BQ North East Issue 22 by We Are UMi

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ISSUE TWENTY TWO: SUMMER 2013

LET’S CRACK CRIME Stopping corporate criminals in their tracks DOWN BUT NEVER OUT Why taking the knocks and fighting on pays off BROADENING HORIZONS Maximising the opportunities of superfast broadband PACKING A PUNCH

How a small force has delivered big things for Newcastle

DOUBLE AGENT The chameleon careerist with two vital missions on his hands

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

NORTH EAST EDITION

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BUSINESS QUARTER: SUMMER 13: ISSUE TWENTY TWO there’s a deliberate weighting towards small business in this BQ that we hope will appeal to all our readers, given that it’s from acorns that oak trees grow - even when the earth is parched as now. there’s nigel Begg, having launched in it at the worst possible time yet coming up with six years of ever improving results. there’s Juliette middlesbrough in printing, who had to survive - and has done - every company’s nightmare of losing its main customer. And there’s Brian Palmer who is taking his original equipment design and manufacture ever onward by pushing all the right buttons advocated for manufacturing success in these trying times. All of them are recent award winners. two of our other interviewees also hold vital messages for success. Vic Young, motor dealer of that ilk, can prove with his 40 years long success story the importance of face to face relations with customers. then there’s graham howard, builder and restaurateur, who has shown how variety is not only the spice of life but also an ingredient in making you more competent in whatever else you tackle. he’s proved it by working also as an industrial scientist and a schoolteacher. enterprising Sunderland is now joining the like of newcastle, Darlington and Durham in introducing a business improvement district to benefit retailers and other traders, as well as the shopping and fun-seeking public. it will be surprising if Sunderland city centre’s appearance doesn’t improve either. A ballot has to be held in newcastle soon to decide whether ne1 Ltd should be financed for another five year term of running the BiD there. Whether or not you agree with the principle of BiDs - they are now counted in their thousands around the world - you would probably agree that central newcastle has gained greatly through its BiD to date. We interview chief executive Sean Bullick, as he canvasses for a second term, to remind ourselves of what has been achieved and what is attainable further. memo to the good business folk of middlesbrough: are you sure you made the right decision in turning down a BiD proposition there?

it’s the government’s wish that the private and public sector should continue to work more closely, and we have interviewed Alastair maccoll, chief executive of Be group, to find out how the group is proposing benefits for both sides by transfers of expertise. there are also two Live Debates for you to read in this BQ, both sending out key information for north east business. Discussions during one revealed major new inroads opening to step up innovation which, it was stressed, means something much more significant than any image of lab workers in white coats, regardless of the nature of a business. our other Live Debate emphasises the value of superfast broadband and why our region needs to reach saturation point with it quickly. in this issue also we devote two pages to our Let’s crack crime, a corporate campaign that promises savings and fewer sleepless nights to managements who are prepared to take security seriously. We hope you’ll feel at least a little bit better informed, and certainly well entertained, after reading us. Brian Nicholls Editor

CONTACTS ROOM501 LTD Christopher March managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EDITORIAL Brian Nicholls e: b.g.nicholls@btinternet.com Andrew Mernin e: andrew@room501.co.uk Ruth Lognonne e: ruth@room501.co.uk DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com kevin gibson e: info@kgphotography.co.uk SALES Heather Spacey Business Development manager e: heather@room501.co.uk Richard Binney Business Development manager e: richard@room501.co.uk or call 0191 426 6300

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.room501.co.uk room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements. All contents copyright © 2013 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, July 2013. room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

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NORTH EAST EDITION BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

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CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: SUMMER 13 TUrning gOALS inTO rESULTS

46 NO GETTING AWAY FROM VIC how Vic Young and his vehicles businesses have made their mark

Features

52 DOWN BUT NOT OUT the butcher’s daughter who took the blows but fought on regardless

56 THE RIGHT BUTTONS

meet Brian Palmer, a leader’s leader

24 SOMETHING COOKING IN CONSTRUCTION graham howard on two professions that need fairer encouragement

34 INNOVATION DEBATE What are the challenges stemming the ideas flow and how do we beat them?

40 GETTING RESULTS FAST Alastair maccoll on what’s driving the rapid emergence of the Be group

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

62 SUPERFAST IN FOCUS maximising the opportunities of new technology infrastructure

68 SMALL BUT POWERFUL Sean Bullick on ne1 Ltd’s bid to continue its influential work in newcastle

92 RINGING IN THE NEW Award winning Aspire shares the secrets of its considerable success

PrESSing THE rigHT BUTTOnS

TENTS NORTH EAST EDITION

30 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

the latest deals and developments from across the north east

LiTTLE FOrCE, Big ACHiEVEMEnT

74 WINE two bottles to cool down with during a sweltering summer of sport

Regulars

76 MOTORS An encounter with the green eyed monster for this quarter’s reviewer

80 EQUIPMENT the world is watching as colours and nostalgia dominate timepiece trends

08 ON THE RECORD Sales climb but recovery remains elusive, while Sunderland’s job market gets a lift

12 NEWS Who’s doing what, when, where and why here in the north east

22 AS I SEE IT BQ gets tough on the criminals threatening our business successes

86 FASHION

68 DOWn BUT nEVEr OUT

Why the old ways are definitely the best when it comes to artisan denim

104 BIT OF CHAT With BQ’s backroom boy Frank tock

106 EVENTS key business events for your diary happening across the north east

52 BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

ON THE RECORD

SUMMER 13

Sales climb but recovery remains elusive, Sunderland job market strengthened yet strained, Teesside tots up its financial impact, airport project is ablaze in progress, and big freeze brings 100 jobs >> Sales up, recovery elusive A quarter’s upsurge in business sales, orders and recruitment prompts the north east chamber of commerce to suggest the region is recovering. But maintaining prices is a struggle and uncertainties in europe could impede recovery. economic growth could pick up to 1.4% next year - but that’s against a predicted 2% for the uk, Pwc says. it would, however, be better than the 0.5% growth expected in 2013. unemployment in the region continues to grow (over 10%) against a declining national average (below 8%). While the region’s house prices rose 4.9% between Q3 1997 and Q1 in 2013, owners hoping to keep pace with inflation will be disappointed. Average uk house prices could top their 2007 peak before the end of 2014, but it could be nearer 2021 in real inflation-adjusted terms. Also, while almost 60% of middle aged people in the South east have garnered at least £500,000 in savings, pensions and property wealth, in the north east one in five of them have few or no assets, official stats show. Average house price in the South east: £293,000 (nearly £400,000 in London). in the north east: £144,000. inward investment and tourism income have dropped noticeably in the north east. inward investment to the english regions recently fell 24% according to ernst & Young, while London got 45% of projects. Local government Secretary eric Pickles announced £40m of support for jobs and economic growth in the regions. Business parks at redcar, hartlepool and Darlington benefit from the north east share. Fuzzwire, a Prudhoe decorator of shopping malls, is closing with 45 jobs lost. one of the region’s oldest advertising and marketing agencies, Black and White Advertising (formerly urwin garton Publicity) collapsed after 29 years. And award winning chilli sauce company, tcD Foods of haltwhistle (trees can’t Dance) ceased trading after eight years. A welcome sight though was the completion at ogn’s Wallsend Yard of a new £400m oil rig, built there from scratch.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

>> Boost for city centre

>> Jobs boom but continue to be hard to pin down

Sunderland is to get a Business improvement District (BiD). city centre businesses there have voted in favour. the city centre should now benefit from at least £3.4m investment over five years. A new BiD company running by next April will set out to give the area a cleaner, brighter, safer atmosphere, with more events, marketing and promotion - and a more vibrant evening economy. over 62% of votes cast in a council run ballot supported the BiD, representing over 67.5% of the total rateable value of all votes cast. See Newcastle BID: Page 68

the biggest rise in private sector jobs anywhere in the region is at Sunderland. Yet despite this office for national Statistics finding, actually landing a job there is still pretty tough, a separate study shows. nissan’s record-breaking Sunderland plant leads the job creation, with its local suppliers such as Vantec europe, calsonic kansei, Johnson controls, unipres uk and tacle all contributing. in two years Sunderland has welcomed around 20 private-sector investment projects, creating more than 3,500 jobs. Sunderland’s city Deal bid, aiming to bring 24,000 more jobs to the city, is being finalised. Successful bids will be announced in December.

>> County growth drive A leading uk provider of special business coaching, oxford innovation, is to deliver a Business northumberland high growth Programme, part of a £1.35m investment to spur the county’s economy. northumberland@oxin.co.uk.

>> It takes some licking european ice-cream maker r&r has been bought by French private equity group PAi Partners for around £710m. it has closed its Leeds factory, offering staff there transfers to its Leeming Bar centre.

>> Teesside tots up tees Valley unlimited has helped attract £500m of private sector investment and created or safeguarded 3,000 jobs in its area, its annual report shows. tVu, the Local enterprise Partnership for tees Valley, says that since April 2011 it has: • Secured almost £500m of private sector investment by bringing new firms into the area and boosting growth; • Created and safeguarded almost 3,000 jobs in tees Valley; • Successfully bid for more than £57m to improve infrastructure including developing local railway facilities, reducing road congestion, helping young people into work and setting up a catalyst fund; • Brought eight firms to the Tees Valley Enterprise Zone; • Secured a further £42m of Regional Growth Fund cash which, once taken up, could support another 5,000 local jobs.

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ON THE RECORD >> Firms of honour Queen’s Awards winners in the north east this year include: SmD of Wallsend, the subsea machinery maker, which has won its third enterprise award in three years; Pearson engineering of newcastle, whose international trade award marks its rise of exports to 98% of sales; Shared interest Society, the newcastle based fair trade finance organisation; Palintest, the gateshead maker of water testing kits; Berghaus and Brasher, the Sunderland outdoor clothing brands through their parent Pentland group, honoured for international trade; oil consultants, the Sunderland recruitment agency, now winning its second Queen’s Award in three years.

>> Ablaze in progress

SUMMER 13

>> Truckers go big elddis transport, named the nation’s top haulier in awards this year, has designed and developed europe’s - and possibly the world’s - longest road trailer, to raise efficiency and reduce co2 emissions. the consett firm won its national honour at the 28th motor transport Awards. Judges described elddis, under managing director nigel cook’s watch, as solid, well established and achieving strong customer retention. on the same day elddis won newcastle Building Society’s cornerstone of the community Award for its charity work.

>> Big freeze brings 100 jobs up to 100 jobs could result from ebac’s purchase of the collapsed icetech Freezers firm which will enable the newton Aycliffe manufacturer to make domestic chest freezers under the notable norfrost brand. the sevenfigure buy, which will relocate the production to county Durham from caithness in Scotland, follows icetech Freezers falling victim to the collapse of electrical retailer comet, and tougher competition from china. ebac’s managing director Pamela Petty says: “it is always sad to see a British brand in difficulties. Preserving the manufacture of norfrost products is a natural move for us.” Production is likely to start by the end of the year.

Leading the way: Caroline Cosgrove (left) and Sarah Jopling are showing how women can excel in civil engineering.

A £1m training centre newly opened at newcastle Airport makes newcastle the only city in the country where offshore energy workers can complete their firefighting training in 30 days.

>> Law firm advances Ward hadaway law firm’s turnover is up 10% to a record £33m. the firm employs more than 400 people in newcastle, Leeds and manchester. it says newcastle benefited especially from work in oil, gas and energy. the practice has been named a top law firm in PFi projects by corporate international magazine.

>> Building materials firm goes to market innovative Limeco Ltd is taking on staff and going to market home and abroad with a building material that safeguards buildings against damp and condensation. managing director Dr robin gibson has developed the product at cotherstone, near Barnard castle. hyperLime, a sustainable, carbon dioxideabsorbent material, is a low carbon alternative to cement and gypsum in mortars, plasters and renders for masonry construction.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

>> Women excel in civils hopes are growing that more young women in the north east are recognising how a once male dominated groundworks industry offers them a good career too. this year they clinched, for the first time, a majority of awards presented by the civil engineering contractors’ Association (north east). indeed Sarah Jopling, 22, a first year trainee with owen Pugh group in northumberland, was named regional trainee of the year, the top honour. She was also acclaimed most promising trainee civil engineer. Sarah, a graduate of teesside university from newby near middlesbrough, says her love of engineering grew on the family farm, where machinery was all around her. caroline cosgrove, 24 and a third year trainee with Sir robert mcAlpine Ltd in newcastle, is another winner. A graduate trainee of northumbria university who lives at horsley in northumberland, she is the region’s trainee quantity surveyor of the year. Douglas kell, director of cecA (ne) says: “ours has long been an equal opportunities industry. While female presence is already evident in offices and work sites, we hope Sarah and caroline’s examples will speed the advance.” Stephen embleton, 18, of Denton Burn, who is in his third year as an apprentice joiner with Sir robert mcAlpine Ltd, was named the regional industry’s most promising apprentice.

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SUMMER 13

Region gets major funding boost, one in and one out at NELEP, prominent firms change hands, look who’s in the money, Kromek goes shopping stateside, and recruitment group aims for a treble >> £75m boost for North East

Out and in: Lorna Moran ﬁlls a vacancy left by Fiona Cruickshank

>> Board change Fiona cruickshank has stepped down from neLeP’s board after two years, citing other commitments. (She is non-executive chairwoman at Scm Pharma, which she founded, and whose new £6m pharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility at Prudhoe has been approved for commercial production. the new 26,000sq ft site complements the firm’s nearby clinical manufacturing facility). the neLeP vacancy created has been filled, following a recruitment process, by Lorna moran, founder and chief executive of northern recruitment group.

>> Vertu dealerships mount car sales group Vertu, started in 2006, is nearing the 100 mark in its dealerships. it has acquired two Volkswagen dealerships in Lincolnshire for £3m, and opened a new site in Birmingham. it bought the Volkswagen businesses (sales £20.2m, profit £320,000) from Lookers. in Birmingham it now has a new SeAt dealership. earlier this year it bought the 65-year-old West Yorkshire firm Albert Farnell Ltd, and its three Land rover businesses. the £31m cash deal brought the gateshead group’s portfolio an asset showing £3.9m profit on £113m of sales last year. chief executive robert Forrester expects the acquisition to be earnings enhancing in its first full year. Vertu raised £50m in may through a share placement. the group has shown a 15% rise in revenue to £1.3bn in its latest full year results.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

the north east region’s economy is getting a £75m inflow under the latest state distribution of funding to local enterprise partnerships of the north east and tees Valley. Businesses will get £30m through the north east LeP (neLeP) to create and safeguard at least 2,300 jobs over 10 years in construction and infrastructure. the funding famine wreaked on the region’s infrastructure until now was highlighted recently when the independent think tank iPPr north calculated that transport spending amounted to £2,600 a head in London area - 520 times a head the £5 spend in the north east under the current national infrastructure Plan. eight of the top 10 costliest regional projects went to London and the South east, and the latest apportionment announced looks unlikely to restore totally a proportionate allocation. Durham tees Valley Airport, for example, has been unable to secure £5.9m from the regional growth Fund, which would have helped prepare 150 acres of land there for development to create up to 1,500 jobs in 10 years. Peter nears, strategic planning director for Durham tees Valley Airport, says: “We remain committed to the scheme. it’s important for the airport’s long-term prosperity.” however, a £23m parcel of improvements to roads in the north east was announced, with benefits to ovingham, Prudhoe and rothbury in northumberland, chester le Street in county Durham, and gateshead, Sunderland and north tyneside. neLeP has added the latest outcome of bidding in the regional growth Fund to its north east investment Fund, now topping £55m. the focus will be on housing, commercial and industrial property - and the infrastructure. LeP chairman Paul Woolston says: “it will help grow our international presence in offshore, automotive, digital, professional and business areas. Public and private sectors will benefit.” investment panel member Jeremy middleton says: “the fund cannot replace banks or other sources of finance. But we can take a different look at risk. Loan costs will normally be commercially attractive.” newcastle’s Stephenson Quarter has been one of the first projects helped. Schemes in Washington, central Sunderland, South Shields, chester-le-Street and on the tyne’s north riverside are also getting support. Sunderland will improve traffic flow around the A19 and A1231. it will include new infrastructure around its Low Carbon Enterprise Zone and create links in busy areas to expand its business sectors. these include new roads linking the proposed new Wear bridge with the city centre and infrastructure at the Port of Sunderland. But first it has to rethink the design of the bridge, which would have been england’s tallest but now, after eight years of planning and negotiation, turns out to be beyond the budget available. neLeP was awarded £48m for 10 projects and programmes in round 4 of the regional growth Fund. tees Valley through tees Valley unlimited, is getting £26.9m. Funding for five projects and one programme there is expected to create nearly 300 jobs and lever in private investment of £146.6m. tees Valley has now received almost £164m in total from the fund. tees Valley unlimited has launched a fund to help companies bid for work, further strengthening the local economy. tees Valley catalyst Fund is the first of its kind anywhere in the uk. it will enable tees Valley firms to bid for contracts larger than they can at present, opening up new markets and opportunities. neLeP has also been allocated £7.5m from round 4 to intensify support for small and medium sized companies. Following a £30m hand-down from round 3, a gap will now be filled in the supply of loan and equity finance to Smes. nationally, the round 4 pot was increased to £506m from the original £350m announced. this comes from recycling existing rgF money previously allocated to a project or programme whose amount of investment changed or was committed to a bid later withdrawn. out of the £350m, £314m will go directly to the private sector.

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Steel investment helps tanker company win major new contract An investment of £100,000 from UK Steel Enterprise, the Tata Steel business support subsidiary, is backing a Teesside company as it uses its expertise in the tanker sector to move into a major new market. Hutchinson Technical Services Ltd, based in Middlesbrough alongside its sister company Hutchinson Transport, decided to move into the LPG (liquid petroleum gas) market and has secured an exclusive contract with Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of LPG, to maintain its substantial domestic fleet of LPG storage tanks. Hutchinson Technical Services has doubled in size since UK Steel Enterprise first invested £50,000 in it in 2005 and this second investment has helped it purchase the specialist equipment it needs to service the LPG sector. The contract has created five new jobs to

add to the 50-strong workforce currently employed at both companies, a considerable increase on the 11 people employed in 2005. Managing director Bruce Hutchinson said: “This investment has meant that we could purchase the de-gassing, shotblasting and specialist painting equipment that we need to operate the Calor contract and others. “We have put a huge amount of time and effort into developing this new market and now it has paid off. We have a long-standing relationship with UK Steel Enterprise and this latest investment was absolutely vital to our plans. UKSE came good again, at a time when SMEs are finding it difficult to acquire investment.” Bruce Hutchinson is quick to pay tribute to his wife and fellow director Gill, his “sound” financial and management team and highly skilled workforce for all their efforts. “When

we realised the extent of the competition we were facing from China we took a calculated decision to explore new areas and not to stand still during the recession,” he said. “We have taken every opportunity to establish ourselves with premium customers and use the experience, expertise and engineering skill-set we’ve acquired to get ourselves into specialist niche markets.”

Details of UK Steel Enterprise’s support for business on 01642 777 777 and at www.uksteelenterprise.co.uk. Hutchinson Technical Services is on 01642 438 800 and at www.hutchinsontechnicalservices.com

NEWS

SUMMER 13

Port of Tyne chief executive Andrew Moffat (left) and chairman Sir Les Elton, show shipping minister Stephen Hammond round a successful port.

>> Port of prosperity Port of tyne has achieved record financial results for a third year running - with turnover up to £63m in 2012 and pre-tax profits of £12m. Shipping minister Stephen hammond, on a visit to the port - officially the uk’s fastest growing - was told it also remains the uk’s main car exporting point (sixth in europe). it is europe’s leading importer of wood pellet. cargo volumes have more than doubled to 6.5m tonnes since 2009. turnover is up more than 50% to £63m (increasing pre-tax profit fourfold) and the port now holds the north east Business of the Year accolade. the minister described the port’s future plans as impressive.

>> Firms change hands two outstanding north east firms have changed hands - Pyeroy group and hardy & greys. Alnwick based hardy, whose lightweight rods and other fishing gear have been favourites with royalty and famous names for 140 years, has been sold to a uS company as has its subsidiary hardy Advanced composites. the buyer is Pure Fishing inc, one of the world’s biggest in the business, for an unstated amount. hardy, Alnwick’s most prestigious manufacturer, has reduced staff in recent years to 100 as global competition has stiffened. it switched

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

some manufacturing abroad. But it is expected business there will continue. it was originally acquired from the hardy family by harris & Sheldon group, a coventry investment firm, in 1967. Besides acquiring the brands itself, it set up subsidiaries in germany and the uSA. it developed the world’s first carbon fibre rod. Working with cambridge university and 3m it has since introduced rods made from a new Sintrix carbon fibre material. hardy Advanced composites supplies advanced composite blanks for the rods, also composite tubes for defence, medical, sporting and consumer markets. harris & Sheldon has wanted out of manufacturing even though hardy & greys contributed £13.4m to group turnover in 2011 - up from £12.8m previously. Financial specialists from grant thornton and Ward hadaway lawyers in newcastle advised on the sale, which harris & Sheldon had been hoping to achieve since last october. Pure Fishing has operations in a score of countries. owner Jarden corporation bought the firm in 2007, combining it with the coleman company. meanwhile Pyeroy, the gateshead based coatings specialist employing 1,800 at eight sites in the uk and ireland, is now part of the Wood group, an Aberdeen offshore global operator. Pyeroy will still be led by its current managing director hugh Pelham. he says: “Joining Wood group will enable us to offer broader services.” Started in 1973, Pyeroy works in coatings and engineering support for the offshore, defence and rail industries. it is noted for painting warships and the Forth railway bridge. Pre-tax earnings in 2012 were £88.9m. this year it opened an office in Aberdeen.

>> Bedlington boost the launch of a new base in Bedlington has enabled Scottish haulage specialist grampian continental to achieve 50% of its annual sales target in six months, putting it four years ahead of its business plan and on track to hit £20m turnover by 2015. Sales director gavin murray says: “We were confident a gap existed in the north east for a specialist oil and gas transporter.”

>> Clients drive the deal the completed merger of Dickinson Dees and Bristol law firm Bond Pearce has created a new law firm, Bond Dickinson, with a combined London office. managing partner Jonathan Blair says their new operation, with 1,200 staff including 142 partners, in eight uk offices, was a merger “driven by clients.”

>> Hargreaves harvest hargreaves Services, the uk’s leading supplier of solid fuels and bulk material logistics, has acquired for £8.4m, assets from the liquidators of Scottish coal, including five working mines and wind farm projects. the Durham group is prepared to invest up to £15m. it has also bought for £5m the debt of Aardvark, which was in administration. owned by Ath resources of Doncaster, Aardvark has opencast mines in Scotland. hargreaves has already saved more than 200 jobs at two Ayrshire sites. energy services group hargreaves has sold some coalmine methane assets at maltby colliery in a deal worth up to £7.5m. the esh Winning firm agreed the sale with Alkane energy of nottingham.

>> Castle caterer Leanne mchugh of LoveFood and rebecca coates of Auckland castle enjoy a LoveFood picnic in the castle grounds. Leanne, 26, is managing director of the corporate and events catering specialist in locally sourced produce, chosen to run the newly opened cafe in the castle which is now emerging as a visitor destination. the newcastle caterers was set up in 2009 by Leanne, 26, director mark garry and executive chef, Jonathan Wardale. the Auckland castle trust has received initial support of £1m from the heritage Lottery Fund towards a £17m transformation of the castle led by multimillionaire Jonathan ruffer, who described his ambitions in the previous issue of BQ.

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16/07/2013 11:22

NEWS

SUMMER 13

>> £50m deal likely... kilfrost, the north east’s global leader in de-icing and anti-icing products, has signed a memorandum of understanding that could bring around £50m worth of business over five years. the deal proposed is with Asana city in kazakhastan. more talks will follow, but further growth looks certain.

>> ...and £50m bagged offshore cable maker Duco has brought to tyneside work for nigeria worth at least £50m.

>> Picture of success Deepocean uk, the Darlington based arm of Deepocean group, has acquired a half share in 3D sonar visualisation company Adus to form Adus Deepocean. Adus’s recent work has included surveying the wreck of the oil rig Deepwater horizon in the gulf of mexico, the grounded cruise ship costa concordia in italy, and the cargo ship rena which sank off New Zealand.

>> Sky high recruits Sky tV is creating 350 new jobs at its newcastle contact centre following Sky’s recent acquisition of o2 and Be’s consumer broadband.

>> Going Dutch LV Shipping, part of the Dutch owned LV group based in middlesbrough, has taken a permanent presence at Sunderland’s’ reviving port, whose recent visitors include maersk responder (above).

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

Double your money: Alasdair Greig says every £1 attracts £2 more

>> They’re in the money £££ - ibex innovations, the Sedgefield specialist in x-ray technology, has £1m of new investment to support an expansion (second round of funding from the Finance for Business north east Proof of concept Fund – managed by northstar Ventures – with the balance of the £1m total from an unnamed corporate investor). £££ - Propeller holdings, a gateshead specialist in inventory tracking, expects to expand into europe after securing £200,000 ( £200,000 equity investment from FW capital in follow-up to £750,000 from the same source earlier) £££ - Dyer engineering the Annfield Plain precision machine manufacturer is investing £2.5m into centralising on one site and perhaps recruiting 60 more workers (£651,000 grant from the regional growth Fund). £££ - Brickwork Services is investing £100,000 to expand and create 40 jobs, taking the workforce at hartlepool to 210 (from uk Steel enterprise). £££ - turbo Power Systems, the gateshead electric motor manufacturer, is effecting an £8m investment plan for global growth and creating more than 150 jobs over three years (£1.1m from the regional growth Fund, the balance from its Brazilian majority shareholder). £££ - inpipe Products of newton Aycliffe, which sells 84% overseas, has secured a £500,000 cash injection four months after an mBo. (FW capital). £££ - glythera Ltd, specialist in biological therapeutics and vaccines, - and a Bath university spinout relocated to newcastle - has secured £700,000 additional to £600,000 before to develop a new generation of biological therapeutics (iP group and Finance for Business north east technology Fund). northstar Ventures is about to mark its ninth birthday knowing it has invested £75m in more than 400 small and medium sized businesses across the north east since it was set up in newcastle in 2004. Director Alasdair greig says the investment has helped create more than 1,600 jobs, and every northstar £1 attracted £2 more on top for the Smes. A new £2.4m fund to boost growth among Smes in the north east has been launched by business support group entrust. Social incubator north, a £2m incubator fund, has been launched at Sheffield university to encourage firms across the north of england with a “social backbone.”

ONLINE: Get the latest North East business news delivered to your desk every morning by subscribing to our new daily alert, BQ Breakfast. www.bq-magazine.co.uk

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

A fresh perspective on events Fresh Element started out as a small outside catering company born from a university project. In the coming months Directors Andy Ross and Pete Hunt will be celebrating five years as BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art’s exclusive hospitality partner coordinating events for the international art gallery and running Six restaurant and BALTIC Café Bar. With its full licensed bar and private outdoor balcony, BALTIC’s River Terrace is the ideal space to entertain guests. This room is great space for dinners, networking events and parties and can be creatively furnished to accommodate small conferences and breakfast meetings. Why not take full advantage of the terrace with a BBQ from the outdoor grill – a fantastic alternative to a formal sit down dinner.

When you hire Level 1, the whole floor in exclusively yours for the duration of the hire – this includes a large performance space, 56-seat cinema, two break out rooms, a welcome area and private reception area with views looking out over Newcastle. For events that require a blank canvas or studio style space, then Level 1 Performance Space is perfect. With its white walls and pine wood floors it can be dressed to impress with lighting from the over head rig. Previous events have included car launches, fashion shows and TV broadcasts. If you’re looking for a space which can accommodate a large seated audience, tiered seating is also available, transforming the room for conferences and seminars. The cinema is ideal for playing showreels, promotional films and movies and a space known as The Cube can be transformed into a break out area for

delegates or used for storage. For dining events for up to 35 people of more, ask about Six’s Private Dining experience where your menu is served in Level 5 on an evening. All events are specially coordinated for each client by the Fresh Element Events Team. A dedicated coordinator will assist you with the delivery of your event from start to finish ensuring that planning your event is stress-free and easy.

To find out more about events at BALTIC contact Fresh Element on 0191 440 4949 or email info@freshelement.co.uk

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NEWS

SUMMER 13

>>Words and figures

>> Power and glory

WS holdings, owner of Alnwick’s eclipse translations, has acquired PharmaQuest, an oxfordshire translation firm, for £2.3m.

teesside’s px group is to run the world’s largest fat-fuelled power station - a job expected to raise its turnover 10% to around £70m. the deal estimated at £50m over 20 years involves the station being built at Beckton, east London.

>> Coal haul Around a million more tons of coal may be extracted from surface mines at Shotton, northumberland, and Brenkley Lane, newcastle, if an application by Banks mining succeeds. the sites have been worked since 2008 and 2010. Banks also wants to opencast at Widdrington.

>> Markets lift growing export opportunities in Brazil, india and china are enabling South tyneside manufacturing engineers Ford to set a turnover target of £15m by 2016. company owner geoff Ford makes the prediction following record sales of £11m this year.

>> TAG staffs up tAg energy Solutions at Billingham has more than quadrupled its workforce to 130 following the award of a contract to provide monopiles and transition pieces for the humber gateway offshore wind farm.

>> ‘Emerging’ star the first north east firm to enlist on the stock exchange for five years has shown a 44% leap in profits during its last half year and is taking on another 150 staff. the South Shields energy and utilities consultancy utilitywise, founded by geoff thompson, has acquired a Leicester water specialist, Aqua Veritas consulting, and for £15.5m the energy information centre of redditch and Bury St edmunds. the company also won the “emerging” award in the ernst & Young entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

>> US purchase kromek the Sedgefield based x-ray scanning specialist in security needs, spun out originally from Durham university, has acquired a uS company in the same field endicott interconnect Detection and imaging Systems of Pennsylvania.

>> High life: An expert with a head for heights (above) works on St Paul’s cathedral in London. he’s with Stone technical Services of Darlington. Stone has done various work there over a 20 year period.

>> Dry run for City eco Ad, a Stockton firm selling waterless urinals, may float on the stock market by 2018. never needing flushing, the urinals can save up to 150,000 litres of water a year.

>> Law school opened A new £7m Law School building doubling previous space has opened at Durham university, which stands fourth in the uk for world-leading and internationally excellent research in law.

>> No Mere Mortal David Jeffries, who founded mere mortals digital group in newcastle, now heads Digitalcity innovation and graduate enterprise at teesside university.

>> Ashington to Texas

Tekmar CEO James Ritchie (left) and Mark Henderson, head of sales & marketing outside the company’s facility in County Durham.

>> A favourable wind Subsea technology firm tekmar is creating 30 jobs as it invests £1m to more than treble the size of its newton Aycliffe headquarters.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

Ashington based moffat 2000, which designs and fabricates pipeline products for offshore and subsea markets, has been bought by texas firm Forum energy technologies. moffat exports 80% of product from Ashington. in 2007 the American group bought rB Pipetech of cramlington, which continues to operate. moffat employs 50 under managing director John thompson.

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Choosing the right adviser Forbes magazine recently ran a survey of 20 entrepreneurs asking them on average how many hours they worked in a week. The numbers ranged from 50 to more than 100, with the majority stating at least 60 hours. These are well known facts and, as any entrepreneur will testify, are simply part of the job. However, with so little time left, personal financial management and ongoing planning is likely to be pushed to one side. The obvious route therefore is to use professional advisers, a team who can guide you along the path, saving precious time by raising the important issues and highlighting the opportunities that should not be missed. If this holds true, the advisers you choose become vitally important. Choose the wrong people and not only will you lose valuable time, you may also miss fundamental opportunities. Choose the right advisers and you’ll receive the best advice at the right time, throughout life. This is why our client advisers are experts in understanding the areas that are most important to our clients, and why our clients continually choose UBS to fill the role of their trusted adviser. A role we pride ourselves of fulfilling for all our clients. Our mandate is to talk to our clients about key areas which are likely to cause issues and opportunities they do not have the time to seek out or require advise upon. These key areas include: • Financial health and Estate planning • Understanding and addressing risks • Structuring and managing investments • Utilising tax shelters • Monitoring investment performance Understanding these areas means that we continually consider the intricacies associated with in-depth planning and the issues faced by our clients and their family. Changes in legislation affecting gifting allowances, investment options and exit strategies are considered in relation to each individual’s situation and appropriate action taken before any adverse effects can be felt. One of the most important areas we consider

Aidan Dunstan, Regional Head North East, UBS Wealth Management.

consistently for our clients is how our advice could be affected by tax. Whilst tax is an unavoidable part of life, controlling when and how it is paid using well-known tax wrappers is a vital part of investment planning. Investment wrappers would include pensions and ISAs, which can be effectively used to hold a wide array of assets. Understanding the options from both an investment and a strategic point of view is vital if these wrappers are to be successful. We believe that good performance can only arise with a structured, robust and disciplined investment process. For us the process begins with our Wealth Management Chief Investment Office where our strategists analyse global data from a network of economists and researchers to compile our house view. This filters to our local investment management teams who align these views within our clients’ portfolios. By starting with a big picture view and drawing on our global capabilities, we are able to apply diversification across asset classes, regions and sectors. Expertise in these areas is vital. Building successful long term planning takes time, so we

ensure that we are talking to our clients and future clients today, tomorrow and over the long term. It is also our responsibility to remind you that the price and value of investments and income derived from them can go down as well as up. You may not get back the amount you originally invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Market Supervisory Authority in Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, UBS AG is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of our regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority are available from us on request. The information contained herein is intended for the sole purpose of information and is not intended as an offer, or a solicitation of an offer to make any investment. Although all information expressed was obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to its accuracy or completeness. Investments may be subject to market fluctuations, the price and value of investments and the income derived from them can go down as well as up. You may not get back the amount you invest. It must be noted that past performance is not a reliable indication of future returns. UBS does not give tax advice and you should consult your independent tax adviser for specific advice before entering into or refraining from entering into any investment.

For further information please contact any member of our local team on 0191 211 1000. You should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

NEWS

SUMMER 13

>> Going for a treble exclusive, a recruitment and human resources consultancy, is getting five figure backing in its aim to treble turnover in three years. Set up in 2007 by managing director mark ions, the company works from newcastle, Aberdeen and Leeds. the working capital is coming from neL Fund managers via the Finance For Business north east growth Fund.

Looking in: Councillor Paul Watson (left), leader of Sunderland City Council, with John Swanepoel, quality engineering director of Argus Powerbend, during a visit to the factory.

>> Investors gain the northern investors company, a private equity investment trust now winding down, has returned £25.4m in cash to shareholders. the newcastle business is managed by nVm Private equity. Last December, the company returned £12.8m to shareholders. Wind-down is expected to be largely completed by march 2017.

>> Pastures green green power generator estover energy is promising up to 140 new jobs with its £80m renewable energy investment enabling Aesica Pharmaceuticals, among others, to shrink its carbon footprint at cramlington. estover is building a power and heat biomass plant there.

>> Exporter extreme guardian marine testing, of redcar, was overall winner in north east exporter of the Year Awards. it has more than doubled sales in a year, 99.3% of them in export. the five-yearold company with 40 staff uses a new system to test fuelling systems aboard ships.

>> Clean sweep Self-starter martin Ferguson is to add 80 more to his window cleaning workforce of 100 at mJF cleaning Services in Darlington. Besides refurbishing there, the firm plans to open an office near the m62. Sights are set on increasing sales by £1m yearly for the next five years.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

>> Export powered major export wins in europe, Brazil and india are enabling Sunderland manufacturer Argus Powerbend to invest more than £500,000 in new machinery and technology. customers include caterpillar, JcB, Johnson controls and John Deere. its end products include hydraulic pipelines, car seat components, medical equipment and structural parts for tractors, trucks and construction machines. established in 1978 as Dunlop Powerbend, the company was bought by internal management in 2005. the group’s head office is in Salisbury.

>> Newsmakers Simon hamilton has been appointed managing director of uk Steel enterprise, the businesssupport subsidiary of tata Steel. hamilton, 44 and previously regional manager for ukSe in the north of england and Scotland, has been with uk Steel enterprise nearly 16 years. educated in his home town of Darlington and at Durham university, he is widely experienced also in business banking. he is based in Sheffield. > Dave Laws chief executive of newcastle international Airport, is now president of the north east chamber of commerce. > malcolm cooke, 22, an apprentice at SW Durham training in newton Aycliffe, has won the craft skills award given by the British constructional Steelwork Association. A trainee welder at South Durham Structures in Bishop Auckland, he comes from guisborough.

>> QUOTE OF THE QUARTER

It would be interesting to know how remuneration consultants work, and what proportion of their reports say their chief executive is overpaid. I bet it isn’t a very high percentage that do who are doing the job the next year - Sir Michael Darrington, who led Greggs bakery chain for 24 years before retiring, and who has set up a Pro Business against Greed campaign, quoted in Business Reporter.

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AS I SEE IT

SUMMER 13

Guarding your business Security expert Hal Rose joins BQ’s campaign against corporate crime with some invaluable advice Businesses in these tough times continue to seek cutbacks and savings. At the same time though, a spike of business frauds, hack-ins and plain old fashioned thefts is proving a greater than ever threat to companies’ stability. And the boss who skimps on safeguards, far from ensuring the future for his or her staff, may be digging a financial grave for all of them. the home office’s first ever research into crime against business (2012 commercial Victimisation Survey) published this year, estimates that around 9.2m crimes against businesses interviewed had occurred in 12 months prior to the interview. Almost half (46%) of interviewees had suffered at least one of the main crime types covered by the survey. thefts were the most common (6.8m), making up 74% of all the incidents. So business security, perhaps more than ever before, is paramount. it needs to be reviewed, invested in and upgraded regularly. employees also need to be briefed regularly on the importance vigilance plays in safeguarding their jobs. While computer hacking tends to make headlines, burglary remains the second highest incidence of business crime reported to police. Attempted burglary comes fifth and thefts by employees figure highly too. consider the impact a sudden theft of all of your it equipment will have in terms of downtime, lost data, client management, staff distress, and the expense and time needed to repair physical security. to protect stock, valuables, cash, office equipment and - more importantly

It is vital to pass security protocol on to all employees

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

people, businesses will benefit from regular security reviews that ensure adequate measures are in place. reviewing security is about knowing a building’s function, then optimising safeguards around it. Start from outside in. check doors and windows for faults, broken locks, weak frames and damage. if need be, replace them immediately. review gates, fences and grilles to ensure they’re in good repair. to boost security, consider window grilles, fences, electronic access entry systems, cctV, fogging systems and alarms. next, consider how to regulate access. restricted or patented keys can’t be copied without providing proof of ownership. So only official keys are in circulation and as long as you can account for all keys you can ensure that no-one has unauthorised access. if even one key goes missing, or there’s concern over a breach in security, a lock can be reconfigured and new keys issued. this is an ideal solution for ensuring keys aren’t copied while in the hands of employees or visitors. master key systems also work well in business, with one key opening all locks in a set, and others opening select locks. this works particularly well in large buildings split into departments or in smaller firms. Such systems enable select personnel to enter all areas but limit access of others to authorised areas. electronic access in the form of fobs, digital locks, video entry, keypads and swipe cards are cost effective and a simple way to manage different areas and prevent unauthorised entry. electronic access can also help firms comply with the Disabled Discrimination Act (DDA) and meets employee “duty of care” responsibilities by enabling safe access. Before you store sensitive data, valuable stock or money, what security measures are in place to protect it? Would high quality secure storage

Let’S crAck crime cabinets help protect valuables? is a safe room required? Are dangerous or sensitive materials stored correctly? is a safe needed for valuables? Finally, it is vital to pass security protocol on to all employees. As security products are evolving, health and safety regulations are changing and responsibilities are growing. Seek advice from a trusted and reputable security expert - such as a member of the master Locksmiths Association (mLA) on which security measures to install. Hal Rose runs Cathedral Lock and Safe Services and also chairs the Master Locksmiths Association in the North East. n

SUMMER 13

AS I SEE IT

Is your firm safe from attack? Latest losses from corporate fraud and cyber crime underline the urgent need for companies to step up vigilance, writes Brian Nicholls rising corporate fraud and cyber crime stresses the need for firms to take up BQ’s campaign for greater vigilance. Fraud cases nationally totalled £516m in the first half of this year - up over a third on the previous period last year. Average value of cases jumped from £2.8m to £3.5m, kPmg reports. Professional criminals are the biggest perpetrators with supply chain frauds mainly, at £61m (up from under £1m in 2012). crown courts in the north east dealt with 10 fraud cases involving £100,000 or more in the first half of this year. the £7.7m involved, fortunately, is a trend-bucking drop of more than 40% on last year’s comparable. But the misery suffered is no less. cases included a family led gang, with more than 53 associates, several of whom were jailed for a £3m insurance fraud involving staged car accidents in a “cash for crash” scam. Sara Smith, of kPmg’s newcastle forensic practice, says: “While the back end of last year saw a resurgence of traditional con-artistry, fraud cases have now turned a darker corner. the increase in corruption of supply chains has been marked. While procurement functions seek to do relevant due diligence checks on potential suppliers, fraudsters are increasingly smart at circumvention. organisations must make the most of numerous data sources available and overlay that with information they have on a third party they plan to deal with.” Fraud against investors is also soaring, with frauds totalling £74m coming to court so far this year. Smith says: “honest investors are being defrauded by people seeking ways to maintain lifestyles at a time when pensions, traditional investments and incomes are being squeezed.” Amid growing concern about cyber crime - some 65% of north east businesses a year suffer attack now - small and medium-size businesses should consider bidding for up to £5,000 to improve cyber security, newcastle based accountants robson Laidler LLP suggest.

the government’s technology Strategy Board has extended an innovation Vouchers scheme under which Smes can draw from a £500,000 fund to invest in outside experience. however, the grant is only available to firms working with a new technology supplier for the first time and that don’t already have internal expertise in cyber security. the Department for Business, innovation and Skills has, however, published new guidance to help all Smes ensure that cyber security against hacking and other threats enters their business management procedures. About 86% of all small businesses nationally are estimated last year to have reported at least one breach in cyber security - 10% up year on year. graham Purvis, partner at robson Laidler, says: “cyber security is necessary to ensure future growth. the government’s offer to Smes is a small but meaningful step.” Simon Langley, senior manager in cyber security at business advisors Pwc, warns that cyber security is no longer only an it challenge. Business leaders, he says, must ensure they are protecting what is most critical to their organisation’s growth and reputation. involvement of senior management is all the more important since a significant lack of skilled workers is hampering the fight against cyber crime, the institution of engineering and technology says. threats loom from inside as well as out. A BiS survey has indicated that, among north east firms checked out, 81% had suffered staff related incidents and 65% misuse of email access. the survey for Pwc suggests all Smes questioned had seen loss or misuse of confidential information amounting to an average 6% of turnover. Asam malik, risk assurance director at Pwc in newcastle, says: “Businesses in the north east, like elsewhere in the uk, face ever more advanced threats from unauthorised outsiders.”And matthew Fell, cBi’s director for competitive markets, points out: “cyber attacks are damaging the very

networks critical to how they interact and do business. Firms really must treat cyber security as a daily business risk. Besides beefing up systems and internal staff processes, they should ensure their technology and software is robust and up-to-date.” managements are being advised by one firm of security experts to ask themselves: What tools and processes do we have to safeguard our sensitive information? Are we monitoring our networks to detect advanced targeted attacks? Do we know how best to respond if we become aware of a breach in our security? one British firm alone lost more than £800m in revenue last year through a sophisticated cyber attack, says Jonathan evans, head of mi5. not only was intellectual property lost but also commercial disadvantage in contractual negotiation. “What’s going on is astonishing,” he warns. n

Telephones too Fraudsters are attacking phones as well as computers. hijacking phone lines to route illegal calls could cost Smes thousands of pounds, north east experts in telecommunications warn.“Phreaking”, or dial through fraud, is the uk’s fastest growing deception, with gangs targeting telephone lines and phone systems out of normal office hours mainly, hoping the calls will go undetected. emma mitchell, customer support officer at odyssey Systems in Stockton, stresses: “Since firms whose systems are hacked like this are responsible for all call charges incurred, it is important for the security of systems to be assessed. “the thousands of pounds that phreaking may cost a business is often irrecoverable. many of the gangs strike from overseas and few businesses are aware the crime even exists. they also target mobile phones, through malicious apps.” more than £1bn is understood to have been phone-scammed from uk businesses and organisations.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

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BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

SUMMER 13

ENTREPRENEUR

in association with

Something cooking in construction A restaurateur banging the drum for the construction industry? Yes, but Graham Howard's more than a restaurateur. He's a chameleon careerist - scientific assistant turned teacher, turned building boss, turned bistro owner. Besides running the fashionable Howard's restaurant giving Mediterranean ambiance on the cobblestones of College Square in Stokesley, he's starting a two year term as president of Northern Counties Builders' Federation, and campaigning on behalf of members who unanimously elected him in their wish to sponsor more financial incentives for young people entering construction.

more often likened to Richard Branson. I've changed my hairstyle now but when Branson was buying businesses to turn into Virgin Hotels I was feted at a superb hotel in Spain. I was pampered with a beautiful meal that had all the works - flambeed strawberries at the table and all that, the maitre d' looking after us personally. "As we were leaving he brought out all the kitchen staff and lined them up, about 20 of them, and we shook hands, my wife and I, with all of them. I don't know whether other customers there had suggested it. But back at the local bar I was told it was widely thought I was Branson. The maitre d' probably thought

Howard is something of a rarity: someone with insights, both as a former academic and as an owner of two companies, about what motivates young people. A mystery of current academia and training he's determined to solve, is why universities, colleges and training organisers are slow to take up his federation's offer to finance more awards that he says will help young people to raise their self-esteem and standing within the industry. Recently the federation has supported popular schools competitions to model a river crossing and an Olympic stadium (both competitions won by Wellfield Community School, Wingate). Earlier it backed a poster design competition to

Cooking and building can equally delight and both skills deserve fairer encouragement, Graham Howard tells Brian Nicholls Should he greet you at Howard's, you may feel reminded by his orderly hairstyle and neatly trimmed grey beard of a very slimmed down Richard Griffiths, the award winning actor from just up the road at Thornaby. You may remember Griffiths died earlier this year having impressed his talents into the memories of television viewers who enjoyed his Pie in the Sky series. Griffiths as Henry Crabbe combined police detection with running a restaurant. Howard combines running a restaurant with running A Howard and Sons, a long running family firm of builders at Domesday mentioned Brotton in Cleveland, a coastal village that once bred ironstone miners. "Yes, yes, yes," Howard laughs. "I well understand the similarity you mention. But I'm

I was sussing the place out to buy. I still laugh about that." His laughter is hearty too when he suggests he was one of the few, if not the only, baby born in the old Cleveland Cottage miners' hospital in Brotton. It reminds him from his day one, literally, that being indispensible at work holds rewards. He recalls: "My grandma was a cook there and had asked for leave because in 1947 lots of babies were born at home. She planned time off to look after my mother and me. But then they told her: 'We can't have you going Aida - we can't do without your cooking.' She said: 'Well, the only thing you can do is give our Violet a bed in here.' They did. So the food still got cooked and my mother and I got looked after."

raise awareness among schoolchildren of the perils of playing on building sites. It also laid on an escorted tour of the House of Commons as part of the winner's prize on that occasion. Besides its broader financial support for the annual Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards, it sponsored the Young Achiever of the Year prize, won by Thomas Coneely of JK Property Consultants in Newcastle. Coneely learned coincidentally he could also call himself a chartered surveyor, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors having confirmed his pass in professional competence at first attempt - a feat only 40% of candidates achieve. Howard, citing how more jobs have had to be shed relatively in the North East than elsewhere, says: "Thomas is the sort of >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

ENTREPRENEUR young person deserving encouragement. “Awards can particularly benefit young people in times like these when young folk mustn't be left to feel they're treading water, and when for all of us a little financial encouragement is always very welcome." Yet, he regrets the fact that the federation, in trying to engage with young people, has met difficulty in getting through to the recognised institutions and training establishments. "i don't understand it. it's as if the training establishments - the colleges and universities are frightened of the money we offer. "We'll welcome approaches on this because we see a good future for the industry once this downturn's over. construction produces adaptable people. experiences in it are life fulfilling at all levels, people you meet as well. there's great job satisfaction." howard himself came relatively late to the industry. he was 38 when he took over the family building business. in his youth he'd passed the 11-plus at Brotton and gone on to guisborough grammar School for A levels and onc certificates. "i worked in ici laboratories for two and a half years in the 1960s as a scientific assistant in the nylon works. But i've worn various hats. i firmly believe you have to keep options open. i thought i'd like to give teaching a try. "if you had qualifications to train for teaching then, you could teach as an unqualified supply teacher, like teachers' assistants they've brought back now. You got on-job training for a week then were put under a mentor in a school. i went to South Bank Primary and was given a class a week later with another teacher watching me. "i decided 'that's for me'. i went to Bede college at Durham university for formal qualifications. i intended to use my main subjects, chemistry and biology. But i enjoyed the primary education much better. So i concentrated on that then taught at primary schools. i taught at Brotton and Saltburn for nearly 15 years." "having been a teacher, and a chairman of governors until four years ago, explains why i’m still interested in education. i'd been interested in construction as a student too. As a lad i'd always helped my father. When he died in 1982 i couldn't bear to see our >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

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Hands-on work pays twice over graham howard says whatever he’s worked at he’s enjoyed. “i wouldn’t do it otherwise. Sometimes you think: ‘Dear me...’ You get out of the problems though.” he’s enjoyed particularly taking the building firm to another level and surviving what’s now its second experience of recession. Building gives pleasure he and his fellow federation members want to share with young people. “there’s satisfaction in seeing something completed,” he suggests. “i got it when i was young. i see after all this time houses my father built. tradesmen who also worked on them can look and say: ‘i’m part of that.’ he also enjoys the contrast in building and restaurant customers. “in the bistro you meet and chat with more everyday people. then you talk to building customers in a different way, whether you’re building their house, an extension or just doing repairs.” entirely different markets with an entirely similar problem presently: namely a lack of opportunity because of banks. “construction and hospitality are both no, nos with them,” he complains. “Yet both are big employers. Fantastic advances in construction and catering still exist. But you need people to deliver. “unfortunately, the government doesn’t realise either that if people are working in these hands-on sectors money comes back to it through tax and national insurance payments. this government does now recognise the importance of infrastructure, yet overdrafts are still nigh impossible to get for it, whereas you need overdrafts because everyone recently has been living off their fat and now there’s no fat left. “When banks say no-one’s coming forward to borrow money it’s because you got rebuffed before so don’t bother again. interest charges and setting-up fees are astronomical and you can’t get those charges onto the price of the job.” By employing 16 restaurant staff and seven in construction (26 in better times) the howards know they’re still giving work to people who’ll put their wages back into the local community, while pleasing the customer. if that’s not being in it all together, what is?

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COMPANY PROFILE

A new beginning for region’s super school Central Newcastle High School and Church High began an incredible journey together earlier this year when they announced their plans to merge. Here Hilary French, headmistress of Central Newcastle High School and future head of Newcastle High School for Girls, reflects on the first half of 2013 and looks forward to the emergence of a new super school for girls in the North East. This time last year I was contemplating how to combine my work as headmistress at Central Newcastle High School with my presidency of the Girls’ School Association which was due to commence in January 2013. Add in the decision to merge two leading girls’ schools and the result has been a busy schedule that has taken me all over the country. 2013 has been the most rewarding of my career so far and it has been a privilege to see the Central High girls thrive and excel and to meet and start to get to know the girls, parents and staff at Church High. This year I have also had the honour of representing many of the independent girls’ schools in the country as the president of the Girls’ School Association – a role which gives me a national voice to speak out for girls and their education. In the North East, we are in the fortunate position, with the support of the Girls’ Day School Trust, to be establishing the most innovative school in the region – Newcastle High School for Girls. Although girls outperform boys at all levels and more women than men go to university, the pay gap in the UK is still 14.9%, there are only three female CEOs in FTSE 100 companies and twice as many men than women are self-employed. I believe we will only challenge gender stereotyping when we are brave enough nationally to take a truly radical approach to schooling. In Newcastle, we are going to do just that. Each year, Central High and Church High send 18-year-olds out into the world ready to take on the challenges of university and work – girls who are confident and have had the opportunity to learn and develop leadership skills. These characteristics are representative of girls who have had the time to grow and develop in an

We are establishing the most innovative school in the region.

environment free of gender stereotypes and the pressures linked to conforming to them. Our new school will push the boundaries further, helping girls to develop resilience, determination and strength of character. The girls will learn to be flexible, enabling them to apply the range of skills across the curriculum not just in discrete subject areas. By creating an environment without limits to learning, the girls will be able to challenge themselves and demonstrate their full potential and capability. With a strong ethos and innovative curriculum comes the requirement for outstanding resources and in March we opened new facilities at Chapman House which will become the junior school for Newcastle High School for Girls. The junior school has been designed around its creative curriculum and the results are incredibly impressive. We are now starting work on the development of the surrounding five acres of

grounds to create a world of outdoor learning. Next on the agenda is to build a senior school that matches the requirements of the Newcastle High School for Girls Senior School curriculum. Designs are currently being drawn up and the facilities will be exceptional. As a historian, I often ponder on how the past shapes the future and it is cause for much discussion as we finalise the planning for Newcastle High School for Girls. The school will, of course, have the Central High and Church High heritage at its heart and will draw from its combined history spanning 250 years. What a powerful resource! We have yet to establish traditions for Newcastle High School for Girls but they will echo all that is excellent from our founding schools. Although we will not become Newcastle High School for Girls until September 2014, the next step is the eagerly anticipated launch of our new brand and colour scheme this September. Our open days take place on 5th October (juniors) and 9th November (seniors) and will give parents a full vision of our future and what it means for their daughters. Yes, it has been a busy year but it is one that has been driven by the excitement of providing an outstanding educational experience for the girls of this region, both now and in the future.

For more information about Newcastle High School for Girls go to www.newcastlehigh.gdst.net or contact Miss Julia Howe, Admissions Manager, on 0191 2016511.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

ENTREPRENEUR Bright future: Young people like Coneely deserve encouragement

Where doors stay open From his own experience, graham howard tells parents worried about their children not wanting to go to university: “Don’t force them. the doors of education are always open. they can always go back to it if they wish.” then, he suggests, they’ll see life differently, and positively. “i still say teachers shouldn’t be allowed to train before at least two years in the outside world - not going round it but in some worthwhile job. they’ll then understand what they’re educating children for. “that’s what’s wrong too with this government and the one before. We’ve lost mature mPs who once came through the ranks. i’m flexible about politics - but i think that’s where it’s all gone wrong. “many teachers who taught the likes of me had done national service and had a different perspective on life. how can you pass experience on to young minds if you haven’t had it? You won’t have the conviction. For all their bravado, young people now lack confidence. it’s amazing, when you talk to them, how insular their lives are.” hence howard’s wish to see young people mentored in apprenticeships by people who’ve seen a bit of life, and incentivised also by prizes for being like thomas coneely, good at their job. enquiries for ncBF backing can be made to: nc.bf@tiscali.co.uk.

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Teachers shouldn’t be allowed to train before at least two years in the outside world - not going round it but in some worthwhile job. They’ll then understand what they’re educating children for building company close. "i went in part-time at first. i kept the business going and still taught, working all hours. When i secured a decent sized contract, i decided a full time manager was needed so i left teaching in 1985 and went to teesside Polytechnic for formal building qualifications. i was 38, studying with 21 to 23 year olds. now i've had 26 years in building." in rA howard & Sons Ltd now, his wife Julie and both sons are also stakeholders. his sons entered the business five years ago, having trained elsewhere in construction. keith, 33 and a trained shopfitter, is the main carpenter joiner and on-site general foreman. richard, 38, a quantity surveyor and graduate of northumbria university, is the computer techie. the two run the business 80% now. "i've become a bit of a figurehead," howard, 65, says modestly. But he's still managing director and majority shareholder. Julie, 63, is company secretary, and they continue to live in the Stokesley area. Last year marked 50 years for the business. the sons run the restaurant with howard too. But how did graham howard's foray into catering come about? he explains: "i'd always

enjoyed going out for food. over the years Julie and i had considered businesses to do with small country pubs and hotels. "She had run her own business as a subpostmistress for 12 years from 1976 to 1988 at Brotton. She was probably the youngest sub-postmistress in the north east when appointed. She was 26 and had banking experience, albeit banks and post offices were completely different. "We decided for a while to concentrate on the building firm and on raising our sons. “As they grew and went off, Julie and i carried on looking. But by then we didn't want all the hours of a full pub life. “my accountant mentioned a restaurant for sale. i looked into it. i said: 'right, i'll have a go.' Julie said: 'You make the decision. i've retired.' "She eats there of course, but mainly she's my sounding block now. And she’s very good. not being directly involved, she listens and offers fresh reaction. “She either supports me or not and it works well. i'd been about to retire but wasn't really ready to." For customers that's good for building and for eating out. n

Aspiring Entrepreneur? the entrepreneurs’ Forum provide inspiration and a helping hand to entrepreneurs from across the region. this unique group of like-minded people come together through a mentoring programme and a series of world-class events to share best practice, create valuable connections and grow their business. the Forum is the legitimate voice of growth-orientated, owner-managed businesses in the north east, with the vision to make it the number one region in the uk for entrepreneurship. Discover what’s been helping over 300 of the region’s leading entrepreneurs gain a competitive advantage and drive their businesses forward for the last ten years: www.entrepreneursforum.net.

Unique designer furniture on display • Kitchens • Bedrooms • Interior design service www.greatlook.co.uk 0191 4913836 10th Avenue West | Team Valley | Gateshead | NE11 0HL | Opposite Retail World

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Cairn grows its Scottish portfolio, city’s £200m facelift gets started at last, little and large retailers find their place, further lift for Lower Ouseburn, and hotels and pubs boost on Tyne and Wear >> Cairn grows higher cairn group has bought its fifth hotel in Scotland. the newcastle company, which owns four hotels in its home city, has bought from administration the 77 bedroom Queensferry hotel in Fife, to upgrade at £3m, on top of the estimated £2m purchase price. cairn has secured a new £31.5m refinancing through hSBc’s Yorkshire and north east corporate centre. the financing followed a competitive pitch. Advisers included, for hSBc, Bond Dickinson, and for cain mincoffs and Deloitte.

>> Unlocking Vaux site Balfour Beatty civil engineering is road realigning for development of the former Vaux brewery site in Sunderland. it will realign and build a 500m, two-lane boulevard style dual carriageway, along the A183 Livingstone road and St mary’s Way. By removing a roundabout a pedestrianised square for events and public gatherings will result at St mary’s Way.

>> Angel homes Angel homes, started by local businessman Andrew Ward and his wife in 2003, has added a new student accommodation project in Durham city centre to its property portfolio. the street level of the three-floor 15,000sq ft property on north road is let to seven retailers. upper floors will comprise the homes. Angel homes has a seven figure loan from Lloyds tSB commercial Banking.

>> Engineering kept in place Defence engineering will continue at tyneside’s historic Vickers factory that BAe is closing. BAe Systems, which made tanks and armoured vehicles there, has sold the Scotswood road site to the local reece group. the multi-million pound deal is enabling reece to re-open the premises with three existing operations combined into one site, with 500

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New district: Work is under way on Stephenson Quarter, a new business district for Newcastle

>> City’s £200m facelift gets started at last construction giant miller is starting work on the £200m mixed-use transformation of newcastle’s historic Stephenson Quarter, after a delay of more than two years. Funding problems pre-empted a start on the site behind the central Station. now newcastle city council and the north east Local enterprise Partnership have helped developer Silverlink to arrange funding deals with Aviva and royal Bank of Scotland. over the next decade an area bounded by Forth Street, orchard Street, hanover Street and Forth Banks, will change beyond recognition. the 10-acre site beside the grade 1 listed station (whose frontage is separately getting a facelift on its 150th anniversary) will include a 251 bed four-star hotel, apartments, offices, an art gallery and exhibition space, and restaurants. Phase one, financed by rBS, will deliver the crowne Plaza hotel, one of two new hotels expected. intercontinental hotel group will run it. Another feature will be the rocket – a multi-use building of 35,000sq ft giving grade A offices and 357 parking spaces, leased to the council for 35 years and financed by Aviva, the owner. the site includes offices at 20 South Street, where robert Stephenson’s works produced early rail locomotives. A social forum will also feature there. David clouston, chairman and managing director of Silverlink, says: “We have worked on this for over 10 years, and are committed to delivering a district that will stand alongside any major european city.” Stephenson Quarter is a part of newcastle’s £92m city Deal, enabling funding to be secured from a growth in business rates not only for there, but also for Science central, east Pilgrim Street and gateshead Quays. [See Business Lunch, page 68]

jobs relocated from Walker and team Valley. BAe, though shedding around 300 jobs, will relocate a small engineering team to newburn. From october reece hopes to employ many of the skilled BAe workers. its £200m turnover accrues from offshore as well as defence work. chairman John reece says: “We believe engineering and manufacturing have a valid and prosperous future in the north east.”

>> Then there was one Brookfield multiplex became sole contender to design, build and operate a new £300m hospital on Wynyard Business Park, teesside, after two other shortlisted firms withdrew. north tees and hartlepool nhS Foundation trust proposes to fund the hospital from pension fund loans, which would be a first in the uk.

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>> Key estates change hands UK Land Estates and Highcross have bought out the Homes and Communities Agency’s interest in their joint venture covering industrial and commercial centres of the North East. The deal with Team Valley based UK Land Estates and property fund manager Highcross was for an undisclosed sum, but HCA said proceeds would help fund job creation across the region. David Curtis, HCA executive director for the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, said priority projects include four start-up incubators in Blyth, Darlington Middlesborough and Stockton, with commitments ongoing also to Middlehaven in Middlesbrough, Central Park in Darlington, Lower Ouseburn in Newcastle, and the former Swan Hunter’s Yard at Wallsend.

>> Out of town venture Scottish footwear retailer Schuh is opening its first out-of-town store at Teesside Shopping Park, Stockton, in early autumn. It has a 10 year lease on 4,950sq ft at the British Land owned park.

>> Little and large retailers find their place No-one’s more delighted about the opening of Gateshead’s big Tesco-inspired Trinity Square retail development than Romana Moffat. Romana, from Ashington, and husband Terry, are among early tenants on the £150m square with their Moffee’s shop, first launched two years ago from a converted retro camper van. Now their shop is a mere stone’s throw from a nine-screen cinema expected to revive the fortunes of Gateshead High Street. A predicted doubling of spend in central Gateshead (£75m to £150m a year) encourages all the tenants moving in. Romana thinks Trinity Square is the region’s biggest, freshest development for a long time.” They run a traditional sweet shop with a seating area, where shoppers can also enjoy coffee and ice-cream. A branch of global sandwich firm Subway has also opened with six staff in the square, which may provide 2,000 retail jobs eventually, mostly at Tesco.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

>> Offices are filling up Office deals and options are picking up on Tyneside, both at out-of-town business parks and in Newcastle city centre. The UK’s biggest office park, Cobalt on North Tyneside, has seen its latest headquarters facility completed - 57,000sq ft on four storeys. Adrian Hill, director of Highbridge the developer, describes Cobalt 9c as “ideal for major corporate occupiers and following hard on the heels of Accenture’s move here.” Cobalt Central, the park’s retail heart, now has Tesco, Greggs, Chisholms and Navaho Coffee in business. The 26,000sq ft development - 10,500sq ft retail and 13,700sq ft serviced offices at first floor - is home also to Cobalt’s management and marketing suites. Highbridge, advised by Sanderson Weatherall, has been seeking a tenant for the last retail unit of 700sq ft, and an operator for a 2,850sq ft restaurant. Cobalt Central was designed by Seymour Architecture. Meanwhile a 55,000sq ft office building at Cobalt has been sold to an undisclosed private investor for £4.2m in a market-leading, out-of-town deal of the quarter. On the market for 18 months with a London agent, it was passed to Jones Lang LaSalle in Newcastle to sell last November. The new agent cut the asking price. New Hedley House at 12A Cobalt on North Tyneside is let to Proctor & Gamble for an unexpired term of four years at an annual rent of £793,325. The sale price reflects a capital value of £75psf and a net initial yield of 18.06%. More than 11,000 people now work at Cobalt, whose new digital centre has been awarded the data centres category prize in the BREEAM’s annual environmental awards. Cobalt 9C was designed by Seymour Architecture. Cobalt’s letting agents are BNP Paribas Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield. Over at Quorum Business Park, on Newcastle’s city boundary, three deals are reported, including the sale of Quorum itself to a US based equity group Cerberus at an estimated £70m. It takes the park off the books of troubled Lloyds Bank and a syndicate of other investors. On the park, a Denver, Colorado integrated marketing firm has taken 10,500sq ft at Q15 for a Newcastle operation of 30 staff under Lindsay Boullin, with more to follow. It will also achieve training and meeting needs of English, German and French-speaking sales and support teams. And the 40,000sq ft Q1 has been sold to Training and Development Resource Ltd, a charitable trust promoting science, technology and engineering careers for school-leavers. Swiftpage’s arrival means all 31,000sq ft of Q15 are fully let, other occupants being Home Group and e-learning business Creating Careers. Quorum’s development director Fergus Trim says: “Swiftpage marks an important new International inward investment for the North East.” At Q1 Bill McGawley, TDR chairman, says: “All our training and development will be delivered from our new facility, enhanced by a true learning environment.” Newcastle law firm, Square One Law, Gavin Black & Partners and Baker Tilly worked with TDR on the deal. TDR was previously a tenant in Gateshead. The top floor of the three-storey Q1 is let to Insure the Box. Quorum Business Park is one of the UK’s largest speculative office developments outside central London. Occupants include IBM, Tesco Bank, Convergys and Balfour Beatty. In Newcastle’s city centre, a major deal has been Yorkshire Chambers on Pilgrim Street, bought by Solutions Recruitment. The Grade II listed Victorian building was sold, price undisclosed, by GVA for private investors. Silverstone Building Consultancy project managed refurbishment of the building, put up originally for Consett Iron Company.

>> Hitachi on track Hitachi, as expected, has secured a £1.2bn contract via the Government to build 270 carriages for the East Coast Mainline at its soon-to-open Newton Aycliffe plant. These 30 new trains will replace the current fleet plying the East Coast route. The trains promise

12% energy and carbon saving per person, per journey. Construction and fit-out for the Japanese group’s first train factory in Europe is underway, under a deal with Merchant Place Developments of Newcastle. Production should start by 2016, a year before Hitachi’s Super Express Trains enter full passenger service.

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY >> BIC space in demand Occupancy rates at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Sunderland have topped 90% with more than 1,000 people employed by firms there now. City Financial Solutions, serving retail clients and small businesses, has grown its workforce to 12 recently and relocated to a larger unit onsite. Another relocated on site is Arca House Accountancy Services. Present at BIC since 2009, it has tripled its clientele in two years and needed extra space. A third occupant, Bijoux Beauty, specialising in cosmetic and beauty treatments, is also growing its workforce.

>> Further lift for Lower Ouseburn Plans are being promoted for further regeneration of the Lower Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle. Carillion-igloo is considering three sites: Malmo Quay – an apartment scheme of about 80 homes around a courtyard, with the remainder of the site a waterside village incorporating a boatyard, cycle hub and café, plus restaurants and bars with outdoor seating. Spiller’s Quay – around 100 apartments near the Quayside to capitalise on views over the River Tyne. Lower Steenberg’s Yard – parking and workspace on lower levels, and housing on upper levels, and a small supermarket. Carillion-igloo is a joint venture of the Igloo Regeneration Partnership and Carillion plc.

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let to BFS Group, the occupier for more than 28 years, on a full repairing and insuring lease valid until August 2019. The property, built in the 1980s, is BFS Group’s 69,222sq ft main distribution depot in the North East.

>> Police HQ plan A contract will be awarded in October to build a new headquarters in Middlesbrough to serve Cleveland Police Authority. The cost could be £10m-£20m depending on detailed design of the 60,000sq ft building. It will be on a greenfield site at Hemlington Grange, where a major mixed-use housing scheme is also planned.

>> Building sales Construction firm Howard Russell, whose recent contract wins have included Darlington College’s new £2.4m learning resource centre and construction department and Gestamp Tallent’s £8m factory in Newton Aycliffe, expects turnover to rise 40% in a year to next March. It has already risen 300% for the Cramlington firm since 2009.

>> 150 years on It’s the 150th anniversary of the Darlington office at the now nationwide property and surveying firm Smiths Gore.

>> Housing lift The first new major housing schemes for nearly 25 years are being planned under a £350m scheme to regenerate housing in Gateshead. A public/private Gateshead Regeneration Partnership proposes to build 472 new homes at Saltwell, Bensham, Deckham and Birtley. Some 2,400 new homes are envisaged on 19 sites over two decades, around 25% social or affordable. The council is providing land, Galliford Try and Home Group the investment.

>> Hotels and pubs boost New hotels have been announced for Sunderland and Newcastle. A 140-plus bedroom Hilton-branded hotel will be built on Stadium Park, beside the Stadium of Light. In Newcastle, the Edwardian Proctor House, which until recently housed Newcastle’s only Mongolian restaurant (Kublai Khan), will become a budget hotel following an £8.3m conversion by Tune Hotels. Also in Newcastle the Grade II architecturally listed Jesmond Dene House Hotel has a multi-million pound loan over five years to develop further and open a luxury spa. The city’s four star Grade II listed Grey Street Hotel, that went into administration after 10 years, has a new owner. The hotel of 50 beds now belongs to Malhotra Group, after a reported seven figure investment.

>> Neighbouring Nissan The former Ferguson transport building, most recently occupied temporarily by Vantec ahead of its own building being completed at Sunderland, is back on the market at Cherry Blossom Way, Washington. Simon Haggie at Knight Frank, says it is available to rent at £4psf. A sale might also be considered.

>> One for the road A refurbished distribution building has been sold on Green Lane, off Gateshead’s Felling Bypass. Jones Lang LaSalle says the property is

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Looking for gold: Badminton courts at Slatyford could nurture Olympic prospects.

>> Boost for badminton A badminton centre, to be the North East’s biggest and capable of producing Olympic prospects, is being built in Newcastle. Designed by Ryton based Gradon Architecture, and built by STP construction, Tyneside Badminton Centre at Slatyford will host international competitions.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Charge point success marks start of an EV revolution Pioneering project has created the largest regional EV charging network in the UK A project designed to encourage take up of electric vehicles (EVs) in North East England has exceeded expectations by installing over 1000 charge points the length and breadth of the region. Charge your Car, the North East’s Plugged in Places scheme which has been operating in the region since 2010, has been responsible for installing 1150 charging points from Berwick in the north to Darlington in the south. The success of the scheme, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), means that electric vehicle drivers can travel throughout the region with confidence that they are never far away from a charging point. The project, which concludes at the end of the month, worked closely with Nissan, Sunderland to ensure that once the Nissan LEAF began production in the region this March, a full charging network was in place to support the increased uptake of electric vehicles. As well as the success in creating one of the most comprehensive charging point networks in the UK, the project has installed the only connected quick charge point network. Quick charge points are essential for EV drivers to make longer journeys by charging a car in 25 minutes and are situated on all the main spine routes of the region. Josey Wardle, project manager for the Plugged in Places programme, said: “When we began this project in 2010, people weren’t even thinking about electric vehicles and now we have more electric vehicles per head of population than any other region in the UK. We really believe that without the public availability and visibility of charge points this would not have been the case and we are delighted that this project, which has exceeded what we set out to achieve, has really helped to stimulate the market for low carbon transport.” Zero Carbon Futures, a Sunderland based consultancy specialising in low carbon technologies, managed the scheme. Having been responsible for developing the regional network, Zero Carbon Futures is now utilising this experience to develop charge point networks in other areas throughout the UK.

Josey Wardle, Zero Carbon Futures, at the quick charge point at Wynyard Park

NORTH EAST DRIVERS SET TO BE STREETS AHEAD AS MY ELECTRIC AVENUE TRIAL GETS UNDERWAY A new initiative that will look at ways of managing the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) on the local electricity grid is looking for groups of neighbourly drivers in North East England to take part in an 18 month trial. The pioneering ‘My Electric Avenue’ project aims to find clusters of at least ten community-minded people to all drive an electric Nissan LEAF, and in doing so they will be helping to trial technology to help understand the demand on the electricity network when electric cars are commonplace. The project is hosted by Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) and led by EA Technology, an innovation technology deliverer, with the support of several partners including North East based consultancy Zero Carbon Futures. My Electric Avenue is seeking to identify groups of environmentally conscious motorists looking to save money on fuel and wider motoring costs. It is the first time that neighbours all from the same street – or very close – are being sought for such a trial. Lois Warne, project manager at Zero Carbon Futures, says that the trial offers a unique opportunity for communities to test drive an EV and to experience the many benefits they provide. She said: “The North East has already made significant strides in the transition to EV, so it’s great news that communities in this region are being given the opportunity to take part in the My Electric Avenue electric car trials.”

To find out more about the charge point network, visit: www.chargeyourcar.org.uk To find out more about My Electric Avenue, visit: www.myelectricavenue.info

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Event Hosts: North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) Ltd John Anderson, chairman Paul McEldon, chief executive

in association with

keeping new ideas flowing The issue: What are the barriers impeding innovation and growth for SMEs, and what can be done to overcome them? Several outstanding proposals were agreed during this debate which, if achieved, promise a major advance in opportunities of innovation for businesses in the North East. The debate Paul McEldon: “There’s a lot of good support for SMEs around Innovation, people experienced enough to assist SMEs needing help. There are many good ideas in SME businesses, but sometimes lack of knowledge about how to articulate them. Innovation and growth get confused.” Peter Fidler: “We work on business engagement and business support, particularly with Sunderland Business Ltd, a group of SMEs and large corporates involved in Sunderland’s business economy. About 60 members are looking at key additions they might have for an existing provision. One plan centres on a physical location for a growth and innovation hub in the North East which would factor in all business support agencies, giving access also to research and development in our universities and the talent there, also work within businesses formed by young graduates and others. We haven’t been able to get

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funding yet. We’re looking at other ways. The risk environment SMEs work with means they aren’t brave enough - I mean that positively - to take steps needed to move from home economy base to growth and development. How can we put infrastructure around to help?” Gill Southern: “Our family firm’s been going 30 years. My father and brother are engineers who are passionate about product design and development. When the company was struggling I came in to try and bring fresh thinking. I’d seen things from outside and knew if I could persuade my father and brother to consider them we could make a step change. It needed a leap of faith just when, if we got it wrong, things could have gone the other way. My hardest job ever was getting my dad and brother to look at different methodologies and ways. They’re brilliant in that we export 90% of product globally. They love niche jobs...get carried away. I consider risks associated. Other SMEs I meet haven’t had the luxury I’ve had of mixing with the Nissans who gave me confidence to look outward. If you’ve courage not to look inward you can make change even in a difficult

Taking part Andrew Atkins, chief executive, Resonant Digital Ltd David Anderson, managing director, David Anderson Business Services Professor Peter Fidler, vice-chancellor and chief executive, University of Sunderland Professor Roy Sandbach, visiting professor of innovation and enterprise, Newcastle University Paul Woolston, chairman, North East Local Enterprise Partnership Gill Southern, director, Wessington Cryogenics Catherine Johns. innovation and business growth director, Business Durham Doug Scott, chief executive, Tedco Gillian Marshall, business development manager, The Entrepreneurs’ Forum Julie Skevington, regional local business manager, HSBC Commercial Banking In the chair: Caroline Theobald, managing director, Bridge Club Also present: Brian Nicholls, editor, BQ Magazine Venue: Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Newcastle.

BQ is highly regarded as a leading independent commentator on business issues, many of which have a bearing on the current and future success of the region’s business economy. BQ Live is a series of informative debates designed to further contribute to the success and prosperity of our regional economy through the debate, discussion and feedback of a range of key business topics and issues.

climate. Find four or five companies to build relations with, who you know can teach you something. Other companies helped us make our biggest ever changes, giving a big change in fortunes too.” David Anderson: “Sales and marketing’s often a problem. Organisations know how to make but not how to sell - inward looking again. Often they don’t see sales as a process because they haven’t been previously involved in it. It’s fine having relevant knowledge, skills and capability. But without opportunity to talk with other organisations and find something that might work for your company, the synergy

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won’t happen. A professional matching service is needed. Too often existing support agencies cover the same areas and fight for the same things. Many young companies today, entrepreneurially brilliant, have someone of about 25 on their board. They can come up with great ideas.” Tim Pain: “Often companies don’t understand what innovation means. So they don’t grow. They’ve a family business providing a living. Growth is scary. There’s a risk issue, particularly in the food and drink sector. Many businesses there make fantastic products. They’re passionate about them. But the business side is considered a pain. Many community advisers are complicit too, not wanting to rock the boat, though there are exceptions. Availability of funding can catalyse a lot of that. Advice, right environment and access to finance all make a difference. I tried at One North East (where until recently he headed business support programmes) to systemise the support organisations - some competing, some collaborating. But I think business growth is largely around serendipity, catalysed by right relationships and right contacts. Often small things apparently unimportant turn out to make the difference.” Catherine Johns: “In Durham County we’ve transformed Netpark from a property based initiative, a science park, into an ethos, a way of doing business, and value systems. We refuse to accept a science park has boundaries, and implemented Netpark.net five years ago. Members value that. We do have systemised services but members value face to face most. We do lots of outreach, a

DEBATE

Too often existing support agencies cover the same areas and fight for the same things

rarity on science parks. Eventually about 2,000 people, many presently at school, will work there. If we can’t inspire the next generation we’re missing a trick. Our innovation academy showcases best practice. We’ve also integrated our innovation with the Centre for Process Innovation and Durham University, to form a Durham Gateway. A paper I wrote for the County Durham Economic Partnership said Netpark was working well but what about innovation in services, tourism and social services? Durham County Council is the county’s biggest employer. If we can unleash innovation ethos, thinking and practice there we’ll have something quite powerful. We adopted innovation as a translation of ideas into wealth and prosperity. That’s accepted across the economic partnership. I’d love to see an integrated approach to innovation - from primary school, which we do already, right through to executive education, a joined-up journey. I’d like to see innovation apprentices, innovation internships, innovation modules in colleges. Degrees have enterprise modules, why not innovation practices, tools and techniques?” Doug Scott: “It can often be a micro-level issue with a firm, a culture change issue to be

tackled from the inside. We researched for our incubator the kind of businesses that grow. It’s not people in lab coats, we found. Few of the country’s top companies showed innovators in that sense. Dyson was an exception. Many companies, we found, were innovative in sales and marketing, but not in bringing out brand new products. Of the biggest companies we’ve worked with one employs 450, another 150 and the third (two years old) 60. The first two are in financial services, the third in IT web development - not absolutely brand new fields. I’d say emphasising public sector is a disincentive. Without criticising public sector, how do you get the private sector to take the real lead?” Paul Woolston: “At the LEP we’re trying to create more wealth and more jobs. We don’t want the public sector to be smaller, but the private sector to be bigger. There may be opportunities to create greater value by moving things from the public into the private sector.” John Anderson: “I once dined with eight millionaires. Six had been made redundant during their careers. All six had later developed their own successful businesses. A check once made in Washington showed that many people considered as “unemployed” were doing >>

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some kind of work. They’d turn up at the benefit office, ladders atop their vehicles, take off their overalls, collect their money, put their overalls back on then go about their own day’s work. They were asked why they didn’t do the job legitimately. As a result, 35 businesses were started. With more of that there’d be more profitable businesses, and more people employed by them

I once dined with eight millionaires. Six had been made redundant during their careers. All six had later developed their own successful businesses

who’d been similarly placed.” Paul Woolston: “We want the North East to be seen globally as a place in which to do and grow business. We’d then create more and better jobs - thousands. I learned a lot about innovation through Andrew Adonis’ North East Independent Economic Review, and within the LEP. Will Hutton, a key champion of innovation, used phrases like “stickiness” and “eco-systems”. I’d like to see us having a proactive environment where people feel they can develop their ideas, solve problems and convert them into products and businesses, and create jobs. Some key areas we want to develop are around finance, infrastructure, and North East international. We’re committed to developing North East innovation - that environment. We want through Roy Sandbach here to create that environment and consultation, and have the region and businesses innovate to drive the economy forward.” Julie Skevington: (who works with about six businesses a week) “Many businesses, because of how the economy is - and the worry of how long the recession has gone on - hesitate. A lot of our work is telling them we want to lend money. We’re trying to give companies confidence. We take part in strategic reviews

with them, ask what’s the next stage for them, what they’re doing creatively and what’s their wish list. We try to match their needs. We help fund their exporting. At HSBC we believe to get everyone going we must look to trading abroad. We do lots with UKTI, trying to persuade our clients to broaden their customer base. There’s a feeling the North East is the poor side of the country. I don’t think so. The increase in lending over last year by my team, and over the North, is 10%. We want to be responsible lenders so we don’t say ‘Yes’ to everyone. But we say ‘Yes’ to more than 80%.” [Caroline Theobald remarked on an encouraging new report suggesting a return of confidence to North East business]. Andrew Atkins: “I’m working with others on a plan for a digital business centre, linked into innovation, training, audits, information security, exposure of networking insecurities, consulting and research. Matchmaking can be done. But, particularly in the North, we’ve always had a process whereby a private start-up may become wrapped up in a (usually public funded) barrier between themselves and businesses they should be talking to. The challenge is to get rid of that infrastructure, make things lightweight -

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even if the business doesn’t last longer. In the South East things spring up, have a life, then before long something else is on the go. Senior management skills is an issue too. A business may not know what to do about something different because it involves skills sets they never needed before. A chemical firm I know has grown from £4m to £7m in a few years. They brought in an operations director, doubling the managing director’s time to do his stuff. Many executives could be freed up but keep things as they are because things are “ok”. Fear of doing something different is often greater than potential reward for doing it.” Roy Sandbach: “I see innovation as matching what’s needed with what’s possible. That requires anyone who knows what’s needed to know what’s possible, and anyone who knows what’s possible to know what’s needed. You could add to that “for wealth creation”. Or “for common good” in the context of public service. Then you have the next little bit - “from anywhere”. So it’s “matching what’s needed with what’s possible for wealth creation from anywhere.” If we all did this daily, assessing our contribution in that context, we’d build the wealth and

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prosperity the North East needs. I now have a role with the LEP intended to bring that sort of background to bear on an innovation strategy. I’m not proud enough to say I have all the answers. But several areas can relate to SMEs. Matching what’s needed with what’s possible. Forget funding for now. In this world there are plenty of billion dollar organisations. Perhaps we, particularly SMEs, could be more

A show of hands suggested Yes, though Catherine Johns suggested wealth creation and social good weren’t mutually exclusive. Andrew Atkins said that in a commercial world it was ‘wants’ rather than ‘needs.’] Paul McEldon: “In our environment, if you tell 90 businesses that 10 are doing well others wonder what the 10 are doing right. It isn’t just about getting case studies, it’s about getting

Roy Sandbach: “It came from meeting an originator of open innovation. I asked how North East SMEs should engage for better innovation. He suggested ‘why doesn’t the LEP fund secondment of innovation scouts from big players to visit the North East and spread through organisations and perhaps universities?’ We’d pay for the multinational to sit in the region and share its needs

intentional towards them. There are issues, but nevertheless... We also have some great innovation hubs. We must make them proper beacons for external use. Netpark’s becoming a real beacon, CPI too. We need lots of beacons. We’re brighter when there are more beacons. We’ve some great networks. We need to extend their best practices. SMEs could gain great value, network to network, and learning from big players. An SME owner asked me ‘where can I go to learn about innovation?’ Looking for where a SME leader can go to do a workshop of one or two days, or a week, for innovation culture development or practice, do you know where I’d have to send him? To Cambridge, Cranfield, Berkeley? That’s not acceptable in the North East where we’ve five great universities. There’s plenty of MBA and PhD stuff going on. There may be courses out there I know nothing about. But I’d send him away. I hope that’s interesting and helpful.” Gillian Marshall: “The North East has had fantastic innovators. We need to carry that forward and engage. Why should we have to send people away to learn principles and key facts in business?” [Caroline Theobald asked: was everyone happy with Roy’s definition of innovation?

the environment right to promote success.” Doug Scott: “Give firms opportunity to talk to one another. Their discussions eventually may have nothing to do with content of the meeting. But you’re creating an environment. In an incubator we run, one of the most important things is the cafe atmosphere. If the cafe’s dead that’s one indicator of whether things are working or not.” Catherine Johns: “Businesses tell us that in coming to Netpark or Netpark.net they feel they belong to something bigger than themselves. We have there, and at Newton Aycliffe and Peterlee, a safety net. We’re not commercially driven but driven by their success. So they feel safe with us. Gillian Marshall: “Firms do find businesses, as they grow and develop, that they can share similarities with. Conversations could still lead to some business later. Netparks, Forums and possibly Chambers of Commerce can bring them together.” David Anderson: “Beacons are a great idea. We’ve some brilliant expertise in the area.” Paul Woolston: “When Lord Adonis returns in a year’s time we want to say ‘this is what we’ve done’ for open innovation. A suggestion of 15 ‘scouts’ is a good example.”

with local entrepreneurs. I don’t intend to deconstruct anything already going on.” Doug Scott: “How much would it cost?” Roy Sandbach: “If I get stuck with questions of funding I’ll get stuck in areas I’m not very keen on.” Doug Scott: “I was trying to push Paul into making a proposal to you.” Paul Woolston: “There’s been a big announcement on European funding. We’d be playing into the agenda of something it’s looking for. I’m less concerned about funding than whether we could embrace the idea if these people came.” Peter Fidler: “I think the next steps would be: who are these scouts, and how do they impress our colleagues that they’ve something to give? I’m taken by watching our young people at work in universities. They’re very different from us. Are we inventing a solution to something about us rather than about the next generation who might be much more naturally innovative. They’re much more multilayered in what they do, much more of a mind that anything can be solved if you work at it. So I think we should also flood our existing companies with young interns. The model now is: we’re selling something to SMEs. >>

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They think they’re getting someone who’ll do something already defined. “They do that, then come back and say ‘there’s this other thing being talked about. Do you think we could do that?’ We’ve a massive talent factory in the region. It’s how to anchor that talent which, in itself, is more innovative than all of us put together.” [Caroline Theobald suggested there’s often resistance from middle aged people towards working with young people since thinking differently and doing differently is a challenge.] Tim Pain: “With graduate placement and internment you get a graduate entering a company they’d probably never have thought of, possibly even getting a job that would otherwise never have been, and so have stayed in the region when they might not have done. You’re skilling them and helping the business. About 80 or 90% are kept on after a placement.” Peter Fidler: “Nissan couldn’t recruit engineers who’d stay in the region longer than 12 months. Our university with Nissan recruited

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and funded 40 graduates for their plant. Five years later Nissan said 38 were still either with them or in the supply sector, and they’d never have had that success otherwise.” Gill Southern said difficulty arose sometimes in persuading production leaders to make such projects work when the graduates were expected to get a Masters degree at the end. And because individual academics look after their own programmes, no-one came to her after a short term placement to ask where it could be taken next.” Roy Sandbach: “In the subsea sector, firms of the region appear at engineering graduates’ interview processes and career fairs. “One issue is that they’re up against multinationals like Rolls-Royce, BP, P&G, Unilever. The best go there, leaving the rest for local companies. Maybe the LEP can work on that.” Gillian Marshall: “The SME community often deliver to larger organisations. Joining local firms at middle level, they could rise to next level; stay and start their own enterprise here.”

Doug Scott: “Research suggests many young people in business think they’re more in a project. Prince’s Trust research also suggests young people choose to enter business largely because they feel alternatives aren’t as good. It’s not altogether positive but there are some positive ends. “I understand there have never before been so many undergraduates considering a business start-up. Maybe we should take a leaf from the books of young entrepreneurial people, rather than ask them to take a leaf from ours.” Catherine Johns: “We’ve done fantastic things teaching entrepreneurialism in schools, colleges and universities. We’ve done nothing about teaching innovation as a skill to be learned. Launching an Innovation Academy, we found a perception that companies understood lean methods, but when we asked how rigorous their innovation process was they said ‘we don’t know what you’re talking about’. This idea that innovation is nebulous, somehow happening if you’re lucky, is something we’re always up against.

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Why shouldn’t we be the first region with totally integrated innovation in our education system? “So we’re teaching the innovation process to companies and to children. We must be brave as a LEP, having all schools and colleges teach innovation as a skill. There’s nothing to stop us, is there? Why shouldn’t we be the first region with totally integrated innovation in our education system?” Paul Woolston: “We’d support the concept. We’re having difficulty in articulating needs of business and getting engagement in schools. We’d like every school’s governors to include business representation.” Andrew Atkins: “In the Darlington area three world class subsea players pondered how to get the best engineers. Now a partnership has been formed, gone to government, and has support from Tees Valley’s LEP. We’ll probably see a national training centre for subsea appear in Darlington area. That came out of discussion among seven people.” Roy Sandbach: “It’s interesting as to how much you talk with others and search for an answer to best practice. You guys will have some best practices I bet you won’t want to share with each other. But if we can help as a LEP, we will.” Paul McEldon: “Some networks are still going, with a lot of knowledge shared. There’s talk about best practice, not best companies. So we may not always be using forums correctly.” Roy Sandbach: “We do have some best practice in the region. We want that everywhere and in every sector important to us.” Gill Southern: “The digital sector has some great ideas tucked away.”

Julie Skevington: “We persuade businesses to network and try to encourage doing business abroad.” Paul McEldon: “You need a mindset for venturing abroad.” Catherine Johns wondered if Santander’s innovation programme could be adopted at other banks. Julie Skevington said she’d ask her bank. [Caroline Theobald asked: could individuals do something?] Paul McEldon: “We could circulate some good cases of innovation.” Catherine Johns: “We’re going to launch a Made in Durham brand. It inspires from grassroots.” Gill Southern: “We try to tell people what our

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company does. I think we do well on this but there’s a lot more to do.” Paul Woolston: “Through the LEP Roy will be enabling. We’ll ask people if they will support best practice. Roy will put structure around it. If we need someone from the like of Stanford University we should get them here. But we’d start with what we have. We have beacons.” Roy Sandbach said a nearby branding agency was that week in the boardroom of Mars, one of the two biggest confectionery companies, and could bring something to bear on the whole region. John Anderson, concluding, felt much good had come from a quality debate with some sound information for the North East. n

Committed to driving innovation and enterprise The North East has a wide range of phenomenal assets; passionate people, forward thinking companies, revered universities, beautiful countryside and bustling city locations, as well as an enviable exporting record. The employment figures are moving in the right direction, with annual growth in the number of jobs. No one would dispute that it is a great location however in a business context there remain barriers to innovation and growth. The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) was established in 1994 to help SMEs face these challenges head on and as a result has become a real hub for innovative enterprises of all shapes and sizes. Currently 92% full, the highest rate of occupancy in the last five years, the BIC is home to 140 businesses from a diverse range of industries and employing over 1,000 people between them. A member of the National Enterprise Network (NEN) the BIC is dedicated to championing the enterprise agenda and how it can support a more innovative North East. A recently announced merger with TEDCO in South Tyneside will see the two agencies joining forces to create a powerhouse for enterprise support in the North East, extending the BIC’s reach into South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Darlington. Collectively the North East enterprise agencies helped to create over 2,000 new businesses last year and by bringing the BIC and TEDCO together it is felt that more can be done to support fledgling firms as well as established businesses in the region. Likewise the BIC’s Innovation team was brought together to help highlight the importance of innovation in business and its Innovation Programme is devoted to helping businesses grow by enabling more SMEs to explore their innovative and growth potential. They do this by working with suppliers and individual organisations to ensure a top down approach, for it is vital that innovation remains on the agenda if North East businesses are to fulfil their potential. For innovation is what makes a business stand out in the market place and more importantly prevents it from becoming stagnant. It is a never ending commitment and it is therefore by definition always evolving and ultimately keeps the business moving forward which will in turn make it a success. Find out more about the BIC’s commitment to enterprise and innovation at www.ne-bic.co.uk

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turning AmBition into reSuLtS

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INTERVIEW

An ambitious young business services group is rapidly building a big domestic and international reputation from its North East base. Brian Nicholls speaks to Alastair MacColl to uncover what is driving the BE Group’s emerging success A cleverly designed prospectus currently being picked up across the country carries a five star promise of experience, established infrastructure and a commitment to developing innovative products. copies of the publication are going to local enterprise partnerships (LePs), local authorities and a range of strategic public and private sector partnerships. it sets out a portfolio of services designed to help businesses succeed and grow. the services are being offered by a group which has quickly carved out a strong track record in fostering business success. it carries with it bags of expertise - in commercial development procurement, supply chain development, investment programmes, business advice and business to business publishing and events. its methodology is to generate very specific results for particular customers operating in their chosen markets. it’s an approach that has helped the group expand its reach, enabling it to now work with businesses and organisations of all sizes and that cut across a range of sectors. Launched in February 2007, the Be group’s client list now includes the likes of marks & Spencer, gatwick Airport, Bt, BAe Systems, Santander, Lockheed martin, Skanska and network rail, with more equally big corporate names expected to come on board in the coming months. Since its inception it has invested heavily in talent, infrastructure and systems - a strategy which chief executive Alastair maccoll says has given the group the ability to make tangible, genuine differences to the businesses they are involved in. in the public sector, meanwhile, the

Department of Business, innovation and Skills, Scottish Development international and Scottish enterprise are among its clients, along with local authorities in places like Westminster, croydon, Derby and Durham. Further afield, the company is also working with Sydney rail infrastructure in Australia – one of several examples of the group’s increasingly global presence. the business is now well established across

Our team is creative, energetic and committed. And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else the uk - with offices in glasgow, county Durham, London and Yorkshire. Since being commissioned to work on behalf of ukti in england (the uk government department strengthening the foothold of uk businesses in foreign markets) some years ago, Be group has been running inward and outward international trade missions, operating in about 31 countries during the last 18 months. the group also works globally with Scottish Development international. BQ meets maccoll as the Be group is

Onwards and upwards: Keen rock climber Alastair MacColl tells how the BE Group is on the up.

preparing for imminent trade missions in Brazil, china, South korea, ghana and turkey. Some missions are sector focused, some centred on specific marketing opportunities, while others are more general. increasingly though, the Be group is taking its own services into international markets, recently working on projects in the uSA, Australia and France. maccoll summarises: “We operate what is essentially a comprehensive portfolio of business services designed to help businesses of all shapes and sizes to succeed and grow. We do this partly through business to business information and events. the business information is distributed via magazines (BQ magazine for example is part of the group), and also via websites, emails and through all of the other communication channels people now use to get the information they want when they want it. We like to think our information and content is unique and adds real value to those that use it. increasingly we are also producing a great deal of highly specialised sector specific information in the form of commissioned reports. “our events activity complements our approach to information with the ability to get your message across online, in print and face to face. We run everything from large conferences and targeted exhibitions to intimate consultation events and everything in between. We specialise in helping businesses get in touch with other businesses to uncover opportunities and build commercial relationships.” his assured approach to understanding how businesses want to communicate is understandable, given the way the group has chosen to specialise and the fact that before this role at the Be group, he worked in newspapers and media related businesses across the uk for almost two decades, leading publishing businesses for trinity mirror plc, the Daily mail and general trust group. >>

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INTERVIEW

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the Be group also helps develop and manage domestic and global supply chains. “We focus largely on major infrastructure projects and optimising the impact of particular sectoral, market or event specific opportunities,” he says. “We make sure that supply chains are working as effectively as possible, that they are efficient and sustainable. “Again it’s about bringing businesses together in a way that provides commercial benefit for all those involved.” it is on this sort of assignment the group has worked with organisations like heathrow Airport and Westminster council, and with big construction firms like Skanska (which Swedish students have recently voted a better place to work than google, ikea or Volvo). “We’re working with businesses all over the uk and elsewhere now to ensure they’re properly equipped to seize advantage of supply chain opportunities on particular projects or in particular areas,” says maccoll. one of the companies in the group, Action Sustainability, operates a supply school for the construction industry training Board and a group of influential construction contractors. maccoll explains: “We’ve created an online resource to help train and develop a number of key individuals within construction firms to help them to operate sustainably. top tier contractors can ensure through this their supply chains are as sustainable as possible. “Procuring large projects is complex and demanding. to supply, say, Skanska, contractors will need to have demonstrated that they can establish how much water they’ll use on a project, how much power, whether or not those working on the project understand how they must behave and operate towards it, and use certain materials. “When companies pitch for the next major job, like a big football stadium in rio, or the London olympics, they need to be able to say with authority that they have an effective and sustainable supply chain that is as carbon efficient as possible and as commercially efficient as possible. “We also bring together big contractors and small businesses with great products and services that can add value to both new and established supply chains. “it’s a feature common with other businesses

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Thinking of tomorrow the Be group’s “very deep” roots in the north east are a matter of pride, Alastair maccoll says. “We intend the north east of england to remain our central base and headquarters. it’s where we started, and although we now work across the uk and, increasingly, also internationally, we’re still greatly committed to, and deeply embedded in, this region. We want to retain a significant role here any way we can - helping to generate growth, jobs, and prosperity, and contributing to the communities and economies we work in.” Staff are involved in the region’s community life, perhaps as school governors or participating in business organisations. maccoll himself is a private sector representative on the board of the tees Valley unlimited enterprise Partnership, and deputy chairman of governors at teesside university. he also chairs the advisory council serving teesside Business School. “it’s a great region to be based in, with so many strengths and advantages,” he adds, “and we believe we’ve enormous talent in the people who work here.” So the group have taken on the first two of what could become a regular recruitment of apprentices - one in business development, the other in human resources. You have to be thinking of tomorrow, after all.

in the group, that they specialise in certain key sectors. “our supply chain teams work largely in the uk. But over the last six months we’ve started working in Australia on a large rail project, advising on procurement. consultancy teams have also been working in the uSA and France. increasingly, our portfolio is starting to internationalise.” much of the group’s work outside the uk comes via companies it has worked with at

home, and which want further support for their international activity. At the same time, the group is building contacts and networks through its own people as they travel, to developing markets in particular.” the group also has established structures in place to runs programmes, initiatives and projects that bring together public sector sponsors wishing to stimulate private sector growth. the aim of most of this activity is quite simply to help businesses to succeed, >>

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COMPANY PROFILE

Events deliver economic results NE1 Ltd map out events calendar for Newcastle city centre As well as contributing to the country’s feel good factor, major events such as the Olympics and the birth of a new Prince make a significant contribution to the UK’s GDP as well as strengthening ‘Brand Britain’. The same is true in the regions, where in Newcastle, Business Improvement District Company, NE1 Ltd recognises the intrinsic value of events and the contribution they make to driving footfall and boosting the city centre economy. It is for this reason, that it is one of their key priorities to deliver events spanning all industry sectors at crucial times of the year. The events are part of NE1’s wider programme which ranges from the £20 million redevelopment of the Central Station, the unique Alive after Five initiative, all the way to the unglamorous, but crucial, work of the NE1 Clean Team, which has carried out 50,000 cleaning jobs since 2009. NE1 has organised a packed programme of events in Newcastle that have become the mainstay of the city’s events calendar, creating additional reasons for people to visit the city and deliver major boosts for local businesses. To capitalise on major national events like the Olympics and Wimbledon and grab a share of the business benefits they deliver, last year NE1 screened both Olympic events and the tennis on its big screen at NE1’s Monument Movies on Grey Street. Throughout both events, huge crowds gathered to watch the proceedings and footfall in the city was up by over 27% throughout the Olympic period. The latest event in the city centre calendar is NE1’s Restaurant Week which takes place 5 – 11 August. The week turns the spotlight on the city’s thriving restaurant community and encourages diners into restaurants for set price menus of only £10, or £15 per head at traditionally quieter times of the year in January and August. The business benefits this delivers are enormous. The number of participating restaurants has grown significantly with a 215% rise since its launch in January 2011, from 13 to 45 this August. In Newcastle the last NE1’s Restaurant Week in January led to an average increase in sales of 24.6% across participating restaurants during

NE1’s Newcastle city marina

the week. Since the launch of NE1’s Restaurant Week Belfast and London have both created similar events of their own and closer to home, Northumberland, Durham and Sunderland are looking to emulate the formula. NE1’s Restaurant Week is now a firm fixture in the city’s What’s On calendar and is marketed both nationally and internationally to encourage additional visitors to the city. A similar boost to the city’s retail economy is delivered annually by NE1’s Newcastle Fashion Week. Hosted in Spring, the event highlights the valuable impact fashion has on the city’s economy from its strong retail scene through to its educational establishments and to its vibrant libraries and museums who all get involved in the many and varied events that make up NE1’s Newcastle Fashion Week programme. Latest figures show that the event delivered an 18% rise in sales for participating businesses coupled with a 71% increase in footfall. This year, over 90 businesses were involved in NE1’s Newcastle Fashion Week. The event helps put Newcastle on the fashion map and cements its position as the North East’s regional capital. Perhaps one of the most long lasting economic contributions NE1 has delivered to the city has

been the creation of the new Newcastle City Marina. The marina has created a new destination for an extremely lucrative audience of boat owners and sailing enthusiasts as well as providing a platform for the staging of events on the river, such as the NE1 Zapcat Grand Prix powerboat race weekend. Since the marina opened last year over 1,000 boats have stayed and with each boat averaging a spend of over £200 in the local economy, the contribution and economic impact the marina makes will increase as its profile grows. Last year’s inaugural NE1 Zapcat Grand Prix attracted crowds of over 25,000 on the Quayside delivering an average 51% boost to local businesses, this year the event is expected to be even more popular. NE1 is planning more events and activities in and around the city and around Newcastle City Marina over the coming months to maintain the buzz and to continue to boost the city centre economy.

For further information email sean.bullick@newcastlene1ltd.co.uk or call 0191 235 7091

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INTERVIEW

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If there’s one thing that makes us stand out it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results. That’s what we do best grow and create more jobs. in the north east of england, for example, the group operates the Let’s grow programme, with trinity mirror and unW, newcastle based chartered accountants. this involves £30m of regional growth Fund grants being made available in the form of a competitive process to firms with capital or research and development projects that look likely to spur growth and encourage investment. Another programme in the same region, investment for growth, is a £12.5m erDF funded programme, helping smaller businesses to expand with european support. And in Yorkshire, the Be group is helping to roll out superfast broadband on behalf of nY net, working with a couple of thousand businesses to maximise their potential through the way in which they make the most of the new superfast broadband technology. innvisage is another group company that helps clients (mainly private sector) to make best use of data. “our portfolio is a complementary blend of products and services that are designed to help businesses to succeed and grow, that’s the golden thread that runs through our business information, events and commercial development activity,” maccoll says. “We strive to make everything we do uncomplicated and it’s all designed to produce the very best results. there are lots of things that make our business special including our people, products and the level of service we offer. But if i had to pick out one thing that makes us really stand out from the crowd it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results.” he agrees the transformation of the Be group

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has been “remarkable”. exactly four years after start-up in 2007 it developed from a regional to a national operation almost overnight, buying London headquartered Business-to-Business. he suggests: “We’re still quite young, still developing, still maturing and still experimenting. And we’re still trying new and different things to make us better at what we do, to deliver even better results for our customers.” competition in all areas that the group has an interest in is “ferocious”. “in business information, publishing and events i doubt competition has ever been more acute,” he ventures. “it has sharpened even further in what is still a challenging market place. Businesses are fighting to develop new products and new services that will sustain their market position in an economy less predictable and more volatile, than probably at any time in the last 25 years. “new technology also means that you need to always be thinking a few moves ahead of a fast paced market. “We’ve some very accomplished competitors who keep us on our toes, and we constantly and relentlessly re-assess and develop our own products and services. We welcome the competition. We like to think our investment in time, energy and money ensures our products and services, and our people, anticipate where the market’s going, rather than just catching up. “our customers are sophisticated. they know what they want. Again, we welcome that. We think we’re very good at understanding our customers, and we differentiate ourselves as a business by providing exceptional service. We want to provide such good value that we represent the go-to business for those things that we specialise in.” the group also has another competitive advantage. “unlike many competitors, we don’t have shareholders demanding shortterm results. our business is co owned by trusts that have our employees as their beneficiaries. that means that we can choose to prioritise over the longer term and invest accordingly. We’re trying to develop a business that will be great in five, 10 and 15 years’ time. that’s very good news for our employees and our customers”.

So what is Be’s market share? “it’s very difficult to judge in the service sector, much harder than in manufacturing for instance, since it’s difficult to measure the absolute output. i think it fair to say that as a relatively young business our market share is significant and growing. We expect to gain further market share incrementally and steadily. And we want to do it through sustained growth that sticks. “the best thing about my job is the people i work with and the satisfaction we all get from generating great results for all of our customers. “our team is creative, energetic and committed. And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else.” n

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ENTREPRENEUR

NO GETTING AWAY FROM VIC

There are very good reasons why Vic Young and his vehicle businesses have made a unique mark on the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national awards scene. Brian Nicholls profiles the man and his methods

It's little more than six paces from the reception desk to the (literally) ever open door of Vic Young's compact office, which indicates as well as anything the kind of boss he is. "I like to know everything that's going on at the front and back of the business," he says. "If a customer's unhappy or happy I'll hear it for myself. Whether our latest caller is a new customer or one whose loyalty we've valued over many years, I'll know they are there. And they - or anyone in the firm - can come straight in here with a query or problem." "He's so approachable," a staff member affirms of Vic (he's Vic to everyone) during a tour of the company's diverse operations on Newcastle Road, Tyne Dock. Some other bosses of motor dealerships prefer to appear masters of all they survey from above the customer area. This may partly explain why, out of 2,500 businesses, Vic Young (South Shields) ltd was the North East's star performer in Motor Trader magazine's Industry Awards this year, getting onto shortlists of three for two of the national honours - dealer principal of the year and used car retailer of the year. No business anywhere had reached the last three in two categories before. Typically, it was an acquaintance, not the modest managing director, who put the firm's name up for consideration. The sight of financial documents spread across his desk like a paper-patchwork tablecloth is misleading. While clearly aware of where every pound in a

ÂŁ16.5m turnover is going, and MBA qualified on that side of things, the name Vic Young on his calling card carries after it a string of other pointers to his technical talents and networking inclinations. Never lost for words, even long ones, he's written papers for both the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Marine Engineers. His approachability may also explain why, nearly three decades later, Japanese executives and their families who once relied on him for a happy entry to life abroad still keep in touch. They were the expatriates flown into Britain ahead of Nissan factory's opening at Sunderland in the 1980s. Once the manufacturer had chosen the North East over Ireland or Wales for a UK operation, a small coterie of business people in the region, including Vic and John Sanderson, managing director of STR Enterprises in Newcastle, were asked to work with university experts on settling in 85 of the Japanese families. Sanderson had opened the George Washington Hotel (now a Mercure brand establishment) near Nissan's site. Vic had been a Nissan dealer since 1978, four years after launching his eponymous business, and had been found utterly reliable. "The Japanese families when they started househunting were bemused by the profusion of approaches from estate agents and solicitors, and also about how they

might educate their children," Vic recalls. "We did all that with them and got a great relationship going. I also set up with them, through Durham University, Saturday classes at Washington Old Hall, where their children could receive Japanese education. "I also set up for the executives' wives classes in English as a second language through the university. One of my girls took the ladies shopping once a week to Hexham, Durham and all the local markets." Vic brought home to Japanese members of Nissan's management, in addition, the long tradition of links between the North East and Japan. He prepared photographic prints and a script about all the ships and heavy guns built on the Tyne in the late 19th Century which had enabled Japan in 1905 to defeat the Russians in war. The pictures, fascinating to the newcomers, showed the then Emperor of Japan and Admiral Togo Heihachiro - "the Nelson of the East" - visiting Cragside, the Rothbury home of lord Armstrong, whose shipyard and works had provided the military might. Other pictures showed the last Japanese ship built on the Tyne, and Japanese sailors enjoying a football match at Newcastle United's St James's park. These ships, during their trials, had rested up at Jarrow Slake, which now serves as the export point for Nissan's Sunderland built cars. Vic also entertained the newcomers at >>

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ENTREPRENEUR Westoe Rugby Club, where he's been a supporter and backer for 30 years. These invitations included wives, which delighted them but puzzled the husbands. Some of the wives told Vic: "Before we married, our husbands took us everywhere. Now we're married they don't take us anywhere." Many husbands in Japan leave for work around 6.30am and may not get back until eight at night. "So the ladies had a great time here," Vic remembers. For many, radical readjustment was necessary on their eventual return to Japan. Vic, feted in Japan several times since, keeps in touch with a number of families - and continues to sort out an occasional problem. On South Tyneside, besides selling and servicing Nissan and other vehicles, and managing fleets, Vic through his Northern Truck Bodies is Nissan's preferred supplier of bodywork, doing 99% of its conversions for customers around the UK. His is one of only eight firms in Western Europe with full Renault-Tec conversion approval. Tippers, box vans and people carriers - all can be transformed to meet customers' special needs. During BQ's visit, a former mobile library van was being converted into a mobile cocktail bar for hire at garden parties and other outdoor events. Another vehicle nearby had been converted to serve hot meals. Also under conversion was one of many box vans that get chillers installed for delivery of frozen food. Vic and his workforce have also improved daily life for countless families with a disabled member, in this country. His firm equips taxis and other vehicles for Motability, giving not only easy wheelchair access, but also the ability to drive if needed through infra-red indicators, controlled simply by a move of the driver's hands. Handbrakes applied by pressing a button can be installed, as can throttle controls. Vic loves this specialisation because he loves technology. Also, he adds: "I started as a snotty nosed mechanic." As launchtime neared recently for initial production of Nissan's new Leaf electric car at Sunderland, Vic, working with Gateshead College, became a UK pioneer, training mechanics in safety isolation of electric vehicles. With police, ambulance and fire and rescue services taking to the Leaf, safeguards

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I go to meetings where there are people in the same position as myself. You talk about this and it just goes over their heads are essential to prevent, for example, an accidental electrocution by 660 volts at a fire scene. Such foresight has enabled the college's auto skills centre to introduce courses teaching mechanics and service engineers how to safely maintain and repair electric vehicles generally. Thus is borne out Vic's reputation

among his business peers for a propensity to research trends, spot growth markets and react quickly. Throughout the working day he'll bob about various work stations, only just resisting temptation to get hands-on. "We agree a course of action then all go off and do it,” he says. “It might not always be done the way >>

Wow, a set of keys too Apprenticed once himself, Vic runs a three-year programme for young aspirants in his organisation. Born and raised in South Shields, and resident in the same family house there for 46 years now, Vic was also educated by the saints there - St Gregory’s and St Bede’s Schools, and St Wilfrids College. At 15 he was taken on as an apprentice mechanic by Streamline Garages, a once illustrious car firm which sank without trace after DC Cook bought it out. Vic was there till he was 21 then later worked at Mill Garages for several years, managing group training and services. At 28 he set up for himself, initially repairing used cars to sell on. Then his company got into new cars, servicing, and fleet management. It presently has more than 1,500 vehicles out on contract to hirers ranging from sole traders to large plcs. All the while Vic has self-developed too. Early City and Guilds exam success in mechanics was steadily followed by further qualifications allowing him to lecture part time at West Park and Gateshead College. Success in a post-graduate course of management studies gave him his all round grounding. But he insists his wife Alicia, who enjoyed a career in speech therapy after graduating with first class honours, is the brains of their marriage. His support of charity and the third sector over more than two decades has been considerable, as managements of St Clare’s Hospice in Jarrow, Grace House children’s hospice in Sunderland and local care homes would affirm. Vehicles have been donated for raffles, and other help given ad hoc. Transport is also provided for patients’ use. Vic is 67 now and says he has been told: “You’ve done well - why not retire?” He replies: “How can I? There are 54 families I have to think about.” They’re the families of his 54 employees. Besides, he already finds time to go cycling and to teach his grand-daughters to ski. When Vic finally vacates the chair there seems little likelihood Vic Young (South Shields) Ltd will be annihilated as the company that weaned him was. While daughter Kathryn, 42, has followed her mother into speech therapy, son Alan, 44, is already in the business. “We’ll remain a family business,” Vic says. “And we’ve a good team round us.” So good that loyal workers retiring have occasionally been staggered to find themselves given, with final farewells, the keys to a new car.

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ENTREPRENEUR I wanted. But as long as it's done I'm happy. I'd like to think I'm not an autocrat." The style appeals. Staff talk to him confidently. Some of the 54 employees have spent more than half their lives working for him - many taking opportunities to train for further responsibilities along the way. He says: "On company planning we decide what's feasible and whether it can be afforded. Do we have to take a different direction and if so what? What do they have to do and what have I got to do? Is there anything I or the company am doing that prevents the progress? Department heads set the objectives this way. Sometimes you have to scale them back. Or they might need further training or experience to help get there. I think they get lots of job satisfaction, though. I don't think anyone comes here of a morning to do a bad job. I'm now selling to grandchildren of earlier buyers. I get great

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It gives me pleasure in that it’s what my staff are achieving for us. You’re only as good as your staff let you be satisfaction that families, after nearly 40 years, still come back," Vic remarks. He's customer hunting now for the Leaf. "It's a good car and Nissan's pinning big hopes on it," he says. "Infrastructure will be the acid test of its development - availability of charging points, and how quickly driveability of the battery can be increased. One wouldn't want to drive from here to London now, for example, stopping the car as often as you would for recharges. "They've extended the length before refuelling to about 150 or 160 miles. I think the next

field of development will be the hydrogen fuel cell. I sometimes go to meetings where there are people in the same position as myself. You talk about this and it goes over their heads." The most satisfying aspect of reaching a distinctive height in the national awards? "It gives me pleasure in that it's what my staff are achieving for us. You're only as good as your staff let you be." That must be pretty good, because not once in a 50 minute interview were the words "recession" or "downturn" mentioned. n

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Image: The Adoration of the Cage Fighters © the artist, Grayson Perry, The Vanity of Small Differences, 2012. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre London and British Council. Gift of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery with the support of Channel 4 Television, The Art Fund and Sfumato Foundation with additional support from AlixPartners.

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SUCCESS STORY

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Down but never out In a small studio on Consett’s outskirts, Juliette Middlesbrough and her team of six print banners for multinationals and major theme parks. But it’s been quite a rollercoaster ride on the way, the butcher’s daughter from Staffordshire tells Ruth Lognonne The story behind Juliette Middlesbrough’s large format printing business, Design Xpress, isn’t as smooth as the PVC banners she prints upon. She started her business as a point of sale material producer in 1995, after she relocated to the North East. Her father ran a large butchery business in the Midlands, one of a number of large independent retailers operating out of the now

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defunct Kwik Save chain of superstores. While studying for an accountancy qualification, Middlesbrough designed marketing material for her father’s shops and was quickly leaning towards a career in graphic design. She recalls: “My father was the second largest independent butcher in the UK. He regularly required marketing material to be designed and printed. I realised there was a niche in the

market for the food industry. So when I moved to the region to be with my then partner, I set up my own company operating out of Stanley. “There was just me and a junior girl working at the time and through connections with my father, our customer base was largely the independent food retailers within Kwik Save.” However, her fortunes faded when supermarket group Somerfield acquired

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Kwik Save in a £473m deal in 1998. Ostensibly a merger, Somerfield investors owned 62.5% of the enlarged group and Somerfield’s intention was to rebrand the 350 Kwik Save stores under its Somerfield fascia. But the management at Somerfield quickly decided the look and feel of the Kwik Save stores – featuring warehouse-style wooden shelving, space-saving small checkouts and narrow aisles – would not fit well with the Somerfield brand. So Somerfield decided to retain and fully refurbish the 102 best stores, lining the remaining 248 up for closure. Middlesbrough, who's 45, says: “As Somerfield closed the sites down the number of independent traders in Kwik Save – who were my clients - slowly diminished. By 2006, Somerfield decided to get rid of all the retail partners in Kwik Save. At that point, my business was potentially in a lot of danger. “Kwik Save was my bread and butter. My turnover went from £1m to losing £600,000 worth of business overnight. In the throes of all the Kwik Save work we had 14 staff. We’d slowly cut back on staff numbers so, fortunately, I only had to make one redundancy towards the end. “But it was really challenging, not just for me, but for my staff. My accountant told me to let go of the business. But I refused to see its name dragged through the dirt. I decided to buy my partner out and take the company forward on my own.” To free up capital necessary to buy out her business partner, she had to sell her holiday home in Portugal. She had to thoroughly squeeze her budgets and re-invent her business away from the food industry, and with a fresh approach. “I soon realised there was a market outside Kwik Save,” she says.“We did a lot of retail shows and trade fairs and made a lot of important contacts along the way. I’ve never had a full-time sales person. The business development side of things had largely been down to me. I would often – and still do – come into work early or stay late wearing scruffy jeans and a t-shirt to ensure all the banners are printed, packed and away on time.” During a short-lived period of recovery,

SUCCESS STORY

We don’t often say no to anything. We work weekends or late evenings if we need to get the job done Design Xpress managed to win business with blue chip clients such as Thorntons and a number of Co-op stores. To this day, the company produces all of the large scale print material for Midcounties Co-op. In her bid to transfer work away from the food industry, the company also won a contract to supply to mobile phone specialist, Fonehouse. In 2010, filled with a new-found confidence, Middlesbrough approached a much larger print management company, whose name then was DSR. But so ill-fated was the company, that within just six months of working with it, Design Xpress was dumped with a £20,000 debt when DSR went under. “When they went under so did we, nearly,” she says. “Twice my business had almost been pulled from underneath me, and twice I faced a choice – either give up or battle on.

“My father eventually lost his business after Kwik Save was sold to Somerfield, and it was heartbreaking for him. “He had to bounce back so many times, first of all when BSE struck and then Foot and Mouth disease. He’s another reason why I’m so determined to make this business work. I have one other shareholder who used to work in the business with me, and she is my step mother. She and my father are now retired as my father suffered a stroke a few years ago and they decided to locate back to Staffordshire, where I grew up. I owe it to them to make this work.” Despite the series of potentially devastating setbacks, Design Xpress is not only still in business but, through the hard work and determination of its small team, has started to grow and become profitable again. It is now collaborating with several smaller print management firms and going from strength to strength. It now supplies, both directly and through print management companies and design agencies, to many large corporate firms. These include Merlin Entertainment, which looks after Alton Towers, London Eye, Thorpe Park and Madame Tussauds. It also works with Hotel Du Vin, De Vere, Rugby Football Union, Thorntons, Mercedes and Allianz to name a few. And in 2011, Design Xpress secured a two-year contract with Durham County Council, and is now part of the council’s large current print network. >>

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SUCCESS STORY

My turnover went from £1m to losing £600,000 worth of business overnight Middlesbrough can finally revel in her company’s success and reward her loyal staff for their efforts and perseverance. She says: “It makes me proud to think we have our work on the walls in the changing rooms at Twickenham’s hallowed rugby ground. It’s a huge achievement for a tiny company like us, and I’m extremely proud of my staff for producing such high-quality work against the odds. “Against adversity we’ve fought and battled on. I’ve cut back, sacrificed a lot and put in ridiculous hours because this company’s success means a lot to me. Out of Design Xpress’s six-strong workforce now, three employees left straight from school and are still working for the company in their 30s. “We’re a very close-knit team,” says the boss. “There’s not a massive management structure. We all just muck in and work together.” Until recently, Middlesbrough was the only

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director in the business. However, she has just offered her production manager a position as director of operations, and he has been responsible for helping in the firm’s ISO accreditations, and helping also in improving production work flow and business development. “It’s quite difficult to develop the business, especially when you work in the business, not on it,” Middlesbrough admits. “We launched a full e-commerce website in January. It’s early days and progress is still slow. But now with a director of operations I’m in a position to drive the website forward.” The company is profitable, but not hugely yet, Middlesbrough says. She aims to get the existing turnover of nearly £500,000 a year up to £650,000 soon. Besides upping her firm's revenue and taking on one or two apprentices in the future, Middlesbrough also aims to relocate to bigger factory space as business continues to grow. She says: “We’ve outgrown these premises, so bigger space will allow the flow of work to be a little smoother. It will also create a nicer environment for my workforce and customers visiting us. We're a very small team but we’ve achieved so much in recent years. We were particularly proud to win a small business of the year award for Durham this year.” Like many companies of all sizes in the region, to stay ahead of the competition both in the UK and overseas requires innovation, she says. The region’s reputation for rolling up its sleeves and getting the job done goes a long way too. “We were the first company in the North East to have a latex printer in 2009,” she says. “We’ve always tried to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Our unique selling point is the service we offer - how we respond to our customers and how quickly we respond to enquiries. “We get few complaints and any there are relate to couriers, not what we’ve done ourselves. We look after our clients because lots of what we produce is very time sensitive. We don’t often say no to anything. We work weekends or late evenings if we need to get the job done. All these factors have helped us develop further in what, for many small businesses, are difficult times.” n

The truth and nothing but... When Design Xpress was nominated for a regional small business award earlier this year, competition was so strong that the judges couldn’t make up their minds. Juliette Middlesbrough and her operations director were summoned to the Stockton headquarters of Darchem Engineering, who were judging the small business category. The firm wanted the three finalists to give a presentation before they decided on the winner. Middlesbrough piled the car high with roll banners and stuffed a memory stick, containing the all-important presentation, in her handbag. She says her jaw nearly hit the floor when she entered Darchem’s head offices. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “There were huge staircases, marble floors and everything looked grand and pristine. When we entered the boardroom, there was a stage, microphones and chairs lined up for what seemed like an audience. “We had imagined it would just be us pitching to someone in an office.” Against all their nerves, the pair gave the presentation as best they knew how – the honest way. Middlesbrough openly discussed her firm’s trials and tribulations and its battle to win success against the odds. By the end of the pitch, she was a bag of nerves. “I hadn’t a clue what they’d think,” she recalls. “We gave it our best and were confident about our achievements. We couldn’t believe their response – they loved the presentation and couldn’t believe what a fantastic little company we were. They gave us such fantastic feedback and praise, we were over the moon. To hear such comments from a company of that size and magnitude was an absolute joy.” Design Xpress not only won the Durham small business award but also finished runner-up in the regional competition. But didn’t someone once say endeavour brings its own rewards?

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Awards are nice. And when it’s your peers adding one to your collection you can feel confident you must be doing something right. It’s easily seen why Brian Palmer gets the acclaim. The company of which he’s chief executive seems to press all the right buttons advocated for manufacturing success these days: • Resilient in recession • Committed to investment • Actively hunting talent and skills • Heavily into research, development and enterprise in intellectual property • Willing to work for grants, and to play the bankers’ new game, and • Still prepared to take a calculated risk. Brian Palmer’s development of Tharsus Group - from its roots in metal bashing to specialism in Original Equipment Design and Manufacture (OEDM) now - also illustrates how the presence in the North East of a world leader like Nissan can rekindle the region’s entrepreneurial spirit. One of the first graduate trainee engineers that Nissan took on at Sunderland, Palmer has since grown Tharsus, in the 16 years since his management buy-in there, to a business of 150 people in four places, exporting 40% of output and carrying big names on its client list. Names locally like BAE Systems, SMD, Turbo Power Systems, Joyce Loebl, and CMR. And nationally and internationally 3M, Safety Clean, ITM Power and Rapiscan the airport scanning

ENTREPRENEUR

people. How has he outmanoeuvred recession? “By lots of hard work,” he laughs. “It’s definitely a lot harder than before. I took control of the business in 2003. Until 2008 we grew very strongly. We got to the recession with some good contracts already won in areas such as defence. But things also collapsed in a lot of our markets. So we did downsize at the start. We’ve grown again since.” Defence and telecoms figure less, subsea more, and clean tech equipment is the primary area of growth. His background? Born in Newcastle and raised in Chapel House suburb, Palmer attended Walbottle Campus - “by virtue of social experimentation in bussing kids from Newbiggin Hall,” he recalls. He pitched for a place at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). “I got very lucky convincing them to let me in,” he says. “I’d the lowest grades of anyone on the course but they took a chance on me, and we came through.” “We” did indeed, a 2:1 BSc Hons in mechanical engineering. In 1988 he returned to the North East to join Nissan. “I was very lucky,” he says. “Nissan was an excellent training ground.” He was one of 1,500 workers when he started, one of 5,000 when he left five years later. After his grounding in engine design, his chance came in 1990 to move to the engine design department in the carmaker’s newly created European technology centre at Cranfield in

Bedfordshire. “I learned valuable lessons,” he says. “One still with me is that you can improve everything you do - even the good bits of your business. I also saw some of the issues such as their inability to control distribution in the UK. And the design of a car in the early days that wasn’t up with some of the market leaders, despite the quality of engineering and performance. A business must have a very balanced skills set. It’s not enough to excel in just one or two areas.” A keen sportsman, he was later lured by the great outdoors; 1993 found him in the French Alps improving his ski-ing, before returning to England in 1995 to be a diesel engine programme manager for Ford at Dunton in Essex. The following year he returned to the North East to help sell the family business, Prempack Ltd. By December 1997 the urge to own his own business proved overwhelming. He led the management buy-in of the Tharsus Welding and Sheet Metalwork Company, now part of Tharsus Engineering. It was a sub-contract sheet metal fabricator with an “interesting” customer base, and Palmer chortles at how, at least twice since, the media has reported how he financed the deal through a pools win. “The firm had been started in 1964 by three guys from Reyrolle. I wasn’t quite born then. It was they who won the pools. I have got 50 quid in Premium Bonds!” In 2005 he launched Tharsus Direct, which >>

Pressing the right buttons Yet another award for the innovative Brian Palmer and this time an endorsement of the admiration that other directors have for him. Brian Nicholls reports

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ENTREPRENEUR then supplied most of the cable management systems serving the UK’s telephone exchange infrastructure for the roll out of highspeed broadband. An acquisition of Direct Message at Blyth followed in 2007, from which he created Tharsus Vision, a specialist in outdoor advertising, and a specialist also within Tharsus Engineering. In 2011 he bought a second facility at Blyth, bringing on the business’s main focus and growth driver, its OEDM service. Last year Tharsus Group was formed, and now Palmer has been named Investor Director of the Year by North East members of the Institute of Directors. The group’s 150 employees are fairly evenly spread among two operations at Blyth, one at Hebburn and a small telecoms customer service at Birmingham. Its new headquarters at Blyth comprises a £3m investment in 31,000sq ft, offices and manufacturing that look every square inch value for money. At nearby Spencer Road, the second factory of about 35,000sq ft does the specialist engineering and fabrication for defence, security, subsea and transport. Palmer says of the emphasis shift to Blyth: “Six years ago if you’d told me we’d be headquartered in Blyth now I’d have laughed. I wouldn’t have understood. But Blyth works very well from several points of view. Many people have to pass here to get to work at Newcastle. “Travel for them is a growing concern. They’re becoming conscious of how far they have to cover. Increasingly they want to work around here if they can. Why 15 miles extra into Newcastle? There’s quite a big catchment covering Blyth, Ashington, Bedlington, Amble and Morpeth. And Blyth, unfortunately, has quite high unemployment. “But there are some very good people here, and no difficulties in recruiting. It’s not as desperate as some people would tell you though, and all in all here’s a good place to do business.” The Hebburn arm will be 50 years old this November. It was resituated there in 1972, and last year an adjoining site was bought too. So what prompted a switch of emphasis to Northumberland? Outdoor advertising lightboxes. Palmer explains: “Telecoms had brought our biggest market growth. But on entering defence we, almost by accident, ended up with this outdoor advertising business also.

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We sat down, either to pull the plug or re-invent. We could see all the big multimillion pound projects disappearing. We came up with an equipment design and manufacture model that’s running now Brian Palmer Brian Palmer, 47, besides ski-ing has sailed competitively at international level. He also competes in triathlons, and kitesurfs. He met his wife Trish, one of six sisters from Connecticut, on his way down to South America. “I bumped into her,” he laughs. They now live near Corbridge with their two daughters aged nine and four, one dog and a cat.

We’d started discussions to buy the defence fabrication side at Spencer Road. Because of a delay the other party had over a contract with CBS and the London Underground - the biggest outdoor advertising contract I think the country’s ever seen with about 5,000 units for the entire system - the contract stalled. “This was due to planning permissions. Many Tube stations are Grade I and Grade II listed

architecturally. So you can’t just run power as you want or drill a hole in a tile. English Heritage and everyone else has to get involved. The company got into trouble. “It became a case of buy all or nothing. We bought it all. We created Tharsus Vision and worked hard for two years on it, delivering for London Underground and talking about contracts in Milan, Madrid and about primary city-type projects. But overnight that market died. It’s very high capital expenditure. New technologies coming out are more expensive. And advertising revenues are falling. “A bit of a perfect storm, then. We’d built a team for it. We sat down, either to pull the plug or re-invent. We could see all the big multi-million pound projects disappearing. We came up with an equipment design and manufacture model that’s running now. We still do some advertising light boxes, mainly for Lebanon and Ireland. But it’s still a low level of business. Had we been just an outdoor advertising manufacturer we’d probably >>

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ENTREPRENEUR have gone under. “Undeterred, we bought our new site just over two years ago in February 2011. We didn’t occupy that till April 2012. There was method to the madness. We won a couple of contracts we couldn’t have won without that extra space. Though still at Spencer Road, we could show the client a computer generated video of how a new production floor would look here, convincing them we understood how we’d deliver. We took a bit of a gamble. It paid. There’s always a slight risk stretching yourself, and any funding you can get slightly derisks the gamble. That’s when something like the Regional Growth Fund and Grant for Business Investment Fund as was paid off. The day we bought this property we hadn’t need of it. But we believed we would have the need and it was the thing to do. We were supported in that. We got a mortgage from our bank too.” Skilful managing of risk had brought the firm backing before. Now, says palmer, the banks have new rules. “It’s about understanding the rules. Banks are cautious. As a customer you must learn how to deal with them - bring them along.” Much overseas business involves international customers with a UK footprint, and different products for 10 different markets may be brought out with only slight variations. The hot spots presently are Spain and France, with Turkey, the Czech Republic and even China also appearing on the manifests. It was pure coincidence, so all the more satisfying, that when Michael Fallon as Minister for Business Innovation and Skills came to open the headquarters officially last November, units destined for China were on display. “The minister liked that,” palmer says. Tharsus has a busy research and development staff of 14. Recruits for that are a major consideration in palmer’s talent searches. “You can’t just sit and hope new talent will come to you,” he says. “You must seek it out, making sure you’re attractive as employers. You have to engage with universities.” The firm has 10 apprentices too and palmer continually invests in training. “Some people who were with the company long before I joined began as labourers and are now metalworkers. Others once operators are now senior supervisors. We’re multi-skilled too. Here

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everybody can do three jobs, and every job has at least three people who can do it.” Winning the IoD award was a surprise. “It’s great to be recognised,” he admits. “It increases the pressure to match expectations. I still see us in early stages of our journey. We’ve a very motivated team out to prove what we can do.” The 2015 target is to get the present £13m turnover up to £25m, then maybe £30m three years after. “You worry about saying things like that,” he admits. “people might take it as arrogance but we’d genuinely love to see that.” n

You can improve everything you do - even the good bits of your business. It’s not enough to excel in just one or two areas

Sharing IP beneﬁts Tharsus, though deeply into intellectual property, avoids ideas others could commercialise. palmer exemplifies: “We’ve just agreed heads of terms with a new customer, Ip based and with no manufacturing capability, who have bought a number of patents from other businesses. “If we come up with new Ip in the form of patents for them, which we’ve already done for a couple of customers (for example, with a glass recycling machine) that’s patent protected with one of our guys named as inventor. “And so, if we’re named patent inventor under a new patent box regime - whereby instead of paying 20% corporation tax you only pay 10% - we’re saying this... On profit generated, because you have that patent when we’re developing a product for you, if we come up with some additionally clever ideas to patent, whereas we’re named inventor or co-inventor, we’d take only 20% of the tax savings. “So it’s win, win. They wouldn’t have the saving if we hadn’t come up with the idea. It also encourages our guys to question what they can do to be clever and different, since that protects our customer’s position too. “That’s what’s unique about our business. We’ve no interest in owning the Ip. In summary, any ideas generated while we do the development work will be transferred to our customer. Exclusivity is two way. We’ll have an exclusive manufacturing agreement but also be exclusive to them within their specific market segment.”

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Broadening horizons The issue: How can we all maximise the opportunities created by superfast broadband and tomorrow’s technology applications to enhance the performance of North East businesses? Although research suggests that in the next 15 years superfast broadband could give the economy of a typical city a £296m boost, create around 430 new jobs and 320 new start-up businesses, Newcastle has been slow on the uptake. Ofcom figures show take up at only 8%. However broadband connectivity in Newcastle is set for a massive boost after the city council secured up to £6m from Government. Small and medium sized businesses will be able to apply to the council for up to £3m worth of vouchers to pay for the installation of next generation access (NGA) broadband, and £1m will be invested in improving wireless access to the internet, particularly in public buildings in the city centre and on district high streets. But across the wider North East region, much has yet to be done in raising awareness of just how superfast capabilities could transform businesses for the better. Whether that involves increasing their global competitiveness or merely saving on phone bills

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through VOIP technology, opportunities are being missed. A change of mindset is needed. In public services there are also opportunities to transform the lives of residents, while also presenting sharp innovative companies with new markets to tap into. Influential figures from the tech community, public and private sector and BT gathered to discuss these and other burning broadband issues at St James’s Park. The debate Farooq Hakim: “BT is investing £2.5bn in rolling out superfast broadband across two thirds of the UK. As part of a Governmentled programme, we’ll be increasing that broadband delivery up to 90% and BT will be investing up to a further £1.5bn in doing that. In the latest Spending Review the Chancellor talked about taking that up to 97% coverage. The bottom line is, we’re all going to get there. By 2018, 97% of UK premises will have superfast broadband. These are the speeds of

Taking part Lisa Clark, project manager, Go Digital Newcastle Andrew Hebden, assistant director, CBI in the North East Ross Smith, director of policy, North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) Andrew Sugden, head of external engagement, Northumbria University Julie Dodds, senior investment manager, NGI Paul Dowling, strategic director, Gateshead Council Jeremy Middleton, board member, North East LEP Tobyn Hughes, deputy director general, Nexus Simon Green, head of business engagement and support, Newcastle Science City Gary Boon, managing director, Shout Digital Craig Iley, regional director, Santander Corporate and Commercial Steve Cox, chief operating officer, Technology Services Group (TSG) Matt Forrest, strategy director, Sage plc Julie Harrison, commercial partner, Ward Hadaway Alastair MacColl, chief executive, BE Group Simon Roberson, regional partnership director, BT Farooq Hakim, regional director, BT Simon Yellowley, regional sales director, BT In the chair: Caroline Theobald Also present: Ruth Lognonne, business journalist, BQ North East Magazine Venue: St James’s Park, Newcastle BQ is highly regarded as a leading independent commentator on business issues, many of which have a bearing on the current and future success of the region’s business economy. BQ Live is a series of informative debates designed to further contribute to the success and prosperity of our regional economy through the debate, discussion and feedback of a range of key business topics and issues.

the future and it is going to happen. How can this impact on the economy? Well, Northern Ireland who is leading the way in the rollout of superfast broadband, believes it will have a £750m impact on the country’s economy. Jeremy Middleton (who also runs an investment company, Middleton Enterprises, in Newcastle): “My interest is not when will superfast broadband turn up, but is there anything in public policy terms we can do to drive up usage?”

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Andrew Hebden: “I’m interested in exploring how the North East can use super-connectivity to attract inward investment. The recent Adonis Review talked about us being an isolated region. I’m keen to find out how this technology can support business infrastructure. Steve Cox (whose goal at TSG is to cut through the complexity of an ever changing technology landscape): “I have a blog, called ‘don’t get blogged down by technology’, which aims to make sense of tech terms like ERP, CRM, unified comms, and much more. There are a lot of acronyms out there. I’m trying to understand from a consumer’s perspective what they actually know about what they’re buying. What does it mean to someone trying to improve their business and make it profitable?” Andrew Sugden: “In the North East we’re characterised by our distance from other markets. The great thing about this technology is that it can close the gap and make us more competitive on a global scale.” Simon Green (a key player in the development of Newcastle’s Science Central, which is helping roll out a number of programmes around science and technology): “The big thing for me is how we get value-added, which is really going to appeal to businesses. We need research into the opportunities that superfast broadband can bring to the North East in particular, and to invest in some cuttingedge technology.” Simon Yellowley (who predominantly looks after the public sector from Newcastle down to Norfolk as sales director with BT): “Organisations are increasingly starting to see their role in driving digital change. It’s patchy up here though - some do, some don’t. Public services are going through a huge digital change. From a BT perspective we look to capitalise on that.” Paul Dowling: “Gateshead works closely with Newcastle in housing and economic growth. We’re looking to achieve 100% broadband coverage in Gateshead. However, two thirds of Gateshead is rural in nature, which can prove a challenge. In rural Gateshead, how do we sell superfast broadband into small businesses in places like Gibside, and that includes getting businesses connected?” Julie Dodds (tasked with inward investment

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The North East is characterised by our distance from other markets...This technology can close the gap and make us more competitive on a global scale services at NGI): “We must promote the area nationally and internationally. Use superfast broadband to attract and retain investment. To remain globally and nationally competitive, we need to make sites set to go for businesses. What can we do to make this technology an asset to the region?” Craig Iley: “Aside from being interested in what my children are tapping into, from a business perspective technology is a gamechanger for customers and consequently our business. How can we engage people who are unable to enjoy benefits of this sort of environment, with three members of BT’s

senior team on-hand to explain the benefits to us face to face?” Ross Smith said the IT sector was only starting to waken in the region: “While we’ve got some good thriving young digital sector companies that would apply that, our other 3,000 members are somehow in the analogue sector. We need to steer them away from that and get them signed up to superfast broadband.” Tobyn Hughes, although championing good old-fashioned public transport with Nexus, admitted that his customers’ demands are constantly changing: “This rush of >>

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enthusiasm reminds me of when railways were about to be built. After this initial enthusiasm, how do we think a sustainable model is going to be set up so everybody stays connected?” Simon Roberson said it was all about access to the Internet for a business whatever its size: “Modern internet is very much about high-speed. Businesses must think about that, whether in their offices or on their mobiles. The greater the take-up, that will enable us to make a return on our investment with superfast broadband which currently we don’t.” Matt Forest chipped in: “I think if you have to think about what you have to do with superfast broadband, you’re probably too old!” Julie Harrison: “To do business it’s important to have that online connectivity. From an everyday business point of view, all our documents are sent down the wire, where our clients are seated at home signing documents

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instantly. It’s important we have that level of connectivity to deal with people around the world.” Gary Boon (who runs an award-winning strategic digital agency), said he worked with a wide range of organisations in different sectors: “We have a challenge every day with clients when it comes to what they want to do in five or 10 years’ time. Are we putting the infrastructure in place that will last the next 10 to 15 years? We don’t want to be just getting the penetration and then be left behind. “Are we building something for the future here today?” Lisa Clark, through the Go Digital Newcastle project, has been trying to get superfast broadband out to as much of the city as possible: “While we’re doing all this there are more than 40,000 people in Newcastle who have never been on the internet. In addition, 34% of SMEs in the country don’t have an internet presence. If we don’t get on top of

this, we’re going to be left behind.” Alastair MacColl: “Businesses want to use new and emerging technology as an opportunity to expand and develop. It’s about turning as many of those businesses on to the impact that broadband can have on their dayto-day running. The role of the universities up here is very significant. It’s important to supply some of their innovations not just locally, but nationally as well.” Caroline Theobald asked why take-up of superfast broadband in Newcastle is so low – at around 8% - and what can be done to try and communicate the benefits? Jeremy Middleton asked if 8% was a low amount compared to other UK cities. Farooq Hakim said it was roughly similar to most northern cities, but a lot lower than the likes of Oxford, Chelmsford and Milton Keynes. Steve Cox: “There’s such a selection of people who sell broadband, that there’s confusion

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about what people are actually buying. People ask if they have broadband why do they need superfast? We need to articulate to people what it actually means. Most general businesses wouldn’t understand the difference unless we can explain why they should pay more for superfast broadband as opposed to what they have already.” Alastair MacColl: “It’s back to the age-old method of selling benefits. If you have this thing you’ll reach more customers, open up new markets – that sort of thing. Be clear about what the benefits are.” Lisa Clark felt the drive on uptake should be a public policy: “As a council we feel it’s something we should be pushing. Consumers are confused about what it is. We want to work with partners to build up case studies where it has worked. It’s not only the economic benefits we need to drive but also social aspects. We have a public responsibility I think. Within the next six months I’d be keen to work with people to make sure businesses and residents in Newcastle aren’t thinking ‘what is the point in buying?’” Steve Cox: “People demand the same technologies in their workplace as what they have at home. When they get into the workplace they don’t want old computers and slow technology. It’s not what you buy but who you buy it from. Quality comes at a price.” Tobyn Hughes: “I’m struggling to see how businesses benefit. Plenty is being said around families and individuals. If the demand is there it will come and BT’s return on investment will take many years if not decades. It’s about building the long-term pipelines and getting the region ready to lead on any growth plans.” Paul Dowling exemplified how superfast broadband could directly help inward investment into the region: “NGI is active in Aberdeen, but the office market is overheated and it now has people working in Gateshead for designs offshore. They’re only there because they are connected back to Aberdeen and that allows them to be here. This is superfast broadband offering a good opportunity for the North East to capitalise on cities overheating. We can attract more business to the region this way.” Simon Yellowley: “It’s sometimes difficult

to solve the problems. So let’s look at some comparisons that are ahead of here. Cornwall got £100m EU funding to put out broadband infrastructure. Cornwall was way ahead in years. They’re doing very well and they will find businesses that have benefited from it. It’s by example you get that stimulation. Where are there vehicles in Newcastle doing the same? You need to find those innovative entrepreneurs who have done something clever with the technology.” Matt Forest: “This is a utility, you don’t get a choice. There’s an argument that says you just make this broadband and say this is how it works. If you get the promotion and pricing right, the penetration will come.” Jeremy Middleton: “I’m not that interested in the wires I think they’re going to turn up. There are many benefits potentially for the North East, but what would be a legitimate way to get a competitive advantage for this area? We control the education up here – are our young people coming out with a good understanding of this whole arena and how to be a user and a buyer? Is there support for businesses who want to access finance for this kind of investment? It’s not going to happen

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by various companies fighting among themselves.” Farooq Hakim: “Education is a key. We opened a global development centre in Newcastle and there were technology jobs we wanted. We went to market to see if the skills existed and they didn’t. We approached the local universities and said we couldn’t bring jobs here because the training didn’t exist. We’ve got great skills in the North East but maybe not in the technology sector.” Andrew Hebden: “I don’t think this is on the agenda for most businesses. When you go out and talk to business leaders it isn’t part of the debate yet. It’s partly the responsibility of organisations like us to promote and educate on this. Infrastructure is important to businesses, but when you talk about that you immediately think of roads and rails - not necessarily broadband.” Matt Forest: “The 40,000 individuals who have never been online in the North East and the UK businesses who haven’t got an online presence, I would forget about. If they haven’t seen the benefit of broadband right now you’re not going to sell it to them? Apply it to the younger generation who get it. >>

You need to find those innovative entrepreneurs who have done something clever with the technology

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Tobyn Hughes: “There are people eager to use the services but they are harder to reach. That includes small businesses like one-manband mechanics. There’s a place for them in all of this.” Simon Yellowley: “As a region, you have to pick a theme within the digital sector that you want to be famous for. Make it part of your economic strategy for the region, by narrowing down focus on a digital theme. You pick your theme, stick to it and become famous around the world for it.” Jeremy Middleton: “But who would facilitate the development of this strategy? We’ve got a couple of local authority people here. I don’t think it’s a local authority exclusive issue so where is the practical team of people that are turning it into a policy that we can implement?” Lisa Clark: “We want to build a stakeholder group on how can we address this. Running alongside that, we’re going out to market and procuring a business support package.” Steve Cox: “People try and overcomplicate things. Apple is so successful because the company kept it simple. You can’t do that

with broadband because there are 15 different flavours from a multitude of different companies. If you are going to try and educate people about benefits it needs to be simple messaging.” Alastair MacColl: “Across the country, local authorities are taking the lead and are all trying to build a coalition of the willing. LEPs have got a big role to play, but it must be coordinated and focussed. It strikes me there needs to be some sort of consensus, because intervention in some way stimulates economic growth. The service sector has grown more than at any time previously and that’s no coincidence. That’s because we’re far better connected than we ever were.” Julie Dodds: “I would say questions should be around how we stay competititve on a global level? Companies locating here from all over the world will require superfast broadband. We must ensure we’re providing the infrastructure that the rest of the country and wider Europe provide in order to stay competitive. Are we a superfast city that people can come into and get connected?” Simon Roberson: “A lot of BT’s focus has

We must ensure we’re providing the infrastructure that the rest of the country and wider Europe provide in order to stay competitive

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moved from ‘wow isn’t it great we can do it’ to ‘how do we make it easier for people to buy?’ Let’s create a market where people can shift more easily. We’re only one of the players in all this.” Lisa Clark: “There’s a lot of focus on knocking things down and starting again. It’s more of a challenge where there are existing buildings looking to regenerate. For these not so commercially attractive areas, getting superfast broadband is a more difficult discussion, but we’re making sure that we’ve got the offer there. If we’re going to brand ourselves as super connected, we need to make sure we’re ready.” Craig Iley: “Broadband is a great leveller, especially for smaller businesses, giving them a window to the world. If you talk to a small business owner, not seated here, lack of a web presence is just one of a million problems he has. Who is out there marketing broadband as a benefit to him? How can it shave x-amount off your marketing costs etc? I haven’t heard anything around the table that would persuade these guys otherwise.” Farooq Hakim was interested in seeing how superfast can help grow capabilities of tele-healthcare within the NHS: “A growing number of people are able to move around their house but sometimes need a little care. If you had the technology where the occupant could notify a control centre to say, ‘I’m getting out of bed’ then a system that would be activated if they tripped or fell, you’d save so much money just using technology. It’s

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Businesses must exploit this technology

about sectors maximising the opportunities superfast broadband can bring.” Matt Forest said the old world of accounting, where people loaded their CD software into their PCs had moved on rapidly. The “smartest” accountants were doing their books online. Alastair MacColl cited owners of a small firm in Yorkshire who had saved £12,000 on their phone bill by using VOIP technology. Gary Boon: “Business people increasingly want information to hand on their mobiles and want to contact people quickly online when needs be. It’s not that they don’t get it, just that they don’t see the return on their investment.” Craig Iley: “I know they get it. Most people in business are very clever, but a lot simply don’t have enough hours in the day. A big motivator is wanting to spend time with the family you might wonder how improved technology could help facilitate that. It’s not necessarily just finance that makes people want to devote their time and money to this technology.” Jeremy Middleton: “I think there’s an obvious point to consider around what is ostensibly a North East-wide issue. Is there some important competitive advantage if we really grasped this and ran with it?” Ross Smith: “It would be worth investing money in skills and training. I’m not talking about call centre work, but people who really understand the digital sector. We must build that skill set and that will create more entrepreneurs and ultimately

more businesses.” Andrew Sugden: “Our biggest challenge is communicating that talent and innovation that these people are responsible for – it’s almost impossible. But I’m happy to take that away as a challenge.” Tobyn Hughes: “On the Metro system customers want Wifi. The same goes for buses. We would see improved connectivity on public transport as good, since it encourages people out of their cars more.” Lisa Clark: “We’ve focussed today on a challenge we have today. As soon as we get there we’re going to be behind others, but the opportunity is immense - it’s about communicating the fact that if you don’t invest in this now, you won’t be in business in five years’ time.” Farooq Hakim gave another example of how superfast broadband could act as a gamechanger for businesses in the North East: “We’ve got loads of SMEs losing out to large multinationals when tendering for work. So we opened up e-auctions to remove all this complexity and make it simple for them to bid for business. Is Gateshead doing this? Why are we awarding contracts to national organisations when we have some really good SMEs up here? That’s what we should be looking at as an enabler of this technology.” Everyone agreed they had learned something during the debate, and that both public and private parties should formulate a single strategy to drive the usage of superfast broadband across the region. n

The importance of effective, reliable, fast communications has never been so vital. Communications are the cornerstone of a successful community, helping it to build new skills and knowledge, as well as encouraging the creation of new businesses and jobs. To underpin this, BT is working to enhance the broadband network across the region. Its on-going commercial roll-out of superfast fibre broadband is already delivering the technology to over 525,000 in the North East region. BT has announced to date that more than 70 exchanges in the North East will benefit from its investment in fibre broadband, and in total these exchanges serve over 736,000 homes and businesses. In the areas of the region where it’s not commercially viable for a network provider to invest in faster broadband, BT is working with public sector partners to bring better services to the more difficult to reach areas. With extensive coverage in the region by BT superfast broadband and other providers, including Newcastle city centre and Gateshead, availability of fibre is not an issue. The question is how to get local businesses to exploit the technology for the benefit of the economy. Building a new, future-proof infrastructure is only part of the challenge facing the region. Exploiting its many benefits to the full often requires key cultural changes and courage. It’s vital the public and private sectors continue to work together to facilitate this because the rewards are many. Superfast broadband will help improve the performance of existing firms, enable new businesses to emerge, encourage flexible working, boost sales and provide better communications with customers – it is key to opening up global markets, providing new job opportunities and boosting productivity at a local level. All these benefits and more have got to be on the top of every company’s agenda. Farooq Hakim, regional director, BT

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North East

Little force, big achievement

As NE1 Ltd sets out to convince backers that its uplift of a city centre merits it a second five year term, chief executive Sean Bullick tells Brian Nicholls over lunch what else can be achieved Many folk - even in business - don’t realise much of Newcastle city centre’s recent upsurge of attraction originates through enterprise of a mere half dozen industrious enthusiasts. Sean Bullick and his five-strong team at NE1 Ltd in five years have livened and enriched the city’s heart with remarkable achievements: A bustling new evening economy of shopping and entertainment between 5pm and 8pm, when the city centre previously could be as boisterous as the Marie Celeste. New public attractions such as a Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, World Cities Week, power boat grand prix racing beside a marina opened on the Quayside, open-air cinema, a quayside “seaside”, cycle hiring at 20p for two hours (against “Boris’s bike” hires costing £6 in London), seven big streets festooned with Christmas lights for the first time, and - pause for breath - five new pocket parks of green, neutralising tarmac and concrete. That’s the appeal to the public. To the economy of the city you can add: Some 4.3m additional visitors to Eldon Square alone after 5pm since the Alive After Five programme began, a 16.7% average increase in total consumer spend between 2010 and 2013, a £220m income stream in the previously “lost” early evening, and a £250,000 saving for 103 businesses through joint procurement. “I think we’ve come a long way from having really nothing and trying to persuade businesses to invest in us when there was no

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track record to help persuade them,” Bullick says of NE1. “Some people are surprised we’re no great monolith but a very good small team. “A challenge we’ve always had is getting over what we’re about. We seem to be the tip of an inverted iceberg. We know what we’re doing and why. But even a lot of businesses, while they know we do this, that or the other, don’t realise all we do. They don’t necessarily know our logic about long term value for businesses and a return on investment for them, some of which is immediate. “It matters to us that businesses know they’re benefiting and why.” It matters now particularly. NE1 is business led, commercially run, private and independent and a not-for-profit company, set up in April 2009 by city centre businesses in Newcastle under national legislation. It manages Newcastle Business Improvement District (BID),

whose purpose besides delivering long-term value to city centre businesses, is to champion that area, intensify its competitiveness and ensure Newcastle remains a leading UK city. NE1’s initial five year term is ending. A ballot among participating businesses will decide if the company should have another five years. NE1 will distribute a formal business plan in September, along with feedback from a consultation document, and from wider consultation. The ballot will be on October 24. Lunching in the calm atmosphere of the Vermont Hotel’s brasserie, Bullick enthuses across the table over NE1’s ambitions for a second term. This enthusiasm relates to a number of major new proposed public realm projects and developments including Northumberland Street, Percy Street, Bigg Market and the area around The Gate, further phases of Central >>

I think we’ve come a long way from having really nothing and trying to persuade businesses to invest in us when there was no track record to help persuade them. Some people are surprised we’re no great monolith but a very good small team

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BUSINESS LUNCH Station and East pilgrim Street. “Tasteful updating of the station is being recognised as a great opportunity to create a proper sense of welcome,” he declares. “A Grade I listed building with greater passenger appeal, Stephenson’s heritage and all that. Its big improvements are a result of money NE1 has been able to get, proving the catalyst.”

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In an essential partnership with the City Council, East Coast and Network Rail, NE1 is marking the John Dobson designed station’s 150th anniversary with a £20m enhancement, £5m of which NE1 got through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. The station will have a new travel centre, a doubling of retail, better lighting, toilets and signage.

Good enough for France, good enough for us Impressed by four stars and a Rolls-Royce phantom outside, we remained even so doubly curious on entering the Vermont Hotel for lunch. Bought out of administration last year by Gainford Hotels, a Chester le Street venture by Susan and Mohammed Khaliq, we speculated about ambiance, and standards that would be set by chef Neil Butterworth, who’d started days earlier. In fact the food is superb. Neil’s career had taken him initially from The Old Swan Hotel at Harrogate through several upmarket london restaurants before he and his wife revived The Bull at Broughton in North Yorkshire, taking it into the Michelin Guide. Then since 2010 Neil had been executive sous chef at Slaley Hall. From a choice of six starters and nine mains (including four steaks), Sean opted for a “pleasing” crown of baked fig and goat’s cheese, parma ham, rocket salad and balsamic dressing, followed by confit duck leg, slow cooked fondant potato, beans, braised red cabbage and port sauce. The selection was to remind him of when he lived in France. Expectation was fulfilled. His interviewer started with clam chowder, deliciously creamy and appropriately light. His pan fried lamb rump following was tenderly cooked, delicately slivered and memorably crispily encased, all accompanied by spring onion mash, baby carrots, red wine jus. These vegetable accompaniments needed none of the extra side dishes available. Neither was there room nor time for a dessert regrettably. But the dry house white goes down well if time also prevents you from doing justice to a list-topping Dom pérignon Brut Rosé Champagne at £600 a bottle. The hotel’s dark wood and strikingly mirrored interior, visual evidence of a £3.5m improvement to the hotel, is relaxing indeed, and it’s some time since one of us certainly had been looked after so attentively by a hotel staff. The Rolls? That’s the hotel’s, for convenience of VIps and newly weds, to which this critic qualified on neither count.

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“Station users will find a newly glassed portico entrance pedestrian friendly and fantastic. Over the way will be cafes and trees - Newcastle with a modern European and cosmopolitan feel.” Tim Hedley-Jones, East Coast’s stations and property director, is one of many sharing Bullick’s enthusiasm. “The improvements,” he affirms, “will accentuate the important heritage of the building, one of only six such stations in the UK, and act as a stunning new gateway to the city for visitors.” All should be complete by next May. “In terms of a national project, it’s the first big thing we’re looking to,” Bullick says. “Assuming we get a second term, we’re keen to link the station with the new business area in neighbouring Stephenson Quarter. “As national rail infrastructure develops, we must ensure we’ve proper land assemblage in place to benefit the city. Besides attracting new hotels and new businesses it would be a shame if we don’t look to this. Stephenson Quarter will add vastly to the city as a very interesting area and a good place to work.” On Alive after Five, there have been some perceptions that it’s wholly about retail. True, that has been an anchor, for Bullick stresses: “If shops aren’t open nothing will happen. But Alive after Five is also about professional services, restaurants and bars benefiting, theatres and cinemas. The £220m extra brought in by a 5pm till 8pm shops opening, and free parking, since October 2010 isn’t all new money. But Alive after Five has made a major impact. Enjoying the city centre early evening is now a norm, working commercially for businesses and in a cultural way too. The place is vibrant and busy at a time when it wasn’t previously.” In environmental and safety aspects, cleaners and patrolling Rangers introduced have contributed to a situation whereby 64% of consumers interviewed recently felt the city centre looks cleaner, while 83% felt safer walking the streets. Many of NE1’s “foot soldiers” are Mitie employees. Among volunteers also, a number have secured permanent work. The public are kept informed about events by a website and a dedicated fortnightly what’s on magazine. Bullick says: “We’re keen to involve as many more

SUMMER 13

BUSINESS LUNCH

businesses as we can - retailers, yes, but also anyone else who can help emphasise the city’s new mix and match combination, whereby you can come in, eat well, do some shopping, catch a film, or whatever - all this in a very compact area, without an equivalent of crossing half of London. Our programme so far has been diverse,” Bullick suggests. “We’ve tried to be innovative and ambitious, ensuring all we do is quality. I think people we work with see and accept that. They’ve facilitated most of what we’ve had to do. We hope to improve even on that.” Street upgrades would continue to sights felt deserving of titivation too. A promising signal is the City Council’s agreement to continue free parking in the evenings. “It’s the only thing in their financial budgets they’ve agreed beyond their present two or three year window,” Bullick observes. “That’s a flying start, though all subject to a positive vote for NE1 to continue.” This August 31 and September 1 will also see NE1’s second free-to-watch Zap Cat Power Boat Grand Prix, two days of 20 teams in fast powerboat racing between the Tyne and Millennium Bridges. The event attracted 25,000 spectators last year. Bullick says NE1 is delighted with the Quayside Marina project and the growing number of yachts and other private craft now coming into the heart of the city. “The Quayside feels very different,” he adds. “While many crews have come from along the North East coast, we’re getting international visitors too. NE1 has made inroads in Holland and Belgium, and already we’ve had up to six Dutch craft put in together. We’re keen to run an international race attracting more foreign craft and adding to the sense of a cosmopolitan Newcastle.” There are ambitions for pavement cafes along there, and promotion of the traditional Sunday market. Says Bullick: “It’s especially great now with leisure boats and ferries about. I shop at the market, particularly for bread, and there’s a stall there selling fantastic locally produced sausages.” While NE1 hopes for additional support as new businesses spring up, it will >>

Next stop on the line: Artist’s impression of how Newcastle’s Central Station will look after major redevelopment work

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

BUSINESS LUNCH

SUMMER 13

How others see it What some people say about NE1’s achievements to date...

RITA SMITH, STORE MANAGER, MARKS & SPENCER, NEWCASTLE: “...they’ve played a pivotal role, getting retailers and the council round the table.”

Can’t win ‘em all Has any NE1 idea flopped? Yes, Bullick says. “A project for Grainger Market, a gem of a city asset. We worked on a website to give it an internet shopping delivery service, so you could order your shopping at the office or wherever you work, just as you would from a supermarket at home. NE1 people would deliver in a little van. “We thought it would benefit vendors and city workers alike. But regulations around food hygiene defeated us. We’d have had to buy the stock from the market and sell it ourselves - a nightmare for a small company like ours. It would have hugely benefited the market. But you can’t win ‘em all, I suppose.”

remain concentrated on its present precinct, the area within NE1 post code plus bits of NE2 and NE4. It includes the Central Motorway, Haymarket, the Great North Museum and Exhibition park, Newcastle University, the RVI, St James’s park and Boulevard and down to the Tyne. Bullick says: “Space2… is already open and will be expanded if we get a second term. It’s about bringing young people into town. It’s also about giving them employment skills, businesses tackling youth unemployment and Newcastle businesses leading the way nationally by taking the initiative. They have had 4,000 kids through, working with around 25 NE1 businesses, running 35 courses per week.” progress has been financed by £10m from a 1% levy on the rateable value of supporters’ estate and about £22m from elsewhere. The

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

levy presently covers some 1,400 rateable units of about 880 retail and other investors that include hotels, law firms, bars and clubs, the RVI Hospital and Newcastle United football club. Overheads have remained constant. What chance a second term? “Things have been going very well,” Bullick summarises. “I think people realise the project would always be long term. If support stopped now the whole thing might wither on the vine. That’s not what we want. But we’re not complacent about winning a second term We need to work hard - demonstrate we’re an investment, not a tax. I think we do. A vast majority of businesses so far are very supportive.” n Copies of the BID renewal’s consultation document can be downloaded: www.newcastlene1ltd.com

MARK DOBSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TYNESIDE CINEMA: “NE1’s value is its ability to get things done that ought to be done.”

JONATHAN WATERS, PARTNER, HAY AND KILNER SOLICITORS: “It’s NE1’s ability to bring in money that’s so exciting.”

ANDY GODFREY, PUBLIC POLICY MANAGER, BOOTS UK: “NE1 is uniquely well placed to deliver bigger projects during a second term.”

LORNA MORAN, FOUNDER, NRG RECRUITMENT, NEWCASTLE: “The Alive after Five package is unique to Newcastle.”

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LITTLE ON WINE

SUMMER 13

willow, wickets and fine wine

Andrew Little, partner, Rowlands Restructuring & Insolvency, stays cool during a sporty summer in this quarter’s review

I returned to the office during a very busy and warm week, where I had been out of the office most days and a couple of bottles of wine were waiting for me. Neatly boxed up was a lovely looking bottle of Grande Recolte Cotes de Provence 2012 Rose and a Codorniu Reina Maria Cristina Blanc de Noirs 2010 courtesy of BQ. Resisting the urge to sample immediately I planned to enjoy tasting them on a sunny Sunday whilst indulging in an afternoon of sport and Spanish food. Well, the Sunday arrived and England were working well at Lords, Westwood was looking good at Muirfield and Froome was, hopefully, about to coast to a Tour de France victory. Would it be another chance for Mark Cavendish to win the sprint finish at sunset in Paris?... From these best laid plans, only the sun had failed to make the appearance to set the afternoon off to the perfect start. The Gazpacho was being whizzed and a pile of seafood awaited inclusion

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

in a very fishy Paella. The golf was getting tense so I couldn’t resist opening the rose to ease us through the preparation of the food and for the guests to arrive – I would save them a taste! Chateau de Berne has been producing wine since 1750 and specialises in rosé. It is easy to see that they had used their experience to good effect. Rosé in the Provence style is often warm and surprisingly high in alcohol – at 13% this did not disappoint on either count although there was no dominant sense of that level of alcohol. The tasting notes suggested spring flowers, raspberry and strawberry. I’m not sure I’m quite so precise with my fruit and flowers but it certainly hit the spot and was clean, sharp and juicy. Straight from the fridge it was lovely but when it warmed up slightly when sitting in the garden listening to the cricket it revealed another, softer, layer of flavours. This rosé was not your typical

bright, sweet low(ish) alcohol glugger; it was altogether much more refined and satisfying. The colour was much more pale salmon than the bright rosé that you often find and that made it more appealing to me. Our guests arrived just as the wine was coming into its own. All too soon there was no more, so we looked to try the Cava. The Reina Maria Cristina 2010 is a Blanc de Noir made from Pinot Noir grapes and has a lovely crisp fizz. The wine was launched in honour of the Regent Queen Maria Cristina of Austria who in 1897 granted Codorniu the title of “Official Provider of the Royal House” And a lovely wine it is! White wine from black grapes can often provide a surprise and this was certainly a delicious treat. All agreed it was fresh and light and comparisons with champagne were not unwarranted. The tasting notes suggested brioche and pears. Untrained, but enthusiastic, we were not so specific in identifying those flavours but we all agreed that it was delightful. Sometimes Cava is just right, not too complicated, not too dry, not too sweet. An hour or so quickly passed, conversation distracted me from the sport and suddenly Phil Mickelson has won the Open and England have won the second test with four balls left to bowl… The Paella is just about to go on the flame, the Gazpacho chilling and a great summer Sunday is about to conclude with a Tour de France evening. Cava is certainly familiar and sometimes can be taken for granted; the fine bubbles and rounded flavours of the Reina Maria Cristina was a treat and along with the splendid rosé they added up to a delicious afternoon combination - they will certainly be making a repeat appearance. Hopefully the England cricket team can continue in a similar vein. n The wines Andrew tasted were Berne Grande Recolte Rose 2012, £9.99 and Codorniu Reina Maria Cristina Blanc de Noirs 2010, £9.99 special offer. Wine supplied by Majestic Wine Warehouse, Gosforth.

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

One Trinity Green at forefront of green and technological advances It’s an award-winning £5.4million business centre where the here and now have already collided with the future. For inside environmentally-advanced One Trinity Green, in Eldon Street, South Shields, South Tyneside, sit digital and high-end communications technologies that put the past firmly in its place. State-of-the-art IT and telecoms capabilities which include super-fast internet and wireless connectivity - have caught the attention of some of the North East’s most innovative and technologically-aware businesses. They are attracted by its 100Mb internet connection backed by a resilient Ethernet First Mile service running over an alternative network, ensuring continuity of service should there be an internet connection

failure. The system is boosted by a Mitel® IP telephony platform, which provides the best and most impressive communications and functionality available. These technologies run throughout its 35 offices, four workshops and two hybrid units, guaranteeing tenants super-fast world-wide communications. A tailored lines and calls package ensures low-cost communications while enabling tenants of the 3,000sq m centre to keep their existing telephone number. To provide further assurance, comprehensive 24-hour support backs up business-critical systems. Non-tenants can also benefit, and since opening in September more than 3,000 business people have passed through its doors to access meetings and conferences in which they can log into

One Trinity Green South Shields

communicationsfacilities. The advanced systems in One Trinity Green, a collaboration between South Tyneside Council and Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle (and benefiting from £2,466,500 of European Regional Development Fund, managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government), have been recognised by experts winning several national awards.

To find out more information about the offices and units available or the conference facilities on offer visit onetrinitygreen.wordpress.com

Award-winning business centre One Trinity Green is powering ahead using state-of-the-art electronic communications systems to attract innovative new businesses. And one of the many companies already taking advantage of its high-end IT and telecoms technologies which include super-fast internet, wireless connectivity and a stunning telephony platform is Performance Horizon Group, which has created a unique software platform for real-time management of performance marketing campaigns. Paul Fellows, Chief Operating Officer of Performance Horizon Group, which also has offices in Sydney, Baltimore, Mumbai, New York and London, said: “We work in different time zones with clients all over the world and it is vital that we are based in offices with state-of-the-art communications, video conferencing and 24-hour access. “As a high-technology company, we have a very tight technical spec about what we need from our premises, and One Trinity Green fits that perfectly.”

MOTORING

SUMMER 13

Now, I am no Jeremy Clarkson and I certainly have no pretensions to be the Northumbrian version of Lewis Hamilton when it comes to driving technique, indeed I am generally more comfortable with horsepower of the four legged variety under me than the six cylinders of the Audi Q7 S Line Plus model that I was privileged to drive for this review, so this account is from the lay person’s perspective. Nothing more, nothing less! I shall not propose to bamboozle with stats on torque, fuel consumption, tiptronic gearboxes and CO2 emissions, worthy as they all are in the pantheon of reckoning when it comes to assessing the merits or otherwise of this beast of a motor. What I do know is that it is an eye catching vehicle. Just casually displaying the sales brochure on my desk caused various work colleagues to wonder if I was pitching above my weight in the motoring department and to question just what I had done to even get in the frame to drive such a vehicle. Indeed, my Monday night Matfen tennis partners, some of whom really do know about and own lots of cars, were even more intrigued and, dare I day, envious. I think that might be an apt description of the emotions this car is capable of inspiring. It has a presence, it’s mightily comfortable and dominates the road. So what are the counter points? Earlier models had some aspersions cast over the durability of their tyres, hopefully these have been remedied as it’s no small jolt to the finances to replace tyres of this grade. I don’t know how it compares on the environmental front, but there is no doubt that the Start-Stop system, which was a novelty for me and worked seamlessly, achieves its objective. It may not be the most economic car to >>

Leaving a line of envious work mates for dust, Charles Renwick, head of management services at insurance group Lycetts, hits the winding roads of Northumberland in Audi’s latest SUV foray

It has a presence, is mightily comfortable and dominates the road

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

SUMMER 13

MOTORING

A ROARING RETREAT

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

MOTORING

SUMMER 13

What Bob says...

run when measured against every applicable criteria, but to achieve 30 mpg in this grade of vehicle is perfectly respectable. It is big and may be too big for some situations – and travelling home along some of the tight lanes in midNorthumberland emphasised this point. Equally when reversing into a tight parking spot you need to be on the ball and make full use of the on board parking system – but it revels in the open space of the motorway, cruising along effortlessly and most enjoyably for the driver. There is no end of gadgets to play with or should I say assist you in your automotive journey. As somebody who prefers the challenge of the old fashioned map, I was intrigued by the HDD based Satellite Navigation system which seemed to be easy and intuitive to use, so much so I could be swayed to invest in one. The interior’s creators have been precise and thorough in their design and execution. I rather liked the button to close the boot, less so the hand brake, applied by a pedal on the left and released by a handle on the right of the driving seat. However, the seven seats would suit a large family, and certainly my two towering teenage sons. The dashboard is well laid out and beautifully presented while the on board facilities are copious and well positioned for comfort. In the height of summer it was not possible to really test its off-road capability and I would like to see how it copes in the foothills of the Cheviots in the winter snows. Although I do

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

know one thing, I would feel pretty secure in it. I have a suspicion its preferred environment is more urban based than some of the more agricultural places - with deep mud and undulating ground - that vehicles like this might end up at. However, what is not to like? It’s big, it’s smooth, it’s comfortable. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience! The car Charles drove was the Audi Q7, 3ltr diesel S-Line Plus model - £51,250 OTR. Audi Scotswood Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE4 7YW

Prior to introducing the Q7, Audi had no presence in the lucrative SUV sector. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2005, they previewed the Pikes Peak and, after receiving plenty of positive comments, they introduced the Q7 in 2006. The car went on to become real competition for the BMW X5 and a waiting list quickly grew. The Q7 shares its platform with the VW Toureg and the Porsche Cayenne. The Audi is designed more for on road use as it lacks a low range transfer case. It does have air suspension and permanent four wheel drive, which would get most drivers out of sticky situations. As you may expect the best selling engine is the 3lt Diesel. In 2007 a 4.2lt engine was also introduced and this engine had a 90 bhp advantage over the smaller engine. In 2008 they introduced the 6lt diesel engine which was based on the technology from the Audi R10. This car broke world records at Le Mans and this engine helps launch the car to 60mph in a rapid 5.5 seconds. Thanks to the up-rated suspension, brakes and tyres, this car is the best handling in the range. In 2009 the car was face lifted; front and rear lights were given the LED treatment and they were also given LED running lights. The cars were also fitted with newly designed alloy wheels and benefited from an updated front and rear styling. The instrument cluster has also been improved along with Audi’s multi-media interface. In 2011 the car was given its latest facelift with LED headlights, stop start technology and eight speed gearboxes. The stop start technology and new gearboxes have helped the 3lt diesel achieve economy figures of 37mpg. Bob Arora is an independent car reviewer and also owns Sachins restaurant on Forth Banks, Newcastle. kulmeeta@hotmail.com

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BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

EQUIPMENT

THE WORlD IS WATCHING A global gathering of watchmakers held in the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spiritual home this year outlined nostalgia and colour over complication as trends to look out for in the coming months, writes Josh Sims

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

EQUIPMENT

Baselworld is the inelegant name for a rather elegant show. It is where the watch industry gathers every year to show off its new wares. And if the exhibition hall in Basel, Switzerland, is anything to go by, the industry is in rude health: it’s a new complex designed by ‘starchitects’ Herzog & de Meuron, housing some 1,460 exhibitors from 40 countries. Were every watch to tick as audibly as they used to, the sound would be deafening. And yet, as the latest show’s updated setting looked forward, its most distinctive watches looked back. This is the season of the re-issue. Take, for example, the latest high-profile model from Tudor, a company itself undergoing what might be called a re-issue, having been in the shadow of big brother Rolex for recent decades but now striking out with more distinctive designs. Its Chrono Blue comes with a 42mm case and a bi-directional rotating bezel. That in itself is a clue to the philosophy behind this watch, since modern bezels (especially on diving watches) typically rotate only in one direction, to reduce error in measuring elapsed time. Indeed, the watch is almost a part-for-part remake of Tudor’s 1973 Monte Carlo chronograph. It even uses the same movement. Small wonder, in fact,

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

that the company should call it the Heritage Chrono Blue, a successor to the Black Bay diving watch re-issue of last year that helped reboot the trend. Heritage - aka making a song and dance about how old your company is, or digging around in the archives to recreate some golden oldies - has become something of a widespread marketing ploy over recent years, used most notably by style-conscious industries as diverse as automotive, fragrance and fashion. But arguably it was the watch industry that assailed the idea first, when in 1996 Tag Heuer made a re-issue of its 1960s/70s Carrera and Monaco models. Their ‘retro’ appeal and old-time charm made them immediate hits and chimed with the rise of vintage as a credible style category in its own right, but also made the pieces accessible to those without the money or time to find an original. Baselworld suggests that those brands with the heritage to tap are now doing so. Among

the bigger names with their own look into the past are the likes of Longines, which made a splash when it re-issued its Legend Diver in 2009, and has now added three military watches based on models from 1938; Vulcain has the honestly-named Nautical Seventies, a limited-edition version of the diving model it introduced in, as suggested, the 1970s; and, with one of the stand-out pieces of Baselworld, Omega, has its Bullhead version of the Seamaster, first issued in 1969. Expect this one to get a lot of attention and for the originals to suddenly rocket in value. According to Ulrich Herzog, executive chairman of Oris which has based its jazz-inspired Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and its forthcoming John Coltrane models on watches from the 1960s and 1970s there are good reasons for the heritage revival, and it’s not lazy watch designers. One may well be the reassuring nostalgia in such >>

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EQUIPMENT

It is more colour than complication that stands out among trends for 2013

products - the tried and tested that salves the current tough economic climate (providing you can still afford to buy them). These are evocative pieces. But for many brands, also caught in the downturn of course, it is a way of underlining their pedigree. “It’s a way of pointing out that you have the history to explore, which gives credibility,” Herzog says. “If a company like ours has the heritage, we also have the archives that allow for re-issues. And if you don’t have the heritage, that’s not something you can do.” And even those with it are not always successful in interpreting it. Re-issues, counterintuitively perhaps, are not all that easy to make, often requiring more work than a completely new watch design, in no small part because modern components (which are required to ensure the watch meets today’s production standards) have to be shaped into an old aesthetic - the look and shape of plexiglass has to be remodelled in crystal glass, for example. “A re-issue is harder to pull off than it may at

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

first seem, because its aesthetic may be what really appeals, but the consumer wants it to perform like a modern watch. And as soon as you start applying modern quality standards the watch starts to lose its old look and feel,” Herzog says. Of course, if the re-issue is a dominant theme of this year’s watches, it is not the only one. As the Tudor Chrono Blue might suggest, GMTs are the big complication for 2013, given a sportier makeover. See the likes of Omega’s Seamaster GMT or Rolex’s reworking of its GMT Master II, with lacquered dial and black-and-blue ‘cerachrom’ bezel - that’s the company’s name for its latest, patented super-durable ceramic blend. But it is more colour than complication that stands out among trends for 2013 - and colour in keeping with the retro theme of the many re-issues. Orange, for instance - not a shade seen on upmarket watches since the 1970s - returns as an accent on Oris’ prodiver pointer Moon, for instance, Tag Heuer’s Monaco Calibre 12 ACM (a limited edition but still working that historic seam) or the Tudor

Chrono Blue again. If dials have lent towards conservative classicism in their use of colours over recent years - black, white, cream - then now grey in every tone is explored by the likes of Rado, with its Diamaster Ceramic - a real stylistic move on the company that invented the unscratchable watch - and Girardperregauz, with its Constant Escapement. Navy too is a big colour - see, for example, Hublot, with its Big Bang Unico, or Ebel, with its Ebel 100 - bringing the dominant and still sober shade of the male wardrobe to watches while softening the more typically monochromatic options. perhaps that is the thinking behind the increased use of rose gold too, especially in conjunction with steel for cases and bracelets. zenith combines the two for its El primero Chronomaster Grand Date, but if any guarantee that the upper end of the market sees this unusual combination as having class was needed, then look to patek philippe, which uses it for the first time, specifically on its new Nautilus 5980. n

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

North East investment options widen as NEL secures a further £3m for Growth Fund The investment options available to ambitious north east businesses have widened after regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers secured a further £3m for the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund that it manages. The additional funding has been awarded by North East Finance, the holding fund manager with overall responsibility for the £125m Finance For Business North East initiative, to help maximise the number of firms across the region that NEL investments can support. The ceiling that NEL can invest to in any given deal has also been increased, from £400,000 to £750,000, meaning that it is able to back more substantial investment proposals than has been the case up to now. NEL has so far invested £12m in 58 businesses from the Growth Fund since its launch in spring 2010, with an average investment value of £206,000. The company has a significant number of other applications at different stages of the investment assessment process, with the rate of enquiries received about the Growth Fund remaining high, and is now actively looking to help even more regional companies put their development plans into action. The Growth Fund is a general investment fund that is aimed at businesses at a development and growth stage that are based anywhere in the north east, and was set up with a view to creating 1,500 new jobs in the region, as well as helping to safeguard a further 1,300 jobs. Barrie Hensby, chief executive at NEL, says: “Securing this additional capital and increasing the amount we can invest in an individual deal opens up significant new opportunities for both ourselves and the companies with which we’re working. “It’s also a demonstration of the strong track record that the NEL team has built over the first three years of the Growth Fund, which adds to our previous 20 years’ experience in the regional business investment market, and pleasingly, investment performance so far is very good, which reflects on the quality of the businesses in which we’ve invested to date.

Jane Siddle of NEL with Dr Robin Gibson of Limeco

NEL INVESTMENT HELPING LIMECO BUILD ON GROWTH PLANS The north east company behind a new sustainable, carbon dioxide-absorbing building material is tackling both domestic and overseas markets after receiving a new six figure investment. NEL Fund Managers has provided the investment from the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund that it administers to support Limeco Ltd’s development plans for HyperLime®, a sustainable, low carbon alternative to cement and gypsum in mortars, plasters and renders for masonry construction which can be used in both domestic and commercial buildings. These plans include the granting of worldwide patents in key target markets, sales development processes and the full delivery of the product development pipeline.

“Since its inception in 2010, interest in and demand for Growth Fund investments has remained consistently strong, and there’s every indication that this demand for the higher investment levels that we can now provide will be maintained and enhanced. “Strong business ideas and commercial ambition remain prevalent in the north east economy, even in the most difficult times, and we’re confident that we’ll now be able to encourage even more business to take a look at what the Growth Fund could offer them. Andrew Mitchell, chief executive at North East Finance, adds: “Through their strong deal flow,

NEL have demonstrated the increasing business confidence in this region, and we believe that the additional funding will help them build on current success”.

For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0845 111 1850.

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FASHION in association with

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

FASHION

THE OLD WAYS ARE THE BEST

In pockets of craftsmanship across the globe, one man bands are leading a new wave of interest in jeans made the way they used to be. Josh Sims reports on the rise of elite, artisan denim

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FASHION To most people Kurabo, Nisshinbo, Kuroki and Kaihara are exotic-sounding but largely meaningless words. To these same people, a pair of jeans is likely to be a non-descript, commodity product, something to do the gardening in, or to wear down the pub ordinary even in this, the 140th anniversary of the creation of the granddaddy of all jeans, Levi’s 501. But then there are other people those who might recognise the names of the four main mills producing denim in Japan, arguably home to the world’s best denim. And these mills certainly are busy - as unlikely as the idea would have sounded just 15 years ago, denim is now an artisan fabric, with top-spec jeans hand-made by lone makers at their work-bench. And that is no romantic exaggeration. Among the new wave of elite denim are literal one-man-band makers the likes of those behind American labels Roy and White Horse Trading Co, and British label Tender, using homegrown denim from Cone Mills, the last of the US’s pioneering mills, or, more likely, one of the many varieties of Japanese denim - woven on old-fashioned shuttle looms, repeatedly hand-dyed using laborious loop-dyeing techniques, all to create the subtle irregularities of texture and certain properties of fading in the colour that denim-heads so love. The result? Jeans that will set you back anywhere between £300 and £500 a pair. That Japan should be the source of the best take on a quintessentially American fabric may seem unlikely. But here comes a strange tale of American occupation after World War Two giving rise not to some desire to embrace a more homegrown style, but that of the occupying forces, which saw a youth cult for all things Americana and, a few decades later, a fledgling Japanese fashion industry seeking to recreate American raw blue jeans better than the Americans. “And the trouble they go through to make jeans now as then is insane,” says Nick Coe, founder of the Rawrdenim.com webzine. “Of course, there is a romance to denim out of Japan. But it’s really in the manufacture that it’s unparalleled, at least until recently. Japanese denim might not be re-inventing the wheel, but by bringing back in every detail what the makers thought was perfect in jeans

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Material wealth: White Horse Trading Co

many decades ago, but which hadn’t been available for many years, they created a connoisseur market.” It was a company called Big John, which had been a textiles and uniform manufacturer, that became the first domestic denim brand in 1965. Edwin has a similarly long history. And they have since been joined by a growing plethora of ever more esoteric makers, the likes of Sugar Cane and Real McCoys, Full Count, 45RPM and Samurai, Iron Heart, Flat Head, Studio D’Artisan, Momotaro, the list

Photo credit: Cory Piehowicz (Bandit Photographer)

goes on, including many yet to sell outside of Japan (which, of course, adds to their cachet). Each claims their own specialism, be that the precision with which they re-make Levi’s classic styles of the 1930s to 1950s, or the use of natural indigo dyes, or the emphasis on heavy and super-heavyweight denims - perhaps 21 or 25oz as opposed to a more typical 12 or 14oz, this itself being sturdy stuff against the positively flimsy 8 or 9oz mass-market denim. “You discover Japanese denim and its whole world sucks you in,” suggests >>

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NewAW13 collections now in store.

Northumberland Street, Newcastle upon Tyne

FASHION

Daniel Cizmek, managing director of the Berlin-based DC4, one of the leading retailers of Japanese denim outside of Japan. “The quality is amazing and not just because of the effects possible by using old looms and tailoring machines - it’s because the makers tend to have this deep fascination with American culture and typically have huge, and hugely valuable, vintage denim collections. They know their subject and that shows in the product. Believe me, it’s addictive.” But while the Japanese mills and makers may dominate the artisan denim market, they are not alone. There are the aforementioned American makers - joined by the likes of 3x1, 3Sixteen, Stronghold, Imogene & Willie and others. And then, perhaps more unexpectedly still, there are the Swedes. ”What we do well here is dark, clean denim, because that suits the dark winter climate - it’s less expressive of itself and more about your relationship with a pair of jeans and how they age. It’s fashion, but a slower kind of fashion,” argues Maria Erixon, ex of Lee jeans and co-founder/owner of Nudie Jeans, one of the biggest of the new premium denim brands out of Sweden in the last ten years. “I’m not all that surprised by the development of Swedish denim now - we’re a very denim-oriented people.”

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Indeed, recent years have seen a spate of new Swedish denim companies launch perhaps because of the strength of demand here for denim with a difference: it was Nudie, for example, who might well lay claim to having introduced the skinny fit that cut against the straight fit classic to became a staple fashion denim choice; which last year became the industry’s first fully organic denim brand and this year its first fully transparent one, conducting published audits of its suppliers’ working conditions and environmental standards. Nor is Nudie alone in this spate of new names. There are the likes of Denim Demon, Dr. Denim, Neuw and Pace. But a fact little known outside of the country is that Sweden has a denim culture dating back half a century. It was then, in 1966, that the pioneering brand Gul & Bla was formed by Lars and Maria Knutsson, sparking a jeans explosion for a youth market unable to buy Levi’s or Lee, then still a rarity outside of the US. Their first Stockholm shop not only sometimes sold 1,000 pairs a day - notably of their signature wide-legged ‘v-jeans’ - while the company was at the forefront of development of the techniques to allow aged washes and other treatments. The company is bouncing back too: dormant for some 15 years, this spring/summer has seen the

Back to basics: The Nudie Jeans repair shop in Soho

relaunch of Gul & Bla, complete with jeans production in Sweden. “Sweden actually has a very early denim culture, relative to other European countries, which most people outside of Sweden don’t know about,” explains Mattias Hallencreutz, who works on design for Gul & Bla. “It comes from the fact that Sweden has always looked to the US for inspiration - in fashion, cars, music - perhaps because we have this long story of emigration to the US, so feel this strong link. And the Vikings discovered the US, after all.” Indeed, according to Peter Lindt, design director of jeans brand Crocker, the national attachment to denim is a reflection of the Swedish democratic approach too. “Swedes have never looked down on jeans they were something you could wear anywhere,” says Lindt. “Perhaps that is because jeans have never been considered workers’ clothing here either - jeans have always been a fashion item for us. And with artisan denim undergoing something of a reappraisal now, they look set to be entering a whole new phase of appreciation.” n

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COMPANY PROFILE

Succession planning in business For most people in business, planning for the sudden death or departure of a shareholder, director or partner isn’t top of their list of priorities. Yet these situations can have serious repercussions for an organisation large or small. As part of any business plan Alison Hall and Jonathan Waters, partners in Hay & Kilner’s wealth management and company commercial teams, advise their clients to consider what would happen to their business in the event of a sudden death. There are a number of matters which need to be covered. Did the deceased leave a Will? If so, who inherits their business interest? Does the Will provide an option for the interest to be purchased? If a Will is not left then the rules of intestacy apply. This could result in an unexpected tax liability, business interests passing to minor children, and a delay in the appointment of an Administrator to make decisions in respect of the deceased’s business interest. Did the deceased own any business assets personally? If so, who now inherits these business assets and will they allow the business to continue to use them? Does any shareholder/partnership agreement exist, and if so, does it provide for what should happen to the deceased’s business interest? Is there an option for the other shareholders/ partners to purchase the deceased’s interest and what is the mechanism for valuing it? Is there a procedure to purchase the interest in instalments and should interest be paid on any outstanding payments? Is there any life cover in place which would allow the surviving shareholders/partners/business to purchase the deceased’s interest? If so, is this owned personally by the other members of the business or by the company? This can have an effect on the valuation of the business. Is there relief from Inheritance Tax (Business Property Relief) for the deceased’s interest? This can be affected by the shareholders/partnership Agreement if this includes a binding obligation for the surviving shareholders/partners to purchase the deceased’s interest.

Alison Hall, Partner, Hay & Kilner.

All of these matters need to be considered as part of any effective business strategy to ensure that if an unforeseen event occurs, the business does not suffer Other issues which need to be considered include whether any key man insurance is in place to fund the recruitment of a replacement? Is the goodwill value of the business affected by the death of this person and can the business run without the involvement of the deceased? All of these matters need to be considered as part of any effective business strategy to ensure that if an unforeseen event occurs the business does not suffer. At Hay & Kilner, we can advise on

options to cover all of the above situations and look at the most efficient way for the business to be structured in terms of the continuation of the business after a death, protecting the value of the business and minimising any Inheritance Tax liabilities.

Alison Hall is a partner in the Private Capital team and Jonathan Waters is a partner in the company commercial team at Hay & Kilner Solicitors. Visit www.hay-kilner.co.uk or call 0191 232 8345

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ENTREPRENEUR

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

SUMMER 13

ENTREPRENEUR

Ringing in the new The sudden sound of a bell in the background signals yet another round of good news for award winning Aspire, as Nigel Begg explains to Brian Nicholls Just as we’re moving deeper into an interview with managing director Nigel Begg, a bell sounds from a neighbouring room like start of trading on New York Stock Exchange. A cheer goes up. “There’s another new customer,” Begg beams. “A bit like ‘The Office’, that,” he admits. “A bit David Brent-ish. But we celebrate whenever we get a new customer. It’s a bit twee. But everyone gives a round of applause because that’s great. The company is another step forward. So we’re all listening. OK, we’ve got a new customer. What’s this project? What are we going to be doing for them? It gets the buzz going. There’s lots of competition out there but there’s also lots of opportunity.” The company is Aspire Technology Solutions, a remarkable small business success story in these testing times, showing record financial returns for a sixth year running, and adorned now with a regional business title, having won small business category in the North East Business Awards. Its progress in what could otherwise have been critical years lies in the diversity of its customers. Begg subscribes to Alan Sugar’s view that there’s no such thing as recession; it’s just a state of mind. Begg agrees: “You can’t influence it so why worry about it? It might be harder to win business, more competitive. You have to think differently too. Am I strong enough? Organised enough? Have I the right products and services for our customers?” Right answers rule at this Gateshead firm where turnover soared 52% in the last 12 months (£2.5m to £3.8m). Sales from 19 different services offered now outstrip the current financial year’s projections. They could reach £6m then about £11m by 2016, for a lot of that business is already contracted. Begg says his 45-strong team - “all young,

dynamic and full of energy” - have played their part. “Many have been with us since the start, and everyone has bought into what we’re doing. We pride ourselves on being the best. If we’re the best we’ll naturally be getting bigger.” The firm, specialising in managed networks, data centre solutions and traditional IT support, was only established in 2006. It was a two-man business then, he and 50:50 co-director Chris Fraser, working from Gateshead International Business Centre for the first two years. And although Aspire grew out of there it still provides that centre’s internet connectivity. Today also - besides premises at Monkton Business Park in neighbouring South Tyneside (where an old coke works once stood), and also a strategic centre at Elstree in Hertfordshire - the company with 98% customer retention now has as its headquarters Heworth Hall, a Grade II listed building erected in 1690 for the local squire. The dignity of the former country seat appears to weather the daily traffic rush of neighbouring Heworth roundabout, beside Felling bypass. “We wanted to ensure solid roots in the North East,” Begg explains, adding that the company is also about to open a £1.2m data centre of 3,500sq ft alongside, where a greenhouse for the hall’s walled garden once stood. The centre will greatly increase capacity to support its

expansion plans, which include a 25% rise in staffing soon. IT customers are now inclined to deal with as few vendors as possible, apparently. Begg suggests: “It makes so much sense to have voice and data altogether as one vendor. That way you’re providing full service to the customer, not saying when an issue arises, for example, that it’s a BT or a Virgin Media matter. We acknowledge it’s an Aspire issue we must resolve. “That accounts for a lot of the growth. We started with many fewer products. As we’ve grown customers have come back and said ‘can you do this?’ So besides new customers, we have existing customers taking more services from us. I always touch wood though.” Cloud has also changed IT’s landscape over five years, opening opportunity for small and medium-size firms. Begg says of this resource sharing through many computers connected via real-time communication (typically the internet): “Customers can now afford technology and systems not previously possible in their capital expenditure model. They get to rent the infrastructure monthly. “So cloud has lowered the barrier against access to technology. “In a big market shift, businesses are increasingly asking to pay for things monthly instead of making major capital outlays. >>

We don’t have debt, not even an overdraft. And we’ve no shareholders so no-one can make us go along a certain route. We can spend a lot on research and development

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ENTREPRENEUR Previously a project might have cost £100,000. They may have had £60,000 of that upfront. In this different model we’re the service provider. We make the investment in our cloud solutions. Pay as you go for the customer gives them flexibility. He explains further: “We don’t sell anyone else’s equipment. If you want a cloud solution we’ll give an option of going on an Aspire cloud. It’s a day centre with our equipment in it. Or we’ll build you a private cloud where we design and specify a cloud solution for you. You can come into the day centre, touch it, see the blades and the storage where your systems are hosted, as opposed to it being with Microsoft or Amazon.” This, he says, has great appeal for small businesses. “Every three or five years previously they’d have had to make significant investment. Now they just pay monthly.” But Aspire engages with big business too. Sunderland football club was a milestone engagement two years ago, convincing the firm that if it could win a Premiership football club’s IT business it would be big enough to deal with a client of any size. Primary care trusts use it now, and it has mastered the complex art of public procurement sufficiently to have the councils of Gateshead, Durham County, Northumberland and South Tyneside on its data base also. In the food sector Aspire looks after Linda McCartney Foods, Hartley’s Jam, Sunpat peanut butter and Covent Garden Soup. Its customers extend from Plymouth to Inverness, and out to Gibraltar, Barcelona and the USA. Bonds are strong, too, at one end with London based McNicolas Construction (about 1,000 employees and £250m turnover) and at the other end with John Simes, a Gateshead signmaker employing about 20. Why? “McNicolas was our first client. Its people like dealing with North East engineers and

SUMMER 13

consultants, and the no-nonsense solutions they get. John Simes has also been with us from the start and has grown like us - a great customer, a great company.” Working with architects and representatives of English Heritage and Gateshead’s building preservation service, to put new life into Heworth Hall, has given Begg a lot of personal pleasure. Internal decor is strikingly black and white, a culture statement underlined by the firm’s customer service policy promising to ‘explore, specify, deliver.’ Begg points out: “We’re a technology business so we don’t wear jeans, t-shirts and baseball caps. This is a landmark building, a way to raise Aspire’s profile rather than being tucked away on an estate.” It’s certainly a talking point. Once neighboured by meadows, its gardens stretched back to the banks of the Tyne. The body of the squire who originally occupied rests now in a mausoleum at St Mary’s Church, which was connected by tunnel to Heworth Hall. The tunnel, which the dual carriageway overrides en route to the A19, is now bricked up.

I didn’t want to bring kids up in London. I wanted them to go to the schools I’d gone to. That’s what we’ve done

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Later the hall was home, Begg’s researches suggest, to the owner of nearby staithes, then the owner of coalmines in Sunderland and Washington. More recently it was a recovery retreat for war victims, then a school and finally a Conservative social club whose members, or their indulgence, became so reduced that the venue was put on the market. Begg says: “A lot of the character had been concealed. It has been restored and I think it works well having a modern technology company working in a traditional listed building. I also like a challenge.” Nigel Begg, born at Whitburn, left the local comprehensive school at 16 - “for the university of life,” he explains. “I felt I’d had enough schooling.” IT, fortunately, was his passion and he liked working with his hands. He’d written his own computer games as a youngster and was elated to find a job that blended with his hobby. He joined builder Wimpey on an IT project then worked around the UK. He progressed to London, Dallas and visited other parts of the USA. Wimpey sold out to UK Waste, later bought by Waste International, and Begg headed the European arm of the IT section at Waste International, a business massive in its field. Then, 10 years ago, he joined US housebuilder Centex (taken over by Pulte Homes for US$1.6bn in 2009). Centex sent Begg to head up business applications in Europe. >>

INTERNATIONAL TRADE There are excellent opportunities for UK businesses to trade internationally, but it is important to have the right support in place before you make the leap. For businesses at a certain point in their lifecycle, trading internationally is a natural next step. Making the move overseas can seem daunting, but the benefits are clear: figures from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) indicate that companies which export see a 34% increase in productivity within the first year of doing so, with 11 % more likely to survive in the long-term 1• Also, with the government currently working hard to encourage more SMEs to trade overseas, there is a range of support available to help you to overcome any potential hurdles.

Prepare to succeed Before embarking overseas, it's important that you assess if your business is ready. It can be useful at this point to speak to an expert, such as a UKTI International Trade Adviser, and to your accountant and bank to get an overview of your financial situation. They can guide you through one of the most tricky aspects of trading internationally - ticking all legal and regulatory boxes, including obtaining intellectual property (IP) protection. Once you have decided which market you want to move into, the next step is to establish trusted local relationships, with many businesses choosing to work with a partner 'on the ground' who can manage liaison with buyers, suppliers and distributors.

The right support

Breakthrough International

As you begin to grow internationally, it is likely that you will need to make an initial financial investment and hire more staff. Also, issues such as shipping timescales and delayed invoice payment can begin to have an impact on your cash flow. By planning in advance and putting the right solutions in place, you may be able to enjoy a return on your investment sooner rather than later. Experts can be vital at this stage - helping to prepare an informed international business plan and providing valuable insight around foreign exchange, mitigating export risk and trade finance solutions. This could include information about the UK's export credit agency, helping exporters and investors by providing credit insurance policies, political risk insurance on overseas investments and guarantees on bank loans. At Santander, we are serious about boosting our Trade Finance offering to support UK businesses. Our specialists have an in-depth understanding and experience across the export and international trade markets. They offer real value by talking to customers about the whole trading cycle; conducting an 'International Health Check' to identify efficiencies and appropriate financing solutions which can help underpin your overseas success. Whichever point your business is at in developing its international focus, having an independent expert who knows which markets are best suited to which industries and can assess current and future priorities is invaluable.

To further support UK businesses Santander has launched Breakthrough; an initiative that targets fast-growth SMEs, helping them to unlock their full potential. A key pillar of the programme is International - this focuses on both education and supporting international growth. One of the main elements of this initiative is Trade Missions. Groups of UK businesses are taken to visit key overseas markets, such as Brazil and the US; markets where Santander has strong corporate presence and links. This enables delegates to connect directly with successful local businesses and entrepreneurs and gain valuable insight into expansion and export opportunities. On return to the UK, the Breakthrough programme continues to support the delegates and input into ongoing international strategy. If you would like to find out more about Breakthrough and whether it would be suitable for your business 2, please visit: www.santanderbreakthrough.co.uk 2 Requirements are turnover between £500,000 and £25 million and have demonstrated strong growth in turnover, profitability or employment over the last three years.

FUELLING BUSINESS AMBITION

To see what your local trade finance expert could do to support your international growth plans contact your local office: Telephone: 0191 490 2930

santandercb.co.uk

businessinsight.santandercb.co.uk Harris, R. and Q. Cher Li (2007), Firm Level Empirical Study of the Contribution of Exporting to UK Productivity. www.exploreexport.ukti.gov.uk

a bani<. For your ideas

ENTREPRENEUR But also covering several US states had given him the chance to consider US systems and how they could be Europeanised. After nearly 20 years in central London Begg formed his own consultancy and outsourced considerably to the North East, whose work ethic he knew first hand. Then seven years ago he returned to the region himself, retaining London clients but setting up Aspire with Chris. Chris leads the technical side - “the best technologist I’ve ever worked with, a genius.” Today Fraser, who’s from Lytham St Annes, lives on The Quayside in Newcastle. Another big personal consideration drawing Nigel back was Louise, now his wife, whom he’d met during an IT project in Hull. They’d set up a home in the North East and for a while he had commuted to London. But, says Begg: “I didn’t want to bring kids up in London. I wanted them to go to the schools I’d gone to. That’s what we’ve done. There’s nowhere else I want to live.” He and Louise now have two boys - Luke, four and Charlie six - and expected another child shortly after his BQ interview. He’d piled his entire London savings into Aspire, enabling the directors to invest about £500,000 in the first year. “We still re-invest our profits,” Begg says. “We don’t have debt, not even an overdraft. And we’ve no shareholders so no-one can make us go along a certain route. We can spend a lot on research and development.” A conversion of its Monkton premises into a disaster recovery centre is being considered. Begg envisages: “If someone, God forbid, has a fire or flood and can’t get to the office they could go there and we’d give access to all their cloud systems or recreate their IT from back-ups so business could immediately resume. “But is that building big enough? It’s really nice and unlike here brand new. But I may look for a new building. A customer the other day wanted a 70 seat disaster recovery place. I couldn’t put 70 seats in there. The occupants would be like battery hens. “You’re buying a building hoping it will remain empty and no-one will ever need to use it. Yet you still must pay rates and everything else. So it’s quite an investment. But I definitely want a recovery centre.” n

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SUMMER 13

Watch out, Oz With IT now his livelihood, Begg’s restless hands restore cars at weekends. He’s working on his second De Lorean and has an A30 as his pet, though he drives more regularly a BMW 530 GT. His mind’s still at work even so. An AIM placement, appointment of a nonexecutive chairman, and the possibility of an Australian operation are all under consideration. “When we get to £11m turnover and the size when we need to spread our wings a bit more nationally then maybe there could be an IPO on AIM,” he says. “Nothing’s off the table if it makes sense but we don’t necessarily need the cash. What we would like is the mentoring maybe and the knowledge that gives you. “We’ve got this idea for an Australia office because of the time difference. The majority of our maintenance is done at night. So our Australian colleagues could do that on an evening. We could do the Australian data centre on a UK day time. Nowadays downtime is just not an option. We have to keep people’s businesses running. I’ve no ambition to live in Australia. But some of our younger guys do.”

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Guerilla turns heads across the country A string of industry accolades and contract wins has set North East marketing agency Guerilla on the path to national expansion, as managing director James Allen explains. When America’s biggest weight control brand launched its assault on the UK market recently, it was a Newcastle agency it enlisted to make as big a splash as possible. And Guerilla duly delivered, working with Hollywood celeb Kim Kardashian – and her vast entourage – to beam a towering image of the brand ambassador onto the side of Big Ben. Although the agency technically broke certain rules protecting London’s famous landmark, this didn’t worry managing director James Allen. With results delivered and the client’s aims fulfilled, it proved a risk worth taking. Such high profile projects are becoming an increasing part of life at Guerilla and are driving the company’s emergence as a truly national player. Earlier this year it was the only North East business named in the prestigious Design 100 list compiled by industry publication The Drum, featuring at 49th spot among some of the UK’s biggest creative agencies. It later won the Global Brand Strategy of the Year title at the annual Drum Marketing Awards for its international re-brand of The Phoenix Group - one of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical wholesaler and retailers with a turnover of £13.5bn. At the same awards, Guerilla’s digital signage solution En-gage® was a finalist in the New Product/ Service Strategy of the Year title. “It’s great to be recognised as one of the top 100 design agencies in the UK,” says James Allen. “Whilst we are the only agency from the North East to be listed within the top 100, it does help to draw attention to the vast creative talent that can be found across our region. “Our plan now is to build our national foothold by expanding our existing London office and we will particularly be targeting digital opportunities in the Capital.” But that’s not to say the agency is no longer committed to the region it has called home since its inception in 2002. For all the headline-grabbing nationally-focused

Top to bottom: The Drum Global Brand Strategy of the Year Award, Kim Kardashian attending the Guerilla managed launch event and pan-European Benu brand now rolled out across seven countries.

projects, there remains work with the likes of Newcastle and Sunderland City councils – both of which called on Guerilla’s digital expertise recently. “We’re also working with Alnwick Castle on its first TV ad,” says Allen, who was heavily involved in TV advertising projects before founding his own agency. “We ran a competition to find a real family to take

part in the advert and we’re also involving staff at the castle who play Harry Potter characters.” This type of resourcefulness forms an important part of Guerilla’s approach – hence the agency’s name which denotes the ability to think quickly, act fast and outsmart larger, more cumbersome bodies. Allen says: “The name stems from the fact that we do so many things and we do them quickly. So it’s about being more creative in your approach and not necessarily focusing on the size of numbers involved in projects. “If you look at resistance fighters, they usually wear down an occupying army because they are cleverer in their approach – and this is how we see ourselves within our industry. We combine creativity and strategy to achieve a more effective result with our clients.” In its approach, though, Guerilla does strive to avoid the relative safety of the formulaic or unimaginative in advertising. “In these tough times, people are looking more and more closely at whether their marketing is getting noticed. If they are spending money on marketing collateral they want to know they are not wasting it,” says Allen. “So if you look at TV and internet commercials, what people are doing now is pretty bland compared to where it was 20 years ago, possibly because people are not prepared to take as many risks on a message that’s a bit more powerful. “But we believe you’ve got to be braver in times of recession and grab people’s attention.” And Guerilla is certainly doing that as its national expansion gathers pace.

4 St James Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4NF Tel: +44 (0)191 261 9799 enquires@guerilla.co.uk www.guerilla.co.uk

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IN ANOTHER LIFE

SUMMER 13

Ian Gillespie runs a successful technology and communications company in Newcastle but, In Another Life, he’d spend his days horsing around with his talented sporting offspring

Galloping from the boardroom to the paddock Director of the Newcastle-based independent business technology and communications provider Activ, Ian Gillespie is no stranger to taking the reins. Having run three successful businesses after achieving just one O’level Gillespie says he has never let a lack of qualifications hold him back in life. As a younger man Gillespie was a keen rally driver and as a North East champion in the 1980s he dreamed of performing at a professional level. However, with two other siblings to also provide for, his parents were not in a position to make the sacrifices required for Gillespie to lead a top level sporting career. So he left his dream behind and eventually joined his father’s company, National Communications. Now a father himself, in another life Gillespie says he would run a stud farm for event horses to help his own son Adam who is on a path to a professional sporting career. Gillespie, who has a passion for horses himself and leads an active outdoor life, along with the support of his whole family, is ploughing everything into Adam’s future success. But admits had he known sooner of his son’s talents he would have started breeding his own horses so Adam could train and compete on them. Gillespie said: “I am enormously proud of what I have achieved to date in my career in the telecoms industry but my family is my number one priority and supporting my children to

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accomplish their ambitions is so important. Running my own stud farm would offer huge benefits to Adam, who has recently been longlisted to join the junior British Eventing team for the European Championships, and also my youngest daughter Anna who shows ponies – you could certainly say that equestrianism is in the blood of the Gillespies. “As an avid reader of Horse and Hound, I am also a keen rider and after renovating a derelict farmhouse and farm building in Northumberland with my wife Lynne into our family home, I am often found riding, feeding our horses or mucking out the stables when I’m not in the office.” Adam, who works part-time with his father, his mother and big sister Emma at Activ,

Ian’s son Adam competing on Kasseedorf at Houghton International Horse Trials.

spends much of his time travelling the length and breadth of the country to train and compete using other people’s horses. Gillespie says rearing his own horses and seeing his beloved son Adam cross the line at the European Championships on a home bred horse would be a dream-come-true. He said: “Seeing Adam’s successes over the past six years, “I now understand what it takes to reach the top level in a sporting career, my own opportunity may have passed but taking the reins of my own stud farm would not only take my passion for horses to the next level, it would help Adam on his journey to realising his dream – now one of my greatest ambitions.” n

SUMMER 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Lightening your admin load With time and money now more precious than ever for business leaders across the region, one North East company is enjoying surging demand for its range of resource-saving services. Red Virtual Administration Services (RedVAS), based in Darlington, has grown rapidly in recent years as more and more businesses switch on to the advantages of outsourcing their key admin tasks. The company uses cloud technology to offer online offices with virtual admin support which save clients an average of at least £10,000 per year. RedVAS saves business time and money on virtual administrative services and bookkeeping tasks. It is supported by specialist software which gives clients instant access to all their employee and business information. The software enables business leaders to effectively manage and support their staff, with the ability to colour code employee calendars for ease of use and print and report upon employees’ real time and historical workflows. Employee files, business information and virtual filing cabinets are accessible 365 days of the year, 24/7. Management and employees can message each other using the technology and RedVAS newsletters and notices can be dispatched by management. Employee performance management can also easily be achieved using the tools supplied. The group’s HR package, meanwhile, enables management to performance manage, monitor and record sickness absence, request and record training courses and manage and control their employees activities including printing or downloading reporting activity. Employees can also electronically submit their time sheets, holiday requests and expenses for authorisation by their supervisors.

We help many of our clients achieve a better work-life balance safe in the knowledge that all their admin support work is being managed professionally

RedVAS co-founder Yvonne Cherrington Additional virtual administrative support covers business support, bookkeeping inclusive of VAT reporting, telephone answering / handling, quality assurance of written documentation, message taking, appointment booking and diary management. RedVAS was founded in 2011 by husband and wife team Yvonne and Mike Cherrington after spotting a gap in the market for a solution to help businesses become more streamlined in their day-to-day operations. Yvonne has spent the last 25 years working in the social care sector – a role she maintains today alongside the running of her business. She had long planned to launch a resource-saving

business after witnessing inefficiencies within many organisations’ admin processes. However advances in cloud computing technology gave her the capabilities to deliver a successful business model. She says: “We found that many business people are very poor at key tasks like bookkeeping, managing their paperwork, writing letters and even in upholding a professional telephone manner. Cloud technology has made it possible for us to do these things for them, enabling them to make significant savings within their business. “We can take away from businesses the worries, associated costs and contracts of interviewing, employing, training, and supervising admin support staff. Other savings come from removing the need for office space for admin workers. “Time savings are also important and we help many of our clients achieve a better work-life balance safe in the knowledge that all their admin support work is being managed professionally.” Mike and Yvonne also run successful training consultancy Red Pressures, which works with clients to help them achieve their life and business goals and aspirations. As well as offering businesses leadership management and advice, the group provides health and social care services.

For more information please call Red Virtual Administration Services on 01325 46 11 66 or email hello@redvas.info or visit our website at www.redvas.info Twitter: @RedBizServices Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Virtual-Administration-Services-Redvas/190501154361175

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

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PRINCE’S TRUST

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the recent annual Mersey to Tyne Cycling Challenge. Each year more than 100 cyclists ride almost 245 miles from the west to the east coast through the Yorkshire Dales and some of the UK’s most beautiful landscapes. All riders, including Leadership Group members Dave Meldrum and Ken Britton, crossed the finishing line on the third day to raise more than £25,000 for the Trust.

These successful events wouldn’t be possible without the members of the North East Leadership Group, top business leaders in the region who have committed to help change young lives. All money raised from such events, and the group’s subscriptions, help support 3,700 young people in the North East each year, giving them skills and confidence to get a job or set up in business. n

The high-octane combination of circuit and non-circuit events attracted a thrilling collection of exotic road, racing and prestige motorsport vehicles with John Wall >> Tracking the young towards success There’s a fantastic calendar of fundraising events from members of the North East Leadership Group this summer. All events will raise vital funds enabling The Prince’s Trust youth charity to help disadvantaged young people across the region transform their lives. A spectacular Supercar Track Day organised by Andrew Maidwell and Nigel McMinn, chief executive of Benfield Motors, proved no ordinary event at Teesside’s Croft Circuit. The high-octane combination of circuit and noncircuit events attracted a thrilling collection of exotic road, racing and prestige motorsport vehicles, including Maserati, Porsche and Bentley, all coming together for a once in a lifetime driving experience. Hosted by Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards, former Formula 1 driver, Allan McNish, and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, the event was a huge success, with supporters of The Prince’s Trust raising thousands to help disadvantaged youngsters find work. An earlier annual clay shoot attracted more than 200 guests to the grounds of the Lambton Estate. Hosted by law firm Bond Dickinson, the shoot raised more than £35,000 for the Trust. Guest of honour was Robert Powell, star of medical drama, Holby City. Congratulations also go to riders in

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>> Special guest Another event takes place on September 4 - an evening with special guest James Timpson, chief executive of Timpsons, the UK’s largest shoe repairer, watch retailer and key-cutter. Timpsons more than any other UK company employs prison leavers, one of the Trust’s key target groups. This event will be held in the Moot Hall, Newcastle. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Trust’s Enterprise programme. Over three decades now, the charity has been helping young people to realise ambitions and become their own boss. Last year more than 6,000 unemployed young people received support to set up in business, bringing the total of young entrepreneurs helped to 80,000. The North East Leadership Group is committed to raising funds to ensure this next generation don’t get left behind. Last year the Enterprise programme brought £2.1m worth of social value to the North East and £49.1m to the UK. Thomas Lloyd was unemployed in Newcastle and losing hope of finding a job. Having had countless rejections from the web industry due to insufficient experience, he was able with Trust support to set up his own web design business with his then business partner Martin. They exceeded their business plan, with first year income. Cloud Data Service now employs five fulltime staff and made a profit of £80,000 last year. Thomas has not only achieved his ambitions but is boosting the local economy and creating jobs for others. We are urging other jobless young people to sign up to Enterprise. So many are potentially entrepreneurial, but need to know how to start a business. Through the Leadership Group and supporters like the RBS Group and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Trust can help turn their lives around. See some of the businesses that have been set up with Trust help over 30 years at www.princes-trust.org.uk/30enterprise If you want to join the cause the Prince’s Trust North East Leadership Group generates funds through subscription packages and fundraising activities - offering members unrivalled networking opportunities within their region. Further benefits include invitations to exclusive events and volunteering opportunities. If you would like to get involved and help disadvantaged young people across the region, please call me on 0780 291 7615. If you’d like to take part in any of our events please call Zoe Mulvenna on 0191 497 3212.

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SUMMER 13

John Lightfoot: found early on that money's made by seizing the chance

The Scrutator >> Customer rules the waves John Lightfoot's formula for success isn't original but is simple and effective. Treat every customer as if they're the only one you have, he says. It's worked for him. There's much more to his strategies than that, though. His background for sure was humble. The second of three children, he was born in South Shields in 1943 to a coalminer and a mother whose pin money, literally, came from creating wedding dresses for brides and bridesmaids. He recognised early on, however, that money is made by seizing the chance. His first sales venture: producing vegetables from the garden, which his mother paid him for. He also hacked old railway sleepers into firewood, which he sold door to door. He was a butcher boy, grocer boy, paper lad, golf caddy then learned how profit comes by bulk buying to sell singly. He created jewellery at home to earn enough for driving lessons and passed his test in 1963. Only an average performer at school, his propensity for moneymaking would even so stand him in good stead later in life. "If I can do it anyone can," he says. A cadet with Shell Tankers in 1959, he became a marine engineer. But for more than 38 years now he has in fact run his own businesses and has developed a leading global brand product. His company Solar Solve, which makes and markets sunscreens to the global industry "sun shades for ships" - has brought him more than 20 business and export awards, and an MBE. He opened his original business, Northern Window Blind Company, retailing

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

>> Gregg-arious It’s a telly game now, spotting Greggs shops in the background of street interviews on the news. It shows how extensively the North East enterprise, which is now Britain’s biggest takeaway bakery, chain has spread. Do pasties and stotties also make us more loquacious perhaps? You’ll certainly be able to talk even more about Greggs on reading its story just published. Its beginnings in the 1930s were humble. As former managing director Ian Gregg recounts in Bread: The Story of Greggs, his father sold eggs and yeast from his bike to hard-up housewives baking their own bread and scones. Ian himself sold pies from a van to miners’ wives through the Second World War and two recessions. Today Greggs is probably the North East’s favourite stock emotionally. It has more than 1,600 outlets, over 20,000 staff and had sales last year of £700m-plus. If its 2.5 million sausage rolls made weekly lay end to end they’d stretch from Land’s End to John O’Groats in six weeks, and around the world in three years. Like John Lightfoot at Solar Solve, Greggs’ management has put customer, employee and local community before quick profits. Its work through the Greggs Foundation started in 1987 includes hardship grants, an environment fund, sponsorship of the North East Children’s Cancer run, and over £1m raised yearly for Children in Need. Profits from this book (Bantam Press £7.99), on sale in its shops, are going towards the upkeep of its children’s breakfast clubs.

at Sunderland in 1975. It ticked over nicely and, in 1988, drawing on his earlier seagoing experience, he switched to manufacturing the shades for ships. Soon he was selling the roller blinds and sunscreens to shipping companies worldwide. Along the way he and his wife Lilian remortgaged their home for £3,000. Theirs was a risk well calculated. Solar Solve moved into a 15,000sq ft factory in 2006, the fourth location since first startup, and today, from a factory at Port of Tyne in South Shields, Solar Solve screens are

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made then installed on the windows of rigs, platforms, ships and cranes to reject the sun's heat and glare. The firm's become one of the region's major exporters. Now, with his daughter Julie as managing director, he finds time as chairman to write and publish management manuals - five, he hopes, by the end of the year. His first two are 40 Ways 2 Win in Business and 40 Ways 2 Win at Marketing. They sell at £6.29 on Amazon or can be had from Solar Solve direct. www.solasolv.com

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BIT OF A CHAT

with Frank Tock >> Time to pay a visit to the ideas factory This befuddled old business brain of mine’s suddenly electrified by a growing realisation of just what science and innovation might offer, now the North East economy seems, albeit snail-like, to be regaining pace. Reinvigorated by exciting ambitions proposed at BQ’s recent Live Debate on innovation (reported elsewhere in this issue) I’ve learned too of the British Science Festival that’s returning to Newcastle for the seventh time in its 174-year history this September (7-12, details on our Events page). While the festival will draw strong attendance from our burgeoning pharmaceutical and process chemicals sectors, I also take a point stressed during BQ’s debate that too many other business people visualise innovation as boffins in white coats, and not enough that innovation reaches far deeper than that. Since 1831 the festival has attracted scientists

Sky high: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will have us space struck at Newcastle Science Festival

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

SUMMER 13

from different disciplines, keen to explore the breakthroughs of their colleagues, and to show how research can lift both business and professional endeavour science and innovation too, of course. The same applies today. The festival’s lectures often pinpoint rising stars of science; Professor Brian Cox and Professor Richard Wiseman both participated early in their careers. This year Newcastle University researchers will give two of the five lectures. Professor Hayley Fowler will tackle the question we’re all asking: “What’s happening to our weather?” (It affects many businesses besides farming, after all!) And Dr Michael Sweet will speak on “Coral reefs and the grim reaper” - no doubt with implications far beyond Australia’s natural treasure. More than half of a group of people once surveyed said they find out about science through traditional media. Certain science presenters on television can, certainly, sweep us along with their passion for their particular “ism”, leading us where we’d never normally go, and showing things we’d never see. In Newcastle, there’ll be explanations of how the programmes are made, and why presenters feel so keen. Participating will be Michael Mosley (the 5:2 fasting diet), who’ll discuss links between food and ageing with Newcastle University’s dean for ageing, Professor Tom Kirkwood. Lord Robert Winston (fertility) will appear, also Dr Maggie AderinPocock (space science). The British Science Festival, Europe’s longest running and most prominent science event, comes through the British Science Association

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with Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Newcastle City Council as associate partners on this occasion. I’ll be surprised if some bright North East ideas aren’t disclosed there. And astounded if most of us don’t come away with a few lateral inspirations.

>> Sign of the times Greene King’s pubs, hotels and beers are less available in the North East than in some places. But pubs of our region exercising taste in their choice of guest beers, as too supermarkets sensitive to market appeal, do stock Old Speckled Hen, Ruddles, Morland and IPA. However, the Suffolk firm, oddly for a business founded in 1799, nearly erred on tradition. It announced a scrapping of many of its traditional pub signs, saying family orientated pubs would get signs “more contemporary”. Only scrap merchants must have rejoiced. An example of intention we saw was ghastly. Greene King should have realised traditional pub signs are as treasured a tradition as the roast beef its pubs serve, and the Morris Dancers that sometimes make merry outside. Fortunately, the Inn Sign Society protested. Greene King has retreated. We needn’t accept outrageous decisions some pub companies make, whether about removing traditional signs or about changing time-tested pub names to alien and often ludicrous alternatives only for the sake of branding, often initiated by individuals unacquainted with the hostelries they verbally vandalise. Many examples exist, even in our region, of other companies irritating communities by changing names of locals. I hope other paying customers will, like me, be ready to fight future proposals as appropriate - and any further sign sacrilege too. Trade publications are unlikely to support customer opposition. But the only justification for a name change or a sign sacrifice arises, is surely, when a pub gets a bad reputation.

Looking to start or develop your new business? Business Northumberland can help you. We provide free business advice and support, so whatever your question contact us: Call: 08451 444 000 Visit: businessnorthumberland.co.uk Business Northumberland also provides free workshops, a mentoring matching service and one to one adviser support. Contact us to find out more. EUROPEAN UNION Investing in Your Future

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Doing Business @ Tees Wednesday 18 September

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9.00am - 4.30pm

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Teesside University

Spark fresh ideas, win new contracts and improve your business www.doingbusinessattees.co.uk • 0191 426 6333

EVENTS

SUMMER 13

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

AUGUST 5 till 11 NE1’s Newcastle Restaurant Week

17,18 Return on Innovation Conference. Joint seminar at Newcastle University Business School, being held by the business school and Herb Kim (Thinking Digital and Codeworks) ahead of a September conference. ruth.warwick@ncl.ac.uk

6 Oil and Gas in Ghana, New Opportunities, NOF event, Stadium of Light, Sunderland. www.nofenergy.co.uk

18 Doing Business@Tees, networking event, Teesside University (9am). Jessica Faith 0191 426 6333, www.doingbusinessattees.co.uk

9 Mussel Club meeting, G Casino, Stockton.www.themusselclub.com

19 NECC Local, Nunthorpe School, Middlesbrough (5.30pm). www.necc.co.uk

14 NECC Local, Redcar (3pm). www.necc.co.uk

22 NECC Local, Grace House North East, Sunderland (3pm). www.necc.co.uk

20 Nominations close for the North East Business Executive of the Year Awards

23 to 27 UKTI Visit to Brazil, 0845 0505 054. enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk

21 Teesside University Business Exchange, Darlington. Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo (5pm). www.tees.ac.uk/exchange

24 Ballot among Newcastle city centre businesses on whether the NE1 city centre improvement company they subscribe to should run for a second five year term

21 Willow Wednesday, NECC Local, Willow Farm, Cramlington. www.necc.co.uk

24 IoD (NE) Seven Secrets of the Successful Leader, Board Room Ward, Newcastle (7.30). 0207 766 8866. www.iod.com/connecting/events

28 NOF Networking Lunch with Premier Oil, Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield. www.nofenergy.co.uk 29 Human Resources, Grievance Procedures, NECC event, NECC Durham (9.15am). www.necc.co.uk

24 Teesside University Business Exchange, Darlington. Speaker Don Randall, head of security, the Bank of England (5pm). www.tees.ac.uk/exchange 24 till 29 World Cities Week, international celebrations, Grey’s Monument, Newcastle 26 Teesside University Business Network, Fiona Yorke (Ultimate U) on Does your Business have Resilience? www.tees.ac.uk/events

29 NECC Networking Lunch, Slaley Hall (11am). www.necc.co.uk

SEPTEMBER

26 CBI North East Annual Dinner, Hilton Gateshead (6.30pm). cian.mcintyre@cbi.org.uk

3 NECC Local, Evans Easy Space, Newton Aycliffe (11am). www.necc.co.uk 5 Improving Cash Flow with Lean, EEF members only, EEF Gateshead. 0845 293 9850. www.eef.org.uk/events 5 Mussel Club meeting, The Pump House, Durham. www.themusselclub.com 5 EEF (NE), Occupational Health Service National Clinics Briefing, EEF House, Gateshead 6 Mussel Club meeting, The Place Cafe, Sunderland. www.themusselclub.com

26 Networking for Results, Service Network seminar, Gateshead College (8.30am). 0191 244 4031. www.eventsatservicesnetwork.co.uk 27 EEF Members Connecting at Port of Tyne, best practice sharing and networking. 0845 293 9850. www.eef.org.uk/events

OCTOBER

6 Deadline for entries, North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year

1 Managing and Developing your Talent, NECC event, NECC Durham (9.15am). www.necc.co.uk

7 to 12 British Science Festival in Newcastle. www.britishscienceassociation.org.uk

1 to 4 UKTI Visit to Lithuania, 0845 0505 054. enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk

10 EEF Regional Advisory Board private meeting, Gateshead

2,3 Northern Manufacturing and Electronics Show, Event City, Manchester. www.industrynorth.co.uk

10 Legal Implications of Social Media in the Workplace, CIM NE, Darlington (6pm) 10 British Science Festival Event: From Innovation to Commercialisation: Taking Scientific Discoveries to Market. Free insights into NASA’s technology readiness levels and the “valley of death” where many science and technology companies fail. Armstrong Building, Newcastle University (1pm). www.britishsciencefestival.org 11 British Science Festival Event: Powering the Globe from Walker Riverside. Site tour of the GE oil and gas engineering and manufacturing facility in Newcastle. Meet at Newcastle University (9.15am or 12.45pm, Newcastle University. £6 fee. www.britishsciencefestival.org 11 British Science Festival Event: Be a Maths Millionaire. Starting with Google, a discussion about famous equations, the secrets of fortunes behind them, and adventures of mathematicians working on them. Free at the Armstrong Building, Newcastle University (1.30pm) www.britishsciencefestival.org 12 Teesside University Business Network, part-time study open day on upskilling staff and funding opportunities. 01642 384 068. www.tees.ac.uk/events 13 NECC Tees Valley Annual Dinner, The Thistle, Middlesbrough (6.30pm). www.necc.co.uk

17 Grow your Business Using Contact Marketing, NECC event, NECC Durham (9.15am). www.necc.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | SUMMER 13

8 Ending the Employment Relationship, EEF members’ event, EEF Gateshead. 0845 293 850. www.eef.org.uk/events 9 UKTI China Networking Club, Cultural Workshop, RTC North, Sunderland enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk 10 NSCA Annual Dinner, Civic Centre, Newcastle (7pm). Speaker: Michelle Mone, co-owner of MJM International and creator of Ultimo lingerie brand. www.icaew.com/northern. 01908 248 179

The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk 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.

16 NOF Trade Mission to Vietnam

17 Lunch with Mark Hoben, NECC event, New College, Durham (11.30am). www.necc.co.uk

7 NOF Trade Mission to Malaysia and Singapore

KEY: Acas: Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, CIM: Chartered Institute of Marketing, CECA (NE): Civil Engineering Contractors Association (North-East), 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, NEA2F: North East Access to Finance, NECC: North-East Chamber of Commerce, NSCA: Northern Society of Chartered Accountants, FSB: Federation of Small Business, Tba: to be arranged, Tbc: to be confirmed, Tbf: to be finalised.

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