges and concerns of setting up in business for oneself. A former pupil of Harton Comprehensive School in South Shields, and avidly keen on sport even now at 35, he wanted to be a journalist initially.

A local magazine published his interviews with the like of Peter Reid and Bryan Robson, then managers of Sunderland and Middlesbrough,

Steve Watson the former Newcastle United defender and midfielder, and Sherwin Campbell the one-time Durham County cricketer. The Shields Gazette recognised his name during a school careers day. But, uncertain how to get through the door of a newsroom, he didn’t follow through. He started working with figures rather than words, on a North East Chamber of Commerce training course.

At 17, no shirker, he had three jobs simultaneously. Mainly he worked for A Line Cleaners, whose contracts included one with a national cinema chain. He was assistant management accountant and payroll clerk, calculating the payroll for around 200 weekly and 100 monthly staff, along with year-end returns. He pitched in with cleaning when the company was summoned to clean and tidy a Birmingham cinema after the blockbusting premiere of The Perfect Storm.

He was also working for a firm now part of Sports Direct, and as a barman in Raffles wine bar, South Shields. On opting for accountancy at 18, however, he worked full time for three years with Willis Scott, the Sunderland firm with whom he began studies for ACCA qualifications, gaining better insights at the same time into how business works.

A spell followed with Stephenson Coates the Jesmond, Newcastle, company firm while his ACCA day release studies went on. Then at GR Stenton & Co in home town South Shields, with

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whom he stayed for nearly seven and a half years, he had five staff to control and minded the interests of 300 clients.

But by then he was married, was a father and had a house – and need of more money. Here his sports enthusiasm paid off. He played right back 10 years for Cleadon in the Wearside League, and also for Birtley in the Northern League (he has only just retired now from Sunday League football). He also played cricket for Marsden in the Coast League and Senior League, and now plays for Whiteleas in the Combination League. Golf? A little of that too.

Andrew found many people in these circles had their own businesses. So he started bookkeeping by moonlight. “Within six months I was making more money self-employed than I was in the employment,” he recalls. “It was really taking off. I left the job and set up for myself in the bedroom. I’d never imagined we’d be where we are now.”

In 2008, 10 years after his entry to accountancy, KP Simpson was set up, and four years later it was incorporated. The name KP Simpson was formed linking the initials of Katie, the Potts’ daughter, with Simpson swiped from Simpson Close where they lived. “I just liked the ring of that name,” he says.

Clearly others like the name too, because KP Simpson now has 723 clients, not only in the North East but spread around the country also from Glasgow area, Edinburgh, Manchester

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and Liverpool in the North, to London in the South and over to North and South Wales. The reach goes beyond too.

Initially clients largely comprised solicitors, taxi drivers and taxi firms, personal trainers, and members of the medical profession such as surgeons, doctors, anaesthetists and dentists – a niche market Andrew had divined. Now too KP Simpson looks after also owners of corner shops and restaurants, and a growing assembly of self-employed contractors working in the like of Azerbaijan, Norway, and Holland.

“We strive to deliver the best customer service, which I think is why we have taken off so well.

We treat everyone as a person, not a number, giving them standards of service and care we’d expect ourselves.” It’s a familiar enough success formula, but confirming also it can work whatever the nature of a business.

Besides accounting for sole traders, partnerships and smaller companies, KP Simpson guides individuals and limited companies through payroll, book keeping, taxation and tax planning, and services in VAT, PAYE, and Construction Industry Scheme accounting. It works on business plans, cash flow forecasts and client management.

Andrew, his wife Julie and their two children - daughter Katie, eight, and Louie, three - live at East Boldon, and Julie’s also one of the 10-strong team, about to become 11, who having gained 200 new clients during the past year, have relocated from Hebburn to Albert Road in Jarrow.

An early priority there is to help clients meet a hindering new regime of dividend taxation announced in the Chancellor’s recent Budget, and the new rental regime simultaneously announced hitting small-business owners who’ve previously tried to raise capital through buy to let. Andrew predicts many may try to sell properties off shortly, rather than fall foul or struggle as the situation changes.

Working closely with clients – including 200 more during the past year – also opens new doors, Andrew has now launched into property management, and is looking also at entering an import/export business, again through a client, and with a focus on China.

What advice, then, for others thinking to branch out? He has three golden rules.

“Do your market research. Many people enter business on a whim, thinking they can

Dine On The Tyne: a lifting experience Fresh as the air around us Chris Wood, executive chef of Hawthorns brasserie at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Newcastle, led a safety-harnessed culinary team on this occasion. “I’m passionate about using the best fresh and locally sourced ingredients,” he said, and freshness like the air around us pervaded throughout. We started with what resembled a decapitated dippy egg but was in fact was egg shell containing a celeriac mousse. Then followed: Gin and juniper carpaccio of roe deer with gooseberries, horseradish meringues, and hazelnuts.

The fish course was Craster smoked salmon, lobster and celeriac remoulade, ceviche of hand dived scallops, wasabi and peas. Main course was guinea fowl breast, leg bon bon, Carroll’s heritage potato, woodland ceps, and baby spinach. Dessert was minute sticks of rhubarb, with aniseed meringue and vanilla custard. Two splendid 2015 wines provided by Bonbar and the Assembly Rooms accompanied: a South African Chenin Blanc and a French Carignan Vieilles Vigne Rare Vineyards, these Languedoc vines being over 50 years old.

Perhaps only one word aptly describes such an enjoyable repast on high: heavenly.

immediately make a lot of money. But really hard work in research is needed. Who’s your target customer? What’s your market? I found out only after a couple of years what our market is.

“Also, network. People won’t come if they don’t know you’re there. You have to talk to as many people as you can, and networking is the cheapest way to do that. Try to strike relationships with people who can assist you, but whom you too can assist. If you just take, take, take you’ll be found out. It’s got to be about scratching backs and working for each other.

“Finally, hard work has no substitute. Be prepared too for early days of not getting returns your efforts might deserve. Eventually the returns will pay for themselves because a lot of the good you can do will have been unseen and initially unpaid for.

“And while your accountant may interface with

HMRC on your behalf, be as honest and open as possible if you are contacted by tax people personally. They’ll not be trying to victimise or pick on you, but will have reason to be making an enquiry. If you put your blocks up straight away you’ll antagonise the enquirer and prompt them to look harder. They don’t want to penalise - just want you to pay the right amount of tax. With good dialogue, even if you have some difficulty meeting your immediate liabilities, so long as you’re felt to be trying to do everything right, they’ll try to assist and give you time to work with them.”

For all of us that evening the sky was the limit.

But Andrew had no regrets about getting both feet on the ground again. He was already looking forward to running in the Edinburgh Half Marathon, and after that the Great North Run, the latter his second participation. He’d already done an 11 mile training run the day before. He deserved celestial sustenance. n

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WARNEFORD ON WINE bqlive.co.uk

If you can’t get near the vine at least phone a friend Darren Warneford, group customer relations director, Esh Group enjoys sampling two wines from either end of Europe If I am honest, my own wine journey started relatively late in life. I spent my formative years at Edinburgh University and Durham University supping the likes of Tennent’s Lager and Caledonian 80 Shilling, having been put off wine by a cheap Lambrusco.

I didn’t really appreciate wine until a trip to Napa and Sonoma Valleys in the late ‘90s.

Visiting the wineries of Domaine Chandon, Robert Mondavi and Beringer gave me a change of heart. There’s something about tasting wine where it is grown, and being surrounded by the wondrous sights and smells of a winery, with the winemaker pouring wine in its immaculate and untravelled condition. The wine just tastes special. You can’t replicate those conditions at home, so what followed the visit to California were visits to the Loire Valley and Alsace, now home to some of my favourite wines.

In my opinion, the only way to get close to the winery taste and experience is to taste it with good food and good company, which I like to do regularly. Wine is for sharing. If you enjoy Sauvignon Blanc, which has become my favourite white over recent years, then the Slovenian Krasno Sauvignon Blanc Ribolla 2015 is definitely worth trying. The dash of local grape Ribolla Gialla adds a welcome twist.

This white bears the name of the village Krasno which in Slovenian means “beautiful, charming, good” - most apt for this fresh fruity number.

Krasno is the leading wine producer in Slovenia, a co-op of more than 400 individual growers.

This was my first try of Slovenian wine and I hadn’t realised this country has been making wine longer than France has. Unlike many major European wine regions, Slovenia’s viticultural history predates Roman times and can be traced back to the early Celtic and Illyrian tribes who began producing wine between the 5th and 4th Centuries BC! I wasn’t disappointed. The flavours of apple and floral worked really well with a Saturday evening vegetable risotto (thanks to my wife, Emma, for that suggestion) and I imagine they would complement many fish dishes too. Krasno has come up with a real quality wine – exceptional value for money.

I’ve bought six more already – it’s hard to argue with. At this price it’s a real steal.

I saved the ‘Definition’ Vina Majestica Rioja Reserva 2009 for Sunday and it really complemented our roast beef. It was made in La Rioja Alta’s Torre de Ona winery, established in 1890 in the Rioja Alavesa area of Spain. Growers there are renowned for excellent fruit and richness throughout their wines, sourcing quality

grapes from the 360 hectares they own.

The Rioja Reserva spent 20 months in oak and, while wrapped in it, is not drenched by it.

Full of flavours, cranberry, cinnamon, chocolate.

Superb! After a post-lunch walk and tuning in to watch Chris Froome’s third tour victory procession along the Champs Elysees, I was pleased we’d saved some of the bottle for a lazy late afternoon in the garden.

It went down particularly well with some Manchego cheese and crackers.

I recommend you grab a few bottles of this excellent Rioja while you can! n

Krasno Sauvignon £7.99 single bottle price, £6.99 mix six price Definition Rioja £11.99 single bottle price, £9.99 mix six price.

Wine supplied by Majestic Wine Warehouse, Gosforth

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MOTORING bqlive.co.uk

“The multi-adjustable seats were beyond comfortable, the 12 speaker interactive entertainment system (which even works with hand gestures!) was more dynamic than the Ministry of Sound’s, and there was even an in-house iPad in the back to entertain the kids”

MOTORING bqlive.co.uk

A Jeeves on wheels that ranks with the best Andy Hook tries out the new BMW 730d XDrive MSport, despite his good lady’s reservations “Oh, my God, that’s ridiculous,” cried my poor long-suffering wife as our brand new superslick black BMW 730d XDrive MSport rolled stealth-like up our drive. “You didn’t tell me we were going in that!” The problem exercising my usually very accommodating wife was: we were late. Very late. And it was all my fault.

We were due to meet some old friends halfway across the country in about 10 minutes, and I had apparently cooked-up some half-baked plan to take delivery of a flash motor, which also required having my photo taken and driving licence scrutinised when we should have already been halfway across the country. So the late

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MOTORING bqlive.co.uk

“But this is no seat-of-your-pants raging sports car, it’s more like a time machine effortlessly transporting you to wherever you want to go in the world without murmur or complaint. It’s like a loyal butler submissively obeying your every command, without question”

arrival of the piece of high-tech machinery that looked like it’d need Tim Peak to get it booted up didn’t go down too well.

To make matters worse, the garage then insisted on explaining the intricate computerised key fob with screen showing petrol gauge, climate control, whether you’d remembered to turn your lights off and with more power than a ZX Spectrum - before we as much as climbed inside. We set off, in silence. I toyed with the idea of taking a spin past Blackfriars where all my chefs drive BMWs but thought the better of it.

Then: “where can I plug in my sat nav?” the boss demanded. “It’s already got one,” I said quietly, avoiding eye contact and looking at the stunning

10.3 inch colour interactive touch-screen display.

“And it’s too hot in here - can you open a window?” “I think it’ll have aircon,” which it did - powerful automatic four climate control zones together with rear controls.

I pressed a button and just before tempers reached boiling point, a cool refreshing chill swept over us. Things began to calm down, and we relaxed into our new surroundings for the day. To be fair, whatever anxieties you arrived with, there was little about this luxurious limousine that wouldn’t sooth you into a relaxed warming glow of bliss.

The multi-adjustable seats were beyond comfortable, the 12 speaker interactive

entertainment system (which even works with hand gestures!) was more dynamic than the Ministry of Sound’s, and there was even an inhouse iPad in the back to entertain the kids.

This model also comes with a stability control system, LED headlights, dusk sensors, oncoming vehicle sensors, night vision and automatic ride height adjustment. In fact, it does pretty much everything apart from drive the car for you.

But this is no seat-of-your-pants raging sports car, it’s more like a time machine effortlessly transporting you to wherever you want to go in the world without murmur or complaint. It’s like a loyal butler submissively obeying your every command, without question.

MOTORING bqlive.co.uk

Size does matter; weighing in at a hefty two and half tonnes and boasting over five metres in length, it does feel solid - big and solid. But also smooth, quiet and effortless. Nought to sixty in just under six seconds doesn’t sound particularly quick, but blink once more and you’re gently cruising at top speed with the ride of the Japanese Bullet. All you need to remember is to ease off the pedal well before your overexcitement inadvertently fires the three litre diesel engine boasting 265hp to its maximum cruising speed of 155mph.

Time (and the miles) flew by as the sat nav’s predicted time-to-destination dropped dramatically from an hour and a half to… umm, better not say! Safe to say, we were making good progress and perhaps we’d make our rendezvous on time after all.

Everyone seemed happy; the kids were playing with their blinds, reclinable seats, personal air vents and other backseat gadgets while the wife watched the world go by before nodding-off for a quick 40 winks with her seat massaging function turned on. I, meanwhile, decided it

was time to see what this machine was really capable of! We’d been in comfort and eco mode so far. Now it was time to enter sports mode.

The suspension stiffened, the body lowered while the engine grunted. Well, a very muffled sound-insulated grunt that reminded me we were still inside the cocoon. All the same, I tried to give it some welly and, in return, it kicked my backside… albeit with a velvet slipper! Suddenly, like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, we were gliding round corners like we were on rails - silky smooth rails at that. It felt great!

So, any down sides to this executive’s luxury dream machine? Anything not to like? To be honest, you’d have to be a bit pretty picky. Some of the interior trim is a bit Peter Stringfellow and it looks great but not jaw-dropping from the outside. Perhaps that’s the intention for a car that’s intended for the discreet executive businessman/woman.

To understand how good this BMW really is, you’d have to compare it to the masterful Audi A8, the simply astounding Mercedes S Class and the very British Jaguar XJ. Which one comes out

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best? Well that’s a very hard call.

Yes, the Audi is super-well equipped and refined, while the stunning and stylish Jag has few drawbacks at the end of the day, and despite its high running costs, the Mercedes reliability, safety, interior and comfort on the road is very, very hard to beat.

But did I care? Not really. We arrived pretty much on cue, having kept our friends waiting barely five minutes. I manoeuvred my machine into a somewhat tight parking spot using my front radar-type parking distance sensors, rear radar and camera-type parking sensors with virtual overhead camera display, that allow you to see all round your car.

We all spilled out, happy as Larry, all set for a great day. n The car Andy drove was a BMW 730d XDrive MSport priced at £76635 OTR. The was supplied

by Lloyd Newcastle BMW & MINI, Fenham Barracks, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4LE t: 0191 2617366 www.lloydgroupcorporate.co.uk

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TRAVEL bqlive.co.uk

Armani in a city where the sky’s the limit

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Dubai is a man-made miracle, a city of superlative built on what was once a desert, and now one of the world’s greatest names in design has chosen it as the location for a luxury hotel To look across the wind-rippled sands around Dubai is to be struck by the wonder of civil engineering. Desert yawns endless as far as the eye can see, the landscape punctuated only by the occasional bush - used by Nomadic tribes for millennia to pinpoint water - and the odd passing lizard.

City types can here don their ghutra and play at being T.E. Lawrence, driving vintage Land Rovers, navigating by the stars, eating crispy, long-lasting Arabic bread cooked over a hot stone and learning the codes of coffee - if your host pours you a half cup, you’re most welcome, since a half cup stays warm and invites a refill; if you’re given a full cup, be sure to drink up and be on your way. If it’s Ramadan, you can break the fast by drinking the Middle East’s most popular, and deeply unexpected, drink of choice - Vimto. The more adventurous can try warm camel’s milk. You can eat camel too, as well as ride one. The ship of the desert is as much the larder of the dunes.

This orchestrated ‘desert experience’ is all the more striking back at the Armani Hotel in central Dubai - one of just two such designer hostelries, the other being in Milan - and all the more so for it being high up in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (at least until Jeddah completes the 1km tall Kingdom Tower).

Of course, Dubai’s passions for shopping and building are not for everyone - the view from just about anywhere, including your room at the Armani Hotel, is likely to include a construction site. This is hardly surprising in the emirate that seems to throw up a new piece of landmark architecture every fortnight or so, and which somewhat fixated on size - opens the world’s biggest entertainment park this summer, and has plans for the world’s largest Ferris wheel,

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the world’s biggest airport, the world’s largest building in square footage, and, of course, the world’s biggest mall, some three times the size of the Mall of Dubai. That is already the world’s biggest. It’s all a build up to the World Expo, being held in Dubai in four years.

But these passions do drive home what a miracle of transformation Dubai represents - in just some 45 years it has turned desert into destination, teasing these silvered towers out of the sands. Small wonder the sheiks behind what at some point must have seemed like the greatest folly are now celebrated, from giant billboards to crystal-encrusted mobile phone covers.

Such is the transformation that it has encouraged global powerhouse names the likes of Armani to open here - rather than anywhere else on the planet they could choose - in order to give comfort and air conditioning to the more urban nomads suffering in the constant hairdryer heat outside. Naturally it does this in style. It is said that Giorgio himself made all of the interior design choices based on his own home - which can only leave guests to conclude that his home is a tidy symphony of brown, bronze, beige and his signature ‘greige’. On each floor three corridors radiate from a central point that marks the very core of the tower.

Armani marks this fact with a table on which stands a vase with a single orchid. The stamen is a welcome splash of colour.

It is, as it were, tres sheik - luxurious, refined, refreshingly unflashy in a place that still clings to bling, and, most attractive of all to the Middle Eastern customers who make up half of its guests, even connected to that world’s biggest mall. For them, no doubt, to stay in a fashion label hotel is a welcome extension to their fashion label purchasing. They sleep, breakfast and dine Armani, punctuating this with visits to the mall’s Armani stores and Armani cafe.

An Armani porter will even escort you there and collect your big brand booty at the end of another long day flexing the plastic.

Then comes relief in the shape of indulging other senses. The Armani Hotel offers seven restaurant, - mostly of an Italian bent - and a spa offering, for the brave, the kind of intense massage that guarantees you’ll have to skip at least a day’s retail therapy while you’re in recovery. In the lobby are Armani stores - not selling clothes but one dedicated to flowers and the other to chocolates.

Naturally the glittering, sci-fi spire that is Burj Khalifa is itself part of the appeal of staying in the Armani Hotel - with its highest restaurant,

TRAVEL bqlive.co.uk

highest pool, highest private apartment and - who knows? - on the observation deck 148 storeys up, maybe the highest Guinness Book of Records plaque. The sheer preposterousness of the place is perhaps bested only by the fountains towards the side of the hotel. From a restaurant veranda guests can watch the halfhourly display of what can only be described as liquid fireworks, a show of sequenced sweeping, swooning and rocketing water jets to the theme of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ or a touch of Strauss. You can’t but wonder what it’s all for, this spectacle made of the desert’s most precious resource. But you can’t help being captivated like a child nonetheless.

It is, indeed, all very Las Vegas, another infrastructural wonder in the middle of a desert.

Nevada has the strippers and the booze, of course, if they’re your poisons. But then it doesn’t have this not so little oasis of Giorgio.

That alone might swing the balance. n Rooms at Armani Hotel Dubai start from AED 2,000 per room per night, subject to 10% municipality fee, 10% service charge and a AED20 per room per night tourism fee. www.dubai.armanihotels.com

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“These passions do drive home what a miracle of transformation Dubai represents - in just some 45 years it has turned desert into destination”

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE bqlive.co.uk

NORTHERN POWERHOUSE

AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE CAMPAIGN 2016/17 BQ is delighted to announce the launch of the PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards and International Trade Campaign 2016/17 The PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards and International Trade Campaign brings together businesses from across the North to recognise and celebrate their entrepreneurial exporting achievements as well as encourage others to increase their export potential. Exporting and international trade remain central to the UK’s economic growth agenda and this campaign and export awards are about recognising those entrepreneurial,

wealth creating companies that are selling their products, services and expertise in scores of overseas markets. It is vital that we appreciate and recognise those exporters who have made the transition from great local companies to potentially world class exporting businesses based in the north of England.

Exporting continues to present an opportunity for the north of England to bring immediate and sustainable growth to its economy and with this in mind we need to pass the baton to SMEs across the Northern Powerhouse to consider exporting as a realistic opportunity for growth.

Geoff Lippitt, business development director at PD Ports, said: “As owners and operators of Teesport, one of the top five UK ports and a major export hub, we are delighted to sponsor the Northern Powerhouse Export Awards 2017 alongside BQ. “The awards reflect our firm commitment and investment in supporting further growth of exports and the associated value to drive economic prosperity across the North; exporting will undoubtedly be a major catalyst in delivering the Northern Powerhouse.

“We look forward to joining our many existing customers and other

great exporting organisations at the ceremony to hear of continued export successes and to celebrate the strength and diversity of our Northern exporters.”

BQ is a national brand recognised for celebrating and inspiring entrepreneurship to help businesses succeed and grow. Encouraging businesses to explore exporting opportunities is central to BQ’s ethos and one which Bryan Hoare believes will really help stimulate economic growth.

“Having successfully delivered the Scottish Export Awards for the past three years alongside Scottish Enterprise, the economic development arm of the Scottish Government, we’re delighted to bring to you the PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards,” said Hoare.

“We would like to invite any business in the North actively trading overseas to get involved in the awards and export campaign to help us encourage others to increase their export potential. This is a vital time in the UK economy where we need to provide inspiration and stimulation. BQ is investing in this 12 month campaign across the North East & Cumbria, Yorkshire and the North West to help stimulate growth and profile some of the North’s top exporters. ”

INTERNATIONAL TRADE bqlive.co.uk

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE ACROSS THE NORTH

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ENTER NOW AT WWW.BQLIVE.CO.UK/ NORTHEXPORT AWARDS17

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE bqlive.co.uk

CATEGORIES The PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards are open to all businesses with a presence in the North of England. The award categories for 2017 include: MOST ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPORTER OF THE YEAR A company that has demonstrated entrepreneurial flair within their export strategy. This will be shown through an extraordinary approach to reaching new markets where creativity, innovation and tenacity has resulted in success.

MICRO EXPORTER OF THE YEAR Recognising outstanding achievements in export growth by a company in any industry with a turnover up to £2million. This success will be measured by growth in sales and market penetration together with the application of innovative market strategies to extend export potential.

SMALL EXPORTER OF THE YEAR Recognising outstanding achievements in export growth by a company in any industry with a turnover of £2-£15million. This success will be measured by growth in sales and market penetration together with the application of innovative market strategies to extend export potential.

LARGE EXPORTER OF THE YEAR Recognising outstanding achievements by a company in any industry with a turnover greater than £15million. This success will be measured by growth in sales and market penetration together with the application of innovative market strategies to extend export potential.

EXPORT TEAM OF THE YEAR The export team of the year award will recognise a team who can demonstrate significant added value to their business through adopting innovative techniques, personnel development measures, and successful implementation of the company's export sales strategy. It should be clear how the company has developed a team-wide approach to exporting, which may well extend beyond the company to distributors, agents and other third parties who will have contributed to export success.

E-COMMERCE EXPORTER OF THE YEAR A company that through e-commerce has increased brand awareness and recognition, expanded into new markets, increased sales and efficiency and improved customer service. The winner of this category must be able to demonstrate how they have used e-commerce and trading online to significantly enhance their export growth or potential for growth.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE ADVISER OF THE YEAR A business that does not export, but plays a key role in supporting exporters to trade overseas either directly or indirectly through providing associated services such as advice and consultancy. The professional service adviser of the year award will recognise a company that has demonstrated outstanding achievements in supporting businesses to achieve their exporting objectives. Success will be measured by the advice given and how it directly affected export growth in the companies supported.

LOGISTICS PARTNER OF THE YEAR Awarded to a company that provides outstanding customer service and innovation in supporting the export market with their delivery solutions. Success should be measured through their ability to support complex or innovative methods of distribution and delivery whilst adding value. Where possible nominees in this category should also be able to show how their business is focusing on support for new and emerging export markets.

HIGH GROWTH MARKET EXPORTER OF THE YEAR Awarded to a company demonstrating impressive export growth in high growth markets (including Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Vietnam and Hong Kong). This success will be measured by growth in sales and high growth market penetration, together with the application of innovative market strategies to extend export potential.

PD PORTS NORTHERN POWERHOUSE EXPORTER OF THE YEAR This award will be presented to a company that has made an outstanding contribution to the North's export profile and success. Companies must have demonstrated how they have overcome their barriers when entering new markets. The winner of this award will be selected from the winners of the above award categories and announced on the evening of the awards.

ENTER NOW AT WWW.BQLIVE.CO.UK/ NORTHEXPORT AWARDS17

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“Just go and do it” - They did Jason Knight and his partner Ian Smith made a promise to their staff to keep them in work and they have sought and won business all over the world to keep their word, reports Bryce Wilcock Having grown the small Gateshead-based design company he co-founded almost a decade ago into one of the world’s leading character licensing creative companies, Jason Knights is full of advice for entrepreneurs looking to emulate his company’s success overseas. Gateshead-based graphic design company Blue Kangaroo, which specialises in the character licensing industry, has seen its headcount grow by 40% and turnover double since expanding its presence overseas.

If you’ve watched any animated films or cartoons over the past few years, the likelihood is you’ve consumed some of their work. The company works hand-in-hand with some of the world’s leading media companies to help create anything from original sketches of characters all the way through to designing company style guides and brands. Knights co-founded the company alongside his business partner and current creative director Ian Smith back in 2006. As the firm continued to grow the duo made a promise to their staff - that they would keep them in a job no matter what happened. This commitment has been at the heart of everything Knights and Smith have done since, and when the UK market started to shrink back in 2013, the duo knew they had to explore new avenues.

“We’ve been exporting for around three years but we seriously started exporting around two years ago,” said Knights. “We saw the UK business shrinking as large American companies started taking their money back to America so we thought we’d go after them in their own back yard.

“We made a commitment to our staff that we would keep them in a job, so wherever the work was, that was where we headed. Our headcount has now gone up by 40% in the last year alone and turnover has risen by just short of 100% over the last three years.

“One of the first companies we started exporting on behalf of was Walt Disney and it has taken off from there. It’s testament to our team’s skill being trusted to re-create the look and feel of globally

Jason Knight, Blue Kangaroo

recognised brands, and our repeat work ratio just goes to prove the quality of the work we deliver.”

When the duo first decided to explore the possibility of exporting, they sought advice from government trade body UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) North East. This led to Knights being introduced to international trade advisor John Doolan.

“John was a major help when we first started exporting,” said Knights. “He was absolutely superb. We joined the Passport to Export programme and I sealed a meeting with Disney in LA not long after – I was petrified.

“John’s advice to me was simply ‘Just go out there and do it.’ Within my first trip I visited New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I sat outside of the company’s reception surrounded by Oscar Awards and I was just sitting there thinking ‘wow, what am I doing here?’

“Two years on from that meeting, we now work with the company on a regular basis. It has only taken two years for us to get to the stage we are at now and we are constantly busy.”

Speaking about the firm’s success, Doolan said: “BlueKangaroo have proved that if you have a good product, and good advice, the world is full of exporting opportunities. UKTI gave Jason some

specific market insight and advice but ultimately it is his products and his company’s reputation which has led to exporting so successfully to Disney and others.“The North East has many other innovative and exciting small businesses that could also take the first steps on their export journeys - and we would be very happy to help them to achieve on a global stage.”

Working initially with companies in the US, Blue Kangaroo has since seen demand for its services soar on a global scale securing repeat business across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

“Exports account for around 70% of our turnover now – it’s huge,” added Knights. “We have customers on both the East and West coasts of America, India, Australia, Doha, Germany, Holland, we have customers all over the world.”

And this really is some feat, for a company of 13 which doesn’t employ a single person in a sales role. “Our biggest achievement so far has been spreading the name of Blue Kangaroo,” Knights concluded. “We don’t have any sales people work here so we don’t have a sales team at all.

We don’t have a natural person out selling – the way we do it is excelling in our work and being recommended via word of mouth. That’s the best recommendation possible.” n

Fast drive to recovery

A once modest co-op of GPs from Northumberland is now a £65.5m turnover service ready to help 10m-plus patients up and down the country get urgent medical care when needed. Chief executive John Harrison explains the transformation to Brian Nicholls

More than 10m patients up and down the country, though they may not realise it, depend on John Harrison and his strategically spread team for certain urgent medical care. He is not a doctor but he is a chief executive of the fast growing Newcastle based organisation Vocare that works closely with NHS and local health care providers to deliver integrated urgent care through GP out of hours and NHS 111 services.

He is in fact a chartered electrical engineer, and while most patients requiring urgent care will be familiar with hospitals, clinics and ambulances, they may not perhaps be familiar

with the structure behind the NHS badge. Hardly surprising either, since the structure continually changes. Vocare, for example, from 1996 till 2004 was a modest GP co-operative, Northern Doctors’ Urgent Care, run by family doctors in Northumberland who were then responsible 24/7 for their patients. Looking at how best to cover their on-call responsibilities and share shifts, they started bringing in some of the infrastructure now regularly emplaced for urgent care.

The year 2004, in John’s words, became the “game changer.” He recounts: “The British

Medical Association negotiated an opt-out for out-of-hours. All doctors in the North East opted out, handing authority back to the commissioners. Northern Doctors were approached, and by early 2005 we were suddenly a £10m turnover business. A small coop had become a significant sized operation.”

Even more so today. Within a few years the once regional enterprise has become a national provider serving, besides the North East, Staffordshire, Somerset, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, the West and East Midlands and part of London.

Its two contracts in London underscore its

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“From engineering to travel to health, you learn things that you can bring with you, and sometimes ideas and methods of doing things in other industries can be usefully re-applied in a different area”

national role – an urgent care centre at St Mary’s Paddington, and a joint venture to deliver integrated urgent care – 111 and GP out of hours – in South West London. “It has taken a while to get our foot in London’s door but we’re delighted to have done so this year,” John says.

“We feel that’s an area where we can develop further. Things are done differently in London.

So there are different opportunities.”

Thus, in its 20th year, it has become a £65.5m turnover business, with a payroll list of around 2,600 names, many part-timers, with about 45 of the staff being Vocare’s backroom force at the Balliol Business Park nerve centre. And with its surge of new contract wins it will now create 70 more jobs at Newcastle base – nurses, paramedics and call centre personnel.

John’s background helps him to take a broad view of the country. Born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, of an Irish mother and a Kentish father, he was raised in Lancashire. However, having lived in Newcastle since he was 18, and resident nowadays in Ponteland with his wife Sue and their four children aged 23 to 17, he acknowledges that more of his 55 years have been spent in the North East than elsewhere.

So how did he cross the bridge from microprocessors and information technology to urgent health care? One time cleaner of public rooms at a Pontins holiday camp (a student then in a summer job), he joined his present organisation as project manager in 2006, when development work was needed to align changing standards, processes and regulations. “I came in to help develop some of this,” he explains. “One thing led to another. I became chief executive in 2008 and we started expanding.”

He’d gathered sackfuls of experience since Pontins, of course. Studying at Newcastle University, he had become a chartered electrical engineer, mostly on micro-processors. Then he did a succession of engineering jobs in the North East. He worked for Mari, had been technical director of RTC North for five years,

then joined a management buy-in of a company, a teletext travel agency, later taken over. After further experience in holiday management, he set up a firm doing website analytics, which is still running.

“I was asked if I had some capacity to work here, then it mushroomed,” he recalls. “As it became a lot bigger I had to make a decision. I threw my hat in here. From engineering to travel to health, you learn things that you can bring

with you, and sometimes ideas and methods of doing things in other industries can be usefully re-applied in a different area.

“We don’t do emergency departments’ stuff, but we do work with them. We operate walk-in centres where patients can be seen, a new trend the NHS has promoted to put some such centres next to emergency departments.

“This is because emergency departments aren’t necessarily the best places for some patients

Victims of ricochet Social care has been hurt badly in the ricochet of recession, John says. “You see it a lot when hospitals are trying to get patients back into the community. Changes, and reduced capacity for social services and care, have had an impact.” That ugly but realistically named problem “bedblockers” in other words, though John doesn’t call it such. He simply affirms: “It’s more and more difficult now to get patients out of hospital and into appropriate care they need. While it doesn’t affect us directly, it does have an impact. If hospitals are full and can’t get patients out after treatment it eventually backs up to the emergency departments.” His observation was reinforced shortly after this interview by a National Audit Office declaration that the number of vulnerable pensioners trapped in NHS hospital beds has risen “alarmingly” by a third in two years.

The watchdog believes official figures seem substantially to underestimate the scale of the problem, and that 2.7m “hospital days” a year are being lost to other patients because medically recovered patients lack help to get them home. Around £820m the NHS spends on patients who no longer need to be in hospital is a poor use of resources, the watchdog concludes.

John himself explains how patients in accident and emergency have waited to be admitted to wards full already. “Personally I think that’s an area needing attention. I can’t see how you’ll maintain health care demands by just sending people to hospital. I think in future more patients with high activity must be maintained at home - whether their own home, a care home or a nursing home. There isn’t capacity or resources to keep them in hospital.”

He adds: “An important element around that is also end-of-life care - palliative. Our doctors visit end-of-life patients a lot who are at home and who wish to stay there. We’ve done pilot work in care homes. We think more could be done to maintain patients at home. We’re too small to influence the NHS. But if we see opportunities we’ll avail ourselves of them.”

to be dealt with. They could better be seen in urgent/primary care by a GP or adult nurse practitioner in a primary care setting, rather than in a full scale emergency department. We did the first of those at United Hospital, Bath, which has been very successful.

“This is being rolled out to other places, such as Scarborough, Wolverhampton and St Mary’s Paddington. These centres work in conjunction with emergency departments. So patients in trauma brought in by ambulance do go straight to ED. If they can walk in they’ll be assessed and streamed, either towards us for urgent care by a doctor or adult nurse practitioner, or to emergency.

“That takes a lot of pressure off emergency since we can treat a lot of those conditions quickly and efficiently. It has had a good effect in improving workload performances in the emergency departments. We also operate standalone walk-in centres.”

The NHS 111 national service which Vocare also operates has been running for five years.

Under this, call service patients can ring to get to a local provider who’ll talk to the patients, guiding them towards where they should go.

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

Should they see their doctor in the morning, be sent to an emergency department, be seen by a GP out of hours, go to a walk-in centre - or do they need community services?

Without this guidance, trying to make the right choice without 111 support would probably be a nightmare now. Vocare in all this is not an ambulance trust, and has no ambulance drivers, though it has a fleet of 40 appropriate vehicles spread around the country. In its home region it has a joint venture with the North East Ambulance Service, and provides the call handling side. “Many 111 calls can be dealt with by the handlers,” John explains. “But where clinical advice is needed the calls are put through to us and dealt with by suitably qualified clinical nurses we provide as part of the service.”

Competition in providing these services is plentiful. An NHS trust may want to do it, and there are also hospital trusts and community trusts in the reckoning, and smaller out of hours providers. Nationally too there are three or four organisations regarded as direct competition. In the end the NHS basically decides who will

do what. So why is Vocare so successful?

“I think, mainly, our services have a very clinical driven ethos – about 15 local clinical directors – GPs involved in managing the clinical side of service, and about 40 clinical services managers who are senior nurses. So there’s good leadership. Also we’re very much a can-do organisation.

“We’ve some very good staff who roll up their sleeves, and who have worked marvellously, doing the late nights for example, and working hard at setting up services on time. Also, we’re very innovative in making the service more effective and helping patients - making the patient’s journey as good as possible.

“Finally, although a national organisation now, we’re very focused on delivering services locally. We have regions with senior management, human resources, governance, and clinical management. They understand the local economy and can adapt services accordingly as part of the local health care economy. So, while we have a headquarters here, most of the delivery is done from regional centres.” n

“It has taken a while to get our foot in London’s door but we are delighted to have done so this year. We feel that is an area where we can develop further”

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Battle for skills A direct major challenge for Vocare lies in recruiting into urgent care suitable clinical staff, especially doctors – a concern in which Vocare is not alone. It’s countering with incentives, such as providing professional medical indemnity for doctors working for it.

John explains: “They had to pay a premium to work out of hours. That was getting really expensive. Some doctors - and there are one or two who work full time out of hours - were being quoted £30,000 a year for indemnity insurance. We organised through a Lloyds underwriter medical indemnity for all our doctors.

“Now if they work for us they don’t have to buy their own indemnity. That investment has been good in attracting doctors into our services. Another challenge is that the NHS is producing ‘vanguards’ and seems to be offering large sums to 8 till 8 and 9 to 9 vanguards.”

Despite all this, Vocare enjoys growth. Its relocation last September back to Balliol Business Park, its roots until 2005, from its previous headquarters at Gosforth Business Park, doubled the available workspace to 20,114sq ft. More than 100 employees are there now, occupied in clinical, finance, IT and administrative roles, and NHS 111 clinicians servicing the region are based there.

The business is on track to double in size organically by 2017. “We’re looking even beyond at further opportunities to grow and diversify, and soon we’ll be looking for investment to that end,” he signals.

Thus far, though, Vocare has not entered Scotland or Wales. “Scotland has a different health model, so at the moment it’s ‘No’ there. Wales, we’ve no aversion to, but suitable opportunity hasn’t appeared.

We’ve looked at the Republic of Ireland, where it’s not to say we wouldn’t do something in the future. Also one or two other countries have health systems similar to ours.

“But the view at the moment is that there’s still plenty for us to do in what we want to do here in England.”

PRINCE’S TRUST Inspiring young lives A chance for young folk to excel The Prince’s Trust has launched an award to help young entrepreneurs they’ve already supported.

Over 10 years, the trust has backed 1,844 businesses in the North East. Now it’s inviting these businesses to enter The Tomorrow’s Business Awards, supported by NatWest.

The awards will celebrate the benefits for an individual of starting a business. Businesses in any field can take part if they have had start-up support from the trust over the past decade.

Three winners will each receive £3,000 from NatWest to invest in their business, and one-toone mentoring with one of the following: Lloyd Dorfman (founder of Travelex and chairman of The Prince’s Trust), Steve Rowe (chief executive of Marks & Spencer) or Claire Locke (cofounder, Artigiano) alongside business-boosting workshops with industry experts. An evaluation of the Enterprise programme has found that businesses started with funding and mentoring support from the trust are more likely to survive.

Research shows 73% of trust-supported businesses continue to operate into their third year, compared with 61% nationally. Currently 621,000 of 16 to 24 year olds are struggling

to find a job in the UK. The Prince’s Trust and NatWest are urging more young people to seek support and consider starting their own business to escape unemployment. With NatWest’s help, the Enterprise programme has assisted young people’s start-ups since 1983, and has supported over 80,000 new ventures to date. Well known businesses begun with the trust’s help include household names Dynamo and kids’ suitcase business Trunki.

To enter, visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/ tomorrowsbusiness - deadline for entries, 30 August, with winners announced in September.

Parallel Lives The Prince’s Trust has launched an ad campaign showing the life-changing impact its work has had on generations of young lives across the UK. Its Parallel Lives drive aims to increase support and, in turn, raise funds.

The ads, which have won two awards at Cannes Festival, feature split screens. One side shows a young person doing well. The other shows the ‘parallel life’ they could have ended up with if the trust hadn’t been there to support them.

Transformation: what a stark contrast in fortunes helping hands can give

The ads tackle issues such as homelessness, abuse and being in trouble with the law.

This campaign reminds us that the 825,000 young lives the trust has helped transform over 40 years could have been very different. Paul Brown, the trust’s director of marketing and communications, says: “The idea is to give a sense of the trust’s incredible impact on young lives, and to demonstrate why it’s still vital for people to support us into the future.

“By showing the flipside of what could happen to vulnerable young people who don’t get the right support when most they need it we hope to persuade people to consider how they might support our cause.”

The ads have been created free by the youth charity’s award-winning pro-bono creative agency, CHI & Partners.

To watch the ad, donate or join in, visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/parallellives

For more information, please contact Laura Rose: laura.rose@princes-trust.org.uk visit www.princes-trust.org.uk, or call us on 0845 177 0099

£59 Per Person

You are invited to the...

Annual Charity Ball at Wynyard Hall •Prosecco Reception •3-Course Dinner •Live Band ‘Storm’ •Resident DJ •Charity Auction

Friday 7th October, 7pm-1am Held in the Grand Marquee, the charity ball is set to be a spectacular event! You are invited to come and help raise funds for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

Every penny donated is used to enhance patient care by investing in new equipment or services to make patients’ experience more comfortable, and to support staff in caring for those patients

Wynyard Hall, Tees Valley, TS22 5NF

To Book Tickets,Visit www.wynyardhall.co.uk or Call 01740 644 811 (opt.6)

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IN ANOTHER LIFE bqlive.co.uk

Boardroom not classroom Though Jason Wainwright has more than two decades of experience in the legal sector, his plans when starting university could have led him along a very different career path from that which has taken him to managing partner of Muckle LLP, the recently acclaimed Regional Law Firm of the Year.

He’d been with Muckle 10 years before the opportunity arose, little over a year ago, to take on the managing partner position.

The boardroom, however, could easily have been the classroom, as he tells here.

“I don’t think I could’ve wished for a better journey from education through to where I am today. I believe my experiences have helped shape who I am”

I come from Rugely, a small town near Birmingham. I lived there in a council house with my mum, a factory worker, and my dad, a mechanic. I was always very academic and driven at school. That wasn’t the norm in a family where nobody had continued with education after 16 years of age. And it was very unusual at my comprehensive, too.

My interests then were in languages. That led me to study French, German and Russian at Sheffield University. My career plan was to teach English abroad, and I was lucky enough to spend the majority of my final year at university doing stints in Quebec and Russia. But after spending some of this time teaching English to local students I realised that teaching wasn’t for me.

I knew that whatever I ended up doing had to have a focus on helping people. So when I

secured a training contract with a small law firm in the West Midlands I knew straight away this was where I could best put my skills to good use.

I did a law conversion course, building up my broad law experience before realising that commercial law was where I wanted to progress my career. After working for some time in the Midlands and Sheffield, I am now in the North East thanks to my wife, who’s from Newcastle.

I’m privileged to be managing partner of the newly crowned Regional Law Firm of the Year.

It’s a very exciting time for Muckle LLP. I work alongside some incredible people and advise some fantastic business clients. I don’t think I could’ve wished for a better journey from education through to where I am today. I believe my experiences have helped shape who I am, and how I approach work and life. n

MEDIA BRIEFS Second take on what they tell us

Catherine flies the banners All credit to Catherine Johns that County Durham’s remarkable ability to attract and nurture innovative firms - banner bearers in high technology such as Kromek and PolyPhotonix is being globally recognised.

Catherine, innovation and business growth director for Business Durham (the county’s economic development company), is one of 30 global innovation leaders highlighting the growing international phenomenon of innovation areas. They’ve done this in a new publication from the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP).

In Areas of Innovation in a Global World: Concept and Practice, experts share insights, draw up essential criteria for success, share their practical experience and give results-orientated guidance for managers of areas of innovation.

Contributions come from 15 countries.

Catherine’s chapter covers the top five challenges of building AOIs. She has also coauthored a chapter on benefits to start-ups of locating in an AOI. She observes: “Our key insight is that Silicon Valley cannot be recreated, neither should it be: each AOI needs to be nuanced to its own locality, creating a niche in which it can assume leadership by building on its own particular strengths and characteristics.”

Many may feel Durham scores at the same time through its attraction of traditional manufacturing such as the railway stock fabrication Hitachi is now re-introducing to the area.

Key insights, interviews, videos and co-author introductions are available at www.areasofinnovation.com.

Minding our own business Everybody loves a trier. So we admire the team behind 24, the newspaper launched to give readers from Workington to Haltwhistle and Lockerbie to Preston a daily of their own.

It was a bold albeit vain attempt. The newest national daily newspaper, The New Day, had closed shortly before 24’s first run, after only nine weeks. But that was still three weeks longer than the Northern daily following.

Miller Hogg, the group chief executive behind 24, felt the Government’s push for devolution encouraging jobs and services to be moved from London – including many at the BBC – would bring a more “Northern-centric requirement for content” which 24 would provide for. No mention of Brexit – understandably, though, in these circumstances.

Thankfully, Carlisle based CN Group already publishes the long running News & Star evening newspaper and The Cumberland News, recently voted once more the country’s best weekly - two papers giving plenty of evidence that there’s still a public appetite for newsprint. And fortunately, for once, no jobs are lost.

Biz Quiz 1 Newcastle used to have two coal mines in Heaton. What were they called?

2 Which is the North East’s oldest construction and joinery firm, where’s it based and when was it founded?

3 Durham County Cricket Club has secured a sponsor for its one-day match shirt. Which company?

4 Will Sunderland’s new Wear Crossing under construction be taller or shorter than Big Ben’s clock tower?

5 The ampersand (&) retains its popularity in company names. Who devised it?

ANSWERS – 1 Heaton Banks Colliery and Heaton Main Colliery. 2 T Manners and Sons of Bishop Auckland, founded in 1860. 3 Port of Tyne. 4 Taller. 5 It’s commonly believed to have been Tiro, who was confidential secretary to Cicero the Roman statesman (106BC-43BC). Tiro is widely believed also to have been the world’s first shorthand writer.

BIT OF A CHAT Frank Tock’s examining the news behind the headlines Enough to drive you from drink You can’t believe the terrible damage that computerised workplaces and breathalysers have combined to wreak on our workplace friendships. A survey suggests 56% of us now never noggin in the pub with our colleagues.

That’s doubly sad coming as it does when a lady from a shirtmaker supplying the like of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan and Brad Pitt tells me also that their non-iron shirts are now the bee’s knees (well, not those words exactly). But, according to her, most ‘noniron’ shirts tend to be made with cotton fabric treated with chemicals that stiffen the fabric, whereas her company uses fabric with a natural, chemical-free solution that makes the shirts crease resistant longer. Shame that. I could have looked quite the dandy on the office block in my new shirt, going for that early evening snifter with the rest of the shift.

Each to his last

All things bright

Many of our online followers read avidly how Newcastle United midfielder Jack Colback is sponsoring Peter Mullen’s range of flavoured pease puddings made in the city. They include Cheesy Peasy, cheese flavoured obviously; Broon Ale, inspired by the beer once brewed in Newcastle; and Black and Mite, a Marmite tinge you may love or hate.

There should be further opportunities for footballers to sponsor. What about a compass manufacturer adopting this season the first Newcastle player to find the net regularly? Or for Joey Barton, blowing hot air with Rangers now, a deal with Dyson vacuums?

Janet Fay and her insurance broking colleagues (seen here) have arranged coverage for some odd valuables - from a rare tapestry valued at £50,000-plus to a PR company run from a boat, and the groundworks and grass cutting for Northumberland FA juniors.

Janet, who has run a Coversure franchise for 18 years and headed the Newcastle branch for five years, clearly gets things right because the business has expanded and relocated from outskirts of Gosforth to a central position in Lansdowne Terrace. The award-winning branch is targeting further growth of 20% over the next year in its new home.

Much of the bread and butter work lies in the fleet, restaurant and heritage buildings sectors, and with landlords. Ability to raise money for good causes locally has, in addition, earned Coversure Newcastle a national award, Coversure Community Broker of the Year.

Janet’s contribution comes from her love of swimming in lakes and open rivers to support charities such as the Calvert Trust at Kielder. She has also swollen funds for charity taking part in the Great North Swim.

Taking the biscuit Can you imagine never eating again a McVitie’s digestive or a Carr’s water biscuit? Me neither. So it’s good news that Yildiz Holdings, the Turkish buyer of United Biscuits in 2014, is giving a new name only to United Biscuits and not to the biscuits themselves.

The good people of Carlisle who make the biscuits will no doubt be pleased, likewise we who enjoy them.

Gem of a job John Harrison says it with no hesitation. He may be chief executive of Vocare the urgent medical care service now, but the best job he ever had – “beats this one” – was the couple of seasons he spent selling T shirts on Blackpool front. “A great job, that. Everybody having a happy time. Girls going past. The sun shining. Blackpool has changed since but I couldn’t think of a better job,” he declares.

And so enthusiastically we almost believe him.

“A great job, that. Everybody having a happy time. Girls going past. The sun shining”

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EVENTS

BQ’s business diary helps you forward plan

SEPTEMBER 06-08 08 15 20 21-22 28 29

BAM 16, Thriving in Turbulent Times. British Academy of Management conference, Newcastle University Business School.

Import Processes and Documents, NECC briefing, Durham County Cricket Club, 9am HR Knowledge - Dignity at Work. Durham County Cricket Club, Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, Riverside, Durham, DH3 3QR. 9:15am Customs Compliance, Processes and Documents, NECC briefing, Durham County Cricket Club, 9am Cumbria’s first nuclear conference ahead of ambitions to build the UK’s biggest nuclear plant on the site of Sellafield, at Halston Aparthotel, Carlisle, and Carlisle Racecourse RTC North Ltd Masterclass, Expanding your Export Potential, Sunderland. 9am

20

Wynyard Hall’s Charity Ball will take place on Friday October 7 from 7pm-1am. Tickets costing £59 can be booked by calling the Events Team on 01740 644811 (option 6) or visiting www.wynyardhall.co.uk/events/whats-on/ Durham Oktoberfest, Xcel Centre, Newton Aycliffe

20

Export Processes and Compliance Documents, NECC briefing, Durham County Cricket Club. 9am

21

Linking Business with Education. The King Edward VI School, Cottingwood Lane, Morpeth, NE61 1DN. www.neechamber. co.uk/events/835/linking-business-with-education. 8am

26 28

FSB Women’s North East Event, Blyth Workspace. 12 noon Introduction to marketing planning: CIM workshop for members and non-members, North East Sales and Marketing Academy, Gosforth. www.cim.co.uk/events. 01628 427 340

NECC Tees Valley Annual Dinner, Jurys Inn, Middlesbrough 6pm

OCTOBER 06

07

BQ Breakfast Live - Embracing our Digital Future, Sunderland Minster, Sunderland. 8.30 - 11am. www.bqlive.co.uk/events/bq-events/

06

International Payment Methods and Letters of Credit, NECC briefing Durham CCC 9am

07

Practical tips for becoming a non-executive director www.iod.com/connecting/events. 3 - 4:30pm

NOVEMBER 03

NECC Northumberland and Durham Annual Dinner, Civic Centre, Newcastle. 6pm

11

CECA (NE) annual dinner, Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park. £70 + VAT www.ceca.co.uk/regions/north-east/events

15

North East Top 200 awards, Stadium of Light, Sunderland Behind Scenes Tour Komatsu.

BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to plan. If you wish to add your event to the list send it to eventsdiary@bqlive.co.uk and please put ‘BQ North East & Cumbria’ in the subject heading Please check with contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Events organisers are also asked to notify us at the above email address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they are known.

KEY: Acas Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service. CIM Chartered Institute of Marketing. CECA (NE) Civil Engineering Contractors Association (North-East). EF Entrepreneurs’ Forum HMRC Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. ICAEW Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ICE Institution of Civil Engineers. IoD Institute of Directors. NCBF Northern Counties Building Federation. NEA2F North East Access to Finance. NECC North-East Chamber of Commerce. Nepic The North East of England Process Industry Cluster. NorSCA Northern Society of Chartered Accountants. NTBF North Tyneside Business Forum. FSB Federation of Small Business. Tba to be arranged Tbc to be confirmed. Tbf to be finalised. Vtbc venue to be confirmed.

The diary is updated daily online at bqlive.co.uk

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