BQ North East Winter 2016

Atom smasher Interview with Craig Iley from Durham’s challenger bank

Live Debate

How to help women go digital

Port of call

BUSINESS QUARTER

Teesport invests for a bright future

North East & Cumbria: Winter 2016

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Alice’s adventures in retail

Alice Hall’s rapidly expanding e-commerce business is in the pink

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BUSINESS UPDATE bqlive.co.uk

EDITOR’S VIEW NOR TH EAS T & CUMBRIA, ISSUE 35 Welcome to BQ magazine – the first under my editorship.

It has been quite daunting following in the footsteps of Brian Nicholls, someone I have worked with and admired over many years and the journalist who has made the magazine what it is. He has been a great support. I take the reins in what can best be described as uncertain political times, which is never an ideal place to be when you’re running a business. The Brexit vote and the complete absence of any articulate plan as to what it might actually mean has been compounded by the extraordinary decision of the seven North East local authorities not to go ahead with devolution. Surely the pragmatic response would be to do what Tees Valley has done and others in the wider Northern Powerhouse – put the wheels in motion, get a deal in place then work to build on it from there. Sure, there are many questions to be answered, not least what will happen to the European funding which has supported many infrastructure projects, but the decision not to at least sign up to a deal which could give the region some meaningful control over its own destiny is disappointing. Let’s hope it can be revived, despite the Government taking it off the table.

International trade is key to our economic success and this issue of BQ highlights some of the efforts being taken to keep exports flowing. David Robinson tells us how Teesport has diversified, recovered from the heavy blow of losing SSI and is investing to create new opportunities to bring business to and from the river. Unlike the politicians, it is pleasing to see Northern ports forming an association to work together for the greater good.

Our cover story features entrepreneur Alice Hall, who currently only exports 3% of her goods from her e-retail business Pink Boutique but she has a plan to grow it and, given her remarkable success in taking her company from a kitchen table to gross sales of £12m, you know she will achieve it.

Dan Kitchen’s software business has expanded and has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. He has a message about broadband provision which should be heard.

Ayesha Vardarg is known as the divorce diva, but we find out there is much more to her than that, while SportsWorks Neil Cameron urges businesses to work with young people to capitalise on the success of our Olympians and Paralympians.

Good food and sustainability is not something you would necessarily associate with service stations – but Sarah Dunning tells us how that ethos has turned Tebay on the M6 into a destination in its self and how the concept has now been transported to other areas.

Finally, back on the international theme, we dine at Newcastle Airport with its business development director John Irving where route development is on the menu and Brian Dakers gives his thoughts on what Brexit could mean for our exporters. It’s all very challenging but with plenty of opportunities to consider.

Paul Robertson, Editor

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Business Quarter, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT. www.bqlive.co.uk. Business Quarter (BQ) is a leading national business brand recognised for celebrating and inspiring entrepreneurship. The multi-platform brand currently reaches entrepreneurs and senior business executives across Scotland, the North East and Cumbria, the North West, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and London and the South. BQ has established a UK wide regional approach to business engagement reaching a highly targeted audience of entrepreneurs and senior executives in high growth businesses both in-print, online and through branded events. All contents copyright © 2016 Business Quarter.

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CONTENTS

Winter 16

38 ATOM SMASHER

The North East’s own challenger bank

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64

T H I S VO LVO H A S T H E WOW FACTOR

Jonathon Stokes puts the Volvo XC90 on his Christmas list

LIVE DEBATE Helping women into digital

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AT YOUR SERVICES A shop on a six-lane high street

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PORT OF CALL

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Huge investments help Teesport rule the waves

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Celebrating and inspir ing entrepreneurship

FEATURES 22

PRETT Y IN PINK Alice Hall started her e-business to pay the bills - and it now turns over £12m

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PORT OF CALL A look at Teesport and how it rides the economic waves

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BREAK-UP BUSINESS ‘Diva of Divorce’ Ayesha Vardag moves North

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ATOMIC AGE REVOLUTION Interview with Atom Bank’s Craig Iley

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AT YOUR SERVICE A family owned service station is making its success travel

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A CUT ABOVE THE ORDINARY Something special from Hermes in Paris

REGULARS 08

BIG ISSUE Simon Hanson of the FSB urges politicians to think again

BQ LIVE DEBATE How to encourage women into digital

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BUSINESS UPDATE Business news from around the region

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F LY I N G H I G H Business lunch with Newcastle Airport’s John Irving

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EXPORTING AFTER BREXIT NECC’s Brian Dakers looks at prospects overseas

AS I SEE IT Neil Cameron on how the Olympics can drive business

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CONNECTING BUSINESS Entrepreneur Dan Kitchen argues broadband costs are low

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

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BOLTON ON WINE Craig Bolton discovers some hidden gems when he switches a world of diamonds for wine

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SPECIAL FEATURE - INVENTING THE FUTURE Teesside Innovation; a partnership for growth

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BIG ISSUES bqlive.co.uk

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory Simon Hanson, North East development manager at the Federation of Small Businesses, laments the failure of politicians to agree a devolution deal which could have helped local businesses close the productivity gap with London and urges them to think again The North East is the best region in the UK to start, grow and develop a business. As a region we will play a leading role in reducing the productivity gap between London and the wider UK. We have some world-leading assets to deliver this, whether in advanced manufacturing, automotive or in the digital and tech sector.

For the past two years the seven local authorities in the North East have been negotiating a devolution deal that would have helped us gain more funding and responsibilities to achieve this.

The deal would have given us nearly £1bn in new funding to enhance our infrastructure both digital and physical, improve our skills base and continue to build on our key sectoral strengths.

It is hugely disappointing that the North East has missed out on the opportunity to get more powers and funding to grow our economy. After a year of negotiating, smaller businesses will be at a loss to understand why a deal hasn’t been possible. This decision will hold back the North East and have a detrimental impact on future regional and national economic growth, especially with Scotland getting more powers through its devolution deal and a deal progressing in the Tees Valley.

The North East has lost the chance to deliver some real clout in growing our economy through tailored solutions, like Scotland and the Tees Valley, on skills, transport and investment, putting it at a huge disadvantage.

Our members can’t understand why the North East Combined Authority Leadership Board rejected the proposed deal. They’ve said that this has been a collective failure of the civic leadership in the region and the business community should

now be at the forefront.

On the flip side our Tees Valley members are delighted that the five local authorities are continuing to work with the business community to ensure at least their part of the wider region is able to use increased powers and funding to deliver locally tailored solutions.

WHAT NEXT? The North East is at a significant crossroads in how we grow the economy following the EU referendum result in June, the changing focus of the new Conservative Government to rethink regional policy, including the future of the Northern Powerhouse, and the burgeoning industrial strategy.

Agreeing the proposed devolution deal would have allowed the North East to be a significant voice in all of these, ensuring the region’s business needs were listened to and met. We expect to see London, Manchester, the West Midlands and Tees Valley to be given these opportunities.

We understand the proposed devolution deal in the North East was not perfect - but devolution is a process not an event. Take a look at what is happening in Manchester. The first deal they agreed did not include everything they wanted but it was a start. From this they have been able to leverage more powers and funding. The ambition has been clear from the outset.

In the Tees Valley there is a real ambition to tackle some of the big challenges the economy faces head on such as the closure of SSI. By agreeing a devolution deal the Tees Valley has created the Tees Valley Mayoral Development Corporation

which will be able to help stimulate investment and grow the economy.

Compare that to the North East where, for many smaller businesses, it has felt like some of the politicians have tried to find any excuse to get out of any deal. This has ranged from the lack of funding that the region would receive, to the lack of real powers that have been given and then the need for certainty on the future replacement of EU monies which currently come to the region.

That latter point is somewhat ironic for members given the results from across some parts of the North East in the referendum.

There were also some failures on the side of national Government too with the insistence on a metro mayor for any deal (despite Cornwall agreeing a deal without one) and the changes in legislation around Combined Authorities which meant only two local authorities were needed to form one. This effectively allowed councils to reject the deal without being the one that scuppered the region’s plans.

We’re calling on all the Leaders in the North East to get back round the table and agree a deal that will allow the regional economy to continue to flourish. We’ve got some big challenges ahead which require strong leadership from Councils and businesses alike. n

“The North East has lost the chance to deliver some real clout in growing our economy through tailored solutions, putting it at a huge disadvantage”

PROFILE BIC

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The North East BIC – the ultimate location for business growth The North East Business & Innovation Centre (BIC) is more than a business park, it’s a bustling community offering the ultimate location for SMEs in the region to locate and grow. The centre offers a wide range of incubator units, executive offices, bio-science labs and large industrial facilities across the 14 acre site in Sunderland, but it’s the access to a wide range of tailored business support that truly sets it apart.

A DESIRABLE PLACE TO DO BUSINESS The appeal of the BIC’s unique proposition speaks for itself. Over 220 SMEs ranging from healthcare, technology, software, creative and outsourcing firms currently call one of the three sites: Sunderland, Business Central Darlington and the Hub Washington, their home.

Paul McEldon, chief executive of the North East BIC, says: “The BIC is the perfect environment for businesses of all stages of development. The breadth of space on offer means that businesses don’t start off here then move on once they’ve outgrown their premises, they become part of a unique eco-system which offers the flexibility to relocate on site and to tap into relevant support and expertise at each stage of their growth. As a not-for-profit organisation we’re committed to reinvesting in support and facilities to best meet the needs of the business community.”

Louise Hardy occupies a unique role as resident business adviser at the BIC and is on-hand to ensure both start-up and established businesses get access to all of the help they need to fulfil their potential.

She explains: “Tenants from businesses of all sizes and sectors come to me for help with a range of issues; whether it’s raising finance, tendering, international trade, sales or marketing. Where possible we’ll provide the support ourselves within the BIC’s team of expert advisers and where there’s a gap we’ll provide introductions to other tenants on site, who could help them through collaborative projects, retaining the work on site. If the support isn’t available on site we’ll signpost to our external support network. We’ll always find the best possible solution for the business to help them flourish and grow.”

Paul McEldon, chief executive of the North East BIC

AN INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK The BIC also delivers transnational projects, the latest being the ERDF funded Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme which provides opportunities for businesses to broaden their horizons by collaborating with overseas partners.

The BIC’s international links don’t end there, it is one of 150 quality certified members of the European Business Network (EBN) that supports the development and growth of innovative entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. So, with 22 years of business support experience under their belt, what next for the BIC? “We’re always looking for ways to improve our offer.

We’ll keep working hard to ensure that businesses based here or coming to us for support continue to get the very best experience; the fact that 75% of businesses who start up here are still trading after three years speaks for itself. The BIC is very much a community and by working with new and established businesses alike, we are able to offer advice to businesses at any stage and I believe this is fundamental to our success,” says Paul McEldon.

THE FACTS The North East BIC has had a significant impact on the North East business landscape since its launch in 1994.

• 140 businesses on 14 acre site • 3,000 businesses helped to start up • 7,500 jobs have been created • 700 businesses have been accommodated • £750 million collective turnover of business • 1,000 people working on site (NB: Figures relate to the Sunderland site)

For further information about space or support on offer at the North East Business & Innovation Centre visit www.ne-bic.co.uk, email: info@ne-bic.co.uk or call 0191 516 6200

Ivan Jepson, business development director at Gateshead College; Chris Ford, managing director at Ford Engineering and Geoff Ford, chair at Ford Engineering Group with apprentices

BUSINESS UPDATE Partners engineer skills Ford Engineering Group has chosen Gateshead College to deliver apprenticeships, workforce development programmes and traineeships as part of its plans to upskill its existing staff and create engineering career opportunities for young people. The first apprentices have already started, splitting their time between Ford Engineering’s sites across the region and the college’s Team Valley-based Skills Academy for Automotive, Engineering, Manufacturing and Logistics – a £5.5m purpose built facility that has seen recent investment of more than £300,000 in state of-theart machinery and tooling. Upskilling programmes for existing staff have also begun and will see the traditional day release model changed to on-site training, meaning there is minimal disruption to the daily operations. Traineeships are currently in development and will run from September 2017. The College is designing and customising a range of programmes aimed at preparing talented youngsters for the world of work, instilling a positive work ethos while equipping them with skills and knowledge in engineering fundamentals. Meanwhile, a landmark agreement between regional

councils and education providers to develop the North East’s skills base could create more than 5,000 advanced manufacturing jobs.

South Tyneside and Sunderland Councils have signed a joint-agreement with South Tyneside College, Sunderland College, and the University of Sunderland to ensure that the proposed International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) – which will span land cutting across both areas – has the skilled people needed to succeed. The councils, were given the green light in 2014 to press ahead with the IAMP, which has subsequently been designated a Nationally Significant Infrastucture Project by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. It is expected that businesses will begin to locate on IAMP from 2019.

What a Guy The founder and MD of North East home care services provider Dr Guy Turnbull has won the Social Enterprise category at the national EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 awards.

Based in Jesmond, Care and Share Associates (CASA) is an employee-owned social enterprise specialising in providing care and support to people living in their own homes.

Dr Turnbull founded CASA in 2004. CASA has transformed from a new start social franchise to an £11m social enterprise in 2016. CASA now has branches in North Tyneside, Newcastle, Manchester, Warrington, Knowsley, Leeds and has recently won a contract in Doncaster. Dr Turnbull also has ambitious plans to double the size of the company over the next five years.

QUOTE OF THE QUARTER “We’re at a loss to understand why, after a year of negotiations, it’s not been possible to strike a deal. It’s extremely disappointing and bad news for the North East and UK economy.” Ross Smith Director of Policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce on the collapse of the devolution deal

SEDBERGH SCHOOL

Co-Educational Boarding School in Cumbria

FOUNDED 1525

WWW.SEDBERGHSCHOOL.ORG

PROFILE Business Durham

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County Durham - where innovation is in the limelight Whether it’s major inward investment or the making of cutting edge products for the global health industry, County Durham is the place to do business With world class universities on the doorstep, two of the Government’s national catapult centres and four national technology centres, it’s hardly surprising that the North East Technology Park is at the forefront of many major technology advances.

Sedgefield-based NETPark’s success stories range from ReViral – the pioneering biotechnology firm, which is developing a highly potent drug to target a common virus – to PolyPhotonix, which has created a sleep mask to combat diabetic retinopathy.

Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, working on behalf of Durham County Council, is hoping to capitalise on the healthcare advancements with initiatives such as ‘Smart County’ – a beacon project to bring business and health organisations together to identify specific health issues and then support companies as they come up with innovative products and services which will make a difference to people’s lives.

In other sectors, NETPark is playing a part in helping businesses to tap into the billion pound space sector. The Business Durham-backed North East Space Incubation Programme will see several companies chosen to receive mentorship in financial management, law, marketing, business growth and IP protection, as they look to capitalise on the burgeoning space industry.

All these companies will be perfectly placed to take advantage of NETPark’s expansion over the next decade which will create 3,000 jobs and add another £400m to the region’s GVA. It is already home to Durham University’s Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, two of the Government’s Catapult centres - the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence and High Value Manufacturing, and four national technology centres: the Printable Electronics, Formulation, Graphene Applications and Healthcare Photonics, all managed by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). NETPark’s dynamic and supportive environment put its ambitious, innovative, high tech companies in the spotlight and accelerates their growth into global markets.

But innovation is not the only success story for County Durham which has seen some major investments, such as Hitachi Rail Europe opening its new £82m rail facility in Newton Aycliffe; the

Salvus House

“It’s fantastic to shine a light on all the companies in the county which are excelling in their chosen fields: engineering, manufacturing and cutting edge technology advancements” launch of a new online bank, Atom, in Durham City and customer contact firm ResQ moving into the Spectrum Business Park with the announcement of 1,300 jobs.

Business Durham is also one of the largest commercial property landlords in the region. Salvus House, the multi-award winning office building, at Aykley Heads near Durham City, is a recent acquisition and boasts office suites ranging in size from 3,000 to 9,000 sq ft together with space for new businesses and collaborative working areas for individuals requiring flexible workspace.

Salvus House was singled out for its striking design and won a RICS Renaissance Award and a Commendation for Innovation in the region’s Constructing Excellence Awards soon after it was designed and built in 2005.

Simon Goon, managing director of Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, says: “It’s fantastic to shine

a light on all the companies in the county which are excelling in their chosen fields, whether it is traditional manufacturing or cutting edge medical advancements.

“We forge long-term relationships with companies so they can see real, sustainable growth. We want to see businesses locate here, stay here, and grow here so it’s imperative we offer them the right environment in which to grow and thrive.

“With great transport links and a world class university in the County itself, County Durham is the place to do business. Inward investment success stories are only one part of the story - and we hope to hear of many more in 2017.”

For more information visit www.businessdurham.co.uk

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

Hatching entrepreneurs A hub to help entrepreneurs kick start their business has opened on Newcastle’s Quayside.

Entrepreneurial Spark powered by NatWest and in partnership with KPMG Enterprise, Dell EMC and Pinsent Masons has opened its newest hub or ‘Hatchery’ – to 80 entrepreneurs now based in the NatWest building in Trinity Gardens.

According to the recent NatWest Entrepreneurship Monitor, people in the region are among the least likely to say that their region is good for starting a new business. The survey revealed only 11% of people felt they had good access to business advice compared to 45% in London. The Newcastle Hatchery is part of a network of 13 Hatcheries being created across the UK by Entrepreneurial Spark in conjunction with NatWest, KPMG Enterprise, Dell EMC and Pinsent Masons. These will support 7,000 entrepreneurs over the next five years.

The new businesses or ‘Chiclets’ enter the Hatchery for up to six months, with potential to continue for another 12 if they are among the most promising. Access to the Newcastle Hatchery includes physical office space with superfast internet, a start-up Bootcamp, dedicated mentoring from partners as well as regular events, workshops and training, all free.

A new intake of Chiclets will start at the Hatchery every six months. Since Entrepreneurial Spark was founded in 2011, the 660 businesses it has supported have had an aggregate turnover of £85,891,661 (£40m, in 2014), attracted £45,167,348 of investment (£18m in 2014) and created 1,816 jobs.

Dynamic hub The Dynamo North East IT Apprentice Hub is to officially launch after two years of successful pilots in the region. The Dynamo Hub has created IT training, work experience and career opportunities in the region’s expanding technology sector. Some of the region’s most prominent employers have been involved in the programme and taken on apprentices. The Dynamo IT Hub supports businesses through each major step of setting up and running an apprenticeship programme, from advertising and recruitment to training and assessment, and putting in place a framework to make it easier for IT businesses to take on apprentices. The North East was the first region in the UK to attempt this type of approach in IT. Using Dynamo

North East’s extensive network of IT employers, the apprentices have the opportunity to gain real-life experience with some of the region’s IT businesses, while gaining the qualifications to start their career and employers can recruit from a pool of dedicated, driven individuals who are appropriately qualified.

Atomic rise County Durham-based Atom Bank is the only company in the UK to make it into the top 10 of the Fintech 100 report compiled by KPMG, finishing in sixth place.

Atom Bank’s CEO, Mark Mullen, said: “We are thrilled to be included in the Fintech 100 list once again. A lot of hard work, a clear vision and a fabulous team of partners and employees has gone into this exciting journey that we are on.

This year has been a tremendous milestone for us as we opened our doors to consumers. “

Happy landing

Gentoo apprentices

Newcastle International Airport has welcomed the decision by the government to follow the recommendation by the Airports Commission, and adopt a third runway at Heathrow as its preferred option for airport capacity in the South East.

Graeme Mason, Planning and Corporate Affairs Director at Newcastle International Airport, said: “The North East currently enjoys good connectivity into Heathrow with up to six British Airways services a day, supporting over 500,000 passengers to and from the North East. By constructing a third runway, and providing additional capacity, we hope these services can be safeguarded, and can in the future also connect to a much wider range of global destinations.”

North East England Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive James Ramsbotham said: “This longawaited conclusion is a welcome one for North East England and the whole of the UK. “As a Chamber representing 4,000 business members we have been staunch advocates of Heathrow expansion as the right option to ensure North East businesses continue to enjoy the access they need to markets around the world.

“We would now urge MPs to support this positive decision as the National Policy Statement is brought forward.

“In the aftermath of the EU Referendum it is more important than ever that we, as a country and a region, are globally connected. This expansion emphasises our ambition.”

A team of 20 talented individuals overcame competition from more than 500 people to secure apprenticeships at one of the largest housing associations in the North East.

The intake of the 20 apprentices at the organisation is part of their commitment to providing new career and learning opportunities, as well as ensuring they have the right people with the right skills to deliver services in the future. 12 of these apprentices will attend Sunderland College. Sunderland College apprentices won the positions with housing association, Gentoo, following a comprehensive recruitment process, and, as such, make up part of the first intake of vocational students to study at the College’s £29m City Campus. Gentoo Chief Executive, John Craggs, said: “At Gentoo we are proud of our people and the difference they make. We have a strong track record of developing talent and supporting people through their chosen career path. By working in partnership with Sunderland College, we have recruited a team of enthusiastic and talented apprentices for a number of skilled trades including electrical, gas, plumbing and bricklaying.

“This is not only a great opportunity for the apprentices themselves but for us as a business.”

PROFILE Sedbergh School

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Do league tables have value?

Andrew Fleck is occasionally asked about the value of League Tables and where Sedbergh features. The answer to the latter question is more straight-forward than to the former The first League Table was published by the Telegraph in 1966 and they became important in the mid 1990s. As they gained importance schools developed strategies to enhance their position. The question whether League Tables have value is determined by the person who reads them and in common with any set of measurements it is important to understand what they show. If the reader values what League Tables measure, then they have value. When considered as a whole, a school’s position in the League Tables is the product of its selectivity, its balance of educational priorities and the strategies used to enhance its position. It follows that they are likely to be useful to a parent who has access to a number of different schools and who is seeking a school which is defined solely by its academic success. The League Table will be less informative to a parent who may seek the benefits of broader education and who values the development of the character and personality of their child alongside academic attainment. Perhaps the best assessment is that they provide an insight into a school and may be a starting point for discussion.

All schools are able to measure how well their pupils perform in relation to their individual ability and other schools. This Value-Added measure is more relevant and may be more interesting to a parent and pupil.

Sedbergh does not provide information for League Tables which fail to reflect the unique character and value of a Sedbergh education. Ours is a broad education which properly embraces academia, the arts and sports as well as a social and spiritual education. To use an Olympic analogy, League Tables are the equivalent of awarding medals for the heptathlon based solely on results in the 800 metres race. Durham University demonstrated how the level of difficulty of A levels varies by two grades between subjects (SCORE Report, July 2008). Happily universities recognise this even if League Tables do not; the breadth of subjects offered at different

Andrew Fleck, Headmaster of Sedbergh School

schools and the variability of exam boards makes this a significant problem. For both these reasons we do not provide information to the media for League Tables.

The Sedbergh intake is modestly selective. Our average ability profile sits close to the 40th centile of the national population and the range extends from the top 5% of the population to the 60th centile.

We respond to this range of ability by using distinct sets in subjects from Year 9 and thereby group pupils according to ability. This ensures that pupils are taught at an appropriate level and with proper ambition. We measure “Added Value” for every level of ability and many sub-groups. Yet even this measure creates problems because pupils who are predicted A* grades cannot excede their predictions and cannot score Added Value.

A different insight into the academic credentials of the School are the universities at which pupils gain places. In 2016, 87% of pupils who applied to university gained places at their preferred institution immediately on receipt of results, 52% gained places at Russell Group Universities. The full range of universities can be found on our website www. sedberghschool.org.

“Beyond the classroom a vast range of opportunities give Sedberghians the edge when it comes to competing for places at the top universities and employment”

I have said that ours is a broad education. Beyond this, Sedbergh School does not operate a ‘one style fits all’ policy - each pupil’s needs are assessed individually and each has a dedicated tutor who is responsible for his or her academic development.

The tutor monitors their progress, liaising between subject teachers, Housemasters, Housemistresses and parents. Almost all staff and pupils live on site which provides plenty of time for extra lessons and tutorials. Beyond the classroom a vast range of opportunities give Sedberghians the edge when it comes to competing for places at the top universities and employment. Their personal statements and references are full of comments about community service, charity work and fundraising, expeditions, teamwork, responsibility and a host of other relevant experiences. Alongside an outstanding senior school education, Sedbergh prepares its pupils for interesting lives.

Sedbergh School, Sedbergh, Cumbria, LA10 5HG. 015396 20535, admissions@sedberghschool.org www.sedberghschool.org

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

Winning robot wars Stokesley-based business, Labman, which specialises in the creation of custom robotic automation, is on a winning streak, with a place secured in the final of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Awards, the creation of 30 new jobs and its largest ever contract win. The new contract, worth a combined £6.5m, is part of a joint initiative between Labman, the company’s long-standing client Unilever, and Liverpool University. The first part of the contract will be the creation of the £2.5m Formulation Engine for the University’s brand new £68m Materials Innovation Factory.

Jamie Marsay, (above) senior manager at Labman said: “We have been growing at a tremendous rate over the past five years, and the trend is continuing with the awarding of new contracts from all over the globe. Our client base includes some of the world’s leading businesses, who need our bespoke service to meet their automation requirements.”

The projects Labman has delivered are extremely diverse, ranging from a bumblebee flight simulator, to vial filling robots and an, award winning, novel system to assist in the collection of eggs during IVF. Established over 35 years ago, the company has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and expertise from a huge number of industries, allowing Labman to cater to almost any client requirement. Due to its growth, turnover is projected to double to £4.6m in 2016, and an extension to the building, doubling the size of the purpose built HQ, is currently under construction.

Cottage industry

It’s a deal

A leading North East holiday letting agency has recorded record growth, expanding its portfolio of properties and extending its customer base.

Cottages in Northumberland - which lets out coastal, countryside and city properties in the county and across Tyneside – has seen a 13% increase in business in the first six months of this year. The Newcastle-based company now has 182 cottages, houses and apartments within its portfolio, which it rents out on behalf of owners keen to generate income from their assets.

“We have had a very strong start to the year with us already seeing accommodation receipts 44% ahead of last year and bookings increased by 42%,” said Cottages in Northumberland’s director of operations, Angela Mazingham.

And, in line with its expanding portfolio, the company is attracting holidaymakers from far afield with 6% of overall turnover coming from overseas visitors. 23% have come from the USA, followed by Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland and Switzerland. Cottages in Northumberland is now planning to embark on a recruitment programme to keep pace with demand.

The number of corporate deals completed in the North East has reached an eight-year high, according to a new report published by Experian.

Overall, 112 deals valued above £500,000 were concluded in the North East between January and June – a 36% increase from the same period last year. The deals were worth a total of £1.7bn. The report highlights positive trends for the region which has seen the number of deals and overall value reach the highest half-year periods for eight years and five years respectively. Legal advisers at Muckle LLP have advisied on more mergers and acquisitions in the first six months of this year than any other law firm in the North East with 13 transactions worth a total of £151m.

To boldly go…

FACT OF THE QUARTER Tees Valley gets the second highest level of European funding in England, at £243 per head between 2014 and 2020, a total of £162m.The rest of the North East gets £430m, or £221 per head, the third highest in England

Experts from a wide range of backgrounds have been signed up to a new programme designed to help entrepreneurs in the North East tap into the billion pound space sector. The panel appointed to the North East Space Incubator programme comprises experts from a range of industries such as law, financial management, business growth, marketing, and IP protection.

Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, received a grant from the UK Space Agency earlier this year to set up the programme at the North East Technology Park, (NETPark) in Sedgefield, County Durham. The entrepreneurs who get through to the programme will be entitled to £7,500 worth of professional services and will be based in an environment surrounded by some of the world’s most innovative companies. The panel which will be working with the entrepreneurs includes: • Ross Golightly, director at Sphera Consulting • Karen Large of Think Innovative • Ian Swain of IS Business & Finance • Graeme Jordan of STO Consulting • Alex Shiel – partner and head of intellectual property and IT at law firm Ward Hadaway • Antony Hall – partner and head of commercial at Mincoffs Solicitors The support programme is being delivered in partnership with the UK Space Agency, which has plans for the UK to secure 10% of the £400bn global space market by 2030, and will be part of a network of incubators which will collaborate on events and initiatives. The £50,000 investment in the programme builds on the impact the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence, one of only five in the country and also based at NETPark, has already made. There will be a robust selection process for the innovation support programme with only three coveted places this year.

PROFILE Northern Skills Group

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Skills experts here for northern businesses For employers who need direction on how to tackle training their staff, advice on securing funding and help understanding the law – Northern Skills Group is here to help.

Northern Skills Group is an expert provider of apprenticeships, employer-led training and retraining in the North East. It’s led by a group of experts whose mission is to equip businesses and individuals with the means to increase productivity and improve the competitiveness of the regional economy.

The new group brings together the expertise and experience of Middlesbrough College and the former North East Chamber of Commerce training arm, NECC training, and is responsible for more than 2,000 apprentices across the North East and North Yorkshire. The group – which operates from facilities in Durham, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and York – is working with businesses including multinationals and owner-managed firms to understand how they might benefit from Government reforms and the new apprenticeship levy so that they can plan

workforce development accordingly.

Peter Wilson, Northern Skills Group lead, said: “We are pleased to be working with some of the region’s most innovative businesses that are determined to invest in and develop their people to secure a competitive and sustainable edge.

“Not only are we working with some of the region’s most high profile businesses such as Hitachi Rail Europe, Primex, SAGE (UK), ElringKlinger (GB) and Nifco we are also working with an increasing number of SMEs, including owner-managed businesses, that share a determination for our region to be competitive in a globalised economy.”

For more information on how Northern Skills Group can help your business, contact our business advisors on 03453 40 40 40 or info@northernskills.co.uk

Give your business the competitive edge, take on an Apprentice with Northern Skills Group Northern Skills Group are working with over 1000 businesses across the North East and Yorkshire and are supporting apprentices in more sectors and at more skill levels than ever before. We provide expert tuition, advise on funding and assist with apprentice recruitment.

We deliver apprenticeships in: • • • • •

Accountancy Business Administration Project Management Team Leading Business Improvement Techniques • Facilities Management

• • • • • • •

Customer Service Contact Centre Operations Dental Nursing Health & Care IT & Computing Social Media for Business And many more!

Call our Apprenticeships Team today for further information or to take up our offer of free advice on the forthcoming Apprenticeship Levy.

Tel. 03453 40 40 40 or Email. info@northernskills.co.uk

www.northernskills.co.uk

Experts in Apprenticeships and Training

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

M O V E R S A N D SHA K E R S A young entrepreneur who led a successful campaign to promote the North’s creative and digital industries has taken the helm of a major project to drive the growth of digital industry in the Tees Valley. Rob Earnshaw has been appointed director of DigitalCity and has placed improving people’s lives through digital technology as one of the key priorities of the project. The 29-yearold, who founded Creative North, also wants to use DigitalCity as a focus for promoting women in technology and to drive economic growth through disruptive technology. DigitalCity is led by Teesside University and is acknowledged as a major catalyst for economic regeneration throughout the Tees Valley. The project has already helped to create hundreds of new companies and jobs as well as working with existing businesses to improve their digital skills. It has helped bring millions of pounds per year into the local economy and helped create the North’s only digital hotspot as ranked by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Rob, who was listed in the Guardian/Observer Future 500 Rising Stars, said: “The digital industries are the fastest growing sector in the UK economy, and the North East is the fastest growing region in the UK. Until recently the UK was the fast growing economy in the developed world and since the industrial revolution our region has not been able to boast this. We are right in the heart of all that at DigitalCity so it’s an extremely exciting time to be coming here.”

North East accountancy firm Anderson Barrowcliff has appointed its first management accountant as head of its new outsourcing department, in order to adapt to the ever changing needs of its clients. Luke Hopkins, 27, will be responsible for Tees Valley-based Anderson Barrowcliff’s outsourcing services, dealing with clients that require real time financial support, which adds to the company’s more traditional services including accountancy, audit, corporate finance and taxation services.

Members of the World Association for Sport Management have elected Northumbria University academic Dr Ruth Crabtree to become its VicePresident. The World Association of Sport Management was established to aid global research, teaching and learning excellence in the area of sport management. The Association works with international sport federations, non-government organisations and higher education institutions across the world. Dr Ruth Crabtree is a lecturer in sports management and development and head of International Development for Northumbria’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

Newcastle-based commercial property consultants, Naylors, have announced a double appointment as part of the continued expansion of its agency department. The firm has appointed Chris Donabie and Jessica Simpson taking its agency team to a total of seven surveyors covering office, retail, investment and industrial markets, a move it says has bolstered its position as one of the largest commercial agency teams in the North East.

The Newcastle-based Corporate Finance team of professional services firm KPMG has promoted Nick Broadhead to manager, following his support for a string of high-profile deals across the North East. Nick joined the firm’s audit team in 2010 before moving into For frequen t Corporate Finance as an associate in 2014, where he works closely with some of the business chat at your region’s most prominent businesses across the retail, healthcare and leisure sectors. finge rtips on demand

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WEBSITE OF THE QUARTER www.campusnorth.co.uk A home for North East startups. Based in Newcastle Campus North is recognised as one of the best co-working and event spaces for tech meetups, startups and established businesses in Europe

Women’s network A business innovation leader in the North East has founded a new global network for women in innovation. Catherine Johns, Innovation and Business Growth director for Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, represents the North East Technology Park (NETPark) at the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), and came up with the idea for of a subnetwork of IASP for women after chatting with a female Iranian science park director at the IASP World Conference last year.

Catherine said: “I started to think how we could build on links made at the conferences and events in a sustained way and how the women in the IASP network and the science park industry could help each other.

“We knew that many members already informally mentored each other: ‘Women in IASP’ will bring together that knowledge base and share success stories for the benefit of all our members. It will help us hear the voices of women in IASP, and support them to achieve their professional goals, to the benefit of the science parks and areas of innovation where they work.”

Women in IASP was launched at the IASP World Conference in Moscow with women from 24 different countries. Members of the subnetwork will determine its activities, which will include a regular blog, individual mentoring, social media presence to share success, a dedicated forum on the IASP website, debates and networking.

“Women in IASP’ will bring together that knowledge base and share success stories for the benefit of all our members”

PROFILE UNW

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Chris Gray, CEO of CHUF (left) with Hazel Smith (centre) and Anne Hallowell (right) of UNW

Children’s heart charity turns to UNW for financial management peace of mind Helping children born with life-threatening heart conditions to achieve their dreams is the mission of the Children’s Heart Unit Fund Better known as CHUF, the Newcastlebased charity was set up to provide lifelong support to babies and children from all over the UK who are treated by world-leading specialists at the Freeman Hospital. The unit is one of just two in Britain with the ability to carry out transplants and bridge to transplant operations with very young children. It’s a centre of excellence that treats children and teenagers from Europe too.

Named as the North East Charity Awards charity of the year in 2015, CHUF raises funds for children treated at the Children’s Heart Unit and their families. The money, which is used to support patients throughout their lives, is generated through generous donations from individual and corporate supporters and also events such as balls, golf days and sponsored walks.

CHUF’s work is supported by patrons Alan Shearer, Ant and Dec and Sage Group founder Graham Wylie.

UNW works with CHUF to support its back office function, from bookkeeping to payroll, keeping the engine of the charity ticking and leaving its staff to get on with their vital daily work.

CHUF’s chief executive officer Chris Gray said: “The UNW team is very generous with its time, knowledge and connections. We work with almost every

department and each contact is very easy to work with, supportive and understanding.

“CHUF has come a long way in two years. It has been an unbelievable journey for us and those around us.

We couldn’t have made the significant progress we have without UNW, who provided exactly the right support at exactly the right time.

“From revolutionising our payroll to helping find the right skills and experience for the board, I have absolute confidence in their guidance and know we will be working together for a long time to come.”

UNW helps CHUF with bookkeeping, management accounts, automatic enrolment, payroll, marketing and strategic recruitment.

A key benefit of the arrangement is that Xero, the cloud accounting software used by UNW, enables its trustees to be involved in the finance. The charity is able to tap into and benefit from all areas of UNW’s service offering and the differing expertise found within the firm through the relationship.

UNW’s accounting services partner, Hazel Smith, said: “We provide a full finance function that looks after everything for CHUF, delivering a service they need and can rely upon.

“Once a week we process payments for authorisation.

We undertake all accounting transactions, the monthly management accounts and payroll, and we helped CHUF to put together a budget for the first time this year.

“Our versatility is that we can deliver the whole finance package. Clients outsourcing to us in this way are able to utilize all of the team, for the correct areas, whether that be bookkeeping, management accounts, payroll and/or strategy.

“Here at UNW we understand that clients may require different levels of support throughout their business cycle and we are able offer a flexible approach. Our relationship with CHUF and the way in which we work with them is a fantastic example of this in action.”

UNW is a leading independent firm of chartered accountants delivering a broad range of accountancy and advisory services to our clients. www.unw.co.uk

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LEGAL BRIEF

In association with

Ward Hadaway

A convenient exit – the management buy-out The seller-funded MBO seems to be undergoing a renaissance. James Nightingale, Corporate Partner at Ward Hadaway, looks at why For every business owner, there invariably reaches a point in the cycle of ownership where they consider realising their value in their business and entrusting their legacy to new owners.

For many owner-managed businesses, an owner’s exit will assume the well-trodden path of a trade sale, but for some, the management buy-out (MBO) may be their exit of choice.

At the moment, seller-funded MBOs seem to be enjoying a renaissance, founded in part by the convenience and flexibility created for the seller.

While not for everyone, the benefits for a seller and for a management team alike cannot be underestimated or disregarded, particularly for businesses where the day to day operation of the business has largely already been delegated from the owner to their management team.

In these cases, the seller will already have first-hand knowledge of the strengths of the management team and their abilities to manage the running of the business without the seller’s involvement. This allows the seller to evaluate the management team’s future ambition and determine whether the seller’s legacy “investment” would be adequately protected post-sale.

Where the seller chooses to proceed with a sellerfunded MBO, such a structure can: ■ allow the seller to actively determine the terms of their exit and manage their exposure to future risks; ■ reduce the amount of time, cost and stress preparing the business for exit, identifying a prospective buyer and then settling terms; ■ protect the business from leakage of commercially sensitive information during a due diligence process; and ■ promote “business as usual” continuity for the customers and suppliers maintaining and enhancing value.

From a manager’s perspective, an MBO provides a golden opportunity to actively realise value from their contribution to the business, not just on a future exit but through the lure of a regular dividend. Managers may not be required

“The seller will already have firsthand knowledge of the strengths of the management team” to invest (and therefore place at risk) significant personal capital in an MBO. Also their exposure to risk is further reduced by their current in-depth understanding of the business. This thereby helps to manage their transition from business managers to business owners.

Clearly a seller-funded MBO is not without risk for any exiting business owner, in particular as it is likely that the majority of the seller’s consideration will be paid over a substantial time period following completion of the sale, but handled correctly such risks can be minimised.

Focused and effective planning is essential for any seller in this type of transaction. An organised seller will invest time in exploring the appropriate exit structures with their lawyers and accountants prior to embarking on any negotiations with the management team, ensuring that appropriate

protections are identified in advance to actively manage the seller’s risk.

Upon the completion of this initial planning phase, the terms of the MBO can be agreed relatively swiftly and the appropriate controls can be put in place to actively manage and insulate the seller from any “bumps in the road” arising from the transition of the management team from business managers to business owners, and any changes (related or otherwise) arising in the business’s market. The seller can also help the MBO team by working with the company’s bankers and any key customers or suppliers to ensure a smooth transition.

Whilst not on every business owner’s list of exit options, the convenient flexibility for sellers could mean that an MBO is a route that is worth considering.

For more information on the issues raised by this article, please contact James Nightingale at james.nightingale@wardhadaway.com or on 0191 204 4261.

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AS I SEE IT bqlive.co.uk

Golden opportunity Neil Cameron of social enterprise Sport Works looks at how the Olympic and Paralympic legacy can inspire people and drive business forward through sport As a former elite athlete, sport science lecturer and elite trainer I’ve witnessed the power sport has to motivate and engage. I’ve built a social enterprise, Sport Works, which uses sport to reach young people, founded on this premise.

As a result I can say with certainty that it would be hard to overstate the impact Team GB’s successes in London 2012 and Rio 2016 will have had on the collective psyche of the UK. It’s how we now harness fantastic sporting endeavour and recognition and translate that into all areas of society that is the real test.

Team GB’s recent triumph in Rio has not only demonstrated the talent and determination of British athletes, it has been particularly inspirational to the North East. Who could forget Amy Tinkler from Bishop Auckland, what a fantastic performance on the floor,

securing a bronze medal in women’s gymnastics as the youngest member of Team GB? Or Matt Wylie’s nail biting gold medal performance in the 50m freestyle, where the Sunderland Paralympian won by a fingertip?

Overall, 30 athletes from the North East competed in Rio 2016, contributing towards the final medal count of 67 in the Olympics and 147 in the Paralympics – with the GB Paralympic team winning a grand total of 64 gold medals, the most by a British team since 1988.

Although there has been a lot of discussion and some controversy surrounding the Olympics in recent years, such as the prevalence of performance enhancing drugs and the perception of disappointing sporting take up figures post 2012, hosting the Olympics was definitely a defining moment for British sport and saw an increased interest in sport for children and adults of all abilities.

It’s important to remember that it wasn’t just competitors inspired

by London 2012. We saw more people wanting to

become coaches, more people wanting to become trainers and more people wanting to work in sport in general, a factor which I believe greatly contributed towards Team GB’s success in Rio 2016.

Aside from the obvious health benefits of regular exercise, sport can teach young people vital employability skills needed in any industry, such as resilience, team work, communication and problem solving. Sport Works own traineeships focus on these employability skills while engaging young people in sport.

With many young people failing to get a job through lack of experience or being unable to relate to classroom teaching, Sport Works uses sport to engage young people of all abilities by delivering an educational Traineeship with work experience that is focused on developing the skills and experience that employers are looking for.

I’ve been fortunate to work with some of sports’ greats and experienced what is required mentally to succeed, or cope with failure, at the very highest level. But at Sport Works we’re not looking for the next gold medal winner, we simply want to help young people from the region gain

AS I SEE IT bqlive.co.uk

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“Getting people healthy as part of their road back to employment is an area that is intrinsically linked to being inspired through sporting achievement”

the qualification and experiences they wouldn’t have previously considered possible.

Relating the successes of local Olympians and Paralympians directly to the skills we’re instilling through our programmes makes a career in sport a reality for the youths that we work with, with many of our participants now looking forward to future careers as sports coaches, personal trainers and gym instructors among others.

It has also become clear that the London legacy has paved the way for businesses looking to get involved in sport. It has done this by inspiring and engendering change, effectively upskilling young people by addressing their mindset and shifting their mental approach. The effect of this is for young people to become more determined, ambitious and willing to work in a team, elements that provide the benefit for the business community of a more motivated and capable workforce to draw on.

In May this year Sport England, the organisation tasked with increasing sporting inclusion, released their new, much anticipated, strategy. It boldly stated that they are willing to work with any organisation to directly target the high number of inactive people in society at large. This addresses issues of health such as obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and other lifestyle related conditions which

ultimately alleviate pressure on stretched NHS services and can be directly linked to a postOlympic bounce as people try to emulate their heroes.

Additionally, the government’s recent announcement of their Work and Health programme, that specifically targets longer term unemployed people, is investing £130m a year nationally in programmes aimed at improving the lives of many, with a focus on the most vulnerable. This opens up the opportunities for businesses who can support government in halving the disability employment gap of 33%.

The government programme incentivises people to become more healthy as they work toward achievable personal goals.

There is recognition regionally and nationally that a major barrier to employment is poor health both physical and mental. Getting people healthy as part of their road back to employment is an area that is intrinsically linked to being inspired through sporting achievement.

This is good news for businesses in the region as the more young people who are inspired to follow a career in sport and reap the benefits playing and studying sport can offer, the more work ready candidates they will have to fill their positions. Not only have Team GB excelled in their fields, they have inspired a new generation of young people to embark upon a career in sport and if not sport, a career in general. n

Who is Neil Cameron?

Neil Cameron is a former elite athlete who now runs North East based social enterprise Sport Works. At 34 years old, he has already had a long and distinguished career in the sports industry having competed as a professional athlete in the long jump, becoming a sports science lecturer at just 21 and an elite performance manager for England Athletics at Gateshead International Stadium.

Neil now focuses his efforts on engaging young people through sport with Sport Works, offering qualifications in sport for young people of all abilities from their head office in Newcastle and nationwide with a franchise network.

The business has recently moved into delivering Government-backed Traineeships and Apprenticeships and is looking to the business community to support its programmes.

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

Alice Hall has a plan – not that she has needed one thus far.

Since launching as an online fashion store to help pay the bills, Pink Boutique is now achieving gross sales of £12 million in just four years, shipping out 2,000 garments from its Newcastle base every day.

And it has all been done without borrowing a penny or developing a strategy.

“For the first three years we have had no business plan in place because we were way too busy doing it,” said Alice. “We are very lean and low risk – we only use our cash in the bank for stock and marketing. It is great but can be restrictive because it means we can’t do massive campaigns but that is something we can start to plan.

“Now we are mapping out a strategy for growth – we have recruited staff with a lot of experience and are ready to take the next step.”

It has been an impressive start for the 28-year-old who grew up in Gosforth and is passionate about developing her business and creating jobs in the North East – all from a venture to supplement her income.

“I bought one pack of dresses online from a wholesaler and got a friend of a friend to model it in a way I hadn’t seen done before to sell online – I thought there was a real lack of glamorous imagery,” she said.

“All of the models were very plain. I have grown up in Newcastle and that’s not what a night out in town is about. It is fake tan, lashes and big heels so I decided to style it like that.

“I put the dresses on eBay and the first pack sold so then I thought what now? I was sitting at the kitchen table with my mum and she said ‘reinvest’.

It became our motto and has been a massive part of our growth.

“I didn’t take a wage for quite a long time, we picked and packed from the dining room table - it went from the living room, to the dining room table, to a loft room then the garage.”

The business now operates from a 30,000 square foot base on Newburn Industrial Estate, employing 57 people in buying, merchandising, creative, customer care, warehousing, fulfillment, IT, HR and finance.

Alice is joint managing director with her mother Julie. “I am creative director and mum is financial director,” she said. “It works really well as I look after marketing, buying, creative, sales and designs while Julie is in charge of fulfilment and customer care.”

It is a dynamic business launching up to 20 new

Sitting prett y in Pink Alice Hall launched an e-commerce store to supplement her income but four years on it is a rapidly expanding business and she tells Paul Robertson how it will keep on growing

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

styles every day and already exporting to 59 countries. Manufacturing of bespoke designs takes place in the UK and China while some stock is bought in, “We have to be on trend,” she says. “The way we operate means for example if a celebrity wears something which is popular we can get it in and on the website quickly.”

Had she turned her education choices into a career Alice may well have taught or ended up interviewing someone just like her.

“I went to Dame Allan’s which was quite a competitive school then went on to do a degree in journalism at Sunderland University,” she said. “I had wanted to do an English degree but couldn’t see how it would translate to my career so I decided to do journalism and I learnt a lot of skills.

“By the time I graduated it was around the time of the recession and really experienced journalists were struggling for work never mind graduates. It wasn’t really going to happen.

I could have been an office junior but having done three years it seemed crazy to go back to where I could have been before the degree.

“I decided to buy my first house so I got a job as a cover teacher at Whitley Bay High School.

I really enjoyed teaching teenagers – they were hilarious, I laughed all day every day. I covered everything from science to physics, to English to dance.

“I loved it but really struggled to pay my bills so got a job in a bar at night and spent the weekend doing make up and promotions work.

However, I was really still struggling to pay the bills – hence the dresses.”

From the initial investment of £90 – £45 of her own money and the other half from mum – stock was bought and sold at such a rate it quickly outgrew the family home.

Pink Boutique moved to office premises in Blaydon but it soon became apparent they needed warehousing too - hence the move to Newburn, where Hall has invested a six-figure sum in photographic studios to control the look of her range.

She has also made 30 appointments in the last year, almost doubling her workforce with the focus on bringing in expertise to accelerate growth.

Caroline Smith joins as marketing director, having spent 14 years with outdoor brand Berghaus as global head of marketing. Former

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

“I have learnt to delegate and the need to have lots of different personalities, those who are steady and stable but also real creative types who are a bit wacky”

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head of IT at both Benfield and Newcastle United, Gary Gray brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the firm.

Other appointments include experienced buyers from Missguided and Harrods, an online training manager from John Lewis, and a buying and merchandising manager from Asda.

“I have learnt to delegate and the need to have lots of different personalities, those who are steady and stable but also real creative types who are a bit wacky as well as strong leadership which can make most things work,” she said.

“We have a great sense of community – people like working here. We have a lot of fun with penalty shoot outs in the warehouse, ice creams on hot days and my dogs (poodles Maisie and Scarlet) are among the most popular members of the team. Everyone takes turns to walk them or spend some chill time with them – it is really therapeutic apart from when you are in an important meeting if they bark.”

Alice knows her market and has built up a loyal customer base through the website and social media. She has just launched an app, with encouraging early results before its official unveiling, but don’t expect Pink Boutique to move from the virtual to the physical high street.

“I am a massive high street fan, I love shopping, our customers do too but I don’t see how I could make it work,” she said. “Rent and rates are crazy, never mind the other costs and keeping staff occupied in the non-busy times.

I am so glad the retailers are still there because I love the whole physical shopping experience but sadly I won’t be following. When we were at Blaydon we ran a small outlet store but even that proved too expensive and we closed it at a loss. Younger people have grown up online, they just want to click.”

Pink Boutique’s customers are 18-35 year old women who like to pay an average of £22 for a dress so they can regularly buy different outfits for the weekend. “We have customers who shop with us every week. Girls don’t like posting a picture of themselves wearing the same thing.”

It boasts 1.5m Twitter followers, building a community that is not just about pushing out product but it is posting things which engage and entertain customers.

Alice believes social media and the app will be the drivers for growth – keeping things fresh and making the shopping experience as simple

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

“It is a hard slog but it is so worth it – the balance will come later. I really enjoy business” as possible. “In a world where we are so busy and someone wants a last minute party dress to arrive tomorrow it is vital we innovate. Not many companies do customer service well online – it is notoriously hard to shop – pictures are often tiny and checking out is difficult. I have all of these pains and that helps inform me.

“The app achieved 500 downloads in the first day and sale conversion rates were three times those of the website so it is very exciting. We can send notifications to customers for new stock or sales and they check out with the push of a button.”

It is all gearing up to two big important events in the e-retail calendar – Black Friday and Christmas – with glitzy party dresses at the top of many shopping lists. Boyfriends and husbands are also being actively targeted to buy something glamorous for the women in their lives with a new gift-wrapping service. For advice she can ask husband Andrew who she married last year – he was Pink Boutique’s operations director but now works for another e-commerce company. Her focus remains the business, even taking phone calls while on honeymoon.

“I don’t know when you start up and have such fast growth whether it is possible to achieve a work life balance,” says Alice. “I once heard a business expert talking about the fact you have to give up the first three years and I agree.

“It is a hard slog but it is so worth it – the balance will come later. I really enjoy business, speaking to entrepreneurs, going to events, even on holidays I can lie on a beach for an hour but then need to think business. Andrew is equally addicted, so we

are happy, always chatting about business.”

She has had great support from her mum, three sisters and dad – Jonathan Blackie, well-known in these parts and often roped in to wrap the odd order during the early days of Pink Boutique.

Alice also sought guidance and advice from local businesses, the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, through networking – inboxing potential mentors to tap into their knowledge. “They can only say no but rarely do,” she says.

She is now providing support to a couple of digital marketing and e-commerce businesses – something which she says energises her – and is delighted to have won several awards including

Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year at the PWC UK Private Business Awards, Women Into the Network Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Entrepreneurs’ Forum Emerging Talent Award.

But this Newcastle woman’s main focus remains developing her business in this region.

“We love the fact we have provided jobs in the North East – I am very passionate about Newcastle,” says Alice. “I will always want to keep the majority of the business here but we may need to outsource some elements further afield depending on the type of talent we can attract – but in an ideal world we would love to keep everything here.” n

Crossing Borders International trade is a key growth area for Pink Boutique. Currently exporting to 59 countries, it accounts for 3% of business.

Developing trade with English-speaking nations will be a priority but Eastern Europe is also proving to be a strong area for the company.

Alice said: “We ran a Polish pilot scheme and we gave one of our Polish speaking members of staff the project to drive sales there.

“It was a great test, uncovering all the things we needed to learn about handling different currencies and also cultural differences. We found Polish customers like to pay by bank transfer, so we found a solution for that. They also like to pay on the doorstep, which is something we are still working on.

“In terms of the language, you can’t rely on Google translate – you need to have native speakers who are brand ambassadors and use the right tone. It was a very useful exercise and will help us as we expand into new markets overseas.”

PROFILE NE LEP

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Free digital technology programme launched to help North East businesses grow Businesses in the North East can now access a free digital technology programme thanks to a new initiative from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NE LEP) The programme, aimed at SMEs, will focus on utilising technology to promote business growth and expansion.

Growth through Digital Technology is a partnership between the North East LEP and some of the technology sector’s biggest names including Microsoft, BT, Google, Uber and Nominet. Local partners including Federation of Small Businesses, Asian Business Connexions, Sunderland Software City, Digital Skills Academy and the Department for International Trade are also supporting the initiative.

Colin Bell, Business Growth Director at the North East LEP said: “We’ve teamed up with organisations including FSB, BT and Nominet to help small to medium sized businesses in the North East LEP area use digital technology to scale up.

“Our series of free masterclasses and seminars will cover everything from selling online to attracting new customers. We’ll also be looking at how digital technology can be used to control costs and finances, as well as build long-term business resilience.

“We’ll be helping businesses access free advice from experts in the field so they can draft and implement a digital strategy that works for their business.”

Chris Yiu, General Manager at Uber, added, “We’re really excited to be involved with the North East LEP. There is a fantastic tech scene here in the North East and we really want to play a role in making it a leading tech hub.”

Designed for businesses looking to expand their digital presence and use new technology to grow their operation, Growth through Digital Technology will provide SMEs in the region access to expert help as well as supporting tools and techniques via business support platform, the North East Growth Hub (northeastgrowthhub.co.uk).

In addition to the series of free masterclasses and seminars, funding to support businesses in developing a digital technology action plan has been secured via Northumberland-based enterprise agency NBSL and the North East Business Support Fund.

Colin continued: “This is a fantastic programme and

“We’ll be helping businesses access free advice from experts in the field so they can draft and implement a digital strategy that works for their business” one that many businesses could really benefit from.

Research has shown that organisations that adopt digital technology grow faster and enjoy higher growth profits. That’s something we want more companies in the North East to achieve.”

Some of the free masterclasses businesses can sign up to include; ‘Attracting customers with killer content’, ‘Using the cloud to manage operations and mange performance’ and ‘Using digital technology to trade internationally’.

For more information and to book a place on one of the Growth through Digital Technology masterclasses, visit www.nelep.co.uk/businessgrowth/growth-through-digital-technology

Fast and more profitable growth for your business The first event takes place on Thursday 24 November. It will be delivered by BT in association with Uber and the SME Centre of Excellence, and will focus on using technology to deliver faster and more profitable growth.

Speakers include Mike Jones, an entrepreneur with a number of small businesses, formerly founding MD of BT Local Business, a BT division serving over one million SME customers; and Senior Operations Manager at Uber UK, Gemma Bloemen.

Mike will explore how, in the fast paced world of technology, companies and individuals can cut through the noise to find the right digital solution for them. Gemma will share the fascinating story of Uber and how its innovative use of digital technology has enabled rapid growth across 508 cities. The event will also hear from North East LEP Business Growth Board Member, Ammar Mirza, who will deliver a practical session exploring how digital technology can be used to deliver higher revenue and profit growth.

Book now to increase profits for your business: www.nelep.co.uk/business-growth/ growththrough-digital-technology

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INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

Making Tees the first port of call

INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

29

PD Ports CEO David Robinson sets sail with Paul Robertson to showcase the huge investment at Teesport and to explain how it rides the economic waves Only by taking a boat to the middle of the river can you really capture the scale of the Teesport operation.

Huge warehouses and storage facilities, giant container ships and impressive cranes don’t tell half the story of this major piece of infrastructure with the River Tees at its heart.

Hundreds of millions of pounds is being invested and good news is again flowing from the port – whether it be the construction of a Biomass plant or the £35m redevelopment of the Number One Quay.

Yet a year ago Teesport, along with the rest of the region, was dealing with the fallout of the closure of the SSI steelworks at Redcar – a major customer and an integral part of the operations.

David Robinson, group CEO of PD Ports which owns and operates Teesport, embarked on a diversification programme to ensure the facility could withstand such a blow 10 years ago and the company is now reaping the benefits.

“The three sectors we have been traditionally strong in are chemicals, oil exporting and steelmaking,” says Robinson. “SSI was our single largest customer - 30% of the volume, about 13m tonnes. It was a major blow and obviously very disappointing but we have invested significantly in the business over the last five years – more than £80m in new infrastructure – and that infrastructure is geared around not just steel but also handling commodities and cargo.”

As we make our way towards the iconic Transporter Bridge, Robinson points out some of the major developments undertaken at one of the UK’s largest ports in terms of tonnage, providing direct employment to 1,200 people (around 700 on Teesside) and moving 36m

“SSI was our single largest customer - 30% of the volume about 13m tonnes. It was a major blow and obviously very disappointing”

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INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

tonnes of cargo every year.

“Teesport is massively important not only to the regional and northern economy but also the national economy. This is a key bit of infrastructure for the UK,” he says.

“We have developed new customers in the past 12 months in energy and in the container/ logistics business. It is hugely important for this region and seen as a major contributor to the economic vibrancy of the Tees Valley. Some of the projects recently announced are symptomatic of that – we are seeing significant growth in the Tees Valley, significant growth in the value of commodities on the river and most importantly jobs. In the short to medium term we have been able to look at new projects for the river. We have attracted grain, container traffic has been growing but we also have some major inward investment. The power station is one of the biggest schemes for many years and there is the development of an LNG facility to go into the

THE FACT S 4,600 vessels Around 4,600 vessels call at Teesport each year

36,000,000 tonnes

gas infrastructure of Seal Sands (a facility for regasifying the liquefied natural gas shipped in by tankers from the Middle East and Europe).”

Preparation work has already begun on the £650m Tees Renewable Energy Plant. Up to 600 people will be employed by developer MGT Teesside building the power station with a further 100 permanent jobs created when the biomass facility is completed in 2020, with hundreds more in the supply chain. Fueled by wood chips and pellets, it will generate enough power for about 600,000 homes.

“This is a new asset for Teesside and it will be here for many years to come,” says Robinson. “It will provide more spin offs in the longer term but biomass, gas and offshore wind puts us at the very heart of energy, helping to keep the lights on and costs down.”

As we make our away along the river we get a full view of activity down at Smith’s Dock, once home to shipbuilding. There are huge warehouses which act as the hub for retail giants such as Tesco and Asda, while everything required by Taylors of Harrogate to make their tea and coffee comes into the port, with much of the finished product making the return journey.

We also catch a glimpse of Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium, so perhaps it is not surprising Stoke City supporter Robinson (his hometown club) should turn to a footballing analogy.

“I have seen hundreds of millions of pounds going into warehousing operations that has a defined capacity and we need to generate more

capacity for future growth to take Teesport out of the Europa League into the Champions League of UK ports for containers,” he says.

Pointing to Smith’s Dock he continues: “We have created a hub for ship repair and all four berths are occupied for the first time in many years. It is symptomatic of the investment that is going into the river. It is creating a relatively small number of jobs in a number of areas but put them all together and it adds up to the 15,000 to 20,000 people working in this river community – chemical processing plants, logistics, the oil sector, container businesses and all the support activity that goes on.”

Another huge opportunity lies in plans by Sirius Minerals, which wants to create a 1,000-job mine at Whitby with its process facility on Teesside.

The final regulatory hurdle was cleared this summer with approval for a new berth, ship loading facilities and conveyor belt system to the company’s materials handling facility at the Wilton International site.

“It is another huge opportunity in terms of investment and job creation,” says Robinson.

“The river could readily accommodate the necessary infrastructure and deliver a boost to UK exports as a result. It is another long-term, sustainable investment happening on our doorstep.”

Apart from its people, the biggest asset Teesport has is of course the river and its natural deep waters. The £35m investment in Number One Quay, allows bigger ships and bigger cargoes

In 2015, 36 million tonnes were handled at Teesport

3,000,000 sq ft of portcentric warehousing is now in operation at Teesport.

Estate covers some 779 acres

2nd largest container port PD Ports owns and operates Teesport, which is the 2nd largest container port in the North of the UK

14.5M L.A.T

Teesport has one of the deepest general cargo berths on the East Coast of the UK

Ports form powerhouse partnership The North of England’s four main ports have agreed a new partnership to create jobs, boost exports and prosperity across the whole of the North of England.

A new Northern Ports Association will unite northern ports and aims to make importing and exporting much easier. For instance, at present, 60% of freight destined for the North is delivered to southern ports - leading to unnecessary motorway traffic, delays, pollution and inefficiency.

Bringing the four ports - Liverpool (run by Peel Ports), Hull (ABP), Teesport (PD Ports) and Tyne (Port of Tyne) - together will mean the North can act as a genuine gateway to the world, connecting Atlantic shipping in Liverpool in the west to the east’s links with the continent.

Geoff Lippitt, PD Ports’ business development director, said: “The launch of the Northern Ports Association is incredibly positive, it will unite us in developing a stronger, more progressive and prosperous northern economy linked to international trade.

“The commitment of the major northern ports to collaborate and seek out ways to work together delivering solutions to challenges facing the industry such as trans-Pennine connectivity and the skills agenda will benefit us all.

“We are in changing and uncertain economic times therefore it’s important that the North and Northern ports are seen as a progressive body to drive through that change.”

We’ve got you covered in the north east.

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INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

to come in and out of the facility.

“Our container business has grown at 12% per annum over the past seven years coming out of a recession, so we have done really well in generating volume, activity and long-term relationships,” says Robinson. “It is a challenge to keep going at such a rate but we believe it is achievable.

“We are now looking at bringing in ships of 8-10,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) which opens up the North of England to a significant amount of new international trade, saving time and money, creating opportunities for import and export and demonstrates how this operation is so critical to the Northern Powerhouse.

“Where the steelworks were, hopefully over the next 5 to 10 years there will be the development of processing plants with the demand and need for both imports and exports.”

Robinson has joined forces with BQ to launch the PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Awards and International Trade Campaign – which he says is a perfect fit.

“International Trade is fundamental and getting companies to trade more internationally is absolutely the right thing for us to support,” he says. “We are not just sponsors in the traditional sense, we want to work with the nominees and raise the awareness of our business platform which allows them to move goods to anywhere in the world and utilise the intellect which can help them with logistics solutions to generate port activity.”

Robinson lives in Stokesley with his wife of almost 30 years Linda, son George who has just graduated and black Labradors Barney and Fred.

Having begun his career at Felixstowe, he became managing director at Teesport in 2002 then CEO 10 years ago. He understands the area, its resilience and passionately believes in the role Teesport plays.

“We are a fixed piece of infrastructure right at the heart of Teesside – we are not going anywhere. We can’t just pick the river up and take it somewhere overseas – we are going to be here forever and so it is important we have a great community, great people, great skills and great relationships – momentum in that community is really important to us as a business.

“We are looking to the long-term future, not the past. We have the momentum, we just have to keep delivering.” n

Pride in tide David Robinson is chairman and a founding member of High Tide Foundation, which connects industry and education to increase awareness of port-related industries and the available career options.

“There are many aspects to our business and High Tide aims to open young people’s minds to the industries on their doorstep and demystify what the sector is all about,” says Robinson.

“Our business has 80 plus job positions ranging from accountants, crane drivers, mechanical electricians through to marketing, commercial - a whole range of disciplines and High Tide showcases these opportunities.”

So far, more than 80 companies and 4,000 young people from 35 schools have taken part in High Tide, where pupils spend time with two different employers based in and around Teesport learning vital employability skills. One of the latest projects is an automotive cadetship, taking students through how a car is built, starting with the steel making process, visits to Stockton parts manufacturer NIFCO, AV Dawson, which handle the steel, then on to Nissan’s Washington plant and car dealers Evans Halshaw, so they get a flavour of the whole supply chain as to how a vehicle is made and its journey to the forecourt. The cadetship is also supported by the petrochemicals company SABIC. It is part of a wider Corporate Social Responsibility approach taken by Teesport. On the day of our visit some of the commercial team were doing work for Daisy Chain and there are regular charity fundraisers for the Butterwick Hospice, among others.

Robinson says: “It is not about just writing a cheque, it is about attitude, culture and involvement in the local community. I am proud to say we have around 20% of the workforce involved in projects but we can and will do more.

“Through the High Tide charity, I want to ensure even more young people are inspired into a career related to the companies around the port through unique work experience and industryled skills programmes.”

PROFILE SPURR

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The SPURR to lead your industry When a business is looking to achieve great things, it can gain tremendous commercial value from working with industry-leading experts. Unfortunately, if you are a medium-sized company looking for support with business strategy, a personal leading-edge service is hard to find – that’s the gap in the market SPURR’s strategy consulting model fills.

Founded by former BE Group executive director Jonathan Lamb, SPURR focusses on helping business people achieve great things, through expert business strategy development and execution. This means finding the right markets for their products and services, focusing on building a sustainable competitive advantage in the most effective way, considering both organic growth and acquisitions.

Having grown businesses himself, supported hundreds of others with expansion plans and worked with the whole gamut of consulting firms, what Jonathan saw was an industry that was generally

Jonathan Lamb, SPURR

“It’s a mature industry worth some £1.3bn in the UK, but too many mid-sized companies think that consulting doesn’t really understand them or their business, isn’t agile enough, doesn’t bring global leading-edge thinking and isn’t transparent” traditional in its approach to the client-consultant relationship; when it came to medium-sized businesses, he felt they were neglected.

“Many industries have transformed over the last 20 years,” Jonathan says, “both responding to technology but also adapting to new expectations about how a service should be delivered. Strategy consulting has been slow to respond. I saw that and thought the mid-market deserved something better.

“There’s a gap between start-up strategy support, which comes from a variety of providers, and support for large firms who have the capacity and capability to employ those functions internally.

Once a business gets big enough to have people running the individual functions, managing the process of growth and strategy development starts to become more than one person can handle, and whilst the MD or CEO will often oversee strategy, the risk is opportunities are missed and true capability is capped.”

After a decade of research, recurring themes which

either switched people off strategy consulting, or left clients feeling underwhelmed by the experience were evident.

“It’s a mature industry worth some £1.3bn in the UK, but too many mid-sized companies think that consulting doesn’t really understand them or their business, isn’t agile enough, doesn’t bring global leading-edge thinking and isn’t transparent,” Jonathan adds.

A former MBA student at Durham University, much of Jonathan’s insight was gained during his time on the senior team at Business Link Tees Valley and as part of the winning bid team for the regional Business Link service. Working from the Fusion Hive Innovation Centre in Tees Valley, his focus now is on working with firms across the North East and Yorkshire, with a specific focus on those who are considering export markets at a particularly complex time.

“When working with businesses whose meticulous drive and focus are recognised in their industry,

you need to have a crystal clear idea of how you add value. I have de-constructed strategy consulting and challenged traditional assumptions of what clients should expect. The result is SPURR’s innovative way of delivering strategic consultancy which achieves real, tangible results that match the client’s ambitions.”

Finally, in Jonathan’s view there is also the problem of ‘beautiful but useless strategy’. “There are some well-crafted lengthy strategic plans sitting on the shelves of businesses which look impressive, but are in essence the best kept secret in the company.

“This happens when they’re produced in isolation by ‘people in a room’, when there is little involvement from client teams and no attention to developing operational plans that turn strategy into reality.

SPURR sees its strategy service as an experience; it has to be tailored, personal and leading-edge.

“That’s the SPURR difference, and a recipe we are certain will help our clients achieve great things”.

For more information email Jonathan@spurrconsult. co.uk or call 0330 333 74 33. www.spurrconsult.co.uk

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

The break-up business She’s widely acknowledged as the best of the best, the person you want in your corner if you’re unfortunate enough to go through a divorce.

But, her expertise doesn’t come cheap. Ayesha Vardag is unashamedly there only for those with plenty of money.

Family law firm Vardags is for High Net Worth (HNW) individuals, those with assets of more than £1m or an annual income greater than £150,000. Clients have built up a fortune with their spouse during their marriage, married someone who already had substantial wealth or have a child with someone of HNW. Ayesha’s practice was put on the map after a landmark divorce case in the Supreme Court in 2010 which changed the law on prenuptial agreements. She has acted for and against heirs and heiresses, entrepreneurs, international footballers, celebrities and royalty. Her clients include the wife of a Qatari prince, the Marchioness of Northampton, for whom she won £17m, and former Miss Malaysia, Pauline Chai, who successfully fought to bring her £440m divorce case from Laura Ashley chairman Khoo Kay Peng to London. Still ongoing, it may turn out to be the biggest divorce payout of all time.

So with London regarded as the divorce capital of the world, why is Ayesha turning her attention north? After launching in Manchester, Vardags has announced a new base on Newcastle’s Grey Street.

“There are plenty of people with money to spend, both in the city and the surrounding countryside,” says Ayesha. “On a visit to the

Entrepreneur Ayesha Vardag has been dubbed the ‘diva of divorce’ after dealing with some of the most expensive, and controversial, marriage splits in the world. She tells Liz Hands about her Northumberland roots, her Brexit vote and why she has brought her firm north office, my colleague counted four cars each worth more than £100,000 on Grey Street alone.

There’s the potential for great business for our firm, bringing world-class quality to our HNW clients’ doorsteps.”

The Brexit vote also played a part in her decision.

“Newcastle and the rest of the North East has been sorely neglected in terms of inward investment and I wanted to do something about that,” she says, explaining she feels personally committed because of strong Northumberland family connections.

“I voted for Brexit not because I don’t absolutely love Europe. I want openness and free trade and I feel very European. I speak many European languages and I have a house in Italy. I support free trade and the free movement of workers.

“But I’m profoundly against the EU political project for economic and political reasons. In Brussels, I learned the nitty-gritty of what the EU does, according to its own rules, to its member countries, especially the prohibition on providing state aid to support your own industries when they are in hard times. The idea is if your steel industry goes bust because of some mediumterm difficulty, it doesn’t matter because all your

workers can get on their bikes and move to Germany.

“I was devastated when the Brexit campaign seemed to melt down upon victory, with a collapse of leadership and a descent into racism and division. It started to look like a horrible disaster and I regretted my vote. But then Theresa May took the reins and spoke up for investing in our regions, helping struggling, hardworking families in the neglected parts of our great country and I felt there was still much to fight for, in an independent Britain.”

Ayesha believes her firm, and all British companies, have a responsibility to invest in Britain. “Not just,” she says, “in places that have already arrived, but in places, like Newcastle which are bursting with talent and potential and need companies to believe in them and bring work, jobs and opportunities.” In Newcastle, Vardags will be hiring an initial team of eight to 12, to grow to 40.

It’s perhaps unsurprising Ayesha is open to northern opportunities when you consider her heritage. She describes her family as farmers, agricultural businessmen, teachers and classicists. Ayesha’s great-grandparents

“In Brussels, I learned the nitty-gritty of what the EU does, according to its own rules, to its member countries”

IMAGE: OZ KOCA

IMAGE: OZ KOCA

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

moved from Edinburgh to Alnwick, where her great-grandfather was a corn merchant. Her grandmother, a wartime nurse, stayed at home as her grandfather was at sea as part of the Royal Navy escort. Ayesha’s mother was born in Bailiffgate, Alnwick, and went to Duchess’s Girls Grammar School before the family moved to Alnmouth. Her mother worked in Newcastle for the Sun Alliance Insurance company before moving south. “She was a member of the Young Farmers’ club and would go to dances with a shovel in the boot of the car to dig herself out of snow drifts,” says Ayesha. “When she was 22, she went to Oxford after breaking off her engagement to a young farmer, and met my father, a Pashtun nobleman studying at Magdalen College, there on secondment from the Pakistan government. After a whirlwind romance, he married her and took her to Lahore.

It all fell apart within months and she returned to her family in Northumberland, to give birth to me.”

Her grandparents were living in Tynemouth as her grandfather was a naval officer at North

job as helping people to be happy and secure, even when relationships break down.

“I’ve turned away clients who wanted to use the children as a pawn in the game, to get revenge on a husband and his new girlfriend or to pressure a wife into giving up financial claims.

We have a responsibility to the families and children we assist, and a really good outcome means getting what your client wants without permanently trashing their relationship.”

Ayesha can empathise with women who fear losing what they’ve become accustomed to.

When her family moved to Oxford, they left behind a Georgian home filled with antiques and art. Her mother worked day and night as a secretary. Lodging with two elderly ladies, Ayesha shared a room with her mother who eventually got a job in one of Oxford’s colleges and saved to buy a home.

The focus of her family was education. “Half the family were teachers and my mother pushed me to read advanced books and discussed things endlessly with me. I got the highest bursary to Oxford High School and was taught there were

37

Woman of the Year in the NatWest Everywoman awards for “changing the legal landscape”.

Ayesha herself is happily remarried and divorce rates are falling, no doubt because the number of couples marrying is falling.

But is that bad news for Vardags? “Our incoming client rates have more than doubled relative to the same time last year,” says Ayesha, “so it seems not. Our turnover was over £7m last year and is projected to be over £10m this year. We’re listed on the Sunday Times/Virgin Fast Track 100 as being among the top 50 fastest growing companies in the UK. For several years, we’ve had a more than 60% compound annual growth rate, and that is accelerating.

“We’re taking a bigger share of the divorce work there is. The industry is consolidating into fewer, higher quality firms and lots of the dross will fall away. That’s good for consumers as well as for the legal industry as a whole.”

Ayesha says current law is not fit for purpose. “In order to get a divorce without a painful two-year wait, you have to find fault with your partner.

You have to sling mud at them in a catalogue of

“A really good outcome means getting what your client wants without permanently trashing their relationship” Shields harbour. Ayesha was born in North Shields at Preston Hospital. Her mother and her grandmother left her grandfather and moved to Oxford when she was ten months old, packing Ayesha, their dog and what they could fit into their Ford. They only started to return when he died. Ayesha has vivid memories of family holidays in Northumberland. At school in Oxford, she wrote essays about Dunstanburgh Castle and the Rumbling Churn at Howick, which her mother called ‘Gloopy’ because of the sound of swelling water.

“My tiny family in Oxford were very much northerners in the south. My grandmother was constantly lamenting the lack of friendliness, of humour, of fun and warmth. Bringing me up on mince and tatties, haggis, skirlie and clapshot, it was as if they’d never made the journey south.”

Being an only child from an unconventional family gave Ayesha an endless fascination with families and how they work. While divorce lawyers come under fire from those who believe they are profiting from misery, Ayesha sees her

no limits to what I could achieve. Conversations ranged from becoming a paediatrician to being Secretary General of the United Nations.”

Ayesha went to Cambridge University, where she says the world opened up. Initially reading English Literature, she changed to law, completing a Masters in European Law in Brussels, taught and examined entirely in French.

She did a project on nuclear energy law at the International Courts of Justice in the Hague, then worked at the International Atomic Energy Agency before qualifying at global financial law firm Linklaters.

She left under management rules when her then husband became a partner there, and re-qualified as a barrister. With two toddler boys, her marriage broke down and she hired a leading Mayfair divorce lawyer. After the divorce was over, he hired her. In 2005, with a new baby daughter, she set up Vardags in her spare room.

Now Vardags has a 7,000sq ft office overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, a team of 70 and offices across the country. Last year, Ayesha was voted

blame. It’s pointless, old-fashioned and barbaric.

No political party has the guts to reform it because the opposition calls them the party that’s making divorce easy, so families suffer with rules from another age.

“A perfectly amicable split can turn very sour after one party is forced to list a bunch of unpleasantness about the other. Divorce should be based on one ground that one or both parties believe the marriage has irretrievably broken down. There should be no need to give details and no right to resist. When someone wants out, it’s going to happen and the only people that benefit from making it a difficult, painful and costly process are the lawyers.”

It isn’t only divorce law which Ayesha has her sights on. Her ambitions for Vardags are lofty: “To become indisputably the premier law firm for HNW individuals and their companies, for all our clients’ needs, not just family law, with our new departments in corporate, civil litigation, media law and crime. We’re going to dominate the entire HNW legal sector.” n

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INTERVIEW

e g a c i m o t a An n o i t u l o v re

bqlive.co.uk

ing and g n a h c s i Banking banks are driving er challeng t change. Peter tha one much of ks to Craig Iley, tal om Bank t Jackson A f o s r unde of the fo

INTERVIEW bqlive.co.uk

Banks have not enjoyed a good press in recent years, having been condemned as either villains or scapegoats. RBS still seems a long way from repaying the taxpayer and, at the time of writing, Germany’s troubled Deutsche Bank has seen its shares plunge to its lowest ever level.

So, you might think it would call for a high degree of courage - or foolhardiness - to found a new bank in this environment, but there are plenty of shrewd operators who see opportunity amidst the challenges and have set up so-called challenger banks. We even have one in the North East, in Durham, a city famous for its university and its miners’ gala, but not for financial services.

And Atom Bank, based in Aykley Heads, in the city’s leafy outskirts, is way beyond the stage of being a twinkle in the eye. The bank was formally established in April 2014, swiftly raised £135m of capital, gained its banking licence and put in place its key technological infrastructure. Having been set up with just six people, it now has about 250 full time staff operating from two sites in Durham and a small London office.

It is now in business and is developing a full retail and commercial banking service and will shortly be announcing a new mortgage product.

The citizens of Durham, however, could be forgiven if they remain unaware of this new financial institution. When I pull up in the carpark at around 8.30am I could have arrived at one of the university’s newer colleges. The Atom staff turning up for work look more like students than bankers – young, casually dressed, often riding bikes and sporting a high concentration of hipster facial hair.

It’s banking, but not as we know it.

I met Craig Iley, Atom’s managing director of

business banking and one of its founders.

Iley, 52, has a background in traditional banking, having started at TSB in 1983 and reaching the position of regional director for Santander. Like most of the bank’s employees, he wears a sweatshirt and casual trousers – it’s all much more Silicon Valley than Threadneedle Street.

He is fully conscious of being part of a Brave New World and it’s something he has clearly thought long and hard about. He explains in a measured, almost academic way, the nature of the changes we are all seeing.

“The world is in the middle of its third revolution and that revolution is a Digital Revolution. Unlike the Agricultural Revolution or the Industrial Revolution, the pace of change is significantly faster and as a population we will probably only get something like 20 years to adjust. This Digital Revolution will affect every aspect of life and it doesn’t really matter where you work, whether it’s in health, education, manufacturing or in banking. For banks in particular, this is going to mean a very painful adjustment.’’

He argues that banks are based on a 17th century model, designed to physically move paper around a local physical environment whereas banking in the 21st century will be a matter of moving data digitally and internationally. He cites a report by management consultancy McKinsey in February which highlighted that the worldwide trade in data is now estimated to be worth more than the economic value of all manufactured goods and associated trade.

It has been against this backdrop that Iley and his fellow founders analysed trends in financial behaviour, technological developments, the convergence of technological devices and the

h ting a hig r o p s d n e bikes a t not as w n riding u e b t f , o g , in d k e ban dress l hair. It’s casually ia c a f r e t “Young, hips ation of concentr know it”

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blurring of the distinction between work and home life.

“We believe that people are more and more seeking to have a relationship with their money rather than a relationship with their bank,’’ he says.

To satisfy that need, they set about creating a new type of bank and for this new model they identified three key elements: low cost; transparency; and innovation.

Iley argues that the cost base of traditional banks is too high, leading to the development of complex and expensive products which are often unsuited to their customers’ needs.

“Transparency, I believe is the battleground for the future of banking over the next five to ten years,’’ he says, adding that banks have been allowed to develop “very opaque’’ business models making it impossible for customers to

understand exactly what they are paying for and whether it represents good value. Innovation is crucial in giving consumers greater power.

“This is very much a journey and we have made significant strides in introducing things such as biometric security and access and a very interactive app which is based on gaming technology rather than simply transferring a website to a mobile platform,’’ he says. “We’re developing our systems to be more interactive and able to link with other interfaces and we’ve developed a very slick process to allow us to lend money to SMEs. There remains much to do but we’re excited by the possibilities.’’

The app has been developed for Apple and Android devices and Atom has built a deposit product to provide the business’s liquidity and

a g to have in k e e s e mor with more and n a relationship e r a le p o e er tha ve that p oney rath m ir “We belie e h t hip with relations k” their ban

fund its business lending product and it will soon unveil its new mortgage product. It is also working on personal and business current accounts and debit and credit cards.

“While these products will be recognisable as traditional banking products, we have some surprises that we believe will delight the market,’’ says Iley.

For liquidity Atom Bank will rely on depositors and not the interbank market.

“If you look back to the financial crash of 2008/2009, some of the businesses that got caught up in that were actually solvent but because liquidity markets froze around the world they were unable to fund their ongoing business models,’’ he says.

This will particularly strike a chord in the North East, as Newcastle-based Northern Rock was just such a business.

Atom’s deposit product has allowed it to reach the stage where it is now lending to support business growth.

“At the moment we are lending to SMEs which have a requirement to borrow and we are looking to balance that with a sensible credit appetite and sensible security requirements,’’ he says.

Atom will be willing to secure loans against assets other than bricks and mortar, such as an occupational lease or a debtor book.

While the bank will be highly automated and technology driven, it will still place great importance on manual underwriting.

“That is really important. Because of the variation we get in SMEs across the UK no bank has managed to successfully automate the lending process in the sense of the decision making,’’ says Iley.

“But what you can do,’’ he adds, “is improve the process.’’

Traditionally that process would involve visits to the bank, supplying financial records, the relationship manager forwarding an application to Credit who would analyse it and ask their own questions – a process which could take six weeks. Iley says Atom Bank can complete the process in 72 hours. How? Iley explains that Atom uses its UK-wide network of intermediaries, made up of SMEs’ trusted advisors such as financial advisors and brokers and accountants.

“We work with a small group because we

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al ve region strong a h o t t n a “If you w ou have to have a y, y have to autonom e otherwise you he bas n where t o d financial n o L o ually t d” go contin controlle e r a s g in purse str

have to have confidence in the quality of the information that comes to us and we do extensive due diligence on these partners,’’ he says. Technology then comes into play with Atom’s Digital Bridge which links to the borrower’s accounting package allowing it to submit information electronically.

“By giving them the opportunity to do it digitally, it takes away a lot of the hassle factor for them,’’ he says. “But it does much more than that behind the scenes, it also helps us understand how the accounts have been compiled and it means we don’t have to keep going back asking for information because the information they submit tends to be more complete.’’

The information can be fed directly into the underwriter’s analysis tools giving them more information in a more streamlined way.

Iley adds: “What it also allows us to do is to share information back with the client and their advisor who can use this information to help them improve the operation of their business.

“We are saying that as part of your banking you can have all this information back for free. In the past banks have taken information from SMEs and have used that to make sure the balance of power in that relationship sat with the bank.’’

He believes this anticipates far-reaching changes which are coming to business, with it becoming increasingly necessary for firms to digitise their accounting, as HMRC, for example, moves increasingly to online and digital processing.

Atom’s ambition is to act as a thought leader and work with businesses in adapting to, and adopting, the new technology.

If Atom’s vision is realised then Durham could

be the place from which a banking revolution is launched and the bank will be happy to put the city and region on the map. Iley says: “The vast majority of our original investors were from the North East. We’ve had a huge amount of support because we are creating something different and bringing high quality jobs to the North.

“If you want to have regional autonomy, you have to have a strong financial base otherwise you have to go continually to London where the purse strings are controlled. The idea of having a financial centre isn’t just unique to the North East, it has planted a seed for other areas but the fact that the idea has come out of the North East is great. The fact that we can do it in little old Durham I hope will give confidence to businesses everywhere that in the digital world it’s possible to do things wherever you are.’’ n

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If you have never stopped off at Tebay Services on a trip to or from the North East, or anywhere else for that matter, then you don’t know what you’re missing. It is more – much more – than you would get at a normal motorway services, devoid of fast food outlets but bustling with artisan producers. Open 24 hours a day near junction 38, it is in itself a destination, with sweeping views over the Cumbrian fells.

Unlike service stations operated by chains, Tebay’s operating company the Westmorland Family has no franchised concessions - all its restaurants and farm shops champion local produce. Its success lies in the fact the business is family-run with a passion and pride in the landscape, environment and community.

Entrepreneurial chief executive Sarah Dunning took over the reins in 2005 when her parents

At your service A family-owned business on the M6 in Cumbria is the jewel in the UK’s network of motorway services. Paul Robertson talks to entrepreneur Sarah Dunning about its success and how it is being transported to other parts of the country

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retired, returning to her Cumbrian roots after a successful career in the City. With the support of managing director Laurence King and the team, she has led the business into new areas.

“After university I started work at NM Rothschild on their graduate programme,” she said. “I had no intention of coming back to Cumbria at the time, but some years later, the business was expanding and it felt like a good opportunity to get involved.”

It was in 1972 that her parents, local farmers John and Barbara Dunning, turned their plans to diversify into reality, setting up Tebay Services in partnership with local bakers Birketts of Penrith, as the M6 was extended through their land - becoming the first and only family-run motorway service station in the UK. The transformation over the last 40 years has

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been remarkable. Where there was once a 30seat café serving home cooked, locally sourced food, the much-expanded eaterie has been joined by Tebay’s Westmorland Hotel, a caravan park and truckstop, then in 2000 by the most innovative development of them all.

Hidden under a grass roof on the edge of the Lake District, a 90,000 sq ft visitor attraction was born. Today, the Rheged Centre is home to a gallery, café, shops and an IMAX-style cinema screen, which regularly showcases world-class events from around the globe such as opera, ballet, theatre and music.

The Westmorland Hotel is now a popular destination for conferences while its restaurant is enjoyed by visitors from near and far, with the same values as the services.

There are farm shops on both sides of the

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ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

carriageway, award-winning with its own butchers selling meat raised on the family farm, alongside local cheeses, baked products and fresh produce – most sourced locally.

Rheged is home to 10 individual shops, three cafes, indoor soft play and an outdoor play area, alongside a creative pottery workshop and an upstairs gallery which has a changing programme of art, photographic and craft exhibitions and is home to a wide range of children’s creative events during the school holidays.“It can be challenging taking a business from a first generation to a second generation [dad John is still on the board], but I think with the help of an independent Chairman [Bryan Gray] and an unrushed transition, we managed it relatively smoothly,” says Sarah.

“The business was well established and based on strong values which made it unique in its market. So as a team we tried to take these strengths and build on them, focusing in particular on developing the uniqueness of what we sell and the environment in which it was sold. There were new opportunities as well which our customers welcomed such as starting a new butchery and developing outside eating facilities in our motorway service areas, as well as the need to upgrade our facilities, which enabled us to make some exciting step changes.”

“Everything we do is based on a sense of provenance, craftsmanship and good design and we hope that this comes through”

It is all a far cry from the family farm where she spent a happy childhood before heading to Manchester University to read modern languages then a career in the City of London.

Married to surgeon Joel with two children aged 11 and 13, she has settled very much back into life in Cumbria, though expansion to a purpose built site on the M5 at Gloucester and the acquisition of Cairn Lodge on the M74 has added plenty of miles on the clock.

“We are a roadside services business and have found our own place in that industry and so it was logical that if we were to expand, it should be in this area,” said Sarah. “Opportunities are not easy to come by, so you have to seize the ones you find. Gloucester and Cairn Lodge both work well for us – they are rural, have good producers nearby, are on busy motorways and have a travelling public who understand and appreciate what we do.

“Our businesses all seek to be ‘of their place’ - which means that they reflect the place they

are in, from the architecture and design of the buildings to the products they sell, and in so doing they are rooted in their communities and contribute to them. Everything we do is based on a sense of provenance, craftsmanship and good design and we hope that this comes through. None of this can be achieved without a great team of people, so they are central to everything we do.”

Westmorland employs 1,000 staff and works with many local producers within 30 miles of the site – over 150 in Gloucestershire and more than 70 in Cumbria. Among them is, of course, the family farm. She works closely with sister Jane, who looks after the family farm’s interests, to ensure the connection remains strong.

Sustainability is at the heart of the operation – water is sourced from two boreholes drilled on the land, timers have been fitted in the main kitchens at Rheged to limit the use of electricity to working hours and by switching to LED lights in areas of the service station, electrical

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consumption will be halved.

It doesn’t stop there – cooking oils from the kitchens is turned into biodiesel while food waste is turned into power, all cardboard is recycled and Westmorland’s waste management partner FCC Environmental operate a closed loop recycling system for plastics which means almost no waste from the site ends up in landfill.

“Where it works, it is perhaps because our whole approach is based on a single philosophy and that as a result of this, it is felt by our customers,” says Sarah. “We have a lot of very loyal customers who support our particular approach to food and to business which in turn means the local economies where we operate benefit far more as a result.”

More than 10 million customers a year are coming through the doors of Westmorland’s businesses – knowing them and the localities where they operate is the cornerstone of its success. For example, while not directly affected by the horrendous floods to hit Cumbria last year, Sarah was acutely aware of the impact the devastating rainfall had on the area.

“We were very fortunate in that the business itself wasn’t badly affected,” she says. “We were able though, through the business and support of our customers, to raise over £35,000 for the Cumbria Community Foundation Flood Fund. “We tend not to think of our

commitment in terms of corporate social responsibility, because our whole business is based on a model which brings benefit to its locality but always seeks to be best for business and best for community, so one can feed the other. We hope that the relationships we have with our local farmers, producers and our own teams, all help us build a good connection with our communities and we work continuously to try and support them financially and in other ways too. “In Gloucestershire, 2% of our non-fuel turnover goes directly back into our local communities and in Cumbria we have many long-standing relationships with our communities which enable us to support a number of community needs.”

Away from the business, “family and food” come top of her list and when asked what advice she could give to other entrepreneurs, Sarah replies modestly: “I’m not sure I’m in a position to advise anyone (not even my children!). Doing what you love is a good start!

“As a business, we know that if we stand still we will start to move backwards. While we celebrate and are inspired by our roots, like generations of hill farmers before us, we understand that to survive and ultimately to thrive, we must continue to innovate, keep our family and community close and always believe in what we do.” n

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Expansion fuels growth Strong underlying trading in Cumbria coupled with the first full year trading at Gloucester services on the M5 and the acquisition of Cairn Lodge Services on the M74 helped Tebay’s parent company Westmorland deliver a fourfold increase in profits. Pre-tax profits for the year to 8 June soared from £833,000 to £3.6m while turnover rose by 38% to £71.8m.

Gloucester northbound services opened in May 2014 followed a year later by the southbound facility, while Cairn Lodge in Lanarkshire was acquired in November 2014. The expansion saw Westmorland’s workforce rise to 1,000, with approximately 500 based in Cumbria.

Net debt at the year end was £38.1m as the company increased borrowings to complete the £45m investment in Gloucester Services and fixed assets at £64.7m, with a focus this financial year on further investment in Cairn Lodge.

Gloucester services aims to replicate Tebay’s success in the North by working with over 150 local producers within 30 miles of the facilities. It will champion its locality through homemade food served in its café.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Wynyard secures deal Wynyard Business Park, near Billingham in the Tees Valley, has secured a major new letting of more than 15,000 sq ft of high specification office space. Acting on behalf of Northumberland Estates, joint agents Dodds Brown and Knight Frank have let 15,263 sq ft of Grade A office space on a new 10 year lease to an un-named tenant, at the business park which is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious office developments in the Tees Valley. The new office lease comes hard on the heels of office lettings at Wynyard Business Park to Razorblue Group, Macleods Pharma UK Limited, Paul Card Recruitment, F W Capital Limited and Armstrong Consultancy Services. Meanwhile one of the North East’s largest independently owned dental groups has also chosen Wynyard Business Park to open its first private practice, which it expects to become a world class referral dental clinic. Burgess & Hyder Dental Group picked the business park, as the site for its 13th dental practice, known as Wynyard Dentistry.

Last orders Knight Frank’s residential agency team has sold the freehold of the former Three Tuns Hotel,

New Elvet on behalf of Durham University to local property developers Simon Williams and Andrew Ward. The former hotel is a Grade II listed building amounting to over 3,000 sqm and comprising ground floor retail with existing student bedrooms to the upper floors. The substantial site provides the opportunity for future development for further ground floor retail/A3 and additional bedrooms.

Gate opens for new tenants A Gateshead firm providing managed and serviced accommodation for start-ups and small businesses is eyeing further sector growth after securing several new tenants. The Office Co., which is marking a decade in business this year, has let more than 2,300 sq ft of commercial office space at its Metropolitan House site in Longrigg Road. Undisclosed new deals have been secured with UK property specialists Homes or Houses, IT network firm SL Data, shipping company Schulte & Bruns UK Ltd, and commercial property cleaners, Let’s Clean North East Ltd. They are relocating to Metropolitan House to take advantage of allinclusive rental packages designed for businesses looking for short-term or highly flexible office space to accommodate expansion.

This is the latest success for The Office Co., which continues to achieve occupancy levels that are among the highest in the North East

Burgess & Hyder has taken a further 1,000 sq ft of space on a five year lease

(85% – 90%) in the face of post-Brexit business uncertainty. With current sales in excess of £300,000, the firm is supporting growth with investment in infrastructure services that include the latest superfast broadband services to deliver high-speed wireless connectivity for upwards of 50 tenants. The plans are part of an ambitious strategy by owner Lynn Gates to double the size of the business in the next three years to meet the needs of start-ups.

Salvus sold Naylors have successfully completed the sale of Salvus House, the award winning office headquarters in Durham. The 32,561 sq ft office located on a 1.9 acre site at Aykley Heads Business Park has been purchased by Durham County Council for £3m. Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, which is funded by the county council, is now remodelling the building as the Durham City Incubator to accommodate growing businesses. Salvus House was constructed in 2005 for Sunderland Marine Insurance and has won multiple awards including the RICS Renaissance Award, The Journal Landmark Award and a Construction Excellence Award.

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ONE winner Occupancy levels at one of Newcastle’s latest mixed use developments have hit 50% in the same week as winning a major industry award.

ONE Jesmond Three Sixty, which completed earlier this year, comprises 80 luxury apartments and 10,000 sq ft of leisure and retail space at the site formerly known as Eaga House. The development represents phase one of Jesmond Three Sixty, which occupies a 3.5 acre site located to the north of Jesmond Road and the south of Sandyford Road, and is already home to successful occupiers such as bar and restaurant, As You Like It. Developer, Jomast, has now announced that 50% of the accommodation has been successfully let and is reporting a high level of interest in the remaining apartments.

The news coincides with the scheme winning an LABC (Local Authority Building Control) Building Excellence Award for the ‘Delivery of Outstanding Construction and Workmanship’.

Dip in interest Industrial enquiry levels have dropped

significantly in the second quarter of this year, attributed in part to the uncertainty pre and post Brexit said Simon Haggie, partner, industrial agency, Knight Frank in its latest market report. Take-up of units over 50,000 sq ft across the region totalled 324,000 sq ft in H1 2016, compared with 1.08m sq ft in H2 2015, although that figure was boosted by Vantec’s new 440,000 sq ft warehouse. The region has been adversely affected by the severe drop in oil prices and the consequent downturn in the North Sea oil industry. The OGN Group recently closed its main facility in Wallsend which extends in total to 461,000 sq ft of buildings on a site of 75 acres. Demand for modern units, which are now available in limited numbers, from other areas of manufacturing and warehousing has remained fairly stable.

One stop shop Travis Perkins is bringing two units to the market at its Group Trade Park currently under construction at Western Approach, South Shields. Mark Proudlock, partner, industrial

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agency, Knight Frank, says the concept of bringing all Travis Perkins brands under one roof to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for builders and tradesmen is new to the North East. “Travis Perkins has seen the opportunity to create a multi-brand hub with Travis Perkins, Benchmark Kitchens & Joinery, City Plumbing Supplies, Tile Giant and Toolstation taking space. The creation of the Western Approach Trade Park was facilitated by the purchase of the former Be Modern premises last year,” says Proudlock.

The acquisition gave Travis Perkins the site size required to bring its leading brands onto one site. The combination of prominence to Western Approach, one of the main arterial routes leading to South Shields town centre, and its trading history with nearby occupiers including Wickes, ASDA, Pets at Home, Screwfix and Plumb Center, were key drivers to their choice of location. “The available units range in size from 3,842 to 4,951 sq ft and can be combined to deliver 8,793 sq ft. The Western Approach Trade Park will open its doors in February next year and given its outstanding location demand for the available units is expected to be very strong,” adds Proudlock.

Fit for business

Sale secured Naylors’ investment agency team has secured the acquisition of a Travelodge Hotel adjacent to the Metro Centre in Gateshead on behalf of locally-based, retained clients, Leven Estates Ltd. The Newcastle-based firm of commercial property consultants, which has worked with Leven Estates on multiple transactions in recent years, will also be retained to manage the property.

Fergus Laird, head of investment at Naylors said: “Our client had a specific requirement for a long-term budget hotel investment. After making the market aware of this requirement, fellow Newcastle agents MHPI identified an opportunity to purchase the Travelodge at the Metrocentre, Gateshead, which was in the ownership of their client, an investor based in the North West. Our client was particularly attracted to the location due to the quality of its address being within close proximity to the Metro Centre, Newcastle City Centre and the A1 Western Bypass, as well as providing long-term secure income.” Naylors negotiated a purchase price of £3.7m with investment agents MHPI who acted on behalf of the vendor.

Two new tenants have arrived on the former Torrington site on Darlington’s Yarm Road, ten years after it was first acquired for development. Snap Fitness has opened its first North East gym in the 4,360 sq ft unit beneath the new Travelodge, while Howden’s Joinery has opened a 7,000 sq ft trade counter on the trade park, joining tenants on the site that include the Toby Carvery, Screwfix, Magnet, Yesss and FPE Seals. The created investments including The Travelodge and The Toby Inn and The Yarm Road Interchange Trade Park have been sold in a collection of deals worth about £8.5m.

It is hoped that a further £5m will be invested in the site, subject to planning.

The 25-acre site, which has been developed by Commercial Development Projects (CDP) of Elland, also includes a 4-acre plot, which is under offer to a car showroom operator. When finalised, this will leave 6.5 acres remaining for development.

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Zerolight takes Live Works Knight Frank, acting for Live Theatre, has let the four storey, 15,000 sq ft, Live Works office building, Quayside, Newcastle in its entirety to ZeroLight, a pioneering visualisation company.

ZeroLight delivers in-store and online visualisation solutions for automotive brands including Audi AG and Pagani Automobili.

Located at 55-57 Quayside, Live Works has been developed by Live Theatre and designed by architects Flanagan Lawrence, and has finally completed the ‘missing gap’ in the façade of Newcastle’s Quayside. Live Works is a finalist in the New and Old category of the World Architecture Festival 2016 of which the winners will be announced in November.

Patrick Matheson, partner, office agency, Knight Frank says it is an exciting letting bringing such a dynamic and creative business to Quayside.

The £10.5m entire project cost is supported by a £2.1m grant from the North East European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Programme 2007 to 2013, a loan from Newcastle City Council and grants from Arts Council England and other charitable trusts.

Helping hand A North East town centre indoor market has launched a new initiative to help entrepreneurs test out their retail business ideas by minimising costs and risks. Middlesbrough’s Dundas Indoor Market, part of the town’s Dundas Shopping Centre, is offering a limited number of units on flexible terms for £60 per week all in, to start-up businesses and independent traders from across the region. Businesses in the indoor market will also benefit from the shopping centre’s weekly footfall of more than 60,000 and the support of more than 20 fellow market traders.

The market’s new enterprise initiative is the brainchild of Dundas Indoor Market manager David Harris. He said: “We appreciate how costly and difficult it can be for businesses to get off the ground, so we are providing an opportunity to trade in an established market setting in Middlesbrough town centre at a hugely reduced cost and on flexible terms. It’s a great way to try out a business idea in a secure, managed setting, especially in the run up to Christmas.” Units are available from £60 per week, fully inclusive of utilities and rates, on flexible terms.

Covergys expand Convergys, a global leader in customer management services, has taken The Rocket, a 35,000 sq ft grade A office building in Newcastle’s Stephenson Quarter. The Rocket will be home to Convergys’ new state-of-the-art contact centre, which is set to create 600 new jobs within this prime city centre location. Newcastle City Council and developer the Clouston Group formed a public/private partnership to deliver ambitious plans for the £200m development, with Phase 1 including the Crowne Plaza Hotel which opened last summer, the Stephenson Quarter Car Park and 35,000 sq ft of Grade A office space at The Rocket. Expansion plans announced by Convergys reaffirm the company’s commitment to the North East, with a significant footprint already on Tyneside employing 700 people at their Quorum Business Park base in Longbenton.

On the market Bilfinger GVA, Newcastle and JLL, Leeds have been appointed as joint letting agents to market Weymouth House on Newcastle Business Park. Weymouth House, situated within Hampshire Court has been extensively refurbished by Caudwell Properties to provide 30,493 sq ft (2,828 sqm) of Grade A. office accommodation on the highly acclaimed Newcastle Business Park, within easy reach of Newcastle city centre and the A1 Western bypass. The purpose built office building has been refurbished to a high standard now incorporating full air conditioning and LED light fittings amongst a host of other improvements and offers modern flexible open plan accommodation. The building is capable of being let on a floor by floor or individual wing basis with units available from 6,867 sq ft to 30,493 sq ft.

Toasting pub sale Kier Property, the development arm of the Kier Group, has purchased Percy House on Percy Street, together with The Strawberry pub and adjacent car parks in central Newcastle, from commercial property company Hanro.

Located in the commercial core of Newcastle’s city centre, Percy House extends to 26,000 sq ft over nine floors, and existing tenants include True Solicitors and NORR. Kier Property is initially looking to let the sixth floor of Percy House, which offers 3,422 sq ft (318 sq m) of office space and basement car parking as part of the 40 space provision.

The company is also focusing on redevelopment opportunities in the area. The former Barclays Bank premises at the corner of Percy Street and Gallowgate is to be transformed into a mixed use development of around 20,000 sq ft, while on Strawberry Place, planning consent is in place for a hotel and an office, both of which are to be brought forward. In total, the portfolio is set to be transformed into a £33m mixed use scheme.

PROFILE Sunderland College

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Investing in the Next Generation Sunderland College students are to experience life on Mars, walking through jungles bursting with talking animals and spending time in alien worlds This unique preparation for working life is being provided by the College’s Next Gen qualification, which sees young people working shoulder to shoulder with Oscar-winning visionaries.

Students on the course not only gain insight from some of the brightest minds in the global creative community, they also receive unique access to the digital sector workplace via some of the most respected businesses in the industry.

Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft Studios, Ubisoft Reflections, MPC, Double Negative Visual Effects and Framestone – the latter two having recently scooped Academy Awards for their digital effects work on Ex Machina and Interstella and Gravity respectively – designed the course to inspire, train and ultimately produce the future creative masters of the digital sector.

Sunderland is one of only six colleges in the country to deliver this industry-leading course, which has proved a real draw for students.

“Next Gen is far from a hard sell,” said Mike Jaques, Sunderland College Curriculum Leader for Digital.

“But we tell all of the students that they are enrolling on the hardest course at the College and this isn’t somewhere they get to play games – they don’t play anything unless they’ve made it!

“However, what they do get is access to an amazing resource, such as current industry standard equipment and systems, guest lectures from the people driving forward some of the most visionary studios in the world and a first-class introduction into the digital sector and the many potential careers it offers.”

Mike is hooked into the North East’s enviable digital sector. Newcastle-based Ubisoft Reflections is one of the founders of the course, and both students and

“But we tell all of the students that they are enrolling on the hardest course at the College and this isn’t somewhere they get to play games – they don’t play anything unless they’ve made it!”

lecturers enjoy excellent relationships with Wearside games developers Coatsink and Epic.

“There was a time when the UK led the world for creative industries, and then we didn’t,” added Mike. “However, what this course represents, as well as an excellent education for future developers, is an attempt by both the industry and the world of education to address that.

“Think of the digital sector and most people will assume firms are based in Manchester or London, but we have the developers who produced landmark games like Gears of War, Batman and Little Big Planet for various popular gaming platforms right here in our region and it’s amazing that we have access into this world via these companies.”

Next Gen was introduced in 2015 with an intake of 50 students, but this year welcomed 116 onto the course. Sunderland College offers around 20 other digital courses, mainly at its Bede Campus.

Principal and Chief Executive, Ellen Thinnesen, said: “Next Gen is a prime example of how Sunderland College is working closely with cutting-edge businesses to ensure that we are delivering highlyskilled, fully-qualified, work ready people.

“Our suite of digital courses is way ahead of the game. We are working on the same platforms they

are using in industry, such as Unity 3D, the game engine that produced the world’s most popular game, Pokémon Go and the Unreal Engine, made locally by Epic Games.

“Games design, animation and VFX industries are worth £6bn to the UK economy, yet there is a recognised skills shortage in this sector within the UK. The need to drive forward the skills and experience of young people in these creative industries is high on the government’s agenda, and we are very proud to be playing our part in developing the next generation of talent.”

In addition to working with leading industry experts through the Next Gen Academy, Sunderland College also work with a number of other organisations in the Digital, IT and Software sector including The Leighton Group, Sunderland Software City and Geek Talent.

For more information about Sunderland College visit www.sunderlandcollege.ac.uk.

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As part of BQ’s Northern Creative and Digital talent campaign we are launching a series of live debates to inform, engage and make the most of the skills and talents across the North of England.

One of the major issues is how few women there are in the sector so we brought together experts in the field to ask what they thought the issues were and what could be done to address them.

Key themes to emerge included the need to better connect industry to education to understand the opportunities within the sector; to educate the educators so they can give much better careers advice; engage young people and their influencers, most notably parents, to showcase what well-paid, varied roles are available in the sector; increase awareness, share best practice and above all, make it fun.

In the chair, Caroline Theobald set the scene saying the digital and creative sector was worth £84.5bn to the UK in 2014 which is 5.2% of the economy yet 72% of large companies and 49% of SMEs are struggling to fill their roles.

LIVE DEBATE

The issue: “How can we encourage more women to work in the North’s Digital Sector and what do we need to do to achieve this?”

Rob Earnshaw, director, Digital City opened the debate: “What I have found from each region is that there are unbelievable pockets of energy and different programmes and events, trying to promote the same thing – retaining quality talent. I thought, why are we not speaking and aligning our thinking? Hence the campaign. The fact that Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Tech North and BQ are driving this campaign forward is incredibly important and it will be a success.

“Five years ago 17% of the tech sector were female and that’s now gone down to 10% so why is that? It is a big debate going on across the country so I want to see how we can improve the situation in the North of England.”

First to introduce themselves and respond was Kate Baucherel, owner, Galia Digital, based in Newcastle. “After I graduated I was lucky enough to spend the year working in the US for an IBM business partner which was an extraordinary experience and inspired my love of tech. In 2010 I formed my own digital start up, I have had three

In association with

businesses, one running, one has been sold.

I have spent the last couple of years going to Austin and there are a few things I have observed to put into place. There is a strong digital creative culture and people are willing to take risks. There is also a noticeable effort by people to bring women forward to battle the lack of confidence and among minorities there is a movement to use digital skills as a way to bringing forward aspiration.”

Paul Lancaster, Plan Digital UK, started his own business five months ago after 10 years of helping others set up. He said in the next few years the word tech will be redundant because everything will be digital.

Cotilda Makhumula, fashion designer, owner of Cotilda.com was encouraged to start her own business through mentoring and she said this was important for her as while she was creative she had no experience of business.

Jason Leggett, project director, Creative Fuse North East is working with all five universities and supporting the new University Technical College

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“Innovation isn’t easy, you’re creating something that the market hasn’t got and you spend a lot of time creating it before being paid” (UTC) in Newcastle. He said a key point is to challenge some of the statistics. What is behind them? Have they captured the nuances of the region?”

Charlotte Thornton, marketing manager, Orange Bus, Newcastle said: “I didn’t know much about digital at 18 and I graduated in History of Art. Digital is so inclusive – you can be anyone with any kind of skillset and find a job in digital – fashion tech, health tech etc.”

Joanne Wake, managing director RAW Digital Training in Stockton was highly commended in the Women in IT awards for businesswoman of the year and one of only three businesses in the North East in the digital leaders 100 companies.

She has also been shortlisted for innovator of the year for the Women in IT awards 2017 and use of special innovation at the North East business awards. “Innovation isn’t easy, you’re creating something that the market hasn’t got and you spend a lot of time creating it before being paid, “I am a 32-year-old mother of an 8-year-old and think there is a lot of emphasis on education up to 21 but there is a massive gap for the 16-29 year olds.”

Kirsty Styles, newly appointed head of talent & skills, Tech North, trained as a journalist, struggled to get a job so went to an app development company, spent five years looking at tech industry in London and Tech City and what it did well and didn’t do well. “There was an issue of not being able to skill up local people and I am really interested in why we can’t. Huge companies are struggling with gender diversity and we need to look at how we can tackle that.”

Dominic Coleman, policy advisor, Digital Skills, DCMS said less than 20% of women are in senior IT roles and even less in senior exec roles. “We held a round table event in March on International Women’s Day and we have the attention of the ministers – it is high on their agenda. We want to strengthen digital talent up North – this event tries to marry these together.

Maybe we have been guilty of looking at the two issues in isolation.”

Rosie Brent, owner, Rosie Brent, Newcastle has a background in manufacturing and IT. “We talk about the digital sector and no-one really knows what it is,” she said. “I have no clue how to improve something I cannot define. It is a

very broad topic - the bit I like is engineering, manufacturing and science. I want women to learn how to program robots. On production lines I spoke to young feminists who would like to do that – they do not see the barriers and it is very odd speaking to 17 year olds who don’t see there is a problem. That tells me there is an educational issue.”

Sara Calgie, founder of The Crafty Fox in Tees Valley goes into schools, pre-schools, private events and teaches art and craft skills, but feels it should be recognised with certificates. “The problem is there isn’t any accreditation for the children before they get to five years old so if they don’t get arty and don’t get ‘clarty’ early they don’t want to know when they get to five. It leads to creativity as they get older for everything.

As Einstein said: ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun’.”

Katherine Pearson, managing director, Flo Culture in Newcastle, said: “The first thing I do is appoint a goodly mix of women to my boards and team – not because I have a policy tickbox but because I understand the benefits it brings.

It is an extremely male-dominated sector and to create jobs we need to ensure that the culture, belief systems and the attitude that surround the venture capital or investment system is conducive to inviting lots of different people in to employment.”

Michaela Reaney, director, Gradvert works with employers to attract young talent plus ongoing training and development, and with universities to develop their curriculum and help young people get the employability skills.

“There is a lot of emphasis around start up which is great but how do we help them survive, become sustainable and grow?” she said. “Also succession planning. It is sad to hear the number of girls going into tech is reducing and I am shocked by how few are at the top.”

Stuart Clarke, director, Media Yorkshire, co-founded the Leeds digital festival and held 56 events in 28 venues with around 6,000 attendees. Three events were specifically to encourage girls into tech, and he worked with the WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) campaign. “How do we link these disparate initiatives, do more to encourage schoolgirls, graduates and women returning from having

TAKING PART Helen Baker, senior manager, Accenture Kate Baucherel, owner, Galia Digital Rosie Brent, owner, Rosie Brent Sara Calgie, founder of The Crafty Fox Stuart Clarke, director, Media Yorkshire Dominic Coleman, policy advisor, digital skills, Department for Culture Media and Sport Rob Earnshaw, director, Digital City Paul Lancaster, Plan Digital UK Jason Leggett, project director, Creative Fuse North East Cotilda Makhumula, fashion designer, Owner Jim Mawdsley, CEO Digital Union Katherine Pearson, managing director, Flo Culture Michaela Reaney, director, Gradvert Kirsty Styles, head of talent & skills, Tech North Charlotte Thornton, marketing manager, Orange Bus Joanne Wake, managing director RAW Digital Also taking part: Bryan Hoare, managing director, BQ In the Chair: Caroline Theobald, chair, BQ Live Debates Taking Notes: Paul Robertson, editor, BQ North East and Cumbria Venue: Crathorne, Yarm TS15 0AR

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.

#bqlivedebate Join in the debate online and have your say on the issues raised. If you would like us to organise a BQ round table dinner debate call 0191 389 8468 or email info@bqlive.co.uk

Join in the debate at #bqlivedebat e bqlive.co.uk

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children - how do we get this fantastic talent into the sector?”

Jim Mawdsley, CEO Digital Union, said it was launching a creative digital strategy for the North East and a business growth pipeline to help start up companies grow. “How do we educate the educators at all levels about the sector?” he said.

“If Jonny or Jane comes and wants to be a data analyst parents have no idea what that is. If they say they want to be a process engineer at Nissan they understand it is working with cars. It is a real challenge – there is such a talent shortage yet there are 2,000 vacancies in this region alone. We need to work with the education sector so they understand our sector.”

Helen Baker, senior manager, Accenture, said the company employed 1,300 people and needs a diverse workforce to mirror its customers. “We are very interested in employing as many women as possible. We get involved in running women specific assessment centres, and an annual event at the Sage for girls in STEM. I fell into IT and would like to think my children would get better support than me to understand what the opportunities are in digital. It is not just coding, there is a lot of variety. What support can we give to women to retrain in a sector which is diverse and fun to work in?”

Joanne Wake said: “It is about how to digitise every company, enhance what they do, find new ways of working and it is a big issue. Some of the biggest increase in apprenticeships has seen apprentices going into companies as a social media expert. If they go into the digital sector they have a lot of people around who can show them what to do but in a traditional sector like oil and gas, a company is forward thinking because they want that young person but they end up being the only one with those skills and need support from outside.”

Kate Baucherel – “Digital will become a basic skill like English, science and maths. We need to look at the creative sector, where there are digital skills to be used to be an effective creative person and also look at technical where there are very heavy technical skills needed for a big business.

The last thing we need is to sit in the middle and encourage lots of people to build websites for other people – that is a rat race.”

Dominic Coleman – DCMS use the framework Basic, Workforce and Advance. “Basic skills is what everyone needs in their daily life but 12.6m people are not thinking digital. They are

not booking things online, they are not in the digital mindset. We need to get people engaged.

Workforce is to make sure they have the skills as 90% will be digital in 2023 and then the advance level is what we need to drive in the creative industries.”

Rosie Brent “I would challenge that women are under-represented. I fell into IT as a single parent I needed a good job with a good salary. I went to Weston helicopters for a programmers job and had no background whatsoever apart from my dad telling me ever since I was about four that computers were the future and that I had to learn to be a programmer. I thought it sounded boring but we need to tell people that actually it is fun.

I loved working in IT. It was the most fun I had in my life. I got the opportunity to travel the world, walk through complex manufacturing processes and understand how every single part of the business works.”

Jason Leggett –“ I saw Gerard Grech doing a piece on the recent tech city study. He looked at the breakdown of employees in the digital sector and the largest proportion of employment is not in specialist skills like coders, but transformers – those people in non-digital businesses. It is the fastest growing sector and becoming the norm.

It is not necessarily about encouraging women to enter the digital sector but actually about the core skills they can learn at an early age, get excited by and see it as an enabler to develop a really successful career. There is a clear message here to demonstrate to parents that these are core skills children will require in the future.”

Helen Baker – “Everyone at Accenture has charity days which we use to spend a lot of time going into schools running hackathons to help them solve IT problems. So if a school needs a new website we will work with the children to address that problem – so they are

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“We are always looking at ways to encourage girls into the workforce because if we don’t we don’t have a workforce” developing something. We run coding clubs, teaching students in schools and universities.

We have worked with WISE to develop toolkits to encourage girls to learn STEM subjects. We run the event at Sage - 2,000 girls from schools will do hackathon activities and understand the different tech roles they can get into across the STEM subjects. We are looking to to see how we can do this throughout the year. We also do a lot of targeted recruitment around female candidates. We are going to run a female only assessment centre because some women lack confidence in a male-dominated environment.

I don’t know how many meetings I have had when I have been the only woman, so we need to encourage them to come in and not retreat to their slightly less confident selves. We are always looking at ways to encourage girls into the workforce because if we don’t, we don’t have a workforce.”

Michaela Reaney “ I am shocked - are we really at the stage where we have to have female only assessement centres as a way to encourage women to be confident enough to be successful in their future career? As someone who designs and runs assessment centres on a daily basis I can categorically say that is not something I can get behind because quite frankly it is the fundamental issue as to why those women are

feeling that they can’t compete when they are in an environment with men. Why are we not thinking about well-rounded characters who are not just technically very good but also have the capability to go into a professional environment and become a manager or leader of the future and actually build their confidence from school age? We have so many employers coming to us struggling to find young people with the right skills for their business. They are maybe technically very good but not equipped with the capability to come into the professional environment and prosper. Raise aspirations and educate them on the opportunities”.

Helen Baker responded, “I accept the point but there are a lot of female candidates with a lack of confidence. If we can try it and it brings some really great people, we can support them through the working environment”.

Katherine Pearson “It goes back to the culture of the organisation. It is a very male dominated environment – particular attitudes and behaviours which are not conducive to people who are less confident. So how do we tackle that? Are we putting people to the side or are we really challenging?”

Rosie Brent – “We need to avoid positive discrimination because it makes it worse being a woman. You are only there because you are a

girl to tick the box. It will be thrown at those who come through female assessment centres. We need to encourage open recruitment and make sure the digital sector reflects that the North is full of great talented, candidates.”

Kate Baucherel – “I went to an all-girls school which gave me extraordinary opportunities and no competition so it came as a shock to me when I went to work and there was a gents toilet, a ladies toilet and a board toilet which told me women would get on the board. I have stood in front of venture capitalists and been asked if I had plans to strengthen the board (in other words can you get a man on there) and I have been looked up and down and asked by a business what could you do for us?”

“The onus should not always be on the women,” said Charlotte Thornton, “If you really want to stand out you have to act like men – you have to swear, shout - so should they not change their attitude? Women like personable people if we are not feeling comfortable, then perhaps it is the men who have to change.”

Kirsty Styles said her sister worked in a senior position at an FE College and there were employers who could not tell them what jobs were in the digital sector and not enough students getting careers advice and work experience. “They don’t know where they are going to get jobs, they don’t know digital jobs exist - a careers person who can’t advise a computer science student what to do. The challenge is between industry, parents and educators. Start-ups don’t necessarily have time to go into colleges, but perhaps they should make time as it is their future workforce.”

For Jason Leggett the introduction of UTCs could have a big impact, taking the best of vocational education along with academic.

“What you are trying to do is create an environment which is more conducive to the workplace so that you are asking kids of 14 to start at nine and finish at five,” he said. “It is about exploring new ways of education to tackle the issue of aspiration and industry insight.”

Kirsty Styles responded that a UTC had closed in Hackney after two years but Jason Leggett said this was part of the painful process of change.

Jim Mawdsley: “It is a shame Hackney closed but what I have learned is that certain FE colleges are now more open and we can advise them on their curriculum on an annual basis.

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Universities are different and I am told they can’t change that easily. The point about UTCs is that if we don’t start now we will never change them. It is a long process but we have to start somewhere.”

Getting candidates from a broad background is key to bridging the talent gap says Joanne Wake who has had those Not in Education Employment or Training involved in digital bootcamps alongside people who had just completed their studies.

“We train people on a digital bus for eight days on all different subjects,” she said. “You have developers at one end and early introducers at the other. Some have not left bed for two years others just completed their law degree – that’s the appeal. We were overrun from a recruitment point of view with some very clever people. In this region 70% of vacancies are in the digital sector yet 65% of businesesses struggle to recruit so there is a huge issue – a crisis.” She said the work experience proved transformational with many getting a traineeship, apprenticeship or job on completion of the programme – “the little bit of digital training has given them a bit of pizzazz.”

Charlotte Thornton said: “ I asked 17 girls at our Newcastle HQ what they thought about getting more women into the sector and they all said the barrier was awareness. It was all about girls not knowing the jobs are there They all think it is developers – programmers, science, maths skills and don’t realise there are so many different roles available.”

Having female role models is key and is one of the things the WISE campaign does well said Stuart Clarke who described the impact seven women working in digital had at one of his events.

“We had a coder, someone from a digital marketing agency, a lawyer who works with tech companies, a real good mix, where teenagers could talk to them about the roles available.”

“It is a great sector to be in if you have the right skills, and well paid. There were six girl guides and we asked them what they wanted to be.

One little girl wanted to be a hairdresser but by the end of the two hours she said she wanted to design submarines having spoken to my daughter who works in that field. We need to do more of it.”

Getting role models in front of girls at an early age was important said Sara Calgie: “When

teaching anything to anyone it has to be within their frame of reference, relevant and meaningful to them. Children having access to people who are doing it and can see what they’re like and how it fits into the world is crucially important. If it is not in their realm it is not on their tick list.

Cotilda Makhumula added: “Before I finished my Masters I had someone coming to tell me about business – I had the creative side but knew nothing about business side. So being part of the Launchpad helped me network with other people in the same position. Having mentors and people who have done it before can help advise you and prevent you making costly mistakes.”

Where graduates end up was another issue which needs exploring says Jason Leggett. He pointed to Teesside and Sunderland universities which recruit mainly from the local market and most stay after graduating – both are strong in digital but “something is not working. There is still a potential 2,000 job opportunities yet we have graduates with the skills and a good degree working in Tesco.”

Dominic Coleman pointed out despite 70% of those in Higher Education being women only 25% doing computer science are female. Part of that is that computer science grads are not getting into decent jobs when they graduate. It has been suggested there could be digital charter for women which he said was “quite depressing” that you should need one in such a new industry.

“There is a big gap between what is coming out of education and what the employer is looking for in terms of behaviours and skills,” said Michaela Reaney, “Too often employers are going into schools and opening up opportunities but there is only so much of that going on and it tends to be the bigger companies who can afford

the time to do that so people aren’t seeing the opportunities of start ups and SMEs, where they could actually have a much more accelerated career path.”

Joanne Wake has a structured internship programme despite being a small business.

She usually has three interns at a time, a day a week for 12 weeks “They are bright intelligent, hungry and I mean hungry. They have left uni with traditional skills in journalism, marketing or whatever else which cannot be faulted but in the fast moving world there isn’t a role for them and because they haven’t got experience no-one will take them on. We have loads of thank you cards, chocolates and it makes you quite emotional because they have usually been employed into a full time job and they are getting that job because of 12 days with us. It is a lot of effort, but I feel there should be something more formal to help bridge that gap.”

Jim Mawdsley said: “It is unbelievable how few companies are prepared to take on apprentices and guide them through. We are working with Teesside Uni on a degree apprenticeship programme which employers think is exciting but whether they will take one on is another matter.”

The theme of Mentorship and inspiring kept coming up in the debate and Rob Earnshaw asked what the North can do collectively to help this – companies giving work experience, a mentor programme, showcase and celebrate exciting female entrepreneurs?

Paul Lancaster said Martha Lane Fox seems to be the only role model and we need a few more.

“Let’s have them in the region. When she set up lastminute.com she thought this was the answer to everything and would change the world, 20 years later it hasn’t changed. She was frustrated

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at the slow rate of progress so she was saying we need more female only interventions – it maybe controversial but perhaps it is needed to speed things up.”

Things had changed in terms of skills required but the system hasn’t changed with it said Rosie Brent. “We have this theory that to be a coder you have to be a maths whizz. I am a coder but can’t do the maths on Countdown. We need to demystify that and change the way composite graduates are being created through schools.

One of the things women don’t get taught is skills on negotiating a career path. My dad taught me how to negotiate a pay rise because nobody teaches anybody how to do that – so I was always seen as masculine in my environment because I was quite assertive in saying I was worth what I was being paid. There is another range of skills alongside digital to create success.

Identifying key people succeeding in certain aspects is the way to look at mentoring because the right mentor isn’t necessarily the right mentor long term.”

Joanne Wake agreed and believes a good way to support growth is to create an add-on for degrees to be delivered by industry. She believes young people would go for it as it would massively enhance their employment opportunities.

Michaela Reaney said: “We take employers into unis and then design curriculum, in small parts, with Northumbria and Newcastle – it is happening elsewhere and there are work-based learning programmes. One of the challenges for programme leaders in university is that they have a huge responsibility on them and their main focus is on educating and bringing people out with a 2:1 or a First, it is not about turning out people capable of getting a job.”

Stuart Clarke agreed not enough was being done to connect students with employers and showing them what fantastic careers are available in cities like Leeds and a number of events are planned for next year to take students to where the employers are. “Don’t wait until they are three weeks away from graduating – get them in the first, second and third years,” he said.

Bringing the debate back to the original question Rob Earnshaw said focusing on women was not about being politically correct it is because “we don’t have enough people entering the sector to meet the talent need for our growing businesses. We are in a unique space in the North

“I believe if we encourage half our population to enter the sector, that is a quicker win than getting more boys involved. It is not about positive discrimination it is about changing culture “ East – the digital sector is the fastest growing in the UK, the NE is the fastest growing region in the UK and the UK before Brexit was the fastest growing country in the developed world, so it is very exciting.

“I believe if we encourage half our population to enter the sector, that is a quicker win than getting more boys involved. It is not about positive discrimination it is about changing culture – a gender neutral place where women can succeed, great for both sexes. If we get more girls to sign up more boys will follow. It is about sharing best practice across the North and everyone doing pockets of greatness. We just need to speak to each other. We are seen as the North and have to collaborate as such.”

Kirsty Styles said there was a danger of preaching to the converted. She said sexist jokes, banter and attitudes put people off and things had to change. She quoted a book by Iris Bohnet, What Works actively addressing issues, such as taking identifers off when looking at cvs, review job descriptions to ensure they are gender neutral as well as campaigns such as pink stinks, let toys be toys and calling people out on unacceptable comments and behaviour.

Katherine Pearson said it was a collective responsibility to point out what the problems

are rather than pretending they are not there and taking action. As a small company she said it would be easier to offer opportunities to get work experience if there was a formal structure rather than doing it adhoc.

For Sara Calgie part of the answer is engaging people of all ages. People who want to explore something new or change direction. “I think there are loads of people who are highly skilled and generational programmes lend themselves to this because young people can teach older people, teenagers can teach younger children – then it will reach people like me who were poorly skilled and with no tech knowledge.

In my first business I left all the tech with my brother as he was a whizz but when I started this business I knew it wouldn’t succeed unless I could communicate with more people quickly, so I went to get mentors. Find the ones you gel with and you keep in touch with them and they become brand advocates. There is a lot of help but people don’t know about it.”

Jim Mawdsley said: “There is an appetite for work-based projects in schools and we have identified that the younger the people we can bring in from the companies then the more the children will identify with them. If it encourages more girls and young women to come into tech by having young women talk to them then if that’s an advantage then why not – the guys could be inspired as well.”

Jason Leggett said the challenge is to grow the sector as best we can within limited budgets and organisations should ask their members’ view.

He said: “Maybe there is a way Digital Union can explore a woman’s chapter across the North.

Celebrate diversity and spread the word, to get them more active.”

Kate Baucherel said the North East Institute of Directors ‘women on board’ group was set up to encourage those taking part to become non exec directors which could be adapted for other initiatives. “If you can find a specific purpose for the women rather just network and make it very positive, then you may have a real winning formula.”

The debate was closed by BQ managing director Bryan Hoare who said the campaign would keep the momentum generated by the event going with a further seven debates planned across the North and possibly a final one in Westminster, all focused on growing the skills and talents in the sector n

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NORTHERN POWERHOUSE

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

“RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE ACROSS THE NORTH”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CATEGORIES The PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards are open to all businesses with a presence in the North of England.

The award categories for 2017 include: MOST ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPORTER OF THE YEAR A company that has demonstrated entrepreneurial flair within their export strategy. This will be shown through an extraordinary approach to reaching new markets where creativity, innovation and tenacity has resulted in success.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PD PORTS NORTHERN POWERHOUSE EXPORTER OF THE YEAR This award will be presented to a company that has made an outstanding contribution to the North's export profile and success. Companies must have demonstrated how they have overcome their barriers when entering new markets.

The winner of this award will be selected from the winners of the above award categories and announced on the evening of the awards.

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

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You could say that finding a fine wine is as rewarding as getting your hands on a classic watch – a true vintage will never go out of style and both need to make you tick.

But in fact, there are real comparisons that can be made between the two. A watch, in the same way as a wine, can hold its worth and even appreciate in value the longer it matures. My own wine journey has seen me sip on Spanishinfluenced varieties on holiday in Mexico and sample Swiss wines during a work trip to the Basel & Geneva Watches of Switzerland showcase, which I’m lucky enough to count within my annual calendar. I also have a soft spot for the flavours of the Italian Riviera – pairing Mediterranean cuisine with a Trebbiano from one of the country’s top grape-growing regions. However, nothing pleases me more than a weekend at home with the family and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc – my personal and current tipple of choice. So I was excited to give moonlighting ‘chief winemaker’ Graham Norton’s Marlborough, New Zealand a whirl. On confirming it was indeed the Graham Norton we all know and love, I was intrigued to see if it lived up to the entertaining qualities of the Friday night favourite himself. I can now tell you, with a smile, it was easily the best Sauvignon Blanc I’ve had this year. It had a crisp acidity and was citrusy and fruity – characteristics which resulted in a clean finish. The flavours of lemon and gooseberry came through well with a vibrant and flamboyant tone, much like the man who created it! It packs a punch without being overpowering, softened on the palette by the sweet, floral top notes. We enjoyed it on a Saturday over a sushi picnic and then again with salmon for dinner, and it complemented the fish beautifully. The combination of Wairau River and the Awatere Valley came together in a great partnership. It retails at a bargain price and is marketed with a cool, eyecatching label on the bottle, really making it stand out. I was disappointed when I went to order more and it was sold out online! When it came to the Claret, I had a sneaky glass whilst making our Sunday Roast and at first judgement, I was a little underwhelmed. It’s very light and easy to drink without any of the heavy tannins which some Clarets are prone to. Initially, it tasted a little thin and the aromas were muted despite decanting it first and pouring it through the Vinturi aerator.

Nevertheless, I persevered and after nibbling on a small piece of beef and the tail end of a roast parsnip, the Claret totally changed. With the rich taste of the dish in front of me still present, the blend came to life – it tasted full-bodied whilst the blackcurrant and plum bouquet shone through. On second reflection, the verdict is that it’s the ideal wine to accompany a Sunday Roast. n Images taken at Northern Goldsmiths, 1 Blackett St, Newcastle

Wines to watch and while away the hours Wines to watch and while away the hours Newcastle-born Craig Bolton, executive director of Goldsmiths and Mappin & Webb, discovers some hidden gems when he switches a world of diamonds for wine

Definition Claret is £12.99 single bottle, £10.99 when you mix six price. Graham Norton is £10.99 single bottle, £8.99 mix six. Wine supplied by Majestic Wine Warehouse, Gosforth

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y r a n i d r o e h t e v o b a A cut s Paris offers e rm e H y, a p to g r who’s willin For the custome bit special a g in th e m so d n craftsmanship a

EQUIPMENT bqlive.co.uk

Tucked away behind an anonymous door down a back corridor of Hermes’ corporate headquarters in Paris is where the magic happens. There, in a small, natural light-flooded L-shaped room, just five craftspeople - nearly all women, unusually for the leather goods industry - work on special projects for the French luxury goods maker. From a guitar case in crocodile to canteens for sports cars, cuff-link boxes to photo frames to official gifts from the Elysee Palace to mark state visits, from a basketball to a Bible cover to an apple carrier and, of course, lots of bags - this is where Hermes produces its one-off, never to be repeated, madeto-order pieces.

“It’s a dream product - and often a very personal one - for the people who order something from here,” explains Kerry Hollinger, Hermes’ custom-made projects manager. “It’s something they can’t find, be that with the functionality they require - a pocket in a certain place, or, as we made for one customer, a fully perforated dog bag so she could take her pet into restaurants she wasn’t allowed to take it into - or just an aesthetic idea they want to pursue.”

Such a product, unsurprisingly, does not come cheap - it would be many times the price of a more standard equivalent, should such a thing exist, although Hermes will not talk figures other than to the client. Hermes charges a non-returnable 10% design fee, then a non-returnable 50% on confirmation of the order. Nor is it a fast process. Once a design is agreed on - a back and forth that may in itself take six months - and a mock-up made in canvas and approved, it may be a further six months before a classic leather item is completed, depending on the workshop’s schedule. But then it is made by one craftsperson from start to finish, from

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classifying and cutting the skins. “And there’s a lot of pride in that,” Hollinger notes. “There’s the sense that: ’This is my project. I made it and it’s a reflection of my skills’.”

Not that Hermes will do anything. Hollinger notes that some customers need a little education - those who, as she puts it, “expect perfection” and don’t immediately appreciate that, for instance, the wrinkles, veins and other characteristics of the leather are natural, and so an important feature of an Hermes product.

Other customers can be overly picky about details - the distance between stitches, for example.

But, Hollinger stresses, this is not a bespoke design service so much as the chance to own a unique but still quintessentially Hermes item.

Yet not too much Hermes - other customers want branding writ large. “And we won’t do that either,” she notes. “Nor will we mess with the classics - the Kelly bag or the Birkin bag, for example. We don’t have an actual list of rules for the projects we will accept and those we won’t but we know which are right for us.

Some of the ideas are off the wall but that doesn’t mean they’re not right for us - we did a beautiful American football for one client as a gift for his father.”

The designs that are approved by Hermes’ artistic director - as each of them has to be are, certainly, often inventive and striking. One customer who wanted her date of birth in large numbers across a bag had to make do with a

“All of the workshop’s products are costly - we say that rather than ‘expensive’ because the materials are special and the skills of the craftspeople who make them are very rare now” more subtle, and playful, way of displaying these figures - via the dimensions of exterior pockets.

More recently the workshop has put 200 hours of work into the making of three small, minimalistic trunks in a tin-coloured leather, with delicate drawers and sections and handles made from multiple layers of compressed leather.

Each of the three special trunks is for L’Odyssee d’un Roi - a collaborative project exhibiting also the craft of venerable French silversmiths Puiforcat (a white gold pipette), crystal-makers Saint Louis (four engraved glasses and a carafe) and Remy Martin’s Louis XIII cognac (which produced a special edition). “It’s very unusual for the workshop to work with other companies, so this is a particular kind of one-off,” explains Hollinger. “But it’s also been fascinating for us to work with craftspeople in other disciplines too.”

One trunk each is to be auctioned for The Film Foundation charity in America, Europe and Asia with a starting bid of £70,000. “All of the workshop’s products are costly - we say that rather than ‘expensive’ because the materials are special and the skills of the craftspeople who make them are very rare now, which is why they’ve been with us for decades in many cases,”

explains Hollinger. “The results achieve a standard that the main collection pieces perhaps don’t attain. They’re costly too because we’re making them here amid the rooftops of Paris - but that allows clients to be sent up from our stores, and also allows clients to visit us when they’re next in the city.”

The workshop takes on just a few hundred projects per year, though receives requests for many more - like getting to see the workshops in action, just getting an order successfully placed might seem something of a trial. But Hollinger stresses that to take on many more orders would be to cut against the ethos of the whole operation; to give individual attention and produce Hermes’ highest rung of leather goods, even if the technical reasons behind much of the exhaustive detailing - the use of saddle stitch, the coating of edges with beeswax and dye, for instance - are lost on many customers.

“But since we’re in Paris many customers come to the workshops and see it all happening - and they typically leave with an understanding of everything that goes into the special kinds of things we make here,” she says.

“And why it’s ‘costly’.” n

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Jonathon Stokes, head of Dispute Resolution at Gordon Brown Law Firm test drives the Volvo XC90 and now wants Santa to know he has been a good boy What, you may ask, is the purpose of a seven seat car given the time honoured statistic that the average British family has 2.4 children?

The data from Eurostat, the European Statistics Agency, shows that the UK is now home to more families containing four or more children than at any time since the early 1970’s. Perhaps car manufacturers spotted a trend long before the rest of us were aware of it.

Competition for Volvos XC90 R-Design is stiff – Audi’s Q7 and the Land Rover Discovery being but two. I hesitate to mention other manufacturers, and their vehicles, having been invited by Volvo to test drive their car. But to do it justice you need to know what the alternatives are, and how it compares.

On a slightly damp autumnal morning I collected a gleaming white behemoth that dwarfed my

own average size SUV. I didn’t think I would get it off the forecourt without crashing into something; not, let me say straightaway, that it lacks any kind of safety or driver assistance feature, far from it - more my own fear. But, as the very helpful Rachel of Mill Volvo advised me, the car drives less like a large SUV and more like a saloon.

I drove the D5 – a two litre, four cylinder twin turbo charged engine generating 222bhp.

The claimed top speed is 137mph although, of course, I didn’t manage more than 70mph.

Transmission is by way of an eight speed, auto, four-wheel drive although for those who like the manual approach, there are paddles on the steering wheel.

The R-Design has, as the bumph tells you, “a sporty and dynamic aura”. Yes, it looks a bit

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“The first th ing you note is the quality Nappa leath of the finish er seats, con . sole and wo the seats th od surround emselves, w s and ow - comfort personified�

THE WOW F AC

T OR

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like several boxes with rounded corners but it is difficult to see how you avoid that for a vehicle of this size. I have to say I like the look and I would happily park it on my driveway.

Interior wise, it is a marvel. It does a great job of combining luxury, comfort and space. The first thing you note is the quality of the finish. Nappa leather seats, console and wood surrounds and the seats themselves, wow - comfort personified; there are a fair few airlines who would do well to talk to Volvo. What is more, the seats adjust in just about every way and direction possible with a memory function to assist when there is more than one driver. Noticeably there is the lack of the “aeroplane” bank of switches, knobs and buttons; instead, the new “Sensus” control system. In essence it is a tablet like touch screen linked to the steering wheel and a voice control system. Between these mechanisms you can access the entirety of the car’s function and adjust it at your fingertips or by talking to it. It looks and sounds a bit daunting at first but I suspect, like any tablet, once you get into it you will start to wonder how you ever managed without. Here you can find the myriad of information, navigation, media, phone, application, climate control and driver assist ‘icons’ that come together to cater to your every whim. Add in 19 speakers, a 1400 watt amplifier and a car that is itself a subwoofer and you have an extremely loud home cinema experience.

Driver assists includes auto braking (City Safety) run off road protection, adaptive cruise control and the now as standard 360° park assist.

It is equally comfortable in the second row of seats and while the seat to floor depth might disadvantage the taller passenger, there is more than sufficient room to stretch your legs out to overcome this potential issue.

The two seats in row three are also very comfortable and are easily accessed as the second row of seats slide forward. None of this folding down and folding over as in competitor cars. At 6ft 1in the leg room was no good for me but Volvo claim class leading comfort for passengers with a height up to 170cms.

There is generous boot space even with the seven seats in use. But here’s the thing, if I want to use the extra space I am going to access the boot via the tailgate. The back seats are easily folded down. Once I have unloaded whatever I needed the extra space for I want to bring the seats back up. Now unless you are as tall or

“You feel that safe and that cocooned in the car you don’t actually want to get out of it” taller than me you are not going to be able to reach from the rear but via the passenger doors moving the seat forward and then pushing the rear seats back. Surely it wouldn’t have taken much to add some form of strap (assuming an electronic mechanism was an unnecessary weight addition to the car) so you can pull the seats up from the rear? As with all Volvos, by reputation you feel incredibly safe in this car; solid and sure, but not in a negative way.

I declined the opportunity to be shown the car’s features before starting off. I wanted to see how easy they were to find myself. All the essential features are exactly where you would expect although I did stop and spend a half an hour finding out where some of the other features were but through the Sensus system that is easily done. I took the car on three different drives – around town, out on the open road and up and down some hills. There are four settings; eco, comfort, off road and sport/dynamic. I hated eco - it was far too sluggish for my liking and having tried it, I abandoned it. Comfort mode around town is the obvious one to use but the gear change around town, in traffic was a bit “clunky”. Once moving, however, the gear change was almost seamless. On the open road it’s a different ball game altogether. The gear

change in dynamic is quicker and smoother and despite two tonne in weight and a slightly under powered engine acceleration is more than adequate. For such a big car, it is a very light drive and very responsive. It coped well with hills although, regretfully, I didn’t get a chance to test its off road capabilities. And therein lies a point. If this is intended as a genuine all-wheel drive, off roader for the out of towners, is it really suited to trundling around town with little opportunity to show off its attributes?

I got back to the garage half an hour earlier than agreed. An opportunity to sit down and record all the technical information I might need for this article. Instead I carried on the drive for another half an hour. Therein lies the truth of it. You feel that safe and that cocooned in the car you don’t actually want to get out of it. It is not for me to say whether this, compared to any other, is the car for you. All I know is I would not be disappointed if Santa Claus left it on my drive this December.

Jonathon drove a Volvo XC90 R-Design D5 on the road from £50,450. This was supplied by Mill Volvo, Scotswood Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 6BZ. Tel: 0191 274 8200

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Flying high Newcastle International Airport consistently tops customer and independent surveys as the best in the UK. Paul Robertson joined business development director John Irving for lunch to reflect on his very busy first year on board Life has changed beyond recognition for John Irving, having made the switch from one business where customers invest so much emotion in the brand for another.

Having helped Newcastle United steer its way through turbulent economic times to stability off the pitch, his career path has taken him out of finance into the equally fiercely competitive world of air travel.

Add the fact he and wife Jerri are now parents to Zach – who is aged 11 weeks as we chat – then it has been quite a challenge, but the 38-year-old is loving it.

“The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur but it is fantastic,” says Irving, who joined Newcastle International Airport as business development director in June last year – a

year that has been full of mostly positive announcements and a business in great shape.

We are sitting in the Cabin Bar, one of the new additions in the departure lounge which has been redeveloped to the tune of £14.1m.

“I can’t take any credit for it as the lounge opened just after I arrived but the team has done a phenomenal job,” says Irving, who is responsible for all before us, as well as car parking, retail, bringing new airlines and routes to the airport, managing relations with the airlines and all things revenue raising.

“We have had to work hard. World Duty Trade has enjoyed a good year despite the challenges of destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia being hit by tragic events.

“With our partners we have delivered

something for everyone. The Cabin Bar is a great spot for couples and people who want some quiet time. There are nice family restaurants, lively bars and quality retail areas. Bar 11 is very northern, shaped like a Metro train. People feel more comfortable in a place they know and the changes here are incredible – best in class in terms of regional airports.

“Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive – of course it is not possible to get everything right when we have nearly five million passengers coming through the doors – but the team is doing a great job.”

Newcastle Airport is on target to hit 4.8m passengers this year, up from 4.6m in 2015 and hopes to break through the 5m target next year with a number of new routes coming on stream.

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Consistently voted in a number of surveys as being the best airport in the UK, giving customers the best experience, Newcastle International has the seven local authorities as majority shareholder (51%) in partnership with AMP and a board which has backed continuous investment.

“Everyone works really well together to ensure the airport delivers as a regional asset,” said Irving. “We have a very small management team but the site supports 3,000 jobs and they all have pride in what they do.

“Customer service and safety are our key focus.

The operational teams do an amazing job. The average time through security is six minutes even at the busiest time when thousands are coming through. It has to be safe and secure but we want to get people through in the right mood by delivering an experience which helps them relax and enjoy what is the start of their holiday or business trip.

“There is great loyalty in our core catchment area – people want to fly from here and it is our challenge to not only have the flights and routes that they want but also to deliver a good service. You tend to be loyal to something on your home patch and want to support it. We get that feeling every day.”

One blow to the airport was the decision by

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“We have an excellent relationship with all the airlines. They like operating from here as they get great performance statistics and see good turnaround times for aircraft. We are constantly discussing additional services to new places”

United Airlines to withdraw the direct route to the States after two years, on the grounds it was unprofitable and the weaker outlook for the pound against the dollar after Brexit, but Irving is upbeat about how the business has responded.

“The team worked very hard to get that route and we are all convinced it would work over time so of course it was a disappointment,” he said. “But airlines are businesses themselves and need to make the big pieces of metal they fly work for them so we understand and respect the decision.

“We must not lose sight of the fact that since Brexit we have introduced a number of new routes giving us our biggest winter schedule for a long time and delivering an 8% growth in traffic next year.

“We carry over 500,000 passengers on flights to Heathrow, 20% of whom fly on to the US, we have Emirates flying 250,000 people a year – the plane is 80% full six days a week – with connections on to Australia, China and Thailand.

We remain incredibly well-connected.”

Irving says Emirates has been transformational for both the airport and many businesses in the region, which have been able to grow exponentially due to the access to the Far and Middle East.

Emirates has just celebrated its ninth anniversary with a record month for the route in August 22,745 passengers. The airline is now carrying £300m worth of exports pushing Newcastle towards the top 10 in terms of international

trade and it is an area Irving is keen to grow.

The airport as a whole has a turnover of £64m, contributing £580m GVA (Gross Added Value) to the regional economy and a growing list of destinations.

Easyjet has added Berlin and Las Palmas, Vueling is operating flights to Barcelona while Ryanair has added Gdansk, Lanzarote, Tenerife South, Warsaw, Modlin and Wroclaw to its schedule and also Madrid Faro, Giron and Palma from next summer.

“We have an excellent relationship with all the airlines. They like operating from here as they get great performance statistics and see good turnaround times for aircraft. We are constantly discussing additional services to new places,” said Irving. “I am off to China talking to all our airline partners about 2018 because we have to look ahead.

“It has been a great year for adding new destinations to the map and we hope to build on that in the future. We have fantastic connections through Heathrow, Dubai, Amsterdam and Paris to allow business people and holidaymakers to go almost anywhere in the world.”

Irving talks with great passion about the airport and the region where he was born. He attended Dame Allan’s School in Newcastle, graduating from Loughborough University before holding down a number of roles at Procter and Gamble and then living the dream by working for the football club he supports.

“I was approached by Chris Mort who had

become chairman when Mike Ashley bought the club,” recalls Irving. “He said they wanted someone local with a finance background to support them.

“I had been in the family enclosure as a child and chosen my own seat when the Sir John Hall stand was built – MM114 – so I used to be at St James’ Park every weekend. Here I was being given the opportunity to work there and I couldn’t turn it down.

“I loved it – the first couple of years were a challenge trying to reshape the business and I am pretty proud of what we did – there was always the challenge of getting the football bit right but, for the area which was part of my responsibility, I think we did a phenomenal job taking it to a profit-making business that could stand on its own feet.

“It was a terrible time when we got relegated and we lost some really good people. We had some tough times but left a legacy in terms of the business and I don’t regret any of it.”

Irving spent much of the time in the background and had a strong relationship with Ashley, who he says was good to work for but after eight years he wanted a new challenge.

“Being with an iconic brand, it was hard to think of a move which would float my boat,” he said. “I didn’t want to move somewhere I didn’t feel was as rewarding or exciting.

“I had moved away from finance into more commercial and operational areas in the last few years at Newcastle United. It stood me in great stead when the airport opportunity came

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up. It was a new role in an exciting industry and another iconic brand.”

Having overseen the opening of the departure lounge and the introduction of new routes, Irving is determined to drive the business forward apace and win the battle for passengers from across the region, as well as support the team lobbying for what he says is one of the most critical decisions to impact the airport – the expansion of Heathrow.

“If we are to keep up with international competition then the best solution is to support further development of the Heathrow hub,” he says. “We have six well-supported flights a day and we need to keep up that frequency. Now that the Government has said it is the preferred option, we hope by the time the vote comes round Heathrow expansion is confirmed. It is the right decision for this region and the country’s economy.

“Being with an iconic brand, it was hard to think of a move which would float my boat. I didn’t want to move somewhere I didn’t feel was as rewarding or exciting” “We also want more people living in the south of the region and across to Cumbria to recognise Newcastle as their airport. Teesside is very important to us. It is a similar distance to Leeds as it is to Newcastle. We want them to discover the world from their North East airport and enjoy our improved facilities and we’ll be putting in a lot of effort in to hopefully attract them.”

Irving is keen to stress the importance of things like the new radar, not necessarily seen but a vital piece of infrastructure and the masterplan which is being revisited to regenerate land around the airport. He urges passengers and businesses to come forward with suggestions for developments and destinations.

“We are in great shape delivering what people want and are constantly looking to improve things,” he says. “We are open for business.

It’s your airport - we really mean that - people should think of it as theirs and have a say in what we do. It is a place for them and the region to be proud of.” n

The Cabin Bar Once through security, your first destination is the impressive redeveloped departure lounge – a £14m development which John Irving says has enjoyed a very successful first year.

Our outward journey took us to the Cabin Bar, a smart restaurant with a relaxed feel and relatively detached from the hustle and bustle of excited holidaymakers.

We are met by Tracey with a beaming smile and shown to a table overlooking the runway. It’s a great view but as the Emirates flight has just landed I can’t help cast an envious glance knowing I will not be boarding today. Still it is a great place to watch the airside crews in action.

The Cabin Bar describes itself as “perfect for those travellers with a passion for fine wine, champagne and locally-sourced food”, though neither of us partake in the first two due to work and I just about manage to resist trying one of the craft beers on display.

It has a breakfast menu with everything you would expect, served until 11am, and an all-day menu from which we choose.

There are bar snacks: prawn crackers (£2.50); marinated olives and smoked almonds (both at £3.95); appetisers include chicken liver pate (£8.75); fish croquettes (£6.95); pork sausage roll (£7.50) and three sharing platters mezze (£13.95); charcuterie (14.50) and seafood (£14.95).

Unfortunately, time is against us so we are straight into the mains and both choose the seafood salad of king prawns, crayfish and smoked salmon served with seasonal leaves, avocado and Marie Rose sauce (£13.95).

Both dishes are presented in a restaurant-style and taste as good as they look. Other choices include tiger prawn curry, cottage pie (both at £13.95) and steak and red wine pie (£12.50). No desserts but a wide selection of teas and coffees.

There are a number of places to eat – something to suit all tastes – but if this visit is anything to go by and you are looking for a first class experience to set you on your journey, then you won’t be disappointed with the Cabin Bar.

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PROFILE Cairn Group

Established but not afraid to shake things up Newcastle-based Cairn Group, which started life as a single property venture sixty years ago, has grown to become one of the UK’s leading hotel and bar operators – yet remains a family firm at that So far 2016 has proved particularly productive for the company to say the least and the months ahead still hold huge potential as it is poised to make the biggest move in its history, before the year is out.

January opened with the purchase of 1690-built country house hotel Stoke Place in Buckinghamshire, nestled in 26 acres of stunning parkland and home to a Capability Brown-designed garden, granted protection this September under the National Heritage List for England.

Changes in spring included renowned chef Theo Randall opening his first Theo’s Simple Italian restaurant in the Group’s Hotel Indigo Kensington.

In May, Cairn Group announced a successful refinance deal worth £101m, supported by HSBC and Mincoffs Solicitors LLP. It subsequently laid out plans to put £50m of the total raised towards an acquisition-focused growth strategy and strengthening of its nationwide portfolio, which comprises 26 hotels and more than 30 bars and restaurants.

August saw the addition of popular York café bar The Parish, which operates from an impressive 11th century, grade II-listed church development. This marked the new owners’ first standalone bar outside of the North East. Work is already underway to make a series of improvements to the venue, funded from a £700k pot set aside for refurbishments following the refinancing.

A number of senior appointments at head office this autumn have coincided with a roll-out of new look websites across the Group, with enhanced functionality and ease of access to drive direct bookings.

Newcastle is still very much at the heart of things and Osborne Road hotspot Sohe is no doubt a jewel in the crown. The Asian-fusion restaurant is a top pick among Jesmond’s corporate scene as well as its residents; a broad age and lifestyle spectrum.

Planning permission has now been granted to extend its offering onto the external area, overlooking the high street. This is soon to be transformed into an all-service al fresco meeting, eating and drinking place – Sohe’s very own garden destination.

Stoke Place Country House Hotel

Sohe restaurant

Director Naveen Handa said: “Sohe is one of my favourite places to bring people to introduce them to our brand and ethos. We’re thrilled to be able to reveal our next step for it and already looking forward to the end result, which will be ready in time for the warmer weather returning.

“The idea was driven by a real demand we’ve observed for outdoor experiences when it comes to dining out, both during the day and at night from our customers – but also a trend that seems to be sweeping the UK industry at the moment. And the nature of Sohe’s snackable meal options for lunch or long cocktails in the evening is the perfect fit.”

Elsewhere, Cairn Group is making waves in the West Midlands with the recent unveiling of Birmingham Conference & Events Centre – a major event and exhibition space in the delegate capital.

On the other side of the border, business in Scotland is picking up pace hot off the heels of the arrival of Courtyard by Marriott in Glasgow, formerly Ramada Airport Hotel.

Finance director Richard Warren said: “We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved in such

The Parish café bar

quick succession over a matter of months and we are in a fantastic position as we approach the end of the year. There are so many exciting projects in the pipeline which is testament to the entire team effort and dedication put in to making it all happen.”

Over the past five years, the Group has spent over £40m acquiring and improving assets and doubled its number of employees in that period – a figure which currently exceeds 2,300, firmly placing it on the map in the world of independent hotel owner and operators.

For more information please contact enquiries@cairnhotelgroup.com or 0191 272 5788 www.cairnhotelgroup.com Twitter: @CairnGroup

SPECIAL FEATURE

TEESSIDE INNOVATION 8-page special feature

Tees Valley: Inventing the future Key partners in Tees Valley have come together to provide a platform for growth and innovation

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TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

Tees Valley: Embracing the new and forging the future

Tees Valley has a glorious industrial past and the same spirit which built great industries is now driving innovation to build a bright economic future Tees Valley is one of the great engines of the UK economy, an area which helped power the industrial revolution and which still boasts worldbeating industries.

Its 280,000 strong, highly-skilled workforce, employed by a business base of 16,500 firms, contributes £11.4bn to the economy each year.

Tees Valley has world-class expertise and critical mass in key sectors including: process/chemical; energy; advanced manufacturing (particularly oil and gas, renewables, metals and automotive); digital and logistics.

Manufacturing makes up 14% of the area’s GVA, compared to 10% nationally. It boasts England’s largest exporting port (which is also the third biggest port in the UK), an international airport and direct road and rail routes to key locations.

Chemicals and Process Tees Valley has the

largest integrated chemical complex in the UK, it is the second largest in Europe in terms of manufacturing capacity and is home to 58% of the UK’s chemical industry. More than 1,400 companies are directly involved in the chemicals and process industry and its supply chain in Tees Valley. The sector exports £12bn of product and contributes £2.2bn a year to gross value added to the area. Tees Valley has also seen the highest business start-up rates in the UK and it has also enjoyed the highest growth in exports in the country. This economic and industrial strength did not come about by accident. Tees Valley was at the forefront of the industrial revolution and pioneered many of the processes and products which have been staple to the modern global economy.

Innovations which were conceived and developed in the area include the invention

of the safety match, the operation of the first major public steam railway in the world and the creation of products from perspex and ammonia to polyethylene and nylon.

The world is now well into the digital revolution, globalisation has transformed economies around the world, some old industries have disappeared or declined in importance, but Tees Valley has continued to innovate, to develop and attract new industries and it is helping to frame the new economy.

Industrial sites remain a key part of the Tees Valley economy but there has also been significant growth and development in many other sectors, including digital and creative, engineering, biologics and healthcare and contact centres. The area has a growing capability in these new industries, as well as, subsea and the low-carbon economy. There was

TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

a 20% rise in digital companies in Tees Valley between 2013 and 2014, higher than all other LEP areas.

Tees Valley is home to the UK’s largest hydrogen plant, the UK’s first biomass power station, a world leading graphene plant, a subsea training facility unique in the UK and it will also soon be home to one of the largest advanced gasification facilities and the National Centre for Biologics, as well as the UK’s first offshore wind validation centre and innovative new centres on biomedical research.

The area is already a leading destination for the low carbon economy, with a growing supply chain. It is a designated centre for offshore renewable engineering and it is leading the UK in hosting plants that produce biofuel and bioethanol. Tees Valley is also home to Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station.

Led by Teesside Collective, a cluster of leading industries including Lotte Chemicals, BOC, Growhow and Sembcorp, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a ground-breaking initiative with a vision to establish Tees Valley as the prime location for future clean industrial development by creating Europe’s first CCS equipped industrial zone. CCS is a proven technology that can capture, transport and permanently store up to 90% of the CO2 emissions produced by industrial facilities, preventing them from entering the atmosphere.

The area’s digital and creative sector has seen significant growth, with the annual percentage rise in the number of digital firms in 2014 higher than any other LEP area. Tees Valley’s digital cluster is supported by Teesside University, one of the top 20 places in the world for animation, and host of the annual Animex International Festival. Innovation is written into the very DNA of Tees Valley businesses. It was recently reported that 24% of Tees Valley businesses were introducing product or service innovation - higher than anywhere in the North and, in a government study, Tees Valley was named most innovative area in the North and it came seventh in the UK, above London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

In another survey of the percentage of companies introducing new to market products or services, Tees Valley came second at just under 25%, behind Oxfordshire at just over 25% and ahead of London at under 20%. In terms of R&D expenditure by business per full

“Innovation is written into the very DNA of Tees Valley businesses. Tees Valley was named as most innovative area in the North” time employee, the area was ranked third, at around £500.

Innovation, however, is not something that happens of itself, it has to be nurtured and encouraged and to that end the area has a number of world-beating assets in place.

The Innovation Accelerator at Wilton Centre is dedicated to nurturing innovative businesses within the science, technology, engineering and life sciences sectors, combining industry know-how and leading edge facilities to support new and established companies in the North East. This facility has a 1,000m² fully integrated technology incubator and the Innovation Accelerator. It is able to offer pilot plants, specialist laboratories and office space to enable fledgling companies to develop new products and processes.

Materials Processing Institute is an Open-Access Technology Centre serving organisations which work with materials, materials processing or energy. It offers expertise, equipment and laboratory facilities. Its pilot facilities for the melting and casting of metals ranges in capacity from 100g to 7 tonnes and includes options for vacuum treatment and ingot casting, together with full analytical support.

Teesside University is home to five research institutes which have a track record in translating research into business benefit, particularly in digital, manufacturing, construction and advanced project planning.

The Technology Futures Institute is an international leader in key areas of research and innovation in engineering sustainability, manufacturing and process engineering, analytical instrumentation, measurement and control engineering.

Research in the Digital Futures Institute includes Artificial Intelligence (AI), Interactive Systems and Formal Methods.

DigitalCity is the driver for Tees Valley’s digital sector and for the application of digital technologies in the key growth sectors of health, process and advanced manufacturing. This

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public-private partnership provides professional support to a thriving digital cluster, including a stream of innovative start-up and spin-out companies delivering new technology products and services for business.

The Welding Institute (TWI) is an R&D organisation with industry-leading capabilities in a number of areas. Specialising in joining techniques and technologies, structural integrity and material properties, TWI has been providing advice, information and engineering services to industry for almost 70 years. TWI also operates a new £6m development at Teesside Advanced Manufacturing Park (TAMP) which includes a research and validation centre for offshore wind, the first centre of its kind in the UK. The Centre for Subsea Technology Awareness, Training and Education, C-STATE, is a collaboration between industry and education and the first subsea training centre of its kind.

Part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, CPI is a technology innovation centre that uses applied knowledge in science and engineering to enable clients to develop, prove, prototype and scale-up the next generation of products and processes. CPI helps to support innovations in the manufacture of biologics and biotechnology, enabling its clients to develop products and prove processes with minimal risk.

The £38m National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, opened in Darlington in 2015, will support the growth of the UK biologics industry. The Biotherapeutics Factory of the Future initiative is part of a £50m CPI project to develop process technologies and deliver personalised medicines via conventional and synthetic biology.

So, Tees Valley continues to lead the way on innovation, but it is not going to rest on its laurels. Tees Valley Unlimited’s Innovation Leadership Group (ILG) has outlined an Innovation Strategy, highlighting its commitment to making Tees Valley the place to go for innovative businesses.

In the words of Nigel Perry, chair of the group and chief executive for the Centre for Process Innovation: “Only by creating new products and processes and exploring new technology solutions, can we grow our business base, export our expertise and produce new jobs for our residents. Investing in innovation will help us live up to our historic reputation for being at the forefront of invention and innovation.’’ n

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TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

A vision for innovation

Tees Valley always has been and will continue to be a global centre for exploring new ideas and breaking new ground, says Andrew Lewis, managing director, Tees Valley Combined Authority Innovation is key to a strong and robust regional economy and central to future growth and competitiveness. Whether it is reducing carbon emissions, enhancing its Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) credentials with world-leading research projects, increasing productivity or creating employment opportunities Tees Valley is an example of continued reinvention.

It is the area that invented the safety match and is now home to the UK’s largest hydrogen plant, the UK’s first biomass power station and a world leading graphene plant. Named as the most innovative area in the North in the innovation map published by the Government in 2015, and ranked higher than London, Tees Valley has a wealth of organisations and the universities of Teeside and Durham working with its businesses to help them grow by turning ideas into reality.

This is central to creating a more diverse economy and creating new opportunities in growth sectors.

The area has a diverse range of specialist and highly regarded assets which support research and development across a range of sectors.

This is assisting in introducing new process and operational practices which will reduce carbon footprints and is critical to the transition to a high value, low carbon economy. In addition to its chemical and processing expertise, Tees Valley has established itself as a national hub for advanced manufacturing, with particular expertise in oil and gas, subsea, biologics and automotive, low carbon, healthcare and the digital and creative sectors. Tees Valley is also developing its support for smaller companies facing challenges in commercialising ideas, with support ranging from innovation vouchers to enabling access to the European Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation. Continued access to funding for this activity is critical, ensuring new products and processes are brought to market to keep Tees Valley at the forefront of innovation.

Innovate Tees Valley is a key part of the delivery of the Innovation Strategy. It has been established to help ambitious and forwardthinking businesses achieve growth through service and product innovation. The programme

will provide significant support to 250 local companies over the next three years and includes a major conference that will be held each year to celebrate success, increase understanding of innovation and connect businesses with advisors and investors. This level of support is vital if the Tees Valley is to maintain its competitive advantage, evolve and grow. Tees Valley Combined Authority’s vision is for Tees Valley to be at the forefront of innovative solutions to global problems. We know this can be achieved.

A platform for growth

Suhail Aslam, Innovate Tees Valley programme manager, explains how the project can help drive innovation Innovation from the Tees Valley has made massive contributions not only regionally and nationally but also internationally. The recognised skills base and work ethic has made it an admired region for engineering and manufacturing excellence. This is complemented by emerging sectors such as digital, biologics and healthcare. With an ability to adapt and change to meet global demands the region stands out as an attractive place to trade, partner and invest in. The Innovate Tees Valley project is an excellent platform to help build innovation capacity in our existing and

established businesses and also provide the necessary support for emerging companies looking to break into new markets and sectors with new products and services. Innovate Tees Valley through its four partners: Teesside University; DigitalCity, NEPIC and Materials Processing Institute, is proud of the role it will play assisting SME businesses in our region overcome technical and market challenges and help drive innovation and creativity. The project provides a breadth of services including: • Technical consultancy support including both partner expertise and external consultant

provision; • Innovation diagnostics; • Bid writing to access larger research and innovation funding; • Digital innovation support – including grants for fellowships to support new SMEs; • Access to partners facilities and assets including 3D printing, specialist testing equipment and lab space; • Innovation workshops; • Graduate placements lasting up to 12 months; • Access to market intelligence, networks, partners and wider financial support.

TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

Teesside University has a mission and a passion to promote innovation, as Professor Jane Turner explains to BQ

Cutting edge campus Teesside University is a key partner in the Innovate Tees Valley project. And, as Professor Jane Turner, pro vice-chancellor enterprise and business engagement, explains, its involvement is part of the university’s strategy to be a major driver for innovation in the Tees Valley.

“We already have a fantastic relationship with the SME community and we want to further unlock and enhance productivity and efficiency among SMEs in Tees Valley,’’ she says. “Bringing together DigitalCity, which is part of the university, and NEPIC and Materials Processing Institute is just a perfect mix to make a catalyst for the innovation we are trying to create here.’’

Also, not only does Teesside University have its own knowledge and expertise, it is ideally placed to recruit other key partners to the cause of innovation promotion.

She argues that innovation is fundamental to the prosperity of the region and universities have a vital role to play in promoting it.

There is, however, a challenge.

“We are primarily seen as educators and

providers of accommodation, but, actually, we are much more than that,’’ she says. “As a sector, we need to be much better at providing the accessibility to all the research and the knowledge that sits within the universities, which can absolutely liberate and support businesses to become more innovative.’’

But, she adds: “Data from 2014 shows that just 5% of SMEs and 2% of larger firms turn to universities for innovation. That’s shocking. There are clearly barriers making those engagement percentages so low. A lot of that is the perceptions around what universities are for. I want universities to be seen as the first port of call in terms of support for innovation.

“I’m absolutely passionate about that. My dad ran his own manufacturing company for more than 20 years so I grew up in that environment and was aware it was very difficult to get the right support.’’

The university, however, is no recent convert to the importance of engaging with industry. It was founded as Constantine College in 1930

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as a technical college to support local industry and, more recently, it was a proud recipient of the Queens Award for Enterprise. One of Prof Turner’s responsibilities is graduate employability and she points out that 60% of the university’s students come from the Tees Valley and this makes the university’s engagement with the innovation agenda even more important.

“We have a moral responsibility to make sure we are leveraging and supporting our SME community to be more productive, so they employ more people so that our students who wish to remain in the Tees Valley have the opportunities.’’

To maximise those opportunities she’s evangelical about building an entrepreneurial, innovative campus. “I really want to encourage innovative thinking and also to encourage our students to think about how they can set up and run their own businesses as a legitimate career pathway,’’ she says.

“Also, supporting our academic staff to be more risk taking, more innovative and to be out there interfacing with industry. So, I’m very much driving a culture of enterprise and innovation in the campus.’’

She is looking forward to the Innovate Tees Valley Festival on 8 December, developed by the team behind Venturefest North East, to provide a fillip to that culture.

“We are delighted that we have got Venturefest on board in relation to that and we are really keen to ensure that businesses are represented there and that they feel that they are motivated to engage and that we can look at how we can get a culture moving around innovation. It’s only a one-day event but it could be a great catalyst.’’

Beyond that, she believes that Tees Valley as an area can have a future to rival its great economic past. “The opportunities for us moving forward are phenomenal and the energy in the region at the moment is palpable,’’ she says.

“I ask the question: in what way are we distinctive, what are we known for in the Tees Valley? I’m really keen to promote what we are really good at in the Tees Valley under that Northern Powerhouse agenda. The Northern Powerhouse gives us an opportunity to galvanise thinking around that. We are very involved with the LEP in the strategic economic plan. I want to promote Digital City as being at the forefront of what we are doing as there is a real super cluster developing there.’’ n

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TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

Innovate Tees Valley is there to help businesses, particularly the small and mediumsized, through expertise which is both wide-ranging and with in-depth specialisms

Partner in process NEPIC is an award winning cluster organisation that has been at the heart of North East England’s chemical-processing sector for more than a decade, as chief executive Stan Higgins explains.

“NEPIC works with industry and its member companies to create a collaborative, sustainable environment in which companies can flourish and prosper. At NEPIC, we understand the importance of SMEs and the vital role they play in the long-term success of the region’s chemical industry – with their success remaining very much at the fore of our interest.Innovation is essential to the long-term success of any business. Its benefits are far reaching – from spotting new markets, to new ways of working and collaborating and improving existing products and services. Innovative businesses are more profitable and more sustainable. While many business leaders know where opportunities lie and understand the benefits, one of the main barriers preventing businesses from realising them is access to support. Through Innovate Tees Valley, NEPIC will work with chemicalprocessing and supply chain companies to address this issue directly – facing innovation and all of its hypothetical hurdles head-on, together.

We will offer the Tees Valley’s ambitious small business community the opportunity to tap into, not only the skills and knowledge of an experienced NEPIC team, but also the plethora of know-how that exists within our extensive network.

Be it product, service or process, we will support a business’s innovation journey with market intelligence assistance; detailed innovation diagnostic; innovation frameworks and delivery strategy; facilitate introductions and identify collaborative R&D partnerships – as well as providing networking and engagement opportunities.

Over the past four years alone, NEPIC has worked with over 400 SMEs, providing support and mentoring that resulted in £50m in new sales and 1,000 new jobs. The team’s wide-ranging technical and sectorial knowledge, coupled with access to the NEPIC network, enabled growth through learning, facilitated collaboration through connectivity and inspired product and service innovation through mentoring.”

“At NEPIC, we understand the importance of SMEs and the vital role they play in the long-term success of the region’s chemical industry”

Material support Dr Gerard Stephens, director of the SME Technology Centre within the Materials Processing Institute explains the Institute’s role.

“The Materials Processing Institute is an open access innovation centre supporting industry, government and academia. Support ranges from small scale, site based investigations, through to long term collaborative research programmes and is available to any size of organisation from start-ups and SMEs through to large multinational organisations. A long history of both supporting and developing new innovations for industry makes the Institute an ideal partner in the Innovate Tees Valley project, enabling SMEs to access expertise and equipment to help develop and commercialise innovations. The Institute has expertise in materials, materials processing and energy, specialising in challenging processes, particularly those involving high specification materials, high temperatures and difficult operating conditions. Materials processing knowledge is supported by state-of-the-art facilities from laboratories through to demonstration, scale-up and production plant. Scientists and engineers work with industry and apply their expertise to progress innovation and develop improved products and processes. Areas of expertise include: • Materials Characterisation, Research and Development; • Simulation and Design; • Monitoring, Measurement and Control in Hostile Environments; • Process Development and Upscaling; • Specialist Melting and Steel/Alloy Production; • Engineering; • Materials Handling; • Minerals and Ores; The Materials Processing Institute helps businesses develop innovation and grow through a tailored support package. Assistance includes: • Technical support; • Facilities support; • Business support services and signposting (e.g. grants, networks, potential partnerships).

The Materials Processing Institute’s technical, research and project management teams deliver projects and support across a range of sectors including: Metals and Metals Manufacture; Chemicals and the Chemical Process Industries; Nuclear; Oil & Gas; Energy; Aerospace and Defence; and Mining and Quarrying.”

TEESSIDE INNOVATION Special Feature

Create and connect Simon Green, director Innovate Tees Valley Festival, explains how the Innovate Tees Valley Festival will facilitate making the connections which are the key to successful innovation.

“To develop and commercialise an idea successfully, a whole mixture of skills and expertise is required, alongside resources and networks matched to the product and market.

Even for very large organisations this is challenging without help and increasingly corporates are building open innovation programmes to bring in ideas and resources from elsewhere. For smaller businesses, getting a new idea to market on their own is pretty much impossible.

The Innovate Tees Valley Festival is about connecting our businesses with the networks they need to innovate. This means linking businesses with investors,

experts and market opportunities. By building collaborative partnerships and effective networks, we can accelerate the commercialisation of new products and reduce the risk of failure. In the long term, successful innovation among local businesses benefits everyone in the Tees Valley by creating wealth and jobs and by making the area a more attractive

Super cluster Newly appointed director of the Tees Valley digital cluster DigitalCity Rob Earnshaw outlines his ambitious plans to grow its size and performance.

“DigitalCity is a leading business support programme providing business in the Tees Valley with access to innovation expertise, mentoring services, funding and links to growth opportunities. Over the past 14 years it has grown to become a super cluster of innovative digital businesses and I want it to become globally recognised as the UK’s ‘Digital City’ for digital innovation - encouraging investment in the area and supporting growth of the wider local economy. The Tees Valley is the most innovative region in the North of England and this is where digital happens. Working with the local authority, Teesside University and central government, DigitalCity is launching a number of support programmes to progress innovative digital technologies.

We will work with our digital visionaries to provide an incomparable environment for them to accelerate their business growth potential. We will support both digital and non-digital businesses that are looking to innovate and grow through digital. Two areas we are particularly interested in are Smart City technologies and how technology

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place to work. The Festival is only possible with the support of a range of partners, including Teesside University, Digital City, NEPIC, Materials Processing Institute and the Tees Valley Combined Authority. We’ve developed the concept of the Festival while taking advice from business organisations such as the North East England Chamber of Commerce and FSB to ensure it meets the immediate needs of their members.

There will be experts present on the day from organisations such as Evolution (focused on accessing finance for growth), Ward Hadaway (focused on protecting ideas), the Department for International Trade and Enterprise Europe Network, among others.

This year’s conference is the first in an annual series that will be a key element in innovation support for many years to come. Let’s work together to make it the success it needs to be.”

can improve performance in heavy industry – industry 4.0. Alongside supporting digital innovation, I am also keen to build a reputation for the Tees Valley as the place for women to innovate and become digitally enabled.

Through our networks we aim to increase the number of female participants on our support programmes to 50%. Currently our sector is only 17% female. Studies show that having good gender diversity dramatically increases innovation and ultimately profitability in tech businesses. DigitalCity is actively supporting the Women in Tech agenda.

We are very proud to be involved with the Innovate Tees Valley project.

These are exciting times for the region and, rather than just being a business support programme for digital business, we can now bring all sectors together to boost the wider local economy and improve the Tees Valley through digital innovation.”

Innovate Tees Valley Festival - Thursday 8 December 2016 Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

A full day innovation conference aimed at Tees Valley businesses of all sizes and sectors The Innovate Tees Valley Festival is the first event of its kind, bringing together local businesses, investors, researchers and innovation experts to make connections and find new solutions.

On 8 December, you’ll be able to: • Hear from inspiring keynote speakers • Expand your networks • Connect with investors and other sources of finance • Benefit from the advice of innovation experts • Find out what innovation support is available to Tees Valley businesses You’ll leave the Festival with new ideas, tools and advice that you can directly apply in your business and valuable new connections.

Find out more and secure your place now at innovatefestival.tv Partners including Evolution, Ward Hadaway, FSB and the North East England Chamber of Commerce are helping us to put together the programme for the day.

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“The region has continued to make and produce goods and services wanted in all corners of the globe”

Exporting post-Brexit Brian Dakers, international trade manager for North East England Chamber of Commerce takes a peak into the not too distant future at the prospects for the region’s exporters

The months following the outcome of the EU referendum have passed incredibly quickly.

When the referendum took place to decide whether the UK would remain a member of the EU, David Cameron was Prime Minister, Roy Hodgson England football manager, and the world an ever shrinking place in which to do business. Now some months on, only one of those statements remains true.

While the business landscape is constantly referenced in the media, and claims and counter claims with regard to the outcome of the vote are exchanged like a baseline rally, the region has continued to make and produce goods and services wanted in all corners of the globe. Although the most recently released trade statistics for NE England plc were hardly a dramatic improvement on the periods preceding, a number of positives can be drawn.

The increased breadth, for example, suggesting an underlying resilience, particularly in light of the devastating closure of the SSI steelworks on Teesside, which accounted for hundreds of millions of the region’s total goods exports.

When coupled with the pressures faced by the region’s oil and gas businesses, small percentage increases are certainly welcome.

Since the start of the calendar year, we at the Chamber have worked with nearly 100 businesses which are either new to exporting, or trading with a new market for the first time.

While these may not attract headlines such as those attached to our largest sectors, they do

underline one constant. Our region is full of businesses and individuals with the ingenuity and determination to succeed anywhere.

While market access might be a rather murky topic at present, connectivity is an area where the region is able to see clearer skies. Newcastle International Airport’s recent announcements on new routes to Poland have been warmly received by businesses trading across a range of sectors. Although the United Airlines decision to discontinue the direct flight to New York was a disappointment, hub connectivity provided

by Dublin and Heathrow ensures businesses have great connectivity with the US, our largest trading partner. With the Emirates daily service experiencing consistently high demand for both seats and cargo hold space, it is surely a matter of time before capacity is added. Given the fact the route has just celebrated its ninth birthday, and has already upped the size of the aircraft once, this is a great indicator of our exporters’ appetite to get out there and seize the opportunities available, wherever they are.

One great example of this is Prima Cheese. A family business operating out of Seaham. The company looked at exporting its dairy products at the beginning of this decade. I was privileged to be involved from the beginning, as the company worked with the UKTI (now rebranded as Department of International Trade), and were then referred to the Chamber for support with market entry requirements, personnel development and export documentation.

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The company has since turned into one of the region’s best success stories, increasing headcount, and adding significant percentages to the turnover. It is no coincidence the company now works with more than 20 markets, and the vast majority are served by the Emirates route.

Successes such as those mentioned are of course attributable to a number of factors.

While circumstances are far from perfect, I am privileged to work with businesses to whom challenges are there for besting, and the world there for the taking. I look forward to seeing how we capitalise further as a region in the months and years to come. n

EXPORTS

BY SITC Section - Q1 and Q2 2016

£54.6m

£5.4m

Beverages and tobacco

Food and live animals

Treelocate

£18m

£11.5m Mineral fuels

Crude materials

£170,000 £1813m

Animal and vegetable oils

Chemicals

£310.3m £3334m Manufactured goods

£292m

Machinery and transport

Miscellaneous manufactures

£9.7m

Other commodities

TOTAL £5850m

The Chamber’s export team works closely with a range of businesses helping them to successfully transport their goods around the world.

A global Northumberland business has a £275,000 tropical tree order for the Middle East.

Treelocate, based in Belford outside Berwick, exports artificial plants and trees to leisure and hospitality clients around the world and one of its most recent contracts was for 17 seven metre olive trees for the 7* Four Seasons Hotel in Bahrain. Established in a small barn by brothers Mark and Jonny Nesbitt in 1995 after they bought a consignment of artificial trees from Asia, the business has grown to employ 40 people. It is now a £4m turnover business which manufactures products from large scale, bespoke flower arrangements to handmade trees and shrubs, from a four acre site.

Treelocate has used the NECC International trade team since it started exporting to help them with their business.

Mark said: “We initially worked with interior landscapers and supplied quite simple products for offices where live trees would have struggled to survive. Our customer base then expanded to include a huge range of outlets such as garden centres, USA theme parks and supermarkets.”

The global reach of Treelocate extends to Dubai International Airport and a recent project for the head office of ANZ Bank in Christchurch. And in keeping with the company’s contracts with unusual countries, where it might not be expected to have artificial planting, it has also supplied artificial trees to Norway. To help cope with increased demand from the Middle East, four years ago Treelocate set up a Dubai office with six people based there and it also has an agent in Mongolia who specialises in shopping centre contracts using their service.

They have also developed their own brand to make the various trees and foliage called ‘firesilx’ which is fire retardant and UVsilx for exterior locations where the products need to be tough and not fade.

PROFILE Mobile Mini

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Continuous investment fuelling growth at Mobile Mini Mobile Mini is a leading North East based hirer of portable site accommodation and secure storage containers, with its global headquarters based in Arizona, USA, and UK operations based in Stockton-on-Tees.

In the UK, Mobile Mini’s growing fleet of rental units now stands at more than 36,000 across its 16 branches nationwide, from Glasgow to Southampton, including its North East branches in Sunderland and Middlesbrough. For over 40 years, Mobile Mini has been supplying portable site accommodation and secure storage containers to approximately 11,300 customers, primarily in the construction industry, but also including retailers, manufacturers, hospitals, schools, utility companies, distributors, hotels and individual households.

The company recently announced an increase in half year revenue to £28.9m, for the period January to June 2016. Revenue has been bolstered by an investment over the past 18 months of £18.9m in new units for its rental fleet. This investment includes the recent launch of the industry-leading, cost effective and energy efficient Groundhog Fusion mobile welfare units.

As a leading innovator in its industry, the company is continuously adding to the features of its site accommodation fleet of portable offices, toilets

Chris Morgan

and drying rooms. Recent innovations include LED lighting, offering an 83% reduction in power consumption and advanced dehumidifiers that mean the company’s fleet of drying rooms provide the best performance in the industry.

The company will also invest a further £3.7m this year in its fleet of fuel efficient Scania delivery vehicles, as part of Mobile Mini’s drive to constantly improve its operational efficiency, first class health and safety standards, and customer service. By the end of 2016, Mobile Mini will have a fleet of 50 lorry mounted loader crane vehicles, one of the largest of its kind in the UK. It was also awarded a Gold level award in the Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS), recognising the company’s significant improvements in safety, environmental impact and efficiency.

Continued investment in its growing workforce across the UK has also taken its total number of employees to more than 400, 115 of which are based in the north east, with 40 new positions created over the past year. Mobile Mini continues to invest heavily in its training and development programmes for all existing employees. For example, to address the company’s need for more HGV Drivers, Mobile

Mini have devised a fully-funded driver development programme, which is open to any of their employees looking to make a career change.

Chris Morgan, Managing Director at Mobile Mini, commented: “Despite some uncertainty following the recent Brexit vote, we saw strong growth in the first half of the year and June 2016 in particular was a record for us, with continued strong demand from the construction industry.

“We’re determined to maintain our market leading position by continuing to invest in our people and products, so that we exceed our customers’ expectations and continue to build strong long term relationships with them.”

Further information on Mobile Mini and its services, please contact 0800 731 9878, email info@mobilemini.co.uk or visit www.mobilemini.co.uk

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

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“We have some of the lowest broadband pricing in the world for a well-developed country”

The boss of a successful and growing North East IT company says businesses need to view broadband as the fourth utility and be prepared to pay accordingly.

Dan Kitchen, managing director of Razorblue Group, believes the region’s entrepreneurs can use broadband to drive forward the economy in the same way the potential of coal and steel was harnessed by industrialists in the nineteenth century.

But he says the expectation that broadband should be virtually free is stifling that advance because Openreach – the BT company which provides the infrastructure for virtually all broadband services – is unable to invest properly to improve its services.

“Businesses are prepared to pay perhaps £200 per month for their electricity but not their broadband,” said Dan. “It all starts at home where you might pay £20 a month for 80Mb of internet. It sets an expectation: if I can get that in my house why should I pay ten times that for my business?”

The problem, he said, stems from a lack of competition for Openreach and the reduction of broadband costs which was enforced by the regulator Ofcom. “As a result BT, perhaps understandably has said: What’s in it for us?

Why should we make it any better unless someone else funds it?”

That, says Dan, explains – but not excuses – the concerns over the quality of Openreach’s service. In one instance Razorblue had to wait 18 months for fibre to be connected from one building to another.

It is also the reason behind the backlash against the regulator’s decision this summer to allow BT to maintain control of major investments such as upgrades to full fibre-optic networks.

Dan - alongside providers of internet and telecommunications such as TalkTalk, Sky and

Connecting business to the real world Broadband holds the key to the UK’s economic success argues entrepreneur Dan Kitchen but he tells Andrew Lambert there is a price to be paid Vodafone - had hoped BT’s virtual monopoly, through Openreach, would be ended.

He believes such a move would ultimately have improved broadband performance to the level of other countries, such as Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.

“The rest of the world is starting to outperform us now, but again businesses and consumers there are paying a bit more for the service. We have some of the lowest broadband pricing in the world for a well-developed country. And, of course, there’s a lot more competition in the US & Europe.

“Over here you’ve got BT and you’ve got BT – in the US you’ve got five or six key providers, competing against each other. They’ve all got their own infrastructure. The only sort of near competitor you’ve got over here is Virgin and its coverage is nigh on nothing compared to the size of the country,” he says.

With Sky and Vodafone, Talk Talk is one of the driving forces behind a recently-launched campaign called Fix Britain’s Internet. Despite Ofcom’s decision not to overhaul Openreach’s role, Fix Britain’s Internet is calling on mass public support to bring about a break up of BT and Openreach.

For Dan, though – speaking from his new office in Wynyard Park – “it is, what it is.” After 10 years of building the company from scratch, he is used to the volatility of the sector in which Razorblue operates. The business has become expert in providing ways around the gaps exposed by Openreach’s apparent underinvestment and the constant evolution of IT. “It’s what you have to do,” says Dan. “Unfortunately we do not live and work in an ideal world. We all know that IT is the first function to get the blame and the last to get credit. Our role is so important to businesses

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that we have to find solutions for them.

“In fact, this is what we’re specialists at doing – and we’ve got a bit of a name for ourselves.

There are countless business parks and rural locations across the country where we’ve brought super-fast connectivity to businesses at an affordable price, by being innovative and using our own technology”.

Razorblue began as a cloud hosting business – and still works with some of its early clients – but has gradually evolved. Now it offers expertise in managed IT support, cloud, superfast connectivity, telecoms and bespoke business software.

“We became an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in 2009 and built our own network,” said Dan. “We also wholly own our cloud infrastructure and the knowledge behind that goes back more than 10 years. Very few of our competitors in this region have that in-depth level of knowledge or control, and that results in a better more joined up service for our clients.”

Razorblue’s steady growth – it has just posted record results with turnover at £3.5m - has been built on its technical excellence, repeat business, recommendations and market intelligence. Its success has come amid dramatic change in the IT sector, but – says Dan– that will continue to be the case.

“If new technology comes to the market you’ve got to embrace it. We’ve got to move with the market and keep up with the times – that’s what we’ve done for the past 10 years,” he adds.

Keeping up with the times also requires the ability to act and react to major political and economic events. The vote for Brexit – and the sudden collapse of the pound’s value against the dollar – had major implications for the UK’s IT businesses, because nearly all of the key technology companies are based in the United States (Intel, Microsoft, Apple and Dell) and sales are made in dollars.

“It was all a bit strange. For us nothing really happened on day one. Everything carried on as normal. But on the day after the vote we couldn’t buy anything because the dollar rate was going up and down, so nobody could decide what the exchange rate was,” says Dan. Months later, with the pound looking set to stay low, businesses requiring IT services are facing significantly higher bills – around a 10% to 15% percent increase. “That’s not a major difference if you’re buying one PC, but it is if

“If new technology comes to the market you’ve got to embrace it.

We’ve got to move with the market and keep up with the times” you’re replacing 100,” says Dan. That aside, he sees a bright future for the company which – even from the age of 16 – he believed would be a success.

“I suppose then I had no commitments and nothing to lose,” he says. “But that’s all changed and I am responsible for the livelihoods of a lot of people. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m really proud of the company, the team, and I know how valued we are by our customers.”

Those customers are not deliberately bamboozled by “geek speak” or at the receiving end of a hard sell strategy, says Dan. Razorblue’s approach is to offer a level of support appropriate to a business’s need. “We’re all about solving business problems and we just happen to do that via IT,” he says.

One major customer, for example, recognised the risk to its business of running its operation through one piece of software maintained by a man approaching retirement age. “They’ve taken our whole portfolio of products,” says Dan. “We’ve got three staff who work for us but are totally dedicated to that client. We’ve provided connectivity across all their sites. They don’t have individual servers on their sites or in any of their distribution centres. It’s all in our data centres. We manage the whole thing.”

The staff, whilst still employed by Razorblue but working full-time on behalf of the customer, benefit from still working within a fast-paced technology business, where they can keep fully up-to-speed with innovations.

Dan says the value to the business of outsourcing its IT function has parallels, for

ENTREPRENEUR bqlive.co.uk

example, with the NHS: “It’s similar to managers trying to manage doctors who don’t know anything about healthcare.”

The NHS, by coincidence, was the former employer of Razorblue’s latest recruit. Craig Nicholson, who worked as an operating theatre technician, has become an account manager.

At 6ft 7inches tall, he is set to make an impression - in more ways than one. “We don’t have any set recruitment policy – we just try to get the best person for the job,” says Dan. “We obviously need people with technical knowledge, but that’s not necessarily the most important thing for our account managers.

“It’s more important that they are able to understand what the customer needs to make his or her business better.”

Nathan Young, another account manager, is a former night club manager. “We’ve got people who have worked in different types of businesses who bring a broader real-world experience,” says Dan. The company has also invested in apprentices who have learned how to work in the Razorblue way.

“Five of the people who work here – were or are – apprentices,” he said. “The technical apprentices have been fantastic. They are so engaged and love what they do. We obviously have checks and safeguards but the culture here is to throw them in at the deep end, so they’re learning at a rapid rate yet in a very controlled environment,” he says.

Recruiting young talent will, Razorblue believes, be a major benefit of opening a Teesside office which is accessible to all the local universities and a growing number of emerging businesses.

Having been born in Sunderland, grown up in County Durham and North Yorkshire, the move to Wynyard Park takes 26-year-old Dan just five miles from where he was educated at Red House School Stockton.

“I’m North East born and bred and although we have offices and customers outside the region, this is very much our heartland. For too long too many people here have been too reliant on big industry or local government for jobs. That has had to change and clearly is changing,” says Dan. “From my point of view – both as the head of an IT company and a proud North Easterner – I recognise that we provide the key to support this new generation of businesses and I take that responsibility very seriously indeed.” n

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10 years at the cutting edge Razorblue has just marked its 10th birthday by opening its fourth office.

It employs over 40 people in Catterick, Leeds, London – and now Teesside – and has plans to recruit 10 more over the next year.

The business was started by Dan Kitchen when he was just 16. He abandoned his A-level studies after just a few weeks when he realised the potential of his fledgling company.

Over the years Razorblue has acquired a broad client base – currently numbering over 200 – and includes Sports Direct, Wensleydale Creamery and financial advisors Gale & Phillipson amongst its customers. The anniversary of its decade in business and opening of the new office in Wynyard Park has coincided with record results – with a 40% growth in the last financial year.

During that period Razorblue’s turnover was £3.5m and it has ambitions to increase that to £4.5m in the coming 12 months.

“At Catterick we experienced problems with recruitment – and although we will keep recruiting in that area – we feel there are greater opportunities here to find new talent from Teesside and the other local universities,” says Dan. “This is a new office, but not new territory for us. We already have a large client base in Teesside and having a presence here will open doors to other local businesses.”

He adds: “What we have to offer, and the different way in which we do things, I believe, gives us the edge over our competitors.”

PRINCE’S TRUST

Inspiring young lives

Young Newcastle designer named winner of Tomorrow’s Business Awards The Prince’s Trust and NatWest have announced the winners of the first ever Tomorrow’s Business Awards which celebrate the positive impact starting a business can have on an individual, their community or the environment.

All businesses supported by The Trust to startup in the last ten years were eligible to apply and three winners have been chosen from the hundreds of entries. One of those winners was Eleanor O’Neill, 27, from Newcastle.

Growing up in Newcastle, Eleanor always had a passion for design and began her career working in the fashion industry as a junior knitwear designer. During this time Eleanor faced some tough realisations about her dream career. She became disillusioned after witnessing first-hand the wasteful nature of the industry and found the job repetitive with no time for true creativity.

Disheartened, Eleanor left her job with the hope of carving out her own, more meaningful path in the industry. After spending time out of work, the turning point came when she found The Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme and set up her business, study 34. Comforted by the fact that she had a safety net in The Prince’s Trust, Eleanor’s business soon took shape. The knitwear design company focuses on responsible fashion using sustainable materials. With support from The Trust, Eleanor’s ambition of producing functional yet innovative design had been realised and she was putting British knitwear firmly back on the map. As a knitwear studio, study 34 focuses on promoting British manufacture, responsible production and sustainable style.

Eleanor also promotes ethical fashion and hopes to change attitudes towards consumption and encourage a relationship with clothing that places importance on quality over quantity, and a less wasteful society.

Eleanor said: “I’m hugely grateful to The Prince’s Trust for this award. Pursuing a path in the fashion industry can be challenging so it means a great deal to be recognised for it. Having someone as prominent as Steve Rowe giving up his valuable time to talk to me has been fantastic.

Being able to exchange views on the British manufacturing industry, in particular knitwear, was incredibly useful.”

“Businesses which look to have a positive social or environmental impact are so important, both to the communities around them and the country as a whole” The three winners each received £3,000 from NatWest to invest in their business, a one-to-one mentoring session with either Lloyd Dorfman (founder of Travelex and Chairman of The Prince’s Trust), Steve Rowe (CEO of Marks & Spencer) or Claire Locke (Co-founder, Artigiano) alongside business-boosting workshops with industry experts. Martina Milburn CBE, chief executive of The Prince’s Trust, said: “We’re proud of all the young people who, with our support, transform their lives and set up their own amazing businesses, so choosing the winners was difficult.

These three businesses demonstrate firsthand the positive effects of the Enterprise programme, not only for the young entrepreneurs themselves but also in their local communities and the environment.”

A recent evaluation of the Enterprise programme found that businesses started with funding and mentoring support from The Trust are more likely to survive than those who go it alone. The research shows that 73% of Trust-supported businesses continue to operate into their third year, compared with the national figure of 61%.

The figures demonstrate the effectiveness of the programme which creates a real and lasting difference to the lives of thousands of young

people across the UK. Marcelino Castrillo, managing director of Business Banking at NatWest, said: “Businesses which look to have a positive social or environmental impact are so important, both to the communities around them and the country as a whole. We hope these stories inspire more young people to take that first step into self-employment.”

With the help of NatWest, the Enterprise programme has been helping young people start up in business since 1983 and has supported more than 80,000 new ventures. Well known businesses which began with help from The Trust include household names Dynamo and kids’ suitcase business Trunki.

The Prince’s Trust works with 13 to 30 year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Three in four young people helped by The Prince’s Trust move into work, training or education.

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

IN ANOTHER LIFE bqlive.co.uk

Born in Russia in the Soviet era to diplomat parents, Shlok Balupuri moved to India to study medicine after his parents’ retirement and after achieving a Royal College fellowship, then went on to work in London, Newcastle and now Sunderland.

He is a consultant surgeon specialising in bariatric surgery at Spire Washington Hospital, but aside from his day job he has another, very different responsibility.

“In 2004 I decided I wanted to join the Army Reserves as a medic in the 2nd Gulf War. I was fascinated in how medicine works out in the field and was keen to help in any way that I could.

“I was told that to be able to serve as a medic, I needed to become a trained army officer with full military training – so I stayed back as rearguard to 201 Field hospital while they did their tour of duty.

“I have, since then, served in Afghanistan from 2011-2012 at Camp Bastion as a surgeon with the reserves – a gruelling and intense yet very rewarding experience. Had you asked me if

I’d be doing anything like this when I was at medical school I would not have believed you!

“I’ve also travelled to L’Aquila in Italy and California in the USA to train with the US Navy – an eye-opening and educational experience to say the least, and a far cry from my day job.

“Admittedly, the physical aspect of army training isn’t too enjoyable for me, but I don’t really have a choice! So, in a way, I’m glad that it’s not my full-time job!

“The sense of comradeship is fantastic – there’s a real feeling of belonging and a strong ethos of “eat while you can and sleep while you can” as you never know what will happen or when, which really fuels your adrenaline and actually, I feel, helps me to perform and thrive under pressure out in the field.

“My multicultural and multinational life experiences have enabled me to fulfil my passion for travelling and have given me an insight into healthcare delivery in other countries. It’s certainly made me appreciate the British healthcare ethos despite the frequent adverse press. It’s enabled me to almost live two lives – my usual day-to-day life as a consultant,

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Shlok Balupur i but another second life as a medic.

“I think the recurring thread that runs through both my life as a surgeon and as an army medic, is my passion to save and improve lives. It’s so rewarding to see someone’s life dramatically improve or even be saved from the work you have done – whether that be treating a wounded soldier out in the field and aiding them back to health, or working with a bariatric patient on their journey to a healthier and happier life. ” n

BIT OF A CHAT Frank Tock’s examining the news behind the headlines Sniffing out opportunities It is a problem we all have – getting rid of bad smells – but Cramlington businessman Stephen Meenghan has come up with a solution.

He has capitalised on his extensive scientific experience to launch a new service called Breath of Fresh Air which destroys odours by targeting the source and destroying them at a cellular level. He does this by managing a portable device which provides a calculated and correct level of ozone gas. Apparently freshness is similar to the air outside after a thunderstorm as the science behind both of them is the same.

This service is provided by his company, Stozone which also specialises in chemical free hygiene treatments to a wide range of customers, and is entering its third year.

The sweet smell of success.

Star struck Life on the road with top entertainers Phillip Schofield, Tony Hadley and Aswad is par for the course for Middlesbrough College lecturer Daniel Allen. The accomplished saxophonist – who is coordinator and lecturer on the college’s Music Practice course – recently performed with TV personality Phillip Schofield on his ‘Knights of Music’ tour. Playing to audiences of hundreds across the four-night stint, Daniel contributed alto and tenor sax to Schofield’s five-piece band – made up of musicians from across the North East. Multi-instrumentalist Daniel, who has been playing sax for more than 20 years, is also competent on piano, drums, bass, guitar,

How much is that doggy Visitors to Tyne and Wear have been treated to a wonderful display of art and fun with the Great North Snowdogs trail – though some enthusiastic revellers have caused one or two to go walkies to be repaired. However, most have been enjoyed for what they are and one even received a gift – a scarf, knitted in memory of a loved one. Wor Geordie is one of 61 Snowdog sculptures – inspired by Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman and The Snowdog – in a fundraising initiative for Newcastle’s St Oswald’s Hospice. Sitting outside the city’s St Nicholas Cathedral, Wor Geordie is wearing a purple scarf knitted in tribute to a loving grandfather who was cared for at the Hospice. Trish Robison, 58, from Walkerville, lost husband Brian, 59, in January to pancreatic cancer, but “he couldn’t have been looked after better at St Oswald’s Hospice,” she said. “He went in to help get his pain relief under control which, thankfully, the staff managed to do for him and the care and attention he received was superb.”

Each of the large Snowdogs has been sponsored by businesses, individually decorated by artists and celebrities and when Trish discovered her neighbour Rachel Leonard, a tutor at Newcastle College, had been tasked with decorating Wor Geordie, she asked if the family could provide him with a touching woolly tribute to Brian. Rachel, along with Wor Geordie’s sponsor, NBS, which is headquartered at the Old Post Office Building, opposite the Cathedral, were only too happy to oblige. Wor Geordie and the other Snowdogs will be on display until November 25 then auctioned to raise funds for St Oswald’s Children’s Hospice at an event at The Sage Gateshead on 6 December – a paw-fect ending.

clarinet and flute. His stint on tour saw him working with other professional musicians and West End actors such as Over the Rainbow’s Danielle Hope.

Now back at Middlesbrough College, Daniel plans to share his experiences with his students, many of whom harbour their own ambitions to become industry professionals.

Drama out of a crisis An act of kindness from North East-based asbestos and risk management group, Lucion

Services, will ensure that the Royalty Theatre in Sunderland is able to continue entertaining the public with its regular drama productions.

The much-loved community theatre, which opened its doors in 1925, needed an asbestos survey to be completed as part of health and safety obligations to keep the historic building open to the public. Committed to supporting local communities, Lucion stepped in to help the theatre save around £1,000 of its much needed funding by providing 50 hours of its services free of charge. The show must go on.

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EVENTS

BQ’s business diary helps you forward plan

NOVEMBER 02

Entrepreneurs’ Forum Exchange Round Table: Managing Change. UK Land Estates, Building 7, Queens Park, Queensway, Team Valley, Gateshead, NE11 0QD

05

IoD North East Business Leaders’ Lunch with Allie Rennison, Head of Europe and Trade Policy, IoD Ward Hadaway Board Room, Newcastle upon Tyne

06

The NorthEastBiz Breakfast is a structured meeting but with informal round the table introductions and discussion, so no stand up presentations or pitches. Riverside Lodge, High Stanners, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1QL, United Kingdom

If You Can We Can Challenge, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead

07

CIM Marketers Meet 5pm AV Dawson Arthur Vernon House Depot Road Middlesbrough TS2 1LE

18

IoD NE Tees Valley Business Leaders’ Lunch with Mauricio Armellini, North East Agent for the Bank of England Endeavour Partnership, Teesside

09

CIM Introduction to market planning, 9.30am Carlisle Business Interaction Centre 4-5 Paternoster Row Carlisle Cumbria CA3 8TT

23

Lessons in global marketing from Barbour Ebsworth Building, Durham University, Queen’s Campus, University Boulevard, Thornaby, Stockton-On-Tees 7:15pm

13

Boldon Bizmums. A networking event for local businesswomen who are mothers.. Mothers are welcome to bring their children.

Story Book - Wacky Warehouse, Boldon Leisure Park, Abingdon Way, Boldon Colliery, Tyne and Wear, NE35 9PB, United Kingdom

24

Federation of Small Businesses N E Region Student Startup Awards Dinner. The National Glass Centre, Liberty Way, Sunderland, SR6 0GL 7:15pm – 11:30pm

08

MADE16 Entrepreneur festival: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Find out how you can be involved at www.madefestival.com

10

North East Business Executive of the Year Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park

11

CECA (NE) ANNUAL DINNER Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park

15

NORTH EAST TOP 200 AWARDS Stadium of Light, Sunderland

16

North East Expo from 9am Falcons Stadium, Kingston Park, Newcastle

16

DECEMBER 01

The NOF Energy Annual Dinner Hardwick Hall Sedgefield - CBI North East - Teesside Annual Dinner 2016 Venue: Crathorne Hall Hotel, Yarm Fellows breakfast, Newcastle Royal Station Hotel, Neville St, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5DH. Hosted by ICE Regional Director, Penny Marshall

02

North Tyneside Business Forum Awards ceremony at the De Vere Village Urban Resort Newcastle

15-16

Rapid Design, Prototyping & Manufacturing Conference Room 404, City Campus East Business & Law Building Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5JG

JANUARY 26

Entrepreneurs’ Forum chairman’s dinner Jesmond Dene House, Jesmond Dene Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE2 2EY

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 eventsdiary@bqlive.co.uk and please put ‘BQ North East & Cumbria’ in the subject heading.

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

Newcastle’s Premier Department Store

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